The New Gutty City Residence

Now, where do I begin?

It's a two storey place, 4 bedrooms upstairs, 3 downstairs, 3 bathrooms/toilets (yeah!) and lots of living areas. It even has a double sized pantry, and cupboards and robes in every little space. No area has been wasted.

The house is brand new; no one has lived in it. It's in a new estate in a valley a little way from the city, and is part of a little village community. And, the size of the property is... 3 acres! Oh yes! No suburbia for the Gutty tribe. Well, not real suburbia anyway, still have some space to run in and be able to kick a ball without it going over to the neighbour's yard.

We take up residence next Tuesday, so will be continuing in temporary accommodation until then. We can't wait to get our stuff and junk out of storage. Books and toys, and Emily only wants to see one thing - her dressups! Typical Emily :-)

So it all worked out - despite a few hiccups and concerns. We have a house to not just live in, but experience life in for our time in the city. We still have Wallaby Scrub waiting for us. Christmas holidays will be spent there as well as any other weekends or 'spare' time we can scratch up. We want to get John down there as often as possible. He needs a little 'defrazzling' and a lot of chill time.

So here comes a new phase of "Wallaby Scrub"; perhaps I'll call it "Wallaby Scrub Goes to Town" or some such thing. No. Wallaby Scrub is in our hearts. It's part of us. The essence and atmosphere of Wallaby Scrub will follow us wherever we make our home.

On Line and Lots of News

What a week!

We arrived in town last Monday evening (10 days ago). Tuesday we inspected the house we were to stay in, and found it unsuitable (size wise). But there was nothing else available so we found temporary accommodation further north at a convention centre. Stayed there until John returned last Sunday. Now there's a story!

There were heaps of tears and nervous chatter at the airport while we waited for the men to return. So many families and friends had gathered to welcome them home. I felt quite emotional knowing any moment John would be walking through the doors. John was one of the last to arrive so I had heart flutters each time a uniform walked through the door. I was a bit of a mess when he finally arrived.

Then, there he was. I had to look twice to make sure it was him. I'd looked at so many soldiers walk through the door, I had to make sure it really was John. It took a moment for the children to recognize him, and I remember saying "There's Daddy, c'mon!"

Hugs and kisses all round. He felt so good to hug. Not that I could really get to him - he'd been swamped by eight other sets of arms. Willem was in John's clutches, Beth had wrapped her arms around his neck, the littlies were clasping his legs, and the rest of us did our best to complete the stack.

The media had attended the arrival also. Apparantly a returning soldier with 8 children and a wife hanging on him made good news. So, John, Elsie and Josiah got to be on the channel 9 news that night!! How cool is that!? I've got movie star kids now! That's what I've been singing to Elsie, anyway. What thrilled me most, was that John got a bit of recognition for the job he had done, and for the sacrifice he had made to do that job. I am so proud of my man.

On Monday morning, the Courier Mail also ran a story which included a picture of us all. We made page 3. The article tells of the scene at the airport, and about the two other soldiers which received special recognition with medals.

I quickly rang the family to brag, and I tried to send hyperlinks to a couple of friends, but it wasn't the right address (sounds about right for me!) But, I sent John out to buy some copies of the paper to keep in my scrap book. When the scanner is set up in the new house I'll be uploading a copy of the article. I just love the photo they published.

So, what of the new house? Well, that's another post.