This is the third post written while I was away on my big break. Enjoy!
Food has been interesting in this little shack. The kitchen consists of a fridge, a set of shelves, a bench with a sink in it and various pieces of electrical hardware. There’s a microwave, a convection oven (the type that sits on the bench), a sandwich press, a kettle, an electric frypan, and an electric hotplate that can be used with saucepans or frying pans. So there’s everything you need but you can only use one appliance at a time. Any more and the fuse will blow. So there’s a few logistical issues. In addition, you can’t use more than one thing at once because there is simply no bench space for any more.
Tonight DH is making toasted sandwiches with a breadboard balanced on the draining board to allow enough bench space for chopping and buttering. The first night we were here he was much more inventive – he popped down to the supermarket and bought chiko rolls, a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables and some noodle salad. (Chiko rolls are a purely Australian food that should taste absolutely disgusting but for some reason are delicious! A bit like dim sims but completely different. DH says they could be a long dim sim dipped in batter.)
Yesterday, after eating fish and chips for lunch, we didn’t need anything heavy for tea so we decided to go with toasted cheese, ham, (and for him, tomato) sandwiches. And tonight, it’s leftover night! So dinner consists of leftover stir fry veg. Leftover noodle salad, and toasted sandwiches. We are living like kings here! We also have leftover banana cake, leftover shortbread, and crisps and chocolate and jellybeans and we’ve decided we need matching his and hers hip flasks so that we can easily bring whiskey for him and gin for me to make our favourite drinks.
While we’re on the subject of how shack-like the shack is, let me introduce you to our bolt-hole for the four days. The first time we saw it, we drove past thinking it was a shed on someone’s property. Then we saw the name written on the side and realised that it was the property. We have stayed in smaller places, but only as rooms in a motel. Actually, now I come to think of it, this place is around as big as the granny flat that we originally lived in 22 years ago when we were first married. And this place has a wood-heater so it is much better!
The rooms are lit by single light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The floors have a variety of coverings, from beautiful polished floorboards in the bedroom, to vinyl held together by duct tape in the lounge room to cork tile patterned vinyl in the kitchen. The view outside is absolutely gorgeous but the windows that you would like to look through are tiny and you can only see the view while sitting down. Standing up you look at the grass. In the tiny lounge room are two dressers, a table and four wooden chairs, and three easy chairs. One of the easy chairs (the vinyl covered one) we have given up on because it is so uncomfortable that we just don’t want to sit on it. It is made for people with shorter legs than ours. I am using the wicker rocking chair and DH, when he feels like reading, squeezes himself into the material covered easy chair with wooden arms. It does not look comfortable but if he lifts his legs off the cross bar by putting them up on a wooden chair then he is moderately ok.
It felt like going back in time when we let ourselves in and saw what we had let ourselves in for. So much so that I was concerned that the toilet could have been outside. But no, there is an indoor bathroom that hides behind the kitchen door. It has a bath, a shower and a loo and it has a washing machine but I’ve been told that it shreds clothes, so no washing this weekend. I wasn’t even thinking of it, washing is not what I go on holidays to do.
The truly wonderful thing is the high quality queen sized bed. The importance of good sleep cannot be overemphasised on holidays and this bed is delightful to sleep in. Everything else can be handled with equanimity if you can sleep at night, I have found. Not that much handling is really required. There is everything that we need here and more besides. It is warm and quiet and, importantly, away from everything else.
It’s a lovely little place and we have made ourselves comfortable. Very comfortable, in fact. There really isn’t much more you need for four days, though I’d find cooking in the kitchen a little more stressful in the long term I reckon. So leftovers tonight is a good way to go and tomorrow we will pack up and clean thoroughly (so as to encourage Ratty to eat RatSack for his dinner) and head home to luxury and to work. We are more than grateful.