Violet Town

Big day today… we settled on our new 36 acre get away block in Violet Town.

Settlement was at the Benalla NAB this afternoon, but my solicitor advised that she couldn’t make it up there and would have to hire another local solicitor to attend on her behalf… to me it just sounded like more expense so I offered to attend the settlement myself.

Of course this was also an excuse to revisit the block (gotta come up with a new name!) and it didn’t take a lot of convincing for me to volunteer to go! I also saw an opportunity to take the quad bike up to the block and leave it there so it is ready for our first camping visit this weekend 😀

So 11am this morning saw me pointing the car with the quad bike on the trailer behind me north towards Benalla. I made reasonably good time, although it still miffs me that it can take almost an hour to get onto the Hume!! Hate having to wind our way through Bulleen, Heidelburg and onto the Greensborough bypass… Seriously, how can this take almost an hour out of a two hour trip???

Anyway, made good time and was well ahead of my 2:30pm schedule when I was coming up on Violet Town. Had some spare time to kill, so I made a quick detour to visit the block one last time before settlement. Still had to jump the fence as I didn’t yet have the key, but that was no biggy… done it a few times now 😉

My first surprise when I got to the block was just how green it was. Seems Violet Town had experienced a bit of rain in the last few weeks, and green shoots could be seen among the brown grass… “Great” I thought to myself “Guess that means I’ll have to mow before too long!!”

I went for a quick (30 minute) walk around the block but realized too late that I had left my phone in the car… so I couldn’t take any pictures… Oh well, I was coming back after settlement anyway!

As I mentioned, there was a hint of green through the brown grass, more water in the dams than I remembered and some of the deeper parts of the creek actually had water in them!! Not flowing, but water none the less.

The pile of rubbish was there, but I had long since decided that I would simply have a great bonfire come winter. I did a quick lap around the block before jumping in the car and heading to Benalla. Pretty much as it was last time I had visited!

Was just before 2pm when I arrived, and I easily found the local NAB branch. Problem was all the parks around the streets were 45 degree parking and I had the trailer on the back! Luckily I found a local park just down the road and was able to drive through two car parks. I was a little concerned about leaving the quad bike on the trailer, so I used my chain lock to lock the frame of the bike to the trailer then used a spare padlock to lock the trailer to the car! Was going nowhere now, so I left it and wandered up the street to the NAB.

Typical for me, I was about 30 minutes early, so I spent 20 minutes grabbing a sandwich in a café down the road before heading back to the branch.

Now I have never been to a settlement before so really had no idea what to expect beyond my solicitor telling me what documents I should receive. I wandered in and announced myself to the teller who said to just wait in the chairs nearby.

Wasn’t long before a young lady came through the door carrying a folder and looking around, she glanced at me and obviously dismissed me sitting there in my shorts and T-shirt before heading to the teller who pointed her in my direction. She approached with trepidation and I asked “Are you here for the settlement? I’m Craig” with my hand extended.

She stammered “Oh… err… Craig? Oh… Oh Morton…. your THE Mr Morton??”

“Yep” I laughed, guess I was not what she was expecting!!

Anyway, the teller who obviously knew who she was (country town and all) took us into a room off to the side where we exchanged some paperwork, they handed over the tittle (don’t get to see them often… the bank usually holds onto them) and I handed over some cheques. I then signed a bit of paper and whoosh, I was out the door and heading for the real estate agent to get the keys! All pretty easy really and the other solicitor was great patiently taking me through the process.

The real estate agent was across the road and I finally got to meet Terry who I had only ever met over the phone. I explained that I had been to settlement and it was all done, so could I pick up the key.

He mentioned that the rubbish hadn’t been burnt, but I said “No problem I’ll just have a bon fire in winter”. He then said “Now, that pile of wood there… that is actually mine!” and went on to explain how he had bought it but didn’t have anywhere to store it so had dumped it on the block!

“How cheeky” I thought as I said “No problem just let me know when you want to pick it up!” Guess things work differently in the country! He did say I could use some of it if I wanted to have a fire in winter… some… pfft… he obviously hadn’t seen one of my all night burners!!! LOL

Anyway, I got the key and raced back to the car (quad bike was still there 🙂 ) and pointed straight back to Violet Town. There was nothing like that moment as I inserted the key into the lock, snipped the padlock and let the chain fall to the ground before driving through the gate pausing only long enough to cut the real estate sign off the fence… hey the place is not for sale anymore and I don’t want to invite people in to wander around!

I drove straight up to the back of the block, put the ramps on the trailer, fired up the quaddie and off I went to explore. I probably had a good 30 minutes up my sleeve and it was amazing how much more of the block I was able to cover on the quad bike. I explored sections I hadn’t been to on foot yet!

This time I managed to take a couple of pictures, although only two as I was on the clock having to get back for School Council tonight. One of course was a shot of the quad bike, and the other a shot of the creek just to prove there is water in it!!

There is a little bit of green in these pictures, but I really should have got a shot of the field where you can really appreciate it… unfortunately as I said, I was on a schedule!

I quickly rigged up a brown shade cloth between the trees at the back of the property, chained the quad bike to the trees and covered it with a tarp. Is going nowhere and with the tree cover and my cameo effort there is no way it can be spotted from the road so it should be safe until we return next weekend to camp.

I drove out the front gate snipping the chain back into place with a brand new padlock. As I drove away I thought to myself with a chuckle… “Hope Terry didn’t think he could make a copy of the key and head out there without my knowing!!”

I could almost see his face as he arrived to find the gate locked with a new padlock!!!!

ROFL

Sadly, I wasn’t able to spend anymore time there as I had to race back to Melbourne, and with a pile up on the freeway I only just made it back for School Council!! I really cut it fine with only minutes to spare.

Oh well, just got to get through the next few days of work before our first trip begins… we will spend a few days camping in the caravan and as it is school holidays might even spend a few extra days so we can really get the feel for the place.

Can’t wait to have a camp fire, try catching yabbies’ in the dam (will stock it if we can’t), watch the dogs run like mad with so much new space to explore, the kids can ride their bikes with out fear of cars and of course I can zoom around on the quad bike 🙂

Our NEW adventures are only just beginning!!