ferrousland.com - diary archives
Sunday, October 03, 2004
our move north - 09:11 PM
this move we've made is one of the best things we've ever done. i know it's still early days, but even in the short time we've been here, it feels like we're in the perfect place for us.
our new home is an old wooden highset house. it needs a bit of painting here & there, but since it's on company land, most of the stuff that needs to be done will be done by the company. unlike a normal rental property, we have pretty much free reign to do whatever we want to the inside of the house, within reason, such as put up pictures, hooks, towel rails, that sort of thing. some of what we'll be doing (& have already done in some places) will be putting baby proofing things around the house.
the outside of the house is looked after by the company. they do the mowing, the gardening (althought shroom likes to garden so he'll be doing his own share of that), maintenance on the house. they'll also be providing the materials for a fence to keep the dog inside the property.
the garden is in need of a bit of weeding but is quite lovely. there are palms, hibiscus bushes, hippiestrums & even some lavender plants & other herbs, as well as many other plants. i've only mentioned the ones i know by sight. it's very nice.
we can see the mill (the sugar mill) from our back window. between us & the mill are lots of gum trees & some other tall trees too, so it's not like it's right in our back yard. you can hear the mill every weekday & all through the night, but it's a dull drone usually & we've tuned it out pretty quickly. it doesn't run on the weekends (yet) so saturdays & sundays the silence is really obvious.
being an old house, it's been built quite large with a verandah on two sides, which have been built in so that they're now like sun rooms. there are heaps of windows so we can easily catch the wonderful afternoon breeze & have it going through the whole house. the kitchen is quite new. maybe only a year or two old. it's large, too. heaps of space for everything & lots of room to move around.
downstairs in the laundry a day or so ago, i found a quite large green tree frog. green tree frogs are excellent. also in there was a thirty kilogram sack of sugar. we get one of those free every year. i have no idea how i'm going to use that much sugar. maybe by making lots & lots of fudge which i'll attempt not to eat all by myself.
when we go to the shops, even the local shop only a few minutes away, we drive through green cane fields planted in red, red dirt, with blue sky above. there are softly undulating hills all around & not a city in sight. the only houses we see once we drive away from the mill are farm houses & they're far & few between. around here, when you drive past a car, you give a small wave hello. you know you're in the country when you wave to passing motorists.
the nearest 'big' town is fifty kilometres away. the closest shop, only a few minutes away, is a kind of old style milk bar combined petrol station (only one pump) combined post office with a post box out the front & a public phone a bit further down the street. there's also a pub a couple of doors up the street. the closest small town is eight minutes away & has all the basics. it's quite a busy little centre & is as friendly as you could get. at the supermarket, they offer to help you carry your bags to the car.
today we went to the beach. it was about half an hour away, maybe a little less. it was almost deserted when we arrived at about 10:30am. we found ourselves a lovely spot shaded by some low hanging branches & ate our lunch sitting on a towel & watching the gentle waves come in. then we took smiley for his first beach experience. he liked it. when it became 'busy', there were still no more than maybe fifteen other people in sight along the beautiful white sand of the beach. we suspect this may become a regular sunday jaunt for us & a definite place for us to take our visitors when they come to visit us.
it's wonderful here, absolutely beautiful, & we think we're really going to like being here for a long time to come.
i've taken a few pictures which you can see here.
sounds nice. quiet country living...and lots of fudge as well.
Very very nice, the place sounds so nice. The beach, the high houses, the red dirt and the sugar cane. Reminds me when i was little living up far norht. Where exactly are you now, is it close to brisbane or futher north?
your lucky to have the house Sounds like a great place. Sundays at the beach would be so nice.
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I can't wait to come visit!!