Furniture arrival, at long last

Events have moved on, and now we have Emma and Steve here, which is absolutely fantastic, and we are all loving every minute of it.   But I am so behind on my blogs.   

I need to back track to nearly two weeks ago, a day of great excitement as our furniture finally arrived at our house.

For a week we thought that we would not get our furniture before Emma and Steve arrived, as the ship was a week late arriving at Port Adelaide, and then no one seemed to be in any hurry getting the container off the ship.   

In the end the contents of our container went through bio security very quickly, we paid $460 for the inspection, and then it was signed off. 

   

The inspection included spraying the goods, which made everything smell a bit when the boxes were opened.    Some of the boxes had been opened by the bio security people, and the contents looked at.   Interestingly a few items slipped through, much to our horror.    There was chocolate powder in the shaker we used when making cappuccinos.    There were also cobwebs in the wheels of the heater and dust on the edges of one of the cupboards.  It goes to show that no matter how meticulous one is, it is difficult to get things perfect.  Everything has now been cleaned thoroughly, and the chocolate powder cleaned out of the shaker.

The day was bright and sunny thank goodness,  and the truck arrived promptly at 7.30.   The unpacking progressed as fast as the packing up in Britain.    These guys were amazing. Impressive.

Familiar boxes, but mysterious all the same.   After two months I had forgotten what we owned, or indeed what rubbish existed in the boxes.  Objects that were crucial to our existence or too precious to give to a charity shop in Britain, were probably totally irrelevant to a life in South Australia.

Sunshine and empty boxes.

The boxes for the kitchen just came flooding into the room.   More and more of them.   The men from the removal company commented on the number, the most they had ever seen apparently.

Billie-Joe bravely helped with the unpacking. 

Where will I put everything? Amazingly I managed to find a place for all items, although I will admit I sent some cups and glasses to Darren's house, and quite a few items when to the charity shop.

Scott also helped with the unpacking, and finding places for DVDs and books.    Darren, Lucy and her friend, plus Walter, also unpacked books.    There was much arranging and rearranging of books, depending on people's categorisation systems.   It now looks super organised, but it will be interesting to see if I will be able to find anything.

After five long days we managed to get everything unpacked and away.    No pictures on the walls yet, that will have to come later on.

The lounge room, looking very cosy.   All ready for cosy nights of television watching.    Only drinks of water allowed in this room, except for wine of course.  Everyone is waiting for me to spill my glass of wine.   And then the ban on food will be relaxed.

The study, with its different cupboard styles, and currently also Isabel's bedroom.

Our black couch and blue spotted chair grace the edge of the dining area.

The kitchen looking spotless and free of the clutter of the few days beforehand.   I forgot to add that the electricians came in last Friday and replaced all our halogen lights with efficient LED lights, 34 in total.   They also changed the dimmers accordingly, and the house is so much brighter.   I love the dimmers.

The table we bought from a charity shop, and which lived in our conservatory in Britain now sits in the outside area.   We covered it with a plastic table cloth, and it looks a perfect patio table.   

Our pull out bed, all ready for Emma and Steve.

The new twin beds, in the room with the perfect view of the pool area.   Emma and Steve now use this room.   The chest of drawers went into the study, for Isabel to use, and the twin beds were pushed together.   Very practical.    We have made the pull out bed back into a single bed, and Jackson uses this room, with plenty of room to set up a small screen, play station and laptop.  Some creative thought by Emma and Steve.

Our bedroom, all very cosy and practical.    Almost looks like our old bedroom in Joydens Wood.

And yes we had quite a pile of clothes and other objects that went to the local charity shop, and a huge pile of defunct electronic cords and bits of pieces went into the recycling bin.   Even our electrical plugs have been changed from the UK to Australia, thanks to Darren together with Patrick on Saturday.

The only missing items were the screws and bolts from the Ikea bed and chairs, plus the outside of a small rubbish bin.   We went to Ikea and they gave us new screws and bolts, for nothing.   Of course we then spent $200 in the shop.   That store is such a trap.

And more exciting news, but more about this later.    We have a new family member, a furry friend called Atlanta (not named by us) who we call Lanta.

And I will finish with a photo of her, as a small introduction.