After The Move:
I have discovered that after moving home, even though it is only temporary, it is too small, not enough kitchen cupboards etc. Here it is February and I have at least 12 boxes unpacked inside. There is not enough room for my cooking stuff, the Garage is a joke- exactly 5.5 x 5.5 meters and chockablock. It has eaves at the rear between the garage and the house. There is a paved area about 5.5 x 6 meters so I have placed shelving under the eaves , Mainly plastic boxes are in the shelves, but a few small cardboard ones with plastic over them. my wagons are mainly in 2 cabinets in the shed along with Locos in one and other locos in boxes next to the door. My Q Block is stacked in a mess at one part of the fence side wall and 3 modules, are next to it, placed end on.
ESCAPE:
Ashton and I, left for a great little holiday on Monday 5th January, we stayed in a motel the first night at what was the Hume Highway, in South Albury. Caught up with my old mate Garry and his wife Robyn, my accountant. Tuesday we caught up with some other old friends and Ashton's Great Aunt Margeret ( MAGRAT) and her mad mob. We stayed Tuesday and Wednesday night at the country mansion of my oldest mate, Rod Young, at Allans Flat
(Comtrain goes HO HO HO or Hobsons Bay north blogspot). It was great catching up with him and I reccommend Yackandandah for the food at the cafe there.
From there we went to Melbourne, staying at my old mum's for 4 nights. I was sick on the Friday and we did nothing- may have been mum's cooking!!! On Monday we caught up with friends at Packenham, about 1 hour or so from Melbourne, staying at the Motel at Officer, not a bad place.
Tuesday saw us go to Lakes Entrance, staying at a Caravan Park on site Van . A good time there with Ashton catching his first fish- a Waaloo I was told by a local Aboriginal Lady. it was so small, but Ashton was so excited. I caught nothing whilst a bloke about 8 meters from me caught a nice about 12 pound what I assume was a Bass Straight yellow belly or maybe a Barracudda. Oh well ! We stayed 3 nights at Lakes Entrance.
After Lakes Entrance we went to Eden, for only 2 nights ( darn it) ,, Staying in another on site Cabin- this one was SO SO NICE inside, I wish we had stayed 4 nights. Opposite a great beach and we went to the whaling station museum and other sightseeing places.
Then we made the mistake of a night in a dingy motel at Bega, with the world's worst Chinese feed. MSG city and the Chinese Smorgasbord was so over cooked it was impallatable. We gave up after that and later in the night had a ham sandwich each.
Next day, Monday we were off to Canberra, stopping at Cooma for lunch, it was a great meal there. We booked into our Cabin in the north side of Canberra and after unpacking etc, I had to throw up- that Chinese food had given me a small food poisoning. I was OK about an hour later so we drove around Canberra, finding a few sights and getting lost with my GPS telling lies. Tuesday had us at the War memorial and museum then Parliament House to see where so many BAD mistakes have been made. Then in the evening, dinner with a lovely couple I know Rau and Lorna. Rau drove the Silver Fern in NZ and fired for me when I was playing trains at Southern and Silverton.
Wednesday saw is return to the slums of Sydney :( after a 16 day, 2760 KM soujourn.
THE POSSIBILITIES of doing something in this hovel:
I looked at the "Family room, which is about 7 meters long and thought
" Here's a possibility! Place a small diorama with those 3 sections against the wall. It will fit if I move the couch around."
So, dear reader, that is what I will be doing over the next 2 weeks. Including the 1 meter legs, 100 mm framing and 25 mm Base, that gives me a small display 750 mm by 4.7 M long, 1125 mm high to build a roughly 3.25 meter loop, Silo road and say a goods shed and stock siding. A bit of simple scenery and a couple of small shops, a few houses ad a country service station will take say 6 months to do properly.
I will be able to display my RTR Locomotives on it, and as my first Loco is a NSWGR steam this layout will be a bit generic, with stobie poles etc going in later to make it South Australian. The Station and platform will be removable, so I can do a ground level SAR one later. This will be against the wall of my Home layout at the new place.
Speaking of which, I have done some work in 3rdPlanit on the new design, a huge ammendment taking the floor plan to 8.5 x 24 meters in total- yes I have the Land for it as well as a nice BIG house with 4 car Garage, Pool and another shed for business etc. More later!
