After almost 13 years and over 1700 published blog posts it is sometimes a bit tricky to come up with an original title that is relatively short, snappy and relevant.
I can, and sometimes do use a title more than once. In fact, this post was going to be ‘Home, Sweet Home’ as I have been away for about 10 days. However, I found that I had actually just about worn that out with no fewer than 6 blog posts with that moniker.
Anyway, enough rambling. I am arrived home safely on Tuesday afternoon following a trip to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. It was not under the best of circumstances as I attended a funeral. It was for my cousin who is only a year older than me and sadly lost a battle with bowel cancer.
I chose to spend some extra time in Queensland with my daughter and granddaughters as well as my brother and sister.
I have unpacked, done some washing and prepared meals so nothing terribly exciting happening here at the moment. We bought some fruit and vegetables yesterday and I spotted a couple of trays of mangoes. This is not a common sight in Victoria so I bought a tray. 14 medium sized mangoes for $15. I am planning to dehydrate some, freeze others and keep at least one fresh to make mango salsa to go with our dinner tomorrow night.
Well, I have finally made it back and such a lot has changed since my last post 9 days ago.
We said our goodbyes to family and friends and on the morning of Anzac Day (25th April) we left Brisbane with 2 fully laden vehicles and our small dog.
Since we are both driving a vehicle and we have no relief driver we planned the trip so that we are only driving about 350km each day. Goondiwindi was our first overnight stop. After four days of travel and overnight stops, we have made it to Jerilderie in southern New South Wales were we are staying for 2 nights. I finally have time and internet access to write this update.
The travel has been relatively easy and pleasant as the weather has been a comfortable 23 – 28C during the day. This is in stark contrast to the last 2 times we have driven this route. In December 2022 much of the area was reeling from the worst flooding in history with roads that were more potholes than road. There is still evidence of road damage in places but credit must go to the authorities for the monumental repair tasks that have been undertaken. Conversely, in December 2019 we drove this way in the grip of drought with not a drop of water seen in any of the smaller creeks and paddocks everywhere were completely destocked. The worst bushfires ever were about to destroy much of south-eastern Australia. Climate change?
It is a perfect time to catch some of the autumn foliage along the way. This was at Coonabarabran.
Tomorrow we will continue southwards and cross the mighty Murray River which is the border between New South Wales and our new home state of Victoria. It will be another 10 days before the settlement of our new home so we will be staying in an Air BnB accommodation in the meantime.
We will not be idle during that time as we have several appointments and activities planned but more about that in coming days.
I guess you thought from the title that I meant packing up an entire house.
No, just planning for a 4 night trip away. However, it will be to an area of distinctly inconsistent weather but it seems to be bordering on the cooler side (for summer) at the moment.
Two pairs of shoes.
A dress which can be worn with or without a cardigan.
Two pairs of trousers – emerald green linen pants and a pair of white slim-fit pants.
Two 3/4 sleeve tops.
Lightweight black pullover and cardigan.
White cotton shirt.
Short sleeve top.
Two scarves that will add both warmth and interest.
This is to cover predicted temperatures from 9C to 29C but mostly between about 15C and 22C.
It is interesting to note that the majority of the items were opshopped. The leather shoes were new last summer and one scarf and one top were bought new several years ago. The other scarf and cardigan were inherited from my mother. I made the white shirt from fabric that was given to me.
I retired from full-time, paid employment in July 2019 so it is now 15 months since I was last in the office. My finishing date was pretty much decided at least 2 years prior to my retirement. I did not really contemplate gradually reducing my hours or other strategies to ease into retirement. This bemused many people who continually quizzed me as to what I was going to do when I retired. I did not really have a clear answer which made them even more convinced that I would return.
The last 15 months has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. 6 weeks after my final day in the office, we headed overseas for a much-anticipated 9 week holiday. It was an amazing adventure which we thoroughly enjoyed. Towards the end of the trip GMan and I independently came to the same conclusion – that we would have a break in 2020 and not go overseas. What a fortuitous decision that proved to be. We had previously considered travelling to Scandinavia this year.
Upon our return from overseas towards the end of October we had barely 2 months at home before setting off on a road trip to Victoria. We spent Christmas with family and then planned to visit areas in eastern Victoria and south-eastern NSW but the worst bushfires in living memory crushed that plan. We did manage to visit more family in Canberra and experienced the impact of the smoke first-hand. Not a pleasant experience.
Home again in early January and we imagined that 2020 would be a time to settle into a steady routine. Enter COVID19 and the world seemed to be completely upturned. We were very grateful for the space we had – house and large garden, a well-stocked pantry as well as a garden which supplied at least some of our food requirements, not having paid work to try to do from home or children to homeschool. We were unable to see or visit family and friends for several weeks but this was barely a minor inconvenience compared to what some people have had to endure.
In fact, COVID19 gave us the opportunity to focus on projects around our home. A quick scroll through previous blog posts provides a bit insight. Compost bays, a cold frame, more raised garden beds and finishing the pergola are some of the outdoor improvements. Meanwhile, I prepared meals made predominately from our homegrown produce as well as sewing and mending. Furniture restoration completed.
As restrictions were lifted we resumed some of our activities and interests outside the home. Which brings me to the essence of this blog post.
It is easy to become immersed in a particular interest or activity to exclusion of most others. Therefore, my goal is to identify broad categories and try to include a mix of activities/interests. It is probably not feasible to try to do this each day but I think that it is possible within the timeframe of a week.
After some thought, I have come up with a list of general categories which cover most of the things I do. Yours may be a little different.
Administration Appointments Community engagement Craft and creating Family Friends Garden/outdoor maintenance Garden/outdoor projects Health and fitness Homemaking – regular/frequent tasks Homemaking – seasonal/occasional tasks Planning Relaxation Socialising and entertaining Travel
Of course, some of these definitely overlap and some activities may even cover 3 categories. The list is in alphabetical order so that no-one can question my priorities. I do not envisage making specific lists but it certainly helps to keep things in perspective.
Finally, to those people who were convinced that I would not have enough to do in retirement – you were definitely wrong. My days are occupied, interesting and most of all, fulfilling.
It is 7 years since I wrote this post. The essence of it was about rearranging the wardrobe in the spare room but the aspect which I want to discuss further was the fact that we had just hosted our first Air BnB guests.
We were first introduced to Air BnB by our daughter and used it on our first trip to the USA in 2012. Since then, we have stayed in Air BnB accommodations all over the world, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Singapore, Mauritius and Canada as well as in cities and rural areas in Australia.
In the spirit of the sharing economy, in mid-2013 we decided that we would offer our spare room on Air BnB. We have not had huge numbers of guests due to our location and somewhat limited appeal but we have enjoyed hosting guests from all over Australia as well as many international guests.
We had never really decided if or when we would cease to host on Air BnB. Like so many other aspects of life in 2020, our hand has been forced with the appearance of COVID19. Since our guests are in our home and share space with us, we decided to immediately suspend our listing until at least the end of August.
The hiatus created by COVID19 provided space for us to consider the future of our Air BnB hosting and it was some degree of sadness that we made the decision not to resume hosting as travel restrictions are gradually eased.
As well as the obvious continuing risk of COVID19, there are a multitude of reasons that have combined to lead us to our decision. These include:
acquiring a new dog in the future
desire for more short-term travel
want more flexibility in activities in retirement
being able to welcome friends and family to stay at any time
physical demands of changing an extra bed frequently
additional cleaning that is required
The experience of being an Air BnB host has been amazing but it is time to move on.
You could be mistaken for thinking that I have no other interests apart from what I write about here.
While gardening, cooking and sewing are both hobbies and an integral part of our simple, sustainable life they are not my only interests.
GMan and I have many shared interests. Films, books, photography, history, music, art, architecture and travel are equally as important to me as the more practical pursuits. I don’t have as much time as I would like to indulge in some of these and they are often mostly confined to holiday times.
We both enjoy the films and social interaction provided by the local film society screenings each fortnight in our country town. Today was the AGM of the society and I have accepted the role of secretary for a second year. Community organisations such as the film society exist due the generous contribution of members who volunteer in a variety of ways and I feel that it is important to give back to the community in this way.
Are your hobbies inextricably linked to your lifestyle or do you have hobbies or interests that are……..just because?
I meant to tell you that there would be a break in blog posts as I was going on holidays but I was caught up with final preparations and forgot to do a post.
So, here I am on the other side of the world and just wanted to let you know that I am still blogging, albeit on a different site. You can follow along with my UK adventures on Somewhere, Anywhere.
We have just spent two nights with friends in south Wales and you can read about it on the travel blog. This was particularly special because we are friends as a direct result of this blog and a close connection formed as a result of our common interests.
People write blogs for all sorts of reasons – as a diary, to make money, to promote their business and so on. I started my blog as a way of recording my thoughts and particular interests and hopefully to connect with like-minded individuals and share ideas.
Meeting someone on the other side of the world, whom I regard as a good friend and who I have been lucky enough to meet in person on two occasions has been a real joy. I am truly grateful for her friendship.
You never know what is on the other side of that door………….
No, we are not about to retire, although today is GMan’s birthday and it is a reminder that the time when we are no longer in paid employment is edging inexorably closer.
It is strange how thoughts seem to align. A friend posed the question on Facebook today, “What are your retirement plans?” The answers varied but an overarching theme seemed to be travel and writing which may have something to do with her particular group of Facebook friends. However, I was blown away when one respondent stated, “I’m hoping to simply make it to retirement age!!” That really put it into perspective because although we all risk not making it her odds are definitely not as good as most of us.
I also saw my own plans with a great deal more clarity. I realised that my retirement plans are very similar to the reality of my life today and while some could view that as rather boring I can see that I am living my life as I choose here and now, today and every day. I don’t want to sound morbid but if anything happened that I did not reach the age at which I intend to retire I would still have done and seen much of want I want to do and see.
We need to create a balance in our lives but I would implore you to savour each and every day as well as planning for the future.
organised castle 