Ok, so we’re here in Tasmania. We don’t have internet at home yet. Actually, we have the internet, but the internet doesn’t support Mac OS10.5 yet, so poo to Telstra. We’re all sitting in the local online centre, which is very flash. Georgia is playing games and Matthew is feeding a baby dolly with a toy bottle!

I have SO much to say. I just don’t have the time to do it. So I will use lists at this stage.

Highlights:

• evening cups of tea by candlelight with my husband, as we debrief the day etc
• rigging up the coffee machine and enjoying my two lattes before I can function
• sleep ins! Don’t know why or how, but we all sleep in till about 8:30-9:00!
• Outdoor dining. We have two set-ups – one for cool days and one for warmer days.
• Beautiful cool-warm weather
• Seeing friends the Smiths a few times a week
• Our views!
• Getting to know cows. They are pretty cool!

Lowlights:

none, except for poor phone reception, no internet, no tv. But these are not really lows! They’re not even inconvenient!

What we have done on the ‘cabin.’

• cleaned a lot!
• put in a toilet
• putting in a kitchen sink
• set up our furniture – it is all comfortable and feels like home. Washing and dishes etc are all easy and it’s going really well.
• We have set the bus up as a playroom – very cool – and have put the leather lounges in there too. It’s comfy enough.

How the land is doin’:

• We’re getting in cows soon to chew the grass down.
• We planted a vege patch but wallabies and rabbits ate the lettuce (no derr)
• We’ve planted citrus, olives, avocado and some other fruit trees

The house:

We’ve met the architect and it’s coming along. We’ve chosen the house site. It’s going to be a big house! I am loving the smaller cabin but more rooms will be good so we can fit in more kids and more books! We’ve opted out of strawbale for several reasons and we will be using hebel blocks on a waffle-pod foundation.

How we are all feeling:

We’re all feeling great. I am really happy but I have certainly had a few flat days, when it seems a bit hard to unpack everything and settle in. I think I miss working but am too busy to consider it at this stage. Monte is loving the hard work and he is losing weight and looking fantastic! He’s really tanned and is making me feel so happy. He is going out of his way to make a home for us all. Georgia is tanned too; my little porcelain girl is going brown. She loves the farm and the dog. She is helpful around the farm. She follows Monte around and helps him as much as possible. She loves putting things away and helping me with the jobs too. Matty is gorgeously happy too. His hair is getting long and is very curly. He is talking a lot. He plays very nicely. We’re all a bit nervous about the auction tomorrow but we are assuming all will go well. We are also all excited about meeting our new baby girl “Lucy” who is going to be either a border collie or a king charles cavelier spaniel!

TTFN (tata for now!)