Heading North and Haymaking

We were all up early on Tuesday morning and started on the long drive to Parkes in NSW. Jackson had muted the GPS on the ferry and we missed our first turn, necessitating a longish drive to get back to the highway. At least we know where Puckapunyal is now! And we can spell it too.

The Goulburn Valley Highway took us through Australia's fruit basket. The kids looked in vain for the Goulburn Valley tinned fruit crop! We joined the Newell Highway and missed our photo opportunity for the "Welcome to NSW" sign as there was no-where to stop. We also nearly missed seeing the rice crops in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area except for a well-timed text from Gran and Pap.

Sherriff Dubya Mallon

We drove and drove and a roadside fruit shop was a welcome stop  just outside Forbes, where the friendly people warned us that the Elvis Festival was on in Parkes and that campgrounds would be booked out. We suddenly decided to stop in Forbes and they kindly rang a campground for us. On the way there, Marcus got to work with a felt pen on the watermelon!

It had been a long couple of days so we decided to hire a cabin for our very last night in campgrounds. The kids were exhausted and butting heads, so takeaway Chinese (from one of Forbes' 5 Chinese Restaurants!) also seemed a good option before we all collapsed.

It didn't take long to reach Parkes the next morning, where we visited the CSIRO Radio Telescope which played an important role in the first landing on the moon (as in the movie The Dish). It has been upgraded several times and is still operational, so we got to see it being repositioned. The theatre there shows 3D movies about space, which the kids really enjoyed; as well as all the information about the telescope and the pulsars it discovers.

The Dish

Enthralled at Traintasia

Jackson had been hoarding a brochure from Traintasia which had been given to him way back in Queensland, so at his behest we stopped there when we got to Dubbo. The model train set up was brilliant and well worth the time. The Blunderbuss ticked over  30 000 kays not long out of Dubbo and Ella was almost hyperventilating with excitement when I turned the page in the map book and announced we were on the same page as Tamborine Mountain! I hope Bonnie and Clyde are ready for some lurve! Our route took us through some beautiful country and a lovely valley filled with corn and sorghum crops led to Tambar Springs, where we had afternoon tea in the home of the Diprotodon, to Marcus's delight. Pap managed to find another tractor to check out!

Lachie is looking for the horn!

We stopped in many towns to try to buy the Australian Geographic which had just come out. We were finally successful in Gunnedah and the Hermits (and Hermit grandparents) were very excited to find that we made the article! Darwin seems a long time ago now but there we were on the page at the Mindil Markets!

That excitement over, the weary business of reaching my sister's place in Manilla took place and we followed the Black Stump Way with the kids becoming more and more excited at the prospect of seeing their little cousins. It was a very excited reunion that took place late that afternoon. 7 year old Rueben made us all laugh, sounding exactly like his father, when he delivered the verdict on the light not working: "Yep, she's buggered".

Ella being brave!

The corellas, guinea fowl and Angus leaving to rake hay at 6 a.m. ensured an early start to the morning. Ella was keen to feed the pigs until she got up close and personal with them. She stopped in her tracks, terrified: "Mum! Help! They're screaming at me". Of course, the hungry porkers shut up as soon as she tipped in their grain and her heart rate gradually returned to normal. She and Lachie really enjoyed meeting the newly hatched ducklings out of the incubator and Lachie went on to help Cathy feed the silkies and clean all the pens.

Meeting the newly-hatched duckling

Jackson, Marcus, Rueben and Rory were busy building a communal Lego project. Lachlan and Corben had a lovely time making reindeer cakes. While everyone was busy, 18 month old Connor took the opportunity to get into the chook pen, where he had a lovely time cracking eggs. He wandered happily back, coated in egg and explaining "Crackers!" to everyone. He has probably coined his own nickname! Opening the family Christmas presents was the next job and all 8 kids enjoyed that! The accumulated treasures kept them all occupied for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to do the jobs again. Once the kids were asleep, Cathy and I constructed Jackson's Lego birthday cake for his birthday the next day.

Angus, the real Nocturnal Brother, is the only one missing!

Happy 14th Jackson!

Another duckling

We became hay contractors the next morning and all dressed in Angus's 'Nocturnal Brothers' shirts for a team photo before devouring Jackson's Lego birthday cake for morning tea. Pap and Lachie raked the lucerne and after checking the incubators (one silky chicken, another duckling and eighty chickens which should hatch the day after we leave!), we drove out to the property where Angus was making lucerne silage. Pap took over the baling and gave all the grandkids a ride in the tractor while Dave and Cathy went off to drive the haytrucks. Gran and I did babysitting duties until Cathy and Gran took a carload of tired littlies home at about 5 p.m. Lachie decided to go with Pap in the tractor after the baling was finished and they drove the tractor back to Manilla, which took a few hours. Lachie enjoyed tooting the horn at traffic as they drove along! Once Cathy left, I took over driving her truck. Michael, loading the bales into the trucks, awarded me L plates on my first run and I had progressed to green P plates after a few loads!

Fulfilling my truck driving ambitions

King in Grass Castle

Angus piled the heavy bales in the pit with his bobcat and we all had fun using the 2 way radios as we completed the job just before it got dark. Marcus and Jackson stayed to help and Jackson got to drive the bobcat which excited him so much he declared it was his "best birthday ever - by far!" Following Angus home in the truck, hooting along unfamiliar dirt roads in the dark was not much fun - the dust made it impossible to see and we almost collected a cow and calf as we raced to keep up with him - but we did make it home in time for our very belated Christmas celebration at about 10 p.m.

Birthday bobcatting

We had intended to leave early the next morning, but rain was threatening so we decided to stay to help get the next hay baled and picked up. Pap went off to bale the lucerne and got a bit done before the rain started spitting and Angus reckoned the crop too wet to complete. As we were leaving, Corben was helping Angus load the innoculant into the baler so they could bale and store the hay without any spontaneous combustion enlivening their already insanely busy life!

We headed towards the farm and it was an awfully long drive. We stopped at Inverell at the half way point for a quick, but reviving, coffee; stocked up on chips, chocolate and petrol at Glen Innes and motored on with tired, scratchy passengers and a storm brewing both inside and outside the vehicles! We hit incredibly heavy rain at Tenterfield which made the narrow Bruxner Highway with its tight curves a joy to negotiate. It absolutely poured all the way to the farm and we were relieved to finally arrive for a late cup of tea, toast and warm, dry beds where we were lulled to sleep by the green tree frogs!

Almost home!

Stay tuned ...