ANZAC Long Weekend

We arrived at the farm under cloudy skies and it wasn't long until the rain turned up. Our first day for the ANZAC long weekend was spent catching up on sleep and listening to the rain on the tin roof. While it was a bit inconvenient, it was good to catch some rest.

We ended up getting about 20mm of rain in the afternoon and it was enough to top up the primary water tank. The spare tank is still a bit low as it doesn't get as much water into it.


That night (at about 3am) Kath and I were woken by the rain beating down on the roof - so loud that we almost needed ear plugs. There was an occasional drip in the shed, but it was condensation on the cold roof, not a leak.

The weather the next day was kinder to us. Kath spent a few hours mowing the grass around the shed. Here is her handy work.

The sound of the lawn mower was frequently interrupted by the unmistakable sound of the lawnmower blades hitting a rock, followed by Kath shouting expletives at the lawn mower!

With the rain eased off, we were able to light a fire. The fire didn't get really hot as the wood was still wet from the earlier rain. Here's Fonzi demonstrating his begging skills (which he does very well!!)

The main job for Kath on this trip was to plant some trees near the river bank. We have a little bit of soil erosion at some parts and it would be good to try and control it.

You can just see the plastics guards around the trees in the distance.

This is our new lemon tree, which has been planted just behind the shed. I built the tree guard from left over fence netting. I call them tree prisons. Hopefully they keep the wildlife out.


This is a little garden which Kath made next to the cabin site. I think she planted bulbs in there.


Here's another (smaller) tree guard around a native tree which we planted about 50 metres from the shed - along the driveway to the shed.

These are the other native trees we planted near the driveway to the shed.

This is another view of the lawn mowing which Kath did. I think it worked out to be about 1/2 an acre.

These are the rest of the trees with tree prisons around them. Stella and Elvis have been battling to stay alive as something keeps eating their leaves. Hopefully this will stop them. We have also planted a Pecan tree and a Walnut tree and I would like to give them the best chance of surviving. Now we just have to worry about the severe frosts at this time of year.

While Kath was happily gardening, I took some time to work on my favourite project, the fence. I was hoping to finish the job this trip but I just didn't have enough time. I ended up making some good progress in relation to straining to longer part of the fence, so it is ready to finish off on the next trip.
By the end of our trip, the clouds had gone and the weather was perfect (not too hot or cold). It was time to say goodbye to the farm for a while as we had some plans for the next couple of weekends.