Taste of our region

So I have a friend who works out near woop woop. It's accessible enough to get there in an hour or two driving but its not on the way to anywhere at all so its out of the way enough (not quite like the Pilbura or anything, just inconvenient). She sends me the best snapchats ever. She works on the Great Dividing Range, somewhere between Bathurst and Goulburn and the country is not disimilar to that of the English Highlands, only rockier, drier and with more eucalypts. I'm currently building a folder devoted to her glorious snaps. I'll give you a taste....

Its so much easier to communicate via imagery, well for me it is anyway. Verbal language is just one tiny percentage of human experience. I'm rather taken with how snapchat has changed human communication, again. We can bring someone into the moment we're experiencing by sharing our visual stimuli. I think its pretty cool anyway.


In other news, we went for a drive the other day. Fancy having this kind of forest surrounding you and spending a day indoors! (guilty, I did yesterday) This is a shot I took as passenger while driving through Hampton State Forest. Employment with the Forestry aside, this land is such a glorious resource to have and to hold as custodians. We have to treat it with the respect it deserves because the way things are going it's likely we might lose it in the future to National Parks, who generally erect gates to keep the minority who do cause trouble out, disadvantaging the rest of us who truly appreciate it.

(Retrieved from: https://www.instagram.com/p/BA-wbChzOij/?taken-by=cait_eliza7 )

In a similar post of appreciation I'd like to share some of the shots I was fortunate to capture the other night while we watched lightning flashing across the sky. The last week has been an onslaught of summer storms, one of the better aspects of summer. We've had a bit of rain from them too, resulting in a wetter summer than we were expecting.

 

Turns out the camera on my phone isn't the best but still managed to catch a couple of marginal shots. This is looking out to the north from the end of my parents driveway. I do enjoy a good storm.


Other short updates include
1/ Vaughan and I rode two of the newly broken horses yesterday. His first time on a horse in about 10 years and it went really well. Can't help the initial nerves but I reckon we'll go great guns together in a few months. Dingbat was antsy once she was leading, needing to check Bruce (the standardbred) was following every three seconds. Can't be getting left behind! So much whinnying, but it seems to be going well. She's responsive to every little aid I give and Bruce, being an ex-trotter, is calm and getting used to balancing the weight on his back.
2/ Vegie garden is loving the storms and bits and pieces of hot weather, yielding zucchinis (courgette) galore as well as peas, beans, tomatoes beginning to come on, lettuce and basil with the pumpkins beginning to develop.
3/ The backroom project is coming along well. All walls have been painted 'pearl seed' and it looks so much better, except now its making the ceiling look bad. Next clear, free day we'll move everything out and sand it back to paint then we can pull up the carpet and sand the floorboards underneath. My nan has told me she has an antique walnut bed head and end we can use too which should go well with the light airy room for an ideal Airbnb bedsit. Only thing is we'll have to drive the 14 hour round trip to collect it. Its not so bad when you make a nice trip of it though.
4/ I've scored a trial nursing locally! This is my foot, going in the door! Perhaps when we travel I could figure out all the paperwork to nurse?

Updating on travel plans, we've been advised to check out gumtree for jobs abroad so we're keeping an eye on that and may even post an add looking for work coming up to when we decide to head back over.

Otherwise we're just continuing living life well here and hope you're doing the same!

Morning time!

I'm one of those evil people who enjoy the fresh, bright and shiny morning. In saying this though, I slept in this morning until about 8. After a week of 5.30 starts it was welcomed though. As a plus when I did finally make it out to the back (easterly facing) room, after a couple of days of stormy, cloudy, drizzly weather we were treated to a gorgeous morning and the first light was proper sparkling through the windows, bouncing off the freshly painted walls. If you can't appreciate times like these every now and then I can see how some people would become lost and indifferent. 

I feel breakfast is the most important part of the day. If you ever meet me on a day I missed it, you can tell. This post is basically to show off how wonderful breakfast can be at this time of year. Above is a snapshot of my breakfast sitting on the back table just as the brilliant light was beginning to succumb to the clouds again. It is stove cooked porridge with home picked and dehydrated apple, local strawberries, almost as good as the German ones, coconut, a bit of brown sugar, yogurt and cranberries, for their great properties, even though I'm not a huge fan. I also cooked a bit too much porridge so the girls can have a bit of brekkie too :)

Looks like more rain today, yay! As its still a good temperature I can continue painting the back room too, if it clears I can get into the fencing for the horses. It's not urgent but might as well make use of the weather and get some jobs done! Hope you're having a wonderful day or night, and if not remember tomorrow's another day.

Getting back into things

Good morning to my fellow southern hemispherians!

I'm home again and have been for about a week now. I do so love Melbourne though. My last days there I made the most if but now back to reality. Except for another coat of paint I've finished the main back wall and wow does it look better than it did. 

Only thing is now you can really tell how badly the ceiling is flaking. That's the next job, then the other walls then the carpet comes up, because hiding under there are some quality cedar boards. I've pulled up the lino in the kitchen and it already looks better. It might take a while but if you pulls it all out/down and start again (depending on quality) it is definitely worth doing the right way.

We've had our bore water tested too. We have rain water for drinking but the bore is plumbed and leaves red scale everywhere. I've cleaned it with some success with CLR but have decided why not hit the problem at the source. Results found all levels to be within normal parameters except for the iron, which is 8 times the recommended maximum. This answers our query on the red scale. Unfortunately our bore is shared so it's not so easy a fix as buy a treatment, attach. It's shared with vegetable farmers across the road and owned by the Forests so is essentially their issue. I don't want to become unpopular by demanding upgrades to do with something that's been left untouched for years with no issue, especially at the cost involved with removing the iron (one of the most difficult minerals to remove). So I'll be thinking on how to approach this in the meantime.

Otherwise, the garden is coming along swimmingly with some good showers and equally hot days to get the summer veggies fruiting. 

Here's an quick shot before it all took off and I had to mow the middle section, with my trusty garden help. 

Concerning summer fire work we've been told not to get complacent because it's times like these a fire can creep up and our season could potentially get going. So here's to remaining vigilant and somehow retaining what energy I have for the rest of our hot summer days.

Oh and the other half is finishing his classes of his first term of engineering this week, and has only two exams next week! The excitement :)

Melbourne in Summer

I was intending to update before heading off but I figured I should take the opportunity to share my Melbourne travels!

As far as cities go (that I've visited) this has to be one of the only ones I could live in for an extended amount of time. So many parks, public transport, culture, accessible history and some family. We've done the invaluable free tour which I recommend for every city that has one. From there we've seen Southbank markets, the rooftop bar, Fitzroy swimming pool star-spotting (in 35 degree heat, who said Melbourne was always cold?) and the Immigration museum. 

This is a shot of the rainbow delivered by a short burst of passing rain last night. We had dinner at the permanent truck stop and bar at Thornbury which my auntie, who is way too young and trendy to be my auntie, found to share with us. It consists of an onsite bar that plays host to a number of different street food vans, different every night. A reasonably priced, cultural cuisine experience. We sampled Mexican, Brazillian and Indian last night but I'm told there's often a range including German and others. Really worth the 20-30 minute trip from the city. 

The immigration museum was brilliant too. It gives you a great in depth look at all the different cultures that have gone in to making Melbourne what it is today. At the moment they have a visitor created piece which allows people to write a little something about their background and home. Some of the replies are about how lucky they feel to be Australian and others are shocking descriptions of what individuals have gone through to now finally become residents, or citizens.

I caught the tram to Ripponlea Estate this morning too, for a colonial, upper-middle class view of Melbournes history. The mansion is set on 14 acres along with gardens, an archery hut, ballroom, pool, fernery, lookout tower and a lake complete with grotto. It even has servants quarters, which give a great little snapshot into how different life was around a century ago and back. I also became a member of the National Trust, something I've been considering for a while now. For only $45AUD (concession) I can get free access to most of the world's National Trust properties. 

Even meandering through the streets of Melbourne is great. The public transport is so efficient and the middle of the city doesn't have the hectic feeling other cities seem to possess. There's history around every corner too which is brilliant for me. 

That's enough from me today, time to get back out there and check out some shops and museums!

Happy travels! :)

Caitlin

The main reason behind this blog!

Now my mother has always advised me, whether in a job application or essay and all alike, it is always best to be clear, concise, straight to the point and enough of the flowery language (I apologise for the bits and pieces of flowery language you may find throughout this blog). 

We visited Europe last June (2016) after years of yearning. As a teenager I always fantasised about doing a working holiday of up to 2 years or so in Europe. We're now thinking about visiting again in 2017, hoping to spend Christmas with a good friend in Germany. 

It's all very exciting!

So our small amount of research has resulted in a number of options. This includes:

     -volunteering and receiving food and board in return, 

     -house sitting,

     -any form of farm work,

     -workaway.com, wwoof.com, helpx.com or others,

     -couchsurfing,

     -possibly nanny/au pair work (using my nursing as a lever, as one of my teachers advised and did),

     -anything else we may come across!

Our main places of interest are the British countryside and Germany, at this stage. Obviously we will only be able to make so much money and therefore travel so much. We would love to absorb the local culture as opposed to the party scene as tourists like last time. The only part I would miss would be my darling dog, but luckily my mum has offered to take good care of her, as well as (hopefully) my hens and my horses will be under the care of the father in law. Its all sorted! Hence why we'd love to stay at places with resident animals. I found it hard to live without them the month we were away from home last time and any we stayed with along the way benefitted from our hugs I'm sure (alas I couldn't offer much help with the household pets of the airBNBs). 

This blog will serve as both a journal of preparations and to introduce ourselves to you so you know who it is that intends to fill your home, work your farm or mind your kids!

So let this be a journal of preparation to our next big adventure. I invite you to follow us through this journey! 

:)

Happy Hens

First of all, Happy New Years!!! To one and all.

Christmas and New Years is a fabulous time for us all to reflect upon those we hold dear and near and what makes them so important in our life. It also, for some of us, brings about a time where we feel obligated to enjoy each others company. I had an argument with my sister who refused to join mum and I to visit mums mum, my affectionately named, Granny. She felt, as we all did as teenagers at one stage, judged and criticised by our relatives who asked her questions about what she was doing with her life. To be fair, one of my aunts can be a little over-bearing at times, but thats beside the point. My argument back was that family is important to me. Despite what others in the family may do, or not do as it may be, I was making it my priority to visit and tend to the relationships I have with other blood relatives, even with our self-described 'favourite cousins/nieces' not being around for this Aussie Christmas due to being Canadian this time. I was tending to these relationships as I tend to plants in my garden or a sick patient. I may not necessarily feel a deep connection to them all but once you get to know them behind that first exterior wall there are levels you will connect on. I see it as my mission to find where we can connect and make the best of it.

Now you may feel a tad confused at this point as to why my heading is 'Happy Hens'...Here the actual topic begins...

Two new Buff Sussex, yet to be named

I have finished a project that has taken a few months. Due to the hot dry weather and the seasonal employment as a firefighter, I've been getting a lot of hours with the Forestry of late. Say hello to our new and improved, permanent, in-ground chicken palace.

It is fully enclosed with wire sunk into the ground a foot to prevent foxes getting in and chickens accidentally scratching out while dust bathing in the future. The corner post's are sapling gums cut from my partner's father property and the tin was salvaged years ago from a shed and had been stored also at my partner's fathers property. The door frame was bought from the local 'Junktion', a marvellous idea of selling perfectly usable things salvaged from the tip and given a clean. I'm a massive fan of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' and am rather happy with the end product. The only bought thing was the netting, even the timber screws were a neighbours, left over from building a shed.

Here's to keeping resolutions. Mine?
-less facebook
-more blogs
-more journalling
-more mindfulness

So far, so good.