I was really lucky to get the chance to go and stay over at Megan's. a local who had a cattle station, "lucky downs", 20 mins drive from Greenvale. Her place was beautiful, she lived right next to a fresh water river. It was so clean they pumped water from here directly to their home, you could drink from it! Megans girls, scott and i ran down that day as the sun was just starting to set and I carved a quote onto a tree stump. the area was beautiful, banks full of long grass, the trees in australia are so different, the bark an ash white on some. not as green and full as ours. One large hollow bark lay on the bank and one of the children ran over it while the other ran through inside, they spoke of games of hide and seek and swimming in the river. Scott started to madly slam sticks against one tree. "Go on Scott let it all out kid..." I don't know if it was him just being a boy or he had a bit of kept anger. I was concerned but I thought it better to not think about too much.
Fruit trees and sunsets in their back garden, a baby cattle who's mother had died was being weened on a milk contraption attatched to the fence which the dog would also sneakily feed from. We fed 3 other collie puppy's that were outside dogs. 1 smaller fuzzy white mop of a dog was their only inside dog. That night Megan let me use her Internet and it was such luxury, as was sitting in front of the TV and watching satellite TV. I helped with the meal while the kids played on the trampoline and Megan was so lovely giving me advice, telling me Scott enjoyed jigsaws and all the things I could do with him which she knew he enjoyed. This kind of information really helped and once she caught on that I was pretty confused at mels and the food issue she continued to give me some more, much appreciated advice. She had also traveled her self and it was great to hear about that. Her husband was away a lot with work so I guess it was hard for her and times got lonely. she had a really incredible poem hanging up in her home about how woman struggled, how woman waited and how much work they had to do years ago, it was so inspiring. Pictures of generations of familys in "lucky downs" also hung up on the walls and she told me about how people lived in the outback in the days when cars were a luxury, biking for days for education, things like that. so interesting that they had all of these stories that had been passed on.
Megan was inspiring, there was sadness there but she appreciated all that she had. I guess living so far from it all for so long has its toll and doesn't mean a great social life, I would personally find that incredibly difficult, but like her, so many generations in the past lived a secluded life. It's luxury for some I guess and I guess the highlight is that she doesn't get involved in the drama that, sometimes, a small community can have.
When I left Megan's she gave Scott and I a "goody bag" haha. mine was filled with a container of tasty leftovers, potatoes and tomatoes she grew and some rice crackers. I was over the moon. FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD :D
I was sad to leave Megan's she had been the nicest, most generous person and I will always be grateful to her for so much she did to try and help me and Scott.
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