A Dramatic Start to the Year

With Christmas over we still had several days left in Perth before we were due to head to Geraldton to start finding somewhere to live for the next 12 months. Dave was still trying to coordinate his new job and tie down exactly when he would be starting as the dates he was originally given were creeping closer with no confirmation that he would actually be going yet. This was becoming quite stressful as our bank account was now very low and we were getting very nervous that it would all fall through.

On boxing day we took the girls over to the shopping centre as they had received some gift cards for Christmas and decided to have a look at what they might purchase. We had more time in the pool and the girls frequently visited with the puppies from Christmas (still trying to convince us to take one - or 3 - with us).

The day after boxing day was looking to be the coolest weather-wise so we decided to take advantage of our Victorian Zoo memberships to get free access into Perth Zoo. We had a lovely morning exploring the zoo. It has been interesting over the past few years as we have visited several zoos and each zoo has had something that we felt they do really well compared to the others. For Perth it was their reptile house, not generally fans of the snakes we did like their reptile house as it wasn't just walking along a corridor with windows to peer in, they had areas in the middle where some of the lizards could run around more, it just felt much more inviting.

We returned to Perth city via the ferry and grabbed some fish and chips for a late lunch and stopped in to visit the Bell Tower, before returning to the caravan park.

We were getting really fed up with Perth by this stage, the gusty winds almost every night were driving us crazy and we had one night where we had to get up at 1am because the wind was so bad that it got right under the awning and annexe, lifted it up and dropped it all. So Dave and I were running around putting everything somewhere safe and trying to pull down the annexe in the middle of the night. The days then became more frustrating as we lost some of our shade and weren't game to set it all back up again. We were originally due to stay in Perth until new year but decided to bite the bullet and head for Geraldton early, leaving us with some credit at the caravan park for another time.

Before we left we picked up a cheap commodore wagon so that Dave could drive himself to Perth each time he went to work. The day we picked it up we decided to take it to the drive-in movies so we could see Wonder Woman 1984. We had a great time but had to laugh at the end as we ran the battery flat and had to ask someone to jump start the car before heading back to the caravan park.

Arriving in Geraldton we opted to stay just out of town at Cape Burney, the caravan park was cheap and basic, and independently owned. We found it strange when we arrived as the manager indicated that she would not be able to fit us in but then there were lots of sites available so not sure what the deal was there? Unfortunately what we got here again was wind! More bloody wind! and it was quite warm too (high 30's to low 40's each day).

We spent New Years at our friends place that we had stayed with on our way south back at the end of October, enjoying a mexican themed evening with every dish containing corn chips and some mojitos and margaritas. Dave's fly out date was now creeping closer and ended up slightly later than originally planned and we were beginning the house hunt only to discover that 500 other people were also trying to get a house at the same time. Dave was getting nervous about leaving us girls alone in the van in the wind and heat when he left as it was looking like the house hunt could take a while. Thankfully we took our concerns to the park manager who was happy to put us in one of her big cabins at a crazy low price until we could get a house. Oh the novelty of bedrooms with doors! And a couch!

As the fly out date drew closer we headed to Perth for the weekend with our friends and I took the girls to the aquarium as they had mermaids and unicorns visiting on the holidays, Charli's two favourites. We had a lovely day exploring the aquarium together followed up with a visit to Ikea on our way back.

We finally farewelled a very nervous Dave off to his first FIFO shift and we continued our house hunt. His first trip away ended up quite eventful as he opted to stay a few additional days when it was offered (the extra money was more important) this then ran into an incoming cyclone causing him to need to stay even longer. By the time he was able to get back to us he only had 20 hours before he had to be back at the airport to fly back up so instead of coming back to Geraldton, we went to Perth instead and stayed the night down there. It was so good to see him again but the time was too short and he was off again.

Thankfully by the time he returned again we had managed to line up a rental. Luckily for us, the house across the road from our friends had been empty for the last year and suddenly the owners had turned up and were fixing it up ready to list again. We had worked out which agent would be listing it and managed to sneak in to inspect and apply before it even got officially listed. We were so excited to be moving in across the road and even better, the house came with amazing views over the ocean from most of the windows. Focused then turned to locating a basic set of furniture to place in the house, enter bargain shoppers extraordinaires. The kids had started at their new school and had both made friends on the first day (thank goodness) and we could finally settle for the year.

Sadly this ended up short lived as Dave received a phone call while away saying that his dad, who we knew had been fighting cancer having been diagnosed just before we left, was not in a good place and he really needed to get home. It was decided that he and the girls would go back to see him (and likely say goodbye) while I had to remain in Geraldton due to a university commitment that I had to participate in and made it too difficult to travel at that time. They managed to get some time to visit friends while in town and then returned to Geraldton a week later and were forced to self-isolate again for 2 weeks. Thankfully I could still get out and about and was busy getting my play therapy placement all lined up and ready to go.

After 2 weeks at home, Dave finally headed back to Port Hedland and a couple of days later he received the call he had been dreading, his dad had passed away, almost exactly 12 months to the day that he got diagnosed. A little bit of juggling and with some help from our friends, I was able to be with Dave in Melbourne to farewell his dad and catch up with the people I didn't get to see when I was unable to travel earlier. Thankfully, the borders had opened up further and we no longer were required to isolate upon our return so Dave and I flew into Perth, slept the night there and I delivered him to the airport to go back to work the next morning before driving home.

Just as we thought the drama was over, life threw us another when we heard that Tropical Cyclone Seroja was headed our way. Dave, of course, was away as were our friends from across the road so I was left with the responsibility of trying to prepare for a cyclone with no idea what to do. Thankfully all went well, it was scary at the time but we were very lucky and we had no damage. We lost power for several days, which actually wasn't too much of a problem for us being so well set up in the van for fridges and had plenty of lighting options. The biggest issue was actually the lack of phone service meaning I was unable to contact anyone not could I get any info about what was happening. Everything slowly returned to normal and Dave came back under strict instructions to please be home for once when a drama occurs.