Our hospitable Airbnb host, Neil, said we could meet him one morning by the train (of course!) to go out and feed the sheep. As he was taking the tractor out of the shed, he stopped, came out, and called us over to show us a couple of possums tucked up along the roof line! They were two brush-tailed (as opposed to ring-tailed) and were a bit annoyed to be awoken, but we thought it was pretty cool to see them! 🙂
Neil finished getting the tractor out, hooked up a small trailer, and filled it with some hay for us to sit on while we rode out into the paddock to find the sheep.
The breed is one that stores fat in their tails, like camels store fat in their humps. They are used for meat and not for their wool and, in fact, shed their wool and don’t require shearing. (Neil and Marie just have them as a hobby, though, not to be used for meat anymore.)
They have 6 of them, and the kids got to hand feed them. We had to crouch down and move very slowly to gain their trust, but Neil told the kids the sheep trusted them faster than he’s seen before, so they did a great job! 🙂
Of course, we kept our eyes open for snakes and had an ace bandage on hand (as Neil suggested we bring one that could be used in case of a bite to keep the venom from spreading…to buy a little time)! YIKES! We did see one kangaroo hopping across the paddock, though, which we preferred anyway! 🙂
The only picture I got is as he was leaping over the fence, tripping, and then hopping away. Thus, the picture is of an upside-down kangaroo that looks more like an ostrich or something from a distance! I’ve cropped it close, below, so you can have a better look.
On the way back, we stopped to give the horses, mule, and donkey a few pats.
After feeding the sheep, it was time to feed ourselves some lunch and have a little rest.
Later, we went to Maldon, a cute little country town with lots of history, for the afternoon. There were all kinds of original buildings, lots of shops, including a sewing store, a couple of bookstores, a clothing store, a really nice home goods store, a home-made ice cream shop, a lolly shop, and a yarn shop!
We spotted a cafe for sale…something to think about… 😉 And while all of the treats in the lolly shop looked delicious and the fudge at the ice-cream store was mouthwatering, we chose tasty home made ice-cream cones for a hot-weather snack! 🙂
On the way out of town, we stopped at the local butcher shop for some chicken schnitzel and headed home for dinner.
While we were browsing in the yarn shop, the kids chose a ball of yarn to share as they both decided they wanted to learn to knit. When we got back to the farm, we had a short knitting lesson, and the next thing we knew, they were knitting away on the verandah!
We ended the day by going out to look at the stars! It was amazing how many there were in the pitch black without any city lights or streetlights around. Every time we blinked there were more!
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