As everyone knows pulling into your driveway after a trip isn’t the end of it. That’s when the clean-up starts, and one wonders how one little trip (or big trip as was the case this time) can create so much work.
Firstly we had to put our house back into order. You may remember that around a year ago we had plank vinyl professionally laid over our old green floor tiles. Something went wrong in the laying process so the manufacturer, and the retailer whom we purchased the flooring from decided it all needed to be pulled up and replaced. We emptied the living area of all furniture before our departure, and the work was done in our absence. Normally within two hours of returning home we have the caravan is emptied, and the laundry is well under way. However on this occasion it took us nearly three hours to get the house back together and the washing machine re-connected.
We barely managed to get started on unpacking the caravan on our first day home. Only the essential items like toothbrushes came in the first day. The rest of the holiday clean-up started the following day. There’s been bedding to wash, and all those clothes to wash – where did they come from! I thought I’d kept up with all the laundry, obviously not. The washing machine’s been going full time since it was re-connected.
All the household items that we took up for the wedding are now back in their rightful place. The table clothes have all been laundered and ironed, and the silver ware is all polished and is now back in the cutlery drawer.
The caravan has been cleaned, inside and out, and the bed is made up and ready for the next trip.
The weeds in the garden had obviously realised the house was empty and decided to party in our absence. Why is it weeds grow so much faster than everything else, aren’t they all just plants! I wonder if we cultivated weeds and pulled out our plants, if the plants would thrive out of proportion to the cultivated weeds.
One thing we are very happy to see is our newly planted blueberries and strawberries are fruiting. It looks like soon we’ll have some nice, chemically free, berries to put on our breakfast.
Its taken five full days, but we’re getting on top of everything, including the garden. The bigger weeds have been pulled, and all the pot plants are back in place. Almost everything survived in tact, with the exception of my beautiful potted Fiddle Leaf Fig.
We had moved all our house plants outside and thought we’d left them all in a shady place and where they’d get sufficient water. Somehow this one missed out on either the water or the shade, and is now barely more than a trunk. Next time I think I’ll leave the pot plants inside and arrange for a friend to come and water them.
Phew! it’s been far more than any normal post trip clean up. Normally we’re virtually back to normal in two days, three if the caravan’s getting a good clean too. Five days is a bit over the top, but with the house to be put back together after the work was done in our absence, and with all the additional items we had taken with us, it all blew out just a tad, but I guess it was all in proportion to our trip – completely crazy! The things we do…..
Life of Riley - on whatever 
I got tired reading about all that work you just completed when you got home, whew! 😉 Good to have things all back in order…..so you’re ready for the next trip. 🙂
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Getting home is the hard part. I usually give up on trying to sort out what clothes have been worn or not and just wash the lot. Then there are floor rugs and the multitude of old towels that we use for packing/stowing/mopping etc. Jumpers to hand wash, ‘cos wool is always warmer and cosier. Which all takes days. You can tell that I’ve just finished this task can’t you?
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I’m the same with the washing, it nearly all gets washed regardless of if it needs it. Even a week end away usually takes a couple of days to sort things out. That’s only because I always take to much. I should try and pack just what I’d take if I was on a hiking trip, just the basics,or at least what I only need for that trip.
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Trouble is the weather is so hard to predict. A few weeks ago we were coming down the Hume Hwy and the weather was superb. People were dining in the warm spring sunshine. A week later it was snowing there.
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We find the weather is a bit more unpredictable on the East coast than in the West, or the NT. The NT rarely has a wet day during their dry. Broome has consistently dry days of around 30° all through the winter. The south of WA can be a bit less reliable.
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I’m so glad things are finally back to normal for you both! I’m so excited you have blueberries and strawberries!!!! Keep an eye on the birds when they get ripe they love them too.
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The trip was amazing so it’s all been worthwhile but five days sorting out is a little severe. You need to employ some staff ….
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We just need to slow down. We keep saying we will, but we never seem to manage it.
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Whew! I’m exhausted 😆 Long trips do make for lots of catching up. We’re in the middle of our 1,900 mile (almost 3,000 Km) journey from northern Wisconsin back to Phoenix, AZ. We took three weeks to traverse that distance in June and now we’re taking about 2 weeks to return. Next summer, we hope to do it much slower and smell the roses along the way. Glad to hear you’ve got blueberries growing and will soon be picking.
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Are you travelling short distances every day, or longer distances with a couple of nights in each place? We keep saying we’re going to travel slower, but somehow we never do. Not usually as fast as this latest trip though.
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We drove 2 long days (925 miles from northern Wisconsin to western Nebraska) then stopped for 3 days. We don’t plan on traveling like that next summer. We had a schedule to keep which involved moving our stuff in storage from Colorado to Arizona – an 800 mile move. Al drove the RV while I drove a moving truck. We just arrived in Phoenix late Thursday and the move is now over. We’re exhausted after nearly 2,000 miles driven, but relieved to have this all behind us. Next summer it’ll be all about fun!
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I can relate. It took us about a week to get over our last trip. To far with to little time.
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Welcome home. Pity about the plant.
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Hopefully it’ll recover.
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A lengthy clean up is appropriate for a lengthy trip!!
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