Committed Travellers

When we first were at home the heat and humidity limited what outside jobs I was able to complete, and then the rain kept us inside minimising our travel. The rain has eased and it is warm and humid. Yesterday I walked to Surfers Paradise while Blue was with the groomer. There was traffic chaos as a sheet of metal had blown onto a neighbouring roof. Traffic on Chevron Island hardly moved so it was lucky I had left home early for the grooming appointment. There were several dogs for Blue to interact with, including a boxer belonging to the owner. The photos of Blue are before and after his professional haircut. The fence is finished but like most tradies they managed to do a 99% job. I have trimmed 2mm off a paling that overlapped a metal bracket causing it to distort. There are a couple of other problems with the retaining wall so that means working on my hands and knees and can wait until it is cooler and drier. We had visitors for a few days and they helped me put the side gate back.

We arrived home on 30 November, passing through the border checkpoint at Wallangarra on its last day of operation. Unfortunately we were too early for the lovely cafe at the old railway station that was within sight of the checkpoint. In desperation we had McDonald's for "breakfast" on the outskirts of Stanthorpe. At least there is parking out the back for trucks and we pretended to be a truck for 10 minutes. Our preferred route home is via Cunningham's Gap, Boonah, Beaudesert and Nerang. There were so many delays due to roadworks that we probably spent more than an hour in total waiting to pass. All of this work needs doing as the roads need widening or resurfacing. The parking space outside our house was available for the Bushtracker so it is up on its wooden ramps. The little critters went crazy running from one end of the house to the other. By the second day they ran less, and today they are tired and wanting cuddles! On the day we returned I received a phone cal