Not finished, but habitable

We actually moved in at the beginning of December 2019, right before the world went crazy. All the stuff that we had in storage since we left Sydney was delivered to the house, the contents of our house in Googong were moved and we brought everything from the storage lockup. So for the first time since around July 2017, everything that we owned was once again under our roof.

There were hundreds of boxes. We seem to have been unpacking for months, and there are still about 30 cartons of books stacked in the corridor - I can't unpack them until more shelving is delivered.

The house itself is finished but work is continuing on the landscaping, and there are tradesmen on-site most days. However, the end is in sight, though we shall not be able to plant much before next spring: winter is upon us, with frost most nights.

We moved in just in time for the worst bush fire season for many years: we were never in any real danger - there is no bush near us, and because our landscaping had not been started at that point there was little except a few particularly hardy weeds growing anywhere near the house. However, we were blanketed in smoke for weeks, which was very unpleasant.

Then the smoke began to clear, and torrential rain flooded the creek that runs through the valley, washing out the roadway that leads to the Monaro Highway.  Fortunately, someone with access to heavy machinery did a temporary clean up job, so that vehicles could get in and out, and then the local council regraded the road properly.

By that point it was obvious the COVID-19 was a serious problem, and panic buying was becoming an issue. Happily, back in December, I had stocked up on bulk packs of various non-perishable supplies and filled the freezer. At the time I didn't realise how bad things were going to get, but I had a purpose-built dry goods storeroom and an empty freezer, so I laid in supplies as I did my regular shopping, and this saved us a great deal of inconvenience later on.

My employer closed our offices and told everyone to work from home: this made no difference to me since I was working from home anyway. Then my husband's employer closed their offices and suddenly both of us were working from home. The benefits of having separate home offices, not too close together immediately became apparent: in the house that we had in Googong our "offices" were two bedrooms right opposite one another across a narrow hall: conference calls were readily audible to both of us. This house gives us plenty of space and privacy. In fact, there are very few places that would be better for lockdown: the front gate is half a kilometer away. We can go for a walk without leaving our property.

We look out of our lounge room windows in the morning and depending on the weather we can usually see the Tinderry Ranges - they may be wreathed in cloud, obscured by fog or completely clear. The kangaroos were browsing down by the trees this morning, popping up from the long grass from time to time, oblivious to the fact that it was pouring with rain. We love it here.