Look!

windthrown

Here is my place last year... don't have to go anyplace for it, just open the back door.

Bandit chipper in the snow:

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Eric Frei

Dang, I could not live there!

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rick

Yep, Armidale-Guyra gets heavier snow than we do, much, much higher. It even drops a little sometimes up around Stanthorpe way.
The peaks of the hills in my pics above are only about 1000m ASL and we're around 460m here. Also the hills are much closer than those shots appear, the lens can really distort the view. (still capture on the digi cam BTW)

rick

But you Bris-Vegas people think it;'s cold when the overnight low dips under 15*C

Anyone around here that's lived with snow reckons the novelty wears off pretty quickly when trying to work outdoors.
It's fun for us when it happens, we all go a little crazy. When that dump occurred everyone drove to the top of the range to have snowfights, build snowmen, etc. We had a ball and it lifted everyone for a few days.

sueann

Well, the Barringtons and the Upper Hunter like Scone are a couple of hours away from here and Armidale is around 4 hours so I guess what happens weather wise from here to there can be a lot different. Can you ski on it up there?

I agree with Ekka though, nice to look at and maybe to visit, but I couldn't stand to be so cold for too long.

We can get the odd frost though, that's always beautiful, but it's damn hard to get out of bed when it's that cold so I'd have to hibernate if it got much colder than a frost.

sueann

Scone's got a great website -look!

Scone

rick

Oh, I'm further away (and higher) than Scone, although still in the Upper Hunter Shire.

Murrurundi

It's much cooler here than Scone, and it's too cold for tree's like Jacaranda's, you really have your work cut out trying to get one to survive.
The best we can do so far is stack straw bales all around them from now through till October.
It's not as cool as Armidale (no where near the elevation) but we tend to miss out on the extreme baking summer temps that Singleton up through Scone get, although last summer wasn't much fun.

windthrown

All this talk of scones and New England; sounds like Vermont to me!

Of course, if you think we get bad winters here in the US PNW? This is nothing. Back east in the US they get hammered with way more snow, and way lower temperatures. Of course its nicer South of here and all these photos remind me of where I lived in California.

I was up ski patrol training late last night. The snow was good and it was crisp weather. Mt Hood was spectacular, and we could see the other volcanic peaks of Mt Adams, St Helens, and Mt Jefferson. If you wear polymer underwear, you do not get cold at all. And we wre training so hard that we worked up a sweat most of the night.

Alas, summer is coming here and I am gearing up for white water runoff now. I am an avid kayaker as well. Which means... 'winter' is coming to Oz! (eerie music plays in the background).

sueann

Haha WT! Scone is said different to the scones that you eat, you roll the 'o' so you sort of say scohne - hard to explain - you go oh. Don't know about the eerie music but it can get pretty eerie in the winter when the winds howling and it's like 7c out there, and cold rain slamming the house. You can't beat the blazing fire and a spooky dvd though! with a hot milo or a bottle of nice red! and the dogs trying to hog the fire lol!

I chat with a lady in Canada on facebook, she wanted to chat with another lady about Australia and just picked me out of the blue, and because of her I chat with 5 Canadian ladies now. She told me they get -40 where she is. I don't know if that fahrenheight or celsius now so not sure, but I didn't believe her at first - I do now as I googled it. I can't even imagine that kind of cold whichever one it is!

You're practically outback Rick!! I think I've been past your little old farmhouse lol! is this it?

sueann

I'm just kidding but I would rather a little old farmhouse than a big cold old mansion any day!

Looks nice around your way from that website as well. I've been through there on the way to Tamworth and we go out to Moonan Flats a fair bit off and on, love the old pub there! That's a bit east of where you are though.

rick

Bugger, that's pretty damned close !

sueann

Ha!! I must be psychic! I wish I could read the lotto numbers.

But I was destined to be poor and work my heart out I think. Never mind. Eat, drink and be happy.

Oh boy! I read something, then follow a link, look at the pics, follow another link, read some more - next thing I realise I've been reading for an hour and my eyes are falling out of my head!

windthrown

Poor, with horses? Wow...

I wanna move to Oz. To have horses here you have to be very well off.

dov

You have to be rich in Aus to get horses. Owning them makes you poor...

windthrown

Ah, that's like the saying here:

How do you make a small fortune?
Buy a vineyard/winery with a big fortune...


Also an old quote from Billy Rose:

Never invest in anything that eats.

sueann

Well, I guess we're not exactly starving, and there's always vegemite!

If I won the lotto though, I could do everything I want to do PLUS! I could shout Rick some nice new curtains for his little old farmhouse and cheer the place up a bit.

sueann

I could change this,




Into this.

Eric Frei

I'd rather not change it personally. Something about the natural bush that has it's own aura.

Funny how one who chooses to live el-naturale out the bush wants to landscape everything.

Windy, find me woman who says they have enough money?

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sueann

You are right about that Ekka, I don't really want to change it that much, thing is, the creek is chocca's with a lot of debri from the trees, rotten old logs,twigs and branches that all fall in there, And it's pretty silted up as well.

The stream runs for miles, and it's going to cost thousands to have a bloke come in and clean it out. I don't want to mess up the eco system though, as there's blue tongues, goanna's, frilly necks and water dragons that hang out there, plus the birds, yellow tailed cockies, finches, lorikeets and rosella's, many different butterflies and frogs. The roos are always around that area as well.

It's not really the money so much, I just worry that getting the stream cleaned out will muck up the wildlife, so I just procrastinate and leave it alone so far.

I don't know what to do sometimes. But I think a lot!

windthrown

Huh? Sounds like your stream is ideal to me. We spend tons of money here to put logs and 'strainers' as they are called into streams. Fish habitat, and eco paradise. If you clear the debris you get higher flow rates, and more errosion.

sueann

Really WT? and here I am thinking it looks messy and untidy and the wildlife probably would like it better if it was clean and sparkly!

But what if it gets totally clogged up with rubbish and gets stagnent and whatever.

I was chased by a redbelly down the gully last summer, my husband reckoned it wasn't chasing me, we were both just going in the same direction but I was going way faster. Him and his stupid brother were killing themselves laughing when I was in mortal danger. He said I was in no danger as Cathy Freeman couldn't have caught me I was running that fast. I was scared witless!!

You do have to watch the snakes down there.

dov

The stream sounds absolutely delightful as it is. Why change it?

I remember a place I rented in Belgrave, Vic. The boundary was a creek with tree-ferns hanging over it and trees all around. On hot days off I'd sit with my feet on an almost perfectly shaped rock and let the water flow over them. One time a fresh water cray made it's way upstream just inches from my toes. I'd sit there with the fairy wrens flitting their way around, the dappled sunlight just enough to brighten the place, a nice cool drink by my side. Sometimes after a night-shift in hot weather I'd sling a hammock between two tree-ferns there and sleep in the shade and cool under the trees near the running water.

Long time ago now...

Getting back to Vegemite, I bought a jar for a couple of Nepali mates to try out. Might have to buy them another one, as I opened this one last night and it's half gone now...

sueann

That sounds delightful dov!! If you sit down there long enough and are quiet and still, the turtles will come out and you can see how the bush behaves when there are no people around. The wildlife takes no notice of you if you are gentle and quiet and blend in.

The dogs are made to sit quietly and they just go to sleep beside me, they know there is no running and chasing in the gully. I do love the bush, I would die in a city.

jmcg.insight.gardens

A good read is Peter Andrews, Back from the Brink, might get you thinking differently about your creek.

your farm sounds nice Sueann.

Eric Frei

Hmmm, here we go again. If he had a sister it would likely read him an his smart sister right?

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jmcg.insight.gardens

you keep setting yourself up Sueann....................

sueann

Well, it's not that smart to be laughing when someone is in mortal danger! Anyway, it's only a figure of speech, sometimes they're both quite smart - sometimes they're not! he does have a sister, and she is very smart!

Thanks so much for that info Julie - I'll go on ebay in a minute and see if I can find that book, its sounds excellent!

Julie! I found that book on ebay and bought it - it looks as though he is into horses as well, on the cover he's riding a stockhorse.
It sounds good, all about the eco system and thinking outside the square in Australia.