Finally, the heat's broken and replaced itself with high winds and a build up of showers.....






Daniel & Heather trying to finish off installing the cables before the rains come - unsuccessfully....

Just before his flight to Canada, Rick knocked over a big job - the fencing on the north west side of our property is gone now. Even though we don't own the grassy area which is adjacent to us, now it has the appearance that it's ours....

Rick & Heather (this sadly was the day that Rick found out that his Dad had passed away - age 95)



Nick, our friend from Sydney, and his pal Ross doing post-dinner songfest on our Mitchells Island deck.



Ross and his girlfried at dusk



Lara, from Toulouse, France, part of the group of visitors...



Nick & Lara

Mini gardens of Mitchells Island....Courtesy of Annie Collins-Tate, the Shed has a little patio area formed of wooden mats and benches, as well as a couple of maturing bouganvillia plants....



Heather has created collections of Annie's original plants around the property. With a rainy first six months of the year, and then hand-watering, and healthy composted mulch, these plants and shrubs have thrived.




There are numerous planter boxes (the bane of the removalists' lives) around that are either planted or awaiting vegetable seed planting....

House photos taken my our designer, John Basden.

With all the most careful design, it would have been hard to avoid the stifling heat of 40 degrees and high humidity of today. Lethargy got the best of us four after shopping in Taree, and led, at least for me, to afternoon siesta-time....

Heather found a landscape expert locally and we visited his huge and beautiful garden in Coolongolook today. Here's a few samples:

Daniel has been very excited on his Manning Point beach walks to have sighted Brahminy Kites, which are supposed to be rare for this area. I was fortunate to catch a long shot of one taking a little break from flying.



The Pelican preening on his post puts on a pretty wing-drying performance....

The Shed, which is now set up as our yoga studio, has been an absolute godsend. Unlike Humpty-dumpty, I've been able to put my aching body back together every morning with a two-hour remedial practice. From experiencing exhaustion, soreness, and a very bad limp, I've fixed my alignment and generated new energy at the beginning of each day. Thank heavens for yoga!

This is the first day of our new life at Mitchells Island, standing on the front steps of our new home. Before the house was built, we would only come for weekend or Xmas holiday visits and stay in the Shed - a 72 foot square corrugated iron building. Daniel, on the right, is captivated by the sunset. Rick & I are captivated by looking good for the camera.

Eve at her Simply Yoga studio farewell, nearly a week ago. A beautiful party, and such wonderful acknowledgements. However, it was a week of having one's body thrashed by moving to Mitchells Island. I discovered I cannot stop, even when the good angel is shouting at the bad angel to not tote that barge and lift that box. Sigh. These are lessons to learn before the impending hip replacements....



Nicky, Peter, Rachel, Alex, & Ryan



John Norris telling the group All About Eve....



How gorgeous is Jane!



Lee Wood and me....

Loungeroom deck and views



Reading Area in Loungeroom



Front entrance, looking back to Rick & Heather's deck and Shed.



Our bedroom with Clerestory windows



Our Deck with Office/Study to left.

People say, "Oh, Mitchells island is a real island!" Well, yes, fortunately it's accessible by this narrow bridge. There are oyster beds in Scotts Creek, between the bridge and where our house is, so you can indulge your tastes for shellfish at any of the outlets along Manning Point Rd.



This is how Scotts Creek looked on the evening of our first night in the new house.



Daniel, Eve & Rick at the front steps of our house. I cried. The house was so beautiful, and I hadn't even gone inside!



Heather and Daniel moving (successfully) the big, thorny Pachydermis plant from the bottom level of the Wharf Rd. house.



The movers ended up with 15 tonnes of our stuff in the their truck..... Well, we're talking two families' possessions.

Les derniers jours de chez nous. Quel beaute!

Favourite sculptures from Sculptures in the Park Exhibition at Tamarama & Bondi yesterday. The extra carrot-and-stick to keep me and Daniel going was dinner at the Gelato Bar on Campbell Parade - Hungarian Bean soup and Matzo Ball soup - to live for, as my friend Denise says!