Summer ends

7.4.2009
Winter has arrived. The weather has changed dramatically from hot and dry to cold and wet. Some has of my garden survived the fire and the drought and some plants like the zucchinis have made heroic efforts and are producing fresh food for us. The goats are warm and dry in their poly house and the chickens have produced a few eggs.

Most of the surrounding bush looks very dead. On the old convict road up to Kinglake the tree ferns have started to grow new fronds but everything else looks devastated. Now the ground cover has gone it is possible to see the mullock heaps of the old gold mines and the tracks that probably serviced them. I have ridden along this road many times and never suspected their presence.

Last week we had wonderful help from friends. Steve and Johno fitted out the double donga with internal walls, all plastered and with doors that work. Caroline’s mob cleared up the terrible mess of wire and fallen trees at the old front gate and of course Gary put the roof on the toilet.

It was my birthday on Saturday and my family and friends joined me for lunch at the Toolangi Tavern where there is marvellous value at the moment. I am so lucky to still have all my kids and Grand kids around me. Al came back to the farm with us and we began to talk about rebuilding. The upsetting part was that he brought information he had received from our insurance company.

He had sent them a plan of our homestead but they had sent a different plan to a building assessor who costed the fictitious house at much less than we are insured for. It was all total lies. For instance they omitted the staircase and swapped cavity wall brick for brick veneer. We found it quite devastating to know the devious means they go to to try and avoid paying out claims.

I spent Sunday on the net finding out the real cost of items like stoves and wood heaters so I could gather evidence to help our cause. Everything is so very expensive it is frightening. Yesterday we went shopping . We need to set up our new house with a kitchen so we can cook proper meals again. We brought a large fridge with a freezer lower half but we also looked at horse gear. We would like to have saddles and bridles so we can ride our horses but they have become disastrously expensive.

It was all very depressing but it was Dave’s last day here. He finished building steps into the double donga and we all met up in the Indian restaurant in Healesville for a farewell do. The food was good and we forgot our woes for a while but last night I kept waking with nightmares. We are starting to feel ill with all the stress.