birds, cabinets, and goodbyes

I am in Sydney now. Newtown, to be more precise, which is an urban suburb of Sydney. I am staying in a hostel and working on a small construction project, which is currently in its demolition phase. I'll report back to you on that, for now I want to post some pictures I accumulated while I was in Victoria. My internet connection was not cooperating, so I couldn't post from there. So, here we go.

This is a king parrot, which is a common bird in Victoria. This little lady flew into the window at Shaun and Nobuko's while I was there. It survived, but it was stunned enough to sit still for at least 3 hours.
Now on to the domesticated birds. Here are some pictures of the chooks in their new home. They weren't too sure about it at first, but after one rainy windy night, they didn't want to leave. The first picture shows the automatic watering device that Shaun built.

So, that was the conclusion of my visit with the Murphys. It was a hard goodbye. I hope to go back and visit some day, or maybe change roles and host them in Virginia. Shaun and Nobuko, you're always welcome at my home, wherever it may be (but you might want to wait a little while if you don't want to stay in a caravan).

Back up the hill at Simon's, work on the cabinets continued. Simon and Cate went to Sydney for a week, while I stayed to be nanny. I did some carpentry too, while the kids were at school. By the time the parents returned, the cabinets were getting close to finished. But not quite...

Here are a couple pictures of the King Valley wine region, which I took on my way into town to refuel the old land cruiser.

And of course, the family. Another goodbye. Another hard goodbye.