I am thankful to know someone like L. She was a Singaporean lady married to an Englishman and moved to Australia because of her son. She lives in Temora, a small town about 400km away from the capital city of Sydney. She tends to her crops, poultry, pets and children by day, living a life very few Singaporeans will relish, due to our city-loving nature. For me, she is living my dream lifestyle. A lifestyle like that is no piece of cake. It involves plenty of toiling, more than most of us will ever imagine until we step right into it. However, at least we get to work for ourselves to a larger extent. I am keeping the dream alive.
It was great to hear from L again.
Hi Nix,
Just want to share some pictures with you. Helped out with 'moving stock' today. 'Moving stock' means moving livestock across land. So today I helped a friend moved 100 cows from Wagga to Temora (92km). There were 8 of us, we took turns in cars (to direct the road traffic) and on horses (to direct the cows).
By the way, please send me your address. Would like to send you a surplus of olives and some relish and jam we made.
Cheers,
L
This is real shit. Would you imagine there are Singaporean ladies doing this somewhere out there in the world? Why not? With more than 100,000 of us outside Singapore, why will you be surprised to find that a good portion of us don't work as bankers, accountants, engineers or doctors for our living.
Hey someone up in Cootamundra, 40 mins from Temora is selling 24 Acres land for 245k. already has a paddock of oats, and trees and electric fencing to mark the perimeters of the property, about a herd of 50 sheeps, a small house with a 22k litre water connection. 4km outside of the town of cootamundra and about 3 hours to Canberra. Lowest -6 in winter and highest about 40 in summer. Sufficient rainfal too
Just to give you an idea on pricing here. :-) Cheers
Meanwhile, some folks are buying a Toyota for $229,000 [link] at another part of the world. Why not spend it on the above and get the owner to throw in a tractor you can drive around your 24 acres of land. At least you can live off the land and the lease doesn't expire after 10 years. I heard some people from the same part of the world are buying apartments with a 1.7m wide common corridors for as much as $700,000. If one really have so much mnoey, I wonder if buying a cheaper place for $400,000, rent it out fully - and spend the rest of the $300,000 on a 24 acres (can probably get a much better deal in other places or other country too) with a house and a herd to start off with, be a better idea. If only I have that $700,000 like some people do.
wah lau! It took FOREVER!!!!! We started at 9am....we reached just before sun down...It would be faster if they just move and not stop and eat or cross to the other side of the road, or try to sniff the oncoming cars or shit or slip because they step on each other's shit. It was an experience anyway. My second time moving stock, not exactly fun, but it was still some money in the pocket. :-) 3 jobs I don't find endearing- moving stock, drenching herd and shearing sheep.
Life may be hard as a farmer. Hard beyond our imagination. For some, it seems a better idea to service customers at a counter or over the phone at the comfort of our safe, tiny cubicle. Or a no-frills sales job that doesn't require us to be at the mercy of the weather. Or even a beauty consultant who will never have to deal with uninvited guests like snakes or wild kangaroos. For the rare few, this is living and working at its best. Living by our own rules.
"I heard some people from the same part of the world are buying apartments with a 1.7m wide common corridors for as much as $700,000." - Major ouch! Have always enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteNice! I won't even mind doing it for free just for the experience.
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