April in North East Victoria. Photo credit – author’s own

Hey there patient readers (I guess the other kind have given up)!

I’m making a return after another lifestyle change. This one – a tree change – to North East Victoria to a town of 941 people (now 943).

“Why?” you ask.

Living the dream 
We’ve been living the dream – on the move chasing snow in both hemispheres. That’s been great – but it’s time for a new dream. We have decided to put down some roots. We’ve sold the city house, left the big smoke and settled in a small town on the banks of the Ovens River.

Ovens River Photo credit – author’s own

This new dream consists of life in a new community, with a garden for growing vegetables, raising chickens and keeping bees.

But there’s more.

There is space! A space to put the car. A man cave space for Mr Contrôleur. And, most importantly, space for family and friends to stay.

We look across a green space that is our backyard. It leads down to another space by the river. There are fruit trees and plenty of space for a water tank. We wake to kookaburras that also serenade us at day’s end. In between, the garden teems with bird life too numerous to name.

Nothing without effort
All of this was hard-earned. Selling a house, moving and re-establishing a home in a new place takes energy. Add to that the uncertainty of the housing market: will you sell well; will you find a new home to suit? 

We’ve managed to navigate the territory and are happy with where we are. What did we learn through this? Probably, to have faith in ourselves and believe that things would work out.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
~ Gail Devers

About Punkah
Punkah is what the locals call Porepunkah. According to Wikipedia, the town’s name is a Hindi word for “gentle breeze”. The town developed with the discovery of gold in the 1950s.

One of its claims to fame is that Porepunkah is the nearest modern township to the site of the 1857 Buckland Riot, an anti-Chinese race riot that occurred on 4 July that year. Another is that the notorious bushranger Harry Power held up the mail coach at Porepunkah on 7 May 1869, after escaping from Pentridge Prison.

Tobacco was grown near Porepunkah until 2006. There are hop gardens in the vicinity as well as vineyards and wineries. Softwood plantations also pepper the landscape.

The town has a primary school, a general store/post office, a couple of cafes and the local pub. As a small town with limited employment opportunities, Porepunkah is considered a “dormitory town” being mainly residential. Most residents travel to nearby towns for work.

Spring in the valley
Now that Spring is upon us, we are keen to get back to our idyllic green space and get cracking on settling into our new home. Most of all we are grateful to be able to do this.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
~Melody Beattie