Winter of 2013 in Nanango Qld

As our stay in Nanango is rapidly coming to an end I thought it time to bring the blog up to date and reflect on our stay here.

Natives in the garden

It has been nearly four months since we arrived and set up our camp and Gerrit and Ria’s beautiful property at Nanango in Queensland’s Wide Bay/ Burnett region. Four months seemed a long time to sit still especially for this little black duck as being a restless soul it could have been a trial for me. We fell in love with the property and animals and found plenty to occupy our time. Feeding the house cow and calf, morning and evening as well as Dusty the 35 YO. horse is my major chore. Aileene just loved the vegie garden and spends many an hour tending same. We have had heaps of lovely fresh vegies including beans, red and gold sweet potatoes, pumpkins, leeks, spring onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, endive , kale, wombok, silver beet, radish, sugar snap peas, beetroot, asparagus, capsicums, sweet peppers, zucchini, spinach, broccoli and of course parsley.

Milking the house cow came quite easily to me and after the first week and we were able to receive enough fresh milk to keep us continually supplied. Looking after the beef cattle is also a joy. Every couple of weeks or so they are rotated between paddocks to give the pasture a rest and I truly believe that the cattle also get bored as they do move around a lot and are always keen to move house. To entice them in an orderly fashion all I need to do is rock up near them with the ute and a few biscuits of lucerne and they literally eat out of my hands. We have two herds, one the breeding group with bull and a second lot of young ones growing up to be bred or on sold. A highlight of the past week has been the arrival of four new calves with quite a few more on the way. I have been like an expectant father and get quite anxious at night for the new mums especially after seeing a wild dog traverse the property on a couple of occasions.

The only other responsibility is to look after Lucy the red heeler, make sure the fences don’t get broken and water and maintain the gardens.

The Bunya Mountains area

We have explored the local region by taking drives along many local back roads and have been out as far as Esk, Crows Nest, Bunya Mountains, Hivesville, Goomeri, Murgon, and Gympie. Found some great 4wd tracks coming back from Imbil past Lake Borumba and over the mountains. We have been to the markets at all local towns but the Nanango markets on the first Saturday of the month are the best I have seen anywhere. You can purchase anything there from chooks and goats to fabulous fresh vegies and all sorts of produce and bric a brac. We have seen a couple of country shows some dog trials and a great Dexter Cattle show. Love those little Irish Dexters, really compact and beautiful animals. I guess as a Taurus I am biased.

Fungi in the Bunyas

Lucy

With a great fire pit next to our camp spot I have been able to experiment further with camp oven cooking. Have the roasts reasonably sorted and did a wicked lamb shanks recently. We have not been totally on our own with visits from family and friends providing great company and breaking up our time here. At about the half way mark I was feeling a tad restless and wondering how I was going to make it but that soon passed and now as we approach the time to go we sense a feeling of sadness as we will miss this place and for me especially the animals. After four months we sort of have a feeling of ownership and it will be hard to say good bye. I hope that Ria and Gerrit are satisfied with our input and will have us back again in a couple of years.



Dinner from the dam

For anyone with time on their hands, especially retirees I cannot recommend farm sitting more strongly. For a city couple it was a wonderful experience but so easy to handle. I guess it proved to me that I should have bought those 20 acres at Amiens near Stanthorpe that I dreamed of, ten years ago. Hind sight is wonderful I know but boy I am so glad we gave this a go and rest assured we will do it again. I would like to come back here one day and also try others in more remote areas. Although you don’t often receive cash remuneration for these sits the in kind support saves you heaps and you can save money, even living on the pension and a small super investment.



Some wonderful sunsets

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A Dexter bull with Aileene



Fantastic fire pit

One of the new born





The vegie patch



Next adventure UK and Europe (September and October) then back on the road south for the summer. After that I think next winter will take us to the real outback of NSW and Queensland
Bring it on……..!