We have now been in Tannum Sands for one week! Last Tuesday, we flew into Rockhampton and found ourselves in the middle of a cyclone storm. Alison, our house-sitting lady, was supposed to pick us up from the airport, but couldn’t get through because all the roads and highways were flooded. They were only letting buses and trains through. So, we waited about 6 hours in South Rockhampton for the Greyhound bus to take us to Tannum Sands that night. It’s hard to kill 6 hours when you aren’t planning on it. It was pouring down rain, so we ran across the street to McDonald’s (which all have free internet) and hung out there for a while. Then, we found a great coffee shop also with internet and spent the afternoon there. The bus arrived on time and it took us just over an hour to reach Gladstone, where Alison was there waiting to pick us up. We quickly got acquainted with the 2 dogs, Mac & Chester as well as the 2 cats, Charlotte and Oliver that we will look after. Alison was here with us for the week, and we met some of her family that also lives here in Tannum. It’s been raining off and on all week, mostly in the mornings or evenings. Before you know it, the skies just open up and pour down. You don’t want to be caught outside!
This week, we’ve applied for a few jobs, planted a vegetable garden, and joined the library and tennis club. We played tennis last night for about 2 hours and were “graded” by the club to determine which league we will be in. We’ll play league once a week, then they have social play on weekends. It’ll be fun. Tannum is yes, very small, just like we thought. There’s one grocery store, bakery, butchery, gas station, etc. The neighboring town, Boyne Island, has some shopping too. The beach is a good mile away, and we took our bikes down there the other day and went sand biking. It’s quite hot and muggy, but we hear the winter months will get drier and mild.
We picked up Grammy & Papa yesterday afternoon at the train station and they had a great week in Port Stephens (near Sydney) and Brisbane. They will be with us about a week here and then they’re off to New Zealand. I can’t believe we’ve been in Australia for almost 4 weeks! It’s gone by fast, but we’ve been able to see and do so much. Hopefully we’ll have an update on jobs in the next week or so!
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