We finally got back up to the farm for the first time in far too long! Such blissful peace and quiet. We were going to take one lot of family, then one lot of friends, then another and with only a few days to go we decided to stop trying to find someone else to share the beautiful countryside with and just go up by ourselves. Best decision ever! :)
Lots of quad biking (Angus really doesn't like sharing the front seat with Lexie...), lots of roos, lots of swinging on Pop's swing, lots of gorgeous views!
I had to dye some T-Shirts for work and had intended to do them in the washing machine. But then I thought, with 4 days to ourselves up there, what better place to play with dyes? Who needs electricity when you have a nappy bucket, wooden spoon and 3 huge tanks of water? Builder's line and 4 posts destined for a carport make a very good washing line too!
Of course we had our annual visit fromt he Easter Bunny as well. The children had made him a lovely and comfortable nest to have a little rest in (its a long way to Mashado) and he left behind some yummy chocolate eggs. He must have heard us when we told him that we really didn't need any more bowls (as that's what he has bought every year) and this year he left some gorgeous egg cups for all the yummy eggs that Mia and Lemon give us.
The children enjoyed their chocolate eggs. Well, OK. We enjoyed ours too!
For the last 4 or 5 years, we've been going to the Moonambel Easter Arts Festival. It just seems to get bigger and better each year. This year we went to the local primary school so the children could do the Art activities. Great fun! Dunc got roped in to washing line duty and I became official photographer. A delicious meal at the re-vamped local pub was wonderfully followed by world premiere of 'Foule's Gold', a musical written, directed and performed by locals. It was a great night with more than a few good laughs. See some other pics from the Art Festival here:
Moonambel Arts Festival on the Avoca community website.
Our last night was capped off witha walk around the property after dinner. We took our dessert with us (yoghurt) and enjoyed it while we watched the sun set. We will not leave it so long between visits next time!
1200 trees seemed like a heck of a lot work, and Rich and Cath had come all the way back from the UK to plant them! We had a heap of people at Mashado all raring to go. I was a little worried when, by 11am on Saturday, not a single tree had gone in yet, but it soon became apparent that the setting out and prep-ing was the hard part. Once we started planting, things fairly zoomed along!
There was plenty of time for rest and relaxation and the kids had a ball as per usual. There were a few issues with Fred and Angus both believing the quad bikes was theirs, but all else went swimmingly!
We can't wait to get back up there and check on the trees...
