Sometimes it doesn't feel very adventurous. Sometimes it just feels stressful and tiring. But then it's exciting and interesting again, and then I get a day like yesterday to stop being to busy, to rest and think and just be, and then it all feels manageable again. You know those times. That's the kind of weeks we're having.
Yes, we're house hunting to buy our first family home, and no, we haven't had any really good luck yet. We're learning heaps though. I've got all kinds of interesting new vocabulary words, like asbestos...retaining wall...fixed-rate or variable loan...and the list goes on, but it's not that exciting.
We're learning some very important lessons too -- like not to get too emotionally attached to a property before we have all the information. I've decided that finding a house is kind of like dating. A crazy crash dating where you have pushy real-estate salespeople along as chaperones, and you have to make big long-term decisions about whether or not to move in together after just 2 or 3 brief encounters. At least you don't have to say "til' death do us part."
We had a bit of a disappointment last week when we took a second inspection of a house we'd already fallen in love with. We found out there were some pretty major structural problems that we just aren't prepared to deal with ... if the rains ever do decide to come back to South East Queensland, the dodgy brick retaining wall holding back the yard would have collapsed. And we just really don't want to buy a worry that our front yard might fall into our downstairs rumpus room. So I had to move my imaginary family and home-y daydreams out of that house. (And I'm trying to convince them not to move into another one until we do, but there are no guarantees on that.)
I miss basements. I wonder if they eliminate a lot of the structural concerns, because if you're going to start a building with a basement, it's just got to be structurally sound. I never even looked into house buying in MN, so I know very little, and now I just imagine you guys up there must have it so easy! I imagine there are no real issues with houses falling down or settling into the ground and shifting...and then I even imagine there are no termites in Minnesota, and that the real-estate agents are all on your side and completely trustworthy, and that the grass is always greener there. Wait, hold on... there's water there… the grass is always greener!
In other news... Brisbane is nearly out of water. Seriously...they're now saying the dams could be dry a lot sooner than they'd thought - around the end of this year? we're not talking years anymore...we're talking months of water left. The rainfall has been so little and the migration has been so great in this area that, well, it's not a good combination. The great debate at the moment is whether or not to use re-cycled waste water as a replacement in our taps, as the dams are running out. Toowoomba -- a neighbouring town/tiny city -- just voted NO to the recycled water idea...but in reality they probably have no choice soon. They're going to be using water that's been recycled from toilets and treated 7 times, and so are we. Maybe we'll have some kind of system whereby that water isn't for drinking but is used for everything else? and we'll all have to have special taps just for the drinking water? Who knows. It's all a big controversy at the moment. I'm pretty confident they'll come up with some kind of workable solution soon, even if it's not perfect. But if they don't, we might just be moving back up North!
Also, this week I bought (drumroll please!!)..... 2 BANANAS!! If you live in Queensland, you know I probably had to take out a small loan for such a luxury item. For those of you who are wondering what's wrong with us crazy sun-affected Aussies, I'll fill you in: We're out of bananas too. They're a huge staple crop in Queensland, Australia doesn't need to import bananas because we produce so many of them. And most of them are grown in far north Queensland. A few months ago, this year's whole crop was destroyed by Cyclone Larry. Massive devistation... a lot like the New Orleans disaster. Probably didn't get as much worldwide press because there's a lot fewer people living up there, but those farming communities up there suffered in some pretty bad ways. And so did their bananas.
ANYWAY, one of the things that means for the rest of us -- bananas cost $15 a kilo. I don't know what that is in pounds, but the 2 small bananas we just had for our sunday morning breakfast smoothy cost $5. It's so much cheaper to buy strawberries... so they fill our fridge, and I'm happy with that :)
In other, happier news...
Wayne and Kate have just signed a contract on their first family home! CONGRATULATIONS...and good luck!
Ali is walking, happily and independently
CONGRATULATIONS!
And Nanna and Grandad Lynam are ONLINE! Very cool!
I had better get going... Danny and I go out to look at another house soon. This week we have friends from New Zealand coming to stay with us for a couple of days, and that should be alot of fun. So all is well down here today. We've got good friends, good family, eh...Who needs bananas or water? :)
4 comments:
If you leave each banana wrapped in 1 sheet of newspaper in the fridge it will keep for at least 3 weeks. The skin might begin to discolour but the flesh stays firm. a good trick when you can manage to buy some - often they're not even in the shops.
I bought a banana today - it looked soo good and it tasted good. Was worth the $2.50!
Thanks for the banana tip!
I must make a confession: in this post, I may have given in to the Aussie tendency to make a SLIGHT exaggeration to a story. Or I may have passed on a rumour I heard from an exaggerating Aussie.
The water crisis really IS a big deal, but in reality, the water in Wivenhoe Dam (which is what Brisbane uses) is predicted to possibly run out by the end of 2008, NOT this year. Just to put your minds at ease... in case you wanted to worry about us, you can put it off for a couple more years :)
The problem with the recycled sewage plent proposed for Toowoomba is that it just would not work.
It is not possible to produce 11,000 ML of recycled water from 8,000 ML of sewage. Toowoomba City Council also had nowhere for the RO waste stream to go. Acland Coal did not want it. Singapore pumps its RO waste stream into the sea.
The plant could never have been built for $68 million - closer to $150-200 million would be more accurate when you take into account the hundreds of acres of evaporation ponds required which were not included in the budget.
Regardless of your view on recycled water use, the no vote in Toowoomba was correct because the proposal was a dud.
Post a Comment