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Published: March 23rd 2014
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Genoa - Derelict Homestead
This property was once someone's pride and joy. It now sits at the edge of a modern driveway to the newer house. Maybe it has been kept because it is family history. We had a sleep in today, which was nice. The weather started overcast and cool but OK. We had another chat with Martin and invited him in to see our place (turnabout is fair play!). Turns out he was originally from Holland and then grew up in Germany before coming to Australia when he was 18 years old. We compared experiences about acquiring English as a second language (or third in his case), his from the learner and mine from the teacher perspectives. He left soon afterwards and headed north, with his little black cat sitting on a specially constructed ledge behind him. Maybe we’ll bump into him again – he’s certainly easy to spot!
In the afternoon, we went for stroll up the lane looking for the Bellbirds (actually called Bell Miners) that we had been hearing pinging all morning. They are very hard to spot and even harder to photograph (I didn’t manage it) because they are never still, often sit up high and blend in to the leaves they hide in. We also didn’t realise at first that we were seeing them because they also make a little chirrup noise. It wasn’t until Barry saw one chirrup
and then give a huge ping that we knew it was the same bird!
There were also lots of Superb Fairy Wrens scampering about. One immature male, still with a few brown feathers amongst the blue on his head, came right up to Barry’s feet looking for insects and didn’t even seem to notice him standing there (stationary, of course). I still didn’t get a picture as I was worried that the movement of getting the camera ready would scare him off. “One for the memory”, as Barry keeps saying to me. We spotted some small finches with red beaks, too, but couldn’t get a good enough look to identify them.
We then headed back the other way and crossed an old truss bridge that had once been where the main road went. A newer, stronger bridge was built alongside and it became a pedestrian one instead. It joined the camp site, across to the township of Genoa. Actually, that is somewhat of an exaggeration – it had one cafe, which was closed and up for sale; one general store, also gone; and the Genoa Hotel/motel/pub, which was looking run down and sad, that also had the licence
"I'm not going any further"
This lovely old photo was on the wall of the Genoa Hotel. and served as the local Post Office. We could see a few houses up the next street but that was it. It was a dying town – sad to see.
We went into the pub and had a Lemon, lime and bitters each and got chatting to the owner, a lady originally from Vancouver. She lived in Genoa and said she didn’t think the town would last much longer. The local community was obviously trying to keep spirits up, though, as they had a whiteboard with an Aussie Rules Football League Table on it. Up on a shelf was a line of hand knitted snowmen, each wearing a woollen hat and scarf with one of the team’s colours. They had been made by a local lady and, during the season, they would be lined up in the order of their team’s position on the table each week so the locals only had to look to see who was doing well. Evidently a lot of the locals barrack for Essendon, don’t know why, so part of another shelf had Essendon memorabilia on it.
The pub wall was covered in really old photos of the area, showing some of the
history. One from about the 1930s caught our attention and made us really laugh. There was a horse that had been pulling a cart, and had decided it’d gone far enough so sat down on its haunches, still between the cart poles and harness. Standing in front was a man looking very frustrated and perplexed, and leaning casually on the cart, was another man who’d given up and was just waiting for the animal to change its mind. “I’m not going any further and you can’t make me!” was clearly the message!
While we were walking back to the van, a few big drops of rain fell. We had timed our departure well and didn’t get wet. I started to make a meal and Barry went outside to do something underneath the van. We’d heard some distant thunder, but suddenly I saw a bright flash and there was the most almighty crash directly overhead. It gave Barry a fright, because he hadn’t seen the flash. He popped his head through the door, “Did you hear that?”
Duh – yes dear I’m not deaf! His face gave me a laugh, though!
We had a little more thunder and then some heavy rain drops but it wasn’t bad and didn’t last long. I was more concerned with the wind that had come up as we were parked between two large eucalypts and there were signs around the park warning that the trees drop branches (which we knew – eucalypts are prone to it and the branches can weigh tonnes. Not good for cars or vans!) Barry felt we were not directly under any limbs and should be OK – I wasn’t so sure.
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Snap Shot Stacey
Snap Shot Stacey
Love it
Great pic! Poor animal.