Like, OH WOW how lucky am I? I pulled up at our bush camp last night to find Gary almost bouncing off the walls with excitement. Big hug, "welcome to bush camp!" and a chair ready for me in front of the wonderful stone fireplace. Gary cooked up steaks on the fire while talking at a thousand miles an hour about generators, wiring, something something regulator something and then we settled into the traditional new home owner conversation about Which Walls To Knock Out, had a toast to our good fortune, pretended to feel sorry for George for a moment, then had a rambunctiously romantic night in our swag by the fire, listening to Wild Crazy Mouse Party taking place on the kitchen bench.
Honey slept in her dog swag next to the nice warm chimney, and in the morning we creakily struggled off the floor with much crackling of knees & spines and had a good old fossick around the place. "What the HELL is that???" "Look, an old rice container! We could use that for, um, something" "Hey, another old generator, we could fix that up and oh my god is that a bungarra hole under the house?"
There is an astonishing amount of Old Man Stuff which I am slowly cleaning & packing up for George. I'm taking the camera over today so I'll post some photos tonight. We sort of have phone & internet reception depending on which part of the compound you stand in. Steve's over there with Gary right now playing with the brand new generator that Gary bought at the hardware this morning. He rang me while I was doing the six thousand dishes in the mouse-plagued kitchen. "It's a Honda 5kva, it'll run everything, it's two thousand bucks." "Buy it! Whee!" It will be much quieter than the 1800's-era monstrosity which currently lurks in the generator shed where its horrendously loud engine would be amplified by the old tin walls, deafening us for an hour or two before bursting into flames or simply exploding. I've got Smokey and Ethel ready to travel in the bus so that they can get to work on the insects and mice.
Bugger moving in gradually, we're just moving in. It's so quiet and beautiful out there - driving out along the bush track is like suddenly being in Africa, gorgeous red soil, pale grass savannah, the twisty old gidgie trees and the clusters of shady acacia everywhere. We are well hidden amongst the trees, with great views of sunrise and sunset, and no screaming fights to be heard. I can't wait for our first emu sighting - there are lots on that side of town. George reckons snakes aren't really a problem, they are very sensitive to noise and stay away. Birds - we'll have heaps hanging around! I wonder if Gary would mind if I just pop round to Sherwood Station on my way back and turn up with a couple of baby pigs?
We were going to be sensible, practical and organised, taking our time to move in, but let's face it, impulsive random excitement is much more fun!
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