Off the sheep's back

Seen on my morning walk -strands of sheep fleece on the wires of a fence. Not just on one wire but on every wire. Hundreds of wires where over many years hundreds and probably thousands of sheep have rubbed themselves to relieve itching and they have left a little piece of fleece.

I also found an intact sheep's skull but decided against putting it on the Mini's grille.

Elf gets a wash

 After few days standing in the farmyard, a few stretches on gravel roads and some very dusty roadworks the Mini was in urgent need of good soak in the tub. This morning a trip into the "nearby" town of Young for Tim to collect his ute from the Mazda dealer presented an opportunity to use a car wash.

The Yellow Box

 Late yesterday afternoon I took a walk across the paddocks and came across this beautiful solitary yellow box tree standing in a paddock full of lucerne. The tree must be very old and the Berrymans have resisted the temptation to remove it to facilitate planting and harvesting with the huge tractors and harvesters they now use. 

The tree looked magnificent in the golden light. Apparently it currently looks better than it has for a long time due to the rain over the past 12 months.

In the farm shed.

 The things you find in sheds on the farm. A collection of vintage tractors under a layer of dust, A rotting prewar Morris Minor long past the point of no return. Unidentifiable pieces of things. .Everything is under a layer of red dust on the farm including me.

An early morning walk

 As regular readers of the blog will know wherever I am I try to take take an early morning walk.Many will recoil in horror at the thought of leaping out of bed at 5.00 am to go for an hour's walk but for me it is one of life's greatest pleasures. 

The morning walk in Terrigal is pretty special but here in Stockinbingal this week it is extra special. I can walk for an hour on the farm and not see another person and once I am clear of the farm yard not even a building. I have to open a couple of gates, cross the grain train railway line and then walk up a dirt track to the top of a hill. From there the vista is glorious and no photo or photos can do it justice. The air is clear and it is balm to the soul. 

This morning a jet passed overhead at high altitude en route from Melbourne to Brisbane or Coolongatta. Two years ago I would have resented the intrusion but today it was reassuring that life was returning to normal.  

I sat on a tree stump and meditated and reflected that I am incredibly lucky to live in Australia.

Later in the morning I drove into Temora, 35 kms away, to do some shopping. The main road was almost empty apart from big pieces of oversize farm machinery on the move with escorts. Temora looks just like one imagines an Australian country town with the canopied buildings and stock and station agents and former department stores.The town was busy and it looked reasonably prosperous unlike many small country towns.The traffic was light, slow moving and very courteous. I definitely knew that I was not at home or in Sydney . I shopped in Woolworths. There were spaces in the car park, no queues at the checkouts and the staff were chatty and friendly. It's almost as if I am in another country.

Here are a few photos from this morning's walk. 

.

Postcard from Stockinbingal -2

 Fourth day in the country. Unwinding. Enjoying the wonderful hospitality of friends, Keith and Sandra, and beautiful weather. I spent the day doing farming stuff with Keith-picking up sacks of canola seed and drums of chemicals and ute parts from nearby towns. Beautiful full moon this evening and the air is so clear out here with no light pollution the night sky is amazing.

Traffic jam near Stockinbingal

Unloading the ute

Loading gypsum into spreader

Barn find-stationery steam engine,

Colchester's finest

Postcard from Stockinbingal

 

Evening shadows in the farmyard

A beautiful Anzac Day here in Stockinbingal. Friends Sandra, Keith and I drove a few kilometres up the road to the tiny settlement of Springdale to attend the Anzac Day service at 9.00am. No dawn service in the cold for these country folk. It really was charming. A crowd of locals most of whom had arrived in their utes and SUVs stood under gumtrees with kookaburras making a contribution to the proceedings. Many of the men were giving their suits a rare outing. A few of them were wearing medals-their own, their father's or even their grandfathers. 

The absolute highlight was a flyover by a WW2 Spitfire from the local aviation museum. It arrived right on cue and made a low pass over the ceremony. It was a very emotional sight.

Proudly wearing his Dad's medals.

Friends Keith and Sandra. My hosts.

Away

Elf taking a breather in Binalong

Well, I had a target time of 9.00am on Friday to start my road trip and I nearly made it. A quick trip to George's Fruit Barn to do some restocking of the fridge for my house sitter put me back 30 mins but it was a pretty good effort. The first part of the 500km journey was not enjoyable. The M7 was a truck grand prix and there is no doubt that with millions of Australians not travelling overseas the traffic everywhere is much worse than normal. After the Canberra turn off south of Goulburn the traffic thinned out but a substantial diversion near the end of the trip to avoid a closed bridge made it a very long day.

I made a voluntary diversion into the tiny settlement of Binalong to take a break where I had a chat with Geoffrey Swan, a retired schoolteacher, who describes himself as the Binalong Sculptor. He sculpts using discarded metal objects. Below is a photo of Geoffrey and  a corrugated iron"shirt" he had just sold for $200.

The Binalong Sculptor

One of his works

Fortunately friends Keith and Sandra had warned me that it was cold at night out here in Stockinbingal so I packed some cold weather gear. 

Riding in the cab of the John Deere tractor this morning it was just about warm enough. Come out here in the middle of summer and it would be a very different story.

Early morning walk in beautiful cold air. It's good to see aircraft vapour trails again.

Planting Canola

Me. trying to look like a local. 

Keith, who really is a local

. 

On the Rolling Road in Elf

 

 

The ten months of Val's illness, and particularly the last few months have left me sad and totally exhausted physically and mentally. I need a really good break, so with a house sitter secured, I have taken up the suggestion of a dear friend and tomorrow, two days after Val's Memorial Service, I am heading out on a road trip. First stop is the tiny settlement of Stockinbingal in the south west of NSW, inland from Wagga Wagga where good friends Keith and Sandra Berryman have a sheep and arable farm.

It's nearly a 500km drive to the Stockinbingal from Terrigal so including stops it will take me more than 6 hours. Most of the route-360kms- is on motorway or near motorway standard roads as far as Yass when the drive becomes more interesting as I head off the Hume Highway and onto the B84 country road to Stockinbingal via Harden.

After my stay in Stockinbingal my tentative plan is to head way north to the opal mining settlement of Lightning Ridge and then to wherever my fancy takes me. I'm driving in my Mini Cooper S - Elf-a car totally unsuited to outback driving with its low ground clearance front spoiler, runflat tyres, no spare tyre and lack of roo bar. I have purchased a spare wheel and tyre and will be carrying a jack and tools and plenty of water.

 Fitting the wheel and luggage into the Mini was not the squeeze I was anticipating. I have secured the spare wheel and tyre with the seat belt on the rear seat and the same with the green suitcase. I definitely don't want an 18"Mini wheel and tyre or a heavy suitcase flying around the cabin in an emergency stop.

 I am sure to get some very strange looks out west where 90% of the vehicles are hunking great SUVs or utes. But the Mini is what I have so the Mini it is.

It should be an interesting journey as long as I avoid the roos and emus and the roos and emus avoid me. Keep watching the blog for tales and photos from my journey. 

Otto and Rocket

 Although it is a few days until Val's Memorial Service and it is still a very sad time I am starting to gently move forward. I spent the weekend with my children and their families down In Sydney. I took a camera but forgot to check that the battery was charged so only managed a few photos including this one of grandson, Otto, with his cockateil Rocket.

A time of great sadness

 

Yesterday, 7th April, I lost my best friend, my lovely wife Val. She died after a long battle with cancer in Tarragal House, Erina, NSW. The last 9 months have been very difficult and particularly the final two hellish days but I am so fortunate to have many great memories of Val when things were rosy and she always had a smile.

I met Val in my first year at university. We were married 4 years later and our marriage lasted over 51 years. Val was mother to our two beautiful children, Lisa and Toby and grandmother to Ellie, Scarlett, Poppy, Otto and Felix.

Val was very creative and she was also a great cook with shelves full of cookbooks and a kitchen full of gadgets. She was always well informed eagerly devouring the newspapers and business and news magazines. Even in her final days she was anxious for me to read her the Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian and the New York Times from my iPad. 

The beautiful house in which we have lived since 2008 is very much Val's creation. She was a lady of many talents.

Above all else she was a great traveller and no sooner had she returned home from one trip than she was thinking about the next one. We are so fortunate to have done so much travelling together at home and overseas over the years.

Although she has not been home for 6 months and I should have adjusted to her absence by now the house seems even more empty today. And, of course, beautiful Phoebe, our Himalayan cat died three weeks ago and her absence is compounding the sense of emptiness. It is a time of great sadness.

Cry for Myanmar

 

 

What is happening in Myanmar (Burma) is horrific. Beyond description. A bunch of corrupt, power crazed thugs masquerading as the Myanmar miltary have again seized power overthrowing the democratically elected government in a coup whilst claiming that the recent national election results were a fraud. Widespread opposition to the coup has been met with brutality with over 500 civilians,  including many chidren, shot and killed.

The military leaders are unspeakably brutal and they are being assisted by China and Russia, the serial stirrers of dissent and hatred in the world. The coup leaders will soon find out that their Chinese friends are not friends at all-just ask the Australian government what XI and the Chinese government are like. As for the Russians and their assassin in chief, Putin, no good ever came from getting into bed with them.

I feel so sad for the beautiful Burmese people . They have suffered so much for so long. Their history has been a nightmare but in recent years it looked as if finally they were making progress and then they have another coup. Same old, same old.

I have visited Myanmar twice and I loved it. In September 2020 I was booked to go on a riverboat up to the farthest northen part of Myanmar close to the border with India. It looked like a superb trip but Covid intervened and now it looks as if I will never see that beautiful country and people again .

Some photos of the beautiful smiling people of Myanmar from my travels in their beautiful country.