Fleur McDonald is one of Australia’s leading rural literature authors, with her books becoming best sellers almost as quickly as they hit the shelves.
Having sold over 500,000 copies of her books, she has solidified her position as one of the country’s favourite storytellers.
A friend told me these webs are created by ‘Christmas spider’s. I stupidly asked why and with a strange look on her face, said, ‘because they appear at Christmas time, Fleur!’ (thanks Lynda!) Driving along these webs are really obvious to the naked eye. They’re thick and sticky, with spiders, about a centimetre big and…
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2009 already! Where are all the years flying to? My mum used to tell me that I was wishing my life away — ‘I wish my birthday would come, I can’t wait for Christmas!’ and now here the new year is already! I really hope that the New Year brings all your hopes and wishes…
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Been getting up close and personal with some of our crossbred lambs. Together with our very old dog, “woof on wheels” Rex (you take him to where you want him to be and he woofs, his favourite job!) we drenched these lambs to put onto stubble. These lambs will be sold later on and harvested…
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Rochelle and Hayden were lucky enough to be given a basketball ring from their Gran, for Christmas. Supposedly for the kids, it brought out the competitive nature in all the oldies, who tried to outdo each other in slam-dunking or defending the ring. The kids watched open-mouthed as their Uncle Nick and Papa tried to…
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On our visit to Thomas River, there were heaps of jellyfish and ‘things’ like them, washed up on the shore. I haven’t seen anything like this on Thomas River Beach before, so the water must have been really stirred up at some stage to throw them onto the beach. Being orginally from the Flinders Ranges…
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After the busy day of Christmas, we decided it was time to head to the beach and work off some of that extra pavlova and wine we had! Some of my family that came for Christmas hadn’t been to Esperance before so we took off down to Thomas River in the Cape Arid National Park…
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Thunderstorms in summer can be dangerous things. Especially if they’re dry storms. After a 34 degree day, we watched as thunder clouds bore down on us. Harvest was well underway and we kept scanning the skies, willing the clouds away, least we get another hold up. Then the thunder started — I’ve never heard thunder…
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Well Christmas is finally upon us — again! Not sure where the year has flown to but school has finished and it’s heated up so the signs of Christmas have arrived, even if it doesn’t feel like it yet! This is our (WA) native Christmas Tree, or commonly known as the Munji tree. It’s a…
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Today we are harvesting (yay!). Instead of being on the chaser bin, however, I’m on grain cleaning duty. All I have to do is clear the chute away once in a while, so it doesn’t block up — hence the shovel leaning against my office! I’m madly writing my second book, which I can excitedly…
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Well the storm’s passed and we thought rather than wallowing in self pity, the beach was a better option! You wouldn’t even known it has rained today, although there was some nasty damage around the shire. Tonight it’s still, calm and peaceful. We might even be lucky enough to catch a fish!
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Last night our little school where Rochelle and Hayden and 70 odd other kids go, had it’s Concert night. It’s a myriad of songs, skits, speeches and awards that all enjoy. It’s also a special graduation for the Year 7s who now leave the familiarity of their small school to attended much larger one’s whether…
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Our dog kennels are under some native trees just outside our house. Rochelle and I were going to feed the dogs and discovered this beautiful flower just opening to the world! Mother Nature is amazing the way she works against the odds that we humans have created and produces things like this.
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Meet Law, our working ‘hound’. It’s far too tiring hanging around a shearing shed when there isn’t any work, than when there is something to do. He doesn’t really look like a dog that you can’t stop when he’s working, does he?!
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So much for harvest! We are hoping these black clouds that are rolling in will ‘nick off’ down the coast, far away from our paddocks of crop!
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Look at this beautiful sunset! You know what that means, don’t you? ‘Red in the morning, shepherd’s warning. Red at night, shepherd’s delight’. We’re going to get harvesting tomorrow … I think! I could look at this sight forever, sipping a cool glass of wine… but there’s dog’s to fed and chooks to put away!…
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Well, guess what? there’s been more rain! Another 30 or so mm’s… really not sure what is going on with the season: at times it’s disheartening. But there’s always silver linings and this one is one of them! We planted this sorghum crop about eight weeks ago and it has had the best start imaginable.…
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Check this beehive out! Anthony and I were quietly minding our own business, blowing the header down in readiness for the next day’s harvest and suddenly we were attacked by these bees! I got stung three times in the head — thankfully I’m not too allergic and that Anthony didn’t get stung, because he is.…
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There is a sense of urgency in the air in the Condingup/Beaumont area! After a half a day harvesting, yesterday dawned bright and warm and there are trucks, headers and chaser bins moving on most of the farms in the district. The golden glow of the stubbles that have already been harvested are taunting the…
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Isn’t this a magic photo? Rob Duncan is the photographer of most of these country pic’s. He needs to be credited for the awesome panorama across the top of the web site, plus all the photos on the top right. Allan Moult, who’s my webmaster, has re-coded all these impressive photos to make the site…
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This is Rocket our Jack Russell. He’s usually the kids ‘play thing’ but since they were at school and I was sitting in a tractor by myself, carting hay, he became my tractor buddy today! Full of mischief at the best of times, he tried many a balancing act to try and get out of…
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This week I made two trips to the Beaumont Bin (which is one of the outlying silos that grain is delivered to once harvest starts) to have the moisture in our grain tested. Tarren is one of three beauties working there, testing the moisture, checking the specifications and giving the truckies a bit of lip…
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