Great horny toads, the time is counting down and we have so much to do. We have officially sold the house and settlement is due on 9 December. In order not to leave things to the last minute and get ourselves in a tizzy, we have already taken half our goods and chattels to Lismore. We also did not want to pay a removalist several thousand dollars to do a job that we could do given enough time. So, we hired a large trailer last week and with the help of another big strong bloke, Matt managed to load about 2 tonnes into it and secured the lot with a huge tarp and lots of rope. Next morning at crack of dawn we packed the dogs into the back of the wagon and hit the road for a 1000km trip to Lismore. This is how it went...
Not quite sunrise and 10 minutes after leaving Cowra a small kangaroo magically appeared at the side of the Canowindra road and jumped right out into the passenger side front bumper bar doing himself some fatal damage and breaking the plastic bumperbar. After surveying the damage to the car which was minor really, a few metres of gaffer tape made a temporary repair job and we were back on the road. We quickly discovered that pulling 2 tonnes uses more fuel than we realised and although we had planned to refuel at Coolah, we had to detour to Dunnedoo instead.
Several stops for dogs to pee and walk around (and us too) and we were coming into Tenterfield just as it was getting dark. I noticed patches of white stuff at the sides of the road and in the paddocks which turned out to be remnants of the large hail storm that had passed through just before us. Phew! Thank God we missed that I said to hubby. However unbeknowns to us another storm was on the way (the one that flooded Coffs Harbour again) and whilst we were driving down to Casino on the Bruxner Highway, it hit. I should say at this stage that "highway" was a way too generous term for the skinny little winding road we were travelling on. There were road works in parts as well and I noted the sign that said Casino was just over 100km away.
Driving down hill, in the dark pulling a 2 tonne loaded trailer, with the wipers on double speed in torrential rain was no picnic and at one stage we had to pull over for 15 minutes as we could not even see the front of the car. Were we scared? You bet your bloody boots we were. The dogs didn't seem to mind much. They were pretty tired by that stage anyway.
We limped into Casino about 8.30pm and headed for Maccas for a coffee and burger and did the usual phone calls to nervous parents assuring them we were fine and had survived the trip. We made it to Loretta's place about 9.30pm where it was still raining so after parking under a carefully rigged tarp, we extracted the queen bed mattress and dragged it into the spare room so we had something to sleep on. Amazingly, with the amount of rain we drove through, very little managed to penetrate the tarp Matt had covered the load with.
We unpacked the trailer the next day and after a couple more days rest and catching up, Sunday morning we headed back to Cowra. The return trip was a lot faster and much less fuel was required. We made it home in time to watch Australian Idol.
Now, we have booked the trailer again for 5 days on 23rd when we intend to take the rest of our stuff to Lismore and that, my friends will be a whole other story so stay tuned for the next episode.
This Monday however, we are taking delivery of our caravan so we can move into it. So, all things being equal, we will be able to spend the 9 days of December living in the back yard, resting and getting ready to leave Cowra for good once settlement has taken place. Life is good, the alternative sucks big time. Until next time dear readers, adios!
