City mates and country rates

Having lived in the city and the bush throughout my life, something I am pretty passionate about is bringing the two together.  It’s partly what keeps me posting here, on Facebook and (occasionally) Twitter as ‘Bush Babe of Oz’.

But I like to practice what I (kind of) preach in real life too… and NOTHING makes me happier than seeing my city mates letting their hair down in our wide-open spaces, and breathing deep our fresh country air.

Among the things we love to share with our visitors are…

The upper reaches of our slow old river… where water trickles through the sand and great granite rocks offer the perfect platforms to laze and gaze skywards…

And paddle..

And splash (as demonstrated by Violet!)…

And observe (hands on hips) youngsters exploring waterways…

Tentatively testing the waters…

Before plunging in the whole way…

Mother Nature generally helps out, with a welcoming critter to fascinate …

The deeper, still waters closer to our house are a spot for our son to show off his fishing skills…

Let me tell you, his fishing skills are not insignificant…

As Mr I’s bestie, Tom, was to find out this visit.

Nice catch Thomas!

Yup.  That’s Dash with the catch of the day.

Non-fisher-people get a guided tour of the river from Mr Incredible… in his dashing dingy!

I would have gone, but there doesn’t appear to be much room on that boat!

Someone needs to be capturing reflections, and I happily volunteered for that role… heh.

Of course, is any farm visit complete without some milk STRAIGHT from the cow?

I think not!

Who recognises this particular bovine?

Bay Leaf!  A bit bemused but generally unflustered by all the attention.  (Her milk was pronounced ‘delicious’ by taste testers, by the way).

Another test of your ‘background Bush Babe’ knowledge…

Recognise this little poser?

It’s iTunes!

Our young filly who has been quietly putting up with the newest kid on the block (Vedette, below with Dash) getting all the paparazzi attention of late!

Luckily there were enough pats to go around… even self-professed horse-phobe Tom got a little equine attention.  He claimed ‘Waratah’ – Mr I’s latest acquisition and the gentlest thing you ever met – nipped his toes.  I have my doubts – perhaps he thought Tom’s shoelaces needed untying?

Of course, it cannot be all play and no work for visitors… they have to ‘earn their tucker (they get their bed for nothing)’ after all!*(This is a favourite saying from my father – very much tongue in cheek!)

So what rates did we enforce?

Gretchen is a physiotherapist, so we put her to work on Sandy, Violet’s palomino who suffers from back problems.

He loved EVERY SECOND of the attention – and actually improved from his session.  Gretch is not quite ready yet to move into equine physiotherapy, but we’ll be recommending her when she is!

Then we ‘make’ the kids gather firewood…

Light a little bonfire…

Let it buurrrrrnnnn….

Play a little river-side cards (500 was game of choice I believe!)

Cook a little camp-oven roast (in the coals)…

FEAST…

For tummies…

And for eyes….

Sunsets, water, friends, fire…

And a GOOD dash of silly (we love you Thomas!)…

Enough, we hope, to burn some great memories into little city hearts – for them to share with THEIR mates.  And ignite a little spark around them there…

I know we love sharing it with them!

🙂

A QUESTION FOR YOU: What the best country experience you have been given, or shared with others?