Carinya

On Friday Frank and I made the 750km round trip to Mum and Dad’s old property Carinya in the Strathbogie Ranges just outside Violet Town.

I had promised Mum that when the time came I would scatter Dad’s ashes next to hers at the Mallee gate at the back of Carinya. I had asked Ted who bought the property from Dad if this would be Ok and he said of course. Unfortunately he had since sold the property to someone else but with the help of Dad’s old neighbours Cam and Toni I tracked the new owners down and they also said it would be OK.

About half an hour before we arrived it started to rain – a continuing trend from the Coast to Coast walk. So we donned our raincoats and started the walk up the paddock. The boy’s cubby house was gone and the gate in the corner was no longer so we had to go through the main gate past some very curious cows. We noticed that one of the new owners had removed quite a few of the pines but left enough to provide a nice shady spot for the cattle. We also noticed how much the trees Dad had planted near the house dam had grown.

The old outdoor toilet was gone and had been replaced by a nice woodshed. The old water tank by the kitchen window was gone as were a few of the poplar trees, but the cypress that Dad had planted as a windbreak had grown heaps. All the sheds including the big barn looked like they had a new roof and the driveway had new gravel.

The most noticeable difference though was the house. Gone was the tacked on sunroom and small bedroom with Louvre windows.In it’s place was a nice extension with a wrap around veranda with a wisteria growing on it and lots of French doors leading out on to it. There’s a little entrance porch at the back that looks like it has plenty of room for hanging wet coats etc. The magnolias were flowering, the red flowering gum was still there and Dad’s japonica hedge had finally got some height to it. It looked really nice and all in all I am sure that Mum and Dad would have approved.

The Mallee gate isn’t there anymore as there’s a new fence along the back but we had no problem finding where it used to be and so Mum and Dad are back together again. I know Mum would be pleased.