Gold Coast to Nanango

On the 15^th April we said good bye to our family and headed out to Judy’s place for a few days of visitations at Mt Sylvia. The devastation from the floods was terrible. Three quarters of Judy’s property was inundated in the January deluge and all fences gone leaving a terribly scarred landscape. Road Tech were busy with dozers and graders etc. rebuilding the roads and pushing debris into the gaping gorge which now crossed her property. So sad to see such a beautiful valley scarred like this.

We travelled up to Nanango during this week to meet our hosts before their departure and had a wonderful lunch with them. We were now more excited about our winter retreat.

 

 

 

 

Back to Judy’s and much wood gathering to keep her supplied throughout the winter. We cut about four utility loads before my back said enough. It was lovely to spend some time with her plus we also caught up with sister Heather as well.

As we were expected at Nanango on the 22^nd to start our induction we headed off   on Sunday to make the journey shorter and to ensure an early arrival on Monday Morning. We had a free camp at Harlin which only left about an hour to get to our winter destination.

 

 

After another lovely lunch we started to learn all that was needed to look after 450 acres, a 35 yo horse (Dusty), a 13yo dog (Lucy), Bella the house cow with calf and 32 cattle. We toured the fence line in the old Ute, inspected the dams and outbuildings and generally got familiar with our new surrounds.

 

 

 

It is a lovely property and we have a wonderful site next to a rotunda which has power and tank water with views to the north over paddocks. In the distance are the hills to the south of Kingaroy and we can almost see Jo and Flo’s place. Shower, toilet and laundry are in the house for us to use.

We were truly spoilt with Ria’s cooking and enjoyed their hospitality immensely. Learnt how to make buttermilk from the house cow’s milk smoked some meat in Gerrit’s home made smoker and sampled the delights of the expansive vegie garden and even had my first attempt at milking the cow.

Gerrit has a great workshop as you might expect from a retired cabinet maker and he taught me how to operate the wood lathe and I even got to make my first bowl with his guidance. Something to occupy my time with, over the ensuing months.

After four days Gerrit and Ria were ready to depart for the West and on Friday morning we bid them farewell and commenced our four month stay in charge of the ranch.

Bella smiling for the camera

Our days have just whisked by and certainly there is no boredom. Dusty needs feeding morning and night and that is about 1500 metres from home so a trip in the Ute has that sorted. The house cow Bella comes up to the house for tucker morning and night. I have now mastered the milking and manage a couple of litres every third day which keeps us amply supplied with fresh milk. The first morning was a bit slow and she pushed me away when her feed was finished and I only managed about one litre. Gerrit got about 4 litres in the same time but I am happy with my progress. She is a beautiful cow and very friendly.

Another chore I have is moving the two herds from paddock to paddock as required. Fortunately they are quite used to being herded and with a bit of Lucerne on board they will follow you anywhere.



Handcraft at Blackbutt

We have done a little exploring which included a trip to the Bunya’s on my birthday for lunch. We go to Kingaroy a couple of times a week as it is only about 24km away.  On mother’s day we went to Murgon for the markets but arrived a bit late. We then planned to have lunch at a great sounding café nearer home but unfortunately it was booked out so will go on the 16 May to celebrate our 43^rd wedding anniversary. We have been to the Blackbutt and Kingaroy shows which are very enjoyable and epitomise life in the country with all the attractions you expect.



220kg of Pumpkin at the Blackbutt show

On the way to Murgon we came across a caravan and car stopped on a dangerous part of road after they had hit a large roo which had smashed in the front of their brand new Nissan Navarra. The driver was of similar age and very distraught. As their car was not running very well I offered to tow their van back to town for them so they could get their car off the road. They were very grateful and it was nice to be able to help a fellow traveller in distress.

Since arriving I have installed a rear view camera system on the truck and van. Should speed up hitching and reduce the arguments and also handy as I have no visibility out rear window anyway because of the fit out I built in the cruiser. Ordered a new annex roof as the old one was mouldy and no longer waterproof. That arrived and I installed it yesterday.

A great shower of rain today has kept me inside so it is a great chance to update the blog. Life is good and we both are enjoying the country way of life.