Boys and Toys

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Day 94

I could taste and smell smoke, it must have still been thick in the air from yesterday, I knew Andy had got out of bed early, it was still vaguely dark, I felt very sleepy as we had gone to bed late last night, but there was a cup of tea awaiting my attention.

I cannot see the mountain in the distance, the smoke was still hanging around, this is still smoke from Victoria and the sun is almost completely blocked out by it, the day is much cooler, they say it will be 10 degrees cooler, it is currently in its early twenty’s but expected to hit its early thirty’s.

Robert and Helen have just arrived back from Sydney, the dogs are playing on the lawn but it is not long before some of them have to work, so they vanish with Robert up to the sheds. Toby is not required so he remains back in his kennel on his chain.

We have a few drops of rain, but it does not last long, it feels like a bit of light relief for the temperature to be so cool, a little bit of sunshine appears and there is a glimmer of blue sky in the smokey haze. We have been lucky though, the busfires in Victoria have been devastating and there has been a huge loss of life. I am glad that I spoke to my parents last night so they are reassured that we are ok.

On that note I just want to thank everybody who have emailed us and sent us messages asking if we are ok, just to assure you we are both fine, the nearest fire has been 30k’s away from us, however we will have to review which way we travel south as we do not really want to come across some of the areas badly damaged and we need to be sure that we don’t get caught out. Also we do not want to add to existing problems as they have enough to deal with let alone tourists who are unfamiliar with the territory and how the ravages of fire operate in the bush.

Andy has gone to feed the sheep with Geoff this morning, so I am just taking a little time to catch up on some email, contact someone about potential work (for the future, not immediate) and some chores that always need doing, i.e. our fridge/freezer packed up so I had the dubious task of cleaning that out, unfortunately I had to throw away some of the food that we had in there, the extreme temperatures here meant that nothing could be saved. Still I have cleaned it out and got it going again (connected to mains power) and before long will restock with basic necessities such as milk, butter, eggs and bacon. We don’t have a fry up every morning, but it has been nice to have a bacon sandwich every now and again.

Every time I go outside I see Kimba, she always gets up to greet me tail wagging, I said to her "you don’t have to get up every time I step outside", but Helen says Kimba is probably hoping that I am going to feed her.

Most of the dogs are out working today; they all come back at lunchtime when Robert and Andy come back for lunch. We are intending on moving on to Canberra today, however after some discussion and the mention of Jack who is still at the vets, Robert suggests that we should stay and see Jack when he comes back from the vet tomorrow.

Poor Jack, you may remember us mention that we took him to the vet on Saturday morning, well the story goes on he was not just dehydrated, it turns out that he has an enlarged prostate, so poor Jack goes under the knife tomorrow to be castrated. Jack is probably thinking he is having a nice holiday, being fed and no work, but tomorrow morning, crunch!

All being well, Jack will be collected from the vet tomorrow afternoon, Andy and I would both like to see him before we head off, we seem to have built up some affection for Jacks predicament and of course we do love the other dogs too. So the decision made, Andy heads back out this afternoon with Geoff to finish the feeding.

This decision also based on what is happening in Victoria, although we expect still to head to Tasmania through Melbourne, we are now faced with which way to go and how we can avoid the areas devastated by fire and the areas that are currently burning, not to mention that we wanted to stay in one of the National Parks just South West of Canberra (around Thredbo), however that just puts us into a high risk area. So we will think very carefully about our next move.

In the meantime I am speaking to Jenni, Janet’s daughter about the costs for the ferry crossing to Tasmania. Others tell me that the crossing is not cheap and it can be fairly rough.

Andy gets back at about ten to four, collects me and Helen then Andy drives the Isuzu truck to the garage at Illbow, it needs its maintenance check for registration (similar to UK MOT but does not take quite as long). We stop for an ice-lolly at the local pub on the way back; well the pub is also the shop and the post office.

Back at the ranch, following discussion on the lawn, Helen gets the sit on lawn mower out of the garage, before I know it I can see a Cheshire Cat sitting on it grinning, no not Helen but Andy. Well a boyhood dream has been answered today, Andy has always wanted a sit on mower, but with the postage stamp size lawns we had in England, there was no point. So the next best thing is for Andy to mow Helen and Robert’s lawn.

Up and down he went, each pass with a grin bigger than the last. Finally on the front lawn, Helen grabs a bottle of Australian Chardonnay and we both sit on the veranda sipping wine watching Andy mow. What bliss! Andy was in his element and so were we.

We noticed that Andy had missed a bit but he failed to see us point it out to him and before long he stopped the mower near us. Robert too appeared and grabbed a couple of beers, one of which Andy had while sitting in the mower, the mower had a handy place to put the bottle too. By now I really felt that one glass of chardonnay had gone to my head, but Helen had refilled my glass so of course I had to drink it.

I noticed that the landscape was changing with the light you could see different things. The mountain in the distance was only barely visible from the smoke that was still lingering.

Jason turned up, he was staying for dinner so he joined in and we sat on the veranda for ages talking and laughing and basically enjoying the cooler temperature. Andy decided he should finish the lawn and put the mower away. He motored off and went to the patch that he missed, but Andy also missed the fact that we were all laughing hysterically, he forgot to lower the blades so he was going over the lawn without cutting it. Helen corrected him, the lawn was finished and the mower was away.

Everyone disappeared for a shower before dinner, so I thought I would shower too.

Back in the cool comfort of the kitchen we sat and ate lasagne, discussed poor Jack’s predicament and then at 11.00 we all retired.

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Photos

Andy & Helen
Helen giving Andy a cheese biscuit

Boyhood Dream
Andy rding tHelens sit on mower, that she had as a christmas present.

The Lawn
Woodstock Lawn

The Sun
The smoke filters out the sun and gives it a strange colour

Toby
Gorgeous Toby

Wally
Dear old Wally we Love him, he's a great working dog.

Tiny and Trixie
To much mischief