Flatlands 3

Flatlands 3

The opening in Warren went well and there was a steady stream of visitors over the weekend. I made a point of not preparing anything to say and entertained the assembled crowd with a string of off-the cuff remarks. I was memorably asked by a young man just out of toddlerhood “Why haven’t you got any hair?” After explaining that that’s what happens sometimes when you get old and he might not have any hair one day, he said “I don’t think so”.

On Sunday we shut up shop in the afternoon and went for a two-hour paddle along the Macquarie, travelling from weir to weir in about two hours. My arms were rather unaccustomed to this form of exercise and ached a fair bit.

Bill thoroughly enjoying himself.

Downstream from Warren.

A canoe tree. They’re everywhere on the Macquarie.

On Monday I drove to Kiameron where Sue and Michael Egan ran another large mixed farming enterprise on the Macquarie. After a short tour of Sue’s stupendous garden, I started off with the old part of the homestead –

“Kiameron Homestead 1871”

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This drawing took quite some time and later on that day after I’d recovered, Sue took me up to the top of nearby Mt. Foster at sunset. I was keen to get a drawing from one of the few elevated spots in the Marshes.

“North from Mt. Foster”

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The next morning Michael took me on the Cook’s tour of their property, with the result that I didn’t get to my next drawing at the nearby Mt. Harris until noon. It was stinking hot and I huddled under the narrow shade of the surrounding hedge while I laboured.

“R.I.P. Mt. Harris Homestead 1915 – 2015”

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That’s the Egan family graveyard on top of the hill. I finished the drawing in four hours and was completely drained. I went back to Kiameron and downed a couple of beers in rapid succession.

The next morning I was knackered, but woke early and was on site before sunrise. My target was the massive new pump that Michael had shown me the day before.

“The New Chinese 26 inch Pump at Kiameron”

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The pump’s Chinese, the turbo diesel is a John Deere.

I had a nanna nap for an hour to recover from the heat, then moved inside Kiameron to tackle the family memorabilia.

“Bibs and Bobs”

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I was due back in Warren that afternoon and I reluctantly departed from the pleasures of Kiameron. The only thing crossing the road in the early morning was a lonely echidna.

I’ve got one from my childhood just like this, although a bit more dilapidated -