Houses and homes

There are some very attractive houses in this region. Some of them make me briefly envious, Some just make me smile. We have a whole range around us, from the chateaux with the guardian dogs, live, who race along the fence barking until you are safely out of their sight, right down through the small farmhouse to the caravan in the field, and even better, the caravan on stilts.
If you build in the local style, and some do, then a square tower rising out of the body of the building is a must, and the 4-sided triangle roof can be seen peeking out of the forests for miles around. (I'm sure there's a name for a 4-sided triangle, which obviously isn't a triangle, but I don't know what it is.) I'll add a few pics of examples over the next few days.

Some look very old, and it is easy to imagine they've been here from medieval days. I have no doubt they have mice too, because they're built of rough stone which makes it easy for those little feet to climb and get in through the roof. I know snakes live in lofts - we hear horror stories from our rellies in Australia where people are very wary of entering loft spaces because they never know what they will encounter. Last night when I was drifting off to sleep I imagined a war one in the loft above me - mice versus snakes and lizards, and it made me feel sorry for the mice.

 I encountered one in the laundry room yesterday. It shot across the floor and out where the water pipe comes in through the wall. DH has caught one on his wildlife camera while it was running across the living room floor during the night. Odd that Tim doesn't seem to have noticed them yet.

It's different!

It is very peaceful here. Or it would be if the people who live in the farm behind us, who sold the land around us to the property developer, were not utilising their profits by digging a swimming pool. Workmen here start at 7am, have a brief lunch break at 12.30 and start again until three or later. We’ll see what time they stop today. Yesterday it was almost six pm.

Yesterday we drove out in Helen’s car and found the local shopping complex, where we bought a few staples, and headed down to the beach we visited on the first day. This time we resisted Bacon butties, settled for coffee and walked around the “town.”  Bowling clubs are strong here in Oz, and the Blackhead Bowling Club promises Fish n’ Chips on a Thursday night. We may well come back and try it. Houses are so very different here. Brick is not common as a building material, and rooves are often painted corrugated steel or unpainted zinc alloy/aluminium coated steel. Fences come in shades of pale green and cream, look as if they are plastic and click together.  Streets have no two houses the same, and big, expensive houses are crammed into little plots cheek by jowl with their neighbour. Yet there is land a plenty. Some do have large acreages attached, but they are on the outskirts, or the country. Here it’s called “the bush,” and we know from watching Neighbours that every trip into the bush ends in disaster. Just look at this You Tube video - Click We spotted horses wearing canvas coats when it is warm enough for them to go without, and were told it is probably so they don’t get sunburnt.

This morning we walked Diamond Beach again, and from the look-out point spotted some whales blowing and breeching far out to sea.