Letter from A?Broad
Dear News Readers,
SPECTACULAR!
That is the only word to even half way describe the Australian “woop woop” or outback.
We stayed for three nights with friends of the family – no we didn’t sleep on a blanket on the ground under the stars… the mosquitos would have eaten us alive before dawn! We stayed on their farm in the bungalow that they have for guests that includes all mod cons.
On the evening we got there, Ted and Jenny Lovick treated us to a barbecue on their terrace surrounded by gardens and shrubs with views over their farm. Food, wine and stubbies were enjoyed plus stimulating banter and chat. They took us all over the place into the “real” Australia where we saw kangaroos and wallabies in the wild one evening at dusk. You can travel for hours during the day without seeing any wildlife at all but, when the sun starts to set, that’s when they all get up and start about their business .
The Lovick family have a cabin next to a river where you can swim in crystal clear water or paddle a canoe as far as you wish before hitting a dam right at the end and that’s where we went the following day. We took lunch with us and just sat in the shade of the gum trees while the rest of them did all the energetic stuff.
Their farm is around 1000 acres with cattle and Merino sheep in their hundreds. On the second day of our trip, we took to quad bikes, while Ted took to a trail bike to check on the animals and fencing. We met a lot of family members but the Lovicks are a big family in the area with cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins. It seems there are hundreds of them when you come from a small family, but they are a tight knitted bunch who look after each other and everyone else’s kids and older relatives. Nice to see.
The following day saw a trip into the wine region where we all had lunch before setting off once more into the bush. When I say “bush” I mean an area that is sparsely populated. I always thought bushland was all flat and desert like (oh how our minds are led astray by films like “Australia”!) but I couldn’t be more wrong. There were incredibly steep hillsides with narrow roads to drive along where there were drops of hundreds of feet of densely wooded land. Small areas had been cut away by people for houses – some of which are also pretty spectacular – sheds, shacks and just cabins. We went along to a look-out point where a chap had holed up away from the police for a while and is said to have “taught” Ned Kelly.
However, this chap apparently used no violence and was courteous to women. From his hideout he could see for miles but kept peacocks so that they would screech and let him know whenever the police were about to arrive and nab him. However, the idea obviously didn’t work under certain circumstances and the guy was caught and sent to prison in the end.
On the day we left, we took a trip up to the top of Mount Bulla where there were amazing views – plus a tarantula on the path that I gave a very wide berth to – Yeuk!! Mount Bulla is a ski resort much like the Sierra Nevadas so most of the shops etc were closed while we were there. However, mountain bikers were managing to hurl themselves down the mountainside at a rapid rate of knots, apparently enjoying themselves immensely once they had covered themselves in muck and bruises!
After lunch back at the farm, we wended our way back to Melbourne for a couple of days before hurtling through the air on another plane to Tasmania. More about that next week!
By Kym Wickham
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