end of the first week

thursday sept 13, moving day’s finally here  – removalists shawn, mal and paul had the truck loaded and gone by 11, so sunny and i hit the road.

 The drive to Mildura was fine, time for one op shop stop on the way.  Blossoms, wattle and magnolias are amazing this year.  And the canola fields  . . .

We stayed the night in Mildura with Julie and Kevin from the art vault – they’re so kind,  we had a huge barbecue dinner with visiting artists, then fell into bed early.

my last reflection pic of the brighton baths,

now my water photos will be the river through the seasons

friday sept 14

 Up and out to wentworth to get the keys from wendy, the previous owner – the place is heaven  -   wisteria is out, roses, freesias and the river,  it’s so beautiful and really high at the moment.  Lots of work ahead as the guys arrive and unload at least eighty cartons and all the furniture.

Well it’s Saturday morning,  the sun’s just come up so it’s shining on the river outside my bedroom window. There are cormorants down on the logs at the bottom of the garden – out in the water at the river bank there are exposed trees that have fallen.  Every day there are egrets, herons, darters and cormorants there and wendy  tells me that kingfishers will arrive in october.  Can’t wait – I’ve never seen one in the wild.

this beautiful arch of wisteria and roses is outside my bedroom window, river behind it.

Sadly there are some feral cats around and loads of rabbits, but there’s a good fenced area where I can have a vegie garden.

Yesterday sunny and I decided we need a decent sized ladder so it was off to bunnings in Mildura.  We drove past  Aroundagain (the huge charity shop at the tip) and before we knew it the back of the car was full – four outdoor chairs, a banana lounge and a groovy tweed buttoned swivel chair,  $20 the lot!   No room for a ladder, but we’ve found one so it’ll be a return trip to bunnings tomorrow, perhaps another sausage in bread :0)       who can walk past those guys out the front?

stacks more to unpack today -  but it all feels so right, this place is so serene and beautiful, I can’t believe I’m living here.

September 16 

Okay so this is my third day on the river. I feel as though I’ve been here forever -  it’s definitely home. Sunny and I have ripped down the vertical blinds, the dark dirty awning that blocked views of the treetops, pulled up the old grey vinyl in the back room to reveal dark terracotta coloured lino in good nick.

I had my first visitors – Julie arrived with the artists in residence at the art vault – tony amineiro and susan barron. 

Had my first mini tragedy – a tiny dead bird, to be identified when I find my bird book (there are about 15 boxes of books to be unpacked). It was quite young and still warm, I think it had been attacked by the myna that was fluttering around it.  So now it’s wrapped in the freezer for martin king – maybe it will be immortalised in one of his haunting images of found birds .

sunny cooked dinner,  huge yabbies with two dipping sauces, local wines and magnums for dessert, how debauched.  
left - the hostess wearing one of my collection of 50's aprons - they'll have to become etchings one day

Jen and rob have arrived  for a few days, they’ll be a huge help and it’ll be great to have them here.

We’ve had the paddle steamers from the 100 years of steam  celebration in wentworth going through the loch and past the house – that wonderful sound of the old horns echoing up the river.

Sunny’s flown home after four days of working on the house, unpacking, pulling down awnings, we’ve pulled out the old air conditioner– the house is opening up and looking great;  still full of boxes but we’re ploughing through them.