A cool weekend at Underhill

We took the opportunity offered by no Sunday commitments to stay over at Underhill to give us 2 days there. We had more jobs to do of course. Jen finished their family shed by vacuuming the floor and reassembling all the beds. The things now left in there are Geoff and Jen's stuff and the electrical materials on the trolley. Geoff finished off the wiring so they have softer lighting at night and it is all wired permanently into the caravan solar power source.

Another job was to fix the downpipe into the tank system that had fallen apart some months ago. This time Geoff had the right lengths of pipe and glued it all together as last time it was really only a temporary measure. The top tank inlet was also quite blocked causing flooding through the 'loungeroom' so he cleaned out that as well. We'll have to watch that and clean it out regularly or the tanks don't fill. Geoff was most appreciative of Greg's help, especially with the downpipes.

Ponyo's main job was chewing sticks and having lots of swims, coming back to shake all over us when we were most vulnerable.

The far dam is slowly receding with the summer heat.

Greg and Evelyn came for a Saturday visit. How fantastic to enjoy their company again. They are so much help with all sorts of tasks.

Elaine came down with me so that meant I brought my car and had lots of room to take home rubbish for the bins. Thanks for the company Elaine. After Geoff and Jen left on Sunday, Elaine and I were able to tidy the 'carport' area and Elaine swept out all the leaves that had accumulated on the mats throughout all the living areas.

On Saturday Elaine and I mapped the remaining fruit trees. There is a total of 49 living trees of various ages although some of them look as though they are struggling, like the pistacios that were planted about 30 years ago and are still only a foot high. The only fruit harvested was about 30 damsons.

Ivy loves the block and loves being on the  mat where she can find all the dirt and leaves and sticks.

She also loves all the cuddles she gets.

Elaine got this great photo of a lizard we saw as we were mapping the trees.

Thanks to all who came and helped in so many ways. It is always so relaxing to be there even though there are always jobs to be done.

The weather was kind and was overcast most of the time with some rain. The sun came out for a while on Saturday afternoon just to make us feel it really was the height of summer. The night was cool.

Gerroa to start the year

Saturday 2 January
I left home at about 9:30 and visitied Karen and Andrew at Mt Pleasant for lunch. They have made much progress on their house renovations and garden since I saw their home about a year ago. Luckily I was driving against the traffic as the number of people heading back to Sydney was horrendous. I arrived at the beach house a few minutes before Geoff and family. We called the agent and were soon delivered keys so made ourselves at home.

Geoff and Ivy went for a swim in the river to christen the new Nemo wetsuit. She loved the water even though it was colder than the warm baths and swimming pool she is used to.

We spent the evening settling in and scrounging dinner from the left over food we had brought with us from home.

Sunday 3 January
This morning we treated ourselves to breakfast at the local cafe. It was delicious and Ivy was quite happy eating one of my crusts.

A lazy day with me resting to try and shake this cold I got just before Christmas.

After lunch Ellen and family arrived and settled in then at about 4pm we headed for the surf. Luke loved his new green surf board, Alex used Jen's body board and had a ball. We all caught waves and Ivy just loved the splashes and jumping over the shore ripples with the help of Geoff and I.

Monday 4 January
After a slow morning with heavy rain and lots of herding of adults and children Ellen and family left to meet friends at Huskisson and Geoff and Jen left to see the new Star Wars movie.

Ivy, Ponyo and I had a really lazy day at home. The rain continued on and off so we watched lots of kid's TV.

Tuesday 5 January
Rain, rain, rain! This morning we relented and had a surf in the rain and a few walks in the rain too. It is amazing how we long for rain but after a full day of it we are bored and crave just even a walk outside. The rain is doing my garden at home so much good though.

Janice and Rauri, and Karen and Alastair arrived in time for a cuppa before we all ascended the hill to the Fishermans Club for a huge seafood lunch.

My jig-saw (an Escher one), trivial pursuit and movies with a lot of chatter filled the afternoon before Karen and Alastair left for home. We had a light dinner of salad and eggs (from Rauri and Janice) before they left for home in the still heavy rain.

Wednesday 6 January
With all this rain the whole village is very quiet. More movies! Geoff, Jen, Ivy and I went to Berry but even got drenched ducking between shops.

Tonight's movie was The Imitation Game.

Thursday 7 January
We had spells of blue sky and enough clear weather to take Ponyo for a run at Werri. Geoff and Ellen's family went for a swim mid morning but soon returned as it is now an offshore wind with the rain so it was quite miserable.

At least Ivy is sleeping well this morning.

Geoff, Jen, Ivy and I went to visit Rauri for lunch at the farm. It gave Ponyo time to run wild with Stella and us time to look at the vegie patch and discuss options in relatively fine weather.

Back to the house then the day fined up. Kite flying was amazing in the fair sw wind. The surf was quite rough and the wind offshore so we ditched the idea of a surf. It was amazing how many people came out of the woodwork to enjoy the river once the weather actually fined up.

Ellen's family left after dinner to return home and we watched The Adjustment Bureau.

Friday 8 January
Up to a fine, sunny morning at last so an early surf before breakfast and then a morning of sorting.

Jen's cousins Charmaine and Patrick arrived. They spent the afternoon at the beach. I went for a walk in the afternoon and soon afterwards we made our way up to the Fisherman's Club for dinner. It was really crowded compared to our lunch on Tuesday.

We enjoyed an evening together and did a bit more sorting.

Saturday 9 January
This morning was all go packing the cars and sorting the house for our return home.

Even though it had been a very wet week we were pleased to have had the break and felt ready to return home and begin our new year.