January 2 2017
We celebrated New
Years Eve by having great food and wine with good friends in Kinglake. Especially good for me because
for once I was not doing the cooking. Edd even had enough energy to go to
another party after we had got home and milked the goats but I was happy to
sleep through the actual year change.
We had worked hard
during the week. There was more hay to transport to the shed from a paddock
down the road and once again rain storms to dodge. Luckily Ben and Indi have
helped us so the task was not impossible. I am definitely too old for this sort
of thing, but Edd persists.
After the last hay
marathon we had to help Al and Pip move house. They hired a big truck but Edd had to fetch it because he is
the only one with the right license. He left it by Al’s house in the evening so
that it could be loaded. There are
now some fabulous new steps leading from the walking track to the house but
they are still steps and every piece of furniture had to be carried down them.
We left here at 6am
next morning and drove to Warburton so that Edd could drive the truck to their
new house. They had been up until 2am doing the loading but the truck took up
all the walking track which is on the top of a steep bank so it was hard to get
past it even on foot. A bigger problem arose when we had to get it down the
track back onto the road because just by the road there was a tall pole with a
pointed bit of metal sticking out that the truck could not fit under. We had to
send Al up a ladder with the angel grinder to cut the obstacle off. I don’t
think it had any important function!
The drive was at least
3 hours too and then as our family had shot ahead in their own car we were
unable to interpret our instructions and missed a vital turn off. We rang Al
once we realised we had gone astray but he must have mistaken our location
because he directed us onward along an ever narrowing beach side road. Then the
rain started and all the holidaymakers left the beach and set of home in cars
bicycles and on foot, which mad the road really scary as well as narrow.
It took us a long time
to get out of this mess. Thank goodness for mobile phones. Al came to meet us but the traffic was
getting ever thicker with the wet beach goers now in their cars trying to
escape to who knows where. We did
reunite and eventually got to the new house where a slight accident occurred
with a helpers car that was in a dangerous position. Despite this it was a good
thing Pip had organised helpers because we were all needed to unload everything.
No slaking either, because there was a time limit to get the truck back and a
long journey.
We had not calculated
on a tropical storm arriving and soon there was rain reducing visibility to a
few metres and the roads began to flood.
This time Al was with us so at least we had a navigated with the
equipment to get road reports so we could avoid the main free way that was
flooded to a point it had to be closed. Many drivers just drove on to the hard
shoulder and parked up with their lights on but the drivers who kept going were
mostly very sensible and we avoided the inevitable accidents.
We got the truck back
two minutes before the place closed. This was very important because Al’s
landrover would have been impounded in their yard if we had been late and the
lady in charge said she could not wait for us if we did not make the time. Al
dropped us back at the farm and then set off for his old house. He is doing the final touches on the
building so that it is ready for tenants next week!
Yesterday there was a
working B there and a lot was done. Edd and helpers put up the last of the
external weatherboards and Pip’s parents sanded doorframes and did the
painting. My job was to clean out one of the sleep outs and render round the
base of the fireplace. It now looks so good it will be hard to leave, surf or
no surf.
December 25 2016
Happy Xmas to
all. Against all probability we
got through Xmas eve positively.
The thunder storm here was really scary and a cypress tree along the
steel creek road took a direct hit but the power stayed on and I got all the
farm work done. Edd had even better luck. He joined Indi in Healesville and
they worked all day carting hay bales from the paddock into hay shed. Despite Internet predictions the storm
missed them and they had only the extreme heat working against them. When they
finally wore out Al and Pip drive over and got the final load to safety.
Once all this was
sorted we showered and drove to Al’s house in Warburton for a final party. Everyone brought a dish and we sat on
his veranda overlooking the mountains and river and relaxed. Today everyone is off for a beach day
but Edd and I are happy to stay on the farm quietly. The vegetables need constant watering and the house is cool
so we are better off hanging around.
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