This post covers the period of time at our temporary accommodation.  At this stage, we hadn’t secured a rental property so the length of stay here was unknown but to save space (and perhaps a touch of optimism) we packed a weeks worth of clothes, a few toys for the girls, a few books for me and Josh’s work clothes as he was due to start in a few days.  It was a two bedroom serviced apartment and while the girls were excited to share and LOVE lifts, the lack of a backyard and lack of space meant cabin fever set in after days.  So there were many emotional times and to keep it real, I shot through those as well.  It mostly felt like a holiday to me initially as we were staying in what was effectively a hotel, going o the beach daily and exploring a new place.  In hindsight (2.5 weeks in to unpacking a house), I am grateful for the temporary accommodation so I could enjoy the new area before feeling bogged down in the obligation of unpacking and the weight of all our stuff (seriously – I thought I had done a great job and rehoming and throwing out before we moved).

These were the better times.  Playing on the apartment rooftop (even though the barbeques didn’t light which was a bummer), having spare time because the small space and limited possessions meant super quick tidying, exploring Newcastle at places like Foreshore Park the Newcastle Museum and cooling off with Popolo Gelato, watching construction work, bus rides and the trip to the lift to swipe Papa down and get the garage door up for him so we could keep the keys to hit the beach.

And some of the lower times.  Sibling arguments,  needing some private or personal space and high emotions were aplenty.  As a parent it was a balancing act between getting us out to give us all some open space and having quieter days for rest while also trying not to have too much fun because Josh was at work doing orientation and induction courses.

And other cool things.
Coastal storms sure put on a good light show!

Just playing around between lightening strikes.  This was the glass panel above the solid balcony wall.

The gallery to our Day in the Life session with Sharon Troy-Baldwin Photography was delivered!  We looked through it plenty of times but Olive wanted to make her own favourites list.  To see more of that session, head here.  I think our session with Sharon possibly helped me say goodbye to our Blue Mountains home because while I captured a few things, self portraits are pretty damn hard to set up and are hard to ‘look natural’ in.

And kids crack me up.  The bathroom door is apparently a great place to store your suction-bottomed toothbrush and dry your shower cap.

And lastly, some pictures from my phone which are all water shots at or on our way to the Canoe Pool.

Missed the post about the house getting packed up?  See Part One here.  Or head on through to Part Three to see a few images of us getting settled.