Met the Neighbour and Lake Duna

Well we woke yesterday to a drab and dreary day. Was very overcast and not really inspiring to do all that much really.

The dogs were spooked all night, especially Kushi who kept running over to the neighbours block barking. We just couldn’t figure out what it was that had him so spooked, and when I found him merrily wandering into the neighbours paddock, we decided it was time to chain him up where he stayed for most of the day!

Was while we were having breakfast that Fiona spotted movement around the Dam next door, so I wondered over to say “Hello”. So our neighbour is Jan  who lives by herself next door, but has a partner John who has a property about 10kms north of here. Jan seemed quite nice, she told me she was a bit of a conservationist and had put a covenant on her property as she was developing it as a bit of a nature reserve. Apparently there are a number of lovely native flowers that bloom in the area, and she mentioned we would get them on our property too as the seeds are blown in by the wind.

We chatted a little about the area, the town, what we are going to do with our block etc before swapping mobiles. She offered to keep an eye on the place while we weren’t around.

One thing she did mention is that the previous owner, who had run cattle on the property hadn’t done us any favours with his tractor, and she said the property would be very wet when it rained… something we have discovered today!

I mentioned that we would only be up here as long as our water lasted, and she said there maybe a tap in town where we could get more water, so we took a drive into town to have a look around. Couldn’t find any tap, but we did have a good look around, driving up and down a lot of the streets for a sticky beak. We also visited the local IGA where the kids all bought caps and cap guns. The girls selected a police gun that also came with handcuffs, and naughty mum was chained to the caravan later that day.

The cap guns turned out to not be such a great idea, as Ruby is easily spooked by loud bangs, and she bolted, refusing to come near us again for a long time. Started to get worried we may need to chain her to the van too!!

We also finally found out what was spooking the dogs so much as a grey horse came running through the paddock behind us letting a huge neigh out to send the dogs barking and growling. Even had to chain Ruby up in the end or she would have chased the horse too!

Later in the afternoon, we setup our badminton set, complete with the lines of a court spray painted onto the ground. Was great and Zac and I managed to get one game in before the rain started 🙁 Our dreary day was turning worse.

Still managed to get a fire going though and the rain wasn’t too bad, so once again we were able to sit out around the fire all night. Even let the dogs off their chains so they could come and warm themselves by the fire.

This morning however, we woke to rain, rain and more rain 🙁

Was a crappy morning and too wet for the kids to play outside. I let the dogs off their chains for a bit, but naughty little Kushi decided he wanted a closer look at that horse. Kushi ran under the fence and right out across the neighbours property, some 200-300m in the distance. The horse was a bit spooked this time and we were a bit worried that Kushi would end up being stomped!

The whole family was out standing in the rain calling for Kushi, but in true Kushi stubbiness he just plonked himself down and watched the horse all the time ignoring our pleas to come back. Eventually we managed to get him back, and he was quickly re-chained up. Not sure he will be coming off that chain again anytime soon!!

This afternoon, we chained up the dogs and went for a drive into Shepparton to talk sheds. While we haven’t signed anything up just yet, we did manage to talk to one company who gave us a lot of good ideas to think through.

It rained the whole time we were gone, and when we returned 3 hours later we realised we might need to rename the place Lake Duna!! Incredible just how much water was around the land and with the rain not easing we may get flooded before morning!!!

I think we should be ok and hopefully the dogs will be ok chained up outside the van. Checked the forecast for the next few days, and looks like we are in for more rain, so we have made the decision that in the morning we will packup and head home. No point being up here if the place is covered in water!!! Will try to get a decent picture or two in the morning to show what it looks like, I’m sure I will need one last ride on the quad bike before we go!!

Have fun, and whoever is doing that rain dance…. can you please stop now??