I think I might actually be back online. Last night I was hanging off the peak of our roof helping my partner in crime and life attach an antenna so we could receive more than one bar (reception wise). So now we have two bars and that, it seems, is all we need to receive good reception. Though of course my partner in crime and life wants to eventually make it much taller, not sure why, guess it is man thing, everything must be bigger, faster, taller, smaller.


We look like the Beverly Hillbilly's at the moment. You know when they are in their truck, piled high with trunks and furniture and Granny sitting in her chair on the top. Well, that is our house at the moment (without Granny) and today it is worse because the shipping container we ordered arrives today so we had to empty the other one so it can be moved. So lots of things piled up on the veranda and out the back and my partner in crime and life isn't sure why we bother to lock up as there is so much outside.


Our other house is slowly getting tidied up, we have decided to rent it rather than try and sell it. It is still taking longer than we hoped to get organised with it all and my partner in crime and life is working very hard to get it done, we are finding it a bit hard trying to stay on top of everything, get that place done, get things done here running up and down the mountain to do the school run while the bus is off the road (couldn't have happened at a worse time for us with everything going on)and do the regular stuff like washing and cooking. However, when it is all finished with it will be worth it and we will be able to get on with things like gardens and stuff and just being here.


We have finally put away the camping chairs, we now have a lounge to sit on but can barely cook in the kitchen as there is so much in there and we have to look through twenty cupboards before we find that thing we are looking for. I guess it will get organised in time, and hope no-one wants to visit too soon as not sure where the tea is :)

But the sunsets are worth it, and so are the sunrises with the flock of white cockatoos that we disturb when we walk past. This is what we have always wanted and when we have done the initial hard yards we can really enjoy being here :)

Well, I finally have a washing machine and don’t have to work as hard as a pioneer woman. They must have had it hard, and no wonder they only washed once a week, and yes it would have taken all day. I have been washing by hand for only about three or so weeks and all I can say is thank goodness for modern technology that has given us electricity, running water, computers, the telephone, toasters, temperature controlled ovens, and of course washing machines :)

We still don’t have the Internet connected but it has been promised that it is on the way….. I really miss the Internet. So a blog about once a week is all I can get on (hopefully that will change soon) but my partner in crime and life told me to keep writing anyway so I will, then I may post them all at once :)

We are still moving up here and another big push this weekend is on the way with us again hiring a truck to bring (hopefully) the rest of the furniture. We are living around boxes and stuff piled up till it gets here and hopefully with a bit of decluttering it will all fit.


We have now ordered our new water tank and have discovered that the current tank isn’t as big as we were led to believe. It is a 5,000 gallon (23,700 L approx) tank, not a 30,000 L tank (6,500 gallon approx.) that we were told, but that is OK, another one the same size is on the way. We are going to connect them and I expect them to be full at the end of the wet (actually well before that). We had to move a big pile of rocks were the new tank will go, and our number one and only son must have been thinking he might have to call the someone about child labor laws, but he survived. We are still yet to level the area but we have a couple of weeks before it arrives to get the area ready.


We have built ourselves an outdoor shower. Yes, we can now stand in the buff next to the dam and clean all that dirt and grass and sweat and grime off under a cold bore water shower. I think it is a very pretty shower, and we have decided that it is one of the many luxuries we have here. After mowing, moving piles of rocks, brush-cutting we are very dirty and hot (in a clean way for those whose minds tend to run away from them) and stripping off and getting clean is great (and we don’t have to drop grass and dirt though our shouse).



A shouse is what we are living in, part shed, part house and the word was created by a very smart eight year old who visited up here just before the move. I quite like the word and am sticking to it.

I Am Still Here

Well, I am having Internet withdrawal symptoms. Our number one son and myself and now permanently residing on our new plot of land and we still have no Internet. I feel so isolated, I can't read the news, I can't read my sites that I go to daily and I can't write my blog. I am on another computer just to try and catch up while we are waiting to have wireless Internet connected in a rural area GGRRRR I guess some things were not meant to be easy, and those are the things we really want so I suppose they are worth the hard yards.

I can't post any photos yet but am taking quite a few, though not sure if I will post one of myself in my new gum boots, old faded shorts, old holey straw hat and our new brush-cutter that I am using to cut a path to the creek and scare away the snakes. I think just my look would be enough without the very loud sound of a power tool.

We are enjoying it up there and don't seem to want to come to town, it is quiet and much cooler. We have met our neighbours and both seem good, one even invited us over for a few drinks on the weekend and we met all the family, they have kids the same age as our number one and only son and there are a few other floating around.

I started back Tai Chi classes today and it was great to catch up with everyone, I am dropping one class and will only do that one once a month and they will practice without me on the other weeks. I felt bad doing this but it is the practical thing to do and I will still continue with the other class. I plan on inviting my Tai Chi friends up when the dry comes and I am a little more organised (mainly with more chairs).

Well must go, I have school kids to pick up and take home, would you believe it, after only three days at school the school bus is taken off the road for two weeks to have work done. We are now sharing the school run with another dad and the bus driver has promised us a discount on our bus fare.

So much for only coming into town once a week, the best laid plans and all that, oh well......

Hopefully we will get the Internet soon so I can get back into my blog, I haven't really gone away, just hovering around and waiting, I hope it is not too difficult :)

Our number one and only son has made it back from Sydney without incident and he had a pretty good time. His only regret about coming home is it means that the holidays are coming to an end... my heart is breaking... not :)

So packing can begin in earnest now, with only a week before school begins we have to be mostly up there in our shed as that is where our number one and only son will be catching the bus from. I have all the school stuff (I think) except for shoes and must pick up his textbooks on Monday. I think that is all that is on the list.


I also must hurry and decide where to put my hammock, it is a very important decision and one that must be made carefully. Where-ever it initially goes, it will probably have to come back down when we finish off the veranda, each side will be extended across the entire front.

We will also be putting up an extra room/shed for our number one and only son as his bedroom (which I am sure he will love being a nearly teenager) with a tank off it. The tank will be a bit smaller than the other one and have a tap on it for use outside use, may as well catch that water too. The house will be put on hold for the time being till we can agree on what we actually want.


Another large rainwater tank will be put at the back of the main shed to catch the water from the veranda (when it is done), you can never have too much water and why let it fall to the ground and be wasted? I read somewhere that we already have a free catchment area and just need the tank for storage, the area is the roof, and it catches an incredible amount of water. For every 1mm of rain on 1 square metre of roof catches you 1 litre of water, you could catch a lot of water :)

Well, better go and do some serious packing so we can take another trailer load up tomorrow before the big push on the weekend. So much to do and so much fun to be had :) I think :)

We have now become part of a culture that mows the lawn on a Sunday. Never really thought we fit in with that group but here we are, part of group that live on "lifestyle" blocks and have to get out the ride-on mowers to mow our many acres.


There was the quiet buzz all around of ride-on mowers over the weekend and if you went and had a look (though you could count them from the direction the sound was coming from) you would see in the distance (and the not so distant) little people sitting on their mowers going around and around.


I quite enjoyed the riding around, around, it was very Zen. Didn't have to think about anything, and I think it was the first time in days that my mind was empty and not racing, thinking about the million things that need doing. However, when I did get a bit tired of going in clockwise circles (clockwise because the grass got thrown out to the left and you didn't want to re-mow the already cut grass according to the instructions from my partner in crime and life), I made a crop circle :)


I can now actually get to the fruit trees without getting itchy legs, and it does kind of look like a little orchard, just needing some TLC, I hope that is all it needs anyway. Speaking of gardens (of sorts), I think I have decided to start with straw bale gardens while I am getting the actual garden ready. This means that I can start straight away with not much work while I get the soil ready in the real garden. The ground is made up of clay and not much else, which is why the fruit trees are so sad, so I am going to make raised garden beds for the veges, with a couple of small fruit trees around the edge, I think..... unless I change my mind :) so much choice.


My clothesline is now this tiny little thing, a bit weird in my opinion, but at least we can hang a couple of things. We are going to put up a new big one, however we can't agree on the design of it, I want one (or three) of those old fashioned single line ones that you prop up with a pole. It is quite simple really but is becoming difficult, the perfectionist in the family wants exact measurements, and plans, and the hows and whys, so I think I might just go to Bunnings and get a Hills-hoist and be done with it. The only thing that needs to be done then is to dig a hole, fill it with cement and stick it in.


Speaking of digging holes and filling it with cement and sticking a pole in it, we now have a letterbox. So if anyone actually knew our address, they could write us a letter. Of course we had to get a big one, no little tiny letterbox for us, we had never bought one before so this was our first. We had no idea how many different letterboxes there are out there. In the end we went for one that could fit in the large size envelopes we seem to get a lot of these days, and would keep the rain out. Who knew a letterbox could be so exciting? :)