Well our life has taken some quick, unexpected yet decisive turns in the last few weeks. Within a matter of three weeks we have decided to move to Beechworth, bought two properties, enrolled the squids in local kindergarten and looked at various local jobs & careers!
On our way through Beechworth at Easter we saw an amazing block of land (8400m2 = approx two acres) right in the centre of Beechworth, bounded by the tree-lined bike trail, looking over the Chinese gardens, 100m from Lake Sambell and three minutes walk to the cafes. It includes an old, very run down farmhouse. Then ensued a few weeks of negotiating with the ageing but savvy owners and it was ours.
We have gone in halves with our friends Matt and George with various grandiose development schemes. Stay tuned!
So after securing the property we made the seven hour trek back from Hyams Beach to Beechworth to settle on the property and work out what we were going to do with the rest of our lives. On the way we drove through the most magical morning mist in Kangaroo Valley.
So all in all we have only made it 280km up the road from Melbourne! But fear not intrepid readers, we will head off again shortly for warmer climates spreading the gospel of the mighty Red Rascal.
Life on the road has been fantastic and it certainly focussed our minds on what Jane and I want out of our lives. We both have fairly active minds and realised years of growing beards and dreadlocks and wandering up the coast was not for us. We seemed to spend most of our time around the campfire talking about assorted business ventures and schemes.
Beechworth is a wonderful, peaceful historic gold mining town with an amazing collection of well preserved buildings. Toby’s great, great grandfather was actually the first Town Clerk in around 1870 and various relatives are buried in the local cemetery.
Love from the Country Bumpkins
Ps. Found this warrant to arrest Dan Kelly (Ned’s brother) signed by my great, great grandfather on 5 April 1878 – good to see he was cleaning up the Irish riff-raff
Just reading your trip diaries, Eric says there's more Irish riff-raff to come!!
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