Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Living in the sticks
Dayum I've lost track of the conversation about rural living so I
thought I'd stick my experiences in a new post. We only shop monthly which we find not only reduces fuel needed but also as neither of us like shopping ...also reduces stress. It's a 100 klm round trip to the nearest cheapo (Woollies) supermarket and we use that shopping trip for anything we need to buy at nearby towns/stores too ... car spares etc. The car is on LPG (40 - 50c/litre) although gas has risen in price pretty steeply the last few years is still a great saving for us, The ute is Diesel and at $1.10 - $1.15/ litre is only used for fetching animal feed again monthly, a round trip of about 20 klms ... I find that a full tank lasts me around 300 klms (fuel gauge busted so I fill up again at 300 klms) so unless I use the ute for dragging stuff around the block I can last quite a while between fills. Our land rates are reasonably cheap compared to town rates and we have a great local veggie growing community nearby which makes most of the in season stuff very reasonable, but of course the best stuff is from our own garden (still a bit sparse yet). Water storage and pumping is pretty much like others have said, our mains pressure is pretty pathetic so we have to store water in a tank and pump every drop to the house (oh for a decent hill)We use water to flush the toilet but because of the Envirocycle septic system it gets reused for the salt bush and ground cover vegetation, so I don't feel too guilty there because every drop we use gets reused on our block and the poor drainage/ high water table in our soil made a normal septic soak impossible, and no I didnt want a composting toilet I wanted the water to re use, I couldnt quite see the logic in saving water in the toilet to have to water shrubs with mains (clean) water when the "magic" water works so well. Electricity is our biggest running cost, because we shop monthly we freeze quite a bit of stuff, (our own as well as bought) and I have a small freezer for fishing bait/burley/dog meat ... the pumps, water and septic are running on and off all day of course, then we have a mains powered elec fence unit running continuously and I have my "studio" which (when I'm feeling creative) uses a fair bit of juice depending on what I'm doing. ... Phone calls are all STD so even though most calls are made on "plans" cheap evening rates etc they amount to a fair bit more than any town bill would be. Vehicle rego's are another big cost, with a car, the ute, a trailer, a horse float, boat (essential item) and a "highrise" for boat towing, all needing rego, tho these are slightly cheaper for country. Fuel costs I've touched on but what I save using LPG I probably spend on boat fuel and petrol for the highrise but then again that provides us with fresh fish and crabs (my excuse). A couple of examples of our shopping habits is to buy a Kilo of top side roast at $9.50/kilo and I slice it to provide us with enough meat for about 5 meals, sometimes there are scrappy bits left over which I cut into strips for stir fry's, A kilo of chicken breast costs around $10 and if I slice it lengthways (half as thin) can also provide around 5 - 6 meals with enough to dice for sweet and sour again or strips for curries etc. ...the same goes for a pork shoulder which is cheap, I save enough scrappy bits to mince for pork pies, curries etc. We eat fresh fish and crabs probably about twice a week on average and the rest is frozen to eat as is or to make fishcakes, pickled crab or some other wonderful concoction depending on what pops into me head at any given time. I smoke, we drink at Christmas or special occasions and sometimes buy a box of Chateau de cardboard and/or a carton of beers as the fancy takes us. A fixed income yes .... but not a fixed way of thinking, if we dont have something it's usually because we dont want it or I havent got me bum into gear and made it/grown it/caught it yet. I'm from the country and I'm bloody well staying there. :-) Pete |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
sunrise farm wrote:
I don't know if this would be of interest but I saw this device this morning on Today called an 'Engin' (could be 'Engen' - it was early, i was 1/2 asleep) that uses the internet to make phone calls. Apparently theres no quality issue - lines are as clear as Telstra/Optus lines but no flag falls, tarrifs etc... local calls are 10c, STD are 10c and OS calls are a couple of cents a minute. The box costs about $149 which is quite an outlay I guess, but I think if you make lots of long distance calls (which we do at our place) that it would probably pay for itself in fairly short order... I don't work for them or anything (or I'd know how to spell it, lol :0p ), I thought it was quite interesting and anything that cuts down the cost of STD phone calls when you've just left the city and moved interstate is a good thing... Hi Andi Certainly worth keeping in mind, I've seen some of these internet phones before and most of em rely on both parties having the device/service ....which is very limiting. Telstra do a Wide area network which means that you can call exchanges upto 50 kms away for 25c untimed, this is helpful to us but it still doesnt get us into the city for any necessary calls that need to be made during business hours, luckily most government departments or large orgs have a 1300 number which is local call price or an 1800 freecall number. I can't wait until we're eating fresh fish and prawns a couple of times a week *sigh* might have to relent and let the hubby get a boat after all... Every Australian boy needs a boat ...ok and a shed :-) Pete |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
"pete" wrote in message ... sunrise farm wrote: snip my free advert for engen Hi Andi Certainly worth keeping in mind, I've seen some of these internet phones before and most of em rely on both parties having the device/service ...which is very limiting. Telstra do a Wide area network which means that you can call exchanges upto 50 kms away for 25c untimed, this is helpful to us but it still doesnt get us into the city for any necessary calls that need to be made during business hours, luckily most government departments or large orgs have a 1300 number which is local call price or an 1800 freecall number. I can't wait until we're eating fresh fish and prawns a couple of times a week *sigh* might have to relent and let the hubby get a boat after all... Every Australian boy needs a boat ...ok and a shed :-) Pete Hi again :0) I really do not work for them, but after I posted I found their web site, wasn't quite as wonderful as I might have conveyed, but still not a *bad* idea :0) http://www.engin.com.au/public/engin.asp He's got a shed... er... well, we're living in the shed, but one day he'll have a really big shed to play in, and he thinks you should run for PM and use 'every Australian boy needs a boat' as your slogan, lol. He is a pommy ring in tho, that's my anti-boat argument atm... Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread with telephone stuff, I was wondering though, to anyone who has moved from the city to the country, what were the biggest shocks/surprises you got? |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
sunrise farm wrote:
He's got a shed... er... well, we're living in the shed, but one day he'll have a really big shed to play in, and he thinks you should run for PM and use 'every Australian boy needs a boat' as your slogan, lol. He is a pommy ring in tho, that's my anti-boat argument atm... Ex Derbyshire lad here myself ...thats all the more reason for him to have a boat .... It's like having a barbie (yes the grill not the doll)he NEEDS a boat to become more Australian. Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread with telephone stuff, I was wondering though, to anyone who has moved from the city to the country, what were the biggest shocks/surprises you got? Definitely the weather, even before our latest big storm, in the burbs the weather is nothing more than a conversation topic or annoyance when ya want a barbie, out here its probably the most important topic it basically rules most peoples lives in the country and on the water. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
"sunrise farm" wrote in
I was wondering though, to anyone who has moved from the city to the country, what were the biggest shocks/surprises you got? I think city people have REAL problems with coping with snakes. I had some people here just before Xmas and my daughter saw a Tiger Snake heading across the lawn through one set of French Doors. She just yelled out: "Hey Mum, there's a tiger snake out here!" and then proceeded to go out and do whatever she was doing. (And she is not at all good with snakes!) Guests rushed to look but woudn't go outside. Later in the day, one of the guests wanted to see something in my veggie garden (around the corner and about 50 ft from where the previous sighting was) and so we were proceeding down a gravel pathway which runs beside a long bed under the sun room windows - me in front, guest behind me. This bed just has a few shrubs in it and is topped with tan bark and is pretty sparse and dead boring. As I walked, I noted out of the corner of my eye that something was 'wrong' with the bed so I actually turned to look and noticed a Tiger Snake moving along under the windows, up against the concrete base. I just remarked that there was a Tiger snake and my guest was back inside so fast that she nearly knocked me flat on my face with the resulting tail wind. We figure that we've had a tiger snake living somewhere aroudn the back door for about 5 years now and a Brown snkae soemwhere near the front door for about the same time. Either that or we keep seeing the same sized snakes each year. The other thing I think city people are shocked/surprised by is how smart country people actually are. For some reason they think that people who drive ropey old bangers, or talk with an appalling accent, or wear shocking old clothes are thick/poor/or ill informed/ill educated. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
"sunrise farm" wrote in message news:ns4Hd.123062
we're living in the shed, So tell us a bit about it please. I'm sorry, but although I recognise your name I can't dredge anything else up about you other than knowing that I have seen your posts here some time ago. he thinks you should run for PM Don't let him do that. He'll turn into a lying mongrel who thinks that people will believe any old lie they are told - oops I forgot, they do believe any old lie they are told! |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Fran wrote:
He'll turn into a lying mongrel who thinks that people will believe any old lie they are told - oops I forgot, they do believe any old lie they are told! Nobody believes anything I say, which is very much to their credit :-) |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Fran wrote:
For some reason they think that people who drive ropey old bangers, or talk with an appalling accent, or wear shocking old clothes are thick/poor/or ill informed/ill educated. This coming from someone with the most beautiful and proper speaking voices I've heard, .... spare a thought for how a rough arsed, gravel voiced old codger like meself gets treated then missus :-) |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
pete wrote:
.... proper speaking voices ?? Thank you spell checker, you did me proud once again |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
"pete" wrote in message
Fran wrote: For some reason they think that people who drive ropey old bangers, or talk with an appalling accent, or wear shocking old clothes are thick/poor/or ill informed/ill educated. This coming from someone with the most beautiful and proper speaking voices I've heard, .... spare a thought for how a rough arsed, gravel voiced old codger like meself gets treated then missus :-) There you go again, saying things that are not believeable! However it is very sweet of you to tell such porkies and make me sound good, but I have the most woeful Aussie accent. If you want to hear "proper and beautiful then you should hear my mate Judith, now SHE has the most gorgeous, well modulated and dead Posh speaking voices I've ever heard, but then she is also very well bred ;-))) |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
"Fran" wrote in message ... "sunrise farm" wrote in message news:ns4Hd.123062 we're living in the shed, So tell us a bit about it please. We have 50 acres of land (20 acres of paddocks and 30 of bush) on the mid north coast of NSW that came with a one room shack and some fruit trees. As there are 6 of us the shack isn't big enough so we've put up a 12 x 12 colourbond shed next to the shack. We think it's going to take about a year to build a house, so this is home until then. I'm sorry, but although I recognise your name I can't dredge anything else up about you other than knowing that I have seen your posts here some time ago. We were in Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges when i used to post ages ago, i've changed email a couple of times and my id too, though not for any sinister reason :0). he thinks you should run for PM Don't let him do that. He'll turn into a lying mongrel who thinks that people will believe any old lie they are told - oops I forgot, they do believe any old lie they are told! But they conveniently forget they were ever lied to apparently and just vote the buggers in again *sigh* Maybe Pete could start a new trend in politicians? Say he's out fishing and bloody well mean it! lol Andi |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
"sunrise farm" wrote in message
news:FhMHd.125958$ We have 50 acres of land (20 acres of paddocks and 30 of bush) on the mid north coast of NSW that came with a one room shack and some fruit trees. As there are 6 of us the shack isn't big enough so we've put up a 12 x 12 colourbond shed next to the shack. We think it's going to take about a year to build a house, so this is home until then. Wow, 6 of you! That is a big tribe these days. More willing workers hopefully :-)) So what do you plan to do with your land? And what sort of plans do you have for the house? Don't let him do that. He'll turn into a lying mongrel who thinks that people will believe any old lie they are told - oops I forgot, they do believe any old lie they are told! But they conveniently forget they were ever lied to apparently and just vote the buggers in again *sigh* Yes, sad ain't it. Maybe Pete could start a new trend in politicians? Say he's out fishing and bloody well mean it! lol Nah Pete is too honest to take it on. He has some principles. |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
In article ,
Janet Baraclough wrote: I was wondering though, to anyone who has moved from the city to the country, what were the biggest shocks/surprises you got Finding out that rural GP (General Practitioner) doctors and their nursing/health-care support teams are far more skilled, highly trained and up to date in both conventional and complementary medicine than their urban counterparts. I'm glad for you! Unfortunately, it's not universal. In particular, rural cancer sufferers are at a decided disadvantage in Australia: http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/...n10626_fm.html But here in Western Sydney (the less prestigious area, shall we say?) the health services are more up-to-date than in the more prestigious areas of Sydney. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Life is like a cigarette -- smoke it to the butt." -- Harvie Krumpet |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Farm1 wrote:
Nah Pete is too honest to take it on. He has some principles. Absolutely ..and just to prove it I'll let you buy into my scheme for a Ski Resort in Alice Springs, central location, many visitors each year, abundant wildife. Looking for 10 investors with a million each howya fixed? :-) |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
"pete" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote: Nah Pete is too honest to take it on. He has some principles. Absolutely ..and just to prove it I'll let you buy into my scheme for a Ski Resort in Alice Springs, central location, many visitors each year, abundant wildife. Looking for 10 investors with a million each howya fixed? :-) Not at that price! Wadda ya take me for, a fool? 10 cents and I'm in, but not a penny more! |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
What sticks to EPDM rubber | Ponds | |||
are "regular" fertilizer sticks appropriate for aquarium use? | Freshwater Aquaria Plants | |||
Walking Sticks? | Gardening | |||
Senecio Mandraliscae aka Blue Chalk Sticks in Malaysia | Gardening | |||
Composting sticks and limbs.... | Gardening |