Putting Down Roots

Hello!
It's been so long since I've sat down here to write a blog post that I really don't know where to begin. I have this dreadful fear of being yet another blog that "takes a break" but never returns, so write a blog post I must!
Moving house didn't go anything like I had imagined it. It's a long boring story though, so I don't think I'll bother you with it. The gist of the story is, that we've only just moved in a couple of weeks ago! We are in New South Wales, the planned destination. I've never actually set foot outside of Queensland before, and I underestimated how being in a place I'd never been before would feel. At times it's been overwhelming - not knowing where anything is, having to look up maps each time before your journey out, and even trying to get used to daylight savings.
On the flip side, it's been delightful to see so many new places. To have the fun of discovering the lovely little things tucked away in this new town. And summer has been bliss. For the trip down the coast, I packed my full summer wardrobe, thinking I would need it all, and only a couple of slightly cooler-weather items, in case of a rainy day when they might be needed. It turns out that once we reached south-east Queensland, the weather was delightful. Whilst the locals complained of the heat, I enjoyed the beautiful weather and came to understand why one might want to make Christmas a more outdoors celebration. It was hot, I grant you that, but not what I am accustomed to for that time of year.
New South Wales, on the other hand, I have yet to find hot at all. I'm sure I'll acclimatise, but at the moment I am loving summer (even when the locals find it hot) and wondering how I'll manage in winter!

The morning view from the back garden

Finding your feet in a new place, amongst all the chaos of moving in, unpacking and trying to get a home based business running again is hard. I've yet to actually explore what will hopefully become my local area. I did lots of exploring of the Sunshine Coast, where we stopped to visit family and friends on the trip down. But in this new spot, we're encumbered by the busyness of settling in. Once the house is organised I do plan to get out and get to know the area - something that I find can often happen when you live somewhere is that you forget to go out and explore it. I'm determined that this won't happen here!

I swing from feeling happy with this new place to wondering what we've done, feeling like a fish out of water and wishing for some familiarity. As I went into town on Monday to post orders (for the shop is open again), I felt a long way from home. I felt I was just an observer, as around me locals hurried about their errands and stopped to talk to one another. Everyone seemed to know one another and have catching up to do, whilst I spent five minutes wandering around the shop trying to find cashews.
We've got access here to so much organic and locally grown produce, which is wonderful, and the local wholefoods shop sells seedlings from a local grower.
I collected some lettuce, mizuna and a chive plant from there a few days ago and had the joy of planting them out into one of the four raised veggie beds that are already in the garden. A simple task like that was very grounding, and oddly has helped me feel more settled. As the seedlings put down their roots, hopefully, I shall do the same.

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