Cottage

Over Easter we did a whirlwind 2,200 km trip around south-western New South Wales visiting my darling husband's parents and one of his brothers. Stephen farms on a sheep and cattle station now owned by the University of Sydney but once the property of private land owners. It is the longest continually farmed property in Australia and within its boundaries are convict cells, graves and gold mines as well as miscellaneous buildings and sheds. One of the not-so-historically note-worthy is a small cottage previously used by a farm hand; it's few rooms and outdoor toilet are about to be swallowed by brambles having been vandelised by rodents and the odd human.












Once upon a time my husband and his first wife stored some unwanted possessions there in cardboard boxes and we went back to see if there was anything worth having (that we could also fit into the car this trip). We sort of feel we ought to go and clear it out: although it's Stephen's cottage the ravaged contents aren't his responsibility! We'd intended to take our trailer with us but of course it was ship-wrecked in our shed and we couldn't get to it through the floods so we couldn't do it this time.