Who would be a farmer!

Don't count your harvest before it is in.

At Underhill in the last week or so we've had huge winds which not only blew off the fruit from our trees but also blew two over. Here is our harvest... 2 Cox's Orange Pippin apples, 5 quince, 6 Golden Delicious apples, 3 Greengage plums, a handful of damsons, some tiny potatoes that I have brought home to plant and 6 peaches.

 We arrived to find our peach split and over and only 6 peaches left to pick.

One of our apples was over but it had been suffering from termite infestation for some years.

Geoff christened his new stove and now knows what steps to take next. It worked really well and boiled our kettle. The only problem was putting it out when we were leaving as it has no doors and dampers to shut it down yet.

Heather and Ponyo came and we had fun together but Heather was a little scared of Ponyo who immediately had a swim then rolled in the dirt and ran around like a mad thing.

 

Apart from picking the almost non-existent harvest our plan was to twist the bottom tank so that it could be easily joined to the next tank up and water from both used for drip watering the fruit trees. First the task of emptying the last of the water out of the tank so Geoff had to lift it with a jack. That meant we could also get a round pole through under it to roll it on once the water was gone.

Now the two tanks are coupled and attached to the watering system which we checked actually worked.

Because of the 90mm of rain in the last month the dams are OK ...

And the oaks are still alive...

Maybe it will be a better harvest next year.

An amazing day on our Harbour

Kerrie and I had a catch up day yesterday and after meeting at Circular Quay decided to get on a ferry to Pyrmont Bay. We often just decide when we meet what we are going to do for the day.

We wandered around Pyrmont a little way then had an early lunch at Grill'd at the Pyrmont end of Darling Harbour. Next decision was to walk across the foot bridge. We were lucky enough to be there just as it opened at noon. I've never actually been on it when it has opened before. Nothing went through so we assume it must have been a test run right on 12:00.

We walked along to Barangaroo Wharf but unfortunately waited on the wrong wharf and saw our ferry leave a wharf further down. We actually waited on the wharf where the ferry dropped people off on the way in but it seems it is the wrong one.

Eventually we found the correct wharf and had a lovely slow trip back to Circular Quay.

We had noticed that the ferry was continuing on to Watson's Bay so we decided to just stay on. Just after we left Rose Bay the ferry sped up quite suddenly and I guess it was to get off the seaplane landing area because one landed within seconds of us escaping. I tried to get a photo but unfortunately missed it.

At Watson's Bay we wandered up the hill to The Gap. It was really quite hot and sunny so we did not linger long.

It was very crowded down at the coffee shops and eating places so we decided to forego our coffee and get on the ferry back to the Quay. After expressing our disappointment at the very fast ferry trip on the way down we were blessed with a very languorous trip back up the harbour. All boat traffic was slowed to a crawl by the SailGP International Catamaran Race There are some fantastic photos at the linked site but mine is as I saw it.

Eventually we arrived back at Circular Quay and had our long awaited coffee before heading up to the station and home. I arrived home quite exhausted as we had stood for most of the trip down to Watson's Bay.

What a great day for a trip on the harbour!