Merry Christmas

First of all a very Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope you all survived another Xmas with plenty of food, drink and cheer.

Wer had a great Christmas day at home with the Morton’s side for lunch. Fiona really out did herself this year cooking up an awesome feast including Lamb on the spit, Pork Belly and a bit of roast pork with lots of different salad dishes as well. Really enjoying the new found love of cooking 🙂

Was during lunch, I joked to David that as a mechanic he should be able to fix my generator for me… well he took it as a challenge and guess what…. he did!!! Fantastic!!! Turned out it was a poorly designed inline fuse with a wire that was too tight, so it had vibrated away from the fuse. Reconnected the two and ta-da!! The generator was humming away again. Glad I hadn’t paid the $350 it was going to cost me to send it back up to NSW!!

Good thing too, as when we got up here Boxing day, the battery in the van was absolutely Kaput! Would have been a very short trip without the generator!!

Anyway, as you have probably guessed by now (because I just mentioned it) we are back up here at Little Duna.

Was a slow start Boxing Day, thankfully the head wasn’t sore, but I had to go get the trailer from Kim and Anthony’s so we could lug the generator up. Was a pretty full load we had too, as the van was already up here, anything we wanted to bring had to come in the car. In the end we had the trailer full, the roof top bag on the roof rack full of our clothes and bedding, as much food as we could think to take on the floor beneath the kids feet, and the dogs in the back. Took the best part of the day to pack and we were on the road by about 3:30pm.

Was an easy trip up, not that much traffic on the road, and no trucks given it was Boxing day. We took our time and arrived in Violet Town about 5:30pm. Now Fi and the kids hadn’t seen the shed yet, so as I came up the drive I said “Here look at that good looking shed…” then “What the hell???”

One of the roller doors was wide open. I parked the car and leapt out to investigate…. Luckily the quad bike was still exactly where I had left it, and even the rubbish I had left around it hadn’t moved. In fact it looked exactly as it did the day I drove out last time, with a good coat of dust, leaves and cob webs. No idea how long the door had been up, as I was sure I had locked it when I left, but maybe I hadn’t latched it properly and the wild winds were enough to shake it open. The doors are spring loaded, so without the catch they will shoot straight open. Very strange, but not much we can do beyond making really sure they are closed properly before we leave this time.

The good news though is that the kids love the shed. It has already become a place to hang out, and the girls are using it for all the arts and craft they received over Xmas.

The place is tinder dry at the moment, although it does resemble what it looked like when we first saw the place. While the grass is long in the field, it is not too bad and actually looks worse than it is, although I wouldn’t want to be here if a fire came through. What we have seen is an absolute plague of rabbits! They are everywhere, and last night as we were having our dinner, Fi and Zac spotted a fix in the distance. Kush being the tough dog he is went off to investigate, so I had to follow on the quad bike to make sure the fox bolted. Ruby would be ok, but I think little Kushi as tough as he is would end up a tasty meal for a fox!

We caught up with Jan last night and finally met her partner John as they were out watering the plants around the dam. They told us that there was a rabbit plague at the moment and invited me to shoot as many as I can… including on her property!! Unfortunately though Jess wasn’t so keen on the idea, so that might have to be something for a trip without the kids! She also said the fox which I think was the same one I spotted last time was living around her creek bed, and I was welcome to remove him as well!

Anyway, yesterday was spent exploring the block and relaxing. The dams are down even further than last time, but not as empty as I have seen them at the end of summer. In the front dam I found a yabby net. Not sure where it had come from as it wasn’t there earlier, although it did look like it had been sitting in the water for awhile. It has either been so deep we never spotted it before, or maybe one of the locals were trying their luck in the dam? Either way, it is n=mine now 🙂 Might load it up with some meat and give it a go myself, you just never know!

After lunch yesterday, we took a trip into Benalla for some supplies from Coles. While Fi went shopping, I took the kids and dogs for a walk through the Botanical Gardens by the river. Was a lovely walk and we saw lots of different ducks and bird life along the river. Unfortunately, it was as Fi drove away that I realised that the camera was still in the car, so I wasn’t able to get any photos 🙁

Still we had a great time even though it was very hot. The days here are warm with the mercury sitting around 30, although as soon as that sun drops so does the temperature, so we are still lighting a fire for warmth each night (after checking the fire restrictions of course!!). Just need to make sure it is well and truly out before we retire for bed.

Anyway, I feel like I have jumped around all over the place writing this… must be hungry, so I might go and see if I can convince Fi to get out of bed and cook some breakfast again as she did yesterday.

Last minute addition, as I was about to post, Fi sent me some of the photos from her new camera, which I will add below.