The Climbing Tree

All kids love climbing trees! And they seem to be less and less common - maybe health and safety and all that.

But the LYH has a climbing tree in the front yard.

Of course it's never as easy as it looks ... and Ali soon discovered that a T-shirt is not the best attire for coming back down.

That was easily fixed, and she returned for a second go (this time without parents watching and 'helping'!

Full House

Our LYH is only a 3-bedroom cottage, but it's open plan and has a bright, spacious feel. Over the Christmas break we not only had Ali visiting, but also James and Lisa and Jakob and Cooper.



These little red futons are very light and rest on flimsy plastic legs, but at a pinch they are fine to sleep on for a night.

Getting in-stated

We have been working on becoming Queenslanders (again - we were in this state for the '80's of course.)



We are now less noticable on the roads as the car is sporting Queensland plates. (Not nearly as interesting as having WA plates!)

When Ali gets in the kitchen ...

It's lovely having Ali visiting with us for a while!

We get served with random snacks like this pikelet fruit stack!

That's the Point!

Picnic Point!

Lovely little spot on the outskirts of town, looking over the escarpment and the road leading down towards Brisbane.



That's Tabletop Mountain, by the way.

There's a restaurant, of course, with cakes and coffee ...

And a bit of a playground - with some pretty cool stuff!!



An hour or two well spent.

Is that a Woomba?

Sunday evening, working in our office room at the front of the LYH, with windows open to catch breeze - including a window that swings out into the carport and has no flyscreen!

Suddenly we noticed something on the white Holland blinds ...

Apparently the whole experience may have been a little distressing for this buggie ... and this was before we caught him and sent him back outside. (Now there is a nasty little splodgy stain on the blind!)

Toowoomba or not Toowoomba?

After a fairly stressful year of working in Saudi Arabia, we returned to Australia for a bit of a holiday, and then studied for a few months at Edith Cowan Uni in Perth.

And finally it was time to GET BACK TO WORK!

When you are unemployed, do you

• look for a job near where you live or
• go live near where you might find a job - ?
  

Across the Deadly Desert to Toowoomba

We saw a job going in Toowoomba ... and everyone said Toowoomba is a nice place.

So we packed our two suitcases, and the few odds and ends we had bought, into the car, and drove East for four days, and then North for half a day.

It was a relatively easy trip, overcast most of the way, but with thick dust storms around Broken Hill.

Somewhere to live

We arrived on a Sunday, and booked into a caravan park for four nights to give ourselves time to find somewhere to live. We spent Monday visiting Real Estate agents, and on Tuesday managed to go to a "viewing" of a couple of houses that looked nice. We were sure the second one was what we wanted, and we impressed on the agent that we wanted to move in on Thursday ... she said she would see what she could do, but wasn't very hopeful. Within a couple of hours she rang us to say we had been successful!

So on Wednesday we went to Fantastic Furniture and ordered a bed, mattress, table, chairs, and sofa (all flat-pack) to be delivered on Thursday, and a few items from "Searcher's End" (a second hand shop), and a fridge, washing machine and microwave from Harvey Norman, also to be delivered on Thursday.

The LYH

Don't you love acronyms? (initials for everything!)

This is the lovely Little Yellow House we are renting!

It has polished wooden floorboards throughout, and a lovely big open-plan kitchen and living area.

Level 5 Water Restrictions

Toowoomba has a severe water shortage, with level 5 restrictions prohibiting use of hoses and even buckets.

Still green and pretty though!