At Last....

In the words of Etta James.... At Last!

We are about to move down to Naracoorte!  So we are now up to our ears in packing boxes and, currently, calm chaos.  The removalists (as they are called here) are arriving on 23rd December at 6.30 am...no I didn't believe that either and actually laughed before I realised the chap was being serious....  They will be moving all the heavy bits down there for us. We'll either be leading the charge or following on with the large trailer packed to the gunnels with any boxes the removalists have not been able to take.  We'll be sharing the lorry with a couple of other people, our load is first off, it's a great way of cutting costs.

So we will be spending Xmas in Naracoorte, I've no idea if Santa will catch up with us but I am hoping I've not packed away anything we need for THE day.  Or we will be carrying on the Gordon Family tradition of Xmas up to Easter.

Earlier on this month I started noticing signs advertising the adventures of Carol, she is obviously a busy lady this time of year! Carols Alive, Carols on the lawn, Carols in the park, Carols in the church, Community Carols and Yuletide Carols!

  

We had a visitor the other morning, Rick was quick enough to catch this little fella who then really did not want to be put in the safety of the stones in the flower bed.  Much preferring to investigate this nice warm arm and the comfort of a Tee shirt sleeve.

And now we're about to move home the Eucalyptus Folicifolia (Flowering Gum to you and Me) has, after 5 long years, at last started to flower!  It is beautiful and has been attracting the beautiful Lorikeets, Honey Eaters and loads of bees.  There is nothing quite like being woken up by the sound of Lorikeets feeding, it is a very happy sound and they are real clowns to watch.





I can't imagine there will be much time between moving home and Christmas next week to blog so I will wish you all the joys of the festive season now.

                                             

And may your new year be as carefree and fun loving as Fred rolling on a stick.

                             

What an amazing week.....

The weather got steadily better as the week progressed, Wednesday was blown in and rain clouds were plentiful and threatening.  No worries... or so I thought.  Apart from a very special breakfast followed by, reading delightful messages from friends here and friends and family in the UK, card and pressie opening I had no idea how the day was going to unfold.

Rick totally surprised me with a glider flight, which he had booked for lunchtime.  All rugged up (winter clothes on) we set off to the Adelaide Soaring Club... it's a good couple of hours from here.  As the journey progressed the weather got windier and the rains started.  Oh dear, not ideal gliding weather then, I held on to comforting thoughts that it would be cancelled if deemed dangerous.

Luckily by the time we arrived the clouds were less threatening and fairly white, there was still a very fresh southerly wind blowing but apparently that was ok for gliding.

It was all very laid back.  After I had signed a form saying I was ok with gliding and aware of the dangers... there is nothing like a reality check like that! the lady reassured me it was perfectly normal to want to visit the bathroom 40 or so times in 1/2 hour!!

The tiny glider was taxied up to us on the back of a golf buggy, it was about this time I realised just how light they are.  I was asked how much I weigh so the ballast could be adjusted, getting it right means a less bumpy flight so it was a good incentive to be totally truthful.  They were very polite about it.

Ballast suitably adjusted I lowered myself into the cockpit, strapped in and given strict instructions on what not to touch while I was there.

That was about it for instructions.  I was introduced to Gabby my pilot and was comforted by the fact he'd been flying for over 50 years.

A short swift tow by another very light aircraft and we were up up and away.

Gabby talked me through things as they happened, which for me was the best way to do it.  We needed to fly under the clouds for their thermals to enable us to climb but this was also the bumpiest part of the adventure.

I felt decidedly queasy watching the little aircraft in front trying hard to stay on course, it was being well and truly buffeted around in the winds.


Focusing on what Gabby was telling me and the horizon helped steady my tummy.

Very quickly we were at 3000 feet and the tow rope was released and we were free to glide like an eagle.  WOW what an experience, it was a bit nosier than I thought it would be but at the same time peaceful.  It was still bumpy as Gabby played with the thermals and we very quickly gained another 700 feet.  The view was stunning and as we slowly and very gracefully climbed Gabby pointed out the landmarks.  From that vantage point we could see just about 30 miles!  Amazing.

I realised the combination of my glasses and the movement of the aircraft were doing very odd things to my tummy and I was very grateful I had not yet had lunch!  Taking the glasses off really helped.

All to soon we were on our way down to terra firma.  Gabby did a fantastic job of landing the glider, actually more like setting it down very gently on the run way. I was very surprised to hear we'd been in the air for 29 minutes!

I didn't need assistance getting out, once the harness had been released, but I was a little pale around the edges and slightly wobbly.  The flight had also done strange things to my appetite, most unlike me.

An hour or so later and everything was back to normal and we were tucking into a delicious lunch.




We had just got home and Rick revealed he had one more treat in store.  A delicious dinner at one of my favourite eating places, The Rising Sun, well within staggering distance.  I have been well and truly spoilt.

We were up early the next day packing ready to set off to Naracoorte via the draftsman to discuss house plans.

The meeting went very well and the plans needed hardly any alterations.  The next stage is for us to get the footings drawn up by an engineer, get that sent back to the draftsman for him to put everything together ready to submit to Council for approval.  We are still hoping to get it all done before Xmas... this year.

Next stop was the letting agents in Naracoorte, we have rented a unit and needed to sign on the dotted line and get the keys.  Robert and Deb had very kindly checked it over for us but this was the first time we'd seen it.  All good and now we are planning the move down there which will happen before Xmas.... but only just.

Those jobs done we were able to relax a little, sort out the trees on the block which looked very sad and in desperate need of water and get ready to feed 11 people on the Saturday for my final birthday celebration.

The weather was very kind and temperatures reached 27.  It was a great evening, very relaxed, great company, lots of laughter, delicious food and wine.

I would highly recommend a week long celebration and summer birthdays.

Some more firsts....

Every day its seems to get noticeably lighter when we go for our 5 am walk, less stars but fantastic clouds lit with the rising sun.  The birdsong is incredibly loud and very beautiful but it also means its rare we hear a possum climbing around in the trees now.  Sensible little things are tucked up possibly asleep, not known for day light activity.  The Lorikeets, on the other hand get up earlier and sound very excited.  They are getting noisier and we can hear them quite a distance away from the Gum Tree Cafe where their having their breakfast.

On one of our walks Rick spotted a beetle, similar to the one below, crawling along the road. He looked very much like a Stag Beetle who had been spray painted for Christmas.  He is quite harmless and as you can see very beautiful and shiny.
Funnily enough he is actually called a Christmas beetle.

The Honey Eater family have been taking evening baths together which is very amusing to watch. The youngsters (now adult size) gather around the edge of the bird bath and take it in turns to splash noisily about in the water.  They then jump out and frantically groom their feathers, when they are perfectly preened, all feathers neat and tidy they perch themselves on the lower branches of the gum tree and fluff up to dry off. Very cute.

At the weekend we had the first celebration of my first ever summer birthday... can there ever be too many celebrations?


Rick got some very entertaining balloons, all with smiley faces, which made me laugh to start with.  Dotted in various places around the back yard they seemed to take on a life of their own.  Every now and then when we least expected it one would pop. We could have sworn the rest of them were sniggering at making us jump!






The washing line, we discovered, also makes a wonderful card holder.







There were 8 of us in total, we realised belatedly that we'd taken all the fold up tables down to Naracoorte and could only seat 6 at our 'normal' table.  So we are now the proud owners of another fold up table, I'm sure they will all come in useful one day!

It was a beautiful hot sunny day, temperatures in the 30's and not a cloud in the sky..... bliss.


There was  food and drink in abundance and all was really delicious.  We of course had a BBQ with lots of lovely fresh salads, not all made by me, which was a treat.  Followed by a delicious homemade apple cake (the first ever birthday cake made for me) with a yummy orange sauce drizzled over it, fresh fruit salad and meringues. Total bliss.....

The star of the show, who very quickly stole all our hearts  was this little one, let me introduce Baxter.

Baxter belongs to Mick and Elise, he is a pug cross cairn terrier, about 12 weeks old and very well behaved. Amazingly he was not at all fazed by the balloons randomly popping and even fronted up to one that came away from it's moorings and bounced up to him.  Very amusing.  

He also apparently likes sitting on shoulders, and perched very comfortably on Ricks shoulders, having climbed up there mostly unassisted.

It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday afternoon with lovely company and conversation, very relaxing.

And the following day, Sunday 1st December was officially the first day of Summer.....and of course it rained!  Which reminded me of many other past wet summers the big difference here though is it's still wonderfully warm and the rain clouds are much needed and don't last long.

Jobs done

There comes a time when you eventually find the time to get down to THE 'things to do list' and that time seems to have arrived!

Rick has restored a fence separating our back garden (or yard) with our lovely neighbours.  I did offer to help but as there was only one post hole spade and Rick did seem very keen I thought I'd let him get on with it while I supplied cups of tea and encouragement.  At appropriate intervals I offered my help and eventually my offer was taken up, when Rick realised he had not got enough clamps to hold the panels in place.  I soon realised I was not strong enough to hold the panels in place using just my arms.  Much to Ricks mirth, once the panel was level I had to throw myself against it to hold it against the posts while he fixed it into position... very funny!

The next project, which didn't require any in put from me was re-hanging the gate.

All this is the start of getting ready to rent this place out so we can move to Naracoorte so we are there ready for when ever the build will start.

All very exciting.

Mean while I am still surprised on a daily basis how much the potatoes grow, not long now till they should be ready.  The herbs and lettuce are doing really well in their portable beds.




And for something completely different....

In the last month or so I've also been involved with a free on line course run by Flinders University (one of the local Unis here).  The course is to do with Mental Wealth and the promotion of it.

I had become aware through my work in the UK and a lot of people who have come into my life that there quite a few people who had been or were suffering from a mental illness of some kind. I thought it was about time I learnt more about what it may be like to walk in their shoes.  Through doing this course I have become far more aware of the many different aspects which involve mental wealth.

Sadly there are still a lot of myths, stigma and misunderstandings regarding these illnesses which affect more of us than the more talked about diseases. There is also, thankfully a lot more help available but more awareness needs to be raised and perceptions changed.  This will enable more people with a mental illness to receive the appropriate help.

The subject is VAST to say the least but so very interesting and as with anything the more you learn you realise the more there is to learn.

Enough Said

Enough said is a lovely film which Rick and I went to see in a dear little traditional cinema just 10 minutes up the road from where we live.  The seats are comfy, no smell of popcorn just the occasional rustle of someone trying to get into their Choctop.  Choctops are chocolate topped ice-creams and a great favourite here.  The cinema is a twenties style building, it has grace and charm in abundance, an old world feel and a great atmosphere.

As the weather is warming up so is the mad hurtle towards Christmas.  There have been a couple of Christmas Pageants, which sadly I've managed to miss, a great shame because I have never seen one before.  I can not imagine how uncomfortable it must be for Santa Claus all togged up in his traditional Northern Hemisphere outfit and big white beard parading around the streets in temperatures over 20!  The shops are a little more crowded than normal, all the decorations are very tasteful.  But still not all the shops are playing Xmas tunes there are only a couple of adverts on the TV which refer to Christmas.  It is so nice to be almost at the end of November and not be fed up with the Christmas hype yet.

Pomegranates are now in the shops alongside delicious juicy mangoes, strawberries, blueberries and the stone fruits, nectarines, peaches, all of which are grown here.  Deep joy....

Poinsettias and Amaryllis are in flower, traditional Xmas flowers but the difference is here they are in garden borders. I have never before seen Amaryllis growing outside and they are magnificent planted in groups in a border.

One of the more senior  ladies from Tai Chi came dashing into class the other day announcing she had spent the day getting ready for Christmas and hunting out the durex!!  I was amazed and for a few minutes admired her stamina and joie de vivre until I realised that durex is sellotape here... thank goodness I didn't laugh out loud and then have to explain myself.

The Jacaranda trees are now in full flower lining the roads they look incredible and create a fragrant and stunning cloud of purple to walk under.

And last but not least when I walked to the shops the other day I noticed a 'Scout Recycling' bin in a carpark, aside from being cruel to Scouts I do think that is taking recycling to extremes!

Nurseries, lizards and a new toy for the block...

It's been a really busy week down in Naracoorte, which started with the very long journey through the Riverlands from Renmark.  It was a fascinating drive with the landscape varying tremendously.  Going from huge fields either side of us thorough neat little towns with beautiful federation homes contrasting greatly with tiny little stone cottages. Mallee shrub land, back to gum trees and eventually as we were nearing home, lots of vineyards and avenues of very tall very old gum trees.

During the week we visited some very interesting nurseries, one of which is only 50 km from Naracoorte, there is a lovely straight road to it.  I was sorely tempted with a couple of the trees there, a saville orange (think yummy marmalade) and a native finger lime.  The branches on the later tree  are covered in inch long thorns, picking the fruit would not be for the feint hearted but they look so interesting I think it would be worth it.  Anyway these will be trees for the future once we've got the watering system on the block sorted out.

We wandered into the shop empty handed and were greeted with the smell of freshly cooked gluten AND dairy free mango and coconut cupcakes coming out of the oven!!  They looked far to good to avoid so a couple were ordered.  The treat arrived a few minutes later, the cupcake had been garnished with lime and mango syrup, a generous drizzle of caramel and a delicious slice of mango..... oh my goodness... it was delish and the coffee was delightful too. Thank goodness it is not in walking distance of where we will be living!!

In between seeing friends and visiting nurseries and op shops we've shifting soil from Deb and Robert's garden, making it ready for a fire pit.  Chasing the chooks around the garden in a feeble attempt to get them in for the night.  My attempt was not helped by Fred grabbing the stick I was trying to use to herd them.  He thought it was a great game and with one woof had the chooks going all directions.

We also visited the block to check on the trees, all plants are doing very well now.  We dug moats around the fruit trees and gave them a very generous watering, of course the next day it rained.

And while we were there we spotted this beautiful dragon lizard sunning himself on the fence.

When we were a safe distance away he raised his nose to the sun, a true sun worshiper.  When we were closer he stayed very still, not even blinking.

Luckily Fred didn't spot this one.

We have a new toy for the block.  It is a very pretty shiny new heavy duty mower, a Deustcher to be exact with a fairly powerful Briggs and Stratton engine and set of two cutting blades.  With two blades it made light work of the foot high bracken and was easy to use.  Poor Rick though determined to finish once he'd started might not totally agree with that statement having spent almost 5 hours mowing!  It looks fantastic now though, well worth all his efforts.





In the process we found we had a new addition to the flock, three lambs now and the sheep look amazing having filled out on the grass.  They are apparently almost fluffy enough to shear.

And we also discovered more lizards, another smaller dragon lizard and this dear little blue tongue.
Both were moved to our piles of logs, which are designated lizard and other fauna hotels.

It is a sobering reminder that now the warmer weather is here other equally fascinating but not so harmless cold blooded creatures are also about now.


The week passed in a flash and soon we were Adelaide bound again.  The skies were full of rain heavy clouds and it was no surprise we got caught in a few down pours.

What did surprise me though was the way the roads steamed afterwards.... it looked very magical.

And life goes on....

After the wedding which was such a joyful event came a week of preparation for the celebration of Hazels life.

It was my first Aussie funeral, which in the end turned out to be very like a UK one but the organisation was very different.  The Funeral Directors are based more on USA traditions, for instance an open casket is not unusual.  Although in true Aussie style all was very laid back, we met the chap conducting the service just an hour before the funeral.  Greg (No 2 son) wrote and delivered a wonderful eulogy which had us alternating between laughter and tears.  The service flowed from start to finish and was very lovely, a celebration as Hazel would have wanted.  We had collected rose petals from our gardens to scatter and these combined with the beautiful roses on her coffin created an amazing scent.

And so life goes on......

Temperatures have been alternating between 13c and 30c, which I'm told is a little unusual.  All the creeks are full and there are water birds a plenty.  I've spotted three different types of Ibis, lots of baby ducks, goslings and cygnets.

Some of the gum trees have just come into flower and in the early mornings joyful, colourful and noisy Lorikeets happily feast on the nectar at their very own Gum Tree Cafe.

The potatoes have grown faster than I have ever known them grow before and I've not used any particular rocket fuel on them.  We should be eating them by Christmas.  The herbs are doing very well as is the lettuce crop.  The lettuces are all native varieties but for now I can't remember their names.  We are looking forward to trying them which should be soon.  Weeds are still trying their hardest and as the ground hardens off it gets more difficult to dig them out.