Eight Months since leaving Blighty!

Pondering the changes: I'm sitting here listening to Massive Attack (some things never change), Tam and my nephew Charlie (recently arrived from Eire) are in the kitchen chatting and preparing dinner and I'm enjoying my screen time!

We have no TV, no DVD player and no broadband, which is great! I very occassionally and momentarily miss being able to veg out in front of the tv. I more often wish I could surf U-Tube and check out the recommendations sent by friends (which simply take too long to download on dial up), but mostly I wonder when I ever had the time to watch tv in that previous life. I asked a local friend recently if there were any excellent films to be highly recommended that I may have missed in the last eight months and he couldn't think of a single one....however, please if you have any recommendations, let me know.

Listening to music and the fantastic ABC National Radio are mainstays. ABC radio is even better than Radio 4 - yes really - not least because I'm learning so much about this country - the history, the social documentary, the politics, the personalities, the different world view....

We have local Nim FM community radio which can lurch from fantastic to abysmal in terms of quality dj-ing, but is always entertaining one way or another! And perhaps I'll re-live my pirate radio days and get a regular show one day. I find I listen to a greater range of music, hungry for new sounds (hint hint). I'm glad to have let go of tv. It feels good.

I definitely suffered culture shock for the first few months - hard to describe the actual feelings, all I know is that I now feel settled and am no longer in the throws of it - whatever it was. Without doubt part of the shock was very, very personal - the change in my personal culture, rather than general culture. In retrospect, leaving Jake was deeply traumatic for me and I can now, with the cushion of time, allow myself to see that. I was numb. I put one emotional foot in front of the other. To an extent I'm still doing that, but the process has become normalised. And thankfully we have the luxury of cheap international phone-calls.

Life is simpler on some levels, more complicated on others - the complications however are the one's I want - how to develop the garden, how to build a workshop/guest room, how to make a living in a rural environment, making sure we get all the shopping we need when we're in town. The simplicity is welcome, oh so welcome. The elemental side of life is more immediate at a daily/hourly level - water, heat, growth, decay, light, dark, rain, wind, moonlight and sunshine. All are more significant here, away from the street lighting and convenience of town life - and I love it.

And having the chickens is a very fundamental experience - producing our own eggs, our own first class protein from living beings we're responsible for. And we harvested broccholi for the first time ever today and a very small aubergine! Tam has finished the deluxe chicken house (see above) and the four hens have settled in very well, not missing a beat in egg production with the move to their new home. If only I could be so adaptable!

We'd love to know that you've read this so either leave a comment, email us at above address (top of page) or write to PO Box 45, Nimbin, NSW 2480, Australia. Any CD compilations of your current favourite sounds are very welcome!

Peak Egg Production

We are so proud of our lovely hens - we've had at least 1 egg every day since they arrived just under two weeks ago. This morning they eggcelled themselves, producing 4 eggs between them- that's an egg each, peak production!

Here they are (see above) getting down and dirty, dust bathing at the end of the patio during their afternoon free-range. Chicken House Mark 2 is coming along slowly, mainly because there's so much else to do, and we keep redesigning it! Such is life.

If only we could let the hens free-range in the house - not an option, obviously too messy! Rather large arachnids regularly appear and we've observed that the chooks quite like to nibble on a spider - they've been known to fight furiously over them. But then the spiders catch the flies, so the spiders do a good job - if only we could stand having spiders around!

Tam and I are both getting a bit braver at dealing with the medium sized spiders (like these Huntsmen). We'll catch them and redistribute them to the far reaches of the garden, because we simply can't cope with them wondering around the house and appearing here, there and everywhere.

However, it's the really big spiders that freak us out - that's when we get Tam's industrial vacuum cleaner out and hope they don't run too fast.

Ho hum, life and death
in the Aussie bush.

Care for a tincture at the local hostelry?

We've been Clived!
To Clive (vb): to render helpless with laughter and good humour. Clive arrived some weeks ago and stayed for some time! And oh how we laughed, from the moment he arrived - we laughed with him, at him, about him, at ourselves - I haven't laughed so much in a LONG time. Clive is hilarious, especially when he goes all Lesley Phillips on you.

And in return, Clive has been Nimbin Rocked - rendered helpless with relaxation upon various Nimbin verandahs (see sketch of view from the Community House verandah above by Clive). He arrived at our place after dark, having been driven up winding mountain roads, and was quite blown away with the night sky, the surrounding forest and the possibility of ticks and leeches!

Photos show Clive, Grant & Tam on a walk up at Mt Nardi, surrounded by tree ferns, palms, epiphytes (ask Piers!) and the occassional carpet python! Clive and I nearly trod on one python curled sleepily in a patch of warm sunlight lying in the middle of the path, before Grant spotted it. Carpet pythons are not generally dangerous to humans, as they are constrictors and their bite is not deadly. However, I wouldn't want one wrapped around my arm!

Further along the track - what is it about the male species that requires the average bloke to go to the very edge of any impossibly high precipice and scare ME to death? Please explain in less than a hundred words!

Clive got on really well with the Martin clan. Len and he typically and fondly describe each other as 'utterly insufferable'; Kay took him walking through the Nimbin Rocks forest to the waterfall, spotting a goanna and a possum with a baby hanging on; and Grant and Clive shared some relaxing times on the CH verandah, chatting and soaking up the view.

After a week or so he cheerfully headed South to Sydney and Melbourne, saying, 'its been great, I've had a wonderful time. I'll be back. How am I going to explain this to people back home?' Life in the Rainbow Region!

And the final picture, well, that was late one night at our place, Pink Martini blaring out and much dancing, drinking and, of course, laughter....

Wild Wooli & Eggsellent Developments

Karen & Ken invited us to join them for a couple of days at their rented beach house in Wooli last month. This was an absolute delight. Old-style Aussie architecture (clap-board and verandahs everywhere) and literally seconds from the beach. Wooli is about 2-3 hours drive South from our place and is surrounded by National Park. And the big bonus - dogs are allowed on the beach, which is great for Milly (seen above galloping at full pelt, ears everywhere, to Tam). Here's the extensive walk all the way from the house to the beach!

And here's the view at the end of the footpath, showing Ken & Karen indulging in a favourite pastime. We thought the beach was a bit crowded, but we coped.

We had a fabulous time, especially Milly, particularly as beaches are tick free zones. We didn't dip more than a foot into the Pacific as it was extremely windy and the sea was rough. We walked the length and breadth of Wooli - which isn't difficult as Wooli is a long thin strip precariously perched between the sea and a wide river, about 150 metres wide and crammed with ramshackle beach hideaways.

We searched the surf for whales that may have been returning South with their new born young. We were rewarded, not with whales but dolphins bobbing in the waves just off shore. We saw sea eagles and brahminy kites, thousands of tiny crabs marching across the sand, fantastic rock formations, beautiful driftwood, wide horizons and big skies - a refreshing escape from our forest hide-away. We've booked for a week in March to share with Gina and Georgie when they visit next year and may extend to two weeks.

Wednesday 8th October was a big day in the Martin-Yeld household. Our beautiful girls arrived, Un, Deux, Trois and Little F - four lovely white hens - gifts for Tam from Ken & Karen on her 40th birthday. We are in the process of designing and making a chicken house/tractor. Unfortunately, Chicken House Mark 1 failed miserably. We were attempting a polytunnel style run covered in predator excluding fencing - it all went horribly wrong and we are now going for a more traditional A-frame based design. Watch this space.

As the more observant among you will know Tam's birthday is in June - some time has passed since being presented with 4 delightful chicks, which have been growing steadily and residing with Ken & Karen's flock. After 3 months waiting for us to get our chicken-housing act together, Ken & Karen threw us in at the deep end, offering to lend us a temporary run (shown above), and delivered the chickens that very day!

And so our hens arrived and our life with chickens commenced - and we love them. Protection from egg snatchers and predators is essential - snakes, goannas, wild dogs, foxes, rats are all likely to be in the locality and seeking a good meal. Much to our delight, and impressivly only 48 hours after their arrival, Little F (identified by the feathers on her legs) presented us with a Little Oeuf (see photo). To have been rewarded so soon after their arrival is a blessing. Humble yet cherished beginnings.

Once Chicken House Mark 2 is complete we will free range them every afternoon, limiting the opportunity for predators and maximising the likelihood that they'll lay in their nest box, as they apparently most often lay in the morning. We are SO very proud of our hens and will keep you posted on their productivity, housing status, welfare and, hopefully, survival....

I'm off to make a very small omlette!