Trivia Time

Just before we came out to Tara it was our wedding anniversary - 43 years. Val brought me some beautiful red roses.

The photos are of my mother as a young woman and my lovely grandaughter, Rowena. She is 7 going on 23 and is an absolute girly girl who loves to dance and is pretty damn good at it.

Talking about our wedding anniversay brings back memories of when we celebrated our 40th. We incorporated the celebration in with a trip back to New Zealand to visit friends in Christchurch and Taupo.

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Our final stop was Auckland and I had booked the hotel online. I chose Parnell because it was a reasonable area when we were kids. Oh my how times change.

The hotel was really drab from the outside and the foyer wasn't much better. The first room they gave us still had people staying in it much to everyones surprise when I opened the door. The second room was a backpackers type room with shared bathing facilities. We told them that if the next room was the same they could forget about it and refund our money.


Finally we got a room that was the equivalent of a one star. The paint was peeling, the room was really shabby and the bathroom was ugh, grotty to say the least. I was just so upset about the whole thing that we didn't bother driving into the city to see all the things we wanted to see.


After seeing the room, the last thing I wanted to do was eat in the hotel so we drove out to Royal Oak where we found a place that dishes up really great roast dinners. We went there again in September this year, when we went over.


Then it was off to visit my stepfather Derek in Glen Innes. When we arrive he is in the middle of negotiating to sell his house. My sister Laura is helping with the details and Derek is moving to Torbay to be near Laura. This is a good arrangement for them both.

We head of to Laura's place over the North Shore for a few drinks and to catch up on the family comings and goings.

Back to the hotel and now comes the good part. It turns out that the hotel is right next door to a Japanese Karaoke Strip joint, so for a good part of the night we are subjected to very loud, not very good music. The night drags on with the noise penetrating the room. The morning can't come quick enough.

Thankfully we are only here for one night as we fly out the next day.

The House in Tara

Here are some pictures of the house in Tara as it is today. We will be taking off the roof and replacing it with a Dutch Gable in colourbond. We also intend to add an 8 foot verandah and update all the joinery with French doors to the verandah from the lounge and the main bedroom.

One thing the house does have is very large rooms and a fabulous walk in pantry. So once everything is updated it should look fantastic, but that is all a little way down the track.

This is the back of the house.

Here is the side:

One thing about having 34 acres is that there is plenty of room to move and another thing I love about the property is the large circular driveway out the front. Eventually I want to put in a large fish pond and fountain in the centre with herb gardens and stone walkways.

Always Something To Do

Val is in the process of upgrading the kitchen in Tara. Before we can install the new kitchen the floor has to be levelled. So at the moment he is putting down new flooring. Then of course the water pipes are dodgy and come up through the floor instead of coming in from the back of the cabinet.

It just goes on an on, nothing is straightforward.

Here is the kitchen as it is at the moment.

And here is the man himself all kitted out to keep the flies out. The bugs here are so annoying, there are millions of flies that attack you every time you step out the door, then there are the ticks that inject poison into your skin and make you itch like crazy. They live in the grass so every time we venture outdoors we get them.

I am begining to wonder why I am leaving the city where we live across the road from the beach.

The Drive To Tara

Once the car trailer is loaded up with sheets of flooring for the kitchen, and we have up the car with food and bedding we head on out to Tara for a couple of weeks. The drive as far as Dalby was an easy run without any problems with the flooring slipping around.

It's a 4 hour run out to Tara and after you leave Dalby there are no street lights on the final 88klm run to Tara so it is pitch black after the sun goes down.

We just leave Dalby and it starts to pour down with rain. Looking out towards Tara we can see lightening and hear the loud claps of thunder. As we drive into the storm the rain makes it hare to see the road and there are also drifts of foggy mist adding to the problem.

We finally reach the Tara turnoff Tara and by now the storm has taken hold and lightening lights up the sky and the surrounding countryside for seconds and then everything becomes pitch black again. The scene is very dramatic as the trees show black against the lit sky like something out of a horror movie.

Finally we reach the Miegunyah Estate turnoff and leave the tar sealed section of the road and turn onto the muddy, slushy dirt road complete with water-filled potholes. So we bounce along slipping and sliding all over the place until we reach our turnoff. When the road is wet it is like driving on marbles.

It doesn't take too long to unpack the car in the rain. We settle in with a hot cup of tea and watch some dvd's. As it has been a couple of weeks since we were last here the spiders, moths, mosquitoes and other assorted wildlife have taken over the house.

A quick run around with the broom despatches most of them. Those near the ceiling get a reprieve as neither of us is tall enough to reach to the top of the 3.3 mtr (11 feet).

The next day is bright and sunny. The rain has been good for the dam and it is now nearly full. The level reaches over the concrete pipe which was well exposed before.