A Whirlwind tour of Wooshwood.

One of the 'big' trees.

The internet is rather flighty at Wooshwood. We are 15kms out of Denmark, and on the wrong side of a hill, so it has been a challenge getting woven back into the web sufficiently well for Beloved to do his work. The best we can do, apparently, is the ‘smart aerial’ purchased from Telstra (DON’T get me started on Telstra!), with a ‘dongle’ attached, and a pre-paid 15GB per month maximum download. As Beloved does all his work via the web, this may be a ‘tighten the belt’ situation when it comes to ‘non-essential’ internet usage. So…blogposts may be fewer and farther between, which is rather frustrating because I have SO much to show and tell! On the up side, it may also mean that I have to think a little more carefully, and craft a little more carefully when it comes to posting. But I think it’s time for a first ‘proper’ post, even if it’s a while before the next one. 

Out the front of 'Wooshwood'.  You can see the verandah couch where we've been spending a lot of time (despite the large aerial, there's no TV)!

We are settled, temporarily, in a slightly wonky, slightly faded, but beautifully comfy ‘homey’ house, on a 5 acre block of mostly pasture, but with lovely big trees and a dam. We have a verandah all round the house (one of the things on my wishlist for my dream house is a verandah) so we spend a LOT of time sitting outside, just listening to the QUIET. Well, it’s not really quiet, there are birds of all shape and size singing, there is the rush of wind in the trees which gave the house its name, and on days when the wind is ruffling the waves at William Bay, but not quite making it up the hill, you can JUST hear the waves. I didn’t notice this at first, until Beloved pointed it out, and I had to sit for a bit and concentrate, but there it was. I’m living in a house from which I can (sometimes) hear the sea! I think my brain was so used to shutting out extraneous noise, that it had pegged the distant rumble as traffic and proceeded to ignore it. I wonder what other sounds and songs of the bush might become clear as I learn to sit and just open up my ears to it all, after they’ve been shut for so long against the assault of cars and trucks and planes and trains. 

A game of soccer (ok, I know it's an old basketball!) on the driveway.

We have no TV reception here, and to be honest, I’m loving it, though I was a bit disappointed to miss the debut of the new Dr Who on Boxing Day (no spoilers please, I’ll catch up when I can!) The munchkins were a little perturbed by this at first, but we have DVDs and so they spent a few days watching those, but the last week or so they haven’t shown a great deal of interest in the box, and have been playing cricket out the front, making elaborate dolls’ houses out of packing boxes, and inventing long and complex make-believe stories with their dolls. The last couple of days we did some sewing and made dolls’ trousers (biggest munchkin surprised me by making a pair of pyjama pants for her doll from a pattern I’d cut, but with no help from me at all), and hooded doll cloaks with ribbons to tie. This morning I took them along to a ‘Bush Survival’ workshop for kiddiwinks, and as I had to stay, I learnt some interesting stuff too. How to filter water, and how to build the coolest survival shelter…Bear Grylls eat your heart out (well, ok, it was more like a cubby really, but a little more time and it would have done the trick!).

Christmas Cricket, with an interesting bowling action from biggest munchkin, who desperately wanted to be able to play cricket on Christmas Day, because apparently (unbeknownst to me) this is a long cherished Aussie 'tradition'.

Flynn makes a far better spectator than fielder.  She is not the slightest bit interested in balls and absolutely does NOT fetch.

View DOWN the driveway.  I've always wanted a driveway like this one.

View UP towards the house.  The large green thing to the left is one of the water tanks (no mains water here, or postal delivery, or rubbish collection).

There is a very vibrant art and music scene down here, and I’m looking forward to meeting and getting to know local artists and maybe even find myself another guitar teacher to get me moving along. I took a plunge into this on Wednesday, and went and did a half day workshop in art book making with the lovely Trace Willans, out on her property in Kentdale. After knowing each other and following each other’s blogs for a while now (and meeting once, a while back) we’re now neighbours…well, there’s only about 25kms between us instead of 400! Trace works with natural pigments, dyeing textiles/clothing, stitching, book making and painting. Her work has the earth in it (literally), and each piece looks like an ancient sacred artefact with a story as old as time woven into it. There is some kind of old, deep magic there, and I could look at her pieces for hours. Typically though, I completely forget to take any ‘in progress’ photos, even after Trace reminded me! I’ve got some pics of the almost finished product, so I’ll upload those in a more detailed post! I also learnt how to make string…which might seem a trivial thing, but it is ADDICTIVE! I’ve now taught both munchkins how to make it, so there are random bits of homemade string made out of all sorts of different materials (experimenting!), all over the house. 

A little Red Dog in her element.  Flynn loves it here.

A morning cuppa on the couch with Flynn.  I love that it's so much cooler here than Perth...uggies in summer, can you believe it?!

Bonfire site.  Can't give this a go till the end of April, so I think (weather permitting) a nice bonfire to celebrate a) end of Fire-Ban season, b) Samhain/Beltaine (or maybe both, as you can't just swap it over by 6 months for the southern hemisphere, it doesn't quite work), and my birthday!

Christmas bunting.

I feel as if I’m unravelling here, but in a good way, as if I’ve been wound up tight in a protective ball, and now I can loosen and relax and open up to everything around me. The journey is far from over, this is a temporary home after all, and finding a block of land that suits us, and building that dream home (solar panels, strawbale we hope, old rayburn, wind generator perhaps, chickens, a little studio/gallery, big vegie garden) means a lot of hard work ahead of us, but the big leap is done, and we are here. 

A quiet corner.

Beloved and the munchkins are back from their afternoon swim at Greens Pool, so now it’s time to sit on the old couch on the west verandah, and watch the sun go down!