We had planned to visit Stu (my Mum's brother) and Pen when we were first in Victoria but ran out of time. This time we were determined not to miss out.
We made slow progress from Adelaide and only got so far as the border of SA and Victoria, where we spent the night. The boys enjoyed going interstate to use the toilet at our roadside camp. We made better time the next day and arrived at Echuca late afternoon for an afternoon tea, that turned into dinner, at the local Beechworth Bakery. We had slowed down and relaxed the pace there, to make sure Uncle Stewart had time to get home from the farm to Shepparton (dubbed Cow Town by Dom) before we arrived. It was a lovely big bakery and I really enjoyed the huge verandah overlooking the river and imagining that I might one day live in a big open space like that. The boys loved "driving" the old fashioned delivery van outside.
We had no difficulties finding the place, and the van fit in alongside Stu and Pen's like the space had been designed for it. We had a relatively early night and got into some long overdue schoolwork the next morning. The kids interspersed schoolwork with playing pool and their usual game of hookey! I played my usual game of trying to get them back into it without too many tears or tantrums.
After we were all worn out with that we headed out to Uncle Peter and Uncle Stewart's dairy farm. We hung around for a while and then got to watch the cows being milked. We all enjoyed a cup of fresh milk then went to feed the calves. Some of the calves were only a few days old and had to be shown how to feed off the calf feeders (read muscled onto). We all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Isaac, Paul and I were also affected by the Darwinian nature of farming and seeing the few sick and dying/dead calves. We didn't miss how tough a job it is to be a dairy farmer, and the miniscule financial rewards currently available, as the supermarkets keep up the price war on milk. Uncle Stewart essentially works long days, 7 days a week most weeks of the year, and his share farmer works even harder than him, to generally not break even.
After we were all worn out with that we headed out to Uncle Peter and Uncle Stewart's dairy farm. We hung around for a while and then got to watch the cows being milked. We all enjoyed a cup of fresh milk then went to feed the calves. Some of the calves were only a few days old and had to be shown how to feed off the calf feeders (read muscled onto). We all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Isaac, Paul and I were also affected by the Darwinian nature of farming and seeing the few sick and dying/dead calves. We didn't miss how tough a job it is to be a dairy farmer, and the miniscule financial rewards currently available, as the supermarkets keep up the price war on milk. Uncle Stewart essentially works long days, 7 days a week most weeks of the year, and his share farmer works even harder than him, to generally not break even.
Aunty Penny came up from Melbourne for the weekend to look after us and Stu. Aside from the visit to the farm, we were all very happy just to potter around at home. Over the last week or so we had driven a lot (Nullabor) and done a lot of seeing stuff (Adelaide), so some family downtime was just what we needed. As for sights, we saw the Shepparton library (whoo hoo), a local kids playground and LOTS of painted cows. Dom and my favourite was the skeleton cow. No picture, of course, so that will be for next time! We had some spectacular Thai one night (Crying Tiger Beef leading to many glistening eyes).
I will have to work on my spongecakes as Pen's cherry sponge was simple and inspiring. It was great for all of us to spend a little quantity time with my Aunt and Uncle, despite the crazy busyness of their lives at the moment. Thankyou so much Aunty Pen and Uncle Stu. We loved our visit and love you both very much!
I will have to work on my spongecakes as Pen's cherry sponge was simple and inspiring. It was great for all of us to spend a little quantity time with my Aunt and Uncle, despite the crazy busyness of their lives at the moment. Thankyou so much Aunty Pen and Uncle Stu. We loved our visit and love you both very much!