Having had enough of he city for a while, we planned to go to Cooroy to stay with Helene.
We were ready early but we were bailed up by some other motorhomers and we talked the morning away.
We reached Cooroy in time for afternoon tea and recieved the warmest possible welcome. We had dinner with Helene, Lenore and Craig before retiring to the Motley.
We had a very veg day, going briefly to Cooroy for a cup of coffee and to buy the paper but otherwise doing very little.
Jean, Helene and Lenore went shopping in the morning and to look at real estate in the afternoon.
I got under the truck to finish the installation of the new air horn system. I also started the installation of the trailer lamp repeater but I ran out of enthusiasm at about three o'clock. I'll have to finish this job another day. When I've finished that I'll have to do the installation of the new water pump. That will be a really fun job! At least I now have a decent horn to warn dozy car drivers not to drive into my breaking area.
We had another quiet day, going into Tewantin for a bit of shopping in the middle of the day.
I needed to visit the ships chandler at Kawanna Waters so we went there for lunch. On the way back, we visited a property developer in Forest Glen who had advertised in the Ferny Hills local paper. He spent some time trying to convince us that buying land in the Tin Can Bay hinterland would be a good investment. We arranged to spend some time with him on Saturday looking at available land. On the way home he rang to ask us if we could change the arrangement to Friday to which we agreed. Later he rang again to say that his car had broken down and he couldn't be sure that he could meet us on Friday.
The salesman rang in the morning to say that his car was still off the road and we arranged to go with out him on Saturday.
Having prepared ourselves for a day out, we decided to visit a manufactured homes business in Noosaville. It was interesting to see what they had on offer and to compare the prices with those we had been quoted at the estate in Yamba - about half!.
Helene had asked me to look at the security light which had stopped switching on when one moved in the area covered by the sensor and I had discovered that it needed a new lens for the sensor. I found a shop in Noosaville that knew what I was talking about but was advised that it would be most unlikely that a replacement lens could be bought anywhere. A new security light assembly was the only solution. I was amazed at the low price even though it was made in China. Helene said she was happy to replace the whole thing so I did. I also repaired the vacuum cleaner by bypassing the broken suction setting potentiometer- it now only works at full bore all the time but at least it works. The broken hedge trimmer turned out to need a replacement gear so I was unable to work my magic on that.
We had arranged to meet the real estate guy at ten o'clock in Gympie. He took us on a long tour of many pieces of land from South Gympie to Glenwood. He showed us all kinds of properties, none of which were anything like what we are looking for.
The last place was a delightful 0.6 hectare (1 1/2 acre) bush block just off the bitumen in Glenwood. I was prepared to go away and think about it but the market is very, very fast moving at the moment and Jean thought we should be decisive and buy it so we did, just like that.
The chance that the value won't rise significantly over the next year or two is vanishingly small so even if we don't keep it we will be better off as a result of the purchase. If we put a house on the land the value will probably increase a fair bit more than the cost of the house so that is also an investment option.
Glenwood is 40 km (24 miles) north of Gympie and only 2 1/2 hours drive from Ferny Hills so we could commute without much trouble if we were to settle there.
We returned to Cooroy very tired probably due in part to the emotional investment in addition to the extensive driving and walking.
Its was a bright but chilly day so we postponed all plans which required one to leaver the comfort ot the Motley. That is, until it was revealed that we needed to do some laundry. At least the wind dried the clothes quickly.
I started a little half hour job and found that it needed three or four hours thus decimating the afternoon.
We had to go to Forest Glen to complete the contract signing process. We drove from there to Buderim to check out a company called Forest Glen Kit Homes. They were very helpful but we realised that a kit home would be too much trouble for us so we will concentrate on manufactured homes trying to find just the right design at just the right price.