We left Bateman's Bay (BB) on Monday, January 29 in warm sunshine and took the northern loop to the Lipscombs. Our first stop was Canberra, the nation's capital and 'made' town. We drove to the Parliament Buildings and past some museums and then parked the car for a walk through town. Surprise! We found a Starbucks! Happiness, and an appropriately named mug. We picnicked at a rest area about 20 km out of Canberra. Unlike North American areas, this one was more of a lay-by right on the highway. There were 2 picnic tables with roofs to keep the sun off, and many flies. The available water was labelled NOT FOR DRINKING, but we had our own beverages. We ate and departed. Next stop, Gundegai, where the bus had dropped Tomas on his Christmas visit. Another brief stop and an opportunity to buy wine and an ice cream, and them we trusted to Tomas' directions to take us into Adelong and through to Chatam Cottage. About 5 pm we were pulling in the driveway, and within 10 minutes were seated with beer and wine and snacks on one of several patios. Felix and Kathleen were given Gerald's old room and Tomas had the luxury of having the B&B cottage all to himself.
Mark and Diana have 41 sheep and lambs on their 40 acre property. There is a drought and so water must be supplied to troughs and pellet food given each morning as there is no grass at all. We enjoyed helping Mark with these chores, more fascinating, I suppose, on such a one-off basis. It was also time to put ear tags in the lambs. This is a new gov't regulation which indicates exactly where a meat lamb was born and raised. Diana's brother Peter, who is a lifelong rancher, grabbed the correct animal and held its head for Felix to tag. No blood and the lambs were silent, so one will presume little pain was inflicted. Very pleased to see the next morning that the tags were still in place. Peter had his sheep dog, Pokie, with him and the two put on a great show of herding the sheep into the pen so we could start the process.
After such a hard and hot morning's work, it was a relief to head into town and visit the service club for a few cold beers. Felix and Mark challenged two locals to a snooker game and Diana and I were cheerleaders. Mark is treasurer of this club and more money is made off the 'pokies' (slot machines) than the liquor. Dinner that evening was at Diana's sister's home but Mark was a bit quiet as his English team were losing against Australia in a one day cricket match. We'd have to be in Australia a lot longer to figure out this game.
Mark and Diana have 41 sheep and lambs on their 40 acre property. There is a drought and so water must be supplied to troughs and pellet food given each morning as there is no grass at all. We enjoyed helping Mark with these chores, more fascinating, I suppose, on such a one-off basis. It was also time to put ear tags in the lambs. This is a new gov't regulation which indicates exactly where a meat lamb was born and raised. Diana's brother Peter, who is a lifelong rancher, grabbed the correct animal and held its head for Felix to tag. No blood and the lambs were silent, so one will presume little pain was inflicted. Very pleased to see the next morning that the tags were still in place. Peter had his sheep dog, Pokie, with him and the two put on a great show of herding the sheep into the pen so we could start the process.
After such a hard and hot morning's work, it was a relief to head into town and visit the service club for a few cold beers. Felix and Mark challenged two locals to a snooker game and Diana and I were cheerleaders. Mark is treasurer of this club and more money is made off the 'pokies' (slot machines) than the liquor. Dinner that evening was at Diana's sister's home but Mark was a bit quiet as his English team were losing against Australia in a one day cricket match. We'd have to be in Australia a lot longer to figure out this game.
1 comment:
Yeah, I'm sure that part is painless. But where do these lambs end up? :)
Post a Comment