Bega River

It was a warm day yesterday but we had to get in to Bega to get a few jobs done so we planned to break up our trip with a dip in the Bega River just up from its junction with the Brogo River. We took some lunch down to the picnic tables under the trees before jumping in the water. After all the rain the river was flowing enough that we could float down in the rapids. 

The kids & J had fun jumping off the bank (& tree) in to the rapids then floating downstream. We imagined people have been visiting this part of the river for as long as there've been people living in that area. What a great way to cool off!

Baby A slept through the whole thing but the rest of us had a ball. 

at the farm

Readers of my food blog, Miss May Blossom, will recognise the backdrop of the farm (http://missmayblossom.blogspot.com.au/search?q=Farm+&m=1). After visiting friends in Tathra today I returned to the farm. J had harvested some almonds from the old orchard planted by his parents about thirty years ago. By some almonds I mean two. In total. But J was determined to find more & the kids scoped out the orchard to identity the almond tree before they collected J to see if they could find more to add to the measly harvest. 

While I wouldn't suggest the tree had given a good return for investment when they came back with four more almonds, I would say that there's nothing more special than harvesting fresh food from plants that you know have been lovingly planted and care for. The almonds were like nothing I've ever tried - crunchy and succulent at the same time. I'll never look at a store bought almond the same again! 

While I was out J also set up our new annexe. We didn't have the time to set it up before we left Sydney but it's very pleasing to see it has met our expectations. We ordered the annexe through Winston at Express Annexes at Calga on the Central Coast. We were specifically after a versatile annexe that made from Australian products & with sturdy poles. This will add an extra room to the caravan and will be particularly useful when we're staying in places for more than a few days at a time. The windows mean we'll have light coming in because we won't have to close canvas covers when it's raining. 

We've been making the most of our outdoor shower. Does anyone else have one on their van? We've used it to wash sand off after the beach but we've loved having our evening showers outside. The photo isn't great but you get the picture! I can't see out the farm shower window because I'm too short but this means I can still take in the view. 

Tanja

Tanja is situated alongside and within Mimosa Rocks National Parks on the Far South Coast of NSW. The first thing you noticed about the vegetation is the tall spotted gum forest. 

Joel has many memories of Tanja Hall. His dad used to run the local movie night in the hall and he attended other functions there. Back in 1997 I was seeing a gig at the hall (after being bridesmaid for a friend's wedding). Joel happened to be staying just up the road and was also at the gig. We recognised each other and got chatting. We both have vivid memories of this night and it was why we decided to have our wedding reception in the hall when we were married in 2007. The tiny hall was packed with our friends and family and rocked as everyone danced in a traditional bush dance. 

We decided we'd have a fortnight on the farm after we left Sydney just to get out things in order and recover from the stress of packing up our house & finishing work. We needed to replace the leaf springs on the truck, set up the annexe and work out what we can without (& reduce our load) too. 

And this is where we woke up this morning. How's the serenity? Can you see the roos grazing in the paddocks?