Well here we are, living in a truly stunning bush location that feels like the ends of the earth, but just a five minute drive to the pub for a hamburger. I just can't believe it. Meekatharra, for all its faults, keeps on giving - and I didn't have to look for it, or work at it, or wish for it. We're so happy here, and our relationship just keeps getting better. It's filthy, full of mice, completely ramshackle, but it's WONDERFUL. I'll get out with the camera this week and show you all what it's like at sunset.
Today after work I went for a ramble with Honey and Smokey while Gary got up on the roof to fight with the ancient TV aerial. It's just magic here - we found a big grove of trees, probably the site of an old cattle bore, full of all kinds of birds tweeting and singing, and I found a horse skull to decorate our gate tree. It's been pouring rain, windy and cold, for the last two days so yesterday we abandoned work and just snoozed in front of the big stone fireplace, listening to the rain on the tin roof.
There's no one else out here, no neighbours for miles. But everyone in town knows where it is, so we get visitors coming to say g'day, and when we're a bit more settled we'll have a big housewarming party - we want to have it formal dress, with white tablecloths on tables etc (then get wasted & act like Visigoths).
My evenings are busy with googling solar systems, DIY self-composting toilets and things like How To Make A Chicken-Powered Washing Machine Treadmill Using Recycled Carpet Matting And Paperclips.
So here is what we have at our new home:
1 flush toilet which we have discovered is just flushing poo into the back yard
Cold water running to bathroom, kitchen and wash shed sinks
5 big sheds
A screened sleepout room
A wraparound shade room
A 5kva generator powering our lights, TV and computers for a few hours each day while we're home
A scary tiny gas fridge which sort of works, sometimes
Thousands of acres of outback beauty
We are sleeping on our doubled-up swags on the floor of the main shed, in front of the fireplace, where we also have 2 extremely comfortable old armchairs that we found at the tip. Today we made a waterless toilet, which is a toilet seat with electrical tape holding it on to an old kitchen chair frame, with a bucket underneath. The bucket starts off with a layer of mulch at the bottom, then as you use it, you scoop a cupful of mulch from the accessory "poo mulch bucket" and sprinkle it over your deposit.
When the bucket is mostly full, you take it out to the Poo Pile away from the camp and cover it with more mulch; in a year it will be usable as garden compost. It's very eco-friendly and I suspect it will stink like a dead monkey in summer. We have big plans for better versions of the Bucket, including a His N Hers Scenic Pooing & Viewing area (bet you can't wait for those photos).
I've ordered a gas hot water heater which should be here next week, and then we'll get the solar system that I've managed to cobble together over the internet - we had people quoting us up to FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for a system to run our camp, and I've found all the bits we need for less than $2500. Every day Gary quietly reveals even more genius abilities as he fixes things and keeps us from living in the dark and cold; it is such a refreshing change not to have do everything myself!
We found our first snake! Gary put it in a bottle and brought it into the kitchen to show me, and I looked it up on the internet - a Banded Coastal Snake. The one he found was a juvenile, about ten cm long (they get up to 20 cm, a small snake), with beautiful black and yellow stripes. They are "mildly venomous", whatever that means, but very shy; they live in leafy debris, which is where Gaz found it. We've swept all the leafy mulch debris away from the compound and piled it up by our tip, where we also released the baby snake after we'd annoyed it for half an hour.
OK, back to snoozing in front of the fire!
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