When the Northern Territory (NT Australia) started to get Covid19 community transmission in October last year, with it also entering the Wet Season, the tourism tap dried up. We were not eligible for boosters till January and our grandkids weren’t eligible for vaccination till mid January. So we closed shop, putting family health front and centre. In fact my daughter chose to home school her children till they were double vaxed and I admire her for it.
So we’ve just been enjoying the space for ourselves……. also using it with the grandkids for some schooling etc. There has been lots of art workshopping and plenty of maintenance and ploughing through the Airbnb washing of stored linens. Not to mention giving myself a minor back injury which is on the mend.
Garry had a surprise 70th birthday party last month, with our two Canberran kids and family arriving as a surprise, plus all his siblings. In the couple of weeks leading to the event, I was quietly preparing for “opening” the Airbnb calendar, rewashing every bit of bed linen, bath linens, pool towels etc, after the hiatus since September. Still in the Wet season, so this has been mammoth! We pulled it off! The older grandkids kept the secret. The younger ones also weren’t in video chats to give up the game… lol…. Messages coming in from people wishing they could have been here, maybe in a years time! (Bahahahaha…….)
Verity our youngest, arrived first from Canberra, (a surprise to Garry) deciding to come earlier so she could have some quiet time with us. Then our son Robert and his family arrive for a surprise holiday a few days later: putting them in the AIrbnb space. (I had told Garry, I was having a friend stay there before they went to New Zealand, so I could have a legitimate reason to clean it.) To keep up the ruse, I separated the king bed into the singles, but kept the king coverlet over it, to avoid visual suspicion. Making the beds at different intervals, when doing normal washing etc. I even hid the king mattress topper in an oversized esky in the storage area in the garage!
Verity used her old bedroom till the 3 uncles aged 65-84 arrived. She then went into our caravan for some privacy and to avoid the night toilet traffic! Bahahahaha.
The plan was afoot! She took Garry to breakfast for some one on one, to get him out of the house, with an excuse she was doing a yoga class at a certain time, so they needed to go at this certain time. As they left in the car, I sent a message to her older sister and husband who live not far away, letting them know what direction they left. They arrived within ten minutes and our son came upstairs and the military operation began…… This all took place in just over an hour. Well I exaggerate: 80 minutes!
So strip the bed upstairs for an uncle and put clean bedding in the caravan for V. All technology, furniture and “stuff” except a side cabinet came out of the office and was carried into our bedroom. Now feeling very cramped…
The boys moving efficiently setting up beds. My other daughter and daughter in law cleaning the floor from hidden fluff etc. Then we began putting pillowcases on to ten pillows & making the queen bed, two single bed bases and mattresses were being set up in the office. Beds made and space transformed back into a bedroom for another two uncles…… What’s the time?
Verity rang to warn our military operation, that they were returning from breakfast, just as the flight from South Australia was landing.
Five grandkids behaving themselves in the lounge room watching “Bluey”, not daring to get in the way! Son in law left for work, one daughter off to the airport, some kids still upstairs, some kicking the soccer ball around downstairs, to catch grandads attention on his return.
Oh no! They’ll get back here before the uncles arrive!
So our son decided the vertical blind “wasn’t working” in the AIrbnb space, so that Garry had to help downstairs with it, before our surprise visitors arrived. Of course, Verity had to keep up the ruse, and depart with the car, for her pretend yoga class. Garry was observant enough to see the car had left…. Bahahaha….
She only parked down the street waiting for our other daughter who had left for the airport, to return from the pick up. Well they arrived with Garry in the lounge room, full of startled surprise.
First his younger brother entered, then his older brother then there was a gap to allow for all to sink in…. Then our widowed 84 year old brother in law walked in with Phoebe our daughter. Woohoo! We had Garry so overwhelmed!
To top it off, the following day, not long after he had totally relaxed and stepped out of the pool dripping, to check on some drying plants in pots, his sister and her husband casually walked around into the back yard behind him!
So this is how a family should be able to get together after three years apart with two years of Covid19 lockdowns included ….. with so much joy! Woohoo!
When not eating out, up to seventeen people for meals, meant I was kept busy. But such a delight!
So I sit writing this now, with only the normal household clothes and bedding to do. Luxury! All types of towels, hand towels, face washers, bed linens, mattress protectors, sarong throws, bed runners, pillow protectors, sheets etc etc have been washed again and segregated into their sizes and back in the cupboards.
Breathe……….. deeply…….. feet up…… now snooze…….. repeat……
Airbnb!
Hmmmm…….. ???
We’re now vaccinated and boosted, all the linens are ready and the space has been routinely cleaned, with no obvious monsoonal weather or cyclones on the horizon. “Can’t open those dates”, as we will have builders on site closing in our front balcony, for my new pop-out art studio space. Yay! Hmmm….. But if I allow an extra two weeks for delays, then I could open the calendar from this date! Will that work? Okay. Done!
Less than 24 hours later, I have three bookings for the dry season. Two more when we add another 24 hours. So here we are…… responding to messages, getting the
breakfast foods listed to match the special diets as well as noting when beds are split for incoming kids in the bookings. BACK IN THE GAME…….
🙂
Cathie
