The boys are here

 The boys arrived in their 'Gypsy Caravan' alias John's old Subaru(Packed to the rafters) on Sunday11th..
I had regular updates from Tom via mobile phone as they made their way from Sydney to Holbrook to Melbourne to Devonport to Hobart and finally to Cygnet...quite a journey.

I enjoyed preparing for their arrival...baking my first Chocolate Cake in my new oven...

We settled in by enjoying a relaxed lunch of local produce...fresh breads, ham, cheeses etc and local Apple juice.
Then after unpacking the car, we decided to head up the hill to our land at Wattle Grove to collect kindling and have a walk. A beautiful light across the paddocks that time of the afternoon.



Tom and his Tassie Devil friend "Pink Ears"

Monday morning we were up early. I drove Phillip to the airport leaving at 6.30am to be back for work by 9am. Our 2nd load of boxes was due to arrive that morning too, so John and Tom stayed home to direct the unloading. Thomas was very tired and unwell most of the day...so slept alot of the day away...a good thing really.

Amidst the great unload, we continued business as usual with lots of orders coming through. Good that business is rolling along...but a quiet day would be nice...feel like its hard to catch my breath .

Tuesday was a busy day with orders, builders and electricians on site...
Tom was feeling more himself and had a lovely time playing with Bosun (the builder's dog)

We headed in to Huonville after work day was over..hoping to have a meal at the internet cafe..but they were about to close..so ended up heading back to Cygnet bottom pub for dinner(there are 3 pubs in town..referred to as top, middle and bottom)..nice friendly atmosphere and food is ok. Met up with a couple of locals ..Bruce from the B&B and the woman who delivered our drums of ethanol...They obviously exchanged stories as they waited for their takeaway meals as Bruce commented as he went past our table that he knew where to come if he ever needed ethanol...Ah..small town life..
A rainy squally night..good to be 2 minute walk from home.

Bottom Pub

Wednesday dawned a lovely day...except for computer issues!! Couldn't get the printer to work. Had been ok yesterday before the electricians came!! I quickly reached the limit of my troubleshooting capacities so phoned our remote support team who dialled in and still no success. So the next idea was to ring our Architect to see if he knew anyone local who was good. Gave me a number to try but I had no luck getting through. The next idea after that was to go next door to the Town Hall where there is an internet office. Found Roy, a retired felllow who comes in to town on Wednesdays to help 'man' the office. Roy said he'd come over and take a look. Well 2 hours later, after trying all sorts of things, he got to the bottom of the problem and the printer was up and running again...what a marvel...I love living in this town. He is such an interesting bloke and he taught me a thing or two about the computer as well.

Tom had a great day. He discovered that he could hop on is bike and do laps around the back dirt lane and around to the front of the shop. We set him the task of riding up to the post office with parcels to post. He thoroughly enjoyed the independence of taking this on...and we had alot of orders to keep him busy.
We bought Tom's uniform and bag for St James and went to the Newsagent where the owners Martin and Genevieve helped gather together books etc Tom will need for term 3...quite exciting..
John spent a bit of time setting up Tom's room with shelves..will be quite cosy

Thursday, Tom and I took a break and went for a lovely bike ride to Burton's reserve then down to the Sailing club and back. The weather was quite changeable but it didn't bother us at all. So fun to be able to take off and enjoy a lovely time together in this beautiful place.

Miniature sailing boats race at the Sailing Club

 

Ryan (architect) came over in the afternoon to see how things are going.
Progress is slow..there are so many things that need finishing throughout the building and the external work to be done is extensive. Ryan assures us that when Dave the boss is back from hols in Vanuatu with his family...he will crack the whip and get things finished.. I think it will be some time before we have this place to ourselves.. (its a bit wearing..but we are quite cosy and mostly in shop area during the day anyway)
We had a very enjoyable discussion with Ryan about our house plans...a whole new adventure there..
More talks to come but I think we are getting closer to an agreed design..

Friday was a wild windy day in town..
Builders were trying to put up the pressed metal under awning out front but gave up as ladders were blowing over and metal flying in the gusts. Tom had great fun riding about again..gaining more confidence. I took him to the library across the road  and he stayed for a while to look at books then made his own way back...He loves this freedom.
John , Tom and I took a morning tea break at the Red Velvet Lounge enjoying fresh baked muffin/ cheesecake/ choc chip cookie and cuppa's...what a life change..hard to realise this is actually our life now.
Back to work and unpacking a few boxes between orders.

Last orders in to the post then we took a drive to Gordon (about 30 mins southeast of here) to visit Ned Trewartha...a local wooden boat builder who is going to make us a Huon pine table for the shop. He wanted us to see the timber before going further. Amazingly huge slabs of the most magnificent Huon pine that has been salvaged from logged areas on the West Coast (These trees are no longer legally felled). Ned is such and interested and talented bloke...very willing to share his stories and show us some of his work...so beautiful. we feel really privileged that he is prepared to make this table. (Interestingly he has quite an association with Lord Howe Island..having made the furniture for the accommodation where we stayed when we went there) We stayed for a cuppa and Ned's wife Kim had made a lovely pate, ginger biscuits and Nori rolls for us to enjoy...wonderful country hospitality.
Tom enjoyed playing with their do Dougie!!



John and Ned ..Huon slabs for our table



One of Ned's handcrafted boats



Tom and Dougie



Finished off the day with dinner at Peppermint Bay Bistro on the way back home..A lovely dark drive over country mountain roads them home to our cosy flat... a good day.

Saturday and a slow start...no builders..yay.

Unpacked a few boxes, breakie then we headed in to Hobart.

Bought a sofabed that I had sussed out last visit here. Went and looked at curtains and made arrangements for a measure and quote to be done next Thurs.

Then Tom's treat..off to Salamanca Markets to trawl the stalls... lovely mild day and lots of music and activity as usual. Very enjoyable.

Back home to an afternoon snooze..then we broke up the reast of the kindling that we collected from our land last Sunday and made a good stack inside. Unpacked a few more boxes..looking for pencil case for school and name labels...found them after much searching...but haven't unearthed the iron yet..Tom's shirts could do with an iron...will keep looking tomorrow...

Tom rode and I walked up to IGA to get food to cook for dinner...then home to prepare the meal and enjoy a peaceful night...just lovely!!