Four Hundred Shipping Boxes

Two Whales and an Otter

Fri May 27th 

Downstairs recreation room/bedroom

It seems to take so much longer to unpack than pack.  We are surrounded by boxes and it has taken a long time to make a dent in the various stacks.  As we feared we have more possessions than we want or need,  but are about 50% of the way through our combined local and international shipped boxes. 

The UK shipment arrived in a 'Tardis' on Monday. The seemingly never-ending stream of boxes and wrapped furniture took three fellas five hours to unload.  

Since then it has been non-stop.  On top of that we have had to carry out a super-clean of our rented house, ready for a handover inspection on Friday 27th.  We are to say the least, weary.

Garage now a temporary box store

The new house already feels like home and it's lovely to sit in the living room or on the deck to take in the view.  You just block out the boxes in your peripheral vision. 

The resident Grey Whale continues to delight and Fred got her first sighting this week at Bonniebrook beach.  A second Grey Whale has now been sighted off Roberts Creek, where I recently took the photos, though we have not seen them together.  As we walked along Bonniebrook an otter was enjoying his afternoon tea on the foreshore.  A big fella.

Friday morning Bonniebrook walk - the Grey Whale was back

The internet/TV finally got installed on Wednesday, two days earlier than had been re-scheduled, by an extremely competent tech who also fitted some ethernet ports in a couple of the rooms.  Fortunately the house had been wired throughout, so just the outlets needed installing.  We have gigabit fibre into the house, so pretty fast.  The WiFi is running at about 700Mbps on a 5G - WiFi-6 system. 

With summer on the horizon and wanting to at least look like native Canadians I picked up a BBQ on Wednesday.    Weighing in at 150lbs, Fred and I manoeuvred it upstairs to the deck. Fred pushed I pulled.

It was a two person job although Fred realised half way up the stairs she was not qualified for the job.  She asked for a black marker pen which promptly resolved the issue.  

The next couple of hours were spent on assembly.  The instructions were a cross between an Ikea step by step guide and an Apollo 13 check list!

Lady lifters may also apply 

Many homes out here have natural gas points on the deck ready for BBQs - so no more bottled gas!

The next door neighbours to our left are up for sale and have asked about cardboard boxes.  I think we will have enough, plus wrapping paper, much of which has been folded ready for reuse.  It'll mean fewer trips to the recycling centre if they take a load.  We've already been four times!

The locals are very welcoming.  The lady opposite popped over on Thursday with a plate of fresh out of the oven warm rhubarb and orange muffins.  Rather moreish.  We are now about half way through them.

Local muffins

In addition to the Whale and Otter sightings there are usually a few harbour seals swimming along the beach front.

It's rare not to see two or three and occasionally groups of Sea Lions.

The next few days will be a bit quieter on the unpacking front, for me at least!  The Suncoast Phoenix Community Choir, of which I am a member, have two concerts.  They have a brilliant musical director and accompanist who work quite intuitively together.  The repertoire is a mix of classical, contemporary and folk.  It's been great fun to get back into singing after a rather lengthy gap and also to see how the choir has picked up the various pieces. 

Next week we want to try and crack the rest of the boxes before Nick, Lizzie and Sebastian (now a month old) come over, followed by family and friends from the UK and NZ.