June Long Weekend

It wouldn't be a Queen's birthday long weekend without a trip to the farm - not too sure why they call it the Queen's birthday weekend since she was born on 21 April - anyway, I'm not complaining about a day off!

The weather forecast was for showers on Saturday with a low of 2 degrees and a high of 14. The forecast for Sunday was showers clearing with a low of 2 degrees and just into double digits. We came prepared with lots of thermal clothing!

We were up at 5am on Saturday morning to start the trip. We planned to return Sunday afternoon because of work commitments.

We detoured to Goulburn Rural Supplies to buy fence posts and materials and arrived at Goulburn just after 8am. I bought a pair of galvanised posts and 3 support posts to make a good start on the boundary fence. Once loaded into the ute, we headed off to the farm at a slower than usual pace because the metal posts were hanging out the back of the ute a fair way and I was a bit nervous that they would fall off - even though they were tied down really tight.


As we got closer to the farm we hit a really heavy fog. This photo is taken about 30 minutes from the farm.


There was also a thick fog at the farm when we arrived at about 11am. This is a photo from the top of the 1st hill once you get into the property. The smallest dam is about 400m to the left. As we drove down the hill, we spotted about 6 pigs at the dam. There was a white and black-spotted sow and a big black boar, plus about 4 others. We were lucky to spot them before they saw us but it didn't take long for them to notice us and off they went into the scrub.



We set up at the camp site as soon as we arrived - we wanted to avoid setting up camp in the rain.

To prepare for a really cold night, I headed off to cut some more fire wood. The stringy bark wood that I had previously cut just doesn't burn hot enough - I think the wood is still a bit too green. I had my eye on an old dead tree which was still standing at the edge of an accessible paddock. I fired up the chainsaw and got to work. It didn't take long for the tree to fall. Kath took a video of the tree's demise. There is nothing like the sound of a chainsaw at full throttle.!!




I'm obviously a happy little lumber jack!!!!

With a ute full of firewood, we headed back to camp.




Of course, every farm stay needs a fire - a bit smokey because the kindling was damp. Once the fire got started you couldn't stand within 6 foot because of the heat.


The fog finally started to clear at about 1pm and the sun barely made an appearance for Saturday.

While I should have started building the fence on Saturday afternoon, I decided to fire up my lastest toy - a 72cc petrol auger. This thing should have a hospital ward named after it!!!!!!



Rather than working on the fence, we took advantage of the evening and relaxed next to the fire.


At about 5pm, Kath and I headed off for a walk to the small dam to see if we could spot the pigs. We arrived at the dam about 30 minutes before sunset, but no pigs. We did see a fox running along a track. Fonzi also saw the fox and started to get anxious and make that "special crying noise" that makes you want to rip your ears off. At first, the fox was curious about Fonzi's crying and started to come closer, but once he had enough of Fonzi's noise he headed back into the scrub. Fonzi acts brave, but I don't think he would make us proud against the fox.

With only about 15 minutes of light, we headed back to the camp site. The full moon over the campsite was great and meant that you could get around without a torch.


After a great dinner of warm soup, we headed off to bed. Both of us had prepared for a super-cold night and had bought lots of clothes. Here's hoping we're not cold!

We both awoke at about 6:30am after a great night sleep. I was actually a bit warm during the night. A warm cup of coffee and Wheaties helped me wake up.

There was no avoiding the fact that we had to start building the fence along the north boundary. We drove the ute down to the boundary. This was Kath's first trip along the new path which I mapped out last time I was here by myself. I started to dig the hole for the first fence post with the auger. It was a harder job than I expected because I hit solid rock after about 30 cms. I managed to dig the hole down to 70cm, but it took about 3 hours on the auger and stopping every 5 minutes to break the rock up with the post hole digger.



While I was digging the hole, Kath was clearing a path for the new track, with Fonzi the site supervisor by her side.


Here's the first fence post finally in with the concrete poured around it. There was no time to sit and enjoy a job well done because the heavens opened up and it bucketed down. I was hoping the concrete wouldn't be washed away because it hadn't had enough time to dry.


After about 1 hour of rain, we headed back to the camp site to pack up and prepare for heading home. One final job, Kath planted two roses near the cabin site. We'll see whether the local wildlife enjoy the roses as much as Kath ;-).

There's still lots more work to do on the fence, so we'll be heading back shortly.