scutterUK

Hey there. We're pretty lucky, as burra has the mountains between us and the monaro so we don't get any traffic noise! well just the occasional plane gliding in to the airport, but nothing much. it's pretty quiet here. some days you can hear people talking, and you'll be looking around to see where the voices are coming from but not see anyone. the voices can actually carry from our neighbours if the wind is blowing in the right direction. other days you'll just heard nothing but the odd bird or cow mooing... no birds chirp, but you knew i meant that right. very peaceful!

I'm not sure whether it is becoming more popular, i've been speaking to a few people now who seems to think the opposite. there are a few big estates out near and around us that initially sold quite quickly, but the developers have made a hash of the services. there's crazy stories about water for these estates being provided by a bore, but the developers charging rediculous fees to use it. so people are installing their own tanks so they don't have to pay.

there's also a new estate opened up just down the road from us, in burra. Someone sub divided their estate into umpteen smaller plots ranging from 4 - 40 acres. to do this they had to fill in all their existing damns (what a waste!) that were on the property and lay in roads, drainage, fencing, you can imagine the infrastructure involved. well it's now been up for sale for about 6 months, and not one plots have been sold, even after reductions in price and special offers! they've had tv adverts done and everything, yet nobody is buying. mainly because the plots are, to use a professional farming term... CRAP! so someone is in serious trouble with there bank manager! even so there's another estate further down the valley which is currently under development.

there is one plot on there that's a community block and has a big damn in the middle which was filled using bore water (another big upset for the locals!) so it's beautiful and clear. it's now an ideal dog swimming hole which we take advantage of on a regular basis! (we've even swam in it when it's been really warm, but the bottom is just mud so not great).

the defence building is build built on the opposite side of googong damn. We don't think it will affect us much, but i'm sure when it's built things will sell faster than they have been. i think that's what people are hoping with these two estate. it's still quite a treck from us though so i don't think we'll be too affected. there's supposed to be a major development coming in around here, again on the other side of the damn, to take care of the personelle in defence. small houses, shops, service stations etc. so who knows. poeple might move out our way to get out of suburbia!

now the bike is still under negotiation. i've been looking at buying a do'er'uper to get me going, but i'll see. money is really tight at the moment so fingers crossed. i've still got my eyes on a new 1200Gs adventure for weekends, but apart from selling the house and kicking tammy out i can't see that happening!

I will keep you informed!

scutterUK

hiyah lass!

i was expecting you to come blurting sooner or later! how's it all going with ma?

sasbear

Hi Leigh,

I would love nothing better - I could possibly get work in a school in the middle of nowhere - I am cdertainly considering it in the future - but the only problem is hubby would struggle to get work and the youngest has started college - but I would love to move to the middle of nowhere in the future!

I suppose I am anti-social - or easy to please?? I only require

Food & water & alcohol
books
internet connection
music
oh - and hubby to cook for me!

Sarah

scutterUK

yeah i could move out there too. as long as i had a motorbike and broadband i'd be happy!

well i have broadband here so i'm half way there. lol

i was thinking originally of moving out to the sticks and setting up a mobile computer repair, building, fixing, networking, web and brochure design person.... basically your one man computer and design geek. well it was a dream anyway.

tiredwithtwins

that'll be the voices in your head

tiredwithtwins

ok....sorry....didnt mean to hijack your thread.....come back leigh

welshpom

I moved to a semi-rural town, Goolwa (pop 4,000), and will very soon be building a house on 100 acres on Hindmarsh Island. Having watched "Remembering the Rain" on ABC2 last night I'm under no illusions that this represents true "rural" living. We'll be 10 minutes from Goolwa and 90 from Adelaide CBD. However it will be out of suburbia.

MrsDagboy

Hey Matt, good luck with the contract, is it down Greenbank/Jimboomba way?

Simone

Ohhhh, I'm so jealous!!
I've never lived on a big farm though, just on a 4 acre one with chooks, goats, two dogs and a rabbit, and the neighbours horses. And that was when I was about 13, with my parents.
Don't know how we'd do with a really big one...

I'm looking forward to McLeod's daughters starting again, next week or so

scutterUK

it's ok at the moment, but we've got about 2.5 acres around the house that is just grass... dead grass at the moment. but in early summer we were cutting it every weekend, with a push along mower!! i would have gladly let you experience having a larger (ours is quite small considering ) property then! we're still saving up for a ride-on

it's pretty cool though... the best thing about this place is this ...

(see the pic!).

it's a lot tidier now though.

additional... i just realised i've started to sound like my dad!!!

additional, additional... it's not a bad way oh life if you can do it. we knew bugger all when we bought the place, but now we're competant fencing people, we're a lot wiser about fire hazzard and protection of property etc! now we're cow sitting for a neighbour we're a lot less worried about the 6 foot tall grass we had in our paddocks. the cows are making nice work of keeping it down.

tiredwithtwins

blimey leigh, it'll be like painting the forth bridge cutting all that grass with that titchy mower!! by the time you've finished it will be time to start again!!

bet the folks back home are somewhat gobsmacked when you tell em you are cow-sitting 40 cows for a neighbour.....what do the blokes at your old firm think?? good poke in the eye with a sharp stick for your ex boss huh??

lol....pmsl at the thought of 'cow-sitting'

take care big guy...

sue x

Simone

Lol, that's what I meant with 'don't know how we'd do with a really big one'.
Can be a lot of work!!

My parents have 1 acre of mostly bush, and that's already a lot of work! Lots of peppermint trees, and they burn easily too! So the ones around the house have to be trimmed.
And it's not nice and flat, so no easy mowing.
Part of it is more an orchard than bush, but with different levels. So not even that can't be neatly mowed.
Were down there in October, and I spent half an hour wippersnippering, then got sick of it!
Then Pascal spent about 2 hours doing it! Was amazing how long he lasted! And with all the mozzies too(big mozzie plague down there). Grass was a metre high at that stage, and most of it still is now...nice and dangerous. They've got the house clear though.
See photo's here:
http://britishexpats.com/blogs/theno...d+Gelorup.html

Ohhh, nice big shed! (I'm starting to sound more and more like my dad, even though I'm a girl )
Dad's built a shed(a little bit smaller I think). We helped put the concrete in. Omg, what a saga, if ya wanna have a laugh, read here:
http://britishexpats.com/blogs/theno...day+Blues.html

scutterUK

yeah we NEEEEED a ride-on that's for sure. but it's not growing as fast now. we went through a month or so of doing it every weekend. it's good for loosing weight though! then the rain stopped and it all died away. a few days of rain though and you can see it all greening up again. i can live with doing that for a few months, rather than spending a few grand on a ride-on we will only use 2 months a year.

we hire a small slasher from kennards for $124 for a day. we had it over christmas eve and christmas day so we got about 4 days for the price of 1! We were actually out there christmas morning slashing firebreaks around the house and the bigger paddocks. it was quite easy work though and looked cool when we'd finished. a neightbour then said he'd come along with his tractor and slasher to clear the rest and put a good break in around the house.

the guys where i work think it's great! they've told my boss, who thought he had a big place (2 acres) , and he was a little pissed off. lol

we've actually got someone coming up to look at putting 7 horses in the paddocks too! that'll make roughly $140 a week for doing sweet FA! and the good news is they eat all the grass!

scutterUK

our lass loves wippering. we went through 4 whippers, 2 different makes and models before we found a good one. Here's a good piece of advice for anyone thinking of buying one. forget the cheap $100-$200 2 stroke petrol whippers, as they're crap. we bought a small GMC which kept snapping the pull cord, so we changed it for another we just stopped one day (2 days after getting it! and no it wasn't lack of petrol!). we then had 2 ryobis (however you spell it) which leaked oil from places they shouldn't. the bolts kept coming loose that held the engine casings together. we had two of these, and the second one the carb nearly fell off! total crap. by this time we'd had enough so spent money we didn't have and paid $670 on a 4 stroke honda. i tell ya, this thing is a beast! we should have done that first. it's never missed a beat or anything and there's no mixing the oil and petrol either.... anyway... i digest... i mean digress.... it is a tough job that's for certain.

loved the story about the garage. iv'e been there a few times! it's always a panic when they're deliverying the stuff. when you're mixing your own it's easier, but still a pain... and not something i'd do on that size slab!

the garage here is great! big enough to get the triton, the falcon with the dog trailer still hitched up, and still have the garage doors closed with room to work at the bench. bluddy great it is! me dad is soo jealous! all i need is a bike in there and it would be perfect!

to be honest though, having 40 acres isn't much more work than having 5. we only maintain 2 acres around the house, and the odd piece of fencing that might need looking at. we paid in total $300 for the firebreak to be put in and that wasn't hard work. it'll be a lot easier next year, as the longer we keep the cows and horses here the shorter the grass will be. so next year, hopefully, we wont even have to do anything about the firebreaks. we're even thinking of getting a few sheep to roam around the house so we don't even have to cut the lawn!!

Simone

Yes, get some sheep.
Don't get goats, whatever you do. They're oh so cute(especially the angora goats), but they'll just keep escaping!(under, through and over fences...)

I don't know what whippersnipper my parents have got, but it was doing alright.
I can remember one they had years ago, that just kept snapping.