sev-and-poliina: Old McDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O...

Last Saturday we went to Frank's farm. It's about half an hour drive from Goulburn (roughly three hour drive from Sydney), in the middle of nowhere, far from highways and civilization, tucked away amongst the bushland, hills, valleys and creeks. To get there we drove up the dirt road covered with big rocks and boulders, full of huge holes and cracks - I'm not even certain whether I should call it "a road", it was more like a track. Thankfully our big 4X4 Discovery made it with little effort.

Farm itself is not fully functional of course because nobody lives there. But when it comes to farm animals, there are 24 goats on the farm. Frank says they are low maintenance animals and take care of themselves pretty much. Frank only goes there on the weekends to give hay and pellet food to the animals and to make sure there is enough water for them but other than that... they are quite happy being home alone. Well, except when the fox comes around... they don't like foxes. Couple of goats have already been taken by the fox but that's just the

way it goes. Apparently the neighbours put out some fox poison around the place to protect their animals, we were a bit scared that Sophie might find it but we kept her in close range at all times and besides, she's not interested in finding food when there are plenty of sticks around to play fetch with :-D

There are also lot of other wildlife around - rabbits, kangaroos, wombats and possums. Oh, and don't forget spiders and snakes! There are lot of

snakes in the bush. That is quite scary actually. We saw a baby Brown Snake in amongst the fire wood that Stefania and I just had gathered and it

could have ended real bad but luckily nobody was bitten and the snake was "taken care of" if you know what I mean. Brown Snake is one of Australia's more deadly creatures. They have venom which can cause death to humans relatively quickly if left untreated. And it's a long way to the hospital... I also saw a web of a Funnel-web spider while gathering fire wood. They like to burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats - under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees. But in saying that, I have come across one in my office at work not long ago so

you don't have to go to deep bush to find a spider in Australia, they are EVERYWHERE!

One of the main things to do at the farm is riding motorbikes. Frank has quite a few of them there and kids - Luca, Stefania and sometimes Anthony and Matthew as well - just love riding them across the countryside, up the hills and down the valleys, dodging rocks and trees. They have had few minor accidents, small falls and bumps but no real damage has

been done and they get better at it every week. I was very impressed how skilled and confident they are! Jacob is still too little but one day, I'm sure he will join his older cousins in the Wild Farmer's Motorbike Gang ;-)

On one of the pics you see Sophie sitting on my lap which is very very unusual - she doesn't normally like to be picked up at all but on that day she climbed up because she got scared of loud noise of fire crackers that Luca and Frank let off. It was quite funny actually, I have never seen her so keen to get on my lap - poor thing.

It is an old Australian tradition to let

off firecrackers and fireworks on Queen's birthday long weekend. It's illegal now because of too many accidents and injuries that resulted in wrong and careless handling of fireworks. Shame.

Now I'd like to describe the farmhouse or should I say farm shed?! It is no mansion let me tell you! There is no water in the house so little tanks of water with a pump and a heater have been set up in the kitchen for washing and cooking. There is no shower. To flush the toilet, you need to turn on a tap to fill the water tank beforehand and it's

filled with rainwater I believe. A generator is used for electricity but at night the generator is turned off so only battery operated torches are used for light. And it gets dark at night!!! It gets really really dark!!! I thought that my eyes would adjust and at least you would see the shapes in the room but no - you see absolutely nothing, it's as if you are blind. At home we get streetlights glowing through the windows... electrical alarm clock's display... little red or green power button lights on other electrical equipment casting a small glow in the room and it makes such a difference. Out there it's only stars

and the moon on a clear night :-)

It's also very quiet. When the generator was turned off, there was not a sound - no ambulance/police sirens in the distance, no traffic, no planes, not TV, no radio... just big thick quiet. It would be a bit different in summer though with crickets and cicadas at night.

We had a lovely lunch prepared on the wood fire by Carmela and Maria. I don't know why but food always tastes better when you eat outdoors. It was sooo tasty! There were stake, sausages, bacon,

chicken and also fresh corn cooked on the fire - mmmm yummm :-P One of the best meals I've had for a while I must admit. Beats the restaurant any day if you ask me.

I also tried riding a quad bike. It was so much fun!!! :-) Stefania thought I was too slow but I always say - one little baby step at the time! I need few more lessons and bit more practice.

At night we went to nearby little town to watch the local fireworks. The whole town had gathered at the

Town Hall, they had huge bonfire and raffle and food stalls... It was lovely. It actually reminded me of Estonian mid-summer-night celebrations in my home village, except it was a bit too cold. I also saw gum-boot throwing competition for the first time in my life. It's not as exiting as you would think, but it's definitely something you don't see every day heh-heh :-)

Kids loved roasting marshmallows on the fire - that's another great Aussie tradition. You put the

marshmallow on the long stick and hold it above the fire so it would start melting a bit but not too close to the fire, otherwise it will burn and turn black. It has to be soft and warm inside when you eat it. Nice!

Overall we had a great time! I loved it. Jacob loved it. Phil loved it. And Sophie loved it too. But it was also quite tiring. On the way back to Sydney, Sophie had a good long deep sleep in the car while Jacob was watching a movie and I also snoozed on the backseat.

We would definitely like to visit the

farm again some day.