Hi there dear friends,
As
you will have gathered from my various emails, we have settled into
Australian life with the greatest of ease. Jean has always been happier
when he has a project on hand and having sorted out Claire’s pool and
other various jobs around the place, he is now taking on a far bigger
undertaking with getting the large property here at Willi Willi back
onto the irrigation system.
With all the terrible fires raging in various parts of
the country, it was good to have the sprinklers working yesterday
evening which soaked the lawns around the house. I doubt it would do
much good if a fast moving grass fire got going, but my fear of fire is
far too entrenched following our days on the farm in Africa, to sit by
and take no positive action.
The weather here is impossibly strange. Having been
happily swimming yesterday afternoon, by 6pm I had a fleece on and there
was a bitter south wind blowing. This is known as “The Cool Change”
and can happen within half an hour as the wind swings around and
presumably blows in from the Antarctic. Everything here is on a huge
scale including the vagaries of Mother Nature and she deals out stunning
beauty but can then deliver brutal blows without warning.
Three teenage boys were arrested yesterday while
lighting fires and they could face up to fifteen years in prison. The
authorities don’t play here and anyone breaking the No Fire Ban rule can
be in for massive fines. All it took yesterday up near Ballarat was
for one cigarette butt carelessly chucked out of a car window and a
thousand head of cattle and sheep are dead and much loved homesteads are
razed to the ground. Needless to say we keep a watching eye on the
horizon and stay tuned in to the tv reports when conditions are bad.
On the bright side, it is wonderful being in close
contact with my children and grandchildren and yet still having our own
home to retreat to when we get tired. With five of them going full tilt
it can be fairly hectic now and then but I work on a “Divide and Rule”
system and they all know that Granny doesn’t take much nonsense. On the
whole they are absolutely fine and it’s so good to see them all
thriving. No school until the 5th February which is going to stretch
parents and carers to the limit and I do my bit hopping into the car and
nipping over the hill to man the fort while the adults are working.
Luckily my daughter in law’s sister is visiting so she is taking up some
of the slack! Jean is an excellent Grandpa and they keep a wary eye on
him but he comes in for lots of hugs and offers to “have a go” with
radio controlled helicopters and boats and the like.
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| Kate's son's three children at Christmas plus Hamish and Cleo the dog |
My interaction with the wild life is increasing
steadily. Thankfully no sign of any snakes yet but we have been warned
to stay out of the lower paddock where the bush is long and there are
big slabs of hot rock. Spiders take their chances and some are captured
and released and others are given a quick wack with a heavy book.
Kangaroos are abundant in the area where we are now and we thoroughly
enjoyed watching a boxing match on the front lawn the other day. I
passed a female yesterday and she had a large offspring with her and it
was hilarious watching it trying to clamber head first into her pouch as
I got closer in the car. All I could see were flailing legs and he
looked like he was diving into a skip! The kookaburras really do sing
in the old gum tree but so far we haven’t seen any jolly swagmen but
there are some fairly strange characters around in the local market town
of Wallan where it is rumoured that some of the residents have their
knuckles dragging on the ground!. Whittlesea where my daughter lives is
a far more upmarket country town and really rather charming and very
similar to country towns in South Africa which are all from the same
era. We haven’t done the trip down to Melbourne yet and we are saving
it for cooler weather when the kids are all back to school, and our few
forays south where the large supermarkets and shopping centres abound
don’t interest us at all. I fear we will always be happy country
bumpkins!
Our current house is fairly old (by Australian terms)
but solidly built on the North South line which means that it doesn’t
take the brunt of the winds in the large glass windows. It is built on a
hill and has wonderful views and our nearest neighbours are within
reach but by no means on top of us. We will be back here in June and
July by which time we will be glad of the under floor central heating
and two large wood burning stoves. We leave for Howquadale on the 1st
February and will be there for four months and I daresay there will be
some fun stories coming out of that experience.
Interestingly, the cost of living is pretty much on a
par with that in France although I think the petrol is slightly cheaper
and diesel is more expensive. For a while we had an LPG (gas) car and
it was terrific and ran on very cheap gas and hardly ever needed
refuelling. Everyone buys local produce when it comes to food, and all
clothing seems to mainly come from China. We were sensible and took out
an excellent health insurance for the time that we are here and just
hope that we don’t trip over a wombat or a platypus.
We think of you often and are glad to hear that you are
having a slightly milder January than last year. I can remember it
dropping to minus 20 at Brignon and here we are feeling chilly today
because it is plus 20! It’s going to be a stinker again all next week
so hold thumbs that we don’t join the fire fighters.
Love to you all and stay in touch - it is so good to get news from “home”.
With all good wishes - Kate and Jean xx
PS
As you can see from the photos, sartorial elegance is very low on our
list of concerns! Agapanthus are the national flower at present and
everyone has masses of them.
The property stands on 26 acres so we have room to spread our wings.
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