Well its all gone a bit Animal Farm around here lately with some chooks thinking they're perhaps a little more equal than others! Ever since our lovely hens had a Christmas break down at Grant's, they've been getting a bit above themselves.
We suspect the hen above had ideas for writing her own blog or perhaps she wanted to redesign the hen-house using Autocad, whilst reading up on post and beam technology! And poor Milly was rather taken aback to find them roosting on her bed the other day -
The hens moved to Grant's place, 15km down winding roads, for a week whilst Tam, Milly and Jen took a road trip down to Dungog to spend a few days with Clare & Shane.
Moving the chook house to Grant's using the trailer was Jen's great idea.
Unfortunately she had to work at Nimbin Organics on the day of the BIG and utterly back-breaking move, leaving Grant and Tam to get the job done.
All agreed this was a 'Never To Be Repeated' exercise. However, their home from home was a success and as Grant chooses not to celebrate Christmas at all (ie. no roast dinner), we felt they would be safe with him! Grant enjoyed their occasionally ridiculous antics and a regular supply of eggs for a week or so! Thank you so much for taking such good care of our hens Grant!
The chooks and their house are now reinstalled at our place and the girls, being well-travelled and worldly wise, are more adventurous than ever. Throughout their entire escapade - being packaged up in Tooheys boxes and transported along bumpby roads and back again a week later - the hens didn't miss a lay, and so we have collectively and with great affection named them The Lay-Team!
The road trip south - we took the inland route, avoiding the Christmas traffic on the coastal Pacific Highway. We firstly headed West to Tenterfield, winding our way up onto the Great Dividing Range - a vast plateau (1200m above sea level) and series of mountain ranges, escarpments and gorges spanning 3500km North-South along the Eastern side of Australia.
We then headed down the New England Highway, which was almost empty of traffic. I neglected to take any photos of the breathtaking landscapes we were passing through. However, somewhere near Glen Innes we came across this marvelously tacky and utterly incongruous rest-stop sign:
Just South of Armidale we headed off the highway onto the
160km Thunderbolt Way, named after Captain Thunderbolt (aka Fred Ward), a notorious 19th Century bushranger renowned for escaping from Cockatoo Island prison and committing over 200 crimes ranging from highway robbery to horse-stealing. His rather hardcore wife, Mary Bugg, allegedly swam across the shark infested waters to Cockatoo Island, carrying tools and food, to assist in her husband's escape.
These days Thunderbolts Way offers fantastic scenery and a thought provoking glimpse into the ancient and verdant landscape that original Australians enjoyed. Rolling tree-clad hills, winding valleys, bubbling brooks and waterfalls, vast horizons and hardly a vehicle in sight. And thankfully no modern-day Thunderbolts to take advantage of our remoteness.
Driving down the dramatically steep and winding road off the plateau we hit a wall of cloud and the incredible views were blanked out by a thick layer of fog. However, a detail in an Aussie anti-littering sign did catch my attention!
So onwards to Dungog and the glorious hospitality of Clare and Shane. We delighted in their house renovations since our last visit, particularly their new kitchen (the self-closing drawers were a sensation!) and thoroughly relaxed after the long trip.
Christmas day was a wonderful family affair, with 4 generations of the Hannon family sharing a huge festive feast - fresh Aussie prawns, divine salmon en croute and sumptuous turkey cooked in chocolate, Mexican style. Is it any wonder that we didn't manage to fit the pavlova in until a late breakfast on Boxing Day.
Birthday Blues: of course this was the first time ever that I've not been with my boy, Jake, on his birthday on Boxing Day. However, phones are a wonderful thing and we spoke a number of times throughout the day - I coped, with a bit of help from my lovely friends.
And after the over-indulgence of Christmas with Clare and Shane, a change of scenery was in order. So off to Hawks Nest to Shane's parents Gail and Peter's house by the sea to.....well.....carry on over-indulging with Clare and Shane of course - assisted by a lovely sea-breeze!
Life on the verandah at Hawks Nest: Well, I have to say it was hard to escape the verandah, what with the continual flow of fabulous and various consumables - for example the home made dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) being prepared by Tam and Clare above. We occasionally took strolls on the beach, taking in the views and sea air. We even braved the surf one day.
Its a hard life! Thank you Clare and Shane for a wonderfully relaxing and utterly over-indulgent break!
And here's Milly, sniffing the sea breeze and enjoying the freedom at Hawks Nest!
CHICKEN UPDATE (19th Jan) : well, its a very sad day here. This morning I discovered that one of our hens had been mysteriously 'disappeared', with just a small spot of blood in the nest box and a few feathers remaining. Most likely a carpet python. Its shocking and very sad. The other three hens are refusing to go into their pen and are roosting independently in various locations around the outside of the house. Life and death in the jungle.
Winner of the Biggest Plant with Biggest Flower competition has to be this beast of a plant (shown above) growing at the end of our drive. This is how it looked a couple of weeks ago when we noticed a giant asparagus-like flower-spike emerging from amongst the huge leaves.
And this is how it looked this morning - the flower-spike must be about 30 foot tall now, and rising! Something tells me this is not an Aussie native. If anyone can tell us what this plant is, we'd love to know. How tall will it grow? Watch this space! And, just to shatter any illusions you may have about Aussie weather, please note that Tam is wearing a long sleeved top and rain hat!
Back at the ranch, we've treated ourselves to a new push-mower, to reach all the rough bits that the Duchess can't get to. This is MY mower (as opposed to the ride-on Duchess, which is undoubtedly Tam's) and it's definitely paying dividends - my tummy muscles are getting a regular and much needed work-out. Of course mowing is limited to dry days and whilst the Southern regions of Australia are suffering an apocalyptic heatwave (officially due to Climate Change) we are experiencing irregular heavy rainfall or drizzle with occasional hot spells inbetween. So everything, including grass, is growing at an alarming rate, leaving little opportunity to mow.....
Check out these Strong Gels: having successfully loaded the trailer with wardrobe, scaffolding and lots of other cast-offs from sister in Brisbane, Felicity and Tam were suitably pleased with themselves! We plan to construct a shed or car port using the scaffolding - any design ideas very welcome.
