After getting rained out earlier in the year, we rebooked our camping trip to Straddie. We had storms forecast this time as well, but we were able to get our tent up just before it rained. The Cyliner Beach Campsite we stayed at was really good, was right on the beach and some local Kangaroos and Curlews. We were camping just near Point Lookout and so we went toSouth Gorge Beach for a quick look before it rained.

It was great to go to be able to go to the food and wine festival again this year, after last year was cancelled and we had a newborn the year before that. Unfortunately they had to change the lineup last minute due to border closures, so it was mostly bands I’d already seen several times. Lyra really liked the dinosaur theme at Laurel Bank Park this year. We even went to the parade for probably the first time since the we moved here.

One thing I did want to do properly that isn’t part of the standard inclusions is running Ethernet cable to most of the rooms. Since it’s two storey I also wanted to run proper WiFi access points and put in cables for our PoE cameras that we’ll bring from the old house. I used this guide as a starting point to get an idea of how best to do it. I used the Ubiquity Design Center to work out Wifi AP placement.

After putting the slab down, getting the frame up all happened pretty quickly. There was a few delays from rain but the roof and windows and everything were on by the end of March. Due to the scaffolding and bright weather proofing, it’s actually suprisingly easy to spot the house from various places around the area. We worked out you can even see it from out the back of our current house (with binoculars).

Before Christmas they started doing the earthworks and retaining wall at the back of the block. We also had to pick all our selections before Christmas. It wasn’t actually too bad as the interior designer had a showroom with most of the selections to choose from. And then we had to go to a couple of other stores like Tradelink for a few other selections but overall much simpler then I expected.

Ball Park Music — Cherub Lime Cordiale — No Plans To Make Plans Daði Freyr — Think About Things E^ST — I WANNA BE HERE The Strokes — Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus Tame Impala — Is It True Spacey Jane — Booster Seat The Jungle Giants — Sending Me Ur Loving Julia Jacklin — to Perth, before the border closes San Cisco — Reasons

Rachael had found an open house to inspect when Lyra was only 12 days old, after deciding our current house was too small now we had a baby. We couldn’t find any existing houses on the market that were what we wanted, so we bought a block of land that came up at the end of last year, and we’ve spent most of this year finalising a design. Of the builders we visited, we couldn’t find a house plan that was exactly what we wanted either, so we’d have to come up with our own.

2020 continues to be an eventful year, with both of my grandmas recently passing away less than a month apart. Since the Rockhampton Morning Bulletin is no longer in print to publish obituaries, I thought it would be worth preserving a copy of both the funeral notices here for posterity. I’ve also saved a copy of the Eulogy for both Marie and Isabel. This photo of them both at tennis club was a nice suprise to come across.

After checking in at the caravan park, we decided to do the short Shamrock mine walk first. There were a bunch of holes in the ground including an open pit that you could look down which was pretty cool. From here you can also see Castle Mountain Lookout, which we didn’t attempt (as it’s a 22km walk) but would be a good view if you had more time. After a quick look at the lake, we went back to the caravan park.

We made a quick stop at Auburn River National Park on our drive to Rockhampton. We started with the Gorge Top Walk which was not overly exciting but had a spectacular view at the lookout at the end. Even though we got there pretty early in the morning it started getting really hot so Lyra did not enjoy being in the carrier. The walk to the Gorge lookout was a much much shorter and easier one, but the view was not as impressive.