Merry Christmas and the year that was.

I thought it fitting that our blog should be in the christmas spirit so hence the very christmassy background.

The sun is shining today and hopefully the ground will dry out a bit before rain is forecast again next week.


Here's a bit of an update.


 3 more days of school left. Harison recieved an academic award for academic achievement at school yesterday. Timothy's awards night is next week where he too will be recieving an academic award . Elliott was lucky enough to achieve a credit in the University of NSW maths and english testing for kids. Both Elliott and Harison recieved excellent end of year reports.
 Obviously they take after their mother with their academic abilities!!

Allyson is off doing her Bronze this weekend. Looks like Allyson maybe heading to New Zealand to start a degree in primary school teaching. Why NZ you ask, well because her gypsy blood is calling for her to travel. For those of you who don't know Allyson decided to leave the Navy so she could persue a teaching career which I think she will be much better suited to.


Elliott has had a busy year learning guitar, african drumming, choir, nippers, tennis and also being in the winning grand final basketball team. He is also trying to breed guinea pigs.

Harison started the year off doing nippers. He also tried tennis but wasn't fussed about it. He much prefer to sit at home with his pens ,pencils and paper and create. He also renewed his passion for Lego building Lego cities and creating Lego Harry Potter Monopoly games complete with hand written community chest and chance cards.

Timothy had a great start to the AFL season by being knocked out in the first ten minutes of the opening round. For this he got an hounarable mention in the local paper. He has completed his Bronze medallion also, is Jet Ski proficient and IRB proficient. He is now a fully fledged surf life saver as is Grahame. They both now do regular surf patrols with Pambula Surf Life saving club. He is also playing soccer. Tim is now in his HSC year and is majoring in history.

He is just starting to drive on his L's after having had them for about 12 months already. He has had 2 minor "issues" on his motorbike and we've had 2 visits to the local hospital for him. (stitches and being knocked out).

We started of the year in a very big shed with a camping toilet,solar camping shower hung on a tree and a bucket to do the dishes in and slept on air mattresses.

Now we have a flushing toilet a shower, a partly built kitchen with a sink and dishwasher. We have our beds and make shift wardrobes.

We've all been busy building , making, creating, carrying, lifting,pulling digging, heaving and hoeing in order to make our home in the shed, our gardens and orchard,veggie patch and the house.
 It's been a very busy year and I think we have achieved alot in our short time here. But there's still a hell of alot to do.

Our orchard has been dubiously named Guantanamo farm by our (good) neighbors. This would be because from up the road it looks like a eyesore prison. Kids think thats a great name for it much to my disgust. So much for my quaint counrty potager.

 So I've had to plant trees and wisterias, climbing roses and jasmines around the outside of it. On the inside I have wild yam, grapes and passion fruit which hopefully disguise some of it's ugliness.

Why is it that all the men that see it say "now that's the way to build an orchard". Hey can't you see it's ugliness. But like Grahame keeps telling me it ain't going to fall down or rot and nothing can get inside it. Once your in, you can't leave.
 A bit Hotel California-ish!!

This year I've tried my hand at soap making, cheese making, bread making and lotion and potion making. I've learn't to drive the tractor, operate the post hole digger and use the bucket to move tonnes of dirt. I've planted nearly every plant bymyself and create all the veggie beds. I have also completed another subject of my Naturopathy study.

Allyson and I also just popped over to Thailand and Malaysia (as you do) for 3 weeks in July to enjoy the craziness of the city life that is KL and Bangkok.



Bangkok





Allyson, when we went to a Thai cooking school.





The school that Allyson and Timothy went to when we lived in KL.

 Grahame has expanded his vocabulary of expletives to such a degree that's it's highly embarrasing when the wind is heading up hill(to the neighbors, even the good neighbors!!). He has been an electrician, a plumber a builder, a gardener, a fence erector, a home brew master(up grading to kegs instead of bottles) a repairer of all things. Including one of the roller doors yours truly backed into.

 He's played competetion squash and become a surf life saver. As well as being one of the few males who volunteer at both the high school and primary schools canteens. And amongest all that I've made him go and bring home some bacon (so we can build) from Canberra. He's also travelled to Perth, Adelaide Melbourne and Sydney throughout the year in pursuit of that bacon.

 Speaking of bacon, I was very pleased to find nitrate free bacon here in Merimbula. It's cured in pineapple juice and apparently very good. (I don't eat it).

All the rain has filled our 140,000 litre tank, the water hole is full and the leaking dam has water in it. The garden is growing the trees are growing, it looks like a good year ahead.

So the agenda for 2011 is to get the house finished.( Please GOD be on my side and not let me spend another winter in this freezing shed. Please GOD of the lotteries let me win lotto so we can complete house !!)

Let there be no more guinea pigs.

 Make the dogs stop barking.

Buy a milking goat, get the bees for the hive we have, get meat chickens .Then we should be fairly self sufficient.

Wow what a year. We have not looked back since we left Canberra. This has been the best thing we have done. We also left behind our need for TV. That has made such a difference in our life. The need to be at the shops buying things we think we need. I love that there are hardly any shops here, crazy I know but it really is great. I love that I don't have to blow wave my hair eveyday. Haha.I love that I can wear my oldest daggiest clothes all day and not have to go out.

 There's lots of things to love here.

We love our new life.