Living Our Adventures

Just another day

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Craig

Today was just another day. I awoke again to the tranquil sounds of birds, but while it was late (*cough* 9am *cough*), there was little incentive to get out of bed as I could tell it was a miserable overcast day.

I had heard a brief shower go over about 6am and today was forecasting a few showers. It was a little cold, so I chose to roll over and go back to sleep. I finally dragged myself out of bed and as I wandered outside I was joined by the girls around the remains of a still warm smouldering fire pit when the most amazing thing happened…. the sun came out!

Here I was all rugged up and suddenly it was hot! Wouldn’t you believe it, we had an amazing day with lots of sunshine and it was about 23 degrees!! I was in shorts and a T-Shirt for most of the day!!!

There was no time to sit around this morning, I had a job to do…. dig a toilet pit!! I grabbed the post hole digger and headed over to the trees… Oops just remembered I was supposed to take a photo 🙁 maybe tomorrow before we pickup….. if I remember.

So it wasn’t long and I had two nice holes dug in the clay. So much easier than digging with the shovel, even if I had to dig two holes compared to one larger one with the shovel, it was much easier going and probably took half the time!

Job was soon done, but I was all hot and sweaty in the sun by the time I was finished. A quick shower in the van and we headed off to Benalla. Zac and I are desperate for haircuts. One of the problems with being up here the last few weekends, we haven’t had time for the normal chores…ahh the sacrifices we make.

Unfortunately was about 1pm by the time we got to Benalla, and while that would have been ok yesterday, today most of the shops, including every hairdresser in town, was closed. Fi still managed to get new shoes for the girls (who somehow keep coming back from the dam with wet muddy shoes), and I grabbed a few quick bits from the hardware store to do some fencing.

We also visited the pet shop to get Kushi some drops to wash his eyes out (had a gunky eye this morning) and due to overwhelming pressure, Ruby got a nice new coat!

While I think she is thankful for it, she wasn’t so good at posing for a photo!

By the time we got back to Little Duna, the day was getting on, so it was time to collect firewood. Using the quad bike, I managed to drag some good sized tree roots and logs back to camp while the rest of the family collected kindling to get the fire going. There was still enough heat in the coals and a little bit of bark and breath later we had a good fire going.

While I was out collecting fire, I paused around the second dam and took the photo below with the late afternoon sun behind me. I like the way to turned out. I had just taken the photo when I had that feeling of being watched and looked up to find about 30-40 sheep in the paddock beside me all standing dead still and staring at me! Was a little creepy, so I clapped as loud as I could and the sound of the CRACK sent them running… hehe 🙂

Back at camp we finally had a good fire going. I have a couple of all night burners on there, so we have plenty of heat to keep us warm as the sun slipped below the horizon and night set in.

As the sun was setting and Fi was cooking tea, Jess and I spent 30 mins putting some chicken wire along the fence behind the caravan in an attempt to keep Kushi out of the neighbours place. Was a good run of about 50m (thanks previous owner for leaving me so much chicken wire) but I think I will have to run some more next time we are up here as Kushi wasn’t phased and just followed it south until he found where it ended… grr… ratbag dog is going to find himself chained up forever if he doesn’t state behaving!!!

Oh well, that’s about it really for today, was just another day here at Little Duna.

PS – the fire is still nice and warm 🙂

Categories: Adventures | Tags: CRACK, Little Duna | 1 Comment

Anzac Day at Little Duna

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Craig

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”

Ode, the fourth stanza of the poem For the fallen by Laurence Binyon (1869–1943

I awoke this morning to the sounds of birds chirping in the distance, a peaceful way to wake as the sun chased the morning chills from the caravan’s canvas walls. Little Duna…. we are back 🙂

So after a lot of umms and ahhs we decided to once again head up to Little Duna after work so we could make the most of a full day today, even though that once again meant we would arrive at nighttime. Getting used to setting up in the dark now, so that was no issue at all.

Really weren’t that prepared at all this time, but as we had only got home a few days before, most of the van was still packed and we have enough food for another weekend of camping. That being said, still took us until 6:30pm to get ready, then as we were about to leave I realised I hadn’t filled the tanks in the van!!! That would have been a disaster with only the water on the roof.

After filling the tanks, we finally pushed out about 7pm… and straight around to Coles Express to fuel up and grab some Maccas for the road. 7:30pm by the time we left Vermont South, not our best time at all!!!

Anyway, not sure what time we got up here, but it was an easy run with nowhere near the amount of traffic we had last time. As I said before, we are getting used to setting the van up in the dark and with no shooters in the farm behind us, it wasn’t long before I was digging the fire pit and throwing the remaining wood from last camp on the fire. Lucky too because boy was it cold!!!

Poor little Kushi had just had a hair cut the day before and he was feeling the cold. Both Kushi and Ruby were cuddling up together for warmth when I went to my own very cold bed.

Anyway, as I mentioned before I woke to the tranquil sounds of bird chirping, unfortunately a little late for the Anzac day dawn service, so instead I woke and crept outside to start work on fixing the quad bike suspension.

Here is a photo of what had happened to the old one.

Before I left on Monday afternoon, I measured the old one, got on ebay and ordered a new one that arrived on Wednesday in plenty of time for the weekend. Wasn’t too hard to remove the old one, bolt at the top and bolt at the bottom and off it came. Lucky I had thought to bring a metal bar to hold the bike up once I had removed the suspension.

I grabbed the shiny new one, fitted it in place and went to thread the bolt…. didn’t fit! No worries, a few little bush mechanic tricks later and I switched the new gromets with the old ones and bolted the suspension in place.

Unfortunatley, the new suspension was shorter than the old one and needed adjusting to lift the bike up off the wheels, and I din’t have any such tools to adjust it.

Bunnings was what I needed. The closest Bunnings is in Shpparton, so I checked on the web to see if it was open today being a public holiday and all. It was, but being Anzac day, none of the shops opened until 1pm. I had no choice but to leave the quad bike where it was and go for a walk around Little Duna.

So not overly much has changed in the 3 days since we were up here last, except that the green grass continues to sprout and the place is just getting greener and greener. The dams are still full, and as always Ruby needed little encouragement to head in for a swim!

Was not long after midday when we chained the dogs and headed off to Shepparton. No trouble finding Bunnings as it was on the road in from Violet Town. I got a large pipe wrench to adjust the suspension, and couldn’t resist also getting a manual post hole digger to help with toilet pits. I’ll take a photo tomorrow for those that don’t know what that is. Also grabed a few cans of butane for the BBQ, we seem to go through so many of them up here!

Across the road from Bunnings was a pet shop, so Fi decided Kushi needed a jumper to keep him warm (he was shivering last night). So the little prince(ss) now has a new coat to keep him warm. He was very happy with it too and more than happy show it off!

Lucky for him I was able to talk Fi around from the “…cute little blue woollen jumper…” that was just not practical for rolling in the dirt and sticks round here. Guess he doesn’t look too bad with this camo one on!

So anyway, was about 3:30pm by the time we got back to Little Duna, I dropped Fi and the girls at the Cafe in town so they could walk home while I continued on to fix the quad bike. The pipe wrench worked a treat and I adjusted the suspension to the highest level… unfortunately the suspension is not as heavy duty as the last, or as high, so while I can ride it, the seat is too low and very bouncy. At least it will get me through the weekend, but looks like we will need to order a new heavy duty one before we come back again 🙁

Well with the quad bike at least workable, I was able to collect a good amount of firewood, and lit the fire as the sun went down and Fi and Tara cooked us a lovely pasta dish for tea. I’m sure there will be some marshmallows on the menu as well 😉

PS – Tara had a huge huntsman crawling on the ground in front of her as we ate tea. I just flicked it in the fire, but Tara was ready to run for the safety of the van until I pointed out there were thousands on them up here, and that was the first one she had seen!! Think someone might have a few nightmares tonight!!

Hehe… sleep tight and don’t let the spiders bite!!!

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Little Duna | 3 Comments

A Little Duna Easter

Posted on April 22, 2014 by Craig

Ok…Ok… I’m sorry, I didn’t blog over the weekend, but we were just having too much fun, and there wasn’t really a chance to sit down and think through writing a blog, so I’ll just do a quick summary to make up for it!!!

We left after work on Thursday night after a much more sedate pack having had the time during the week to prepare this time. Still felt like a mad rush at the end, but at least we didn’t get up there and realise we had left lots of stuff at home! We managed to get on the road by about 6:30pm which was 30 minutes earlier than last time.

Traffic was shocking with everyone heading north for the long weekend and I have never seen such a long line of red tail lights in the distance (until that point anyway… I have since!!). At least the traffic was moving, and the cars in front made it much easier to see where the road was going.

Arrived as we normally do, in the dark, at about 9:30pm and I was a little apprehensive to see what the block was like given we had left it in a near flood! No concern though and as I unlocked the gate in the darkness I noticed little sprouts of green grass where last time there was a massive puddle! I found it very exciting, but Fi just rolled her eyes at me!

We moved the van a little further up this time just in case it rained again, camping in almost the same spot, just a little closer to the trees. As seems to be the way, every time we arrive the spot lighters seem to be out shooting in the farm behind us, so we quickly lit every light we could find. I made Zac stand outside the van holding the dogs as I set up the van and I have never seen a kid jump higher every time a shot was heard in the distance. Sounded to me they had upgraded from a .202 last time to either a .308 or shotgun as the crack was a much bigger deeper sound! Just made Zac jump a little higher again and again!!

Camping in the same spot had it advantages as I simply re-dug the fire pit from visit and the left over wood from last time meant it didn’t take long to get a good fire going.

Anyway, we woke the next morning and as I do I had to take the quad bike out to look around the block. It was amazing just how much it had changed in a week! The grass was a beautiful shade of green and as I approached the first dam all I could say was “Wow! Wow! Wow!”. No longer a shallow muddy brown puddle, the dam was brimming with lovely (but dark) water. Absolutely amazing!! Ruby loved going for a swim even if it was bitterly cold!

The second dam was the same, and there was even water about 50-100m up the creek bed! I had to take a couple of quick photos for the blog.

I returned to camp to find Tara and Jess awake, so we all jumped on our bikes and headed back to the second Dam again. While they were amazed at the amount of water, I think they were mostly excited by the water under the bridge, having a ball running back and forth.

We had a brief shower this day where it poured for about 5 mins before the clouds passed over and the sun came back out. From what we heard, we were lucky given the weather was shocking back in Melbourne.

Nicola and David spoke to us from the road heading north to their own holiday at Dinner Plains and they said the weather was terrible. They did make it through and even tooted and waved as they passed Violet Town… unfortunately this far back from the freeway we didn’t hear them 🙁

Mark was also coming up for the weekend and he coped not only the bad weather but shocking traffic as well on the Hume, so it was about 3pm by the time he finally made it with a full car load, Kris, Matthew, Emma, Claire and Ashley (Kris’s son) all piling out of the car.

The kids were very excited to have company, and raced away to show off the block while Mark and Kris setup camp.

Now Ashley is Autistic and he was fascinated with the quad bike, so I took him for a spin around the block. He loved every moment of it. After taking Ashley and a few of the others for a ride I soon became sick of it, so handed the reins over to Zac who was chuffed as the only kid allowed to drive the quad bike. I must admit he has got a lot better at it!

Unfortunately that was short lived, as Tara came running back to camp yelling “Dad, Zac says the quad bike won’t go!!” Frowning, I headed off to find out what had gone wrong.

I found Zac and Claire sitting on the bike in the middle of the block, Zac almost looking pale worried that he had broken Dad’s bike! “The back just fell…” Zac said.

I had a look, and sure enough the seat was sitting on the wheel… not good 🙁

I lifted the bike to find that the shock absorber in the rear had sheared off! Lucky Zac was rinding as I tend to travel a little faster… the damage wasn’t too bad. I managed to balance the shocker on the frame and carefully drive it back to camp very slowly. Wasn’t Zac’s fault, but it did mean the bike was out of commission for the weekend much to Ashley’s disappointment as all he wanted to do was sit on it. Unfortunately I just couldn’t risk more damage to the bike or even worse to one of the kids!!

Lucky I was able to order a new shocker on ebay and should have it for the next time we are up there again 🙂

We didn’t do too much on Saturday, Mark took his lot off to town to play in the park as a distraction while the Morton’s were dragging themselves out of bed and having a late breakfast. Then Fi decided that she wanted to try walking to town, so as she headed off with all the kids I made myself useful setting up tree swings and building a fort out of the tractor and truck tyres the last owner had left behind. Was about an hour later when I got the call to join Fi and the kids for lunch in the cafe in town.

After lunch, we raced up the road to get a few supplies from Coles in Benalla before returning to the block about 4pm were Mark had got the fire going. Had to send all the kids off to collect wood though or we wouldn’t have lasted long enough to cook marshmallows.

Sunday of course was Easter, and the kids woke to find the Easter Bunny had visited them in the middle of the night. As is the tradition, it was chocolate for breakfast, lunch and tea this day!!! The kids had so much chocolate that we didn’t even bother to organise an easter egg hunt… however nothing gets past Tara and eventually she asked when we were going to do it? Unfortunately it was too dark by the time she asked, so we had to promise to do it on Monday.

The day itself was pretty cold and overcast, so we didn’t do an awful lot and for the first time ever, we kept the fire going most of the day. Even the dogs preferred to sleep around the fire this day, making the most of the chairs vacated by the kids!

So, before we knew it, the weekend was over. It was Monday and time to head home, but not before that promised easter egg hunt!! Sneaking out in the morning with 200+ easter eggs under my jumper, I headed over to the second dam and distributed eggs around the place.

Returning and gathering the kids, I told them to get a bag and follow, holding back the rush until we were close enough to unleash them. They had a blast, and most of them ended up with a good bag of 30 to 50 eggs each. Tara probably had the most but then she had offered to collect for Zac who was hiding the van with a sore leg, not up for walking (I think it was a ploy to get out of helping me pack up!!!). Tara was true to her word and handed a good number of eggs to her poor brother back in camp. See they can be nice when they want too!

After the hunt, Mark finished his packup and left before lunch, keen to beat the traffic. We weren’t in such a rush choosing a more sedate pack up. Fi even walked into town again this time with the girls on their bikes and the dogs on the leads as I finished the packing and Zac hobbled around complaining about his sore leg.

I got the call to pick them up just as I was finishing and it was just after 4:30pm by the time we locked the gate and headed for home. Unfortunately we did get the traffic, and spent a few hours crawling the last 100kms or so back to Melbourne. Yes I now have seen even more red tail lights in front of me! Felt like crawling through the city in peak hour!!!

Was a good weekend and the kids all had a ball happy to have someone to share our fun with. Unfortunately I forgot to get the camera out enough, but I think Fi took a few photos, so I’ll raid her phone before I finish this post.

Here is what I found on her phone.

Thankfully Fi remembered to take a few photos… I will have to try to remember next time… Oh and I’ll try to blog during the trip 😉

Sure it won’t be too long 🙂

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Dinner Plains, Easter Bunny, Lucky Zac, Violet Town | 2 Comments

65mm overnight

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Craig

Looks like we made the right decision to leave last night with Violet Town topping the States rainfall will 65mm overnight.

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/national/rain-relief-for-victorian-farmers/story-fnkfnspy-1226878733274

Violet Town topped the state with 65mm overnight.

Seems it was worth the shitty wet drive home! I wonder if the creek is running yet? Hope the quad bike was on high enough ground!!!!

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Violet Town | 1 Comment

Evacuate Evacuate!!

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Craig

So last night just after we had finished our lovely lamb roast cooked in the Cobb, we made the decision to abandon ship and head home 🙁

We probably would have waited it out if we didn’t have the dogs with us, but where we had setup camp was turning into a lakeside retreat, with a lake literally right on our doorstep!! I thought it was mean to make the dogs sleep in a puddle all night.

The rain just hadn’t stopped all day even though the forecast was only for “showers” at times, and the next few days were forecasting rain, so chances of actually getting out and doing anything was pretty much nil. Might spend the next few days doing work around the house instead and try to get back up over Easter.

We made the call and did our wettest pack up yet! Pretty much threw everything into the van except the dogs pillows as they were already soaked and so went up on the roof of the car. Zac and I worked outside in the rain passing things to Fiona who did her best to dry them and find a spot to put them inside. The quaddie was re-chained to the tree and covered with a tarp, although I don’t know what the purpose was given it was already soaked!!

Zac and I found two monster huntsman spiders who were also using the tarp for shelter, so that meant I pretty much had to do all the work while Zac held the torch a safe distance away. If it wasn’t so wet I should have got a photo of them!

Was about 9:30pm by the time we drove out leaving outside green mat annex floor where it was under a few centimeters of water. There were a number of large puddles on the driveway but at least we had no trouble dragging the van through the mud, and the ground was still hard enough underneath not to turn into a bog. I put the car in 4WD just in case.

Speaking with Jan the day before, she had mentioned that our block would have water problems when it rained and was in need of some waterways management to channel the water. She said her partner John had worked on waterways projects before and in fact her back paddock was similar to ours before they channeled the run off into the dam. Jan said John would be happy to discuss how to better manage the water and I got the feeling that things will only get worse when she mentioned that Wayne (the previous owner) hadn’t done us any favors with his tractor in digging out the creek! I think after what happened late yesterday I might need to have a chat with John!!

Anyway as I said it was a bout 9:30pm when we pulled out the gate and after a quick stop at Eurora Coles Express for fuel, we headed home. The drive was awful in the dark and the thick misty rain, but we took it easy and made it home just after midnight. The kids were all exhausted stumbling out of the car and into bed. Fi and I made the decision to leave the unpacking until morning.

So, that is it for this trip. No Kate and kids visiting today and the boys won’t be bringing their vans up Friday night for Pub night.

Guess that will just have to wait for next time when it is hopefully a bit dryer!

Cheers

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Eurora Coles Express | 2 Comments

Met the Neighbour and Lake Duna

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Craig

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??

Categories: Adventures | Tags: IGA | 1 Comment

Panoramas

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Craig

As I sat here this morning drinking my coffee admiring the lovely woodland view, I thought I really should take a panorama to share the view with everyone.

Then I thought why not take a panorama from each of the corners of the block.

So I jumped on the quaddie (hope I didn’t wake Fi) and drove to each corner and took a shot. The results are below…

So after visiting the four corners, I thought I should at least also get a shot of the dams!

Then to finish off I too two 180 degree panoramas in succession from around about the centre of the block.

So there you go, by now you should be getting a sense of the different landscapes we have around here, from forested trees to wide open spaces.

Hopefully you can see why we all love it 🙂

Categories: Adventures | 3 Comments

Jokes by firelight

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Craig

Well we are back at Little Duna and once more camping.

Was a slow start today, had a bit of shopping to do to make sure we had all the things we forgot the first time round and I don’t think we even left home until well after 1pm. Still think there are a few things we forgot, but in reality there was simply no room left in or on the car! Had to refill the water bladder on top of the car, and we couldn’t resist but bring our lay back chairs up here. So much more comfortable around the fire 🙂

We also threw the dog’s outside cushions on the roof so they had somewhere a little more comfortable to sleep on at night.

Anyway, was about 3pm by the time we got up here, and really it was a little overcast. Wasn’t cold and hasn’t rained, but it was very overcast and certainly felt like it would rain!

Zac has a new job as we arrived, opening the gate. Had to laugh as he opened the gate, we drove through then he closed it and started to chain it back up with himself on the outside!!!

LOL He will get the hang of it!!

We let the dogs out at the gate, and left them and Zac to run all the way to the back of the block where our camp was. We quickly unpacked the car, unchained the quad bike, and I went for a spin just to make sure everything was as we left it…. surprisingly it was, but it was a good excuse to ride the quaddie anyway! Ruby didn’t need much encouragement diving straight into the dam for a swim… almost think she likes it!

Didn’t stay here too long as we had to make a quick trip into Benalla Coles for supplies before we lost the light (bring back daylight savings!). We chained the dogs to the van who were surprisingly good just sitting down patiently. They made up for it when we returned almost dragging the van along in excitement. Was hard to unchain them they were jumping so much.

I found a 44 gallon drum in the rubbish pile today, dragged it back to camp and dug the fire pit out loading the base of the drum with dirt. Now we have a good sized bin that doubles as an incinerator. Great for burning our rubbish each night and doesn’t leave so much mess in the fire pit 😉

I sent the kids out looking for sticks and taught them how to light a camp fire. Good life skills that every kid should know and takes some of the pressure off me!

Anyway, after dinner as we sit here in our lay back chairs roasting marshmallows in the fire, Tara and Jess decided to entertain us with jokes from their joke book. Was so funny I just had to take a video.

Enjoy and look out for another update tomorrow 🙂

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Benalla Coles, Little Duna | 1 Comment

Little Duna

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Craig

Well it is official, we have camped on our new block, however I think this was also our most unprepared trip ever!!

With Fi and I working last week, we didn’t have a lot of time to prep the van for our trip. Also, knowing we had to come back Sunday for Amy’s Birthday, we didn’t stress to much as we knew we could pick up what we forgot… little did we know just how much we had forgotten!!

I raced home from work Friday night, threw the roof racks on the car and loaded the last few things in the van while Fi threw the food and clothes into the van. We had planned to leave as soon as we could, but it was almost 7pm by the time we rolled out the driveway! The van was packed to the brim and sitting very low to the road with the weight.

We hadn’t got far up the road when Fi suddenly exclaimed “I forgot to pack toilet paper!”

“Oh well” I said, “we can grab some at the servo when I stop for fuel.”

A few seconds later she said “I forgot my toothbrush!”

Again “Grab one at the servo” I said.

A few more seconds later “I didn’t pack my pillow” Fi exclaimed and I swung a U-turn and headed back home!! As we pulled up out the front, Fi ran inside while I turned the car and van around in the street thinking “Oops, forgot to grab the dogs leads”. Once the van was out the front I ran inside and of course forgot the moment I went in the door what I had come back for. I grabbed Fi’s pillow while she grabbed her toothbrush and the toilet paper and we were out the door and back on the road long before I remembered!!

“Oh well… too late now” I thought, but it wasn’t until we were pulling on the freeway that I realized that I had even forgotten to put the towing mirrors on!!!

Worst prepared ever!!!!!

We started a list of things to get when we returned Sunday (turned out to be a long list) and pointed up the Hume towards Violet Town. Was slow going with so much weight in the van, full water tanks, the generator, fuel, 100L of extra water on the roof and of course the dogs in the back of the car but we were finally underway, and arrived in the dark around 9:30pm that night.

Luckily I had already picked out a good spot for the van, and we managed to find our way to the back of the block to set up camp. Was tough reversing the van without mirrors in the dark. but we managed with Fi shining a torch on a stump so I wouldn’t reverse into it.

As we unhooked the van in the darkness, I noticed car lights out the back of the block. “Strange” I thought, “I don’t remember the road being so close.” As the car got closer, I noticed there was an extra light on the top of the car… Someone was out spot lighting in the farm behind us! I scrambled to make sure we had plenty of lights on, and they slowed down obviously confused by the lights on what is normally a vacant block before heading off into the distance. Wasn’t long before we heard the crack of a gun… “What was that?” Zac exclaimed, and Fiona quickly replied “Dunno? Must have just been a car on the freeway!”

No need to get the kids fearful given they were already a bit nervous being in the middle of nowhere in the dark! Their torches were flicking around and around to try to highlight every nook and cranny much to my frustration as I tried to setup in the dark.

Didn’t take too long and the van was setup so I grabbed my shovel and dug a quick fire pit. Using the ample twigs under the trees we soon had a fire crackling away. As Fi and the kids huddled around the fire for warmth I went for a short walk to check the quad bike was where I left it chained to the tree. Was all good so I jumped on and drove it over to the fire before venturing out, returning a short time later with a good stack of wood to keep us warm.

Was probably about 11:30pm by the time we got the kids to bed and they crashed in no time, exhausted by the start of our adventure. We were finally here 🙂

The dogs on the other hand couldn’t believe their luck with so much room to run. Ruby of course would venture out then come running back to check on us every few minutes. However our little black dog Kushi kept disappearing into the inky blackness attempting to “mark” every tree on the land! He eventually realized there were more trees than he had pee, but being so dark (black dog with black eyes) he would simply materialize beside you with no warning at all! The only way we knew he was out and about was when we heard a noise in the distance and searching with the torchlight managed to find a little blob making his way from tree to tree and scratching in the dirt!

Was almost a shame to chain the excited dogs to the back of the van overnight but eventually Fi and I had to extinguish the fir and turn in for our first night on the block.

I took a couple of pictures around the fire, but I don’t think they came out all that well.

So Saturday morning I woke as the sun began to poke over the trees and went outside to find the dogs had tangled themselves in the chair around the van. I released them and they took off to explore the land.

As I was finishing my first cup of coffee and admiring the land, Tara was the second to appear. We decided that it was time to explore so took off (quietly) on the quad bike to have a look around. Ruby bounded along beside the bike (I was only doing 10kms), but most surprisingly was little Kushi who followed us around, just about 200 to 300 meters behind his little legs pumping away as fast as they could. As we arrived at the first dam, then headed over to the second, along came Kushi huffing and puffing but looking happier than I had ever seen him before.

Tara and I stopped in the sun at the second dam for a look around, and she discovered the remains of a dead sheep… well the wool and bones. She was very excited and couldn’t wait to be able to show Jess. Was also about here that we got a call from Mum and Dad who were ringing to let us know they were on their way. They were coming up for the day to have a look at out new acquisition.

Tara and I headed back to camp where we found Jess who had surfaced when she heard the quad bike. So of course we had to head off to explore again, this time with the two girls behind me on the bike. Tara proudly showed Jess the dead sheep before we did another lap of the block (dogs in tow again) and headed back to camp to see Fi and Zac.

After a quick bite to eat, the girls grabbed their bikes and took off for an explore by themselves. It is great to have so much land that they can safely explore and while we have good tree cover, you can pretty much see them where ever they are. Ruby again took off, running beside their bikes but poor Kushi had had enough and crashed out under the van for a rest.

Zac was looking a bit bored by now with no computer to play, so I gave him a lesson in driving the quad bike and it wasn’t long before he was putting around in second gear with a grin from ear to ear. He immediately loved it, and I could see that I had created a monster… going to be a few fights over just whose “toy” this is!!!

Was just as I was starting to cook breakfast on the BBQ that I got the call, Mum and Dad were off the freeway and in Violet Town. I gave them quick instructions before jumping on the quad bike and shot down to the gate to greet them calling back to Fi “gotta go, can you watch the BBQ!!”

Our breakfast cook up turned into more of a brunch as we sat and had a cuppa with Mum and Dad and being midday already they had their lunch. Hey we were a little slow to get moving this day!

Was while were were eating “brunch” that Dad said they had come up with a name for the block! As a bit of a back story, it was my grandfather that had given me a love of the bush and the name of his farm back in WA (where Dad grew up) was called “Duna”.

So given the connection to Grandfather he thought that maybe we could call the block “Little Duna” After all the entire block is less than one paddock of the farm that was 100’s of hectares in size!!

Well, it is a name, and for the moment, the best anyone has come up with, so we thought we would try it on for size and see if it grows on us. I think Tara is already across the line saying “Bye Little Duna” as we drove out today!!

Anyway, after “brunch” we headed off on foot to give Mum and Dad the tour. We wandered mostly around the boundary zig zagging in and out as we saw interesting things. Dad and I were in our element checking out everything we could from up turned trees to animal droppings and scratching’s in the ground to try to determine what wildlife was around.

Mum and Fi followed behind rolling their eyes and laughing at us, Mum carrying a good sized stick just in case we came across any lions!!

The kids and dogs started off walking with us, but slowly they drifted back to camp. I think the Kids wanted to do other things, and the dogs were simply exhausted!!

Oh well, their loss as we found lots of cool stuff including a Ram’s skull complete with curly horn, and a decent pair of shearing shears still in good condition!

Jess has taken a liking to the rams skull and wanted to bring it home today as Fi and I stated in unison “NO!” She can play with it when she is up there I think.

While walking the block, Dad found a very impressive tree growing in the center, and I just had to take a picture to show just how impressive it was. Huge!

Anyway, we had a lovely day with Mum and Dad and love that they took the time to drive up and see “Little Duna” (gets easier each time I say it and it is better than saying The Block!), but eventually they had to point south again and trek home.

Jess took off first racing everyone to the gate on her bike while Zac and I had an argument on who was driving the quaddie! In the end the big kid won and much to Mum’s disapproval, I slowly rode down to the gate with Zac on the front rack and Fi and Tara on the back behind me.

Was slow going, but even Ruby loped along beside us. Mum and Dad followed in the car while little Kushi trotted along a couple of hundred meters behind!! Was very funny to watch, but he made it to the gate in time to say goodbye and trot back to camp again.

We waved Mum and Dad good bye, then sent Tara and Zac back to camp on the quad bike, Jess and two dogs closely behind as Fi and I went for a walk around our land. It is so peaceful wandering around with such a feeling of serenity.

Back at camp, I wrestled the quad bike away from Zac so I could collect some wood, then it was action stations as we cooked tea in the failing light and ate around the fire. Was roasted marshmallows for desert this night which were thoroughly enjoyed by all. The dogs weren’t so restless this night choosing instead to rest their weary bodies by the warmth of the fire. A great first day.

Today though was action stations. I awoke early to the dogs having an argument, seems they had tangled themselves in the chairs again, but I leapt out of bed at 6:30am to investigate. Seeing as I was up and the dogs were so cold from sleeping outside, I took them for a run… well I rode the quad bike and they ran along behind me! It was so cold I had to ride with my hand in my pocket, and there was a mist sitting on the fields in the distance.

Tara and Jess surfaced about 8:30am already dressed and announcing they were going for a ride to the front gate and back. I suggested they should explore more of the block than just the gate, and so not long after they left, I rode the quad bike down to find them running around the front dam.

I sat on my quad bike soaking up the sun, and watched them playing around the banks. Ruby started to get a little braver around water, not quite swimming but starting to wade out to her shoulders occasionally ducking her head under the water and pawing in front as if she wants to swim!! Was great to watch.

Wasn’t long before I heard a cough behind me and saw Zac wandering over to join us.

He sat on the bike with me for a while before I took off driving through the shallows of the dam to give him a bit of a scare!! I had already seen Ruby run through this bit and knew it was really shallow, but Zac didn’t!!

We headed back to camp where Zac spent some time practicing being Robin Hood firing his arrows into some mattresses we had found on the rubbish pile. He loved that he could finally use his bow and arrows and the girls were happy to chase the ones that missed flying over the back!

Fi finally surfaced and it was actions stations again as we showered, ate breakfast and secured the van ready to head home. We didn’t do too badly and were all ready to go when I jumped into the car to start it and… had a flat battery!! Grr why does this always happen when you have places to go???

I quickly grabbed the generator and the charger, but we lost an hour as we waited for the battery to juice back up. Finally we got going and headed home for a quick clean up before heading to Nicola’s for afternoon tea to celebrate Amy (and Tara and Jess’s) Birthdays.

We have had a great first couple of days and I feel like I have left so much of the adventure out, but truth be known I’m exhausted and simply can’t write anymore!! All that fresh air is very tiring and it will be nice to head back up to Little Duna tomorrow after sleeping in my own bed.

Will try to write some more over the next week as we continue to explore our new home away from home and continue to discover the land. Hopefully as we head back up there in the morning we don’t forget all the stuff we forgot the first time!!!

Hehe – write again soon 🙂

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Again Grab, FI, Violet Town | 3 Comments

Violet Town

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Craig

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!!

Categories: Adventures | Tags: Hume Hate, NAB, Seems Violet, Violet Town | 3 Comments

Just another day

Anzac Day at Little Duna

A Little Duna Easter

65mm overnight

Evacuate Evacuate!!

Met the Neighbour and Lake Duna

Panoramas

Jokes by firelight

Little Duna

Violet Town

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