Towing and Pulling

Hannes' new toy, an old Ferguson tractor.

He is enjoying this work as he just sits there while I do all the work!  

He is also enjoying the fact he can shout out orders

and act like the boss (for a change)  

We have been clearing a field that was for growing the native raspberry,

and once cleared it will become grazing land for the horses.  

This is a view from Hannes' throne :) 

I had the job of looping the chain round the posts so they could be pulled

and in 30 degrees heat its not as easy as it looks.

Trip to Brisbane

After one month of nothing we have finally got something to put on the blog!

Yesterday we went on a trip to Brisbane 

The weather forecast predicted storms ... 

but we were lucky and missed them :)  

We took the city ferry up the river to circle the city center

We hopped off and went for a walk around 

We saw the cathedral of Brisbane dwarfed by the glass giants.  

Then took in some of the culture by going to an art gallery. 

But it was not all about sight seeing and cultural education!

There was also a little work involved 

at the Brisbane farmers market. 

Where we successfully sold some nuts.

Burst...

On the way home from SWR, not far out of town, something went wrong with Henry.

First i thought its the exhaust because Henry sounded like a world rally car 

but after i stopped and had a look it turned out that we had burst the spark plug.

 We turned back to our friends and because it was Sunday and all 

the shops were closed we had to spend one more day in SWR.

On Monday morning we bought a new spark plug and the 

guys from the garage lent us the tools for getting the old one out

and the new one in.

After 15 min. everything was sorted an we could head off back home.

Trial bay Goal

Trial bay goal was a public works prison

from 1886 to 1903 and then from

1915 to 1918 a enemy alien internment

were they put Germans whom lived in oz

behind bars to avoid spying and sabotage.

However the rules were more or less relaxed they could go to the beach

for a swim and even build some little shacks they opened up there own

businesses like a bakery and a shoemaker they 

had a march band and a theater group.

One guy was drawing cartons that became 

Bambi after he was released

Nevertheless it was a prison and more than 500 folks 

had to share 200 cellls and each of them 

got no more than 4 1/2 cups of water for

drinking and washing.

I hope they don't lock me up.

Kangaroo Spotting

So after over 3 months in Australia we finally got to see some Kangaroos! 

They are a strange kind of creature 

a mix between a rabbit, a T-Rex and a dog.

That might not be scientifically correct but its close enough 

They love to munch on grass and laze in the sun

and not at all bothered about people walking past,

this one hopped right up to us!

On the way to SWR

We were on the way further south, about 340km to be exact

to meet up with our friends in south west rocks

On the way down we found a nice quite place 

for lunch and a little rest.

Just having a little nap :)

And finally arrived and ready for a little surf.

Maze

Can you read that?

Today we walked through a funny maze.

As you can see below it had see through walls 

no dead ends and mushrooms all over the place.

Laura couldn't stand the walls and had to close her eyes 

  

After 2km walking across the maze we reached 

the tower in the middle and had a little rest before we went

back for coffee and cake.

Excited from all the puzzles and games at the cafe
we bought an M.C. Escher jigsaw puzzle to play at home.
   

More work less play

It has been already a week or so since our last post

simply because we've been working much more to get

the money to afford the tickets we're planning to buy,

and it was raining most of the time last week.

I also didn't surf much because of strong onshore winds

it seems like the high season is going to end :(

   Nevertheless life is still exiting and we're looking

forward to our next adventure.

This could be already one.

Just today i set some traps to catch a brown snake 

which are poisonous. 

50 Bucks for Henry

On our way to work, a 60km drive, Henry got sick again :(

Just as we approached the intersection to the highway i could

see the temperature going up so i stopped and had a look.

There was some water missing but i couldn't find a leak.

 I filled two liters of good Australia water in to Henry's 

cooling system and off we went.

Everything was fine the first 40km

but then we had to drive up a hill for quite a while 

and it happened again this time he was over flowing.

Damn it!!!

Ok, so we let him cool down and decided to take him to a garage.

The first garage was too busy so we tried another one.

A one man garage small but, lets see.

Bill, the guy from the garage, said its the thermostat which is blocked 

not letting the water run through the engine.

 He took it out and after one hour and 50 bucks later

we finally made our way to work.

Henry didn't over heat and we could drive home safety.

There remains only one matter.

Why were there two liters missing in the first place?

We'll keep you up to date.

     

        

Best surf so far

Today i had my best surf so far.

It was head high pretty glassy i had my new board

under my feet and it all started with two dolphins

surfing one and half meter in front of me.

I almost went behind the curtain and for 30 min.

there were only six guys out in the water which is 

quite rare at lennox.

So all in all a 8.1

Engine, Tree & Batman

On our way back home from shopping

 we had a look at an old engine which stood next to the road.

It was a pretty cool looking steam engine but the best things we found around the corner.

First there was this awesome killer tree as i like to call them :)
 The young killer tree uses another older tree as a ladder to grow up on its trunk.
Slowly but constantly strangling  the old tree to death.

 

Once the old tree died the killer keeps growing

 but a hole in the middle will always remind you of the old tree.

Pretty awesome, but the best thing 

comes last...

Batman returns

 and he brought his hole family with him

The're called flying foxes

and there were hundreds of them.

Fucking huge bats.

A Day at Evans Head

Today we went for a drive down to Evans Head.

Its approx 40km (about 25 miles) south from where we are staying.

The drive was really nice even went through a national park,

and past fields upon fields of cane sugar 

We found a really nice little bay with a wave for Hannes to surf on.

There was a short walk through the bush and down the small cliff

There wasn't another person there! it was perfect

Hannes even got to try out his new board for the first time!

The weather was fab too!

The best winter I have ever had, and its nearly over already.

It was like our own private beach, Hannes even had a go at being a naturist...

and before you think it... no I didnt give it a go! 

Im English for crying out loud! Cant be getting naked in public! 

:) 

All in all it was a wonderful day

Filled with sun, sea, sand. 

Fish and chips followed by cake!

What more can you ask for :) 

A day

Usually my weekdays start at six o'clock.

I jump in the car and have a look if there are any waves.

Unfortunately it was pretty small all over the week 

so time to relax

(For surf sessions check out the post "surf log book ")   

Back at the farm its time to work just a quick hello to the horses,

on the day we arrived at the farm the little foal was just four days old,

and we're are ready to go

Here you can see what we have been doing in the last few weeks

lots and lots of weeding 

and a little bit of planting

After a couple of hours work its time to feed our selves. 

On a day like that after you stuffed your tummy

 its hard to get back to work.

   

But there is still plenty to do as you can see on this pic below.

So and after we finished work and had dinner its time 

for a bit of social networking and trying to wright this blog.

Sleep well and see you tomorrow   

Protesters Falls

Well today we decided to go and find a waterfall 

(one that wasn't on private land!) 

It was a long ish and rather bumpy ride

(and Henry didn't overheat this time)

The waterfall was in an amazing part of the rain forest.

Laura looked even smaller than usual :)

The waterfall was named Protesters Falls 

after the protesters that stood up against logging in the local area in 1979

and so in 1983, it was declared part of the Nightcap National Park

Today was a dry day and so there wasn't alot of water coming over the cliff

On a day after lots of rain the whole rock face has a curtain of water across it

It was a beautiful day 

had in beautiful surroundings 

well worth the trip!

First necessary repair

Yeap it was time to put Henry under surgery. 

After he got the very dangerous water-deficient-fever

 we had to replace one of his cooling veins.

Fortunately our neighbor was a doctor and had some extra veins left.

So we just needed to adjust it a bit and....

  

tatatataaa good old Henry was ready to go again.

New Surfboard

After trying to paddle in overhead-barreling waves with my 6.0

,which ended mostly with some of the painfullest take-off wipe-outs i ever had,

i decided to get a real surfboard for real waves.  

6.4x19.1/4x2.1/2 with a round tail

 is the consequence of it

And that's the reason 

Lennox last week 

Looks small but trust me it isn't