September 2020! Wow what a year we have all had....

Wow, I seriously don’t know where this year has gone and what a year it has been.

We started the year off with bush fires right on our boundary and unfortunately they had to back burn onto part of our property. Luckily it was bush land and it has since recovered with all the recent rains we have had. It was an interesting time as we had lots of guests in and the day it all started, we had to evacuate people for a couple of hours (to be on the safe side). All was well though and we didn’t have to cancel any bookings.

In the middle of February I unfortunately fell, (whilst chasing sheep!) and dislocated my right elbow, tore ligaments and 2 small broken bones. I was not able to drive for 6 weeks which is a big thing here as we live 30 minutes from a shop!. Luckily our daughter, Phoebe was home as she is working on the farm this year, so she was an amazing help. I was not even able to clean 28 gates but then that did not last for long as Covid-19 hit.

Then Covid-19 hit in March. As it has for everyone, it affected us big time with 28 gates. In just 3 days, all our bookings were cancelled here and in Hobart at our airbnb. We gave full refunds and hoping that it was not going to last for very long. Luckily in June, we were able to open again to Tasmanians. Our main clientele before covid was ‘mainlanders’ and overseas guests, so to be honest I was a bit concerned if we would have any bookings. To my surprise and happiness, we were booked out for the school holidays and have had a steady occupancy going through. I would like to thank all our wonderful locals for their incredible support, not just for us but for all the businesses . It makes you really realise how special our state is when a pandemic like this happens. I feel desperately sorry for other states especially Victoria at stage 4 at the moment. Our thoughts are with them and hope life gets back to normal soon. Sadly our son, Tom is in Western Victoria so we have not been able to see him since February which is difficult. He is safe and happy and thats the main thing….thank goodness for social media and phones! He will hopefully be home in December.

On the farm we have had fantastic rains and Lakes are filling and hopefully will all be full by the end of Spring. Covid has affected wool prices and lamb prices but being farmers, we are always prepared for down turn (not quite as big as this one though!). It is a special time to visit here with all the little lambs around and we also have a beautiful new pet lamb, named Leo. He is loving guests and extra feeds! We still have Poppy the horse and her 4 sheep, Tilly, Nibbles, Alfie and Betty. Also our dogs, Blacky, Barney, Peggy and our new dog, Billy are always wanting attention from guests. Cleo the rabbit is a hit with the young and old and the chooks are laying beautiful eggs.

I have been selling a lot of our Merino products on our website and we still have free postage available if anyone is interested.

We are hoping the borders around our Tassie moat will open to the mainlanders early December. I do hope everyone is safe and well and sending lots of positive thoughts to people who are struggling through this difficult year. Love from us all including all our beautiful pets X

The below photo is of Billy as a pup….he has settled in well and now 9 months old. He will be a work dog and pet of course!