Monday 2 July 2007

A Weekend Away

We drove down to Nymboida to visit Laena for the weekend, Friday we cruised to Lismore so Purple could take his driver's test (which he failed :( so now he cant drive), and to meet the local homeschooling group.

In Lismore I came across these two places: the ROUS Hotel and ROUS Water. I just wonder if these businesses are created for Rodents of Unusual Size, or merely named after them?

So, on to Laena's we arrived, a little later than I'd planned, but still in time for dinner. It was so wonderful to see her again, and coming back to her house was really like coming home. We had a lot of chatting and catching up. Littletree was sweet and made a good impression.

In the morning we went down the hill to have breakfast with Laena's eldest daughter Kaya (all grown up) and her husband. they have 2 kids, a girl, 3 and a boy, 1, and they live with a woman who also has a son, 4. They are all focused on Unschooling and natural home birthing and everything I'm passionate about, so it was really great to meet them.
They really want to start getting more comunity around, so we're considering moving up there after the winter.
Laena's house is absolutely glorious, she and her ex-husband built it all by themselves, by hand. its made of Mud-Brick, with a rammed earth floor and stunning rockwork.
Our tipi had arrived there after being in Quarantine for weeks, so we have that back now, and Purple scavanged a bunch of stuff from one of the sheds. I spent some time working with Laena in her garden, which is looking wonderful and felt great to dig in.

I can really see us living in our tipi with a little shack somewhere on this land.

7 comments:

  1. I wouldn't want to stay in the ROUS hotel!!! Lol Looks like you all had a wonderful little trip. How fun!

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  2. I wouldnt want to stay there either, but not just because of the name ;)

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  3. Oh, what an amazing house! You wouldn't happen to have pics of the interior?

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  4. I dont have any more photos... I can endeavour to take more next time we go.
    It is amazing though. inside there are no corners, and its all plastered with this lovely warm ochre-coloured clay.

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  5. How does one fail the driving test in Lismore- a trick question or something?

    Guess they dont like Isreali drivers...

    L

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  6. The tester said he didnt use the indicators for a full five seconds before pulling in at the curb. and he bumped the curb doing a reverse parallel park.

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  7. but probably just the israeli driver thing ;)

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Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)