Ikea trip

Saturday, September 25 we woke up in our own apartment for the first time in Australia and immediately started planning our day. Since the Ute rental was still good till 4:30 that afternoon we figured we should look for some more furniture. Our bank account was low on cash so we couldn't buy used from people. However we did have credit cards and there was an Ikea store about 45 minutes drive from our place. On the way to Ikea we stopped at a Kmart to check out bedding options as we had only sheets and borrowed a blanket from our home stay. We made notes on the prices of many things on our list of items to get to settle in and continued on our way. I called one of my potential employers on the way up and organized to meet him at Ikea because it was about halfway between our homes. We spent hours looking at couches and sitting on them until we decided if they were comfortable or not. After debating whether to buy new or wait for some used ones we grabbed the check out sheets for a couple of couches and decided if they were available we would take them, if not we would find used. We continued through the Ikea maze and selected a set of dishes, glasses, colander and rug and proceeded to the furniture pick up area to learn that the couches were all sold out. We checked out and met with Wal Newton, the closest WestfaliaSurge milking equipment dealer to Gold Coast in the lounge area in the store entrance. Jenny and I talked with him and his wife who was also shopping at Ikea about the potential of working as a service person for his dealership. This would be a similar job to the one I had in Rochester but with longer commutes between farms.

After talking with Wal, Jenny and I decided to check back into Ikea to talk to someone to see if they really were sold out of the couches or if we just missed them. We were right about the store being out of the couches we wanted, at least ones in perfect condition in boxes. But the staff did help us find two slightly damaged couches which were exactly what we wanted. The only damage to these was a slight tear on the cushion of one and a little dirt on the cushion fabric of the other, but these couches have removable and washable covers that went over any of the defects so they were new couches that we got discounted at 25 and 40%! It took a long time to get through the checkout line again with the cashier screwing up several times and having a manger come twice to straighten it out. We strapped the couches onto the back of the Ute and headed back to Gold Coast. We got about one-third of the way when I noticed one of the straps was loose. So I pulled off the motorway and discovered that one of the cushions was missing. We traveled back to Ikea to trace our path and hopefully find our missing cushion. We had almost made it to the point where I had first noticed the strap loose when I finally saw the cushion across two lanes of traffic to my right (near the center of a divided highway against the barrier with little shoulder). Luckily the traffic let up enough for me to dart across and retrieve the cushion which was still in one piece. After that adventure we got the couches safely into our garage and the Ute back to the rental place just before closing time.