noelm

There used to be lots of Hostels around Wollongong, all made out of kind of half round things, like a water tank on its side, no idea why, but they were called “Nissan huts” almost every migrant that came to work in the Steelworks moved into them until they could get their life “sorted”, up until only a few years ago, they were still in use for various living quarters. Appin is certainly moving along now as the “urban sprawl” moves further and further in every direction, I was there just before Christmas and couldn’t believe how populated the entire area is.

A completely useless and almost boring account of my family at Barrack Point……way back in the 1930s my grandparents bought a block of land here for 2 pounds ($4) now remember this was during the depression, pre war and that was a decent sum of money for a block of land in “the scrub” no water, no electricity, no road and only accessible at low tide! They lived in an old canvas tent and built a “house” out of wood scrounged from the timber and dairy ships that came into Shellharbour (the house was demolished about 15 years ago and all the frames were Australian Red Cedar) As my father got older and he left the Airforce after the war, he bought a block of land down the track (literally) growing up, we were the only permanent residents with only a handful of holiday houses built along the Little Lake, my best mate, who I am still great friends with and his family moved here when he was about 5-6 years old, strangely enough, right next door to where I am buying! It was a great life for a kid, endless fishing, good Prawning, surfing and diving, wandering around in the bush, snakes, messing around in boats, where Warilla Bowling club is now was always called “the island” there was a natural water hole there and of course we built a rope swing, it was near jungle with big Banksia trees, gum Trees and She Oaks, but to us, it was “ours” Time moved on and proper roads were built, the entire Headland was marked out in blocks of land, but in a lot of ways, no one really wanted to live here, too windy, miles away from Wollongong, a single lane road from Windang, and not really Shellharbour either, the point was a “dead end” only one road in and out, and the rest as they say is history, it’s now an quite exclusive place, no more land can ever be released/developed. Buying the family home was simply good luck, it wasn’t desirable (my brothers and sister were not interested) and we were looking at a house on the highway near Kiama, gees, happy we didn’t buy that……. So as you can see, I am certainly not a mover, my wife has only lived in two places, her family home in Mount Ousley/Fairy Meadow, and here, so we are both very stable/boring types and why this is such huge step for us, might be interesting to hear anyone’s else “journey” through life.

As long as you’re aware exactly where the spikes are, then handling them is not a major issue, just be careful.

Long shank and small!

Yes, I live close to there, but a couple of ex players live very close to me, one I consider a good friend even though the age gap! Mrs Swordie, I hear exactly where you’re coming from, had very close friends work their fingers to the bone to retire, only to never see their retirement! I have lived here forever, I could never afford to buy here now, and I am not being a snob, I was just lucky how the cards fell decades ago, I could have bought elsewhere, but, the family home was an option at the time. I do indeed live in a “millionaires row” (multi millionaires) but, I am not wealthy, but comfortable. The move is triggered by the “possible” future, time marches on, and who knows how long it will be until carrying (even groceries) upstairs will become an “issuer” as it stands our current house and the new one are upside down to each other as far as living goes and it is one of the very few places I would move to! For me, moving out into the back streets is not even in my mind, we even thought of selling and renting forever, I have a great mate that has two fantastic units just down the street that he rents out.

Mullet are what started my fly fishing, those Sand/Yellow eye/Flat tails are prevalent almost everywhere, and readily take bread (or bread fly) last summer my grandson and I were catching them and he hooked a big “Bully” he must have covered 100 yards chasing it around before landing it. It is fascinating what else you catch, and it also teaches you how to carry minimal gear and be a complete independent fisherman/person, you need to have everything with you, be able to grab and use it all one handed, while actually being IN the water…… if I plan/hope to keep a fish to eat, I have one of the cheap landing nets on an elastic cord type thing, and have it clipped to my shorts, the stretch cord allows me to land a fish without unclipping it, and being clipped to me, I don’t have to “carry” it as such, same with the keeper net, I just have a net bag thing and tie it to my waist and it just gets towed along, of course it’s not such a big hit pulling your shorts down all the time! edit…….I forgot, well done!

Yep, know the footy players, one we have been good friends with for years, they seem to be pretty cashed up these days.

Agent is ready to go, photos all done, stuff like that, he said he has quite a few “possibles” that looked at a $7.5m house near me, but nowhere near as good a location, and location is everything, you could buy mine, knock it down and build the house of your dreams and still have a bag of money left over…..he is just waiting for the “let’s go” which is Tuesday. I will keep you posted if/when anything happens.

It is a blood pressure raising experience, talking such big numbers, it’s not like it’s 50 grand for a car or something, we are talking millions and for a non risk taker like me, it’s a major drama. I am having trouble sleeping worrying about the “what if”, I have friends that are very supporting, but that’s easy when it’s not your money! My kids are a bit 50/50, moving from the “family home” but I think they can see the reason long term, the grandkids are horrified “nanny and papas” house is their “castle” a place with endless food, nans cooking, miles of room to run around, a heated pool, the beach………but best guess is after a year or so, the new place will be the same?

Is that a Silver Biddy I see in that catch (near the Trevally) looks like you kept everything you caught? Well done.

The house is officially on the market (ours isn’t…yet) but it’s a lot of money and all the “lookers” love the place but offered peanuts, or said “I will get back to you” three open houses so far, dozens of people looking, but, we have near twice the asking price in equity in our current house, so (as long as well sell in time) we are in the box seat….so far, Monday is the day and Tuesday contract signing scheduled. But, it’s still not a done deal for two days, damn I’m nervous.

The tilt tube is fine for cable steering, see if you can buy a complete kit to convert, if not, buying lots of small bits and pieces will drive you nuts, and send you broke! Is it electric start or are you going to just pull start it? If it’s not electric and you want to fit the parts (and wiring harness) you will then need a charge kit as well. Buying another motor makes sense in a lot of ways.

Yep, got to have an outdoor shower, that’s another “must have” at my place.

Looking after a pool is almost fun, getting out with the hose and fooling around, picking up the thousand pool toys the kids leave behind is not such a big hit though, or picking up the crap they just drop on the ground…..but that’s how “kids” are, even though they are 40 years old.

Yep, couldn’t agree more, even after a beach swim, or in the lake behind, the pool is so much fun. People always tell me how much work they are, but….they are wrong! Once you get the hang of it, and it’s setup (we have salt water and heated) plus a robot cleaner, and it’s about half hour a fortnight during summer. I enjoy it actually, even manually vacuum it lots of times.

Yeah, there’s nothing to do in the new place, it well maintained and the yards are great. except the “personal touches” like the fire pit, outdoor shower and changing the colour inside…my wife does the interior painting, I’m not allowed to do that, but, this time I think it might be getting some pros in to do it to get it done quick, we have a decent couple of guys who are good and a good price for a weekend “cashie” All this of course depends on signing Tuesday, there’s always a chance we get “gazumped” but so far, it’s all looking good.

There’s a lot of truth in what you say! We are fit and healthy, certainly not speedsters anymore, but, mowing a small lawn, general building “stuff” and fixing things is still no problem, gardening is a kind of hobby for us, it’s not a “job” and we live by the gardeners motto “do a little bit often” rather than let everything get over grown, you just get out and “potter” (I hate that word, it implies old age) I will still have a small vege garden, the new lawn is at best 15 minutes mowing, including putting the clipping in the green bin. Our current house is double brick, but rendered, so, painting is a huge job every few years, the new place is not rendered, it’s just brick (and to be honest, not great looking bricks, in my opinion) it’s got a huge driveway and lots of boat/car parking without fooling around, there’s a big Gumtree in the front yard that I will attempt to remove, Council pending approval. First plans are a pool and a fire pit, something we have always had since the early ‘80s. People ask why a pool when we live on the beach? It’s really simple, nothing beats a family get together, in the summer and grandkids/kids/adults having fun in a pool! I always act like a cranky old fart and yell “no bombing” until I get close, then bomb the smallest kids……..

It’s funny, we are “downsizing” to 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, triple garage……….but, it’s a “downsize in maintenance and ground floor living. As it stands, the stairs are no problem, we are a long way from a nursing home (I hope) and when that time does come, a suitable place might not be available. Going from where I live now to anywhere else is a step down (in my opinion) so there’s only a couple of places I would consider moving to, and this place is one of them, and it’s on the market, so now is the time (I hope)

Actually I am a tiny bit closer to my fly fishing spot, but a bit further from the beach, but only by a dozen steps or so! I will miss seeing the schools of fish breaking up and being able to just run over and cast to them, but then, launching the kayaks is out the back gate, rather than down the road…..the dollars are attractive, most don’t move house and make a profit.

I don’t know how they will do it, the lounges were put on top of the truck, then they climbed up and passed them to the guys on the balcony, the fridge came up on a hoist type gizmo, everything else fits down the stairs. The issue is, the stairs are narrow (ish) and there’s a turn half way!

Got a small Stingray spike right in the joint near the webbing on my thumb years ago, man did that “tickle”

Getting professionals in to do the move, can’t be bothered with utes and trailers, carrying stuff down stairs and so on. The garage is going to be a big job, all sorts of tools and fishing gear, kayaks (4) surfboards (5) bait freezer, cabinets and who knows what else, then there’s the back garage as well……one issue is some of the furniture doesn’t fit down the stairs, it came up over the balcony, so that will be “interesting” not too sure what they will do, at least going out, it’s all “down hill”

It’s a big thing for me, I am not a big mover, my life has always been stable, boring almost, but, that’s just me, only a couple of jobs my entire working life, and only ever lived in this street, pretty dull hey? But not only does the new house suit us now (it’s not small by any means) we will walk away with a decent bag of dollars, which is a bonus too.

After years of living in the one spot, we are thinking of moving, same street, but without the fabulous view, still on the water, but just thinking about the future and downsizing. The new place has all the living/entertaining on the ground floor, so as age creeps up, it’s time…….a house has come up (rare in my area) that suits us, we know the owners and they are moving on (medical reasons) and I can’t believe it, but, we are on the verge of signing up, probably official on Tuesday, all going well. The whole thing scares the living daylights out of me, talking millions of dollars send shivers down my spine, I am very much a “comfort zone” type, and this is way outside that. Sure I will miss the view, the back street access and living in the premium location in the entire Headland, but……….I will still have fishing in a 30 second walk, beach access in a minute, it’s all still there, I just can’t “see” it as good, still have a view though.

Reels are a pretty simple thing, biggest tip, make sure you have a good work area (the kitchen table is good, but, not always a big hit) get some basic tools and have them with you, a small shifter, various screwdrivers, long nose pliers, an ice cream container with some degreaser and a toothbrush, and a small tub of grease. Take photos as you go if you’re not confident, lay all parts out in order as you remove them, have some decent cloth handy to wipe things.