Should a bloke be looking for a new squeeze, we’ve got just the ticket for you.  Upon a “run-out” to Daylesford, a mere 2.5 hour drive away we discovered a new form of chic magnet.  Never to be forgotten on our Saturday jaunts our Golden Girls sat on the back seat of the ute looking out of the windows watching the endless countryside go by.  Their ears pricked up, and so did mine as we drove up the main street of this quaint and comparatively old, gold mining town 40kms north of Ballarat.  The street was lined with shops all of which looked right up my strasse.  There were smart boutiques, homeware shops, galleries, gift shops and a couple of plant nurseries.  Utter heaven!

So what is this new chic magnet, or rather chic magnets plural?  Well if you deposit a bloke with two well groomed Golden Retrievers outside any retail outlet he is guaranteed to pick up girls.  He can even select the type of bird he is trying to attract by the kind of shop he and his canines stand in front of.  You see, whilst I browsed the shops, the Kiwi had to wait outside with the girls and without exception, each time he patiently waited for me he attracted considerable attention from the opposite sex.  So chaps, if it’s a sophisticated, well groomed, high maintenance bird you are after stand outside an expensive boutique, if it’s a domestic goddess, wait outside a homeware shop and if it’s a more earthy, practical kind of gal, then it’s a plant nursery.  Get my drift?

So there you have it chaps – bin your Tinder app and get a Golden Retriever!

The caravan has been winking at us from the confines of the wool shed so we took ourselves off for a little holiday over the long weekend of the AFL Footy final.  We set off with all three dogs and enough food to feed an army and four hours later arrived in the South Australian seaside town of Robe.  We’re not huge fans of caravan parks but Hobson’s choice led us to a spot overlooking the sea and just a short walk to town (and more shops).  There’s not really much to tell you about Robe except to say that it seemed to be the capital of cray fishing but do you think any were available for us to buy?  Not a bit of it – the whole catch ends up in China and not a single juicy morsel for us locals!

The second half of our holiday was spent on the Silo Art Trail.  This was a 1200km trip around some of the most amazing artwork in the Southern Hemisphere.  Many isolated country towns have been slowly dying, the victims of under-population and farm mechanisation meaning that man-power is no longer in quite such demand.  Often we come across settlements that were once thriving communities and now they’re virtually uninhabited, desolate places offering the thirsty traveller no reason to pull over.   Now there’s change in the air and some of these enterprising communities have thought of an ingenious idea to attract attention and have started something called the Silo Art Trail.  They have individually commissioned urban street artists to paint giant pictures on their redundant grain silos and it was these massive paintings that we had come so far to see.

Here’s a map of our journey and photographs of the seven silos.

 

 

 

We hear of many other recently painted silos across Australia and I hope we’ll see them all one day.

As I mentioned earlier, the AFL Footy final took place while we were away.  Rupyanup was deserted as everyone was glued to their screens, all except us and here’s us sitting in the middle of a normally quite busy road.

It was all hands to the pump when I got back to work as our biennial Ball is rapidly approaching.  I have been flat-out-busy organising the Mulleraterong Spring Races Ball.  A local school has very generously allowed us to hold the evening in their sports hall and everyone at Mulleraterong is busy making decorations from paper flowers to a life sized paper-mache horse.  We’re all be dressing up for a day at the races with fashion competitions, dancing, betting with funny money and dodgy bookies.  Should all be quite fun!

One minute I’m helping in the sheep yards and the next I find myself in some rather smart boutiques on a girls weekend to Melbourne.  It was just so exciting to see some bright lights and I had so much fun!  Lots of shopping, yummy food and endless girly gossip – it was just great!

 

Meanwhile the Kiwi has been just as busy on the farm drenching 12,000 ewes and lambs, weaning and getting ready for shearing next month.  Cloud has come into her own and at only one year old she’s worth her weight in gold! I’ll leave you with a movie clip of me herding a flock of 400 sheep for the first time on my own….

And finally Spring is sprung and here’s a clutch of chicks right outside our back door! They belong to Mr and Mrs Bird who are a native thrush with the most lovely song.