Well, we are up early as David has an early flight – pioneering our new adventure. He leaves at around 4.45 am and I pack and clear out the kitchen cupboards as I am moving to another Airbnb today with Lexi for a week until I go.

At 7 am, when the gym opens, Lexi and I go there for a glute session – soft gentle session for me to take into account my hip replacement – lots of the exercises they have me doing at rehab are for glute activation so I do those in the gym and Lexi does a heavier version of the same.

Lexi has to rush off for a hair appointment so I finish my sets and do 20 minutes of cardio on the cross trainer. This movement doesn’t entail my knee going past 90 degrees and also doesn’t put any undue weight on my knee so it’s a comfortable exercise to do.

Apartment packed, I don’t need to check out of this one until 11.30 am and can check into the next one at 12 noon. I struggle a little to get all my luggage downstairs in the lift but do it in small lots so it’s not so much strain on my hip by trying to support too much weight. The Uber driver turns up and asks me to help him with my suitcase as he’s not permitted to lift anything over 20 kgs!!

When we pull up outside the new Airbnb, I am a little taken aback. We chose it because it is close to the rehab hospital and the ad said there were no stairs. Hmmm – looks like about 10 steps to the front door. The Uber driver off loads my bags and off he goes. I have to negotiate the stairs or sleep on the street so I struggle to the door with the pieces of luggage and thank goodness all but one piece is on wheels. When I eventually get in the front door, I see there are more stairs – two more flights of stairs. When I speak to the agent for the property she offers to help with the luggage when I explain I have just had an operation etc and that I can’t get the luggage up two flights of stairs as there’s no lift. The agent leaves and I start to unpack. I leave the kitchen until last but when I go to unpack the foodstuff, I notice a few discrepancies from the Airbnb listing.

There is no microwave.

There is no dishwasher.

There is a fridge with no freezer and just an ice box which is so iced up, nothing can be stored in there

Only two mugs exist for an apartment that sleeps 4 – and no other crockery to drink out of.

I switch on the TV for noise and guess what, it is such bad reception in the area that the picture freezes for what seems like ages intermittently.

OK, this is all too much – I phone the now departed agent Anna and explain my first world problems. Her response is that when she has a moment, she will buy more crockery and a small microwave. She apologises for the lack of dishwasher, says the TV is a smart TV as they are aware of the poor reception in the area (it’s not that smart – or perhaps they just haven’t told it reception is bad) and says they ticked the ‘no stairs’ box as there aren’t any stairs inside the apartment. WOW!

I advise her that we need to discuss the false advertising and what will happen if I want to move out. She says if I go now, she won’t charge and will refund the full amount. If I stay even one night, I will have to pay for one night and the cleaning charge. I let her know I will be gone in half an hour. I ring Lexi who is on her way to a birthday celebration picnic in Balmoral, and let her know what has happened and that I am on my way to her place. There is a key hidden but unfortunately it doesn’t fit the screen door on the back and that has been locked so I can’t get in. I sit on the front verandah with all my luggage and attempt to spread some peanut butter on a rice cake using a piece of cardboard – failure. I have a bottle of red wine so I take a swig of that and then fire up the laptop to search for somewhere else to stay. I have struggled with luggage today so sit on the garden chair with my feet resting on my suitcase to stop any swelling and to ease my knee which has been painful the last couple of days.

So, I do identify somewhere in Bellevue Hill to stay and book it. An Airbnb which is close to Woollarah and the rehab hospital. When Lexi arrives home we transport all my stuff in and settle down to watch some movies. I don’t often do binge movie watching as David will attest to but Lexi has some good movies I’d like to watch so we have a movie night. We break a little way into it and go to Macelleria for dinner.

The house is quiet when we go to bed and I get the best sleep I have had for a long long time.

Sunday morning is a beautiful day. Lexi and I go for a walk – unfortunately I trip on a loose brick on the pavement and jar my knee a little so out comes the walking stick. Breakfast is at Trio before returning home to finalise the packing (again) and order the Uber to take us to the Airbnb in Bellevue Hill – this is much much better than yesterday and has all the items it says. We have lots of luggage as we have brought my things, Lexi’s things and food – my little pocket rocket won’t let me struggle with heavy luggage and so transports all the stuff down the steps to the front door – thank goodness that once inside, the apartment is on the ground floor.

We unpack and then Lexi is off to a yoga class – assistant teaching for a couple of hours and I take the bus a few minutes up the road to Bondi Junction and get some groceries.

When Lexi comes back, we watch a couple more movies, have dinner and then off to bed.

Hippy Times 🏋🏻‍♀️