As the year ends.....

There are apparently 3 echidnas that live here and at least one of them likes to rustle around in the leaves around the van late in the evening. I tried to get a better photo but as soon as he hears a noise, he hides his face in the nearest tree or bush.  I think he believes that if he can't see you, you can't see him!

We went for a drive to Menindee when we had a day off and saw these gorgeous birds but I really need more practice with the camera :)

This is how hot the John Deere reckoned it was on Sunday 23rd December.  And it felt like it too!!!

We left Tandou after working that day, heading out about 15 minutes after we finished.  We drove home to Winkie that night and had a well deserved cold shower before sleep!  Leaving Winkie next morning, we went to Adelaide to catch up with the kids.  Although Callie knew we were coming, we surprised Josh and Kara just before lunch.  We spent the rest of Christmas Eve with them and Bun, Josh and Steven went shopping.  

This was the inventive wrapping that Bun used, 2 girlie posters from a Zoo magazine he found in Josh's shed!

Kara and Josh were wrapping a present for Steven in masking tape so that he would have a really hard time in the morning.

We slept in the spare room at Josh's that faces the back yard.  Someone was letting off fireworks and the dogs were scared but Boof managed to find where we were hahaha.  I think he's saying 'hey guys can I sleep with you?'

We took all four dogs down to Semaphore Beach on Christmas morning for a swim.  Only problem was the temperature, it was only about 18 degrees with the breeze!  I took about 5 photos trying to get everyone and all the dogs looking towards me but failed :)

We're nothing if not spontaneous.  After a very quick discussion, we decided to throw all the food, etc into eskys and drive back to Winkie.  Arriving just after 1pm, everyone got busy and we sat down to a casual Christmas lunch at 2pm.  The kids headed off to catch up with other family members in the afternoon and Bun and I went around the corner to see Sylvana and James.  We enjoyed a few drinks with them before getting to bed after 11pm.  Boxing Day saw us up reasonably early to see Patty and Marty as Patty had just finished night shift.  After that we went to Kate and Roger's for a late breakfast.  Then it was back to Mildura to stock up before coming back to Tandou.   It's funny how familiar it seems up here, even though we've only been here for 3 and a half weeks.  

This was taken at sunrise one morning, it was just a shame that we had to go to work.

I had some downtime the other day while the bosses did some 'bush mechanic' stuff on the rig and then they found that the hitch thingy (I'm so mechanically minded haha) was cracked and needed to be replaced.  They tried to blame me but the crack had rust in it so I knew it wasn't me LOL.  I told the boss that I was 'helping to identify maintenance issues'!!  On the up-side, I figure if I can wreck everything I touch, they will sack me and then I'll get to sit back in the van with my feet up and catch up on my neglected sewing :)

This was taken last night on the water that is only about 3 -4 metres away from the van. I was using the night scene setting on the camera for the first time.  The water was so still so the reflections were awesome.








Well I hope that 2013 is as awesome for everyone as I am sure it is going to be for us!! We have some plans in mind as well as some surprises in store later in the year but I am going to leave you all guessing about those.

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!!

Cheers from Anne and Bun

Tandou Farm

Thank goodness for GPS steering!  The grey dust here is amazing, if there's a breeze to blow it away it's good.  Otherwise it's like a white-out!

Bun got to play with the big boy's toys! He was ripping up a big paddock, each pass was 3.3km long. The total paddock size was 565 hectares.  He's ripping across the rows at the moment, then it will be ripped up and down the rows, then beds and furrows will be formed.

This was taken by Gaven, one of our bosses, at the end of another long day.  We do 7.30am until 7.30pm, we're supposed to have half an hour for lunch but that's usually done on the run so we get picked up from the tractors about 7pm and are back at the camp at 7.30.   By the time we unpack our bags and cook tea and get things sorted for the morning, there's really only enough time to shower and go to sleep so that we're up again before 6am.  

I'm now out in the 'back blocks' of the farm, discing in a paddock that hasn't been cropped for about 10 years.  It is EXTREMELY rough with big, deep cracks and full of roly polys and wildlife!  The kangaroos have obviously made it their home for many years and are not really happy about me chopping it all up. Every row that I do, I'm tooting the horn to move them out of the way.  The babies get a bit scared and go spastic, jumping every which way with the parents trying to herd them away.  On occasions, I've had to stop the tractor and open the door and yell at them :) The paddock size is 676 hectares and I'm on the first lot of discing. Once that's finished, it needs to be done crosswise then it will be leveled, then ripped before they make up the furrows and beds.

With the rain this morning, we have the day off.  The roads in the farm become very slick when they're wet and the paddocks become very sticky and boggy so we've had a slow morning in the van, reading and doing a bit of housework. There are a dozen farm-owned houses just across the canal and we've been invited to join Gaven and his family over there for a Christmas street party tonight.  We'll get to meet some more people and Bun was told that if he talks to the pastoral manager, he should be able to ride his motorbike on the property once he knows where he's allowed to go.  

Ben left last night for Europe so the adventure has begun for him.  We're looking forward to seeing lots of photos from him.  Callie is moving everything from Mildura to Winkie this weekend. Josh and Kara are helping, as well as Tom.  Between 3 utes and a couple of trailers, they should have it covered.  Hopefully the rain will stop long enough for them to get it all done.  

Josh and Kara will be in Adelaide for Christmas day as Kara will be working.  All being well, Callie and Steven will head down and catch up with them before going back to the Riverland to see his family.  Kate and Patty are going to be in Paringa for Christmas so there is a slight possibility of seeing them, if we don't have to work.  We have the truck booked in for a service in Mildura on Tuesday so will stock up again while we're there.

There's a 'hotspot' here at Tandou that we have access to so updates will be easier than waiting until we get to a town.  Only downside is that we're buggered at night and don't really have the time to do anything :)

At least it's easier to keep in touch through email and facebook.  Bun is hoping to get the bike registered asap so that he can go for a ride. He could probably go today but just said that he doesn't want his 'first ride' to be in the mud and then have all the cleaning to do! :)

That's probably enough for now,

Cheers

Very quick update

This photo was taken as the sun rose behind us the morning we left Canberra.  True to form it was an early start!  We left at 4.10am!! The weather was pretty calm for the first couple of hours and then the wind came up.  It blew like a bitch for the rest of the day and made for pretty steady going, especially across the Hay Plains :(
We ended up at Robinvale that night so it wasn't a bad effort considering the bad conditions.  There is a small caravan park near the Weir that was very quiet.  The next morning we went into Mildura to stock up on groceries.  While refuelling at Gol Gol, Kate rang and spoke to Bun for a while.  I think she got excited that we were that close and she and Roger jumped in the car and came to Mildura to meet us for lunch.  After a couple of hours they left for home and we went up the highway for a while and stopped overnight next to the Anabranch bridge.

Thursday morning saw us reaching Tandou Farm just below the Menindee Lake system.  We met up with Col who Bun had spoken to on the phone while we were in Canberra.  He took us around and explained how things work there and then we got settled in at the camp.  Next morning he picked us up and we went to fill out forms.
I mean WE because I got conned into driving a tractor too!   We are both driving John Deeres (big ones) and Bun is cultivating and fertilising while mine is cultivating and spraying, both in the cotton crop.
Bun reckons that every day that we both work will mean a full days fuel for driving in the truck, don't you love the way his mind works?

So this will be my life for the next few weeks!

In my latest workplace hahaha, and no, I'm not just posing for a photo in the tractor, this is the rig I've been driving!

This is Max, Sylvana and James' baby!!  We made a very quick overnight visit home on Monday for Mrs Spangler's funeral.  Callie has been puppy-sitting Max a few times lately and apparently he gets worn out and this is what he looks like when he gets back to his bed :)

The trip home was eventful!  Somehow I don't think so many things should have gone wrong in one day but they did.

We had a great idea for pay-back and decided to strip the sheets off the bed and take them, the towels and our dirty washing home and ask Callie to wash for us while we were home!  She did them too :) However as I stripped the bed, I put the blankets on the chair in the van and they covered up Bun's wallet and phone.  This was something that became apparent about 40 minutes AFTER we left.  The start of the road out to the highway is very rough so Bun decided that we were not going back for them.

We came down the highway until the Pine Camp road and then took the bush track.  It was very rough!! Unfortunately the day got worse when we turned at the Dangali turnoff back to Cooltong. We stopped at McDonalds in Renmark for a late breakfast and Bun discovered that the tailgate had been shook loose and dropped off!
We made a quick u-turn and headed back to the turnoff but someone had decided to pick it up and 'disappear' it!!

The only lucky thing is that when we got tool boxes made for the  truck, we took side panels off and Bun was able to get Bill Wilksch to make us a new tailgate that afternoon. This morning we left early and stopped in Mildura for a few hours to get the new windscreen fitted, then hit the shops for more food.

It sounds like we'll stay at Tandou until mid-Feb all being well.  They are happy for us to work 5 days a week and have Monday and Tuesday off, that way other people can have weekends off.  It doesn't worry us
when we have days off.

Callie and Steven are hoping to come up and camp over New Year and maybe Sylvana and James might get up here for a few days while we're here.  If anyone else thinks about coming up, let us know via text message because the service is pretty poor.  I tend to get emails and texts come through while I'm in the middle of the paddock!

We're just heading out of Mildura now while I'm typing so I'll finish up before the service drops out.

If I don't get to update again, have a safe and happy Christmas and I hope the New Year only brings good things!

Cheers
Anne and Bun

Update time




This was taken beside the Yarramalong Weir where we stayed for a few days before leaving Queensland.

These were taken when we stayed overnight at Lockhart on the way to Canberra.

Surfing time with Ben at Bateman's Bay last Monday, a couple of hours in the water and they were buggered!

Ben plays with his housemate's dog, Ping, she loves spending time with Ben.

We enjoyed just spending time with Ben, their new place has a nice deck but is in a row of townhouses so space is at a premium.

After Callie and Steven arrived Friday, an excuse was found to visit a chocolate house!  We visited again on Saturday with Martin, Belinda, Amanda and Lindsay.  A lot of chocolate was consumed, not least by Lindsay.  Once she stopped, she got a bit serious looking and then started to look a funny colour.  She was heard to say " I don't feel so good Mum"  Poor thing felt a bit seedy but didn't actually throw up hahaha.  Callie said she thought Lindsay was in a 'chocolate coma'!

Friday we paid for Bun's new motorbike and picked it up today.  It fits nicely on the truck where the Honda was supposed to go :)

Loving the artwork on this van!  The patchwork caught my eye first but Santa's helper looked so cute I asked for a photo :)

He said that this was their first stop for the day with their 'new' uniforms and I proved that their instincts were right, they are after smiles and perhaps photo opportunities hahaha.

The weather in Canberra was very hot and humid for most of the week but cooled off a bit today.  Callie and Steven will get dropped off at the airport by Ben in the morning on his way to work.  We will be leaving as well in the morning.  Could be pretty early if the guy in the caravan next door starts making noise at 3am again before heading off to work.  There are windy days forecast so we might decide to leave that early and beat some of the conditions.  

Cheers for now

In Canberra!

So now that we're in Canberra, I've sourced some technical support from Martin and now with another browser on the laptop I can put photos up!!

Now there will be a random selection of photos for you to look at while I get back up to date :)

This one was taken while still at Killawarra, I'm loving the sunset setting on the camera.

Phone service was pretty hit and miss at Killawarra so Bun thought this was the easiest way to hopefully complete a phone call to Kate :)

We spent a couple of hours down at the yards one evening watching them sort cattle to keep as breeders.

As I said, loving that sunset setting!

This is the guy who crept up behind my chair while I was reading one afternoon and then quietly slipped away under the shipping container behind the van.

Bun driving the header into Moonie the day we got to the property.

Bun and James, an Irish guy that worked with us for a little while.

Taken at Tottenham, supposedly the centre of NSW.

The truck clicked over it's first 10,000kms but not before...

a bloody rock got the windscreen!! What a bugger! I said afterwards that it's a good job that the UHF doesn't transmit unless you hold the button down because I cursed the other truck pretty well :)

Anyway that's a few to look at.  We went to Bateman's Bay with Ben on Monday and the guys surfed and I tried to get photos of them. On Tuesday we had a day around the area with Ben, Bun test-rode a motorbike from a really great shop but is still undecided about what to get and then we went Christmas shopping with Ben and got him a GoPro camera that he can use surfing, bike riding, wakeboarding, snowboarding, etc. He is a happy boy!

Bun and I are planning to borrow Ben's bike and helmet and go for a ride this morning.  Callie and Steven arrive tomorrow afternoon.  We had tea with Martin and Belinda last night but will be catching up with the rest of the family on Sunday.

That's us up-to-date!