Well it's over 4 years now since we went "bush" and whilst we've achieved a hell of a lot on farm in that time, the idea of keeping an ongoing record of what's happening has been less successful. News Years Resolutions are next to useless for us as  there's something in the joint intelligence around here that says as soon as it becomes some sort of mandated activity it doesn't happen. It would be nice to be able to use this blog as we'd wanted - to look back at what's changed... but there's a few photos tucked around on various hard drives around the place and we'd better stick with that for the moment, with the vague idea that we might actually blog a bit more frequently on what's happening in these parts.

But a bit of a retrospective think about things, and where we are at at the moment, and it's all pretty good. Weather aside as this bloody drought is a nightmare of increasingly frightening proportions, there has been very little regret about the move.

Sure the climate up here is harsh, and difficult and very very challenging, and absolutely this idea that the drought has ended is irritating, insulting and frustrating as hell, as we've had little / no rain now all winter and spring, and are now dealing with near enough to empty dams, dry as tinder grasslands and a serious management problem with livestock water, but there are plenty of things on the upside.

The air is clean and clear and wonderful - there's no persistence of smoke lingering over us every day. We come and go, hang washing, sit around outside, open and close windows and generally live free of that constant cloud of toxic fumes that ultimately drove us from the Dandenong Ranges. Obviously people up here do fire preparations, and are more fire aware than we've come across in years, but they do that within reason, and with consideration to everyone around them. There is burning off, but there's a general consideration of wind direction, and impact. Even the DSE, when burning off the bush reserves, do it quickly, efficiently and with some thought to where the smoke is going to go and for how long. Although the Longest Lunch and a burnoff became a close run thing a year or so ago, common sense and co-operation prevailed in the end.

Obviously it's helped by the size of the properties, but mostly, it's an issue of care and consideration and awareness of neighbours. There's also a very nice little warning that comes with your welcome pack from the local council - no point in moving into an agricultural area and then whinging about agricultural activities (occasional headers in paddocks of a night / gas guns firing in paddocks / roosters crowing!).

And that's probably the thing that makes all the hard environmental stuff easier to take. The community up here is fantastic. The combination of artists, farmers, small-holders and broad acre growers, graziers, croppers, grape growers, wineries, workers, labourers, professionals, retired, young, old, just kind of works. This is a community in which, in the main, everyone is accepted for who they are / what they do / and their foibles and individual quirks might be commented on, but mostly with affection and acceptance.

So after 4 years, and in the face of a desperate weather situation, no regrets. A few desires - but pretty simple ones really. Wish it would BLOODY RAIN. A few weeks worth would be good. But not on the Australia Day long weekend - there's a party in town and everyone will want to show up.

"Once upon a time..." ?So began the pantomime "Sleeping Beauty" at the Moonambel hall.

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The words spoken by yours truly in an Irish accent while dressed as a frog. ?This was my fifth appearance in a Steve Lane/Gwynnyth van den Bergen production with the ensemble cast that is starting to get quite a reputation around the district. ?And for good reason. ?The team all works incredibly hard and there is a wealth of talent that Steve and Gwyn manage to winkle out and polish up.

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With evil witches (Salli Argall) and the three fairies, Fairy Floss (Jan Curtis), Fairy Nuff (Tanya Miles) and ?Fairy Vazion (Ruth Searle) there was great banter and plenty of boos, hissess and "She's behind you" throughout the night.

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And just to ensure a bit of gender balance in the magical stakes, the wizard (Graeme Akers) makes an appearance with the clownish "Boots" (Bernard Abadie) and myself in a musical interlude.

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Of course you can't have Sleeping Beauty without, well, Sleeping Beauty. ?The princess (Claire Farrell) in repose waiting the 100 years for her prince charming (Sanne Malkaer) made quite a sight.

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And in true pantomime tradition we had our own Grand Dame, the queen Popsi Wopsi (Michael Matthews), whose comic monologue got the crowd going and fully immersed in the proceedings.

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"On the day of the christening, the court were all busy..." ? And you can't have a court without a king (Adrian van den Bergen) - centre stage.

In the wings we had Steve and Gwyn and Claire's brother Ben did a great job of promt/stage hand.

The entire proceedings were very well received and we even got a write up in a few local papers, along with Facebook and Twitter appearances.

Needless to say, after the desperately dry conditions we've had all winter and spring, predictions of a long hot Victorian summer have done nothing to increase comfort zones in these parts.

Fire preparations are lurching into shape, and this year we'll be facing the possibility of a really bad grass fire year with reduced dam levels, and a lot more livestock. So that's not going to be any fun at all. Add to that the sorts of weather predictions that are being chucked around, and I doubt there'll be any relaxing hereabouts until sometime in April next year.

Mind you, if one more person tells me the drought's obviously over then I've got a plan for a spot of stress relief. (Where did I put that shovel, must get out and do a bit of swinging practice....)

We're currently considering where we'll be moving the pigs to in the event of the dangerous weeks to come - it will have to be somewhere where we can quickly protect them if necessary and/or allow them to run if things get really bad. Which is an interesting challenge given they are absolute buggers to move when they don't want to move! Then there's the Alpacas, who you can move, as long as you don't mind a bit of a sprint around the paddock at the time. Not my favourite activity at the best of times, but when it's 40 degrees....

Given all the talk of "good seasons" and too much rain in the Southern parts of Victoria, I'm assuming that people don't get out much. There is a distinct difference north and south of the Divide - we see it all the time when we haul up and down the Highway.

But out here it's as dry as a chip - and has been all winter. We've had a long, freezing cold winter with very little rain and a long, hot dry Spring already - with temperatures soaring again on Sunday. Neither of our dams are close to full - one is down to around half capacity.

They are talking about the vague possibility of a sprinkling of rain on Monday, so let's hope like hell. We're just this side of mildly desperate for some.

Bright and early on Friday morning, himself arose and penned the boys.

Who were NOT HAPPY.

They are getting out and about now - so tomorrow or Saturday we'll move them from the small hatching cage (aka the Guinea Pig's cage) into a Cell so they can start to roam a bit.