Week 3... from the heart of Aus

Over the last week I have sampled yet more delights straight from the heart of Australia…

This is one of those nights where I just can’t sleep. Not for neither love nor money so I thought I may as well make use of the time and write my blog. Besides my erratic sleeping patterns life on the farm is just grand and I’m having a fantastic time. Today we named the latest addition, the little kelpie pup ‘biscuit’. She’s a spirited little soul who courageously barks and growls at the other farm dogs like she’s 10 times her size, well until one of them playfully bowls her over then she lets out a frightened little yelp and runs for cover.

I am told we have had the most rain in 20 years this last week, typical eh, I leave the UK winter and head down under for a second summer and it appears I have taken the bad weather with me. Mid week we had an almighty thunder storm which was closely tailed by a black out. The lights were out for a good few hours in the evening so we played a game of candle lit monopoly, how romantic, ahh. When thunder storms strike there is always a quick dash around the house unplugging all the electrical items as the farm is sat on an old  volcanic site and the electrical charge passes underground through the volcanic rock like a conductor and surges through the power sockets making light work of exploding TV’s and PC’s.

Adam and I went over to Sydney on Friday, till Monday to stay with Adam’s sister who lives on the North Shore which is a delightful area. On Saturday (26^th Nov) we caught the train into the city centre, I was rather impressed with the ‘double decker’ trains, I’ve never seen a two storey train before. England might well take a leaf!

We started our day off from the Darling Harbour (which houses the Sydney Aquarium) and followed the meandering shoreline around to Millers Point, Dawes Point (the Harbour Bridge goes from here across the river to Milsons Point), The Rocks, Circle Quay and finally to Sydney Harbour, along the way absorbing the phenomenal views of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Walking the coastline, as we did, meant that we could survey the spectacular architecture from every angle.  We made our way back along the harbour after a final ‘up close and personal’ inspection of the Opera House back to an area called ‘The Rocks’. This section of the harbour is a bustling warren of market stalls, shops, art galleries and museums. The Rocks streets are bursting full of history about its Aboriginal past right through to present day. The numerous galleries boast an impressive selection of authentic traditional and contemporary Aboriginal artworks and the market area seemed to entertain traders from around the globe, who were displaying a vast array of trinkets so suit every personality.

On Sunday (27^th Nov) Adam and I headed over to Manly Beach for the day. I’m a typical ‘sun seeking brit’ and the minute it pokes its head out, I’m in it. Carefully lathered up in cream though, as I’m well educated on the potency of the Aussie rays. The Beach itself is beautiful and very well kept. It was very enjoyable to spend the day there soaking up the sun and wandering around the surf shops on the Corso. For me though, although I had a really really lovely day, next time I’ll be heading off the beaten track to locate a secluded cove somewhere as despite Manly’s charm it is a little too touristy for my liking. It was however, a lot of fun watching all the surfers and the local surf school had a huge pack of novices out learning to ride the punchy barrels.

Monday (28^th Nov) evening, Adam and I went out at 9pm armed with a high amp lamp to ‘spot’ the local nocturnal wildlife. We didn’t have to venture to far from the farm to a large area of pine forestry to find what we were looking for. Almost immediately after turning down a dust track we had an adult wombat run across the way into shelter from the opposing trees. We saw a total of 11 wombats, including a Jill and Joey (mother and baby) duo. I did manage to gain some video footage of one of the wombats foraging and short as it is due to the wombat’s camera shy nature, it is uber cool! When I get a decent internet connection I will try and upload it. We also got to see 2 ring tailed possums and a black tailed possum. These are the cutest little creatures! Their forefeet are structured like little human hands and built for climbing. The wildlife here is truly amazing are there are so many species to observe; it’s fascinating.

This week, Tuesday (29^th Nov), I learnt to ride one of the bigger 250cc farm bikes and Adam took me on a jaunt across the farms rolling 4,500 acre landscapes, which was a complete barrel of laughs. I did, quite spectacularly manage to stall the bike whilst trying to change down gear going uphill, it seems I went in the wrong direction with the gears, stalled and then had to wait for Adam to see I was missing from the expedition, to come and rescue me.  While we were out we saw a large full grown blue tongued lizard or skink I think is the correct term. We managed to catch him to take a closer look, it was a bit of a ‘crikey’ Steve Irwin moment. We let him go straight after and the blue tongue slinked off across the field, its movement pattern is much like a snakes. My initial ‘wow look at that’ when I spotted the skink made Adam jump a mile as he thought I had spotted a snake… poor chap hehehe! I shouldn’t mock though as I’m sure when I come across an aggressive brown snake which is trying to fling itself at me, I’ll be running to my mom.

Much love to all my family and friends back home… xxx