BRB. Off to Save the World

Gone again - this time Drew has gone to Geneva for a short internship with ERI and the UN. Did the final pack last night and I sewed a favourite patch on to his backpack. Left home at 5.30am today, airport by 8.30, down the Departures chute by 9! We didn't muck around. No tears from me this time; this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence, from both kids. Meg heads off again in April.

Bye Drewy, see you later!!

Troughs and Poles

We moved a trough into the sheep pen, one that we can hook up to the water supply and not have to fill with a hose.

Peter came to help, his arrival delayed slightly by the few too many beers he had last night at the local pub, listening to a bit of bluegrass. He's a big bluegrass fan.

This was his payment; Meg made him a teacake and a cappucino.

This cattle yard post has a rather nasty crease in it, something that happened before we bought the farm. Gibbo chose today to try to remove it, having the bobcat and all. When the previous owners cemented it in they sure had no intention of it going anywhere. An hour later we were still trying to get it out of the ground. It's still there; we dug out the concrete and the pole broke at the crease.

Doing the bobcat dance.

Meg headed back to Tba, the holiday season over for her. It was very, very hot here today. Most of the state is sweltering. It reached 41 degrees, hot for these parts. Storms went all around us tonight but nothing came close. We had two lots of visitors. I still haven't planted those bulbs. Maybe tomorrow??

Packing

Drew packed most of his gear last night; trying to find a good balance between what's needed for 6 weeks in Geneva and a quick Contiki around Eastern Europe wasn't particularly easy. Two more sleeps and he's gone again!

Post Christmas at The Bunyas

On Saturday we drove to The Bunyas and had a ham/chicken/pork sandwich lunch. Drew and I went off walking while Meg and Gibbo slept; that's Grandma in the chair in the background.

Drew and I walked and talked for an hour and a half. It felt like we walked 500 miles but I think it was more like 6km. We stopped to look at ferns and waterfalls, ponds and fallen trees, wildlife and signage. We took a wrong turn and ended up heading in the wrong direction; after a while we turned around and retraced our steps. It seemed a long way back. Drew took these pictures.

Drew's View

Drew took his camera on our walk on Friday afternoon and captured these moments. He takes much better photos than I do.

It's a beautiful view from up the back; layers of colour and texture and all that nature! Beautiful. Peaceful.

Our Poodle Pointer!!

Things We Did on Friday

Boxing night G and Drew went to see the second instalment of The Hobbit trilogy. Meg slept at her own place and came back early Friday morning and walked Heartbreak Hill. Afterwards, she jumped straight in the pool to freshen up.

The early morning scene was quiet and peaceful. The well fenced fire pit, with small orchard beyond, gets a regular workout by the Binda folk.

Breakfast was ham and egg muffins and pancakes. Delicious.

We headed home mid morning after a quick trip to make a couple of purchases; G went to the hardware store to spend his christmas voucher on water fittings and more trees (for cattle yard shade) and the kids and I went to a large electrical outlet and bought a new camera lens for Drew and a robotic vacuum cleaner (for me I guess?).

Back in our home town Drew and I went to the bank to pay his rent for Geneva via international transfer. We're on the countdown now; not long to go. Meg picked up Granny and Coco.

At home G went off up the paddock to dig and clean out holes. There's an awful lot of rocks up on the ridge and he's finding every one of them. Drew started deconstructing his bedroom, sorting into three piles - one for Geneva, one for Uni and one for Vinnies. Meg soaked her feet whilst reading and gave herself a manicure. Mum played games on her iPad. I thought I'd start to move the bulbs from the gardens we intend digging up to the gardens we intend to keep. One hundred and fifty-six bulbs later I'm re-thinking what I'm going to do with them. Lucky I've got a cart.

Later, Drew and I went for a walk to the top of the farm and sat on a ridge and took photos and talked.

Poofy came with us.

The weaners were curious and came for a look.

Drew found some foreign currency when cleaning out his room. Not sure when any of us will be next in Argentina but he'll be in Singapore on Tuesday night, albeit briefly.