Over the past 20 months we have all been intimately acquainted with our local area. Who would have though the immediate 5kms from our house would EVER become so important? It’s a bit of a suburb lottery as to what you get to see everyday on your walk and never have we been so grateful to live where we do. The 5km rule doesn’t apply to us in rural NSW as some people’s driveways are that long!! We have the whole of our Shoalhaven LGA to play in which goes as far down as Jervis Bay but stops just north of Berry. We have about 5 different regular walks which luckily include the beach and the river but mostly we just stay super local and wander the local lanes. At this time of year they are a joy…let me take you on a bit of a virtual walk down the lane..

As I cross over the Highway and pass the church where my daughter got married there is a sweet waft of perfume from the self seeded freesias growing on the verge outside and sometimes I pick a few to pop in a little vase for next to the kitchen sink or in my bathroom. As I continue on past the stud the horses stand as still as statues, only a few ears twitching and turning acknowledging my presence. As I get nearer to the little creek I hear the gurgling of water thanks to the showers over the past few days and the air is full of the sound of throaty singing as the frogs call to attract a mate. I check out the house at the end of the street that has been coming together over the past 2 years in fits and starts. A lovely weatherboard with wrap around verandahs and views to the escarpment and nearly ready for occupation. Sensibly they planted a garden when they started building and now there are beautiful blossom trees and flowers around the perimeter for them to enjoy and masses of bulbs have come up with a veritable florist shop of flowers to choose from to pick for the house.

Around the corner I pass the duck pond where two duck families share lodgings quite happily and then I stop to say hi to the goats, a small goat farm of around 30 and they are very sweet, often running to the fence to greet me on my daily travels. From there it is open paddocks, black Angus cattle dotted in fields of yellow which look very pretty but are in fact fields of the noxious Fireweed. These invasive plants originated in South Africa but have taken firm hold in the countryside here and as each plant holds 30,000 seeds which are light and fluffy and easily dispersed by the wind so you can imagine how inundated we all are with it. It contains a poison which is toxic to cattle and horses and they will naturally avoid eating it but it tends to get cut in with the silage and can have an accumulative effect on their livers if they eat enough of it. It’s lucky the flowers are so obvious at this time of year that we can easily pull them out of our garden, you can only imagine how many of those seeds get blown in on the westerly wind!

As I turn for home I hear a rustling in the long grass and out of nowhere 3 hares scamper across the road in front of me. They are running so fast around and around in huge circles and I’m not sure if they are three adolescents having fun or perhaps 2 bucks chasing a poor doe with a definite sense of purpose and a twinkle in their eye! A flock of white corellas swirl above me twisting and turning like a shoal of fish before landing in a paddock to feast on some unseen delicacy. The birds are all very busy now that Spring is here and we have witnessed a large amount of parrots in our garden. The mulberries are starting to fruit which always attracts them and we have several pairs of King Parrots and Crimson Rosellas as well as a group of Rainbow Lorikeets that have taken up residency in my giant pear tree just awaiting the next thing to ripen or seed…a giant smorgasbord in The Meadow.

So as the lockdown has gone on….and on…and on I really felt the need to achieve something positive during it, to make it a less negative experience and to give me a sense of purpose in what was otherwise a rather strange world where I had no control over what was happening or what could happen in the future. As a result of a somewhat blasé previous 6 months when the only fun thing we’ve been able to do is cook, eat and drink and say what the heck, I was starting to push the boundaries of my fat clothes and something needed to be done. As there was no chance of socialising it seemed like an ideal time to try and lose those covid kilos and for some unfathomable reason I woke up one Thursday and decided to start! Starting is always the hardest part for me and I didn’t hold out much hope to be honest but I made a 3 week commitment which seemed doable and it really has been so much easier than I thought it would be! I am now in week 5 and have lost 6 kilos so far. More importantly I am feeling so much better, am LOVING my 5-6km daily walk and am not missing my evening wine half as much as I thought I would! Better still by the time we open up I shall be looking a whole lot better and have a little buffer for the inevitable dinners and get togethers that will be on the cards.

Last week I experienced 2 minutes that I never wish to repeat. Our beautiful Bailey Dog started barking as if she was being attacked and then fell to the ground in a seizure that seemed to last forever but in reality was only about 2 minutes long. I didn’t really know what was happening and thought she might have been choking on something but there was nothing blocking her windpipe so I had to just let her go through it. I was beside myself not knowing what to do and fearing the worst. She means so much not just to us but to our kids and the grandkids too, I just couldn’t face losing her and having to tell them. As she started coming out of it she shakily stood up, her eyes glazed and she was foaming at the mouth. I eventually managed to get her into the car and set off to the vet 9 kms away. By the time we got there she jumped out of the car happily wagging her tail when she saw the MOTH waiting for us in the carpark. If I hadn’t seen it happen I wouldn’t have believed anything had occurred! She drank about 2 litres of water while the vet checked her over and she has been given the all clear despite low blood sugar and low red blood cells which could have been explained away for a variety of reasons. The only thing we can put it down to was her scavenging some old maggoty chicken necks at the back of a nearby property which she eventually vomited up the next day. Perhaps they released some sort of toxin? She also presented us with a couple of dead rabbits that she must have found in the paddock but we are certain no one around here would be baiting/poisoning animals as there are too many livestock around and everyone in our lane has a dog. At least I will recognise what is going on if it happens again and if she does has another seizure they will prescribe her medication for epilepsy going forward. I have been loathe to let her meander off on her own since just in case she finds another ‘treasure’ and we are keeping a very close eye on our beloved Choccy drop as we would be lost without her.

Our garden is giving us great joy at the moment. As a rule we spend more time working in it than enjoying it but I think that is starting to change as it matures. Our wisteria which was planted well before we arrived is really a major job throughout the year, keeping it trimmed and winding the soft new tendrils around the arbour post to encourage it’s growth along our balustrade. However, when those first purple pendulums burst into flower I forget about all the work and just love seeing it drip in heavy fragrant clusters called racemes which the bees absolutely adore. This whole corner of the garden is very bee friendly as the lavender is also in full throttle and the spring daisies are also competing for some attention. In a few weeks it will all be over for another year or if I deadhead properly perhaps we’ll get a second showing in Autumn. I’m pretty sure this was planted back in the 80s so I am very grateful for the gardeners that came before!

In an interesting twist it looks like we may be able to fly to London before Hobart if our State Premiers remain stubborn and keep their borders shut to NSW and our far flung family may have to plan a holiday in Fiji in order to be reunited with each other! Surely once the government has worked out a usable home quarantine system we can once again plan a few overseas jaunts with some sort of confidence? I know Australia is a beautiful country but sometimes you just want to launch yourself into a completely different culture, lifestyle and enjoy the diversity of food that comes with it. For now Europe may be a step too far but maybe, just maybe, The Camerons may be able to start planning that holiday in Fiji….