Aubigny Place: Where we live

It takes 30min of open road driving to get to the closest grocery shop, you are surrounded by open farm land, cattle, horses, the odd side road which is usually dirt, the old farm house which is surrounded by farm sheds that are three times bigger. Your neighbour is a couple of hundred meters away and you will hear his rooster, someone elses rooster and your own rooster before you hear anything else. You can wave to the cop who lives up and around the corner and he'll wave back. You know who the locals are cos they wave you the one or two finger salute as you drive past, and you do the same. Apart from electricity (until we go solar anyway), its the only thing we are actually reliant on. We have grey water, rain tanks, septic. And its all on us, up to us. Oh and a garbage collection service, but not recycling.

The Pioneer Arms Hotel

Yep, living out in rural Queensland is something everyone needs to try. Goombungee is a tiny little town 40km N/W of Toowoomba, home of the rural ironman competition held on Australia Day, and is the oldest town in the Rosalie Shire. Many of the original buildings still stand, including The Pioneer Arms Hotel, the local pub that has been open for business since 1897. This used to be one of six pubs, but many have since been lost to fire. There was even a hospital here once. In 2003, the town was connected to a mains water supply but it tastes like **** and pretty much everyone has tanks, so rain water it is!!

The driveway coming around the tanks. They both hold 22,500lt

Christine at the post office knew who I was before I could finish "Hi we've just moved into.....". She had been waiting for me. There is no mail delivery, but a few weeks after being here, we had a PO Box, which just means we can check our mail whenever we want, not just when she is open. Her little post office is to die for! She has some of the most spectacular and amazing gifts, goodies and homely items in there, (I cannt wait for christmas and birthday money!!). Then there is the general store where you can get the essentials. They are lovely there! There is now a pharmacy and a Doctor open 5 days a week.

The school is tiny, just over 100 students. They start school at 8.30 and finish at 2.30. Its your typical old school with the old school house next door for the principal, the old original school room and massive open paddock/oval for sport. It even has its own swimming pool!!

There is day care out here, if you can call it that. They are open 2 days a week within school hours and are so popular that there is a waiting list for next year. Bridie goes to one 30min away, 27km to be exact.

The kids have swimming 30min away too. Shopping is 30min away, getting food for the lizards is 1hr away!

So my simply rural living is going to kick in gradually. Its things that will make me travel less and stop home more, and go back to basics!

Out the back.

Its going to teach kids the importance of independence, not convenience.

I want to sweep more, vacuum less, figure out how NOT to burn food in my oven (I have a very appropriate name for my oven which is INappropriate here!), Nathan is making his first batch of homebrew - all encased in an electric blanket!, Im going to start my own laundry soap - one that is suitable for grey water for veggie patches and fruit trees. And the kids and I are going to enbark on making our own soap.

And a routine for the day - morning and afternoon, for the week - day by day, so that jobs get done, I do what I have to do and dont miss anything, so that I only go to town when I HAVE to, because I hate town!! (Give me my paddocks any day!!)

Im taking back the reins of a busy life. Im going to make life simple.

Im off to figure out where my veggie patch is going to go, which means brown-snake-whispering!