Our Time in Oz - Sydney and Bello

We arrived back in Australia after being away for about 20 months.  We have been experiencing an occasional feeling of disconnect but are very happy to catch up with everyone and breathe in the Australian air filled with the scents of eucalyptus. 

Our first stop was to spend a few days in Sydney with Bob’s stepfather and brother.  It was heartening to see that Ray, at 88, has gone back to singing in his choir and is keeping active.  During our time away, creeping suburbia has invaded the pretty rural setting of the home of Bob’s brother; a sad consequence of ‘progress’.  Les is holding out to keep his few acres of Oz.

Bob, Ray and Les

Our next stop was up the Pacific Highway to Bellingen to catch up with friends, to inspect our house and see how our belongings have fared during their time in storage.  Our friend, Wendy, offered us her flat in Coffs Harbour for our stay.  We were so grateful for the offer.  Not only did it save us hundreds in accommodation cost but the setting was just magic.  It struck us that in all our time living in Bellingen, Coffs was generally a place to come to for a big shop and then return home.  We now had the opportunity to leisurely explore the area and what a beautiful area it is.  We now have a whole new appreciation of Coffs Harbour.

Our view of Coffs Harbour from Wendy's flat

Sunrise from the bedroom window

Our house on Shamballa was looking good.  All the renovations and landscaping we did in 2014 -15 have paid off as the place is much easier for tenants to maintain.  We have a new tenant, Andrew, a tree surgeon.  He has already been up the 100 foot Tallowood tree in the front paddock and removed a dead branch.  It looks like he and his two girls are loving the place as much as we do.  We hope they will stay for some time.

Solar Mist, which we had wrapped up in tarps, looked just as we left her (though I could tell she was feeling very sad to have been usurped by her big sister).  All our household goods are stored in a 20 foot shipping container.  We were game only to open it up and peek inside to check that no leaks or obvious damage had occurred.  As nice as it would have been to get a few things, we were not going to start unpacking.  All was fine inside but as we locked up the container we wondered how much of what it contained would we really want or need when we come back to live in Bellingen.  The Troopie fared the worst during our absence.  We hadn’t covered it and it was filthy, covered in gum leaves and very musty inside.  We cleaned it up as best we good, chased out the critters that had taken up residence and covered it with a tarp.  Fingers crossed we will still have a usable vehicle when we next return.

Horace, the Huntsman spider, living in the Troopie

We caught up with friends and visited Josh’s grave in the cemetery.  Our little cemetery on the property now has six people remembered there.  It is a very beautiful spot.   

After 5 days it was time to head to Canberra to see the boys and start our house sitting caper.  As always we leave Bellingen with a mix of emotions, torn between our love of the place and its people and our need to travel and sail.