"Holtieshouses"

Gentle Street Toowoomba

After six years in the frontline we were looking for something a little less full on, we found this in Toowoomba.

We bought a run-down, but sound, Queenslander and spent a couple of years renovating it.

To keep the pot boiling we also bought two small business’s, a school bus run for me and a shop with the plant required to manufacture “Rubber Stamps” for Julie.

This house represented our biggest renovation project to date, when we eventually sold it the agent listed it as “One directly out of the glossy magazines.”

As well as the renovations we also planted a “native garden” which I’m pleased to report has come on a treat in the years since planting.

When we sold this house we actually traded a cheaper house, but as we never lived in it I haven’t included it.

During this time Marcus attended Toowoomba High School, it was here that he first showed up as a good student, he finished his schooling in WA when he chose to return to Perth and the rest of the family.

His schooling was finished at Carine High School, a few years after leaving there, he returned as School Chaplain, a position he held for 12 years.

As our family commitments had now changed we decided to fulfill a dream and do a “Round Australia Trip.” So after a few months of organization we were off again.

Around Australia Rig 1

We bought a Ford F100 utility and an 18 foot pop-top caravan, loaded them up and off we went, this combination was very good for the first 5/6 months, but then we found ourselves in the outback and severely restricted by the size of the outfit and it’s lack of “Four wheel drive ability.”

Rig 2

So yet another change was made, we bought a Toyota 4X4 and a 12 foot caravan to complete the trip.

In all we spent 13 months traveling and did about 30,000 miles, it was everything we had hoped for in the way of an adventure, one day I may post some of the highlights of this trip, who knows.

Suffice to say, we went, we saw, we enjoyed to the full and were ready for the next step down “our road.”