The Good Life

We are embracing life here, taking things as they come and slowly getting into the rhythms of living in a rural area.  The shops here are very good and stock most things but there are occasions when they don't have what you need.  So a trip to a larger town is planned, lists made, it turns into a bit of an outing and reminds me of times gone by.  Thank goodness we no longer travel by horse and cart but then I guess our lives would reflect the times and making do would be the go.

We are getting used to planning our day whilst out on our walk and quite often 1/2 hour later find ourselves doing something completely different.  It is great fun and very liberating living life this way, to be recommended I think.

While at the block the other day Robert found this little beauty, gave it to Rick who covered it with his hands and put it on mine.  I had no idea what he was giving me and my imagination was working over time when I felt it's feet make contact!!  I found I could breath again when I discovered it was this enormous moth, what a beauty, and what a relief.

I thought you'd like a quick up date on the 'Dunny', well we now have a flushing loo

Deb and Robert donated an old sink which just happens to match and is now also plumbed in.

Ad we have a 'new' door lock which makes getting in and out so much easier.

It's all looking very posh at the block these days.

More trees have been planted, we now have walnut trees, a beautifully scented Lemon Gum, it's incredible and the smell makes my mouth water, a Tea Tree and a Pomegranate.  All so far are doing very well and are putting up with the bore water.  Thankfully the cooler temperatures are helping too.

We took a day off and went to visit a really lovely nursery in a neighbouring town.  I may have told you about the Amber Ridge before?  The couple who run it have a passion for growing things, Mr Amber Ridge grows plants and sells them wholesale also stocking the nursery.  Mrs Amber Ridge lives to cook and runs a cafe producing delicious food which is always a pleasure to eat.  They are part of the WOOFER group offering food and lodging for travelers in exchange for their help at the farm and nursery.  So we had to support them and of course stop for a bite to eat.

This is a 'Manwich' an incredible creation, Rick did very well, impressively catching and eating most of it before it slid onto the table.  It kept him full for quite a while!

I had a more modest but very delicious salad made mostly from produce grown by them.  Two very contented round tummies later we were wending our way home with two really beautiful River She Oaks.... more trees for the block.

My last bit of news this week is this chicken, it was labelled special but not until I opened the packet did I realise just how special it was.  I had to laugh when 4 extra legs fell out.. I've never brought a 6 legged chicken before!  But also how refreshing the weight was made up with meat rather than rubbish which couldn't be eaten.

He's a lumberjack

We recently noticed a couple of very poorly looking gum trees at the block, on their last legs and the only green on them being mistletoe.  We would normally keep old dead trees standing for as long as they can because even in their death they support so much wildlife but as this monster (mid photo) could well fall on our house (when it's built) we decided sadly it needed to come down..... but it wasn't going to give in easily.

Ropes were placed as close to the top of the tree as the lads could reach and secured via a snatch rope to the back of Roberts Toyota. 

First up was Robert but sadly his chainsaw was playing up and with the oil failing to cool the chain it soon looked like he was going to attempt to burn the tree down!  After quite a few tries progress was halted.

And out came the axe.  This gum has extremely tough wood and the axe didn't seem to make that much impression on it though the wedge was forming.  So Pete, Roberts brother was dispatched to get his chainsaw.

Mean time Rick dusted off his 'not quite so powerful but nearly new' chainsaw, and before long was making a great impression on the tree.

So much so that without much more ado and before Pete returned with his chainsaw down it came!  You can just about make out Rick heading the opposite direction to the way the tree was going.

With quite a spectacular thump and lots of dust it was finally down and what beautiful wood, it smelt fantastic and looked far to good to be used for fire wood.  We dreamt of using the trunk for the new kitchen work surfaces and carving the stump into a garden table. The possibilities were endless.

So we made enquiries with the local carpenter whose knowledge of trees and wood in this area is second to none.  He also has a portable wood slicer (which I know is called something else but the name escapes me). But disappointingly  it looks like we won't be able to use it for anything other than firewood.  He advised that the wood will very quickly split as it dried out and will loose it's beautiful rich red colour.  Hay ho, I'm sure when the time comes to do the kitchen work tops we will find the perfect wood, or granite or whatever they are supposed to be made out of.... it will all happen with perfect timing.

The other tree was much smaller and was down before I could even focus my camera properly, so I missed recording it's felling.

After the excitement of the tree felling and a delicious BBQ of amongst other yummy things homemade pork sausages we went home feeling slightly disappointed but mainly happy and content.

At the risk of sounding like I'm having a whinge.....

Over the last few weeks we have discovered our new 'home' has a few quirky characteristics. I think I may have already mentioned we very quickly found we could get our feet washed at the same time as washing the dishes, quite a novelty at first but we soon got tired of having to hose down the floor every time we did the dishes! And the list, much like Topsy, grew from there.

Rick repaired the kitchen sink but it soon became obvious we needed to talk to our land agents to get the rest of the stuff fixed.  The gutters were choc full of debris so all the rain water (our drinking water) had turned brown and brackish, I knew it was bad as even Rick didn't want to drink it.  The taps in the laundry leaked very badly, I was very grateful that we have a floor drain in there or we have flooded the house every time I did the washing.  The TV aerial doesn't work, which on the plus side meant we've been enjoying the DVD collection.  One of the rings on the cooker doesn't work, the air con was buzzing and the tap in the bathroom drips.

These were duly reported and a week later we were told the works orders had been raised.  So when the workman still hadn't appeared some two weeks later and the air con unit had stopped buzzing and started pouring water into the house we decided perhaps it was time to talk face to face with the letting agents.

With a sudden flurry of activity a maintenance chap turned up, closely followed by a plumber and another air con chap.  So now all the plumbing has been sorted out but after an inspection in the roof space the air con pump it was declared busted.  It appears it had melted and burned out, it was so lucky a house fire wasn't started in the process.  The air con was caput!

That all happened on the day before another 43 c day!  Phew.... Deb and Robert to the rescue again they very kindly have lent us a portable cooler which helps enormously.  The temperatures are still high (a true blue Aussie summer) but at least we are getting a little respite at night when it drops to 7 c which means sleep is possible.

Hay ho... we are now patiently waiting to hear when it all might get fixed and sorted out.

Mean time we have had some fun.  Rick dusted off the bike and took it for a spin around the block and when it seemed to want to go further he came back and collected me.  We took the beautiful road through the Coonawara wine region.  The road sides are flanked with very green grape vines and signs offering wine tours and cellar sales, we wended our way to Penola a beautiful little town and then on over the border and to Casterton.

The character of the scenery changed on the road to Casterton. We rode past an amazing and very ancient Grass Tree forest.  Past a Eucalyptus plantation which smelt delicious in the heat as the tree oils warmed in the sun.  It was all very beautiful, there were signs of past bush fires and lots of bright new growth as the scrub land recovered.

Xanthorrhoea or to you and me a Yakka

This beautiful plant is stimulated to send out flower spikes after a fire, some growing to way over 1m in length and covered in tiny white flowers. Traditionally they have been very important to the native people of this land, the Aboriginal people have amongst other things used them as fishing spears.  It grows very slowly a rate of 2.5 cm a year so to establish and maintain such a large area of them must have taken hundreds of years.  It was an incredible sight.

Australia Day and lots more adventures

Our third Saturday in Naracoorte arrived and to my surprise we didn't spend it hurtling around a field like mad human sheep dogs after sheep instead this time we went to a clearance auction at nearby Kingston.  It was my very first auction and lots of fun.  Because there were so many things for sale four auctioneers took it in turns to work their magic on the huge crowd.  Hats off to these chaps their energy and skills were very impressive, I watched carefully as they started the bidding far to high, brought it right down to a silly price then worked the crowds to bring the bids up way beyond what they'd first suggested.

Rick did really well with his bidding, we gained a couple of boxes of assorted treasures, we are sure they will all eventually come in handy once we've worked out what they're for!  On our walk around much earlier in the day we spotted two cupboards and an old but much loved wardrobe.  One of the cupboards was old and well made we both thought it would be very useful... for different reasons.  No worries we had to bid for it first.  The bidding started on the other cupboard, that didn't even attract a $2 interest so they lumped the wardrobe in with it and eventually Rick got all three items for $5 and they even through in a pile of timber cos he was a such good sport! And I almost gained a running machine from swatting away a fly at the wrong moment! We ended up with an 8'x6' trailer load of 'bargains' including an 'almost new for less than half price' freezer and felt very satisfied, sun-burnt and more than a little tired by the time we headed home.

26th January is Australia day traditionally a day of relaxing with friends and family.  I am sure a few tinnies were sunk over the weekend at BBQ's and picnics and if it doesn't fall on a  weekend then a Bank Holiday (called an observation day) is granted.  Traditional foods are lamb chops, snags (sausages), and lamingtons (very yummy coconut and chocolate coated cakes), very relaxed and very easy eating.

We held our first Aussie day BBQ for the family here, Debs brought a delicious buckwheat salad with her. Getting into the spirit Fred even wore an Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, napkin in his collar and a great time was had by all! We finished the evening or possibly more accurately the evening finished with us after I'd decided to make an Irish Coffee for us all using Lactose Free Ice cream and a very generous amount of grog... oh dear.... more than one of us suffered from the wobbly boot that night.

The temperatures have been dropping to a deliciously cool 7 c at night and creeping up to the high 30's during the day, needless to say we've all been watering the fruit and veg during the cool times of the day. One evening at Deb and Roberts we spotted this beautiful blue tongue lizard near the house.  With Fred suitably distracted by Robert, Deb went and got a bowl of water for the lizard.  We watched hum drink his fill for about 20 minutes, he must have been so thirsty as they are normally quite shy creatures.  He eventually very slowly made his way to some pipes behind the water tank which we guess is what he calls home.

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Poor old Fred needed cooling off too so we very gently hosed him down and then got a thank you shower in return!

Rick has been a man possessed putting in a very impressive array of irrigation pipes and standpipes, last count we are now up to 7 standpipes, which makes watering the trees a doddle.  The last one he wanted to put in was for my eventual veggie patch, he is a very thoughtful fellow.  But of course this was the hardest to dig for as the soil in this part of the block is sand AND clay, we even used the pick axe to break it up..... it reminded me a lot of the Sussex Weald clay I used to have in my UK garden.... Oh well I was going to have raised beds anyway to make it much harder for the bunnies to attack the crops.

After another unsuccessful attempt at divining we called in the expert, Pete, and after a few goes he found it just under the bit Rick really didn't want to dig.... hmmm, another go with the pick axe and hay presto we had another albeit gentle mist of a fountain.

As we worked the temperatures were rising, so glad we were able to set up camp under the shade of one of our gum trees.  Pete very thoughtfully had brought along some beer in the Esky to use for a celebration, these are the chaps having a much deserved rest and cool off.  Rick is resting in a wheel barrow leaned up against a tree.

And the dragonfly photo I've included just because I thought it was beautiful.... orroo