After 19 months in MacMasters Beach, we finally moved to Copacabana! We found a lovely house with a fantastic view of the ocean and the Copa "bowl". Each of the children has their own room. They are thrilled. Dave has to share. ;)
We moved on Saturday 17 March. I had arranged for the movers at 1pm, the new refrigerator and washing machine to be delivered from the store. Also a mattress was being delivered from a different store for Clara. A lot going on.
We had signed the lease 2 weeks prior to moving day. House keys were to be available for pick up from the real estate office in Terrigal at 8:30am. Dave and Tristan left early and arrived before the office opened. I received a call about 8:35 with the voice in the background stating "No, holiday house keys are not available for pick up until 2pm". Dave sorted that.
By 8:50, I received a call from the delivery driver for the washer and refrigerator. He was going to bring the appliances up the hill to the house, just waiting for us to come with the keys.
We finished loading my car, and started the drive around the lagoon to Copa. On the way, Dave called. Clara answered and explained I was driving. The 2nd time he called, I was nearly at the house. When I understood the refrigerator was going to be left in the garage because they "couldn't get it in the house", I parked the car in the road outside the house and flew out of the car screaming "Put my refrigerator into the kitchen!" The delivery team said they couldn't. I suggested going in via the back gate. They said it wouldn't fit. I suggested we measure, but they declined saying they had many more deliveries. They promised to come back on Monday to put it into the house.
I found that the washing machine, while delivered to the laundry room, was not out of the box and not installed. I was not pleased. And Dave had paid them $45 cash for not delivering!
The children had not seen the house before move in day. So they wandered around looking at everything and eyeing up the rooms. Then we went as a family to determine who would live where. They unloaded the 2 cars and began sorting their treasures into each of their rooms.
After I installed the washing machine, we decided to get 2 more car loads from the old house before getting pizza for the kids for lunch. We arrived at the Macs house at the same time as the movers. They were an hour early. They were ready, so they began the process of loading the truck. It took nearly 2 hours to load the truck with all the furniture. The also moved the landlord's furniture into it's original positions in the upper part of the house.
While I stayed with the movers, Dave had taken his car load over to the new house and fed the kids pizza. He came back to the Macs house just as the movers were finishing. When I returned to the new house with my car load, the movers were right behind me. The kids helped to unload the moving van, taking in suitcases, blankets, and couch cushions.
The movers were able to get the refrigerator into the kitchen. It was narrow enough to get through the gate when the box was off. But they lifted it over the railing into the master bedroom and from there into the kitchen. After the movers left, about 4pm, the rest of Saturday was spent settling in.
