cattle droving

28.7.2010
Last weekend was wintery but we all met at the Bohdi Tree in Healesville to celebrate Bo and Al’s birthdays. I missed Josh who is still at Uni in Perth, and Simon, who was working, but everyone else was present. Wayne says he may soon relocate back to Queensland where he thinks there is more work. I am sad that he has split up with Delisa. I liked her a lot and would have loved to have her as a family member. I will also miss Wayne a lot if he moves inter state. He has been such a competent and solid bloke for me to lean on since the fires.

We had another family gathering the previous Sunday for the big cattle droving endeavour. Edd had arranged to sell the heifers and the steer to Kenny who lives up Steels Creek road towards Yarra Glen. We have still not replaced our yards so taking cattle anywhere was a problem. Once we found somewhere to sell them that they could walk the logistics became possible.

Lots of family members and various neighbours joined us and we managed to steer the cattle all the way without too much drama. The hard bit where were fences were still not replaced and they had a chance to escape into big paddocks. Edd had alerted everyone who he could find, so we had help from the people in the homes we passed who defended their own borders. Wayne did a lot of the running and Kenny loaded kids into the back of his ute and ferried them to up to new positions once the cattle had passed them. It was probably all fairly illegal but it was also fun and the only solution we could think of.

There was a slight glitch when Ollie manage to tip over a four-wheel motorbike himself and the adult in supervision into a ditch. Luckily no one was hurt and Ollie probably had his first lesson in the dangers involved with driving as well as droving.

17.7.2010
I was the one with a burst of energy this week. On Monday I got a 4 cubic metre skip delivered and over the next two days I loaded it up with the rubbish left by the builders when the sheds were put up. The skip was well and truly full so Edd brought down the large trailer and I loaded all the wood scraps into that and then balanced the old corrugated iron on the top. The huge pile of rubbish was really irritating me so I am thrilled now it has gone. The skip has been taken right off the property but we will have to unload and burn the wood bits at a later date.

This activity was partly spurred by the thought that Rob and Moira were coming to film us again on Wednesday. It is to document the effects of the fires but we have got very fond of them over the months and I wanted to make it look as if we had achieved something since their last visit. We have, of course done a lot but at this time of year it does not look like it!

On Thursday the first lambs of the year were born. The moorit ewe, Peloton, had twins. The male is now called Cadell, as he was born during Le tour de France like his mother. Another sign of winters end can be seen all over Steels Creek. The wattle and the daffodils are in bloom again and the yellow season has arrived. Lots of wattle trees were killed in the fire so it is good to see that some have recovered and new ones have been planted. Yellow was not such a feature last year.

Edd needed to buy drills so this morning we drove over the hills to St Andrews Market. It was heaving with humanity all rugged up in multi coloured warm wear and looking suitably hippy for the occasion. Edd got his tools and we brought mugs to replace the ones we keep breaking and then we wandered across the road to the hotel. Nothing changes there. The bikies with magnificent gleaming chrome on arm stretching handlebars roared up to parking spots by the outdoor tables and the rest of us crammed ourselves inside for drinks and food around the musicians and large fireplace.

It was cold even indoors so the woollies remained on. The men with the guitars were good and a toddler began to dance. The toddler was joined by a slender girl who shed boots, and then socks, as she got into her stride. Some how she used her hands and body to manipulate the space around her so it seemed as structured as water and began to flow in patterns. We have been coming here for over thirty years now and the continuity is reassuring.

chooks and winds

10.7.2010
More people have been robbed. For the last twenty years we never bothered to lock a door but things have changed dramatically since the fires. Properties in our area are raided every week, probably because there are fewer people around. Even big things like tractors and trailers are pinched and the B@B half way down steels creek lost all their cottage contents. We are all afraid to go off and leave the place unguarded.

Edd began the break from teaching with a burst of energy. He quickly rounded up the straying cattle and isolated them behind a new electric fence. He may even have found someone locally who wants to buy the heifers. Then he borrowed a neighbour’s posthole rammer and began work on the fencing system around the sheds.

Having given up on gardening I focussed on chickens. 10 commercial laying pullets were collected from Wagners, our closest egg factory, and we drove further afield to buy rare breed layers from specialist breeders. I brought new feeding bowls and a bamboo ladder the exact width of the chook shed so Edd could fix it up for perches. The new pullets are now living with the gentle faverolle rooster in the new chook shed and the older chooks are with the aracaner cross rooster in the upper shed.

Things began to look brighter. The sun shone, it was warm and we visited a new type of building that Barry (who works with Al) told us about. It is a system where walls are erected of interlocking recycled, plastic, web, panels. Steel reinforcing rods are put into grooves at intervals and then all the plumbing and wiring can be put in. When all is in place a mixture of fine concrete is piped into the walls and towelled off where it seeps out to form smooth wall surfaces.

This is pretty much instant house and in theory would really suit our semi underground structure perfectly because the rear walls at the back the back have no windows and only two doors. I got really excited and felt that it might be possible to get a house to live in before the summer heat. Doug, our engineer friend and Edd watched one pour and decided that there are a lot of issues such as the strength of the mix that need to be looked at and I began to feel all that ray of hope slipping away. Al is still on holiday so we are all waiting for him before things can move anywhere.

The veil of misery descended further as the frost and high winds returned. We did not get much sleep on Friday night when the donga was moving around in the wind like a small ship lost during a storm in the ocean. Stuff banged outside like a whole troop of robbers and the cold seeped through every crack. We woke to a heavy frost but the next night was worse. The winds returned, only worse and the power cut out just before dark. I had some candles but there was no running water, hot or cold, no heating and the candle flames blew in the wind too much to be effective. We are totally sick of living like this.