The Feline Dustbin


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Published: July 24th 2010
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Early Start to the DayEarly Start to the DayEarly Start to the Day

Fog is still evident but the sun is shining brightly, even though still very cold.
DAY 621

Well, here we go again, ten days since we did our last blog so what has happened so far on our on going adventure?

We have settled into our house sit in Griffith and are enjoying our stay here, primarily because of Snowy cat. What sort of cat is he? Well we haven’t got a clue, he is a huge boy in a big baggy type of way, and he is totally his own, er cat, all he wants is to be fed.

The strange thing about Snowy is how smart he is, he has already worked out my morning routine and has taken to waking me up when its time for me to get up.

He has a little trick he likes to play, it’s the “oh woe is me” I’m starving Caroline, Andy hasn’t fed me this morning, but oh yes I have, every morning I feed him, then as I leave he follows me out, then I‘m sure he goes back into the house through his cat flap and jumps back on the bed with Caroline where it is nice and warm, smart cat it has been exceptionally cold here again!
My Dam OverflowethMy Dam OverflowethMy Dam Overfloweth

Look hard you can see Andy and Tiny on the edge of the overflowing dam.

Last week end we took the Wendy House up to our favourite farm Woodstock were it is going to be left for a couple of years. (Don’t worry Helen, only joking! just checking you are still reading the blog).

As usual Helen and Robert have been exceptionally kind and have let us store the camper trailer at one of the garages at Woodstock, so it was the plan to head out toward Wagga Wagga on Saturday.

So Friday night our social calendar was as busy as usual and we were going over to Bec’s for cheese, biscuits and some oak barrelled port and of course an obligatory game of Rummikub.

As usual we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, but being Friday night, after a tough week is never a good night for us to be out late as when we get home we usually fall in a crumpled heap. We got home just after 10.00pm made the final preparations for our early start and went to bed.

Well up at 5.00am, I managed to drag Caroline out of bed at what Caroline considered to be an ungodly hour, but we had things to do and needed
DamDamDam

We have not seen this much water on Woodstock before, this dam is brimming with the good stuff!
to get moving. The trailer was hooked up to the Patrol and we set off on our way, it was 7.21am and we were on the road heading towards Wagga Wagga, just over 200k’s away.

The fog was starting to lift, the sun was breaking through in places and as we drove out of Canberra the tops of the mountains were poking through the fog, it all looked rather mystical and if you looked hard enough you could see the occasional kangaroo bobbing around the fields.

Oh it was cold but it was magical, just beautiful, there was even a heavy frost on the ground so most of the scenery looked white. For the best part of the journey the fog was with us but for the clear parts we were now seeing scenery that many months before was brown and gold parched with the lack of water and the intensity of the sun, well it was now lush green, the trees were laden with green leaves and cattle munched on the lush grass in the fields.

We arrived at Woodstock just after 09.30 and we pulled up with our usual excitement of being back at a
Going to BedGoing to BedGoing to Bed

Wendy House being put to bed for the rest of Winter......
place that holds so much importance to us. We walked up to the house and see that Goldilocks nor the bears were at home, so crept in and had a cup of tea as we could not find any porridge.

With our tea steaming on the counter, we comment how the farm has changed, it was really green and the dams were full of water, not just full but the one at the bottom was overflowing, something we have never seen before, it was a real wow moment for us.

Sitting on the veranda soaking up the sun and believe it or not the warmth, when suddenly 3 familiar faces bounded onto the veranda to great us with lots of sloppy wet kisses, even Wally managed to let out a whimper as he came up to greet us, he is so much calmer than Toby who just wants to jump up and lick your face, Wally takes it all in his stride pops is head in your lap and looks at you with those big soppy eyes and whimpers an “I missed you” greeting, well not far behind the melee Helen stepped into view. She was looking well; we sat and talked over our cup of tea catching up with all the happenings that have been going on since we were last here.

The time just flew and soon Helen was asking us what we wanted for lunch, and would a toasted sandwich be OK? Lovely we said, but can we just go and park the trailer, then that job would be done and we could relax a little.

So somewhere on the property Kangaroo Jacks Wendy House was parked up the doors to the garage were now shut and, we walked over to the homestead that the garage was next to and as we peered through the window, there in the kitchen was a Kookaburra, who looked in some distress.

Well we couldn’t leave a creature in difficulty so went in and opened the doors and tried to shoo him out, but to no avail, he was getting weaker and flapping around the room, I was mindful that I needed to keep him calm as possible and looking at his beak, I didn’t fancy him sticking it in my arm or something.

Eventually we managed to get him out and he flew away
Kookie in the KitchenKookie in the KitchenKookie in the Kitchen

We had to set about rescuing this trapped Kookaburra.... we think he was grateful for his freedom.
to be with his mates, there seemed to be an increase of raucous laughter as Kooki got back to his tree, but may be that was just our imagination, although it is comforting to think that they may have missed their friend and were thanking us for sending him back!

We got back to Woodstock, Robert had joined Helen, he had parked the big Caterpillar scraper he was working on and came in for his lunch.

At the time we were at the farm a grader, roller and scraper were carrying out re laying the surface of the roads around the property.

After our lunch Robert ascended the scraper and off he went back to work, no chance of a quiet day in the farming game, so Caroline Helen and myself went to do a major chore up by the irrigator.

Soon it was time to leave, we had a couple of hundred K’s to go and didn’t want to home get home too late, besides it had been an early start and a James Bond movie on the television was looking promising.

We stopped in Gundagai to do something that we had kept promising
GundyGundyGundy

View over Gundagai
ourselves and never got round to doing it, there is a lookout so we headed up the steep road and found ourselves looking over Gundagai and the surrounding area, we could see the race track, the old bridge and the Hume highway disappearing on its way to Melbourne. Gundagai is much bigger than we first thought!

With Caroline at the wheel, the Hume Highway underneath our wheels and Canberra was getting nearer so I took the opportunity to close my eyes…. Just for a while, but the next thing I remember we were just turning off the Hume Highway at Yass and Canberra was a lot closer!

The sun was beginning to go down, and as we pulled up outside the house, Snowy was sat patiently waiting at the bottom of the driveway for us. He could barely contain his excitement at seeing us, but lets not get carried away here, there is only one thing on Snowy’s mind and that is “food”.

We settled down to our dinner and the James Bond movie was rolling but by 10.00 our eyes were barely open so it was off to bed.

Sunday brought with it some more
Radio TelescopeRadio TelescopeRadio Telescope

This is on the University Campus in Canberra
cold weather, but that did not deter us from getting out on the bikes again, so after a hearty porridge breakfast we headed out to Lake Burley Griffin to meet with Bec and Cheryl, we were all rugged up against the cold and off we set to tackle the West Basin, all 17 kilometres of it easy! Wrong, it must be one of the hardest 17k bike ride we have ever done, we had heard how hilly it can be, but for some reason these hills really took it out of us, I guess the wind that we were battling into did not help and not forgetting to mention that we had to slow down for people who were walking which in turn meant losing momentum, but once or twice we actually had to walk the bike up to the top, as usual.

By the time we got to the end we were ready to stop, but a hot skinny latte was waiting for us.

Back at home Snowy was pleased to see us, we enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, doing the ironing and generally getting ready for the week ahead but it also meant that we had Sunday night free and of course on a free Sunday night we like nothing better than to finish the weekend with a movie.

We had booked our tickets on line at the Dendy Cinema to see Knight and Day the Tom Cruise/ Cameron Diaz film which was really good, we sat watching the film armed with our bottles of beer and some snacks and had a great time.

By the time we got home we were ready for bed, Kangaroojack had had his usual busy weekend, we settled under our bedding with the electric blanket on.

We have seen Pepe la Perouse a couple of times, once out and about on his travels and once asleep aloft his wardrobe.

So we will bid you a good night all.

kJ





Additional photos below
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Cheryl...Cheryl...
Cheryl...

Not far behind....
Team PhotoTeam Photo
Team Photo

Bec, Cheryl and Andy....
Behind the BoomBehind the Boom
Behind the Boom

Don't get in the water on this side.....
Scrivener DamScrivener Dam
Scrivener Dam

....Otherwise you may head over the dam wall.
It's a Cats Life!It's a Cats Life!
It's a Cats Life!

Snowy kips on Andy's comfy knee


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