Moving times

The car sure has come in handy as I have made the gradual transition from Barton to Narrabundah. Narrabundah is such an Australian sounding name, Aboriginal for something, probably like ‘place where two old men are meeting with the sticks of the bush lizard wallaroo.’ My address is ruined somewhat though by the street name…Captain Cook Crescent. Oh how bloody original. I remember when I first came to Canberra I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of sheer anarchy when someone had spray painted over the second O in “Cook” on the road sign to make it look like a C. That made me think, Canberra’s not so stale after all.

Last weekend was the main period of non-exciting moving action, probably one of the worst weekends of my life, filled with chucking stuff in boxes, lugging heavy goods to places in the middle of nowhere, scrubbing tiles with little effect and discovering eight bags of plain flour, all opened just slightly, dating as far back to 2005 in the store cupboard.

But now I am in Narrabundah, old Captain Cock Crescent, getting used to the slightly longer and possibly more tedious walk to work, finding my way round how to use the washing machine (yeah, powder went in the wrong slot), spilling bean bag balls on the floor and avoiding the bogans who sit on the porch up the street.

I’m probably painting a bad picture here, the house is really nice and spacious and I have so much room I don’t know what to do with it. It’s a nice bright sunny space with a big back yard, full of deadly spiders and snakes no doubt!

It’s not until you move somewhere that you find out there are things you really need which you simply don’t have. You know, really exciting things, like a clothes airer and a shoe rack. Oh yeah, life’s essentials truly. So my Friday night was spent late night shopping in the city and Saturday brought more trips to exciting places like Big W and Bunnings Warehouse, picking up bits and pieces to furnish my two rooms.

I got distracted somewhat in Bunnings, firstly by the sausage sizzle in the car park and then the plants outdoors. Given we have such a vast garden, I decided to buy a few green things to mingle in with the 40 dollar table and borrowed BBQ that I moved in there. I don’t know how they are going to go but, don’t panic, I will post regular updates on the fate of the tomatoes.

So here are my babies…

These are the tomatoes, yum!

Then I got more adventurous and planted some classic Aussie plants. The first is Ovens Wattle, which someday, just maybe, will bloom all gold and green like the ever so annoying Australian rugby team. The second is in honour of our house and is called a Callistemon Captain Cook. This one hopefully goes nice and red.



All this moving and shopping has made me feel like I haven’t had a weekend in a while. Thankfully, before I get sucked in by suburbia I am escaping for a few days to Melbourne tomorrow, so hopefully I will have some more hip and happening stories and pictures for you from the jewel of the south soon.