The kitchen and dining table, there is a set of sliding doors opening onto patio areas at either side.

We have settled in really well and managed to spread ourselves out to fill most of the house. Ben has his own bedroom and private bathroom, as well as his big garden so he is happy too.

The front room which has an unbelievable 5 sets of curtains including 3 double sliding doors, a front door and a front window!!

The inside of the house is similar to the previous two we have lived in here, in that the living areas are very much open plan. As you walk in the front door you are in the large front room, turn right and you walk into the enormous kitchen with a 13 foot long sideboard! There is also space for our new table and chairs set we bought to fill in the space! Keep going and there is a long corridor leading to a guest bathroom, utility room and toilet on the left and a study and two bedrooms on the left. At the top end of the corridor is the master bedroom with….. ensuite bathroom and walk in wardrobe – oh yes, that was the deal-breaker!!

The side garden

The garden is fantastic, the previous owners were very green-fingered and dutifully watered the garden every day so it is very lush and green, there are palms surrounding the garden (which surrounds all sides of the house) and sheltered areas at either side to sit under and entertain.

Our enormous palm trees - we now have a double hammock between these trees!

The new house is fantastic. To be honest, I was a little worried that I really had taken to our duplex – it was small, but it was very homely and comfortable to live in. What if the new house was too big and we didn’t feel as cosy in it? My worries were blown away with the breeze from the enormous palms in our new front garden.

Note our controversial England flags for the World Cup

Early May 2006

Another New House

Just as we had stepped foot back in Moranbah after our trip to England, we had hardly taken a breath before we were informed that someone needed to move into our duplex the next weekend and therefore we had to move into our new house asap!
We were literally moving round the corner from our duplex - in fact the back gardens of each nearly back on to one another. But even so, relocating all your belongings is no easy task. Over the next week between working we managed to shift everything round the corner into our very spacious new home, we couldn’t justify a removal van so we were very inventive getting the furniture over, the neighbours would have been amused watching the freezer and washing machine trundle past their window on a set of wheels.

The biggest Van Gogh in the world?!?!

The other feature on the playing fields was a huge easel, very odd to see in the middle of nowhere. The easel had a claim to fame - it featured the world’s biggest Van Gogh sunflower painting!! The easel is 25 metres high and is built from 13.6 tonnes of steel. It is part of a concept by Cameron Cross to erect seven sunflower sculptures in seven different countries, reproducing Van Gogh’s seven different sunflower paintings. The reason Emerald was chosen as the location for this is that it is situated in a major sunflower production area. Further research on this led me to the website www.thebigeasel.com which is great – you can even request a big easel for your city! The Van Gogh project is featured, and they are hoping to get into the Guinness Book of Records with it. The Emerald construction/painting took two and a half months to complete and he has recently been back to clean and repaint it, so it is all very impressive stuff for an afternoon on the football fields in Emerald!

The Galah-Tree

Saturday 27th May

We got back into Moranbah on Thursday afternoon from our trip to England and we had no time to rest. On the Saturday, still suffering jetlag, we had to go to Emerald for a football match. Moranbah, Emerald and Dysart are in a mini-league and due to the immense distances, they play once a month and there are three games (so everyone plays each other). Emerald is 2.5 hours away from Moranbah so it is always a delight to play there. It is actually parallel to Rockhampton and is part of the gem-fields area I discussed in a previous post (hence the name!)

A brief history of Emerald is that the town was established in 1879 as a base for the railway line which was reaching out from Rockhampton into the Central West. Unfortunately, little is left of Emerald's early history as it was ravaged by major fires in 1936, 1940, 1954 and 1968. Emerald would have continued as a small town had it not been for a decision made in 1948 by the British Food Corporation to grow sorghum (used for silage, grain/stockfeed apparently – I have never heard of it!) in the area. This highlighted the suitability of the local soil to crop growing. To strengthen the agricultural base of the area a huge Dam was built in 1972. This facilitated the shift of the shire's economic focus from cattle to crops. It now produces over 25 % of Queensland's cotton.

Ben made the trip with us, as after 3 weeks in kennels, he made sure we weren’t going anywhere without him! I can’t actually remember what the scores of the football matches were, but it was a nice afternoon, and Ben and I completed many circuits of the playing fields. On our travels, as the sun started setting, I came across the most amazing photo-opportunity, it was a completely bare tree covered in Galahs! The photograph to anyone who didn’t know just looks like pink blossom on a tree, but this is in fact the pink chests of all the Galahs. David Bailey stand aside!

Flying back into Mackay, Ben was waiting to collect us at the airport (we wish!) and then back to Moranbah. 25 MAY: Arrive back in Moranbah after a tough drive from Mackay!

Our home for the next 24 hours...

23 MAY 2006: THE LONG LONG JOURNEY BACK TO OZ

Mum and dad - thanks to them for letting us stay there some of the time and for the lovely meals - especially the cooked breakfast!!

With mum and dad before we set off (I still had to try and cram everything into my suitcase at this point!)

23 MAY: LEAVING PHOTOS (BEFORE JUMPING ON SUITCASE)

Andy and I, missing Ben who would have loved racing around here.

Mum and I enjoying the bluebells at Brayton Barff

23 MAY: WALK AT BRAYTON BARFF WITH MUM

Grandma

Janice and Graham

Digger - Graham, Christine and Alison's new adorable labrador pup - who probably has quadrupled in size by now!!

23 MAY: LAST DAY IN ENGLAND, VISIT TO GRANDMA'S

Dad, Andy, Stuart, Kate and mum after a beautiful goodbye meal!

22 MAY: LAST SUPPER WITH MY FAMILY

Amy, Lidia and Andy - Congratulations to Amy and Andy on the birth of Millie Grace in July!!

Story time with Andy and Lidia

Lidia with her new rucksack!

22 MAY: VISIT TO SEE ANDY, AMY AND LIDIA AT THEIR NEW HOUSE IN BAWTRY

Andy's Spanish parents, Juan and Christina, on their trip back to England to meet up with us! It was great exchanging stories with them and hearing about John's mountaineering exploits!

22 MAY: MEAL IN DONCASTER WITH ANDY's PARENTS

I think Andy and I won?!

Me and Nichola

Gary, Andy and Vinny

Nik, Gary, Andy and me in the Londesborough

Gary, Dicko, Vinny, Daz and Andy in Cochranes Wharf

21 MAY: NIGHT OUT IN SELBY WITH GARY AND NICHOLA

Jessica, Caroline and I in the bridal suite

Caroline and Mike's wedding was a really wonderful day, our big thanks to them for inviting us to share their special day, we wouldn't have missed it for anything, and I was very honoured, proud and delighted to be their bridesmaid!

Me with Sharman, Pauline and Sara

Me and Andy looking very smart

20 MAY: CAROLINE AND MIKE'S WEDDING!!

The dresses

The bridal bouquet

Hannah prepares for the curls

All done! Now we just have to get to the wedding without getting too wet outside in the rain!

Jess is all glamorous

I'd make a good washer-woman, or Coronation street extra!

Mike's mum is trying a new trend of one curl on top of her head!

Hannah and Jessica waiting their turn

Me before the curls arrived

20 MAY: WEDDING DAY PREPARATIONS

Nicky and I (not the best picture of me, but believe me, this was the result of many attempts for me to look half decent!! It had been a long drunken day the day before!)

Nicky

19 MAY: YORK WITH NICKY
Big thanks to Nicky for coming down from Edinburgh to see me for a few hours!

The girls on the dancefloor

Andy, Bek, Brett, Ivan, Amanda and me

Stuart (who we met up with in York), Gary and Andy in a converted church bar - called The Chapel??!

Blame Gladys for the blur! Bek, Brett, Andy, me, Amanda and Ivan

Still going strong...at Varsity after the races with Ivan, Amanda, Andy, Brett and Bek

The boys meet up at the races: Dicko, Vinny, Gladys, Daz, Gary and Andy

Ivan, Brett, Amanda, Bek and Andy

18 MAY: MORANBAH REUNION AT YORK RACES! IVAN AND AMANDA, BRETT AND BEK & ME AND ANDY
It was great to meet up with Ivan and Amanda (who moved to Wolverhampton, England from Moranbah, Australia in January 06) and Brett and Bek (also from Moranbah) who were in the middle of travelling through Europe when they met up with us at the races in York!

Caroline and I

Caroline and Jessica

Grandma, mum and I