The Serenity ....

Just like in Classic Australian movie "the Castle".... we love the serenity....

We have return from a trip to my brothers block at the Grampians. This was our first trip, and won't be the last. We had a ball!!! Danny has a few hundred acres of mountain about 90 minutes drive from here. He lives in Melbourne, but this is his 'weekender"...

Had. A. Ball. It is so hard to describe this place. I was burnt out in the Grampians Bush fires 18 months ago and just now the trees and ground cover are starting to come back. That is itself is amazing to see. The shed, fully fitted out with kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms etc wasn't damaged. Not sure how that happened seeing as all of the trees surrounding the shed where burnt. Some of the paint off the colourbond walls melted, that is how close it was to burning. Danny brought the property only in the last 12 months, so he didn't own it when it burnt.. that would have been devastating. Anyway... very comfy and so many things to do with the kids. Feeding deer, bull dozer driving, motorbike rides... There is no power. They have solar panels on the roof that charge batteries that run most things, gas stove, wood fire and a generator if you need to run anything else... (like a bug zapper for the extra bit of serenity you need)

The only way to the top of the range is in Danny's old Range Drover V8 4wd car. Cool.... Both Jack and I have 4wd cars but I don't think either of them had the clearance to up to the top over the rocks. You really can't see how steep it is from the photos... but you can see how rocky it is!

Another of a big boys toy.. Danny's bulldozer... just to tidy things up! Hugh loved it!!

This is one of the many old gold mine shafts that are littered over the property. Apparently in the early 70's and man died down this shaft. You can't see it in the photo, but there is still his ladder in here. He was pumping out the water with a petrol pump and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. All of the shafts are covered and are on the other side of the mountain from where the shack is.

Hugh just went and went and went until he stopped... which just happened to be on his fathers lap while sitting outside the shack.. so cute ...

This is my kids ex- uncle Jed with the girls. He is my sisters old boyfriend.. and the kids just LOVE him.. was great that he also came up!!

Dan has about 30 to 50 deer on the property. When the fires went through, the falling timber cause a lot of havoc with the fences, so most of them are loose in very rugged mountain. But Danny is still feeding them and they come back for food.

I took this photo just for you guys... I was is 'post' mode while walking around up the top of the range.... This photo show you how burnt the trunk of the tree was and the new growth.... just over a year later... The entire area looks like this...

This photo of Jack looking over the range also hows how burnt things are.. as far as the eye can see really... nice to see the green.

Mum came up yesterday for the day as well... One of the most interesting things from the trip is that no one knew the time.. or cared for that matter. We ate when we where hungry (made me think of the IE clam) napped when needed. I totally understand people who need to get away from schedules and routines... I could see myself up there for a week.. a few great books, a gas fridge full of food and a land line telephone for emergency (no mobile coverage as well...) The kids are buggered and are just now napping to embark on the Warracknabeal Tractor Pull tonight... a slight change of plans. Jack has just taken in our front end loader.. you see the Warracknabeal tractor pull is a 'vintage' tractor pull and as sad as it is... out loader is old enough to qualify... so Jack tried to resist the urge to put it in, but the pull was too great. I will post some photos and will try and explain how this all works.

Hope that everyone else is having a terrific Easter and please drive carefully...

Two more cute photo before I go...

This is my little Laura (on the Left) with her best friend Sophie, watching the street parade this morning.... and

Hugh..... found other ways to entertain himself...