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DAY 429


Well sorry to say another beautiful day this morning, I had the most bizarre nights sleep, I woke at 3.15am and looked out of the window with sleepy eyes, Caroline was hearding the pigs in and as I looked out in to the blackness I was sure I could see Helen standing on the lawn looking at the stars, with all the dogs running around.

I woke again at 4.15am and strangely enough Helen was still standing out on the lawn looking at the stars, so I thought.

When I woke, I could see the big conifer tree exactly where Helen had been standing on the lawn and I am sure the dogs are in their respective places, so it was a strange nights sleep to say the least.

Today we are off to Canberra to stay with Helen and Roberts daughter Susan, who is just waiting for a newly built apartment to be finished and is staying with friends in Weetangera, who are in America at the moment, so we are keeping her company and of course it gives us opportunity to explore a little bit more of Canberra, last time we only had 2 days and there is far too much to see in 2 days.

We had a few things to do this morning, my main job was to give the plough its topcoat, and finish this project as near as dam it before we head off.

I have a quick cup of tea and set about my tasks and go in to the garage and make a start before the day gets too hot, it is predicted to be 40 degrees + today, hotter than yesterday.

As we did not get around to taking the boxes up to the container yesterday as I promised I would, we all did it this morning, taking everything up bit by bit, it was hot work and none of us could wait to get back into the cool air indoors.

Caroline packed a few things into one of our cases, for me it was the usual pair of pants, one pair of shorts, one t-shirt and a toothbrush, although I am sure that Caroline will not let me get away with that and she will pack more stuff for me.

We have some bits and pieces to take to Canberra for Susan and James, so suddenly the Patrol is full of stuff again and considering most of our stuff will remain at Woodstock, I am not sure how we have so much gear. Still I remembered that we have a roof rack so Caroline’s snazzy Roxy suitcase gets relocated to the roof rack where it is bungeed on tight.

Every time I took stuff outside to load, Tiny would be drawn to me like a magnet, she jumps up and looks at me with those lovely eyes of hers begging something of me, I think she knows that we are going, but what she does not know is that we will be back.

Kimba is busy growling at Toby, who is taunting her on the veranda, she is protecting her territory, all the other dogs are out working with Robert somewhere on the farm.

With the finishing touches put on the plough Caroline and I moved it back to its position on the concrete plinth next to the fishpond.

We kissed Helen and said we would be back in a few days or so and then headed to Merriville to give Jason his knife back as I had inadvertently walked away with it in my pocket when he had been rigging our fishing line, Jason, Kristy, myself and Caroline sat in the shade and had a good natter then we hit the road, towards Tumut, where we are going to top up with diesel and grab a bit of lunch.

We want to take the Brindabella pass to Canberra, it’s a rough mountain road, instead of sticking to bitumen, we do know this road as we came across to Nangus from Canberra this way last February. It took us a lot longer than it would have if we had come along the Hume Highway, I am expecting it to take a while this time, but the weather is so much better than before.

It was our hope to see a snake on the Brindabella pass, as this was the road where we saw our first Eastern Brown, almost one year ago.

The road was rough but great fun, last time we were pulling the trailer behind us I had said to Caroline that last time we drove this road we were so much less prepared than this time, with just experience, equipment, ability and knowledge, we feel so much more sure of ourselves.

We arrived the other side of the Australian Alps around Mount Stromlo, today is a significant astronomical day, 400 years ago Galileo had discovered the rings of Saturn, and I had heard on the radio that a lot of sites around Australia were hosting star gazing nights and we were hoping Mount Stromlo was also going to host one, however fire had ripped through this mountainous area and is now closed for the unseen future.

As we drive down the road we see a large dead Wombat on the side of the road, and its makes us both sad, for people who have followed us from the start will know Wombats are my absolute favourite creature, along with Elephants, Bears, Racoons, Donkeys, Pigs, well the list is endless, Oh I don’t like Spiders though, (hate them).

So onwards we drive towards Weetangera where Susan lives and arrive at just 4.00pm, slightly earlier than we said, the journey across was quicker than last time, I think maybe because we were uncertain of the road previously and took it relatively easy, of course we stopped to look at the snake and the various views last time so no wonder it took us a long while!

Susan welcomed us in and we sat in the cool and had a cup of tea, Rocky and Misha whom spent Christmas at Woodstock seemed happy to see us, It was very very hot still and we sat with the blinds all the way down to the floor to keep the sun out.

We brought our stuff in and took it to the room that has been allocated to us, it is cool and has a lovely punkawalla fan over the bed, which is slowly moving the air around.

We relax and watch a couple of movies, Caroline brought over a couple of bottles of Nangus Sheep Drench (Cabernet Sauvignon, you have to read the Christmas blog to find out about it) to drink, but Susan is on a health kick for January and declines the offer of a glass and soon it is time for bed, the evening is still very hot but we are really tired, so I think sleep will come easily, I will wish you all a good night.

KJ XXxx

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Photos

Top Coat
Working on Helen's Plough

The Brindabella Pass
Heading back over the Brindabella Pass

Bullet Holes
in the sign