Meet the Rellies

We took a trip down the Beechworth cemetery to meet some of the rellies. Alfred Darvall was Toby’s great, great grandfather’s (WHC Darvall – a solicitor and the first Town Clerk of Beechworth) cousin – first prize to the first reader who can tell us what that is?

Alfred came out from Reading, England (where a lot of Darvalls ended up) at WHC Darvall’s urging. He mined the local area for a few years and is believed to have died from typhoid which was common on the goldfields at this time.

The local Burke Museum has a lot of great historical and genealogical information.

Love from the Historians

Woolshed falls

There’s a lot to do around Beechworth – swimming and fishing in Lake Sambell, local cafes and restaurants, great museums and historical goldmining sites, riding the sealed rail trail between Beechworth and Wangaratta, local mountain bike tracks, 1 hour to Mt Hotham skiing, plenty of local trout fishing and some ripper bushwalking. One of our favourites is a visit to the Woolshed Falls 10 minutes down the road.

The water cascades over some spectacular granite rocks before falling 100 feet into a small pond. We’re waiting for a big downpour to see it at its best but it’s always a great little excursion with the kids.

Today we discovered a beautiful golden orb spider on the track waiting for an unsuspecting fly.

We’re still waiting to settle on our new house which is keeping us on edge (and in expensive rented accommodation).

Love from Jane, Toby, Ollie, Henry and Eloise

Beechworth property No. 2 – the Country Empire Builds

Three weeks after buying the first property, we got to have our first look through the old farmhouse. Grannie Annie spent a couple of days up here and helped us inspect the old shack and we all concluded it was too far gone. Ooops! Back to square one.

After realising it would take too long to bowl over the old house and build another or find a rental property, we were back in the market. After 2 weeks of frantic searching we found the perfect house – right next to Lake Sambell on a quiet street near the town centre.

It is a mostly renovated weatherboard Victorian house on an old garden with some beautiful established trees including a beautiful mature Blue Fir tree. So we went into battle for a second time and after a fairly quick negotiation, agreed to buy this house. Contracts are not yet signed, so we’re crossing our fingers. We’re very excited that this may be our home for the next few years.

Jane has already started buying the magazine "Country Style" - how embarassing and now I've just told the world.

Now before you think we’re completely bonkers, property in Beechworth is a lot cheaper than in Melbourne – well that’s my excuse.

Love from the Darvalls

ps. We love Beechworth - the kids and I were in the local park today - this koala ran past us and perched in a tree 6 feet away.

Beechworth property No.1

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

www.sexyparrots.com

We met some new friends in Hyams Beach who would visit every morning and afternoon.

We discovered that the corner of the front balcony was the only spot for internet access. This was also the favourite spot for our fine feathered friends. Found this fella trying to log onto www.sexyparrots.com while I wasn’t looking.

Love from the Darvalls

Berry Market Shenanigans

Red Rascal wholesale sales have been brilliant but we’ve been missing the excitement of a good market stall. We heard of a huge country market in the nearby historic town of Berry at the foothills of the Kangaroo Valley.

Jane approached the organisers who initially fobbed her off with the claim that her handmade shirts were “too commercial”. Handmade, in Australia, by two mums, with Australian designer fabric – YEAH RIGHT!

When the organisers realised this was quite clearly rubbish they tried a different tack – at 3pm the night before the market they told Jane she needed $10 milllion public liability insurance to attend. My amazing wife promptly got on the phone, bought some insurance and had the certificate faxed to them in less than an hour. We were having our breakfast on a picnic rug at the market gate at 7am the next morning ready to go!

A big day in the hot sun. Jane was amazing – what a trooper – and sold heaps!! By the end we were all exhausted but happy and appreciating the wholesale sales even more.

Lots of Love and Kisses to the Berry Market Organising Committee.

Circus Life

It was hard to beat the excitement of our private, guided tour of the National Park with Martin. It was definitely the highlight for me. But the kids almost had a conniption when a circus set up in the local town of Nowra.

We were in quick smart!


Trick ponies, trained dog tricks, clowns whacking each other, trapeze tricks, rope tricks and the “wheel of death” – all fairly standard circus fare – but the highlight was definitely the stunned silence and transfixed look on the kids faces! They had never seen anything like it.

Love from the Clowns.

Ranger Martin

We’ve met some fabulous people on our trip – not the least Martin and Vicki – our neighbours at Hyams Beach. The village was virtually empty – huge expensive houses owned by Sydney professionals - locked up for the winter. In this ghost town the kids quickly gravitated to the Martin and Vicki and their big shaggy dog Kipper.

Turns out Martin is the head Ranger at Booderee National Park and a big wig in National Parks – often travelling to Canberra. He has worked at Uluru and Kakadu NPs. Vicki is a school teacher in the local aboriginal community.

Martin took the kids and I on a private tour of Booderee National Park in the NP Fire Truck – the kids were beside themselves with excitement. He has some fascinating stories to tell about the area including encounters with giant cuttlefish, a rogue navy submarine, a lighthouse destroyed by a stray navy shell, the tragic cliff top deaths of 3 small kids and evidence of a 400 foot Tsunami that swept through the area about 300 years ago – we've just shelved our plans for a beachside holiday house!

Love from the Darvalls

Hyams Beach - a Dummy Free Zone

We checked out the map and found a lovely little town, called Hyams Beach, not far from Greenpatch. Jane tracked down a great old beach shack which we booked for the week. Ahhhh – hot showers, washing machines, beds and TV.

For quite a while Jane and I had been appalled by our kids’ ongoing love affair with dummies. Dirty, gross, annoying little things (but occasionally very useful) – it was time for them to go.

We checked with the local bush gnomes who told us the Dummy Fairies visited every 2^nd night and took away dummies from the older kids for the newborn babies and left treats in their place. The kids were very excited by this news and eagerly left them out. Free from dummies at last!

When the kids hiked up into the bush the next morning to collect their treats, two huge grey kangaroos were there to greet them.

Had a lovely pancake breakfast down on the local BBQ overlooking Jervis Bay - 2nd best breakfast ever!

Two weeks later we were still there.

Love from the Darvall menagerie

Greenpatch Paradise

Throw out your travel guides! The best source of travelling and camping knowledge is your fellow nomads around a campfire. As we have moved up the coast, everyone kept raving about Booderee National Park (Jervis Bay National Park).

A quick look on the internet and apparently “Greenpatch Camping Ground” was the go. We arrived at a slightly underwhelming campground (after the magnificent Prom and luxury of Durras). Not happy until we walked down onto possible the most magnificent beach in Australia – Greenpatch Beach.

Silicone sand so white it blinds you, crystal clear, warm, azure water in a sheltered cove – teeming with the most amazing collection of fish life and sea life. Lightly wooded bush ringing the cove - Robinson Crusoe would have been right at home.

We spent a very happy week at Greenpatch saying hello to the various denizens of the deep including: Six foot wobbegong shark (gave me a hell of a fright), dolphins, stingrays, drummer, whiting, seahorses, massive groper, garfish, angelfish, elephant fish, pike, magpie perch, penguins and cuttlefish. Ollie’s snorkelling and swimming improved dramatically and he was transfixed with the sights below the waves.

Jane and the kids also discovered some lovely trails through the native heathlands which were perfect for mountain bikes big and small.

Meanwhile I was transfixed by the navy Frigates, Minehunters, Sea King and Squirrel Helicopters that did exercises off the beach every day. Jervis Bay is home to HMAS Creswell Navy training base and nearby HMAS Albatross Navy air base.

By the end of our week, we were itching to get into a house, wash up, sew some orders and live the domestic life for a while and generally take it easy.

Love from the Beach Bums

Empire of the Rascal

The Red Rascal Empire continues to build. Jane has proven herself to be a very successful saleswoman. At virtually every decent sized town we have passed through, she’s found a local potential stockist and gone in for the kill.

After a bit of lippy, clean shoes and her trusty green bag of samples she’s in to show her wares. To date, her success rate has been very high – the shops love the unique, hand crafted and interesting designs and can’t resist Jane’s sales charm.

Meanwhile the kids and I head for the local park, beach or milkshake shop eagerly awaiting her news.

After gathering her orders together, she often sews well into the night getting the stock ready, cuts fabric next to the pool/beach or relays the orders back to Melbourne where Kris and Ciz are holding the fort. The Rascal rolls on!

Love from the Rapscallions