Roma Saleyards ...

We were on a tight schedule for our Roma visit, due to limited overlap between Nick's roster and school holidays.  We didn't expect there would be much open on Monday's public holiday, so weren't sure we'd fit in all we wanted to do.

Everything clicked into place really well though and we ticked off our top three missions!

When I read about the free sale yard tours, I definitely wanted to go.   

We met on Tuesday at 8:15am for an 8:30am start - and after a quick introduction began a really interesting look at both levels of the facility. 

Vaughan elected to stay in the car with Bandit, so he missed out but the rest of us really enjoyed the tour.  There was so much to see!

Usually 6,000 to 6,500 cows are sold at each sale - and there are two sales each week.  (Cattle in transit are also spelled in the yards). We saw the early stages of the sale and seemingly it would continue to around 7:00pm.

Our guide answered our many questions and we easily spent an hour with him, before heading back to finish packing.

Celebratory bottle (tree)!

I turned 50 this year!  I always enjoy my birthdays but felt this one warranted more significant recognition.  Not a party - a tree!

Nissa promised funding and even found a local-ish supplier but when Plan A fizzled out, I schemed for a Roma trip to visit another bottle tree grower.

I made contact with Elizabeth of Bindaroo Bottle Trees ("Grow your own bulge!") about a week before our planned departure.

I rang Elizabeth on Monday and we visited later in the day.  It was a bit of adventure.  Vaughan spotted two bustards along the way!

I had spoken to Elizabeth about my plan for a potted bottle tree (till we have a permanent abode) and she'd selected two lovely trees for me to choose from.

We chatted at length about her early bottle-tree growing days and current operation - with trees being delivered to all states of Australia!  (A truck-load had just left for Western Australia)!

Some of Elizabeth's bottle trees are in Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre's rooftop garden, which is not far from Nissa's uni.

I received lots of tips for looking after my new tree and really enjoyed spending time in Elizabeth's nursery oasis - standing in the shade listening to little birds flitting about. What a beautiful place to work!

We had visited Roma's largest bottle tree in the morning.  It has a girth of 9.51 metres.  My tree is currently almost my height (including crown - the tree's not mine)!  Let's not discuss girths!  I plan to measure the two of us each birthday and see how wonderfully we age together!

Ups n Downs!

We booked in for two nights at Ups n Downs Farmstay, just outside Roma - a very good choice!

It was around 6:00pm when we rolled in on Sunday night, a bit over seven hours since leaving home.  We'd had a few breaks along the way but the going had been slow due to lots of  road works.

Everyone was very pleased to get out of the cars and set up camp.  I used the camp kitchen to chef our dinner - and we sat around the big fire chatting with our camp host for quite a while before heading to bed.

We woke the next morning, to scolding apostle birds and wandering geese (with goslings)!

After breakfast, we explored a bit and walked down to the dam to see the small cows, donkeys and horses.  Vaughan's new friend really liked nibbling leg hair, which was funny!  (Later in the afternoon, sheep and lambs in the adjoining paddock were fed and it was fun watching their antics diving into the food trough)!

Beyond the backyard!

Nick had a few days off during the school holidays, so we did a quick trip out to Roma - which had been on our wish-list for a little while.

It was good to test our most recent modifications on the road - and beyond the backyard!

We were up early to finish packing.  As usual Bandit tucked himself into Elmer several hours before departure, so we wouldn't leave him at home! 

In the days when we camped in tents, with various gear stowed in our trailer, we had a number of boxes and pretty much knew where each one went.  We are still working on a plan for the camper trailer but saw progress this trip.

Our new packing method streamlined our roadside lunch stop at Dalby, which was great.  Chairs and a table were easy to access and Nick's shelf proved very handy. We all appreciated a break from the cars (Erin drove hers as a practice for solo camping) and a stroll along the river.  There were many water dragons basking in the sunshine and some that dropped into the water for a swim!

Lots of bright ideas!

It's a bit over a year since we bought our camper trailer and exactly a year since our last proper trip in it (out to Yowah) - though we have enjoyed quite a few backyard sleep outs since then. 

Nick and I really like how easy it is to set up the camper.  We tried a few mattress options and think we'll stick with the current one of a low profile innerspring sofa-bed mattress on top of our 4WD mats, with a foam overlay on top.  (The layers stay in place when the trailer is folded up for travel).

The storage box has great capacity but lacks organisation. 

At the time of buying the trailer, we had grand plans of perhaps setting up a kitchen inside the box area.  We've gone off that idea but would like more structure to our packing/storage.

Top collage pic shows the storage box in use for our first overnight stay.  You can see the previous owner fitted a shelf to the driver's side of the box only.

Nick fixed two shelves to the passenger side of the box today.  The larger of these also has a hinged section for additional bench area.  It may be a good road-stop food prep area.  We'll have to test it!

The main mission of the day was to buy and install a solar panel.  We've talked about getting one for ages but the budget always had more pressing demands. 

Nick's done a lot of research the past few days.  He found a local supplier offering great prices - so today's panel, cable and charging regulator were purchased for just under $200.00.  Fingers crossed our new acquisition works as well as we expect it to!  There is space on the roof of the box for a second solar panel, if we decide to buy another one. 

Nick's final task was to bolt the wooden box to the jerry can holders and fix the spare wheel to the front of the box.  (The gas rings were removed early this year).

Everything's looking good for a camping trip - beyond the back yard!

Doggy bag?!

I've done some more sewing this week - prepping a backpack picnic set for Di.  I'm very chuffed with how it's turned out.

The basic backpack was a Gumtree find.  It hadn't been used and held a 4-place setting - cutlery, plates, plastic wine glasses and a small cutting board.

As experienced picnickers, we added extra essentials - a large tablecloth (with tablecloth clips), sharp knife (complete with custom sheath), purple napkins and storage containers, various co-ordinated bags/pouches as well as teaspoons and thermal mugs.

The mugs were a wonderful bargain, bought nearly 10 years ago at a liquidation ware-house for $1.00 each. As they retailed for more than $10.00 usually, we bought 20! After lots of careful consideration, I've decided to gift Di four of my stash. Generous, eh?!

The starry bag is a new idea. It's the same style as my kettle bags and loo kits but lined with leftover plastic tablecloth material. The size is generous to stow dirty plates, cups etc for washing when home again. (Now that I've made a prototype, I'll do one for me, too)!

Sharp thinking!

We do a lot of picnics, so our picnic kit is well equipped.  We usually carry two sharp knives - one for bread and the other for anything else!

A while back I made a denim sheath for our bread knife and it's non-serrated companion.

That effort (shown in the bottom collage pic) wasn't an ideal solution, so I've been thinking of a better storage method.

The denim cover will still be used, when carrying dirty knives home for washing. 

During the week we visited Reverse Garbage and bought some thin leather pieces, which were priced at $17/kg.  I only paid a few dollars for my choices.

Nick helped cut two shaped pieces, one for each knife.  They fold along the top edge of the blades.  Both pieces were wet and then folded in place around the knives, secured by paper clips.

About 24 hours later, those large paper clips were removed.  I then used my sewing machine to sew along the curved edge of each sheath.  I worked very slowly and carefully, using a longer stitch.  I sewed two rows of stitching, one directly over the other, for extra strength and security.

After checking both knives fit into their new covers, I trimmed away some excess leather.

I'm quite pleased with the result - cos I wasn't sure my machine would sew through two layers of leather.  Hooray!