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.

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.

Sprung!!

Here's a photo from yesterday that I missed - Meg got sprung at the fridge trying to help herself to some of Grandma's special salad dressing for breakfast!

Cricket and a Boat Race

The fourth Ashes test begins on tv/radio and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race starts - it must be Boxing Day in Australia. I confirmed my complete disinterest in cricket when I naively asked yesterday at the festive table, "Where is the game being held?". I was shouted down, with derision, by both brothers and husband. Cricket. Meh.

We had a really slow start to today; I've found it hard to get going. We're in Twba at Binda with Gibbo's family. We'll have a night here then head home tomorrow to spend a week working on the farm job list.

Yesterday was a lovely day spent with family for lunch and friends for dinner. We enjoyed the ritual santa sack reveal with all of us on our bed then the gift exchange in front of the minimalist christmas tree.

Gibbo bought me a cart for the garden (great idea) then proceeded to use it to transport his tap king beers and his dog over to the shed....

and back again with two bird feeders (in boxes).

As every other year we had a beautiful lunch time meal. My parents came and so did my two brothers; they both brought partners this year. There was the four of us too - so for the first time ever there was a full contingent! This year is the first time that Peter has brought someone.

Christmas afternoon movie. I snuck away for a little sleep.

A late afternoon photo.

Our Filipino friends came for dinner.

PJ made a box for the back of the bike.

And so here we are at Boxing Day 2013. For the first time in 9 years I haven't had 20+ people/children/dogs turn up on my doorstep. We came to Binda and had some pool fun.

Christmas Cooking

Even though I live a life immersed, submersed, surrounded and sometimes overwhelmed by Beef of a very high quality, my favourite meat has always been Pork. When we go out for dinner it's usually my meal of choice. I grew up eating a wide variety of meats, all usually raised and killed on our farm, and it was always pork that did it for me. Nothing much has changed in all the years since then (and there's been quite a few now)!!

There's several things I make at Christmas that are rarely made at any other time of year. Sticky date puddings are one of these.

We went to the office yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours to finish off some paperwork/emails. We had a little gift box to deliver to the girls and JR.

After sending off the last email and tidying up end of month early I now feel like I'm on holidays. It's a nice feeling.