Pine Ridge

We have the good fortune to be staying with Daryl and Colleen at Pine Ridge.

This is a great place. Set in the Southern Tablelands of NSW, the property is situated on the rolling plains of the high country. It's a property of about 1700 acres of good grassland and improved pasture.

There is good water to each paddock and plenty of shelter and windbreaks for the stock.
the place is stocked with black angus cattle in excellent condition, thanks to Daryl's farming knowhow, plus his patience and understanding of all things that move.

He has a large number of breeding stock with calves afoot, and weaners which will soon be ready to go to market
He is currently using black angus bulls to sire the cows.
there were previously limousen, bulls but he found they bred huge calves, giving rise to  birth problems
I love working out here. The freedom, the fresh air, the scenery, the cattle, the things I learn.

 

The property is kept in good condition with nice buildings and good fencing and the30 km of electric fencing keeps the cattle where they should be,.
Last wednesday,  the wind started before sunup, By 9am it was gusting to 80km /h and the weather turned really hot.  I mean about 39oC, giving rise to perfect conditions for bushfires. After lunch the wind increased to 100km/h and gusting to 120.
Our best vantage point to watch for fires was the highest place on the farm which is where the hayshed is and we had to make several trpis to keep lookout, The wind was blowing so hard that we could barely keep our feet.
Mid afternoon I was outside the machinery shed looking back to the rear of the farm through the trees when I saw a sight which horrified me. A haze which looked very much like SMOKE!
I called Daryl and he came running,took one look and said "lets go to the hayshed."
Sure enough there was plumes of thick black smoke coming from behind the hill to the east of Crookwell.
The direction of the wind meant that the fire should pass behind us, but a windshift could put us right in it's path.
Daryl had already moved all the mobs of cattle up to the paddocks near the house as these didn't have as much grass in them and would not support a fire as well.
We fetched a water tank and fire pump to wet down the bus if it was needed, and Daryl turned the sprinklers on the house shrubbery.
There was a lot at stake so it was a worrying time and we spent a few anxious hours watching and waiting.
Late in the afternoon when the wind had lessened a bit we went up to the hayshed and it was with some relief that we saw the fire had passed behind us and the smoke had abated.
Very soon after, a cool change sprang up and  dark clouds began to mass.

Christmas Day

It's nearly 8.00pm so most of December 25th  2012 is gone, but there is still time for us to wish you all A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
 We spent christmas with our hosts Darryl and Colleen at their house and it was a very relaxed and happy time, despite the weather.

 

 



Crookwell for Xmas

Aah no more dramas on the way.
Stayed a night in Wagga Wagga at a rest area by the river. This is a neatly mowed area of about 5 acres with a few trees, some hills and hollows and a track through the centre. It has a nice new ablution block and water from a tap. Heaps of campers stay there in everything from tents to buses.
I really wanted to spend a few days in Wagga to have a good look around, but time was pressing and we had to go.
It was really good to reach Goulburn on Sunday and then on to a cattle station managed by Daryll and Colleen where we will stay in the bus over Xmas.
the temperature is a bit of a cultureshock, after 40o + temperatures in the centre and now down  into the low 20s
Monday saw Maureen have a day at the doctors ..... all day.....and pretty much got an all clear, Yaah!
Heaps of stuff to do here. Maintainance on our house at Crookwell, the bus lights need attention and there is much to do on our other bus to get it ready for sale.
Mollie loves this place. She pretty much has the run of it, so we have put her in charge of rounding up the hares and rabbits!

Have spent my first few days here detailing the car after all the red dirt we went through up there.

Home at last

It was great to arrive at  the property that Daryl and Colleen manage.
We love staying here, its so peaceful and quiet, yet central to everything that we have to do while we are here.
This is a great property.It has good soil, is well grassed, has abundant water and excellent infrastructure.

Theres nothing I like better than to sit on their back verandah looking over the hedge at the symmetry of the lone eucalypt, so straight and strong and watch the cattle graze in the afternoon light.

December (life after Alice)

At last we brushed the dust off our shoes, heading south into a stiff headwind.
The plan was to make for Goulburn at flank speed so Maureen could keep her appointment with the specialist in Sydney on 17th Dec.
We left on Thursday after lunch and all went well until Friday afternoon when the tront left tyre blew out  nearly pulling us through a bridge railingand into a dry creek bed about 12 feet below. It took 3 hours to change the wheel. We were thankful for assistance of railway gangers who put the blown tyre and wheel in the back of the Suzuki.
 fellow travellers Dave and Karen also in a Denning stopped to help which was fantastic and they looked after us until we got to Port Augusta. They were a godsend and went above and beyond  for us.
I bought 2 new steer tyres at Port Augusta.
We set out for Renmark and Mildura and got nearly to the hamlet of Spalding when the engine lost power and stopped!! We had run out of fuel. I hadn't taken the headwind into account.

We were parked on a narrow road with fences close and on the upside of a hill with the left wheels in a  gutter so the bus was sitting with the left rear canted down at a fair angle. Decided it was too dangerous to sleep in the bus in it's position plus the angle it was on would have made sleeping a problem.
Booked into this really cute pub in Spalding. It was a very old long low stone building with walls about a foot thick Although it was fairly original there had been a lot of renovation work done on it recently, so although the rooms were "basic old"they were freshly painted and comfortable.
The second night we were there, they were having their "monthly social" which was Bingo and supper afterwards ( Maureen says "it was bingo like I've never seen it played before I tell you" ) but she really enjoyed herself.
 After 2 nights staying in the pub and many calls to the mechanic in Adelaide who tried to get us going over the phone with much wrestling with the engine, it was decided he should come up here.... but not until this afternoon. Hope all goes okay.... time will tell.

This is Bruce Donaldson who did the inchassis rebuild on the engine. He provided one of the most pleasant transactions I have ever had. We were able to live in our bus in his yard for 10 days while he did the rebuild and nothing was too much trouble. So if you need your detrioit motor fixed, just ask and I will give you his details.

November

Well, Maureen has a new pacemaker at last! But what a stuffup.
Had to fly to Adelaide to have the job done
We were booked on the plane and our accomodation was booked in the visitors quarters in Royal adelaide Hospital, but someone forgot to book the operating theatre for her operation.
When we got on the plane we were seated one behind the other.
On arriving at the accomodation, the rooms were good... but...the kitchen was locked, and the (only) key kept in the reception  2 floors down which had to be signed out. Not that it did it much good as there was nothing in the kitchen, no crockery, no cutlery, no cups, nothing! Maureen had her op on Friday afternoon but when they opened her up to change the pacemaker, they found that it was a 3 lead pacemaker, something they had apparently never encountered and did not have a replacement for, so they took her old one out and put in a temporary 2 lead pacemaker until they could get one from Sydney on Monday!!
Meanwhile, we were told that there were no beds available for her to rest over the weekend so she had to return to the accomodation with a partly functioning appliance. This gave me a bit of time to  look around the city, so I had a look at the museum

The proper one was installed on Monday which necessitated her being opened up twice making the site very sore.
She was released on Tuesday, too late for us to catch a plane so we caught Wednesdays flight.
Oh, and  a moment of panic at the airport. When we were checking in, the clerk enquired about Maureens' operation and when told what it was, informed us that it was considered as a major operation and that Qantas policy was that there was a ban on patients of major ops from flying their airline for 10 days.
A phone enquiry by her cleared up that it was not a major op.
Alls well that ends well I suppose.
A week prior to us leaving for Adelaide, Mollie came into season so we arranged for her to stay at the local RSPCA kennels while we were away
Imagine our dismay when we got home one week later to find that she was no longer on heat. At first we thought that she had been let run  with another dog, but after another week, she came back into season so with much relief, we put it down to her suffering from separation anxiety.

October

My recaltricance just doesn't improve. Had to blow the dust off the programme before I could open it.
However, we are still at Heavitree Gap and Maureen is feeling very pleased with herselfas she has now shed 20 kg at weightwatchersand has achieved her goal weight.
Since I was last here, the weather has turned from decidedly cold mornings to decidedly hot days.
first we had 155 days straight without rain and when it did we got 20mm, thenwe have had 3 weeks of 39o temperatures...... but after all This is "the Alice"
In January they began a cash for cans scheme. The exercise alone that I got from doing this was worthwhile without the pocket money.
But everything has it's down side. We were wandering in the bush near one of the communities when I got my feet caught in a loop of wire, swivelled aroud trying to free myself and fell onto my left hip, breaking the point off it. Cant do anything for it, just has to knit by itself.The doctor says 6 weeks for the pain to stop and 3 months to heal.
I met a man named Howard who had lived in Sydney and worked as a bookeeper, but went blind in the mid eighties,now he sits in his back yard all day and scratches in the dirt with a stick
For some reason I was reminded of a book that my 5th class teacher read to us called "Children Of The Dark People", about 2 abo Kids who get lost and find their way home.
I did a search for the book and found one in Byron Bay (second hand as it has been out of prinf for a very long time)I biought it online and that was instant, but it took 3 weeks for it to reach me by post!
Anyway I have promised him That I will read it to him, then maybe post it on to my sons' children.
Only since being in Alice have I begun to realise the enormity of the problems facing the Australia as a whole with regard to the aboriginies. The government (of whatever persuasion) hands them near $1000 a fortnight "sit down money don't know how to use it and have nothing else to do so they buy grog.
 Picked up cans from one place last after a weekend party. There was 35 empty VB block cartons  which equates to 1050 cans or in money terms $2100.
I would estimate that half of these people are alcoholics, and could go on with many other statistics which all add up to involuntary genocide.