Des nouvelles de notre cousine (confinée) d'Australie (en VO)

Hello from a locked down Australia,

When they announced that the state borders were going to be shut down I was away in my motorhome. I had to make the quick decision to terminate my holiday & drive straight home for fear of not being able to get back into Queensland. At the time I was in Warrnambool Victoria some 1971.86 Klms from home this equates to over 21 hours of straight driving but I did it with breaks & nightly stop overs.

The first night I made it to Albury which is near the Victorian & New South Wales Border. & parked in a friends driveway as many of the place i usually use were closing. the second night i made it to a tiny place called Bulahdelah in New South Wales & on the map it is just above Newcastle & stayed in the show grounds as I wanted to see my Mum before going home but it was not to be as the Nursing home was in lockdown. so I drove home from there to Mudgeeraba & was able to cross the New South Wales Queensland border with 8 hrs & 22 mins to spares as it was to close at midnight . I was quite tired by the time I go home as it was a lot of long driving. I had an early night .

Since getting back I have cleaned the motorhome out & was he & polished the outside. just the outside took 5 hours to wash as my motorhome is rather big some 9.75m long & 3.9m high & now she is ready to go for the next trip when ever the restrictions are lifted.

This is my Motorhome tucked away behind the gates I call her Elle est Grand.
Now we're are all in lockdown & only allowed out of our homes for getting food, Dr appointments, & looking after the aged. Alan’s nursing home is in lock down till 30 June with no visitors allowed but I will be able to Skype him as they are setting up the facilities to be able to talk to him. which will be good.
It is such a nasty virus & am hoping that you & rest of the family are fine. as I am.

Whilst on my travels I was lucky enough to be able to see some amazing art. they are wheat silo of over 25m in height & towns waters towers that have been painted. I have to say that seeing them in photos is wonderful but it is nothing like seeing them up close , the details in the art works is wonderful & I am in awe of the artist that can paint such large works on a curved surface. Each silos works of are are about the area they are in & have a story attached to them.

This is the Merriwa NSW Silo with sheep as that area breeds a lot of the sheep for meat & wool for Australia.
This is the Grenfell NSW Silos & is also a sheep & cattle growing area.

This is the water tower of Goorambat Victoria where they still to this day breed beautiful shire horses. The horse are called Clem,Sam & Banjo & are still working horse in the area.

This is in Barraba NSW & the young farmer is defining for water as it is a drought area.

This is one in Rochester Victoria. the Kingfishers are common in the area & the bridge in the background was built for the old steam engines that used to be in the area.
The idea behind the painting of the silo is to get folks to come to the town & look &spend some money in the towns to keep the locals going.
There are some 70 of the silos & water towers all over Australia & I would like to visit them all as it will be some to be able to say I have seen.

In the second week of March I went to a Muster with 112 other motorhomes all were the same brand & all were either an Optimum (top of the range model) or a Conquest, I thoroughly enjoy the meeting of like minded folks & learnt a lot of ways to look after my motorhome & place others have been too. We all meet in a town in Victoria called Yarrawonga which is on the Murray river & a beautiful place to rest & enjoy the Muster.

This is an aerial shot of 1/2 the must group parked up my motorhome is on top left hand side 3rd one from the rive & I am back up to the amenities block.

I was part of the committee that organised the muster & loved doing it & it was a huge success My jog was doing all the spread sheet work & assistant treasurer.

this was our first meeting & there were some 230 people there at our meetings.

It is our autumn here & the garden needs my attention the leaves on my frangipani tree are falling daily & need to be raked up so while is not too hot as yet I shall love you & leave you & for & pick them up

Stay well

Love Helen XXXXXXX

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[Finidori]

Très intéressant, moi qui rêve de l'Australie depuis toujours mais mon anglais est loin...

Anne.