Friday, July 17, 2015

More Animals and a National Park: The Pleasures of East Gippsland Part 3



SARSFIELD NR BAIRNSDALE
 
 
JULY 10

WOKE up. Fell out of bed. The terrain out of Bairnsdale on the Dargo Road was a different road experience to yesterday. There were more sheep instead of cattle. We stopped sometimes to marvel at baby lambs dragging on their mother's teats. We also stopped to morbidly assess last night’s carnage- wombat and kangaroo on the side of the road. The fields, too, had changed, farming-wise. Instead of dairy farming, winter crops instead, and fields of what looked like wheat. Are wheat crops compatible in winter?

We found ourselves in Glenaladale at a horse riding camp called ‘Coonawarra.’ We were too late for a planned two hour ride. Instead the instructor rode off with experienced riders who were on time, and we were left to parade the girls around ourselves on a dirt track in circles a bit like a rugged version of the mounting yard at Flemington racecourse. Lolly was a passive agreeable horse who was more than happy to make about a hundred strolls in wide circles, one lightly built child at a time.

About twenty minutes away was the Mitchell River National Park, situated right on the Mitchell River. A skinny track led us to The Bluff- a lovely lookout over the glistening river and rugged granite cliffs. The gravel path undulated gently and in our minds took us far away. I sang ‘And The Tide Rushes In’ at the top of my voice.

Photos of landmarks that reminded us of yesteryear on the way back. Old service stations now closed and derelict; ancient farm buildings with an old wooden wagon. Then suddenly we were driving along the busy Bairnsdale Streets. Antique shops, the expansive Salvation Army store. The impressive St Mary’s Catholic Church. Simply just crossing the road alone threw me back to wandering the quiet country streets of Wangaratta when I first left home. I knew nobody and was initially quite lonely. Still, the memory gave me a romantic association and somehow I felt free, a feeling naturally that I don’t associate with streets like Sydney Road back home.
 

The exterior of the Grand Terminus Hotel behind Main Street has probably changed since the days after it was first built in 1885. The lovely nostalgic photos inside suggest this but there is a strong resemblance just the same. As we began driving home after dinner, we saw other charming old buildings to explore for another day- the courthouse and the library for example. After this, thick night fell very quickly.
 

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Motoring Around: The Pleasures of East Gippsland Part 2



JULY 9
 
SARSFIELD, NR BAIRNSDALE

THIS morning we slept a bit too long on uncomfortable bedding. It was the first night of the newest Ashes cricket series, from Cardiff. A restless night. Eventually we got dressed and went for a renewed tour of the farm, visiting the animals that provided our entertainment last night. S and I were looking at the ducks and geese. Tiffany shouted out from the house ‘you can let them out!’  I did. Then S had a horrible feeling we had misheard and wondered how we could get them back behind the wire again. ‘But it’s ok’, I said hopefully. ‘Foxes only appear at night.’

We left Sarsfield mid-morning en route to Lakes Entrance. Last time we ventured here a few years ago, disaster struck. Our house became flooded in our absence because of the behaviour of an errant rat. This time, we cross our fingers.

The road to Marlo and Cape Conran is pretty. The fields on either side of the road are marshy and green. There are a number of farms dotted around, and by the look of it, they are mostly dairy farms. We stop at one point and humans and cows lovingly gaze at one another across a small ditch. The crossword keeps us busy. We are briefly stumped on a word starting with ‘O’ in reference to ‘threatening.’ It is the final word, and when we think of ‘ominously’, we have completed it.

The eastern beach at Cape Conran is rugged and pretty at the same time. A looks everywhere for shells which is par for the course, and S indulges in her new found love, handstands. I find any number of weird formations out of sea weed and sea and beach debris, and large sticks which I hurl into the water. The tide is coming in so we have to head back, but not before we explore the slate-grey jagged rocks at the beach’s edge. I imagine I am Ingmar B and I am on Faro.

We drive, calm and contented, toward Marlo. There is something about the name of the town. But we don’t really see much of it- just the pub which overlooks a pretty estuary. The girls memorably have their first ever taste of alcohol- a minuscule drop of red wine.
 

Wending our way back homeward, it is starting to darken. A comments from the back of the car that she likes the orange sunset strip in the sky. We stop, looking for adventure, at one of those dairy farms we passed much earlier. The friendly farm woman is milking her cows, by machine. Some metal implement squeezes their teats, as they chew on cow feed passively. There is much bemusement about the cascading of cow waste. It’s a good country education for all of us. The cows rotate on their metallic roundabout contraption, then peel off.

The final stop is the supermarket in Orbost. The night sky envelops us all around. We are home at the cottage, satisfied. The cricket is back on.

 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Getting Away: The Pleasures of East Gippsland Part One



SARSFIELD NR BAIRNSDALE

JULY 8

WE are in a little place called Sarsfield, near Bairnsdale. We arrived last night with just a few hours of daylight left. It is a family farm with an adjacent wooden cottage. The owner’s son, a fifteen year old boy called Ashley, immediately gave us a tour of the property. He did it with a certain relish. He loves living here. I told him we are city people, naïve and curious. Simply adorned with t-shirt and shorts, he was full of chatter and friendliness and charm. We visited the large sow who wandered over from behind her fence repaying our curiosity with curiosity of her own. Her body was warm and her back felt like the straw you find from the bottom of an outdoor broom.

Then we saw the myriad ducks and geese soldiering around, seemingly at random. Not quite as friendly, they kept a few paces ahead of us, expectant of food. Ashley collected white buckets filled with pellets. His slightly older sister, Tiffany, joined us in her tracksuit. She had food for the ducks. The four of us were to feed the pigs. Their large pen was mud-filled. We approached them excitedly and what a raucous sound they provided! The air became filled with heavy grunts and high pitched squeals. I thought of the young porkers in ‘Animal Farm.’ Some of the pigs climbed on other pigs’ backs. We splashed the food randomly on the soft surface of the muddy floor and patted their backs while they ate.
 

When Ashley finished his farm stories and the animals were satisfied we wandered back to our cottage to prepare dinner. By now, in the twilight, a heavy mist had descended spookily all about us, sitting on the surface of the land. These are all new experiences. Stars began appearing. I swear the sky towards the horizon was a distinct mauve or lilac colour.