Jill and Gerard's Seachange

A Big Life style change for us

In late September 2004, we were casually talking about selling up and moving to our little 2 bedroom, run down house in Paynesville. Little did we know then that it would be a reality sooner than later!

By the end of October the house was sold a few days before going on the market.

By the end of November my Mum, Nesta had decided to also move to Paynesville and by the end of December she had moved into the hostel here.

Our daughter Kate did not want to come with us so she moved into her boyfriend's parents place. She is very happy and has managed to get full time work in the deli at Coles in Rowville.

January 14th 2005 was the settlement date and we had to get out! The removalists came the week before to move us and thank goodness they did cause their truck was not big enough for all our stuff.... So many things went wrong with the move and to top it all off one of our cats "Ashley" decided to get out of the house and run off so the following day we had to go back to Melbourne to pick her up.

The run to Paynesville from Rowville where we lived for 15 years takes a good three to three and a half hours by car with a quick stop at Traralgon for an ice cream!!

Prior to us moving in I had the oven and dishwasher taken out of the kitchen, the dishwasher did not work and the oven was horrible... So we had the microwave, a George Foreman Grill, toaster and electric saucepan to cook with, for the past two and a half months there has been absolutely nothing in the kitchen waiting for the new one to come.

Our house looks out over the water to Raymond Island and the lakes. It is just lovely. Have spotted dolphins lolling around in the water. Pelicans, black swans and many other water birds make the view even better.

We have had a few ups and downs since we moved, but things are settling down now.

We have had some renovations done to the place and more is still to be done. We had hoped to build up to take in the view, but finances would not let us do that. We were lucky enough to meet some neighbours, Annette, Paul and Hervey who had a friend in the building business and he was able to do most of the work for us. The house still needs painting inside and out, a garage door, carport and front entrance changed with a new front door also. The transformation of the house is just great. The extending of the verandah and putting a roof and windows in has made the house seem a lot bigger as we have another sitting area.

Our two spoilt cats love their new home and outside area, it was well worth the 7 months wait of being indoors all of the time. I have hung a bird feeder on the large tree near their run and the rosellas and parakeets visit daily for a feed. They know the cats cannot get them and the cats look at them with amazement to be so close.

posted by Jill @ 10:43 pm