Permit at last

10.11.2010. Great news. We now have a building permit and we may even have someone here to mark out the building as soon as Friday! At this stage it looks as if Larry’s workers are going to do the concrete work as their quote and timing was best. Also Al has worked with them a lot and they come with a recommendation. I have been dissociating myself from even the concept of having a house so that I can continue to live happily in the donga but I now feel an irrepressible spurt of excitement.

It was 33 degrees inside again at dinnertime yesterday and the cooking area is so cramped that making meals is an every day effort. There are so many things that we just do not do because we have so little space. Life goes on and in many ways I am totally content as we are. I miss things like having a proper bathroom and lots of stuff we have not replaced because there is just no more space to put anything.

Today we are selling the young male goats. Edd is fixing the fences so that the girls can then have outdoor pens to run in. Yesterday David H cleaned off the front patio of the ruin and re-laid bricks after the stubs of the old table and benches had been dug out. This has made a huge difference because it was a mess of burnt wood and debris piles before. I felt strange weeding the patio because it is exactly the same job as I have done this season for years and years.

7.11.2010 We have had a great day. The sailing club on Sugar Loaf dam had an open day where they offered a free day of sailing for anyone interested. Bo brought up Morren and Ollie and two of their friends, Max and Lilly and Al came with India, Arden and Ti. It was quite a windy day, but warm and sunny so we made a camp beside the ramp the boats used on the reservoir and all brought food for a picnic lunch. Everyone lined up, was given a life jacket and then taken out in various craft. They had little dinghies that the kids could sail on their own, a big sailing boat that went quite fast and medium sized boats that went very fast.

Morren and Max got rides in the various rescue boats. They went extremely fast and bounced out of the water. There was a bit of excitement when a catamaran capsized and a few people had to be towed back to the jetty, but generally everyone managed fine. The kids went back again and again for more rides, even Morren who is usually the one to hang back from getting involved.

1.11.2010. Last week was lovely. Warm to hot sunny days enabled us to get heaps done. Edd completed his fence project so the sheep and lambs are now enjoying fresh grass in the big paddock around the dams. On our side of the fence we have cleaned up our designated living space. We have also mowed all the grass and weeded the garden. The appearance of a tiger snake prompted this flurry of cleaning up activity, as it is nice to see what is lurking in the grass before it bites you!

In a storm of inspiration I even washed down our donga and got most of it painted in a dull, light, cement colour to tone into the surroundings. On a more practical level Edd got a ladder up to the roof and sealed up the spot over my bed with bitumen.
This was very fortuitous because yesterday and again today the rain has deluged down. Roads became fast running rivers and we were lucky to get back home before the bridge was flooded. At one point we saw what looked like a giant caterpillar crossing in front of the car. As it swam past I saw it was quite a large eel!

Today we drove out to check the damage. The water must have risen a meter over the bridge at some time in the night and Yarra Glen racecourse had become a lake. This is most unfortunate and does not look good for the big race meeting on Tuesday. The road to Healesville was closed and all the low areas of Dixon’s Creek were under water. It was rather fun looking at it all once we confirmed that our own home was leak proof again.

Floods and Eels

1.11.2010. Last week was lovely. Warm to hot sunny days enabled us to get heaps done. Edd completed his fence project so the sheep and lambs are now enjoying fresh grass in the big paddock around the dams. On our side of the fence we have cleaned up our designated living space. We have also mowed all the grass and weeded the garden. The appearance of a tiger snake prompted this flurry of cleaning up activity, as it is nice to see what is lurking in the grass before it bites you!
In a storm of inspiration I even washed down our donga and got most of it painted in a dull ,light, cement colour to tone into the surroundings.

On a more practical level Edd got a ladder up to the roof and sealed up the spot over my bed with bitumen.
This was very fortuitous because yesterday and again today the rain has deluged down. Roads became fast running rivers and we were lucky to get back home before the bridge was flooded. At one point we saw what looked like a giant caterpillar crossing in front of the car. As it swam past I saw it was quite a large eel!

Today we drove out to check the damage. The water must have risen a meter over the bridge at some time in the night and Yarra Glen racecourse had become a lake. This is most unfortunate and does not look good for the big race meeting on Tuesday. The road to healesville was closed and all the low areas of Dixon’s Creek were under water. It was rather fun looking at it all once we confirmed that our own home was leak proof again.

A blast from the past / musical interlude

25.10.2010
The big oak tree that once framed the drive as one approached the house has produced some spring leaves. Most of the branches still look dead and burnt but last years feeble shoots have grown bigger and stronger. My arboreal friend is battered but still with us.

My past returns in other ways. Today we left home at 5.30 in the morning so that we could get my friends Jennie and Richard onto their flight to New Zealand. Jennie and I went to school together in a different hemisphere what seems like many eras ago. When we were 14 we had a camping holiday at Punchbowl farm and met Richard who was the farm student that year. This experience affected our whole futures in many ways. Jennie eventually married Richard and lived on a dairy farm in the Isle of Wight and I made the farm my second home and picked up ideas I have carried with me to this day.
I do not suppose that friends really know the true value of what they have given us over this difficult time. Jennie and Richard shared our life here for slightly over a week. They put up with leaking buildings and no proper bathroom but they brought with them the story of the first half of my life and left with me feeling restored in a way I could never have predicted.

Jennie remembers so much more than I do. She even brought back photos I had lost or never seen, and produced a diary we had we had written with the other two girls from our gang in our teen-age years. How innocent we really were! And how short those mini skirts were! The photo cut off the lower legs so it was not possible to check the blokes for flairs. There is no going back. Marie has passed away, Lucy lives in Hong Kong, I am in Australia and Jennie is still based in the UK.
At least for one week we talked, shared lazy lunches in my new outdoor room and introduced them to our local scenery and wild life. The week’s start was a bit crazy. Josh flew in from Perth to be best man at his friend, Scott’s wedding and Yarra Glen had the Melba festival. Bo had to rehearse and sing on Friday, which meant baby-sitting duties, but she lent us her car on Saturday to pick up our friends from the airport. We did not hear Bo sing but everyone said it went well.

On Sunday she had organised a music afternoon in her restaurant so we did that instead. Edd and Bo went to the wedding and collected Josh who we put on a plane at some ungodly hour the next morning. He is in the middle of a university assessment period and had revision and assignments to get back to. In some ways it was great that he had to come over because it meant that he could meet my friends.

At the end of the week Bo was heavily involved in a school concert and arrived at the farm with 4 sheets of cardboard she needed converting into an eye height caravan for a stage prop. All four of us combined skills and produced an acceptable offering. We stayed to watch the concert, which was a massive achievement for a small primary school. Bo had got the kids to write a musical and taught them to sing Elvis songs to go with it.

Simon and some of the kids produced musical accompaniment that carried the whole thing along. The star turn was four kids who sang “love me tender” and melted the large audience of family and friends. All the kids ended up feeling special and as if they had really done something and the families were thrilled.

This week has been dry and warm and Edd and I have worked on the farm with renewed vigour. Edd completed his fencing project and the sheep are now in the new house site clearing weeds. Well, that’s the theory. Every time I look they seem to be sleeping. I have painted three side of our donga which tones the dirty white colour down to cement grey. Today I have mowed all the grass inside our area. We had the first snake invade our space last week and it was of the aggressive tiger snake type so short grass is now a health requirement.

Edd is using the weed wacker to do the bits I could not reach and the place begins to look quite smart. This is a relief as we have some people from the “Aussie Grand Designs” TV program coming to visit soon. Al is keen for his designs to be on TV and I feel that if we are being watched it will make us keep going. The temptation is to just let things flow on.

We are actually very happy living right next to our animals and even though quite a few litres of water fell through the roof onto my bed last week I just slept with my head the other end of the bed and decided it would pass. I was less pleased when a big beam of wood fell off the ceiling onto my bed but luckily I was not in bed at the time. After nearly two years a rough life style feels totally normal. We even have a new batch of chicks in the donga with us … farm life is pretty much back to normal.

4.10.2010
The sun is still shining and we are warm again. Al came over again on Sunday and helped us put up a cheap Bunnings structure so that we can have a picnic table under a shade cloth down in the ruins. We moved the BBQ into the old chimney and there we were, instant out door room. I am getting ready for some friends who are visiting from the UK soon and I am worried that they will find our demountable building too hot to get into.

India got the horses out again and she and Ti rode Waldamar bare back. We thought we had got enough horse tack assembled but apparently we still need girths before we can use the saddles. Edd brought new bits for the new bridles last week, but every time we try to do anything we find that we are still missing a vital ingredient.

I am still trying to get all the gear together to make cheese again. I am getting close but rebuying everything we need to get our life back on track takes time. Mostly I cannot even remember I ever had the stuff until I try to do something and find it is missing. It is the same with clothes. Once I had something suitable to wear for every occasion that cropped up. Now I have not even the space to put more than the most basic gear.

The garden has surprised me and come out with a splendid display of spring flowers. We have mown our patch of grass and cleared the weeds off the brick paths and it all looks amazing. Flynn tries very hard to help me and interprets weeding as a search for food. He eagerly digs where I dig and as that fails to yield edible results he digs harder and deeper. When all his efforts fail he decides to sit close by me in a nice soft plant and watch to try and find exactly what I am after. This does not exactly help with my garden efforts.

He tries so hard to help. At night he rolls the hay bales with me and pulls off the strings and he carefully fetches the tin mugs that we use to measure out oats, regardless of the fact that they were already in the right place in the buckets. I left him outside the vegetable garden today, which upset him. When at last I started to climb out over the sheet of corrugated iron that closes the door he wrapped his front legs round my leg and pulled to speed me out.

25.9.2010

At last! The sun is back, things are drying out and we have the new house plans in to get a building permit. Suddenly we all begin to feel optimistic again. The new puppy, Flynn, is fantastic. He follows me everywhere at my heel and has settled down to farm life with amazing cool. Janner is still young so the dogs often play together which is great. Bryn was so old when we got Tess that he never did more than tolerate her and certainly never let her share his bed.

I was totally impressed by Andrew’s book. He shames me with his honesty. Somehow I still find inhibited when it comes to describing my total reality. There is still so much I experience that even I don’t understand that it seems silly to expect anyone else to. After Edd left Yuendumu trouble sprang up, mostly to do with a pay back situation and it was on the main news. I am not surprised everyone is simmering with anger under the surface. The “intervention” Yuendumu people have been put through has been truly horrific and totally unjustified.

Edd's story Flynn of the Outback

We lost our old mate Bryn (18yrs) in the fires and along with young racy, flighty, rabbit hunting Tess, our beautiful dog relationships were sadly ended.
The guests who stayed with us that day and who safely exited the area in the face of the fires later organised a Kelpie pup for us. Janner, the mad kangaroo hopping Kelpie who is now in training, except that he’s about year 8 level. Barking at the moon, a lunatic. Say no more!

Amanda and I have missed both of our previous dogs so much and after several experiences where we saw them behind us, or working the animals with us, we realised that we needed to find replacements or be haunted forever.
Amanda found a web site that advertised an adoption program for camp dogs from Yuendumu! (Tanami Desert N.T.)
All manner of images appeared to us of “rhinoceros dogs’ with no hair, lice, ticks, fleas, starving scrawny animals, you name it, we had seen it all before as we had worked there for 5 years.

So when the internet pictures showed ”Sonny Boy” a round hairy fat brindle pup, ears yet to stand up, a perfect combination of Bryn and Tess we were hooked.
I needed a break, Amanda was heavily into goat kidding, what a great idea. I’ll go and fetch the pup! Fortunately it was Amanda’s idea.

Tiger Airways don’t take animals forget it.

Qantas were unsure, some operatives thought Alice Springs airport did accept animals, others did not. So having booked Tiger up and Qantas down I was left with the dilemma of having paid twice the Tiger price for a return trip and having to send the pup on Australian Air Express (AAE) as Qantas changed their minds! (We don’t accept animals from Alice Springs) A trap for amateur players.
That problem was overcome with money, Flynn was able to travel back to Melbourne with me despite being under the control of AAE.
We collected him from Melbourne airport with few complications and since being on the farm he has shown himself to be a thoughtful and calm contributor.

Adoption of a dog from the community is helping reduce the population of dogs which impoverished community members try to keep alive. As numbers reduce the health of those that remain improves.
Having a number of dogs has been so much a part of aboriginal culture for so many years that the dogs have a skin name (a relationship name) which relates them to their family. Flynn’s skin name is Jangala (Amanda’s uncle). So he has obligations to her which he is discharging by following her around and protecting her from spirits and physical threats.

I was lucky to be able to get a lift to Yuendumu with Gloria Morales who runs the dog rescue program and who works for the art co-operative (Warlukurlangu Artists). Gloria uses most of her salary to feed and treat the health of the dogs whilst she tries to find them homes. It is truly a labour of love requiring a huge input of time and energy.
The mechanic in Alice who maintains her vehicles fitted a number plate for her at his expense DOGLADY. It was in this vehicle that I returned from Yuendumu on the Monday and delivered it for a service. Even in Alice you get strange looks when driving a Toyota labelled DOGLADY around town.

So ‘Sonny Boy‘ now renamed Flynn, a combination of Bryn for brindle and Flynn the flying dogter, is enjoying his new life in Steels Creek.

new puppy

17.9.2010

Edd is home , plus the new puppy. It is not the same puppy as the photos that were sent down to me , but he is a nice brindle boy who has a relaxed attitude and fits in with every request made. I missed our dogs enormously but until now I have not felt ready to emotionally commit to a replacement. Then when I discovered it was possible to adopt a desert dog I felt differently. Somehow it seems that we already share experiences with this puppy.

Edd was able to relax once he got away from the work here and has come back feeling better. Even his bad leg felt better but the cold dampness here made sure that improvement did not last. He stayed with our friend Margaret ( who once again was so hospitable) in Alice Springs and got a lift out to Yuendumu where he stayed at the dog rescue house. The lady who is caring for the dogs works for the art centre and uses her wages to support her animal work.

It is such a wonderful thing for someone to do. Camp dogs are a motley crew of canines who have lived around people for generations and bred more or less when they felt like it. Some get mange and lose most of their fur and sometimes ears but they are always part of someone’s family. They did spread some diseases especially as they slept with people for the warmth of all concerned. When we lived in the desert there were occaisions when the council workers were sent out to shoot dogs .
This upset everyone , so I am thrilled now that a more humane approach is being taken.

Margaret gave Edd a book written by our friend Andrew , who worked for many years with the local people in Yuendumu to tackle the petrol sniffing problem. I am reading the book now and am struck with the honesty with which he describes his experiences. One reads so much rot about Aboriginal communities and we despair over the ignorance demonstrated by most Government policies that it is a great relief to find that someone has written down the issues , joys and sorrows as they really are.

Back on the farm I was allocated grandchildren who stayed and helped with the baby goats. India and Arden are at an age when they are really helpful. We gradually trained all the kids to take their milk from a feeder. That meant we could feed several at a time. By the end of the week the goats had all remembered how to jump up on the bale for milking and the kids were settled down into a feeding routine. By starting fairly early all the routine morning work can be over before 10 am.

There is more good news because the latest set of building raters we employed managed to get our house beyond the required five stars and we can now apply for a building permit. We do need a certificate from Doug but mostly we can gather everything up and hand it in. Once we pass this stage we can actually start building!

All mod cons

11.9.2010
My ! Have I really not written anything for this long! It must be a symptom of kidding time. I now have 14 hungry babies in the shed in various stages of adaptation to bottle-feeding. Only 5 goats have kidded and we still have two to go! It was only meant to be one but Erin tricked us by getting the buck to jump over the fence to her.

Edd did an amazing job of welding up a new base for the milking bale. He even cleaned off the burnt old one and started to repaint it so that it is now in use with a new shiny aluminium floor. This is all set up in the proper place in the new milking parlour with new gates and yards to the sleeping shed. All this makes twice daily milking so easy.

Better still the plumber came and connected the water to the milk room. I have my washing machine in there and a disk washer for the milking jugs and buckets. It is pretty easy to carry over the plates from the house too. I hardly know myself with all these luxuries. If I wasn’t so busy caring for the kids I might even have spare time!

I am especially busy this week because Edd is on holiday in Alice Springs. He is staying with friends for a break before building starts on the house. (If it ever does). I just hope it works as rest for him. I have friends coming over from the UK in October so by then I should have settled all my animals new and old into a routine and may be able to have a break then. At least I have the animals to think about.

The house situation is taking forever. The problem is trying to get a five star rating for our design, which is the standard now. Our house should be much more energy efficient but the computer program designed to work the rating out was not made able to cope with earth covered houses. This seems an extraordinary situation to cause weeks hold up but that’s what it does!

Mean while we now have a huge solar system on the shed roof that generates our own power. We now need an input/export meter so we can get credit for electricity we donate to the grid. The young men who installed the system did a great job but had difficulty with the boggy conditions. A big truck arrived at 7am with a large four-wheel drive scaffold machine. When the driver tried to turn he got off the road and got his truck bogged. We had to get Dave out of bed with flu to pull him out with his digger because the tractor was not strong enough.

By the time this was done and Dave had gone home the blokes had bogged the scaffold machine by trying to drive across my new lawn rather than go round the shed on the road. Once again the tractor was not enough so Edd fetched Craig’s big machine (they all look like Tonka toys to me), and we rescued them that way. The blokes were all young and probably this is their first experience of wet conditions. After that things went much better and the job looks very neat.