Victorian bush fires

I know that pictures of the bush fires have been broadcast in the UK and you have seen the horror and devastation they have caused. The feeling in Oz for those affected has been amazing and so far $25 million have been collected in donations to help people rebuild there lives. The Red Cross is heavily involved in the recovery process and I'm off to Victoria tomorrow to help. I'm excited to go and do my bit, but feel trepidation about what I might see and hear.

Unmarked police cars

The police are crafty here and will pull you over whilst driving anything from a Hyundai Getz (no one canes it here) to a pick up truck. Even we mainly observe the speed limit. I know! Try not to fall off your chair!!!

We're on the move again

Never wanting to let the grass grow under our feet we're on the move again. Well, actually, we were only able to secure a short term rental that would take pets when we arrived. We'd really underestimated how hard renting with pets would be. Anyway, we've moved into another house in the same street, moving from no 28 to no 33. The house is smaller, but much nicer and feels like a home rather than a rental property as the last 2 places we have lived in have. We'll stay here until we move into our own home later this year. To be honest we are both completely over the moving thing. Jack, you were right, this is the most disruptive thing about the whole process. Still, in theory we will only have to move once more......

New guests on our plot

Yes, we have a couple of horses now lodging on our plot of land, and in the process providing a couple of benefits: -
1. Keeps our 'lawn' mown fro free
2. Provides great manure ready for our compost bins (which we've yet to build)

Here's a picture of one of the horses being unnecessarily rude.

Birthday bonanza

Yes folks, J has reached the ripe old age of 32 (ahem!) on Sunday and, to celebrate, we had a gr8 day of activities.
Early morning start to catch a boat trip from Hobart docks down the eastern shore, and then back up the western shore of the Derwent River. This is the estuary to the South Pacific and Indian Oceans that run down (not literally) to Antarctica.
It was both a surprise and a joy to have the boat to ourselves - well apart from Captain Bird's Eye and the hostess with mostess!! We spent all our time in the bridge, talking with Cap'n Bird's Eye, looking out at the Fairy Penguins in the water and wondering why there were so many artillery batteries along the coast. I mean, Tasmania is hardly an important military asset!
After brunch in Salamanca Place we went to an art gallery in which one of the rooms has effectively been turned into an aviary. In this room are about five electric guitars fixed in a horizontal way so that Zebra Finches can perch on top of them and make music. This was quite surreal but undoubtedly 'arty'.
Bought some bits for our imminent camping trip to the North East coast and then home for Sunday afternoon papers and fresh Tassie cherries (the best).

The agony and ecstasy of building

We had our next meeting with Bill and Rowan, our architect and builder, this week. Bill has been busy over Christmas and has designed the first plan of our home and it's beautiful and bigger than we had expected, but of course there is a catch. Rowan's first guesstimate on cost is that it will be $20K over budget and it doesn't have a garage or workshop for J's woodworking which would make it $40K over budget! It's awful, it's like someone's given you a new toy to play with, one that you really love, and now you have to give it back!!! Soooooo, Rowan is getting more info on costs and we're looking at what changes we would be prepared to make to save costs and Rowan and I are meeting next week for a chat. Plus, J and I will be looking at kitchens, bathrooms and tiles this weekend. Within Rowan's budget there are allowances for each of these. We have no idea what things cost here so we're window shopping on the weekend to see if we can make any savings, or more likely that the allowances are inadequate for the things we'll want which will push us further over budget!!!!! Still, it's really exciting!

We're so tempted to post the plan on the blog, but don't want to jinx our chances of being able to afford the house, or a version of it. Will let you know whether or not we're going for it next week.

Wally the wallaby

I don't think David Attenborough or Steven Spielberg have anything to worry about. My cinematography skills are obviously at the amateur end of the continuum!