'Bessie at Burragan' is hilarious! Make sure you pop over to her blog and check her out! In her own words, she's a journalist and a farmer's-wife-to-be living and working on a sheep
property in far-western NSW. Their place, "Burragan", is 110km from the nearest
town, 200km from the nearest grocery store, and 300km from the nearest major
centre - Broken Hill. When she's not out in the paddock helping with sheep work, she
likes to write, keep up with global issues, and uncover the strange secrets of
our beautiful bush landscape.
She has blogged about 21 things she didn't realise about living in the bush, until she lived out bush. It's funny, it's insightful, and it's SO TRUE! If you want to see how life out 'here' can really be... please pop over and see what else she has to say... but here is a copy of what she has written here anyway...
Taken Straight From Bessie's Blog...
21 things I didn’t realise about living out bush, until I lived out bush…
1. The weather is more than just a mundane conversation topic; it’s
a living entity, and also the boss.
2. Mobile phone reception is not a
right, it’s a privilege.
3. Chocolate: I know I’ve mentioned this before,
and I don’t want to harp on, but as I woman I feel it should be brought to the
attention of females around the world that chocolate, a life essential, is not
readily available in the middle of no-where. One must purchase chocolate in
large supplies before heading out bush, or risk certain death.
4. Mail only
comes twice a week, and not at all if it’s raining.
5. Grocery items,
plants, alcohol, gas bottles, motorbikes and assorted mechanical parts can all
be ordered through the mail and delivered to the mailbox. Mailboxes are
generally the size of a 44 gallon drum. Our mail box is 15km from the house.
6. Fuel is bought in the thousands of litres instead of tens of litres… and
yes, we have our own fuel bowsers!
7. There’s no such thing as the weekend,
or business hours.
8. The world consists of only two types of cars: Toyotas
and motorcars.
9. Number 1s and Number2s don’t just disappear into the ether
for someone else to deal with once you flush. And if something goes wrong, then
sometimes you really are, literally, in the shit.
10. Medical receptionists,
accountants and government employees will never understand the inconvenience of
driving 300+km for an appointment that is rescheduled or cancelled. Pharmacists
and optometrists, on the other hand, will post almost anything to you!
11.
Border Collies and Kelpies are actually one quarter human… and can understand
(but not speak) English.
12. Reading a book on an afternoon off is not
considered a valid use of time. (Nor is having an afternoon off.)
13. A 90
kilometre return trip is not too far to drive to get a roadhouse burger and
chips (or a proper espresso coffee) for dinner when you really can’t be bothered
cooking.
14. You can never have too much toilet paper. Always have backup
for your backup, and backup for that backup.
15. Same with wine. And
batteries. And matches. And chocolate.
16. Smoko is the main, most
important, and most enjoyable, meal of the day.
17. A Leatherman is a
magical implement, kind of like a lightsaber, which can be used to complete any
task from digging splinters out of your hand, fixing fences, fixing engines,
“disposing” of feral animals and cutting your cake at smoko. In order to retain
its special powers, the Leatherman must not be washed between tasks.
18.
Fencing, shearing, crutching, spraying and marking are all nouns, not verbs.
19. Plumbers are not always necessary to get a job done right. Electricians
are. And they live far away, and charge a per kilometre rate to visit you.
20. There is no garbage truck. Everyone has their own rubbish dumps… so you
actually have to load your rubbish into the Toyota, drive it to your dump, and
dispose appropriately.
21. 4.30am is actually the morning of a new day, not
just the end of a big night.
I couldn't have said it better myself! x
Totally love this!! Used to nanny for a family that grew up on the farm - morning tea was always called smoko - always made me laugh, esp when preparing 'smoko' for a 3 & 5 year old ;)
ReplyDeleteHere Here, so true!
ReplyDelete...and that is why I married a City man!!!!!
ReplyDelete