LIFE doesn’t seem to be slowing down much in 2025, but I did manage a short summer break away with my husband last month to a place I know so well but never tire of.
From my own high country to that only a two-and-a-half-hour drive in country Victoria we stayed in the alpine township of Bright, a popular holiday and retirement choice in the north east of the state.
The town once overrun with those seeking their fortunes during the gold rush is on the Ovens River providing an ideal place to sit, fish or wander along the banks.
It is also surrounded by plantation-clad hills before they give way to our beautiful mountain views. Nearby is one of the lowest mountains in the area Mt Buffalo which was an easy drive from the NSW border where I lived for winter school trips and family snow play. During the warmer months it is a wonderful hiking destination. It is also a jumping off point for hang gliders soaring over the farmland in the valley below. It is also home to the historic Mt Buffalo Chalet which after being closed for several years and lack of action by state government is undergoing renovations and will reopen as an outdoor educational facility. My husband and I enjoyed a romantic weekend away there several years ago when the restaurant and cafe were operating as well as the accommodation.
Here are some images I captured on my last trip with the river ones taken in Bright.
Anyone with an interest in the history of the chalet may like to check this website out to learn more.
Last year was full of the usual highs and lows that most of us experience during certain times of our lives. When I started to scroll through my photos, I was reminded it was mostly positive, and we got through the more difficult parts.
We are approaching our eighth year of the permanent tree change this month and often wonder if our life in the city was real or just our imagination! I miss good Greek food but not the traffic.
We saw in 2024 at friends’ pool side New Year Eve’s party at their home and the following day I was kept busy covering the local races for the newspaper.
The Mansfield district is well known for being a hub of all types of events. The annual Tolmie Sports in February continues a much-loved tradition and the wood chop, and the dog jump always draws a crowd.
During the same month we end up at a fundraiser for a local palliative care facility with the theme “sock hop”. The church hall was converted into a 1950s diner, and everyone was encouraged to dress up.
There is always an art show, live music, openings, markets, lantern festivals, author talks, classic cars show and shine, plays, and much more to enjoy.
My love of campdrafting continues with three different events held in the district throughout the year. It is a great family equestrian sport and a legacy from our early stockmen.
At home there is always plenty to do and enjoy in our rare downtime. We have planted an abundance of native trees to screen out the neighbours as well as provide shade and habitat for our visiting birds. While the pair of us are not great gardeners we have had some success growing fresh vegetables.
We hosted dinner parties to celebrate our birthdays and to catch up with friends. While not so many as the previous years we had the odd house guest.
Fine wine and food are a wonderful way to connect with others.
Sunsets never fail to please with the colours so delightful to enjoy at the end of the day.
Our neighbours run their black angus cattle in one of our paddocks when feed is plentiful.
We celebrated our 25th silver wedding anniversary in style earlier in the year at the beautiful historic house and winery cellar door with a catered lunch. The caramel mud cake was made by a local lady and was just as good to eat as to look at.
Easter was interrupted with an emergency dash to hospital for my husband who was suffering extreme stomach pains. From our local hospital I ended up driving him to a larger regional hospital over an hour away. Emergency at both sites was overflowing due to the holiday period and the start of the footy season.
He was finally transferred to a major hospital in Melbourne to have a blockage operated on. But scans had discovered a black mass on his kidney which meant that he had to return to the same hospital in June for an operation to remove his kidney. Six weeks recovery from operation and several months later we continue to see the specialists for checkups, but it appears they got all the cancer thank goodness. But it never pays to take things for granted. He is doing well although without the same stamina.
We have sadly farewelled some really special people in 2024, and the world is a better place from them being here but also the poorer for their loss.
I managed to catch COVID for the first time ever and it knocked me for six – forcing me to be away from work for more than two weeks.
Talking about hospitals, there was a community outcry when the news broke about plans by the state government to amalgamate our hospital with another two hours’ drive away. Thanks to a concerted effort by doctors and medical staff with the community right behind them we won the battle for now.
We still have my beautiful old cat Rambo who hangs in there, no doubt helped by the three pills he has each day. This makes it difficult for us to get away. Giving cats pills is not the forte of many house sitters! He is now 18 but still enjoys life although at a slower pace.
In March we acquired Clover a beautiful 12.2 hands pony with loads of attitude and a sense of fun. My husband who is not the horsey one in the family has bonded with him and the two together are such a wonderful combination.
In April I reverted back to casual hours at the local newspaper. I have enjoyed the privilege of sharing people’s stories and making sure they are heard.
The local show in November once again consumed all my spare time and energy. But the locals love their ag show.
Christmas lunch was at our place with other friends who were on their own. Everyone brought something making it a lovely day together.
Between Christmas and New Year, we got to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary with some very special people who hosted a wonderful dinner party at their beautiful farm home.
New Year’s Eve, we had friends over but opted for an earlier night. However, at 10.15pm the state emergency ap was busily beeping on our phones about a fire near Lake Eildon. Being our summer holidays there are a lot of campers in the bush surrounding our lake and rivers. A hot northerly wind is always a worry. Thankfully it was a still night but forced the evacuation of some campers and although several days later it was under control it is not yet out.
The first day of 2025 I was back at the Merton Picnic Races with camera and pen at the ready.
This morning after a very hot weekend, most welcome refreshing rain is falling.
Maybe that is my wish for the year ahead, that I am washed anew and ready for whatever 2025 wants to throw at me. May your year be full of more highs than lows too!
Some random photographs taken during 2022, most close to my home. Although there was much more freedom to roam than in the previous two years, life seemed to be focused on the scenes, animals and community activities of our local area. There is much to be grateful for and as we all head into 2023 may that continue. Happy New Year.
I love this photo of these two children taken with their parents’ permission in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste in 2017during my first visit there. I have written posts and shared my photos in earlier posts.
“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.” – Unknown
The clocks were turned back during the first weekend of April and it seems to have coincided with a definite change in the seasons. There is a coolness in the evening air despite some days of sunshine. The mid-March temperatures in the low 30s and annoying blow flies seem to have disappeared here in Victoria. But April can produce some stunning Autumn weather to enjoy over the Easter holidays. Will wait and see. We have avoided floods here but our hearts go out to those especially in NSW who have experienced severe flooding twice within a month.
For me autumn offers a calming time of year. It is subtle and yet spectacular as it reveals its hidden beauty. From green to gold, yellow to red. Here in North East Victoria the colours of autumn tend to really come into their own about mid April to early May. Then the great shedding of leaves starts as we approach winter. Raking is one way to get a good work out!
Over the weekend I explored our 25 acres with camera in hand for different perspectives and to capture the various tints and hues of the changing season. I also managed to find glorious brightly-coloured flowers.
There was also a visit to one of my favourite local places, Jamieson, an historic Victorian township on the river and in the bush-clad hills that were once home to many searching for gold. My husband and I attended the once a month Anglican church service which was followed by lunch in a nearby café.
Whatever season you may be going through, remember to enjoy the one you are going through now!
My mood was feeling a bit on the blue side so I thought sharing these pretty images of flowers from my own garden and far beyond would brighten someone else’s day as well.
Water lily in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
A pink waratah-like bloom in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.
Given I’m lucky to get out of the state let alone travel abroad, posing for my photo for a replacement passport seemed such a frivolous thing to be doing during a COVID Pandemic. Today, my shiny new document arrived with what I consider the world’s worst passport photo but hey aren’t they all? Now I have a very expensive book with several blank pages that need filling.
I lovingly look at my old passports with pages of stamps of foreign places I have visited and the memories come flooding back. First time backpacker adventures, island escapes to the sun, trips to visit family and a three-month honeymoon on bicycle.
My new passport is good for the next 10 years so I’m hoping to get some good use out of it! Here’s to happy travels post pandemic!
Mountains and lakes form part of my escape to paradise in the High Country.
Here in Australia it looks like our leaders are preparing us for the road out of the COVID-19 crisis come June with an easing of more restrictions. While our nation is the envy of other countries with our low rate of infections and death toll at 101 to date, it is not guaranteed that we will avoid a second wave of the virus outbreak without a vaccine available as yet. To me this coming out is the most dangerous part so far because I have been able to self-isolate at home and minimise face-to-face contact with others. In one way I am not in a rush to return to “normal” because that means getting back on a crazy treadmill of life activities. On the other hand a sunny beach holiday (has turned cold down south!) or a trip for lunch at my favourite winery with friends would be nice!
One of the most notable aspects of this lock-down has been the level of innovation and creativity emerging via our computer and phone screens in recent weeks. I have enjoyed listening to balcony concerts from fellow blogger and soprano Charlotte Hoather from her London flat through to fun parodies of popular pop music.
Stuck in Paradise is a parody of the 1980s hit Run to Paradise by Australian band The Choirboys. The video is typical of Aussies poking fun at themselves even when the going gets tough. The original song brings back special memories of being stuck on a Contiki bus tour in 1989 and travelling through the former Soviet Union and East Germany. For three weeks every morning when we boarded the bus that was the theme song for our trip with no respect for those of us suffering from overindulgence in vodka and black-market champagne the night before!
Our hearts go out to those who have suffered terrible loss and upheaval during this coronavirus emergency but a sense of humour and a love of the arts is helping many of us find the road out.
It seems in an eye blink this month has flown with March snapping at my heels already. I guess life is like that especially when you have a diary full of activities and trips away. I started the month with a 46 degrees Celsius heatwave followed by a 22-hour power outage due to a severe storm. This did not bode well for local businesses already suffering from the economic downturn from the January fires.
Despite the heat I headed off on a mini road trip to Hay, NSW on the first weekend of February to catch up with my Mum and enjoy Tom Curtain’s “We’re Still Here” show. Air-conditioned cars and motel rooms certainly help one survive the sweltering hot weather out on the vast, flat, salt-bush plains. Although I love my home in the high country of Victoria, I have a great affection for the sweeping flat country that meets the sky on the horizon wherever you gaze. As a young girl we lived at Deniliquin about 100 kms from Hay on similar country. My big skewbald gelding Patch disappeared one day and was found on a large property several miles away a week later. I remember riding him back home on open flat country with wide roadside verges and a full-moon beaming down on us. I was only 12 but that memory is one of my favourites.
The heat was certainly intense and I felt like I was the only person travelling on the roads on my drive over to Hay. It was a thrill for me to be part of such an isolated landscape and to escape the confines of more urban areas. I came across a large herd of cattle enjoying a green pick by the edges of the large irrigation canal. This part of Australia is struggling with drought conditions. Signs on fences “water = life” and “stock needs water” emphasises the water management issues and lack of rain.
On arrival in Hay, one could be forgiven for thinking it was a ghost town. Even some of the popular tourist attractions such as Shear Outback and Bishops Court were closed. No doubt when the mercury gets into the high 40s, volunteers can’t be expected to work in those conditions. My Mum and I found an oasis being the Riverine Hotel in the main street where we drank some beers in air-conditioned comfort with many others with the same idea. The main street was empty except for the occasional B-double truck passing through with donated round bales of hay to help out those struggling to feed stock. That night the local take away was flat out with many opting out of cooking at home.
Thankfully, early next morning some rain did arrive and cooled things down considerably. That night was a pleasant temperature in the Hay Park to watch Tom and his team treat us to music, horsemanship skills, dog handling, audience participation with the young children, and a couple of goats even mingled with the crowd!
Earlier in the day Mum and I drove out to the One Tree Plain Hotel, once a staging post for the Cobb & Co drivers and horses. The rustic building is not open to the public and is now used for special events. Back in town we checked out the old Hay Gaol which also houses many historical items. The gaol in 1961 became an institution for young girls and was quite grim.
The next day Mum I fitted in checking out the local op shops and I found a couple of bargains. A coffee and toasted sandwich at newly opened café called The Black Sheep which was a cute eatery afterwards and said our goodbyes. The trip home was an easy run and I managed to fit in a side trip nearer Benalla, in Victoria’s North East to see the silo art installation at in the quaint village of Devenish, which commemorates our First World War involvement. Beautifully done. Another example of the value of public artworks.
Silo art in Devenish
Back home to my committee commitments. To make life more interesting my husband and I auditioned for a new local theatre group production late last year and rehearsals began in earnest this month with three sessions per week. “The Kastle” is an original stage show which carries on from where the much loved Aussie movie “The Castle” left off. The next generation of Kerrigans recreate the struggle between the ordinary working class person and beaucracy. The castle in dispute is their home. Lots of pub choir music and crazy dialogue guarantees a fun-filled performance.
However, we take our leave from rehearsals for a week so I can travel to Perth, Western Australia for my graduation ceremony. After five challenging years of studying part time via distance learning, I received my Bachelor of Arts degree. My husband Bolly and I thought it was a good reason to fly to the other side of the country and enjoy a break away at the same time. We chose a hotel in the centre of Perth which was a perfect base for lots of outings. The graduation ceremony was held outside at Murdoch University and more than 350 students were there to collect their awards. It was a special night.
Graduation time in Perth
Loved our time in Perth. Discovered lots of street art, good bars and eateries, and enjoyed a lively time at the Irish pub around the corner. Managed a day trip to Rottnest Island where we hired bicycles and swam at the most gorgeous beaches. Will need to do another post about our trip.
We fly back home in time for the two of us to do bar duties for the Mansfield “We’re Still Here” tour gig by Tom Curtain. It was great to catch up with Tom and the team so soon after his Hay show. Good night had by all.
Since then we have managed to fit in some cycling with our social group. We have helped friends net their grape vines to protect the fruit from the birds. Makes one appreciate the end product in a bottle even more!
This week we had an overnight trip to Melbourne for the Australian premiere of the documentary film directed by my friend Mark Street “William Kelly’s Big Picture – Can Art Stop a Bullet?” at the Nova Cinema in Carlton. This is a really thought provoking film and the artist himself was there for Q&A afterwards. The power of art for good is a strong message in this film. Please check out the website for more information about William Kelly and screenings.
Now we are back home to our country retreat to recharge for the coming month which should coincide with the start of autumn but Mother Nature may have other plans!
Escape to the High Country... 