Tropic of Christmas

So we arrived at Donna's on December 12^th and completion date for her new house was 14^th. Needless to say, Judy spent her days cleaning and helping pack while Chris helped move stuff to the new place. Fortunately the weather was hot and dry, as the wet season was late arriving. The new house is a small Queenslander (on stilts, big verandah) in 7 acres with a big 3-berth garage/shed of which one bay is a bedroom with toilet and washbasin. That's ours at the moment. Lots of work for them to do here!
 

Fortunately, the lady they bought from was moving to a retirement complex so left them her tractor and quad-bike. So that pleased Jacko and his son, Renny, who is visiting for Christmas.

The world didn't end just before Christmas as predicted, and after hardly any rain for 5 months it arrived on 23/24^th December with about 5cm of rain, but then Christmas Day was hot and sunny again. So after unwrapping pressies, especially for Renny, we headed for the beach where Chris, Renny and the dog (Marlin) swam.

Worked on the house and in the garden but managed to find time to do a wicked jigsaw, and then the day before New Year's Eve the monsoon arrived with about another 12cm of rain which finally filled the creek which runs through the property. We saw the New Year in with heavy rain but then a clear patch so back to work! Everything has greened up now and there's grass to cut and plants to plant and a lot of heavy pruning to do.

Chris has been moving doors, Judy has been weeding but we've also done lots of shopping, dog walking and spent time on the beach. So now we're getting ready to come back home, leaving here on 8^th January. The last few weeks haven't been very touristy, but it's been a great trip and really good to see Donna again after nearly 2 years. Back to reality next week.