Saturday, September 13, 2014

At last - the final furnishings are in!

Two weeks ago the new dining suite was delivered.
This features solid-timber construction of Australian hardwoods and the dining table is extendable to provide a six-place setting. We bought the full complement of six chairs.
It is very nice to now be able to dine at a proper table instead of an outdoor utility table with plastic chairs!


Then last Monday the final pieces of furniture arrived.
The lounge had been orderd on June 1st. but because we chose a leather colour that was not in stock we had to wait for delivery from the factory.

Suffice to say that it is very comfortable, with two recliners and the three-seat settee, which means I can snooze on it in the afternoons!

We kept one of the temporary bean-bags - Rosie the cat loves it.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

The Palm Lakes Ponds and the Vespa comes home.

(Note that all photos enlarge when clicked)
A fortnight ago we had some really good rainfall, which fell steadily over a couple of days.
The result here at Palm Lakes (Oyster Cove) was the saturation of the low-lying area in the "forest", to the extent that a series of ponds were evident for several days.

The water table in this location is very close to the surface and it doesn't take long for the ponds to develop.

Here's a photo of the same location when it is normally dry........

Today I picked up the Vespa (GT200) from being serviced/carby repairs at Crossroads Motorcycles in Grafton.
It was a superb day - clear sunny sky, gentle breeze and just a perfect spring day all round.
I rode home via the Grafton-Lawrence Road and then through Maclean - a marvellous run of some 63 kilometres past canefields and dairy paddocks, with the Clarence River off to the right until Lawrence, where we crossed the river by vehicular ferry and continued to Maclean and then Yamba with the river on our left.

So the scooter has now rejoined the Red Fleet and will be used often now that it is running properly.


We stopped in Maclean for coffee and a sandwich and I clicked the following shots:-

First up is the historic post office building with original Post Master's residence and, next to it, the police station. Both buildings still continue in their roles today.


In the middle of a round-about just to the right of the above photo sits an original derrick once used to load/unload the barges that plied the river.


A shot of the Honda Jazz and the Vespa, parked neatly as we strolled off for a cuppa.
My wife was driving the Jazz, in which we travelled from Yamba to pick up the Vespa.
As I was removing my helmet and gloves, a local lady asked if she could take the scooter home because she thought it was "cute"! Any thoughts I may have harboured of striking a macho pose went out the window!


This evening we fired up the b-b-q and dined casually.


It's a hard life but we put up with it!