Nope, not the chooks. The last of the kids. Our baby. He left the nest several years ago but now he has flown 12000 miles away to live in the country I left 35 years ago to come here. Ironic eh?

It was a hard few weeks building up to his flight on Sunday with so many conflicting things going through my head, the biggest of which was how very much I was going to physically miss him. He has a big personality with a tendency to make everyone smile which will be greatly missed. His relationship with his siblings is very close but that with his brother is closer still, the yin to his yang and I know they will really miss each other . To be honest though, this era is SO MUCH EASIER than 1983 when I left the UK to live in Australia. Back then there was no internet, no email, no mobile phones, no Skype, no Facebook or Whatsapp. Just the good old bluey. An airmail letter that took about 6 weeks to get anywhere and was yesterday’s news by the time it plopped onto the floor of the porch at Mum’s place. A phone call meant a trip to Martin Place and the GPO to book a 3 minute call to the UK. You paid in advance and waited until your name was called to a phone booth and then the longed for call to hear your families voices ensued, with beeps every 30 seconds to alert you to the impending END of the call which made everyone a bit twitchy and didn’t really lend itself to any deep and meaningful conversation but was a highlight of our week/fortnight or month nonetheless!! So in this instance times have definitely changed for the better! He even had wifi on the plane so really it wasn’t so different from him being 2 hours up the road!!

Luckily we had an amazing 10 days together before he flew off. A wedding where he MC’d for one of his best mates in the middle of it but plenty of time to just do the simple things that The Meadow is famous for, waking up to the views, the cows and walking on the beach or up the country lanes with Bailey. A visit to his nearly 92 year old Pop was special, then he packed his life into a suitcase, did some job research and the odd online interview and before we knew it his last weekend was here. A request for Beef Wellington and a bonfire seemed easy enough (but by goodness that is one hard sucker to cook perfectly!) and several gorgeous bottles of 20 year old wine from his brother and Dad made for a memorable last supper and then on a sunny Spring day he gave us one long last hug and off he went! Now he is living the London life in Fulham and starting a wonderful adventure for which I am wholeheartedly excited for him. We have plans to meet up with him over there next June which makes it a bit easier but I am however starting to think this is my default setting, forever saying goodbye to the people I love who live in another country. Thank goodness for Sam, Liv and the peanut who remain a mere 2 hour drive away!!

In the meantime the pool project continues. More trucks, more mess and still no end in sight but we do have a lovely sparkly pool which was christened by the London bound son despite the freezing temperature of the water! We await various builders and landscapers to complete their side of things before trucking back in the soil we dug out, this time to back fill around the pool and then re turf to make it all look pretty!! As usual my mind is surging ahead to the time I can decorate the new Cabana, keeping a picture of our entire family enjoying it next Xmas firmly in my mind to offset the current devastation of the lawn!!! Of course this week decided to also bring about the demise of my washing machine, the septic tank alarm was relentless for 24 hours as the pump had a spac attack and on top of that when my new washing machine finally got delivered I needed a plumber to come and move the connection tap as it couldn’t accommodate the new tubing! Aaaaaarghhhh!! It doesn’t rain but it pours as they say!!

These are my finished inspiration pics to keep me sane!!

Meanwhile the garden is bursting into life despite the lack of rain. Nature really is quite amazing isn’t it? My apricot tree is blossoming ahead of it’s promise of fruit for tarts and jam, the trees are coming into leaf and the wisteria is delighting us with it’s perfume and purple flowers. The roses are already starting to flower and the bees are in heaven in the lavender and flowering sage and rosemary. My hydrangeas are leafy and some even have small flowers forming but unfortunately we woke up yesterday to 2 huge hares chowing down on them as a breakfast treat. One very annoyed chocolate dog chased them to the boundary rather incensed at their uninvited visit to HER property! We really need some rain and you can bet your bottom dollar that it teems down the minute the builders or landscapers arrive or even worse the day my sister arrives here from the UK next week! Murphy’s Law……Onwards and Upwards folks!

 

Well what a few weeks we’ve had. From the bush fires and gale force winds of a few weeks ago to balmy Spring days which hoodwinked the trees and flowers into blooming and now cold and finally WET days! Needless to say this coincided with the day all the men and machinery arrived to dig the hole for our pool!!! Just call us the drought breakers! Ironically it was also day 1 of water restrictions brought in to combat dwindling dam levels. All round it’s just the best possible time to be putting a pool in…..not!! It has been amazing to see everything happen so quickly, the huge hole was dug in one day, the pool was hoisted in from the back of a huge  truck on day 2, all the plumbing and pump installation was done on day 3 and by the end of this week the concrete surrounds will be in and ready for the landscapers! I can already imagine some hot summer days luxuriating in the cool water …..

Despite it not being the best conditions for us personally, we are very happy to see the rain, especially after being away the past 2 weekends in The Tablelands which are SO dry that you only see about 3 colours of the spectrum no matter where you look! A uniquely Australian landscape but one now scattered with skeletons of the animals that were a bit too small or weak or sick to manage walking miles and miles to try and find some feed. Salt licks packed with nutrients are now being used by the farmers that can afford them. At around $150 each they are yet another drain on their rapidly dwindling finances.

We stayed with our friend Craig who lives on 50 acres in a house he built himself in one of the coldest parts of NSW but with his wood fire pumping out the heat and a lovely home cooked meal it was easy to forget the outside world for a while. In the morning when I took Bailey for a walk I could hardly see her as she blended into the burnt orangey brown landscape like a shadow and thankfully for once in her life she didn’t venture into the icy cold water in the dam, it would have taken hours for her to warm up if she had!

Spring (despite recent days) is starting to arrive. The blossoms are out, the wisteria has long fuzzy buds which will soon burst into flower, I have gazillions of baby mulberries forming on the tree and small limey new leaves are unfurling on some of our trees. Baby birds are in evidence, one little crimson rosella who was obviously a learner flyer got trapped in the garage and it’s little chest was heaving with panic and anxiety as it tried to get out through the back window. I managed to settle it down under a towel and gently slide the window open until it could escape. It sat in our tree for an hour recovering before it flew off to find Mum! As we drive down the road we can see little tiny black bundles in the bleached grass as calves arrive to Mums who hardly get enough food for themselves let alone another mouth to feed. Fingers crossed things turn around soon.

It has been a busy time on the family front with our “you-only-live-once” daughter moving to Bangkok for a four month stint to work with The United Nations. This has been a long held dream of hers and she is absolutely loving being in the midst of so many passionate people who are all trying to make a difference to the world in some way. She turns 30 tomorrow and will spend it by herself at work (not quite as bad as her last birthday when she was in hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with Dengue Fever) but her hubby and close friends are all planning trips to visit her in the next few weeks and I’m going to plan a few days in November so she will have plenty of mini breaks to look forward to over the upcoming weeks and months.

The long farewell continues for Tom as he packs up his Sydney life to move to London. Work here is now officially over and he is down in The Meadow getting last minute paperwork done, new UK bank accounts and updating his passports, drivers license and phone before launching himself into his new adventure. I had a lovely farewell lunch with both the boys on a perfect sunny Sydney day last week and I’m sure that Tom will think back on it fondly once he is in grey old London!!! We’re all going to miss his happy personality very much……

My Boys!

What a couple of weeks it has been for our South Coast community! We were already very much aware of the plight of our local and not so local farmers during this endless drought and everyone had dug deep to contribute money/hay/food/clothes as well as time and petrol to deliver everything to the hardest hit areas when the seasonal winter winds decided to make themselves felt and make things even worse.

Large branches of huge gum trees were snapped off in the 100kmph gale force winds, falling onto power lines and sparking fires in the crisp brittle undergrowth, flames starting in mere seconds and spreading like the wildfire it was. The combination of drought conditions and high winds meant that embers were flying up to 6kms ahead of the fire front, starting several other grass fires and spreading way too close to houses and farms. Schools and businesses were evacuated and we were warned by the rural fire service to action our bushfire evacuation plans and “watch and act”. Despite the fire coming within 5kms of our property I was never really convinced it would affect us as the wind was blowing it directly past us at 100kmph and towards the coast. A change of direction could have made things tricky though and we do live in a wooden house! So we have now added to our to do list to make an evacuation plan – just in case.

As is usual in country areas, everyone banded together to help and it was so gratifying to see offers of accommodation from nearby guest houses and wineries for rescue workers or evacuated people with nowhere to go, offers from safe properties to take livestock from the danger area, local cafes and bakeries relaying coffees and burgers to the wonderful Firies and people with dams and swimming pools spray painting large X’s in their backyards for the water bombing helicopters to use. Our friends in Milton ended up with extra sheep, cows, horses and people (the 1st picture is taken from their farm) and their daughter who runs the lovely cafe Duke & Co Cafe in Milton was keeping the rescue services fed and watered (above)and they are just a handful of the stories we heard that day. Sadly one helicopter pilot was killed in the high winds, apart from some shedding no property was lost but over 2000 hectares of land has been burned out.

The good thing was that this happened in Winter when we still had cool temperatures. The bad thing was that this happened in Winter which means we are going to be in serious trouble come the hot days of Summer. We really need some rain, days and days  of it and soon, to be able to stave off severe fires and catastrophic conditions for our crops and cattle in the coming months. The Drought Drive that I mentioned in the last blog was a huge success and has brought a ray of hope to farmers who were contemplating shooting their animals and walking off their farms that have been in their families for generations. I heard the other day that one farmer was spending $70,000 PER WEEK on supplementary feeding for his livestock. $280,000 a month. No wonder they are suicidal. On the day the Drought Drive arrived however there were many happy faces and an overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude to receive such a huge amount of donations from the  ordinary Aussies who felt their pain and decided to do something about it.

In a different vein but with similar gratitude and respect for our local growers, we supported a Long Table Lunch at the beautiful Claydon Park with local chefs and local growers coming together to give us a delicious and creative lunch with some uniquely Australian entertainment in the form of one Mr Murray (Muz) Hartin, a bush poet and storyteller extraordinaire who manages to capture the essence of Australia in both funny and sad ways. His poem ‘Rain from Nowhere’ sums up the predicament a lot of our farmers find themselves in today. I highly recommend listening to it and I defy you not to cry…….

Just before conditions went pear shaped our good mates Baz and Cath joined us for a few days and we enjoyed some time out at local winery Mountain Ridge, in the afternoon sun listening to some live music and thinking that life was pretty damn good. We had started the day with home squeezed orange juice for our champagne breakfast. I made a lovely spicy tagine with eggs and fetta as a change from the usual Full English and we enjoyed a bonfire under a million stars that night (before the wind changed everything….)

Despite everything, nature continues to do its thing and our garden is springing into life, soft lime green leaves are unfurling on trees and plants, the pear trees are blossoming and the roses and hydrangeas are all full of buds for the next seasons flowers. Our veggie patch has been blown to bits but luckily I had staked anything that grew higher than 4 inches so we still have broccoli, broad beans,spinach and cabbages with a rather optimistic early planting of tomatoes battling the westerly wind to hopefully flourish and give us the yummiest of home grown crops, sweet (unsprayed) tomatoes! Already we have had fat juicy stalks of early asparagus push up through the dry soil much to our amazement and 10mls of rain has been forecast for this weekend so we cross our fingers and toes that they are accurate and nature gets a bit of a helping hand prior to Springs arrival on September 1st. Bring on the sound of big fat raindrops on our tin roof, is there any better sound to go to sleep to??

We have just come back from a week’s holiday in The Barossa Valley in South Australia with our great friends of 30 years who share our love of good food and wine, cosy open fires and lovely old buildings. It didn’t disappoint. We stayed in this cute little stone house in Tanunda and had delicious food, literally Every Single Meal was wonderful and all swished down with some of the local grenache which we took to like ducks to water. Every morning we swore we couldn’t possibly eat or drink another thing and then somehow by 10.30am we were back at another winery being led through yet another tasting!! Our intention was to mainly buy wines only available at the cellar door and within a certain budget and for the most part we stuck to that plan and since returning I have had to make a daily visit to our local post office to pick up our purchases, I’m sure the new lady there thinks I’m a total lush as I stagger out of the door with yet another carton of goodies!The weather was pretty good, chilly enough to enjoy being indoors (yes eating and drinking AGAIN) but not too cold to enjoy a walk through some of the beautiful wine estates. The local ironstone made for very uniquely South Australian architecture, mostly built by German migrants back in the 1850’s who arrived with vines from the old country and started vineyards reminiscent of their homelands. In fact the oldest Shiraz, Grenache and Cabernet vines in the world are in The Barossa as the phylloxera infestation wiped out entire countries of vines in Europe after they left and ironically gave the very new territory of Australia the oldest vines in the world by default.Another famous and well loved place to visit is Maggie Beer’s Pheasant Farm and Farm Shop which stocks all her many yummy jams, dressings, chutneys, pastes, ice creams and books as well as a great cafe run by her daughter Elli, The Eatery. All this is located on a scenic lake. Seriously, what’s not to like?

It was such a luxury to basically do nothing for a week housework and cooking wise. To be able to lie in without feeling guilty about letting out the chooks or the dogs or the fact that we should be up watering our parched garden. I read an entire book, learned how to play Euchre (semi successfully) and we all spruced up on our Scrabble however there was a bit of an outcry when JB got away with this….. however according to Google it is apparently an acceptable Scrabble word. What is the world coming to I ask you? Dunno.

So after a lovely week away it was back to The Meadow, 2kgs heavier and a lot poorer but nicely relaxed and ready to get back to it. Everything had survived beautifully without us, including the house which we loaned to Tom and his mates for the weekend in exchange for getting Bailey out of the kennels for some R&R. However the combination of the lack of any rainfall and the arrival of  our (not so favourite) August winds has really brought it home how very dry it is EVERYWHERE now. The inland has been suffering for months, even years in some places, but now the normally lush and verdant coastal areas are also officially in drought. Some people call it a green drought as there is still some form of plant material in the ground but it has little to no nutrition and every farm that can afford it is now hand feeding. Finally, with a lot of help from social media, everyone is now aware of the plight of the farmers and people from far and wide are eager to help in whatever way they can. People have chipped in for hay bales and feed for cattle and truckies have formed convoys to deliver them throughout our wide brown land and give those most in need a little helping hand.

Many people were able to donate food and provisions to help the farmers but there has been a lack of available people to drive the big distances to deliver them. My work buddy Danielle has come together with some other local horsey families to help deliver some much needed goodies and they are off to Yeoval . Yeoval is a quiet rural service centre on the crossroads between Dubbo, Wellington and Parkes. It is surrounded by rich agricultural land known for its production of fine wool, wheat, orchards, canola, vineyards, beef cattle and lambs and is a town famed for its connections with ‘Banjo’ Paterson who spent his first seven years on the family property, ‘Buckinbah’. An archetypal Aussie farming community and one that has so far missed out on any of the relief programs so this Sunday they are going off in their own little convoy of Utes and horse floats and taking along our contributions. It is thanks to these good souls who are giving up their time and petrol to get to things done that this week the people of Yeoval will be enjoying some food parcels (thank you also to our number one son and my friends from The Bay for helping to contribute to our donation seen here). More importantly these country folk are feeling the love from everyone far and wide and are feeling valued in a very tough time when properties are being abandoned after being in the family for generations and livestock slaughtered as they can see no way out. In return Yeoval is putting on a shindig for these #aussiehelpers on Sunday at their local bowling club which had to recently reduce their staff to a bare minimum due to no one having any money to spend on going out so this weekend will mean they can pay a few extra people to work and the event will give the town something to look forward to.  You can follow their progress on ‘ABCD drought Drive’ on Facebook. Thanks so much guys  xx

In other very exciting news The Meadow will be hearing the pitter patter of tiny feet in 2019. The Cameron family is expanding and we are absolutely thrilled to be joining the Grandparent Club. The cubby house that lies under our giant pear tree will have to be cleaned out, painted and decorated in honour of this new little member of the clan and I look forward to showing ‘Peanut’ all things country in the coming years. Can you tell that we’re just a tad excited? Happy Days!

 

A wisp of smoke curls lazily upwards from the chimney on an old tin roofed farmhouse up on the hill. Not a breath of wind disturbs the morning landscape which has frozen like a photo, a captured moment in time of a widespread morning frost. The grass crunches underfoot and twigs are snap frozen. So pretty to us but not for the cows in the paddock, the chickens in the coop or my new seedlings in the veggie patch. Australia is generally such a mild climate, especially where we are,  so close to the beach and not too far north or south. Our weather is pretty close to perfect with four distinct seasons, hardly any humidity and temperate nights. Cold enough to grow some lovely English plants in a cottage garden but warm enough to enjoy the swimming pool for at least 6 months a year. No wonder they call it the Lucky Country.

In between the horribly cold days we are having mild sunshiny days more reminiscent of Spring! Balmy days of 20-22 degrees and definitely tee shirt weather. Bailey loves nothing more than lying stretched out on the soft grass in the warm air, not a care in the world and I couldn’t help pulling over to snap a photo of beautiful Gerringong on a drive back from Kiama on a perfect day with not a breath of wind (not that that will last of course….)

At the end of these unseasonably warm days we often get a thunderstorm that rolls in over the escarpment or rumbles menacingly out at sea, splitting the sky apart with lightening and causing a strange eerie light and the odd hail storm. Talk about four seasons in one day!

It is action stations at the top of our lane as the upgrade to the road begins in earnest. Thanks to the latest budget approval for squillions of dollars to be invested in South Coast roads we are surrounded by trucks, road work signs and men and women in high vis vests from 8am until 4pm and as they are currently moving and replacing the power poles we have whole days with no electricity. Despite hitherto thinking my new life was fairly self sufficient I realise this is complete nonsense as soon as the power goes. Even my gas fire has an electric starter and I have no internet at home without wifi which means I am reduced to either going for a long walk or gardening if the weather behaves or sorting out my wardrobe or my overly large magazine collection in the near dark at home if it doesn’t. It was quite peaceful reading my book on the veranda until it got cold and even then I couldn’t have a cuppa. The second day they inflicted this on us I fired up the gas barbie for my cuppa, no one is keeping this little English girl from her cup of tea!

Abigail, our last remaining original chook, passed over the rainbow bridge this week. It always happens when I’m home alone and I’m no better now than I was 3 years ago at dealing with it. I am good in the lead up to the end though. As they are usually a bit immobile for a day or two prior I finally have enough courage to crouch down and stroke them lovingly and give them little treats. A last supper of bacon rinds and spinach and a dish of water within drinking distance of her beak so she is comfortable at least. The other chickens couldn’t give a toss or at least that is how it seems, carrying on with their day as if nothing is different and even clambering over her to get to the nesting boxes to lay their eggs. Just another day in the chook house to them. So we are now down to three girls in the coop which actually gives us more eggs than we need for the most part but when our white chicken goes (she’s next in line!!) we may buy a few more as the black ones seem quite gentle and hopefully will be kind to the newcomers….

With Tom’s imminent departure looming in our calendar and an increased sense of limited opportunities to spend time together, we enjoyed a lovely family weekend snuggled up against the cold winds one day and out on the veranda basking in the sunshine the next. Sam brought down an amazing piece of pork shoulder with a ‘secret’ rub that we slow cooked for 10 hours and which was delicious and we broke open a few of the good reds from the cellar to toast potential future adventures in London Town. The boys will miss each other that’s for sure and we will then have 2/3 of our kids living abroad. Thank goodness we now live in a high tech world where we can chat as much as we like for free with Skype, Whatsapp, Facetime, Viber etc which helps the gap feel slightly less than the 12000 and 3500 miles respectively that it is in reality!

Bailey as usual was in her element with so many people to play with and spent the whole weekend being walked, fed and played with, but her VERY favourite time of day (apart from mealtimes) is first thing in the morning when she is extremely cuddly and Liv made the most of the opportunity for some doggy snuggles. A mutual love affair ♥

She really is such a lovely dog, no matter who comes to the house she greets them with a friendly sniff and a wagging tail. We have never trained her with regular treats but each of us may reward her at various times for her behaviour. I did giggle when I saw this though as I’m sure this is the kind of thing that must go through her head at times!

 

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from my new life in the country. Was I going to miraculously turn into an amazing baker, pulling fresh scones out of the oven to accompany my homemade jams? Was I going to go ‘au naturelle’ and wear homespun clothes and very little makeup? Was I going to take up knitting, weaving or spinning? All these things somehow seemed ‘countryish’ before I got here, but then I realised I could pretty much have the exact same life I had in the city just with prettier views and less pressure to conform to a type. I’m free to either slob around in my gardening clothes all day ‘sans make up’ or get snazzed up and look as if I’m visiting from Moss Vale (my son’s words….), it really is completely up to me and somehow I don’t seem to be judged or treated differently either way. My Mum, who looks amazing at 82 and thanks to her life in England has better skin than me, will always make an effort to go the extra mile, even if she’s only popping up the road for a pint of milk. She has a ‘be the best you can be at all times’ type philosophy and one that I admire whilst simultaneously not wanting to HAVE to feel I have to get made up to leave the house. This inevitably leads to me NOT “putting my face on” 60% of the time and makes “going out” special once again. When our city friends come to stay I must admit I enjoy having a reason to get dressed up, making the effort is enjoyable and the rest of the time I’m learning not to freak out when I catch a glimpse of my everyday self in the mirror when I pass by!!! Ageing graciously isn’t always easy…..!!

So life in the country is different every day. No scones or weaving here but plenty of little surprises to keep this little city girl happy. This week I was delighted to come across a big ring of field mushrooms in the middle of our lawn and eagerly picked a large bowl full, anticipating them fried up in butter, garlic and parsley on local sourdough toast for breakfast but they ended up being used in a tasty chicken and mushy braise courtesy of Neil Perry, (recipe has been added to the kitchen section.)

Country life sometimes throws you a curve ball too and I was more than slightly concerned when I sighted a pile of white feathers in the garden one morning. “Nothing good will come of this” I thought as I wandered over to investigate , and despite the fact that there was nothing there other than feathers it’s pretty obvious that Mr Fox had an early morning snack of some sort on our property, merely leaving the fluffy evidence and nothing more. Maybe it was one of the many white corellas that fly over us every day at this time of year. They fly in huge groups of several hundred birds which we can hear coming for ages before we see the white cloud on the horizon, a cacophony that makes you look skyward….

The country I am now starting to become more aware of is the plight of the local farmers. We have had hardly any rain and any that we HAVE had has been at the wrong time for sowing/planting and as a result there has been very little extra feed available for the cows. The corn that was planted only had one cob of corn per stalk as opposed to the usual 3-4 making it much less nutritious for the cattle and everywhere I look people are hand feeding their stock. Horses, cows and goats are all straining over the fences of their paddocks that butt up to residential property to get to that little bit of grass that is always greener on the other side and the cows are eating well past sunset and into the darkness to try and get enough energy to keep warm in these cold winter months. One thing I hadn’t considered before was the drinking water for the cows. Our farmer neighbour was mentioning the huge water bills that they get when it doesn’t rain as cattle drink a lot and they then have to hand water as well as hand feed them ending up with water bills up to $10,000 per year just for a smallish farm. All these things should contribute to the end price of meat and milk products but mostly it is the farmer that has to cop it on the chin as the middle man refuses to pay more than XXX per litre of milk or kilo of meat. No wonder people are leaving the land in droves or selling out to big corporations. Who else could afford the vagaries of today’s weather patterns and the ever increasing requirements from government and their food rules.

What IS lovely about country living is having visitors and we have had quite a few in the past few weeks. It’s always so lovely to get a call asking if we will be around and then spending time with people we rarely get to see. Such was the case when our son in laws parents phoned from Tassie to say they would be passing by on their way up north in their caravan and would we be home? A great couple of days spent golfing, eating and chatting about our merged families ensued before we waved them off on their way to warmer climes..!!

Then a weekend with our youngest followed with lots of animated chats about his imminent move to London and all that was involved with that. As it was a beautiful sunny and warm weekend day we decided to give the Choccy Drop a bath which she tolerated with a decidedly unimpressed expression! I’m certainly going to miss our funny, lovable and life-be-in-it son but I encourage him wholeheartedly on his adventure.

Then, in what is becoming a bit of a tradition, we hosted a Xmas In July weekend with some friends who we always have fun with and who love good food. The star of the show – the porchetta – came from one of Phil and Karen’s pigs at Claydon Park in Milton and was cooked to perfection by the MOTH in the pizza oven. It is so wonderful to be able to eat locally grown (and loved) meat that you know hasn’t had anything dodgy added to it and that tastes divine. We managed to add in a pumpkin from our neighbour, our own carrots and a homemade custard made with our own eggs to accompany the Xmas pud. That’s fairly country I reckon! An excuse to eat in our dining room for a change with a log fire burning and some lovely wines to bring out the conversation! One of the real beauties of country living is that people stay over and you have so much more time together than on a city dinner date. Thank you to our lovely friends and all their many contributions to a great day, there’s nothing like chatting until late at night and talking about things that have been important or changed your life over the past 50 years or so, we are lucky to have such special people to share our lives with.

True friends are very important, people you can enjoy time with and that support each other but the bottom line is you have to be happy in your own skin and with your own life. Maybe that means you finally do that course that teaches you to paint, speak French or play the guitar. Maybe it means you finally lose those extra pounds, get fit or have your teeth straightened. Maybe you search out those old friends or family you have fallen out of communication with. If you hate your job get brave and change it. If you are in a bad relationship, get the courage to leave it. We only get one go at this big thing called life and although it’s scary to change things, if you just take a leap out of your comfort zone for a while you can often achieve things that you only ever dreamed about. So many people thought we were mad when we said we were moving to the country, especially at our “stage” of life but it has made us very happy and if you never give things a go how will you ever know?

 

Winter has arrived. One minute we were having above average balmy Autumn days then all of a sudden it was dark at 5pm, log fires are in full throttle and electric blankets are essential ! The dastardly westerly winds are back and I always forget just how annoying they are until they return. The skies are blue and the sun is shining but the wind makes working in the garden anything but pleasant. My new seedlings are struggling to stay upright and my veggies have had to be staked to avoid being blown to Whoop Whoop. The birds struggle to fly and the cows aren’t particularly impressed either, standing with their bottoms into the wind and a look of deep resignation on their faces. The upside is it’s cosy inside and perfect for slow cooked lamb and a glass of red in front of the fire. Curled up with a good book whilst the winds rage outside makes it bearable and because our winters are relatively short, really just 3 months of being cold, it never becomes too oppressive or depressing.

The fact that we have a winter in Australia comes as a surprise to some people in the world as they think we live in a permanently sun drenched country, full of life threatening creatures and harsh desert environments, either that or they think we live on the beach and spend all our time surfing, again always hot and sunny, a perpetual summer. Although this might be the case in the tropical north of Australia where they have a year round average temperature of above 30ºC the same is not true of the southern states. The Meadow in particular is reminiscent of England, with our rolling green hills dotted with cows and an abundance of deciduous trees which are a spectacle in the Autumn as their leaves change to a delicious shade of red before dropping and creating stark silhouettes against the winter sky. The street names in our local town also indicate that the early settlers, mostly from the UK, also saw the similarity and bestowed very British names upon them so it is very easy for me to feel at home here.  The clashing of two countries in one place if you like and if only there was a quaint little English pub around the corner I would feel like I had never left the Old Country.

On a sunny but cold afternoon we decided to drive up into the hills and have lunch at the closest thing we have around here to an olde worlde pub, The Commercial Hotel in Jamberoo. It is 161 years old which is pretty old for Australia and with a few log fires going and a whole heap of memorabilia from the old owner who was a former star of Australian Soccer it made for an atmospheric lunch followed by a wander around the town which is beautifully looked after with carefully tended flower beds and restored old buildings everywhere you looked. The Choccy drop had a run in the park, joining in with a few local boys who were kicking a ball around and we all enjoyed an afternoon off from the chores!

This time of the year provides us with the best sunrises and sunsets of the entire year. As the days are at their shortest we are invariably getting up at the same time as the sun and there is nothing that makes me more happy than to fling back the curtains and see a deep pink and orange sky radiating all around the house. Despite the old rhyme about red sky in the morning being a shepherds warning I think there is no better way to start the day than by appreciating nature in all its glory. Similarly I love seeing the raspberry crush of a sky above the chook shed in the evening, to be followed later at night by the amazing Milky Way (one of the bonuses of these cold clear nights). Blessed indeed.

So we settle into the different rhythm of Winter. Shorter days, more time spent inside, more books read and cupboards sorted out, the smell of baking wafts through the house as I seek respite from the wind and on those perfect blue sky winter days, Bailey by my side, I love to walk along the country lanes rugged up against the breeze and enjoying the clean fresh air.

We have managed, despite the wind, to do a few winter jobs around the property. With our various helpers we have staked trees that had been blown skew whiff, fixed broken pipes, cemented in a couple of fence posts and re positioned the outdoor fencing for the chooks, allowing them to explore a new area and us to mow the previously fenced area. Somehow they never really enjoyed it as much as we thought they should, preferring for some strange reason to be in the drier dusty run they have under our huge pear tree, burying themselves into shallow holes and rolling around in the dust! Funny little birds they are! I love the little comforting noises they make as they huddle up on their perch at dusk, cleverly inserting themselves into a corner with the most protection from the wind and seemingly happy despite the wintry weather. I love having my first cuppa of the day looking out across the paddocks from the warmth of my kitchen and seeing the beautiful crimson rosellas flitting in and out of our trees, usually in a group of 6 or 8, their bright colours visible now that there are no leaves on the trees, they seem so industrious and methodical as they work their way through the garden which I presume must be the avian version of an eat as much as you like smorgasbord of deliciousness!

The most important animal in our lives embraces just as much of winter as she fancies, She loves our daily walks and occasionally running around outside chasing swirling leaves and the odd stick and she ALWAYS accompanies me to the chook shed in the hope she can snaffle some of their scraps but mostly this is what she does………….It really IS a dogs life folks!!

 

For the first time in many years I got to spend Mothers Day with my daughter. As any Mum will tell you spending time with your kids is something that gets more precious as the years go by. They now have their own lives and families to think about and so despite my dislike of commercialising these things I always milk Mothers Day for all I can get! I have the fondest memories of waking up to a cup of tea or breakfast in bed when they were little, faces so bright with excitement at the prospect of me opening their various ‘gifts’ – made at pre school and with such love – well let’s face it, who wouldn’t love a necklace made from pasta shapes or a card with a pop out section containing a teabag?? Nowadays I’m a happy chappy if I get to share a meal with them or, now that we live so far away, a whole weekend together. They usually indulge me, happily letting me ramble on about the old days only occasionally telling me that I’ve told that story a thousand times before!! The older they get the more nostalgic they are getting too and they quite enjoy flipping through our old photo albums, remembering a surprisingly large amount of details from their youth. Anyway I digress….!! To celebrate this year Lauren had arranged for us girls to go into the beautiful Hotel des Artes in central Saigon to enjoy some cocktails overlooking the city with a couple of her girlfriends,  a chance to throw on a frock and enjoy some girly chat and the gorgeous surrounds. The men folk were happy to be left at home as they were making the most of our absence to meet up with a few blokes to play shuffleboard and have a few beers whilst watching Liverpool play in a local sports bar. Happiness all round!

 

We were very lucky with the weather during our trip, it was the beginning of the rainy season and every day it was hot, around 33 degrees and you could feel the air getting thicker as the humidity increased. You just hoped it would pour down and be done with it, but somehow if there was any rain it was at night or while we were out of town. The electrical storms were quite something though and one of Lauren’s friends took this at exactly the right moment! This is the tallest building in Saigon and makes for quite a photo!

The humidity and year round tropical temperatures make for some beautiful flowers and greenery and they make a huge difference to the local area. HCMC is an urban jungle in a seemingly permanent stage of construction but the profusion of plants gives the whole place a feeling of a tropical paradise with the added benefits of softening the buildings and providing some well needed shade. It makes me wish I could paint!

 

As we will miss Lozzy’s 30th birthday later this year, we decided to take her away for a weekend to a lovely little eco resort called Mango Bay on the island of Phu Quoc, only a 30 minute plane trip but a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of HCMC. Located on 10 hectares of beachfront land 10km north of Duong Dong, the island’s main town, the ethos of Mango Bay is to create something close to nature, an unpretentious resort that is the antithesis of luxury. Here, despite the size of the land, there are only 44 rooms and villas, each unique and each hidden away from the beach. Built either with rammed earth or acacia, the colour and the materials enable the bungalows to merge seamlessly with the surrounding land. Set under the trees native to the island — tropical almond, acacia, ficus and fishtail palms — and surrounded by foliage, the majority of the shrubs planted on the land, the likes of crepe myrtle and red-flowering hibiscus, also come from Phu Quoc. There is no swimming pool, only the sea. Sand hasn’t been imported and rocks have not been removed to extend the two, yellow-sand beaches into something more user-friendly; here they remain as they were found. There are no heavily manicured flowerbeds or perfectly paved paths. Instead, the land, while loosely landscaped, has been kept natural — the only testament to the words ‘holiday’ and ‘resort’ come in the form of the banana leaf roofed bungalows.

 

After a day spent reading, playing local Saigon Monopoly and Scrabble, immersing ourselves in the VERY warm ocean in a vain attempt to cool down, eating delicious Vietnamese salads, drinking from fresh coconuts, afternoon snoozes in the generous hammocks under a lazily turning ceiling fan and generally enjoying life, we geared up for the main event that occurs from about 5pm with people gathering on the huge deck overlooking the bay in readiness for the most beautiful sunsets. Happy hour spans 3 hours which makes the cocktails as cheap as beer and as the sun slipped below the horizon and we ate fragrant blue swimmer crab in the balmy warmth of the evening all was well with my world. Watching the local fishermen coming home, silhouetted by the golden setting sun was a picture that will stay with me for ever.

 

The MOTH decided that the time had finally come for him to have a go at yoga. He has no flexibility and a sore back so it was never going to be easy but under the mid afternoon sun he stripped off and had a go together with a few other people and it was great to see him stretching out like the best of them and it is something we may consider doing together now we’re home as we have a beautiful yoga shala in Berry. He’d had a bit of a rough trot that day as he was first stung by a decent sized jellyfish (he never saw it but the welts criss crossed his arms and chest so it must have been fairly big!!) and then whilst showering in our eco outdoor shower he felt something on his back and asked me to get it off. It was a huge tear drop shaped spider and I was so scared I was going to make it angry and it would either bite him or scurry into our bedroom I apparently “took my sweet time” in removing it!! The next morning we saw huge webs strung between the palm trees and I think that is where our not so eensy weensy spider came from!!

 

We had purposely booked late flights back to HCMC so we could enjoy an extra day doing absolutely nothing and we felt extremely relaxed by the time we headed to the airport. A day spent snorkelling, eating, reading and game playing….heaven!

 

Then all of a sudden our holiday was nearly over and we had that awful “oh my goodness we only have two nights left” feeling and a sense of impending gloom at saying goodbye AGAIN. We made the most of it though, meeting her for lunch near her work, having a great dinner at their favourite local Italian, a two hour breakfast cruise through Saigon before our ‘Last Supper’ at a terrific Vietnamese restaurant Ann Quan, just around the corner from Lauren’s office. They serve amazing food as well as the local beer hoi, served in icy steel containers and unbelievably (after a long fortnight of less than perfect temperature beer) on our very last night, it was finally “Australian” cold! Any of you that know any Aussies will know that the beer is NEVER cold enough for them in any other country of the world. No matter if the outside temperature is below zero they still want it freezing!! Crazy Aussies!!

 

I have never been a beer drinker, I’ve tried a few times and after a few mouthfuls I’m over it. Vietnam on this trip however has opened my taste buds to a lighter type of beer and it really is the perfect drink in a hot climate. Wine here is nearly non-existent, of dubious quality AND expensive so I joined in with the beer hoi and found I actually loved it!! It may or may not have helped me say goodbye without crying too much….

 

So we are now back in The Meadow where winter has arrived all of a sudden and we are snuggling up in front of the fire and eating slow cooked food, the complete opposite of our time in Vietnam! Our amazing house sitters had looked after Bailey a treat, she was so spoiled with love I don’t think she missed us for a minute! They also insisted on cooking for us our first night home and I felt delightfully childlike as they took over our kitchen and made the most amazing meal for us. A perfect end to a wonderful holiday, thanks so much guys!

 

Undeniably the mobile phones of today are extremely useful when travelling. We used them primarily to communicate (where would I be without Whatsapp???) but also to use Google Maps to find out where we were going, to order our GRAB car, to hear our music playlists, to check on the state of the bank account, receive emails, as a camera, we even checked in at the airport on them, so they have become THE go to item for travellers. Hard as it was we really tried to have days when we didn’t use them, even take them out with us, and we missed them every single time! It made us realise how VERY much we are now attached to them. It is the love/hate relationship of today’s age and I just love this picture which seems to sum it all up beautifully; whilst everyone around her is busy capturing the moment on the phone this dear old lady is just IN it, taking it all in the old fashioned way!! Bravo.

We are back in The Meadow after a couple of lovely weeks visiting our daughter and son in law in Vietnam. They live in Ho Chi Minh City, he teaches in an international school and she works for Loreto Vietnam (one of the oldest charities in Vietnam and coincidentally also the school she went to!) as communications and fundraising Director.  She works VERY hard and is embracing the fact that she is actually living in the country pertaining to the charity and can see with her own eyes the effects of the good stuff they do. Their main focus is on education, building schools, libraries and toilet blocks and providing the kids with books as well as bicycles to enable them to actually GET to school especially in the rural provinces where they are expected to help their parents as well, sometimes meaning they wouldn’t be able to get to school until lunchtime (if at all) if they were walking. Loreto is an ardent supporter of education for girls, empowering them to have a go at everything and to believe anything is possible. Hopefully these educated kids will grow up and enact change in their own villages, a much better result than just throwing  money at them.  http://www.loretovietnam.org

It was fantastic to stay with them as they have been here for a year now and know their way around. We had the perfect mix of busy and relaxing times and as they were working throughout the week we had a few aside trips to Hoi An and Phu Quoc until they were available to play again at the weekends. It was super hot, very humid and perfectly suited to stopping every hour or two for a Vietnamese iced coffee, a fresh cool coconut or an icy beer while we cooled down under a ceiling fan or in the aircon. I completely understand why people just pop up a hammock and chill out when they’re not working, or even take refuge on their bikes, a little home away from home in between customers – and in the shade.

Our first three days we stayed just down the road from them in Thao Dien at a cute little boutique hotel, La Casita. Despite being in the middle of the action its position built  behind a restaurant meant we could hear none of the local traffic and the beautiful pool was literally a hop skip and a jump from our bed! This is a little gem in the middle of District 2 and I can thoroughly recommend it.

In the space of a day we enjoyed local coffee with the kids, a street haircut for the MOTH, pho for breakfast, coconuts and beer for elevensies and after an afternoon of exploring we finished the day with cocktails on The Mekong before a wonderful local Vietnamese meal. Perfect!!

If all you’ve ever seen of HCMC is the crazy busy centre of District 1 and the Ben Thanh Market (which is what we did on Trip 1) it is a whole different ball game in D2. The centre for many International Schools and therefore expat families, this district has more of a frenchified feeling with a great mix of local and also some slightly more western places to eat, drink and shop. Shop as in food, bringing some much missed foods to homesick expats, but at a price!! There is everything you could fancy, Mexican, Italian, beautiful French patisseries to rival Paris, juice bars, amazing Vietnamese and even smashed avo on toast for breakfast with my new favourite twist of coriander, chopped red chilli and lime. You could get your toes painted or neck massaged in a handful of places and all for the price of a magazine in Australia! Whatever you were in the mood for, be it bars dripping with indoor plants boasting pool tables, chess sets, great music and a laidback atmosphere or more sophisticated versions located  alongside the river with great cocktail lists and tapas to enjoy as you watch the amazing Saigon sunsets, Thao Dien has it all, no wonder they love living here!Taxis here are also super cheap compared to Australia. The Viet equivalent of Uber is Grab and they are half the price of the taxis. Then the Grab motorbike is half the price again and of course out of all the options available THAT is how my darling daughter chooses to get to work!! 30 minutes through some of the most tumultuous traffic in the world on the back of a bike and catching up with her emails on her phone en route!!! It didn’t take her Dad long to download the GRAB app and start using it too! Here he is waiting for our driver whilst I loitered in the shade. Totally recommended as you know exactly how much the fare is in advance therefore negating any chance of the big rip off. Truthfully though, the Vietnamese people are so friendly and genuine that it rarely happens and as there is no tipping either, it makes it all so simple.We first visited Hoi An five years ago and fell in love with it. We decided it was definitely worth another trip and we weren’t disappointed. Still enchanting, despite being busier than 5 years ago, we had three days of pure pleasure strolling and cycling around this UNESCO world heritage site that is famous for its vibrant colours and handmade silk lanterns. The former port city’s melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shophouses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge with its pagoda.

We stayed at yet another great spot about 2 kms outside the old town at Earth Villa, a family run boutique hotel which our friends had stayed in on our last trip. With free breakfast and bicycles and a huge King Size bedroom, all for the princely sum of $38 a night, we were laughing! The staff were brilliant, seeing to our every need and the pool was a welcome respite from the heat after a day cycling around town. http://www.theearthvilla.com

Hoi An is also famous for its tailors and leather making. I had a pair of favourite sandals copied in soft leather for under $15 but we mostly just enjoyed trying all the different food and soaking up the atmosphere, especially in the evenings when the silk lanterns cast a rosy glow over everything and people buy floating candles and set them onto the river from gondolas, a magical and ethereal scene in the balmy evening and hard to beat.

A few kilometres down the road is An Bang Beach with a myriad of fresh seafood restaurants. After a bicycle crash the night before (where I came off second best to a tourist bus and a parked van) I was too sore and banged up to get back on my bike so my boy kindly hired a motor bike and drove me to the beach for lunch. As the warm breeze caressed my face as we whizzed down the road, free as a bird to look around me and enjoy the local scenery, I had a feeling of freedom and that aaaah moment you get on holidays when you are doing something completely different and loving it! A great meal, icy cold lemon soda and a stroll along the sand and I was a new woman!

Lauren had told us about Madam Khanh, the Queen of banh mi in Hoi An; now an old lady she still works behind the counter along with her extended family including her husband who wandered around in his rather elegant pyjamas, a touch of the bygone era, and completely at ease with his rather unconventional attire.  The staff were rather nonplussed when we whipped out our reusable bamboo straws for our watermelon juice and they all came over and had a look as we tried to explain the negatives of having plastic in the environment. It was probably lost in translation but at least they realised that foreigners were starting to do something a bit different and maybe it was worth at least thinking about change. The banh mi here were EXCELLENT. The real deal and totally worth the cycle there.

Back to Saigon for the weekend and Loz took us to an amazing Seafood Street in an adjoining district. We couldn’t believe the smells, the noise and the sheer amount of people all eating and enjoying themselves in this long winding street. The tantalising smell of octopus on the char grill and the crabs and crayfish ready for consumption made us salivate. Together with many many icy cold beers (it’s thirsty work!!) we had an amazing meal and a great night with loads of laughs.

It was so good to see our girl so happy and enjoying all the wonderfulness on offer here in Vietnam. They have a gorgeous brand new apartment, good jobs, a great gang of mates and an insatiable appetite for adventure and exploration. I love how I can now imagine her pottering about at home or in her local village and it was worth every penny for us to make some lovely memories together. In part 2  I will share our little trip to Phu Quoc, an island about a 40 minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City and a real little oasis which was much needed as an antidote to this…..

 

 

Early Autumn means warm days and cold nights creating amazing morning mists across the paddocks. I love waking with the first light and pulling the curtains to see a rosy sky and a thick mist blanketing the surrounding countryside. Cows lumber out of the mist as if they were in a movie, taking their place in The Meadow to munch happily on the damp fresh grass. This early change of season is always pleasant, a different set of clothes to wear and different menus to enjoy. Not yet that crazy “throw all your clothes off in a hurry and leap into bed before you freeze” scenario that comes later in winter. We’ve had the odd fire at night but just to take the chill off the room and for cosiness rather than anything else.

We have had a lovely couple of weeks celebrating the MOTH’s birthday across the space of 10 days, making up for last year when it was the day before the big wedding and kind of slid under the radar a bit. As we start getting to the pointy end of things it’s hard to buy great gifts, it’s often the small things or the experiences that become the most meaningful so I went with that theory and arranged a trip to beautiful Tasmania for my beau to play golf with his brother at a course he has had on his bucket list for quite a while. Barnbougle in the wild North West of Tassie is a destination for golf lovers the world over. Created in the Links style and with the fresh Autumn temperatures we could be in Scotland or Ireland. Wild and with a rugged beauty that took your breath away. The colour of the grasses, almost orange in the morning sunrise but then bleached like the sand on which they grow later in the day, bending in the brisk coastal breeze that created havoc on day 2 but made me feel vital and alive, taking me back to my days at boarding school in England when we had to go for 5 mile walks at the weekend in the bracing English weather.

While the golfers did their thing I had the best time exploring the local area. Everywhere you looked it was a photographer’s dream with a colour pallette unique to this part of the coast and the moodiness of the clouds all contributing to a visual feast.

The beauty of Tassie is that you don’t have to go very far to see something completely different. Verdant pasture land scattered with little white dots of sheep (testament to the amount of rain they get here as opposed to the grey Aussie sheep!) one minute and then beautiful wide white sand beaches the next. A tour of the wineries showed us beautiful Autumn colours, the cold local weather making it much more colourful than on the mainland.

The Birthday Boy was in his element and despite losing MANY balls and being totally exhausted walking these big courses in a 30 knot wind he had the best time and actually did pretty well golf  wise too. A big thanks to Rod and Heather for coming along for the ride and for helping tick a much wanted box!

We also celebrated at home with No 1 son enjoying a lovely weekend together planning upgrades to the property, measuring and drawing all the possibilities. The men folk also got stuck into gurneying the house, washing off the accumulated dust from our dry summer leaving it fresh as a daisy and looking like it had had a new coat of paint! A walk along the beach with the Choccy Drop and we were more than ready for a delicious dinner at our local restaurant South on Albany who always manage to give us beautiful dishes created from local produce and make them shine. http://www.southonalbany.com.au

So now we’re back to reality and busy tidying up the garden before those pesky westerly winds make themselves felt. Cutting back the summer flowers and a bit of trimming and pruning but mostly planting the winter veggies. The garlic went in this week, it takes a while before harvesting but is SO WORTH IT! We love having our very own organic garlic hanging in our shed to use over Summer and as we use it in just about everything it is one of our most useful crops. The spinach and eggplant are still in full swing and now we have broad beans, green beans, brussel sprouts, cabbages, broccoli, carrots, onions and leeks all planted with the last of the warm soil and hopefully off to a good start ahead of the cool weather. So we are at that perfect junction of sunny days (but not hot) and cooler evenings (but not freezing) that encapsulates Autumn in Australia, no wonder we love her.