Casterton

Royce and I headed over to Casterton on Tuesday last week (11th).  We didn't take the caravan but stayed with my sister Sharon and her partner Richard.  We had only intended to stay a couple of days but that extended out a bit.  We had a leisurely drive to Casterton, stopping on the way to pick up a turtle (tortoise?) that was sitting in the middle of a single lane, narrow country road just south of Langcoop.  We couldn't leave Tommy there otherwise he was sure to get run over, so we emptied out a crate, put him in it and let him go by the billabong at Casterton.  We saw two emus crossing the road and a lot of Rosellas.  It was a pleasant days drive.  We spent time walking, talking, eating and I got a lot of craft work done!  On Friday Royce and Richard headed into Mount Gambier in the morning, picked up a hire truck and drove to Adelaide where they loaded a whole lot of book shelves and stock for Richard's new shop in Casterton - Bikes Books and Bits.  they slept in Adelaide Friday night and drove back to Casterton on Saturday and we all got stuck into unloading the truck which they took back to Mount Gambier on Sunday.  They both worked pretty hard to do all that driving, but particularly loading up the truck!  We got a couple of days of wet weather with one day being particularly bad.  Casterton was on flood watch and the river did rise a few metres but luckily it did not suffer the same fate as many other Victorian towns.  Our hearts go out to all the people affected by the Queensland and Victorian floods!
I didn't sleep very well at Casterton.  There were a few different reasons but one of them was that Royce and I discovered on Sunday night that we were using each other's pillows!  After we swapped over we both slept reasonably well Sunday night - what a pair of wallies!  The corellas at Casterton are a noisy mob as well and whilst they quieten down eventually there are still quite a few that seem to like chatting on through the night.
We left Casterton Monday morning and again had a leisurely drive back to Adelaide arriving late afternoon.  On Tuesday we re-arranged our room (boy was that a big job - had to empty out all the book shelves, wardrobes, drawers, cupboards then shuffle everything around a few times before we got all the furniture where we wanted it), did some cleaning and some washing and today has been a bit of quiet day.  My nephew Jayden and his girlfriend Alkisty popped in this afternoon to see Rory, Emma and Marshall and while Alkisty was nursing Marshall I managed to get a photo of one of his smiles.  He is smiling more often now and it was good to capture one on the camera.  He had his weigh in and 6 week check up today and is now 9lb!  He is getting quite chubby and growing out of quite a few of his clothes.  He is very aware and alert and loves to sit on your lap and have a chat!


The billabong near Sharon & Richard's house




Richard's dog Bonney splashing in one of the many puddles during one of our walks




A small flock of corellas taking off ahead of us.  There were a squillion of them !!




Two horses and one of the ponies currently agisted in Sharon & Richard's bottom paddock




Marshall wearing his Ford jumpsuit given to him by Sharon and Richard




Managed to catch him smiling at Alkisty!