I used to be a great letter writer - and blogger - but found I’ve become very lazy and put things off so long,I feel that the news I want to share is old news and no longer interesting to report. When I lived in Europe for 5 years ( before the internet - can you imagine that time?) I used to write to my mother every week and one of my three sisters ( in rotation) every week as well. I did that for over 5 years and my mum has just given me a pile of postcards and letters she had kept all that time. What a treasure trove! Something I must do something with some day.
With Facebook so prevalent in everyones lives it feels a little strange to write about events which is now ‘old news’ only given that it was ‘posted’ a day or so ago. Anyway……. I digress..
We have been in our little piece of paradise now for two and a half years. It seems a lifetime ago that we were travelling round Europe and a different dimension all together when we lived in Brisbane in a suburban lifestyle. As our lives have changed so have our interests and focuses. Its no longer important to me to chase that career, but rather to chase a life work balance where I can be involved with my kids growing up and developing. I am blessed that we have been given the opportunity to be able to do this. I have just signed a contract till the end of school year where I am a special needs consultant at a small school about 80 km away from home. It has 60 children in it - which is a medium to large school in this district. I don’t mind the drive in the mornings; besides its only two days a week so its not a hard cross to bare.
Our place is only small compared to other properties in the area, but 20 acres is enough for us to manage. We have 4 chickens who lay occasionally, two cows and a calf. Yuppie - our favourite, is about to calve, so I am sure we won’t be allowed to get rid of her baby anytime soon. The last two years have seen the formal rose gardens the previous owner had, left in disarray as we tried to unpack and sort out our lives, so now I’m feeling that we have turned a corner, I am focusing on establishing vegetable gardens, and building a lush garden paradise around us in private spots to sit and relax and reflect. The yard around the house is about half an acre - so we have a lawn tractor to mow it. Even so, it doesn’t get done quite enough! The house is set amongst huge gum trees - thus the name - but it also presents me with the problem of limbs and bark falling every day. Just as well I am not stressed about a perfect lawn.
Our long hot summer has seemed to have suddenly turned tail and disappeared into our more normal mist and heavy dews in the mornings, heralding the return of heavy frost and perhaps a snowflake or two. Where we live in the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, the temperatures are a lot cooler than most places, so it was a huge shock for us to have high temperatures of 42 degrees ( unheard of) here for a week or so. We normally don’t get above 30 degrees - and thats only for a few days in all of Summer! What this meant was my garden and lawns slowly baked, unused to the extreme heat and no water. it didn’t rain for months, so we have had to buy semi trailer tankers of water to fill our tanks and everyone has been on extreme water saving measures. We went for 8 days without water just before Christmas - which may not sound bad - but when you can’t turn a tap on and get water, flush the loo or wash your hands, it starts to become a bad dream.
As the weather has turned now, we have some rains coming in and my near dead lawn has greened up and what shrubs were here have sprouted again. I hope it stays warm enough for a little while before the frosts hit and cruelly burn all the new sprouts off. Just before it got very hot, I did a few weeks of concerted efforts into weeding and planting garden beds. While a few key plants ( the expensive ones of course) died, due to my mulching ( and clearly superior gardening skills) most of them survived.
Our district is famous for fruit and vegetables and we are lucky enough to have a huge influx of overseas backpackers decent upon our sleepy town for up to 4 months of the year to pick the crops. Our town nearly doubles with over 4 thousand foreigners turn up almost overnight. This year there seems to be a lot of Korean backpackers - but also a lot of French. It makes for an interesting shopping day in town with so many people there. I like it, but many locals hate this time of year -as we have traffic ( over ten cars on the street at once!!)
Although it is illegal to do so, I usually pick up hitchhikers on the road out of town and take them back to their lodgings. Don’t panic though - I only pick up girls ( though that is not a reliable thing either) But you can tell the backpackers - shopping bags full of food and that dead tired, exhausted stance. I swore to myself along time ago as a traveller, that I would always help others when I saw them. I’m a huge believer in the pay it forward scheme of things and its a fun game that the kids and I have played for many years - finding little things to pay forward to folk. Smiles and compliments are our easy “go to” techniques.
So, onto what we have been doing for the last few months. The kids and I have joined a local archery group. We practice on a target range on the weekend with compound bows. We aren’t good enough to go out on the ranges yet - but we were allowed to do it once! The ranges are sort of like a golf course. There are 20 markers around a huge area ( our group has some steep bushland) You get to your numbered stop and need to find the target - a printed wild animal ( noxious - ie not native to Australia and ones which harm our environment- so pigs, deer, foxes, rabbits, goats) which is fixed to a large bale ( so the arrows can stick in without breaking) There are points for shooting them in the heart area or head shots etc. You only have three arrows and a limited time to shoot. Once your points are tallied, you find the next target and so on till you have finished all 20. After completing one round, I understand why they don’t let beginners out there - as we took so long to finish.
Lilly is in her first year of high school and has taken to it with all her wonderful enthusiasm and love. Morgan is in year 9 and for the first time has been able to choose subjects. He has focus on Graphics, IT and metalwork/ manual arts and for the most, seems to be enjoying and doing well in it. They are both continue with their scouting journey.
After having a leading role in last years Shakespearean play “Alls Well that Ends Well”, I have renewed my love of the theatre and acting. I went a weekend workshop on directing and learn some great distinctions, realising that I actually do have a great depth of knowledge and skills which I have been holding away and not sharing with others. Lilly and I go to a weekly nightly workshop on acting, where I teach voice projection and voice skills and we also undertake impromptu improvisations and discussions scripts. I am wavering on putting my hadn't up to being involved with this years Shakespearean play “Macbeth” - I reckon I will though…
I still haven’t gotten back into my writing and though I miss it and feel pressured by myself that I aught to be editing and finishing certain projects, my heart is not in it, so I have left it in a heap.
We continue to welcome helpers from all round the world through HelpX and Workaway into our home and have had some wonderful people share our life for a short time. Some stay only a few weeks and others for months. My mum and dad still live on the bigger sheep and cattle property a few km down the road, so they ‘borrow’ helpers every few days to assist with mustering and all the other farm work. It gives our helpers a real taste of Aussie farm life without being stuck too far out in the outback.
Travel also continues to be a focus for us - its in the blood and spirit. We had the foresight years ago to purchase points into a holiday club, so this equates to several weeks accomodation in self contained apartments around the world a year. We have been taking advantage of this for coastal breaks and lovely luxurious holidays away without breaking the bank. We are off to Twin Waters near Noosa for Easter, most likely to Cairns for a week in June ( still in planning stage), Fiji in September and Port McQuarie just before Christmas. Further afield perhaps next year with very slight possibility of going to Thailand ( using our points of course!) or other parts of Asia - all on a shoestring though; but thats always been part of the fun.
I know its along way ahead but we are excited about it - we are already formulating plans on our return to Europe in 2023. All going well, Lilly will have graduated from year 12 in 2022, and Morgan completed two years of study at uni; both ready for a gap year in Europe! We plan to walk the Camino again in late April ( it will be the 10 year anniversary of our first Camino) I have family and friends who have all said they’d like to join us - but as with everything - proof will have to be in the pudding. We are collating of the things we felt we missed last time we were there and researching new ones. My guess is that we will be there for at least a year and do something similar as we did last time - a mix of helper/ workaway assistance and house sitting. I’m not sure how its going to work with the whole Brexit thing as we were planning on spending more time in Europe rather than the UK, so we will have to see what pans out. We have duel - both British and Australia Citizenship - so can live and work in the UK.
Although I love Australia and it will always be home, I miss Europe terribly; having lived there now three stages in my life. Its a lesson though in patience and simply being. To be happy and to find happiness in my everyday life; no matter how mundane or simple it may appear. If nothing else, the camino taught me the beauty of simply being and the fulfilment of having one focus ( to get up and walk all day and go to sleep) As daunting as the 800 km is, we are all looking forward to walking it again; receiving memories and making new ones.
If you are ever in our neck of the woods - please let me know and I’d love you to come and stay. We have a self contained cottage 200 mt away from the main house especially for guests to stay, visit and enjoy our district.
would love some comments - or emails - or good grief! a letter in the mail.
It may even encourage me to write more on my blog
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