Where on Earth is Mockinya?

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Half way between Brimpaen and Wonwondah!

From Portland we took the Henty Highway to travel to Mockinya which is 30km south of Horsham. Our friends Lockie and Tracey have lived at Rosebank, Mockinya for 15 years. We stayed with them exactly 3 years ago and had a lovely Christmas with them. This year we intended to travel to Adelaide for Christmas, so a stopover with these wonderful friends was a definite must.

Once we got there, Lockie put us to work. The first job was to resurrect the small tank stand.

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Photos

The tank stand had to be replaced
A new stand had to be transported from way down in the back paddock. Thank goodness for the tractor.

Up goes the tank
Yes that looks good.

ooops!
It fell down.

OK let's try that again.
We'll try a different way this time.

Peter was volunteered
Someone had to get inside the tank to push out the dent that the machinery had made. "It's hot in there!"

This is looking good.
Yes, that should work!

Ooops! That wasn't supposed to happen.
This time major damage occurred. The dunny door was broken!

The Conference
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Who's going to operate the machinery?"

Now THAT"S the way to do it!
Third time lucky!

Sheep yards need to be removed
If we had some rain the ground would be softer and they would slip out more easily.

Some of the friendly locals
Lockie and Tracey encourage birds to come to their garden

Peter's birthday
We celebrated grandly with lasagne for dinner and pavlova for dessert/birthday cake.

Yabby Time!
Time to cast some nets in a few dams on friends' property.

To fill in time waiting for the yabbies
Time for a spot of sheep loading. We arrived at friends' property just as the sheep truck arrived, so it was all hands on deck to get them loaded.

Now for a bit of fencing!
Lockie had the Red Gum already milled and the holes were dug. It was still hard work, but very rewarding.

Halfway there...
time for lunch

The finished product
It sure makes a difference...but it doesn't keep next-doors' sheep out of the veggie garden

Same afternoon
"just give us a hand to load these railway sleepers, would you mind?"

Christmas in Adelaide
We spent 10 lovely days over Christmas with Tim, Georgie and the kids.

The Grampians
New Years day tradition is to drive to Halls Gap in the MX5's for brunch and ice-cream and then do a spot of sightseeing on the way home.