We finally get word from Jason down at Wonthaggi that he's going to have to charge us a bomb for delivering the stuff we bought from the 1st auction, so we hire a trailer in Kyneton and head off down to pick it up instead. This also lets us visit Jaynee's mum after her operation, which went well. We still haven't heard when our container is going to be cleared from the dock in Melbourne, but at least we have a comfy sofa now, tho' still no beds. I've bought just a few more clothes, but <*gasp*> no more shoes (difficult to believe, huh?) Look - photos of our new posh car:
There's an alternative farmers expo in Seymour, so David and I, Jo and Ted toddle along for a look www.seymour-expo.com . We're interested in the alternative power options available in Australia these days - if you install solar or wind power, not only do you decrease your costs via the "ordinary" electricity supplier, but if you generate more than you use, you can sell it back to the grid. And you get a government rebate for installation. We are also researching "greywater" reclamation, cos although we have a bore at Green Gully for non-human consumption water, we're very conscious of saving as much as we can. This is our current fave for a small-scale greywater project; the solar water purifier.
There are also displays of chainsaw sculpting of big lumps of gum trees (must give that a go), cattle and sheep dogs, livestock for sale (pair of geese for $95, or maybe a llama, anyone?), camel rides, a really very nice swimming pool (just plonk it in the small dam?), a steam-powered PC, water tanks and various farming implements. Not all that different from Heathfield Show, really, apart from the fact that after a few days of "cool" weather (ie low 20's celcius) its a stinking hot weekend and not a drop of rain in sight.
We also meet Isabelle Harwood, who is there with her husband Peter and a very nice display building - they run a company called Timber Frames of Australia, so we spend a while having a chat about that. We've slowed down a tad on the acquisition front - just a 6' x 4' trailer from ebay.
At last, the day of delivery of the contents of our container (except vehicles) to Kyneton dawns! Annoyingly, its the only day for weeks either side when there is actually some rain forecast, and it does in fact happen, tho' not in Wadhurstian volumes. The back room before and after:
The contents arrived in a 20' container on the back of a lorry - we never did get to see our 40' container that actually made the crossing. The lads who delivered and unpacked into the house for us were particularly impressed with getting their coffee in pink mugs, courtesy of local Kyneton charity shops, who have supplied a few necessities whilst we've beein waiting for our own (dare I say even posher) UK crockery...
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Greebie and Honor are locked away for the the duration, but make up for lost time by exploring every nook and cranny for the next 3 days. There are now 153 boxes and packages crammed into every available space, most of which we are trying to NOT unpack, as we would only have to pack them back up again to make the move to Green Gully in April. We now have a bed, although not a mattress that fits - did you know that beds and bed linen sizes differ from country to country? As do all sorts of other obscure things, like air hose couplings. |
We spent a day wandering around the Kyneton Botanical Gardens, because even tho its still bloody hot, we're technically into Autumn here, and Jaynee fancies a spot of gardening. There are plenty of gum trees on the Green Gully block, but not any others, so seed collecting is in order. The plan is that this:
will turn into these:
A quarter of them are acorns, tho' gawd knows if any will survive. Thankfully, Jo is a landscape architect, and could tell me what some of the unameded trees are. I hope I got the labels right.
Its the Harvest Festival at Hanging Rock, which is pretty much a gourmet tucker and drinkies picnic, with live music and entertainment. Its not so hot today (in fact its fairly cloudy), but Jaynee decides to take the gazebo (veteran of Fordinbridge V-Twin rally and Wadhurst garden party, and passed by customs; yay!) and chairs, and a fairly well stocked esky\hamper. By the time we've lugged this from the almost empty car park where we met up with Jo and Ted (advice is to get here early or you'll be walking a helluva lot further, cos 120,000 people attended last year) our arms are a couple of inches longer and we decide to make camp before we get to the main concourse. A good idea, as it turned out, as it got very crowded indeed in there later on.
It also starts spitting rain as soon as we get the gazebo up, so that was a good call! Things warm up pretty soon, tho', and we're joined by brother Steve and family. Unfortunately Jaynee's done that trick with camera and switched it into fuzzy mode, but here's fuzzy pictures of Steve and Alana with David, and Riley and Lachlan, who race up the rock with a (by that stage) rather tiddly Jaynee, Steve and Ted.
We gorge ourselves on pates and cheeses, bubbly and wine, various nibbles like apricots stuffed with mascarpone, and can you believe that Jaynee, who dislikes fish, was heard to say indistinctly "that's bloody wonderful" whilst demolishing a yabbie and scallop pie in very short order. She never did get around to taking the matching photo of the car park when full.....the carpark, that is; Jaynee was full as a boot.