House Sale Update

Had a good offer on the house today, which we have accepted.
So subject to building and pest inspections, it could be all go!
One really good thing is that the couple who made the offer will rent the house back to us till we are ready to go.
Everything is crossed!

Yay ! We can walk our dogs on the grass again !

Last Sunday we went to a protest meeting regarding one of our regular dog walking routes.  The Council had decided (without consultation with anyone) to ban dogs from walking on the grass along side the path (they are already banned from going on beaches!) - this meant that we could only allow our pooches to walk - and poo and wee - on the footpath - and not step foot onto the grass !  Yes - beaureacracy at its best !

The reason for the ban was that some little penguins had been killed a while ago ... supposedly by a dog (that no-one saw and there was no evidence of it being a dog!) - amongst the dog walkers, we feel it was more likely to have been a fox - but the anti-dog squad would never entertain that possibility !  (PS:  The penguins referred to used to be called 'Fairy Penguins', but now due to political correctness, the are termed 'Little Penguins' !)

Anyway ... I digress ... after much ado and complaints at the council meeting on Monday night the ridiculous ban got rescinded !  Yay - common sense prevails!  Following is the article from the paper yesterday.

We are so limited in our dog walking activities around here already ... this was like the final straw !  Soooo glad they have seen sense !

A year or so ago the Council came up with another beauty - they said dogs weren't allowed within a 10 m radius of any area where food was served - this basically meant that we weren't allowed to walk down the footpath with the dogs - ie, past the cafes with the outdoor chairs !  That one lasted for a little while before it got booted out for its absurdity !

Here are two happy puppies ...

Interest in the house ...

Well, today our Real Estate guy rang to say that he had a very interested party in the house.  However ... they weren't that keen on our 6 month settlement. We um'd and ah'd about the possibilities of renting ourselves (in order to bring the settlement date earlier) but the chances of renting with 5 animals is nigh on impossible - so we will just have to wait and see if they are willing to wait !

To be continued !

Open House

Yesterday we had another Open House in the afternoon.   We had nine groups go through the place with two interested and one very interested !  Hopefully we will get a (good!) offer on Monday ... fingers crossed!

Open House !

If all goes well with the animals' vaccinations, we would not be able to leave here until the end of September, so if the house doesn't sell in the next couple of weeks we are torn between a full marketing campaign in July / August or leaving it until the New Year.  There are a few reasons for our 'torn-ness' - these being (1) Paul leaving his company in the lurch in the peak season, leading up to Christmas and (2) arriving on the canal system in the beginning of winter, rather than toward the end of winter.  Decisions, decisions ... ! :)

... and introducing the rest of the 'family' !

Here are some pics of the other fluffy kids, who will be travelling with us aboard our Narrowboat! (If anyone has any hints about travelling with cats on boats, they would be most welcome !)

Geoffrey (Ginger and White) and William

Geoffrey is slightly different now from when this pic was taken .. in that he has no ears !  He is a silly old cat and tends to lay out a lot in this Aussie sunshine .. he developed little skin cancers and so the vet lopped them off ... ears and all ... poor Geoffrey !  Geoffrey is 18 years + and William is around 15 years old - they are sleepy old boys, so hopefully should be happy to snooze and watch the world go by on our boat!

Jaffa (Ginger cat) and Bella (Rabbit)

No .. we are not planning to bring the rabbit along !! (I would if I could ... Elaine).

Jaffa is a 'different kettle of fish' (!) - he came to us as a stray and is still a bit 'feral'.  We can't really leave him behind with anyone else - just wouldn't be fair on him or them - so he is coming too.  We have no idea how old he is - but he does sleep a lot, so should be OK !

Friday Night in Manly !

Until we have a Narrowboat in the UK, these pages will show what we are up to in our weekly lives in Oz ...

On Friday night we took our regular walk down to Manly with the dogs.

After half an hour's walk along the beachfront, we come to Manly Corso ...

Manly Corso, heading towards the Ferry Wharf

At the end of the Corso is the Manly Wharf - where the ferries come in ... 

Manly Wharf

View from back of the Wharf - the 'Fast Ferry' just arrived, bringing home all the workers from the City!

One of the Manly Ferries, just arriving !

Wharf Restaurants with Ferry in background

But the best bit of the Wharf is one of our 'locals' - the Bavarian Bier Cafe, where we can sit outside with the dogs and have a 'bier' ... (but only one 'cos it is hellishly expensive !!)

Bavarian Bier Cafe, Manly

Paul, Bombo and Sam (dogs are very interested in a mouse that just ran by !)

Here we go ...

Well ... we have been threatening to do this for a long time and here we go !  We are two poms living in Aus but with the plan to live aboard a Narrowboat and cruise the canals of England ... Wales  ?? When we eventually get our Narrowboat we will name it 'NB The Manly Ferry' - until then, it is a concept !

Bombo

So - where are we up to with these great plans ?  Well, as we will be bringing our animals aboard we have had to make preparations for them to be fully vaccinated against Rabies.  All 5 of them have had vaccinations and follow up blood tests - and then 6 months hence they can be issued with their pet passports, they can travel with us on the plane and can be collected at Heathrow, ready to start their new lives in Blighty !  We have 5 animals to bring with us .. Bombo and Sam - our dogs, Geoffrey, William and Jaffa - our cats.  We also currently have a rabbit - who looks very cute but is quite big ... we will be looking for a home for her very soon - so if there are any takers out there, please contact us !!

Sam

What next .. our house is on the market - albeit at a preliminary stage - see the following ...  http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-freshwater-107297785#
We have had a few visits from interested folk but we are just waiting for 'the one' - we aren't in a rush really as we still have to wait 6 months for the animals to be cleared !

The original time frame for these plans was going to be 3 years but after a boozy Australia Day in the pool, we decided to expedite our plans as - especially after a few champagnes - you realise that life is quite short and you really never know what is around the corner.  Anyway, we decided to take the Bull by the horns and go for it !

We are currently frantically cleaning and decluttering .. how much STUFF can you accumulate ?!!  We are getting there slowly but surely and are getting more excited by the day that our long-held dreams are coming to fruition.  We are um'ing and ah'ing about storage / freighting / garage sales ... what to keep / what to ditch... tricky !!!

We probably wont be blogging every day - 'til the pace quickens - so we will be filling in with our life in Oz until then ... stay tuned !!