Mapleton | Koala Rambling https://www.mykoala.net/wp around Australia Sun, 23 Aug 2020 21:42:06 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 Nearly travelling https://www.mykoala.net/wp/2020/116/ Thu, 20 Aug 2020 03:08:28 +0000 https://www.mykoala.net/wp/?p=116 We are another step closer to beginning our travels with our house and pet sitters taking up residence at our home. Yesterday Chris and I drove to Brisbane Airport to collect Carmel and Bill who flew in from Mackay. They will be looking after our cat Willow, the house and the garden while we are travelling.

Bimble at Lilyponds Holiday Park
Our home while travelling.

We have now moved into our caravan and are staying at Lilyponds Holiday Park in Mapleton that is very close to home. There are some outstanding chores we want to complete at home and a few more preparations to get the caravan set up how we want it. Missing and forgotten items need to be collected from home and some things that we have discovered we don’t need can be returned.

Sunday is our planned departure date to begin heading north. The town of Seventeen Seventy was going to be our first stop but the caravan park is booked out so we need to find another place to stop. We will not be stopping very long as we wish to get to Cooktown fairly quickly. We want to reach our northern most destination while the weather is cooler, then take out time travelling back to the Sunshine Coast for the start of December.

Once we have returned our next destination will depend upon what is happening with COVID-19 and travel restrictions. Our original plans were to have Christmas in Tasmania but our alternative is to go directly to South Australia. After summer we will travel north via Alice Springs to Darwin then the North West of Western Australia.

Plans are very flexible, but the caravan is our home now.

]]> The House Has Grass Again https://www.mykoala.net/wp/2020/105/ Wed, 22 Jul 2020 22:24:16 +0000 https://www.mykoala.net/wp/?p=105 Continuing on from the landscaping, our top tier has now been worked on and had the old grass and clay removed and graded to slope away from the house. We have also had new turf laid in time for the rain for fall for the rest of the week.

View from the bottom of the yard which has now been turfed.
The top tier out the back of the house

Even though the turf has been laid in the back yard there is still work to be completed finishing off the paving, stones and garden edging. After that has been accomplished the tidy up can begin along the access path down the side of the house and out the front of the house.

]]> Preparing the house to depart https://www.mykoala.net/wp/2020/55/ Fri, 17 Jul 2020 22:17:14 +0000 https://www.mykoala.net/wp/?p=55 As the hoped for planned date for our departure approaches this are getting things done around the house to make it lower maintenance for our pet/house sitters. There are still things to be completed before we can leave. Will we be able to complete everything in the comping two weeks?

Over the past month we were having the back yard re-landscaped, replacing the old rotting wooden sleeper retaining walls with concrete sleepers; the grass containing bindies and other weeds is being taken up and replace with rocks, stones and pebbles with turf in other areas.

The photos below are of the North side of the yard that get next to no sun during the winter.

Before North side
Before
After North side
After

The photos below are up the middle of the yard.

Before Steps
Before
After Steps
After

The photos below are of the south side of the yard.

Before South side
Before
After South side
After

The last stage is now under way, replacing the grass on the top terrace. As with all renovations we have found issues, with rain water pipes that are cracked and broken. These are being replaced over the weekend with the turf to arrive and be laid on Monday.

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