It has been a while since I have had any time off work. This past week that changed and I had a week of annual leave. The break was more so the result of a small home project which inadvertently turned large than an actual planned holiday.
The other week, Melinda found a tear in the carpet in Grace’s closet. On further inspection she found that there was hardwood floors under the carpet. After listening to Mel tell me what she had found, I decided to have a look as well. From what I could see, Mel was right and there was hardwood floors under the carpet. The temptation to pull up the carpet and have a proper look was too strong. After initially planning to only rip up the carpet in the closet, I ended up pulling up the carpet in the girl’s rooms and this then led to me tearing out the slate and tile floors in the hallway, kitchen and living room as well.
We called in “Val” to come in and sand and polish the floors, while he was doing this we needed to leave the house for the week. Rather than staying at a hotel, we decided to go camping at Cumberland River just past Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.
Here are a few before and after pictures below of the floorboards and some of the camping we did in-between during the sanding and polishing.
While the nights were a bit chilly and we had to get the kids in their thermals at night – overall the weather was great for the time of year. The added benefit for us as well was that because we went before the summer season, we almost had the campgrounds and facilities to ourselves. One of the interesting people we did meet, was Pat and Jenny Kennedy who were travelling back to NSW after spending a few days at Wilsons Promontory and Phillip Island. Pat does some ad-hoc writing for the magazine “Caravan World” and had some great stories to share.
Over the course of the week, we did get a few hikes in and the kids had a great time exploring the area. We did see a Koala, a Brownsnake, an Echidna and just about hit a Wallaby on a logging trail that we were driving on one day. Some of the hikes we did were Erskine Falls, Cumberland River, The Otway Treetop Walk and a few other short ones as well. The kids kept up pretty well and in between a few breaks on the way a few well-timed bribes of treats kept them moving when they needed it.
By the time we got back to house the floorboards had been sanded and polished and look fantastic. The house still smelled strongly of varnish, so we set up the tent in the backyard and spent the first night back home still in the tent.
The good news is the tent held up great and everyone is looking forward to our next adventure.
