It was fairly early to bed this night as Mother wasn’t feeling very lively, but we did enjoy a lovely meal of lamb chops that we had purchased that morning.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny as we said goodbye to Cradle Mountain and headed back towards Devonport. Our first major stop was the town of Sheffield – renowned for its Murals.
We did a quick tour of the town before pulling into a chemist shop to buy some Panadol Gel (recommended by D.I.L. Mel) to try to get some relief for Mum’s knees. Then after massaging the knees, we took a further look at the town murals. They are magnificent and one gets the impression of really looking at the scene as it is happening.
Whilst she was taking the photos, a little girl in a red top, came up to her and requested that Mum take her photo. She did, and then her Dad came with a young boy who introduced himself and then turning to the man said, This is “John”. The man responded “Dad, thank you!” Friendly town! Leaving Sheffield we headed into Devonport and then out to Don where we had arranged to meet Mum’s cousin Belinda Benson and her husband Chris along with their 3 children. Belinda is the youngest daughter of Grandma Cooks’ sister Betty. Chris’ family used to have a property at Kilcummin and the family used to go to mass at Coovin the kids went to school with Mark and Bruce Cook. It was really great to catch up with Belinda and Chris and they were great hosts. They had asked Ian and Gloria Benson and also Chris’s brother, Mark to join us all for Morning tea. Belinda had a spread suitable for royalty – no way in the world we could make a dent in it. After chatting for an hour or so Chris took us on a tour of their farms, packing shed etc. The farm on which Chris and Belinda live, runs right to the edge of a cliff with the ocean pounding on the rocks below. They are presently installing a Lateral Move Irrigator, which will water vegetables, right to the edge of the cliff. The whole family are involved in the business Forest Hill Farms, which grows and packs Organic Vegetables, including Broccoli (1,300,000 head), Onions, Potatoes, Carrots, Garlic, and several other crops. (9 different crops in all) They also run sheep and cattle – all organic. Besides the Benson Family – Mum, Dad, 3 boys and 2 girls and their spouses,- they employed another 42 people last year and expect to employ up to 80 this year. They are presently extending their packing shed. The extension is 40m x 28m plus the link to the existing shed. The packaging is all computerised. They now own 6 or 7 farms all with irrigation.
We left Bensons and booked into our Cosy Cabin which was near the waterfront in East Devonport. After a short rest we headed off to Latrobe in search of the Axeman’s Hall of Fame, which Steve and Katrina Cook had asked us to go visit. It was originally run by David Foster, who is a World Champion Axeman, many times over. Unfortunately David has not been well and only comes in occasionally. However, we left our names as well as Steve’s & Katrina’s and the attendant assured us that she would get it to him. We watched several videos of various woodchop events and wandered around the display. There was also a display on Platypus and Trout in the same building.
Leaving Latrobe we went for a drive out around the Sassafras district, saw some magnificent crops of irrigated Petrel Wheat, as well as other crops. We were utterly amazed at the steepness of some of the paddocks being watered by Centre Pivots. We then joined the Bensons at a Church that their group lease. It is a Uniting Church. A priest is flown across from Melbourne to celebrate a Latin Mass for them. The priests come across every fortnight and celebrate a weekday mass on the Saturday night and then a Sunday Mass next morning. The Bensons and their little group hire the church each fortnight. After mass we went into Devonport and had a drive around, couldn’t find a shop anywhere to sell us a cooked chicken even though the major department stores were open until 9.00 pm and it wasn’t yet 8.00. We eventually found an all night takeaway shop on the road back to our cabin.
No comments:
Post a Comment