Moving and cleaning

The last two days we've been shifting stuff out of the house we've been in the duration of our Australian year and cleaning. Here are before and after pictures.

Tonight me and my husband are sleeping here (or rather camping as there is practically nothing left except a mattress). Tomorrow we hang around while the carpets are cleaned, we mop the floor and high-tail it out of here to find the kids again - at my parents' house up the mountain in Toowoomba.

It'll be a relief to have this part of our move over - always the worst. I am quite sad to leave this place behind - it's been the best place! God even blessed us with a "farewell" sunset.

We've had a small, but steady stream of helpers over the last two days. Not just helpful but encouraging too. And great for breaks over a cuppa (cup of tea - for non-Aussies). Two of our helpers also took the hermit crabs home to their their place.

This is the first time we've had our boys helping us move - in almost every previous move since the first was born 11 years ago there's always been one baby or toddler among them, so we've kept them away. As it was, our 5 y.o. seemed to get a (minor) injury every hour at least. Last year in Tokyo we were already on the other side of the metropolis when the move happened, so we stayed away. They were a great help (90% of the time) yesterday. Very keen for some muscle action! We kept them out of the cleaning action today, though.

Now - no kids and nothing in the kitchen. My hubby just has to take me out to dinner. Though neither of us is feeling terribly romantic, it's nice to have some down-time without the kids (who've been something of a handful over the last week). Hopefully we'll sleep okay tonight, the mattress looks pretty thin.