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Published: November 21st 2010
G'day all, added another map to show latest travel since two blogs ago and includes route to next destination Cairns. Decided to stay in Baldivis with Tania, Peggy and Andi as enjoying doing odd jobs, enjoying the sunshine and a cheap life!lol.
Plan to get a direct flight to Cairns to spend my last two weeks holidaying in Cairns, enjoying the beach, snorkling the barrier reef and trekking in surrounding forests, before my long journey home to blighty.
So what else has been happening here in Baldivis? Well we finally finished the painting, painting an area of around 200 square metres, yes I am sad and I measured it to calculate the paint covereage, every individual beam size!lol Well we needed to know to make sure we bought the right amount of paint and yes I like calculating crap like that!
Tania is very pleased with the painting that we have done as the house looks much tidier without the rusting guttering and the new colour makes the veranda blend in with the house.
We also finished pumping out the green pool, Andi and I bucketed out the last of it
which ended up brown and we found some Yabbies (type of crayfish) in it!
Tania and her fella used to try and breed them in for awhile, they must have been alive but probably died when we pumped most of the water out just leaving all the gook.
Was hard work with me filling buckets and lifting up to the edge of the pool while Andi emptied into a wheel barrow and threw into a hole he had dug with the excavator. Plus one of my wellies was leaking! When I took my wellie off at the end you can imagine what my foot looked like, green!
Andi, Peggy and I went fishing one Saturday at a place called Golden Ponds, we caught nothing not even a bite! But was nice to chill for a while but the bloody flies were annoying!
We also visited a macadamia nut farm/factory on the way back and tasted all their samples! Very tasty, some roasted, salted, chilies and barbecue etc plus some nut pastes. Nice but expensive! Thanks for the free tasters lol.
Aslo bought some mussels on the way back and
cooked us mussels in white wine, garlic and onion, with crusty bread, yum yum sat outsdide in the 30 degree sunshine!
The scrap metal merchants came this week gone and collected all 25 cars, scrap metal and some gearboxes etc around 35 ton! Andi and I went around clearing up any other crap and went to the local tip to get rid of it.
Also repaired the outside cover over the water pump and filter, which Peggy then painted, plus repaired the fencing/ballistrade on the rear veranda.
Had a couple of barbys on Tanias new barby with some of her friends and her son and girlfriend on another occassion. Generally been doing half a day work or so then chilling on the patio drinking wine and reading a book, mind you I like to keep busy so been doing longer days!
Had a chance to use the excavator as well the other day, which was great fun, not as difficult as I thought it was going to be but you had to concentrate! lol Dug a large hole which took an hour or so, was rubbish at filling in though!
Me on the patio
need a haircut!We also started filling the pool, we were going to use a power washer but worried about damaging the fibreglass so filling (40,000 litres!) and adding salt and chlorine, need to change the sand in the filter too.
Read up loads of info on tinternet to figure out what to put in! Outdoor pools here tend to have salt added to keep them clean, with a chlorinator converts salt to chlorine and doses the pool. Ended up adding about 150kg of salt and shocked the pool woith some chlorine and then ran the pump / filter for the day.
We were clearing up all the leaves near and around the pool so they dont get blown in, then knocked off around two but tested the pool water first and then jumped an as 4 out of 5 tests ok! Gonna need the pool as supposed to be hitting 37 this week. Summer is here!
Have actually booked my Cairns flight now, go 3rd Dec and then 11 days in Cairns, hikes in the forests, snorkelling on the reef then fly home, so probably only a couple of blogs left now. Feels weird booking a
taxi to take me home from Heathrow!
Larf
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Dee
non-member comment
Hiya
Hi hun Bet you have been in your element for the last few weeks doing odd jobs and bathing in the sun in between! Perhaps that's your vocation when you return. Plenty of pools around Chandlers Ford to sort out! I cannot remember many beaches actually in Cairns - in fact the beaches are that rubbish they have built a man made beach in-land with a swimming pool. Perhaps better in Cape Tribulation (north of Cairn, about a days travel) which is quiet but also things to do (massive beach, mangroves, tree surfing). I stayed in a hostel with some really cool wooden huts. From Cairns there is a day trip called Brian's Tours, although you might be sick of tourist stuff, it's a great 'feel good' tour and the tour guide has a great take on life. If you are going snorkling, I would also recommend going to 'Reef Teach' (at least I think that is what it is called) with this irish-like Billy Connely guy, complete nutter, who explains what all the fishies and reefs are (it is actually really useful to go to before you hit the reef, that way you know what to look for, though you may already know this from Honduras). It is only 1-2 hours in the evening and you get tea & biscuits!!! Enjoy the last month of your travel and make the most of the sun before you come back to England! Though I am sure that you are looking forward to seeing your friends & family. Have fun! Dee