Brisbane, QLD


Thursday, December 29, 2016

MOVING IN

1971 was rolling along.  
 In June we attended the Carrier Air Conditioning Ball. 

 It took some time getting used to having seasons again after living in Papua/New Guinea for seven years and never having a winter just hot and wet or hot and dry. Even though Brisbane has mild winters, I found it cold . My mum knitted me a jumper (sweater).

 In September it was Spring but I still found it cool. However, we were very excited because we could move in to our house even though we didn't have a driveway or landscaping. We were going to do that ourselves to save money. On the first day our furniture from the flat hadn't arrived so we slept on the floor in sleeping bags. Springwood was so new that it didn't have a post office or shops. So our address was Lot 14 Springwood Rd, Eight Mile Plains, which was the next suburb. Springwood wasn't a recognised suburb yet. Springwood was actually the name of the estate which was being developed across the road from our place. Our address was to change three times while we in the same house because of all the development going on in that area.

We were very happy with our brand new home. It was only a small three bedroom, one bathroom house but it was big enough for us. However, it was on an acre of land and that was a lot of land to look after. We left most of it as natural bushland.

Because we were in a new suburb but not in an estate, we didn't have town sewerage and we had to have a septic tank toilet. When it was installed, Bill wasn't happy with the length of the outlet drain and he wanted to make it longer. Lucky for him, his friend Ben, borrowed a back hoe from his boss and the pair of them dug a decent sized drain. I think Bill enjoyed operating the back hoe. Boy stuff.


17 comments:

  1. Hello, your house was pretty. I like it. Our house in Maryland is in a rural area with a septic tank and well water. Your jumper is cute, great photos. Enjoy your day and the weekend ahead. I wish you all the best in 2017, Happy New year!

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  2. your new home sure looks good.. the septic tank not so good but many still have those here. we had one in Georgia.

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  3. I enjoyed reading this "tale from the past" about your adjustment to having seasons and your new home.

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  4. Such an exciting time of your lives. I love your kitchen. The enthusiasm of youth that you'll do your own driveway and landscaping... ah yes, brings back memories and good fun of working alongside each other. I too love your homemade jumper, a pretty collar to it. Cheers :D)

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  5. What a classic 70s kitchen.

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  6. Beautiful Christmas time in the present (in the post below) and fun memories of the past in this post -- it's a perfect combination.

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  7. An exciting time - a new home and 1 acre of land.
    Can imagine it being cold in Brisbane in winter.
    Happy New Year

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  8. I love the pictures from back then! I remember a stove similar. He looks good on the tractor, boy toys I still call them. We have a septic tank at our place today.

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  9. Youth has its enthusiasm and lack of despair. What an adventure!

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  10. Moving into a new house is always an exciting adventure.

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  11. What a nice home for your very first one. It must have been so exciting. Diane, you have such unusual beauty. You looked stunning in everything you wore!
    Happy New Year to you both.

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  12. An acre of bushland, don't I know about it. Our block is one of those and keeps me flat out every time I go there. So while relaxing, we also had a lot of mowing to do this time as the Kangaroo grass gets very long with seed at this time of year. The work out there never seems to end ... but I guess that is the way of gardens, native or not.

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  13. Hi Diane, I love reading "your story". Lovely cute house. Great work by Bill and his friend sorting out your sewage from the get-go. We now have a septic tank and pumped/tanked water. And huge grounds much of it wild. Grant is acquiring a tractor this week and is he excited! Always boy stuff no matter how old they are. BTW, are you still in the same house? Greetings Jo

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  14. That is funny ! You started exactly the same way we did ! Only we had the furniture at least for us and the baby and the kitchen was furnished anyway but outside it was terrible, nothing was done and to get in the house Riccardo had put two boxes one over the other, because we had no steps yet !

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