So it's been a while since I have updated.

Motel Dad and I have been going back and forth with how we wish to proceed in the next few years.

The motel isn't doing too well. Built in the 70's (that's 1970) when things were a little simpler where accommodation was concerned.  40 odd years ago, being out of the main shopping district was a bonus especially with the river across the street. A beautiful bit of river it is too. 

The golf club is 2 mins by car away and we are up the other end of the street from the show grounds/racing club. People drove after drinking all day (not that that is a good thing)  let their kids wonder around by themselves and kids entertained themselves with very little adult supervision. 

Now we get complaints that the 5 minute drive into the main street means we are too far out of town. People want to be able to walk (mind you it's only a 20 min walk to the main street) to get dinner so they can have a drink and as one women told me "enjoy the shopping district" she must have meant window shopping as even though we are a tourist town, our shops are all shut by 5:00 unless you want to "enjoy"  the supermarket. We built a wonderful uncover BBQ area in the hopes that this would help with the problem. With a custom made table to seat 16 people, the BBQ is free, there is a mushroom heater for winter with cafe blinds to keep you toasty warm. In summer the fan keeps away the flies and keeps you cool as well. We provid everything but the food, as well as mozzie repellents and mozzie coils. I planted a herb garden for guests to help themselves to, we have a small orchard that guests can also utilise however nobody hardly uses it. We also put in a fire pit area last year, but again about 3 people have used it. The guests love how clean it is and also compliment us on the decor and little touches we have in the room, but, there is always a but, we are too far out of town. We do have some guests that have been coming for 20 odd years but they can't come every weekend and one group came this year but cancelled the previous 2 years leaving us empty on a long weekend. 

It's also time to do a refit of the soft furnishing and some of the carpet will need replacing, especially room 5 where the guest dropped the iron and burn it. Mind you according to them they don't remember doing that (and the implied tone was good luck proving it!) so any decisions needs to be made now. Time to stop dithering. So Monday morning at 10:00 am we will close the doors and cease to operate as a motel.

As you may know we are off for 8 weeks to look after my in-laws (MD's older brother ...and I do mean older he is about 22 years his senior) sheep station while they go on a much deserved holiday. My BIL is not in the best of health and a few years ago we thought that MD might have had to pack up and move out there and help out until they could sell the station. Luckily BIL rallied and was able to continue on but it was very much on the cards. The in-laws would like to retire in about 2 years ( as long as health will allow) but they would like to stay on the property  as they love it so have asked if we would like to come and take over the running and become partners. We can't afford the 3 or so million to purchase outright and we would have to borrow some money to invest in the stock but it is doable. So if we think after those 8 weeks that this is something we can do we have a plan, if we hate it we also have a plan. We are going to convert the motel into 3 non serviced holiday houses / or 1 holiday house and 1 double block property for us.

I was out in the carpark with MD after cleaning the rooms yesterday (he had an RDO) and thinking that fuck only 3 more sleeps and it's over. I then remembered standing in the carpark on our first day of ownership and being in awe over the fact that this was all ours and that we were going to be so happy! That was back when I still liked people 

Fingers crossed for us folks, hopefully all goes well out there. 

P.S had a giggle picking a tag, never had to do that before. I think "walking through" could have worked too