Sorry for the delay, I have been highly unmotivated to blog. I will skip through a lot of the last few weeks. This one is more detailed as I wrote most of it before coming to a halt. I also lost a few days and I really can’t be bothered rewriting it all.

Tuesday; We had Cory in Herbert today helping us clear up the place. It will be nice to come back from Sydney and not have an explosion to deal with. We are getting there slowly. One more day of tidying should do the trick. I finally got to sit down and catch up on paperwork. I had receipts coming out in all directions.

Wednesday; A fairly good day. We caught up with our friend Liz and we got all the jobs we wanted done in Palmerston. It made sense to spend one more day here before going away so we could take another load of materials and we got a bit more tidy. I had a chat to our neighbour and brought her some cookies. Also gave the Skevingtons crew some beer and wine to say thank you for all there last minute help. Carl came to stabilise the ground with hydroseed which then means our consent with the Otago Regional Council is complete. Yay back to one council for our builds. I got around to booking our return flights and we are coming back via Auckland.

Thursday; We have a day here with Cory doing some jobs around Herbert. I have a few small jobs I want to do. The boat needs a little clean out so I get that done first and then move all the paint and plant pots I dumped from Till. Cory works on a garden edge to put a clear line between the dirt and driveway.

In the afternoon we get chatting to Jim and end up having a few beers. Sylvia calls and asks Jim if he has been patting the cat, which he hasn’t. She is away in Christchurch. When I go to the toilet I give the cat a cuddle. In my infinite wisdom I pick the cat up for a cuddle and think it can sit on my lap outside. Well I go to put the cat down and little did I know it was an indoor cat only. So I spend the next 5 hours trying to get the cat which I could see for a bit but has gone into the hedges and won’t let me find it. The stray cat that they feed is very dominant so we try to trap it in the garage over night. I tell you now I am never touching another cat again haha.

The stray cat is too smart and realises something is up. So I over feed it and hope he doesn’t go for the indoor cat. We end up giving up and hoping Ally has gone inside.

Friday; A fairly easy day. I get an early text from Jimmy to say the cat came home. Yay, bloody cat. Probably hid at home the whole time. Today we are just slowly making our way to Christchurch. We are in no hurry and we slowly make our way up. We arrive around 5pm and get ready. Rowan cooks dinner for Tabitha and I. I am glad we didn’t have to drive up at a ridiculous time. I came with my own linen and bedding to save changing sheets.

Saturday, Sunday & Monday; After landing in Sydney and settling in, we spend the day doing a small amount of errands and important things like getting our nails done. Sunday we head off around lunchtime to Mudgee. It took a while for Bette to feel well enough and get ready to travel. We packed Peter & Grahams ashes into a basket. We arrived in the beautiful Forgandenny bed and breakfast. It is almost a year to the day when we were here last. Rowan found out his sister Melanie is not coming to put the ashes in the family plot. He is disappointed that she hasn’t come to support. On Monday afternoon we put the ashes into the plot. It was done very well and we all had a shot or two of whiskey. The boys had a few too. Rowan hurried the rest of the bottle in with them, just in case they get thirsty.