The adventures of house sitting

Before I begin the tales of this weeks adventures I need to apologise for the lack of pictures.  Unfortunately I've not been able to up load any which is such a shame as I'd managed to take some great ones of the chooks.....

I have to say it has been a complete joy to be let loose in a kitchen which has so many wonderful toys to play with.  My favourite one being a food dehydrator, I've learnt, though I am sure it will be obvious to most people, that the predominant flavour of the food once dried will be enhanced.  For instance Granny Smith apples (which are by the way Australian) are used as cooking apples here, once dried they really make the mouth pucker!  But ripe pears on the other hand are totally delicious and sweet... and there are sooooo many more things to try out.

We are nearing the end of our house sitting and, dried fruit aside, much has been learnt.  Like the 100 km road to Mount Gambier airport really is twice as long on a dark stormy night and increases in length when the petrol light comes on!  I did make it and in time to collect Rick from his flight, thankfully.  I also learnt there are flights here from Melbourne and Adelaide, three times a day, which may be useful for future visitors to know.

The road to Mt. Gambier is very beautiful going through the Coonawarra wine region, I am certain you would recognise a lot of the names.  There are a couple of places either side of the road which have been planted up with pine forests, these are like great cathedrals of tall straight trees, once in the forest the sense peace and calm is incredible.

Chickens really do have very individual personalities and there is a pecking order.  They are very funny too in the way they interact with each other. Gerty, who I am sure was the shyest one of the brood, is a chook with attitude and I believe top of the roost.  She has beautiful light coloured feathers, of which she is obviously (from the time she takes to carefully groom them) very proud. Her closest companion and next in command is Freckles, they are quite often found perched together quietly gossiping. Issi and Wilma are very similar and have the darkest red feathers.  Its taken time and patience but they now realise the silver haired weed and green veggie bearing lady is to be welcomed and made a fuss of when she gets into the cage with them.  They are now even letting me make a fuss of them... next stage is to pick one up.

We thankfully didn't get to meet the dog pound chap.  Fred has not tried to escape and has been brilliant company, he now not only does what I ask of him but is also a joy to walk on the gentle leader.  Every Friday night the towns fire siren is tested, which sets Fred off, he throws his head back with great gusto and howls along at the top of his lungs until it stops.... strangely he is almost in harmony with it, what a din but very funny to witness.

At the weekend we realised that we have two new additions to the flock on the block.  We had a call from a neighbour this morning to say the gate to the field was open and a few of the sheep were busy mowing the grass verge.  Off we went to rescue them but by the time we arrived some kind person had got them in for us and secured the gate.

I've also met a very lovely and interesting Alpaca lady called Angela.  Angela and her husband breed Alpacas, they have them sheared and the wool spun professionally. Once the wool is spun, she knits it up for sale at various markets around here, they also sell the spun wool.  When I rang to set up the meeting to buy some wool I mentioned my interest in Alpacas and spinning.  She arrived armed not only with the softest baby Alpaca wool you can imagine but also with a pack of information for me AND a whole fleece for me to practice spinning with.... its a huge bag full.  I'm still stunned and amazed.

I have been blown away with the kindness and generosity of complete strangers here.  If ever you faith in human nature needs to be restored this seems to be the place to come.

Back yard birds.....

Deb and Robert have been brave and kind enough to ask us to house sit while they are away on a much deserved break.  Its a great opportunity to experience Naracoorte at the 'worst' time of year and learn a few new skills for instance I've never looked after a fire, chooks or a dog before!

So to start with Fred

Fred the "Guard Dog"

He is a bit of an escape artist and takes off at every opportunity, so much so that the household is now on first name terms with the dog pound chap.  He is also very strong and is not that keen on being taken for walks on a lead (I am talking about Fred not the dog pound chap).  Much preferring to go and find his own playmates, have a good run and rough and tumble with them.

So I've been reading up on the various Idiots and Dummies Guide to Dog Training and brought him a Gentle Leader in which he looks very handsome, bright red obviously being one of his favourite colours.  It came with a DVD which the store owner assured me was for me to watch not the dog.... all very interesting in theory and now to put it into practice.

Treats in hand I started training him to first accept the collar then walk with it on. The effect was immediate and gentle he can no longer pull away... at last the danger of me taking off after him hanging on to the lead never to be seen again has gone.  Its taken only a couple of days for Fred and I to really get the hang of it but now he trots along beside me and it is a real joy to walk him.  Deb came with us on the first walk was very impressed and Fred really doesn't seem to mind the collar. 

We are much further south here and the weather is much cooler and wetter than in Adelaide.  Its been a mainly stormy week, very windy wet and once so far there has been an exhilarating hour long hail-stone shower.  Fred was not impressed or exhilarated and spent the time under the table and as close to the fire as he could get. Its taken a couple of goes but I think I've now learnt (thankfully) how to not only light but also how to keep a fire going.  Thank goodness for fire lighters and matches I'd be hopeless with tinder and a couple of sticks.... obviously not good boy scout material!

In between the showers the sun has come out and I've been amazed at the variety of birds in the garden. This chap was mimicking and answering Debs whistles, they often come down to feed in this butlers sink only about 8 feet from where we were sitting.

Crimson Rosella or locally known as a Red Larry

Mr Superb Blue Fairy Wren

Mrs Superb Fairy Wren

As we watched these two beautiful wrens arrived to have a feed.  As you can see the male is very much more colourful than the female, they were very busy and moved at great speeds.  Fascinating to watch and hard to capture with the camera.

And last but not least this little fella is one of a pair nesting in the garden.  They have built a tiny round nest in one of the potted plants, we were able to have a quick look and found a couple of very tiny brown eggs.  They were about the size of  a finger nail.

A White-browed Scrubwren

And they are not the only two nesting in the garden.  Hidden away in the branches (which are heavy with ripening fruit) of the orange tree is a cylindrical nest of a honey eater.  Its far to high up to see if there are eggs and as they are much more vigilant in their attendance of the nest it would be much easier to disturb them which we don't want to do.

The morning chorus starts about 5.30 am with the Laughing Magpies incredible call, sometimes we hear the beautiful song of the Blackbirds (which reminds me of the UK).  Kookaburras sing out mainly in the late afternoons, their song bouncing off house walls.  The daylight hours (if you ignore the gentle distant hum of traffic) are filled with the calls of Sulpher crested cockatoo, Lorikeets, Budgerigars, Rosellas, Crows, Peewees and Bower birds and at night Barn Owls and Frogmouth owls (to name but a few) hoot, it is constantly amazing, a Twitchers paradise.

Hopefully if we get the planting right on our block our backyard will be as rich in wildlife..........

Spring already......

well the flora and fauna certainly think so.  As do the trees, cherry blossom abounds and magnificent magnolias are also now in bloom.  The smell of spring is definitely in the air.                                                                                               


Most of the rose pruning took place the second week in July here we are just a couple of weeks later and I am amazed to see the roses have already got new shoots.  They must get exhausted having only just finished flowering but then I guess they have their dormant times when the sun is at its hottest in January/February time.

Birds are busy building their nests and most seem to have already found their mates.  Our honey eater seems to have invited a couple of mates over to snack on the nectar from our tall gorgeous bright orange crocosmia.  I've only previously seen Lucifer at this height, almost two meters, and they are bright red.  The crocosmia here light up the border with orange and yellow.  Whilst weeding (a joy while the soil is still soft) I discovered one of my favourite flowers freesias just starting to bud in the front garden.  And I've discovered that Sour Sobs (Oxalis) taste good and would be great in a salad.... this made me wonder if the UK Oxalis would taste good too..... anyone brave enough to try them and let me know please?

The start of August was the start of the SALA season.  For the whole of August South Australia is celebrating their Living Artists.  Any type of art form you can think of is being celebrated in some way.  Last Thursday the Adelaide Botanic garden did a guided walk in celebration of the botanic artists.  The tour started back at the earliest botanic artists to arrive in Australia.  The importance for them to accurately record the plants discovered was huge.  Thousands of samples of the plants were taken back to England but many died on the way so you can see just how important their work was.

It was so interesting and all the work shown to us was fantastic and very inspiring.  One of the artists, Gilbert Dashorst, was the botanical illustrator at the gardens for 30 years, his work is incredible, very inspiring and he offers art classes for beginners.....hmmmmm...... If you're interested in reading more about hi and seeing some of his beautiful work this is his website http://www.gilbertdashorstart.com/index.html 

And on to something completely different... we discovered the local fish and chip shop does gluten free meals.  Deep joy quickly turned to puzzlement when I saw the fish being offered on the menu.  I've never seen Garfish, Butterfish, King George Whiting, Flake or Barramundi on the menu before... where to start?

Gently grilled whiting was served with big floury crunchy chips and a delicious crisp salad... delightful.

The Tree and the house that Rick built....

First off I am very sad to report that the beautiful 18m River Red Gum tree which the whole of the Burnside village was built around was finally pronounced dead.  Within a very short space of time the tree surgeons had arrived and removed it and now all that is left are the remains of the stump, covered over, a promise of the wood being used for furniture and a very large space in the atrium.  

Its demise has been discussed on the radio, in the local newspapers and by visitors practically since the centre was built around the tree just two years ago.  The impression I got when I visited was most people, from the very young upwards feel very sad and miss the tree.  While I was there I overheard a Mum comforting her 5 year old who on hearing the tree had died had asked her Mum to take her to say goodbye to it.  

On a far more positive note Rick has built our house... ok it's out of modelling board but built to scale and it's so nice to see our ideas in 3D!  I'll take you on a tour:-

This is the South-West side, and the front entrance to our home.  To the left of the doorway is the dining room window.  Looking to the right, the first small window is the loo, next the shower and last window one of the guest bedrooms.  The large over hang of roof is the carport, which will of course have supports.

 This is the East facing side, starting on the left is the other side of the carport.  The first window is the other guest room, then the mud-room and the door to the mud-room.  The last window on this side is our bedroom window so we will be able to see the sunrise.

This is the North facing side, again starting from the left is the sliding glass door to our bedroom.  The sloping wall is the outside shower which should also be big enough for us to establish a small fernery.  The next huge window is the living room and last but not least the final window which can just be seen is the kitchen window.  

Windows have to be bigger this side of the house to enable warm winter sun to heat our concrete floors which will act as the thermal mass, helping to keep the house cool in summer and warm in the winter.  The idea is to have something deciduous on this side to shield against the hot summer sun, come the cooler months the leaves will drop off enabling the sun to warm the house.

And finally the West side, this is the area with the view, we think this is the side we are likely to spend most time being, so on the left is the door to the open living/dining and kitchen area.  Behind the large (at the moment) windowless wall is the kitchen and walk in pantry.  So there we have it....

We have received news from the CFS (Country Fire Service) and our home is in a high fire risk area.  Which means we cant build within 15m of any trees, any shrubs can be no closer than 20m and in the fire season the grass has to be no higher than 10cm.  We also have to have a 22,000 litre water tank designated just for the fire service to use and have a road strong enough to take a fire engine and built to enable a fire engine to turn around! Phew... better to be safe than sorry and so much better to know now so we can plan accordingly.

Next step is to have another chat with the builder and then the draftsman and then hopefully well be on the home run as far as the plans are concerned.

Oh what a glorious winter

In so many ways I think this has to be the best winter I have ever experienced.  In between the much needed rain fall the sun shines with a beautiful bone warming warmth and the skies are big and blue.  Most of the birds and plant life (as I've said before) are convinced that it's the start of spring and are preparing nests. We have noticed the days are starting to get longer, the Laughing Magpies with their incredible song serenade us during our morning walks now.  On a very clear night the temperatures have dropped to 3c but that means that we see more stars... it's glorious.  I'm still getting used to most of the constellations being 'up side down' and there seem to be so many more,stars in the sky and satellites are very easy to spot.  Feeling truly spoilt with the beauty of it all.  The only downside is if you walk whilst star gazing there is a much greater chance you'll eventually find a tree root with your feet!

Borders are full of Rosemary (the herb) which continues to flower, along side tall yellow and orange Crocosmias and birds of paradise (which can be very prolific here) there are even some rambling roses still in full flower. Acacia (Wattle) are also now in flower, you can't tell from my photo but the flowers are very delicate and like tiny yellow pompoms, their scent is very gentle and beautiful, much like the taste of Acacia honey.  It's amazing.

The week long Willunga Almond Blossom Festival started on Saturday so we took Dora for a run and went down to have a look. We did find some Almond Trees which to my surprise had the most amazing perfume.

It did seem to be more about the funfair than the Almond Blossom and the weather started to turn so we didn't stay long.  We noticed how at the same time the local Op Shops siren calls got louder!

There is nothing better than a good rummage in an Op Shop and we found some real treasures.  Skeins of really thick yarn, so I can at last knit a mat.  A fantastic book called Australian Cookery of Today, a real journey into how life was for women in the 30's, lots of advice on how to run a 'modern' home from setting a table to how to make a hay box cooker and everything about food in between. It's brilliant.

As the whale watching season progresses more whales have been spotted nearer the shore line.  We were near Bashams Beach (where most have been spotted) and we felt the need to go and have a look.  This beautiful fellow was playing in the shallows about 100 metres from the beach and I still didn't manage to get a really good photo.

If you look carefully just off centre of the photo you can see what looks like waves over a rock, thats the whale.

We have also attended a Building Expo, where we learnt about timber frame buildings and more about septic tanks and met some very interesting characters there.  The septic tank lady was very enthusiastic about how the tanks work and what the little bugs should be fed if you are away for a period of time. They apparently like the odd cup of sugar as a treat, brown or white was not specified! Fascinating.

And on that note I'll close this weeks ramblings..... Ooroo

A trip to the Zoo and the citrus tree talk

It has suddenly got much colder and wetter and winter now feels like it has arrived.  I've even worn my heavy UK winter coat.... ok it was only once but!  Temperatures have dropped to single figures during the day, the wind is blowing a very lazy and freezing cold southerly wind fresh from Antarctica and it's raining. Plants are looking green and lush and a lot of the fauna are fluffed up and looking unimpressed!                  

 

Before I visited the zoo, I was caught in a very large rain dump, more rain threatened to fall before I could made it home from the food shop so I took refuge in a little french cafe.  Never has the smell of freshly ground coffee been so inviting. When I got to the counter I discovered they not only offered delicious beverages but also homemade gluten free cakes.  Resistance was futile and decisions were made a lot easier when the young lady told me all calories fell out once the cake was cut..... how could I refuse.

Its been a busy week, schools are out for the winter holidays and many activities laid on to keep the youngsters entertained.  The zoo, we discovered, was offering horticultural talk/walks, even better they were free.  So off I trotted, all rugged up like Nanook of the North! It was very interesting and the head gardener (one of 6) taking us around was very knowledgeable and obviously passionate about his plants.  There are three roof top gardens there, one with tents, one planted up with grasses and one with native plants.

These are hired out to schools for the kids to have sleep overs.  Can you imagine all the amazing noises of the nocturnal zoo animals?  It must be a fantastic experience and they are fully booked all the time.

 The soil on this roof top is 60cm deep, any more would make it too heavy.  The Mallee trees in the photo have a very shallow root system and are held in place with ties, which can't be seen. The roof insulates the building more efficiently than any other covering.

The last roof top has shallow root plants.  Three lots of grass, two of which are mowed just twice a year.  Native plants have been used and the zoo is benefiting from more visits of bugs, bees and butterflies.

Adelaide zoo is Australias second oldest, it was opened in 1883 and luckily the original owners had the forethought  to keep some of the original trees.  These include a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree which was planted in 1877.  

Hanging from the branches of this magnificent tree are balls of Stagshorn Ferns.  All of these ferns (which are very long lived) have been donated when they became to big for their gardens.  Our head gardener designed an anchor for the ferns to cling to it then took four men to hang them from the tree.

It was obvious a huge amount of on going care and work is being put into getting the environment right for the animals.  It is a beautiful conservation zoo and the creatures who live there look happy.  The collection of animals are based around the countries which originally made up the Gondwanaland.  

Our guide holding a macadamia nut which are native to Australia

Kluet the male Sumatran Orangutan, not impressed with the weather either!

On Sunday I spent two happy hours at the Diggers Club Talk on Citrus Trees.  Listening to Ian Tolley an expert whose love of all trees Citrus and knowledge is incredible, he's now 84 and grew his first tree when he was 6!  I'm hoping some of his knowledge has sunk in and our trees are going to benefit.  Funnily enough at the end of the zoo talk we were given a bag of goodies containing organic fertilisers, these were also the fertilisers Ian Tolley recommended!

This and that.....

Winter here is progressing well and nowhere near as cold as it can get in the UK.  Every now and then concerns are raised on the radio about the amount rain fall and then we get the occasional rainy day which is nearly always followed by beautiful sunshine rather than constant grey.  I think we are on target with the water levels so far, previously dry creeks (streams to you and I) are now flowing well and sound wonderful.  Water tanks are filling up nicely.  It's also ideal growing conditions for all plants but mainly weeds and someone seems to have planted an abundance of them in our front garden!

The sour sobs (Oxalis) which I still think look very joyful are now competing with the native violets for any available space in the borders.  Any plant which is on the small side and less than very robust is being overcome by these very pretty bullies of the border.  At least the ground is softer so much easier to weed.

It is rose pruning time, a hard decision to have to make when most are still in bloom.  We are now enjoying the 'off cuts' which have a wonderful scent and are perfuming the house.  Every cloud.....

The veggie seeds I planted about a month ago have been thinned out and are doing really well.  The only thing which to me is recognisable are the spinach leaves, fingers crossed the cabbage and broccoli do more than produce a nice looking leaf!

I've never seen so many colourful winter gardens, beautifully perfumed viburnums are in flower, as are clumps of bearded Iris and jonquil. Large bushes of camellias covered in blooms and standing alongside poinsettias which are taller than me!  On one of my walks I noticed a gorgeous perfume and finally found it was coming from a mandarin tree which was covered in bloom and even some fruit (albeit very green).  There are a lot more parrots around as well as well as larger groups of lorikeets and honey eaters.  I've seen most of these birds in pairs or on their own rather than in groups before.

It has been a warmer winter than normal and the thinking is that most flora and fauna think it's spring, nests are being built and mates found.

In the kitchen Ken Wood (the mixer and not a relation to Roy) and I had a bit of a falling out.  The flour, yeast, sugar, salt and water were all in the mixing bowl, dough hook in the mix, infact everything was ready to go except Ken.  No amount of gentle encouragement not so gentle encouragement followed by swearing could persuade him that it was time to get going on the bread mix!

Of course he worked for Rick but needed to be held in position to work... the mixer that is not Rick. Eventually Ken gave up completely.... I went back to the old fashioned method of kneading the dough which I have to say is a great way of getting rid of frustration.  Rick took Ken apart and with the help of the other equally old mixer gathered together parts which would work and hey presto I've now got a mixer which works again.  Fantastic.....

More research has been done on the house and we've discovered there are so many more ways to deal with sewerage than we first thought of.  We've now gone back to the idea of a septic tank rather than a tank which uses Ultra Violet light or less environmentally friendly chlorine to kill off the pathogens. The septic tanks need less maintenance and if 'everything' is processed properly we should still be able to use it on the land..... we'll see.

And most surprisingly there are a lot more double glazing companies around than we first thought.  The choice of product is amazing, the windows are made to order and prices are very comparable to the UK.  It is great to have the choices but then of course you have to decide what the best product is for you! At times it can be slightly mind boggling but also very exciting.  And yet more research still needs to be done.

What fun!