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After several months of self imposed avoidance of social media, I have decided to re-engage. It's been a busy 6 months, and we have truly settled in to our new home. I'm going to post a bunch of photos over the next week for anyone interested in seeing our little patch of paradise.
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There have been small bushfires burning all around us for a couple of weeks, but in the last 2 days one has gotten bigger and out of control. It is 12 kms from our house. The SES ( State Emergency Services) blokes showed up tonight and gave us the update - backburning tomorrow , watch the wind- have an evacuation plan - get the hell out if things go bad tomorrow, Being surrounded by huge trees, we will have no choice, but hopefully the wind and the firefighting efforts will get things under control. They have been water bombing all day, but one house has already been lost . The bush is dry and inaccessible .  In other news, our bird water on the deck has continued to attract all sorts of beauties.  A pair of King Parrots  Parrot City (Crimson Rosellas and King Parrots)
 Four weeks in and we have planted our first (and second) passionfruit vine - Hooray! The possums (brushtails) have started to make their presence felt. Chompimg on our avocado tree all night long has resulted in action- Today we put some corrugated roofing perspex around the base of the tree - we'll see how that goes . We have wallabies and pademelons also hopping by nightly, so we can't be sure who ate the tips off our thyme and rosemary. They now have wire guards on them ... We removed an old fenced area which was overgrown with lemon grass and tree lucerne and uncovered ... a youhg avocado tree! Amazing . It is now muched and fertilized- and watered! Bruce continues the lantana eradicationand is making good progress ripping out the dreaded pest plant. Best sighting of all was our resident lace monitor. It seems to be around the garden a lot, and runs up the nearest tree if we come out. Such a beautiful creature.   Considerable progress is also being made in the garden with the first garden bed. We are also having regular fires outside in the evening -Had a great chicken curry in the camp oven recently. We have been at Nymboida for almost 2 weeks now. We finally got all our stuff from Adelaide loaded into our new trailer and Toyota. We used the trip over to reacquaint ourselves with the bush. We took the outback route via Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Cobar. This enabled us to camp out in creeks along the roadside. The joy of unrolling our swags and sleeping under the Southern skies was very special. We really were able to reconnect with this country and the land. Most of New South Wales is in a drought, so it was not as vegetated as normal, but it was still beautiful. it was a long drive - 1700 k's and it took us 5 days - We took our time as we were heavily loaded and we needed to stop early in the day to make camp, collect firewood and get a fire going etc. before it got dark. Being mid winter, that meant pulling over by 4:00 p.m. Of course, it also means a slow start as the fire needs to be lit, the boiled and the breakfast prepared. All in all it was a fabulous trip. First Camp - Just NE of Yunta at dawn Last camp Wollomombi Falls NSW Home at LastAs we approached the driveway of at new home, we wondered if buying it without having seen it 1st was going to be the make this mistake of Al lives. Fortunately it was not. The house, while small, is so beautiful. It was made by a true craftsman. It has the feel of a holiday cabin and we both absolutely love it. Of course there are still some things to be done. Right now we have no power without starting up the generator and our water looks like weak black tea, but we do have hot water if we light the slow combustion stove. Even though we have only been here two weeks, we are full on into working outside. It is such a joy to be doing physical labor and working outside. My body is squawking a little, but it's wonderful to be working for ourselves on our own land. .We have a so many birds coming around on a daily basis. These are just a few of them. A last look aroundIn the last few months of our time in US, I took some time to revisit some old favorites place and also go see some new places. Austin, TexasIn January, I went with some of my friends for a long weekend to Austin, Texas. It's a great place to visit, the music scene is amazing, as is the food. It was here I had the BEST BBQ ever. We had to order a week on advance to avoid waiting for up to 2 hours to get served, and it was so delicious. The brisket was like eating butter- the most tender yet most flavorsome ever. An added bonus was that I was able to catch up with an amaxing your friend, film maker and ex- teacher, Kelly Norris.  Alabama We have just arrived in Louisiana, the last of the lower 48 states that we had not seen. From Georgia, we went down to Alabama with the intention of spending a day on the Tallapoosa River with a brother of a mate of ours. Chuck Brown, brother of Jamey Brown, drummer and singer of our favorite band , the Lazybirds, runs a kayak guiding business, Off the Beaten Path. There was a heavy duty storm forecast for that day so we decided to postpone it until the following day. Chuck offered to show us around the towns of Auburn and Opelika with the help of two great young women, Cat and Brooke, who work for the local tourism organization. What a day it turned out to be. We started by eating amazing Southern food in a local favorite place we would never have found for ourselves. Fried chicken, green beans, stir fried squash and friend green tomatoes - unreal, heart attack inducing (well worth the risk) food . We went to the university arboretum, and got a packed scenic tour around the area finishing up with a stop a distillery where we were able to see the process in action even though they were not open at that time. Paddle on the Tallapoosa RiverWe avoided the enormous thunderstorm, and headed out to meet Chuck and Charles the next morning on the river. They had had heavy rain and the river was moving along . Normally we only paddle flat water, but with Charles in the lead we ran shoal after shoal. It was not a dry trip by any stretch, pulling out three times to empty the kayaks. This was our first experience in sit on top kayaks and while they were not dry, they were basically unsinkable. This was fortunate because we went through some very fast moving water. I had never been on a paddle like it. Several times we went over drops of 1-2 feet. Several times the boat was totally awash, but despite this, it kept on floating and moving. Without Charles leading the way it would have completely freaked me out, but we just followed his boat and seeing him come out the other side of each whitewater section gave me the confident to just keep paddling. The river was wide with forest on either side. We did a little less sight seeing than usual, as for a fair chunk of the time we were focused on paddling. That said, we would not have missed it for quids. It was terrific. We were due in New Orleans that night, so we had a 6-7 our drive. By the time we arrived, our shoes were almost dry! Sacramento I was lucky to get to spend a long weekend with my friends Larry and Barbara in California's state capital early this month. Although we spent most of our time just talking, we did see some interesting sights. I also got to spend an evening with their lovely kids and grandkids . It was great to see everyone again after a couple of years. Below are a few random photos from my weekend.   One of the beautiful old houses in Sacramento   
We've been on the road for roughly 3 weeks and are finally in one place long emough to upload some of our travels. Watch the intro to the road trip here. |
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