Farm life doesn’t suit me.
I thought I’d have a wonderful time in our holiday farmstay near the Myall Lakes. I was very excited to drive off the tarmac onto a gravel track. The first time I had to jump out of the car to open and close a gate, it brought back strong memories of camping in Wales as a child. Feeding the goats, horses and cattle was a lot of fun, for the first few days. The goats in particular were very animated whenever we appeared with a bucket (or maybe whenever we appeared at all). We had virtually no food waste, as the goats would eat most things and there was a compost heap in the garden too.
When the weather was good, all children spent loads of time bouncing on the trampoline, even my usually reticent Pokemon Boy.
We went to visit the tallest tree in NSW and we went shopping in Forster. One windy day we went to Blueys Beach, although we soon came in from the wind to eat lunch in the local cafe.
The house was perfectly set up for wet or cold weather, with wood stoves, heaters in the bedrooms, plenty of extra blankets all over the place, spare boots on the porch, satellite TV, an X box, board games and shelves and shelves of books. My man and I read more books in the first few days than we probably had in the previous six months.
I finished the rag rug for Princess that I’d started on a random day off earlier on in the year.
We had the excitement of eating dinner by candlelight one night, due to a 2 hour power cut.
However, 10 days on the farm was more than enough for me. I started to get very fidgety. I think I need far more contact with other people, whether in real life or over the internet. And a huge problem with the farmhouse was the internet connection. The owners had warned us only to use it for e-mail, but I depend on the internet for reading material, news and, crucially, contact with family and friends. I was trying not to use up my data allowance on my mobile phone and I just felt cut off from civilisation. I was probably the first one to look forward to being back in Sydney.
I can’t help it. Despite my self-sufficient parents, I am a city girl at heart.
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