Life is a Beach

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Life is a Beach



We have wanted to use that title for ages and at last we can.

We took Yeti to Charles de Gaul airport in the middle of an intense blizzard, we had finally managed to work our way through the arduous Australian Quarantine procedures and after walking him for an hour in minus 6 and thick snow left him in the hands of the shipping agent who was very nice. His first class flight and updates to us from the agents was to cost more than both our flights! The howls could be heard as we went down the motorway in a worsening blizzard. We were to be flying ourselves 5 days later.

The plans to touch up the deck on Vintage Cru were put on hold due to the snow and arctic conditions so we concentrated on cleaning up, packing and a touch of varnishing. Whoever the lucky new owners of Vintage Cru will be can just walk onboard and cruise away. We had one silly offer for her before we left and upped it a bit for cash in our bank before we left France but the offer was just a time waster.

We left Briare again in the snow and freezing cold and hung around Charles De Gaul airport for 6 hours before our flight. It is amazing to sit and watch all the crims and scam artists trying to relieve people of their money and belongings. We watched one guy with a big suitcase sliding someone’s smaller one into his, it looked like it had a false bottom, very sneaky but he was stopped by a security guy and ran off. The safest place to sit seemed to be by the EL AL counter, not many dubious looking people hanging around there.

The flight was long and boring, a break at Dubai for a couple of hours helped break the monotony , especially when we got an email from Australian Quarantine saying that there was a problem with Yeti and his entry was on hold. We could not contact them to find out the problem so this caused us some concern. We must be getting older and wiser as we kept our alcohol consumption to an absolute minimum.

We’d hired a Juicy car from the airport, saved about half of what a big car hire company charged. Only problem was all the pips and zest.

Our first priority was to find out what was was happening to our little hairy friend, it turned out that one of the papers had not been stamped correctly by the French Government Vet, after a few days of back and fore the problem was solved and we had a rendezvous to pick Yeti up.

We had booked into a set of serviced apartments close to the centre of Melbourne that accepted dogs so after a quick shower met up with Marg's brother and some of the family including our new grand nephew Owen. (Not sure about correct relationship name as the only great uncle we have known was Bulgaria). We caught up with Grant and Cheryl (our nephew and his lovely wife and newborn Owen) at the house they have just bought in Melbourne and were envious of the older Australian charm and character of the house. This probably influenced our later decision.

After 10 days we picked up Yeti and a couple of days later headed to a caravan park outside of Melbourne where we relaxed for a few days and introduced Yeti to Aus. He loved all the new smells and language and is swearing like a local already.

We had considered buying a cheap campervan and cruising up to Queensland, however all the ones we looked at were so overpriced and in such a bad condition we decided just to hire a car, buy some camping gear and drive up quickly. It’s a lovely drive from Melbourne ; we had done it a few times in the past but normally at high speed and hardly stopping. It was interesting to see how badly Australia’s Capital Canberra was sign posted blink and you’d missed it. We knew we were back home in Aus when the car Sat Nav said “keep strait for 900 kilometres!” Also the mobs of Kangaroos on the Golf courses were a fairly good hint, strange when you see a Kangaroo with a set of clubs in its pouch.

Luckily we had Marg’s Brother to stay with in Mooloolaba and had a very warm welcome which took us a couple of days to get over! Can’t seem to party like we used to. Yeti was a perfect gentleman and David and Linda made him feel at home.

One of our many ideas on what we would do when we got back was to buy a car and caravan and tour Australia, along the way this had changed a little, we were still going to buy a car and caravan but decided to put the Grand Tour on hold until we had somewhere more permanent to call home.

We had been researching the possibilities of Kit Homes, Shed Homes, Relocated Homes, Igloos (decided these may be Ok for Briare but not Queensland) and had done some research and budgeting whilst watching the snow in Briare. Thank goodness for the internet.

Within our first week we had bought a new ( well fairly new) Holden Captiva SUV which we have called Ace, just rolls off the tongue “Ace Captiva Highway Warrior”, bought a 14 foot Pop-top Caravan in good condition with everything needed to move onboard, seems to us we gradually have been downsizing for a while now. For those who are desperate to know we called the caravan “Poppy”.

We had Poppy delivered to Mudjimba Beach Caravan Park which is right on the nicest beach on the Sunshine Coast. The people we bought it off were to show us how everything worked but as it was a horrible storm we cut it short, our first night was spent wondering when we would blow away . We kept getting up to check the anchor! The next day apart from the big surf and high wind we had our first beach walk since Biaritz and Peter had a ball body surfing. We knew our time here was limited as Easter School Holidays had booked out the campsite so we made the most of “life is a beach”

Whilst perusing blocks of land for sale in Queensland we had come across a small remote development right on the Great Sandy Straits in a place called Poona. Poona is a 20 minute drive from Maryborough and about 3 hours from Brisbane. We had 4 or 5 other places to look at as well, all generally in the same area. For those who are interested check out the Great Sandy Straits and Fraser Island which are to be our back yard. If we bring her back there are plenty of places to keep Swara within half an hour

Driving into various places we were not sure about them, River Heads was nice but all the blocks we could afford were on slopes and there did not seem to be any sort of community spirit. One of our requirements was that any house or land had to be on a flat block. As soon as we drove into Poona we both said at the same time “this seems to have a nice feel to it”.

As we drove around everyone waved or said hello, we stopped and chatted to a few people who were so friendly and helpful. We found the local real estate office and picked up a plan showing what was for sale etc. A lovely helpful lady in the office gave us lots of advice on different blocks of land. Both deciding we liked Poona we cruised around and decide on a few blocks that we liked the look of and could afford. We decided against a block on the seafront as a lot of the houses there were for rent as holiday lets , we decided against blocks backing onto reserves although there was one we liked, lots of trees means lots of insects apparently.

As Poona is a remote township there are no services such as town water or sewage systems, rainwater tanks and septic systems are the way to go. We have a lot to learn about this but can it be too much different to life on a boat? It does have underground power, no unsightly cables.

Narrowing it down to 2 or 3 we went away back to life on the beach.

We had arranged to look at a house on the Gold Coast that was to be relocated and was for sale, by the time we had got there it had been sold, which we were grateful for later. In the mean time we had looked at a couple more with a different company and had seen one we liked. We had been told 3-4 months was a reasonable time period to buy a relocate a house so when the one we liked came up we said we would buy it and go ahead. Apparently this house had to be moved by the end of May as the developers need the land. If we could get it moved in one operation straight to our block it would save the fees of storing it and reloading it on trucks. This meant we had to make decision on a block fairly soon.

Back up to Poona we went, narrowed the choice down to one and went back to life on the beach. Just to be sure went back the next day and decided that it was the one for us.

Making a sensible offer for the land and only a little negotiating meant we were to be owners of a what seems to us a huge block of land , only 1071 square metres but what do we do with it all?

As we had to reluctantly leave Mudjimba Caravan Park we decided we may as well get the feel of Poona. Trying to book in for Easter could have been a problem as the campsite was fully booked however The Caravan Park Owner went to a lot of trouble in clearing up an old residential site, replanting grass etc for us to occupy and we are now established on our site in Poona. Arriving at the site our first attempt at reversing was made more difficult by a flat tire. Easter in Poona has been very busy with a Fishing Competition, a car and bike show and monthly markets. Live music both at the campsite and the local hall, Poona is jumping but will probably go very quiet again after Easter.

The house we have bought from Queensland House Removers is a 1970 timber frame 3 bedroom home with polished timber floors, a big kitchen, dining room lounge and a great big back deck, generally in very good condition with a new metal roof, rewired and replumbed all within the last ten years and once it has been put back together (it gets cut in half to transport it) should be liveable once all the plumbing, septic system, electricity etc are all connected. We hope mid to end of June for the house warming. To date we are very impressed with Queensland House Removers from the initial cold walk in to their office, on site meetings and negotiations with the sales rep, and initial discussions with the construction supervisor, all who are brothers.

There is a large amount of planning permissions, drawings etc for the house relocation and building etc required which QHR deal with mostly although we have engaged a consultant to guide us through some of the huge amount of stuff we have to do.

We will be recording and documenting this little adventure into our first property in over 30 years.

We have had a few enquires about Vintage Cru both from France and Australia but no takers yet , great buy for someone.

So our first 6 weeks back in Aus has been fairly hectic, we think we can slow down a bit now and enjoy the relaxed lifestyle again. Feeling a bit lazy today but never mind we will get over it, the feeling that is!

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