Still Walking

This post is the continuation of the Rain post. After checking out the dam levels I went for a walk around the garden to see the effects of the rain.

This is my new chook pen. I've always wanted a little A frame pen. JR picked it up at - you guessed it - The Tender Centre!!

I had three companions on the walk around.

Pink pigs. They've upped the ante on the feed requirement.

Herro! Like my socks?

The tomatoes have loved the rain. They look so pretty.

The mock orange was only a little plant when we moved here - a year ago now!

The Lavender. Lavender and I have never been friends. Previously, each time I've planted one, it has died. There were 3 lavender plants here in the garden when we came. My theory is that if I ignore them, they will grow. So far it's working!  Look how sweet Chloe looks.

The Circle of Bulbs is doing well. One has flowered already - and it wasn't what I was expecting. Next time I'll take a photo and try to work out exactly what they are. I removed the wisteria that was in the middle of the circle - it wasn't growing at all. It's now in the black pot you can see; doing slightly better.

The View.

Another lavender plant, with a honeysuckle in an old tin bucket.

It Rained!

A lot! 50 points last week and 4 and 1/2 inches this week - over 5 inches in 10 days. This week's rain fell gently over the first two days then quite heavily all day Thursday. We were in Brisbane Thurs; I took my Dad to a medical appointment re his heart. We are now contemplating open heart surgery later in the year. We travelled home in absolutely appalling conditions, rain pouring all the way from Brisbane to Bell.

Friday morning we went for a drive to check whether the dam we had enlarged had much water in it. Here's the answer! It's full to the brim. Fantastic.

Gibbo found two bottle trees for transplanting.

I know he looks like he's hailing a taxi but he's actually practising his bowling action (as he does often). Today, Saturday, is Grand Final day and the mighty Quinalow team is playing. Up until yesterday evening he was sure there'd be no way the game could go ahead; but the decision was made and so it's on.

The second dam in Paddock 8 is full too, the fullest we've seen in the nearly two years we've owned the farm. We were out early; it was very still and quiet and beautiful. Everything was clean and fresh.

The light kept changing; it was quite amazing.

The mountains were shrouded in mist.

EVERYTHING is full and running over!

Permy Update

The Permy Garden is making slow progress; I do a bit of pottering in it each weekend. I've spread lucerne across half of the outer edge; the next thing will be some hot feedlot manure over the top. The little bemused dog planter that Mum gave me a few years ago watches over everything.

Using hessian bags, I've laid out the rough plan for the other half.

PB1 and PB2 are Growing

The little fellas are growing; we were surprised at how much after being away for a week on the cruise. Here they are a week before we went away. They range across their whole paddock now; sometimes we can't find them because they're sleeping in the long grass.

Feed troughs. These were heavy and I'm (not) so strong (but I offer a lot of moral support which I feel is always important!)

I am chief pig feed mixer. I like to measure and mix and store. When I have animal feed stored in buckets and bins I feel rich.

Peppie does a fine job of overseeing proceedings (or looking for a dipper of feed more like it).

Rosie just does what Peppie does.

Here are the pigs on the weekend; growing nicely.

Goat and Sheep Update

Rosie is fully grown now; we're not sure if she's in kid or not. She wants to play frisbee.

Little Big Red can drop the "Little" from his name now. He has developed into a fine billy, complete with beard. He's getting his winter coat. He is now Boss Goat and tries to boss the humans around as well as the two girls.

Peppie is bagging up. We're hoping (probably in vain) that we don't have the same issues with her troublesome teat as we had last year.

They spend the better part of their day under and around this chook pen.

We enjoy the sheep!

They enjoy feeding time! They don't like to stand too close to the heifer though. If they can't get a seat at the trough they peel off and try to squeeze in somewhere else.

Been and Come Back

Well we've been on our cruise, had a wonderful time and now we're home again! It goes so quickly. All that eating, sleeping, reading and doing nothing really takes it out of you!

We had a busy last week at work before we went. Gibbo went to CQ for 4 days to the lease property; I stayed home and made sure we were on top of everything and ready to leave, admin wise. I also took my Dad to a doctors appointment in Twba on the Friday to discuss the tumour on his bladder. He ended up having to go to hospital during the week I was away to have the tumour scraped off. Andrew and Mum covered that one and Meg was a very vigilant visitor; I think both she and Mate enjoyed the visits very much.

We left early on the Saturday morning and drove to Drew, who came with us to the boat. It took us quite a while to get to the front of the queue and on the boat, to our cabin. Gibbo skipped the safety run through and slept all afternoon. Of course I went along and learnt (again) how to put on a life jacket then went up on deck to watch as we sailed up the river, under the bridge and out into the open sea.

From there, our days ran to a loose routine. Sleep in, go to breakfast, check the internet (very quickly, very expensively), coffee at Charlie's on Deck 5, a game of poker some days, a sleep, a read, lunch, sleep/poker/read; dinner, ice-cream, a show in the theatre then to bed. Tough.

Gibbo slept pretty solid for the first two days; he must have been exhausted. It took him that long to catch up.

The weather was pretty variable. Night 2 was rough; 90 people had to have injections for their seasickness. We didn't get off the boat in Noumea (hadn't planned to); it was raining in Lifou (and we had only planned to get off to go sit on the beach) and the night before Vanuatu there were 5 metre seas and Cyclone Lucy just 150 miles away. We didn't book a tour in Vanuatu and it turned out that half of them were cancelled due to the rough conditions. We did get off the boat in Port Vila to walk through the markets and choose a couple of gifts for the kids and Mum.

These photos were taken at Lifou.

These were taken at Vanuatu.

I feel sure the old boat on the left was there last time we visited two years ago!

Our cabin steward's name was Gordon; he is a cousin to Blaize who we met two years ago on the same boat (he was a waiter in the restaurant). He made a little animal every few days.

Gibbo played poker and blackjack and table tennis. How won the 7 games of table tennis, came 2nd in two of the poker games and lucked out in the blackjack grand final (no guts no glory was his motto). He found a group of oldies to play 500 with.

And played a bit of golf.

Random pics from across the boat, across the week.

I Am Pilgrim; ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LET GO.

The Atrium.

We had a special treat and ate at the onboard Asian restaurant, Luna. The night we went they served the Thai Menu - an 8 course meal of thai flavoured dishes. My favourite was  the red curry soup.

My favourite place to go and sit and read (and have a cocktail) was The Dome. Located on Deck 14 at the front of the boat, it's a really quiet and cosy place to relax and chill out and watch the people go by.

Gibbo even came with me one day and read his poultry book while our cabin dried out. The people over the back blocked their toilet; and because the boat was moored on a bit of a lean in Vanuatu, the carpet on Gibbo's side of the bed got a bit soaked - so Gordon organised a big fan to be put in the room to dry it out somewhat. The next day someone came and gave it a shampoo - it only ever smelt like a wet dog (which was a bit of a relief)!

This is such a cool place, with different areas all throughout. This is where the boat got pumping each night with parties and lots of music. During the day it was used for classes (ie line dancing) or kids club or displays - or it was just a quiet place to go and relax.

Thankfully, we didn't need to worry too much about this happening! At least I would have known how to use mine...

We arrived back at Brisbane early Saturday morning to be met by both kids. We went for breakfast to a lovely little cafe called PawPaw then dropped Drew back to his unit and Meg drove back to Twba for a 6yr old's birthday party (with 52 kids and a snake and reptile show!) We called in on Mate in hospital and then continued on via town to pick up a barrel shaped Coco from Mum's. Home at last to a very dry looking little farm. The tank was near full and all the animals were well and my chook pen vines and tomato plants were still thriving thanks to Jamie's good care over the last week. However, we've nearly arrived at the point where we'll have to sell the last of last years' weaner heifers so that we have enough feed for the cows and this year's crop of calves.

We had a quiet afternoon catching up on a bit of washing and gave all the trees a good watering. Then we went up to the forest and picked mother of millions for over an hour. We ended up with 2 full chook feed bags and a garbage bin full - and there's a lot more there yet to get through.