A fig tree out the back…
And a new outdoor setting.
Our new garden has two fig trees as you can see in the photos. It’s a leafy, green strip of trees and bushes running along the back of the house where there’s a path to the garage and the clothes line round the corner. So nice having our own line to dry clothes instead of having to use a clothes hanger.
We purchased a new outdoor setting last weekend for the space in the corner. Planning to sit out there to read or have breakfast. Not on 38 degree days like today and yesterday though. 
We’ve unpacked almost everything except for a few boxes of the last fiddly stuff. Made a couple of trips to the local recycling station. It is excellent - they have a program called Byteback which recycles computer parts too.
We decided to go there yesterday to take some paper and an old monitor Andrew had so I picked up a monitor from the spare bedroom and put it near the door. However that was actually the good one and the non-functioning one was in the garage. Oops! It was funny because I’m the one always trying to get rid of stuff whereas Andrew is more of a bowerbird!
Really enjoying the quick trip into work and we went to the Camberwell Fresh Food Market for the first time yesterday. It was fantastic. You get so used to the sub-standard supermarket produce that you don’t realise such fresh fruit and veg is available. We bought our supplies for the week including meat and fish. The kitchen in the new place is fabulous too.
Another funny story is that one night before we moved in when we were moving in some boxes and the landlord, John was also here, we noticed an awful fishy dead smell wafting around the door and hall area. We thought it could be a dead animal on the roof or a scared possum. John had it checked out the next day but they couldn’t find anything.
After we moved in we smelled it again a couple of days later. It seemed to only happen at night. We were baffled. We thought it could be the exhaust fan from the oven or something outside. It continued to happen. It was not a nice smell to be hanging around.
Last week I did a search on the Internet and found a forum where a couple of people had said that kind of smell could come from old light fittings made of Bakelite. a type of plastic. Sure enough - that’s what it was. Apparently after a long time they decay and then when they heat up they let off this awful smell. You just wouldn’t have expected that the smell came from the lights because it was such an animal smell. Anyway we were overjoyed and so was the landlord that we’d discovered the source of the odor and John has now fixed it. No more smell!
Looks lovely and congratulations. We wouldnt mind coming down for villa-warming, just say when.
Then again you are up thisway soon… and we so had a great time in Magical Maleny.
I know exaclty how putrid burnt bakelite smells ewwww… i had one of those light fitting in a Pune rental place. It took me days to figure out what caused that repulsive smell. On a brighter note… you are bakelite free.
Good on the internet sleuth!! Do scared possums smell? I learn something every day!! You are really getting settled in….well done. It all looks lovely and tell me when the figs are ready to eat and I’ll be down. Can’t wait to see your place.
Yeah, I was quite proud and not at all surprised that Ruth was the one that found the answer… It had me stumped and the landlord as well
Mum used to have a huge fig tree when we lived in Canberra, used to make Jam quite a bit and there were heaps of other fruit trees in the backyard. We’d be happy to have you both stay over. The place is all unpacked and organised now 
Yeah I’m looking forward to the figs too. Apparently they should be ripe fairly soon. Would love to see you ‘northerners’ down here sometime.
I can remember fig jam somewhere along the line but I don’t think it would have been in NZ as I doubt if figs would grow there. Are you going to give it a go, Andy??
I remember eating fresh figs in Rome, so delicious.
Have a good w/end in Byron…are you going to “The Balcony”?? When I go to Fully’s 60th in April, Jade and I are going to “The Balcony”…can’t walt.
I’m so looking forward to coming to see you both in Melb.
I don’t know if ‘the Balcony’ is on the cards. We may have a snapper on the barbie! We forgot about the time difference so won’t get to Byron until about 11.30pm. Oops! Not good for those who go to sleep early.
Yum, fresh figs. I hope we get some here before the birds get them all.
We will be absolutely delighted to put you up in our villa. It will be so much fun.
See the picture of our breakfast which we had this morning on the new outdoor setting. I also picked some figs and did some weeding. A lot of the figs have already been munched by the birds
. There are also a lot of bees on the half-eaten fruit so I had to be careful when picking them.
Ruth looked like a beekeeper picking the figs
Mum has already grabbed some figs and is a deft hand at most jams. We used to have a huge fig tree growing up in Canberra. Prob won’t be going to Balcony but we’ll see 
Will definately look forward to seeing you in Melbourne and we should be able to get up to Malaney in June 
No figgy pudding in Maleny…only citrus eg limes and if lucky grapefruit….that’s if I can get rid of those pesky beetles that eat the new buds and squirt acid out of their bums which can blind you!!!!!! Lucky I wear specs!! You may have to invest in a scarecrow to get rid of the birds
Yummo…that brekky looked awesome and so artistically presented but I was looking for figs???? I meant to comment on the church which is visible in your pics. That’ll be handy for you both on a Sun!!
Mmmm well…. hee hee!
I found that beetle comment very funny!
I love the photos. your kitchen looks great!
I agree about the market produce. I always go to the Sunday markets here and buy from the farmers - it’s fresh and cheap.