Early on a Sunday morning

This morning we woke up at 6am, which is a little earlier than usual, as we had to drive to Gullet to collect the papers, as our usual Sunday driver is sick. This doesn't really bother us, as it is a bit of pocket money, its a bit of a gamble though, driving through the twilight, on watch for roos, foxes and hares.

It's hard to get up when it is so cold, 0.2degrees according to my phone, layer by layer we got dressed to the point where I can barely lift my arms and out into the darkness.

We drove down the lane and had contrail vapours following us from the condensation of the exhaust meeting the icy chill in the air.

As we drew nearer to Gullet the sun had tipped up over the horizon, spilling colours out onto the sky, the birds picked at the carcasses squashed into the road, as the colours changed from inky blue to purple, pink and peach, rising up across the sky in front of us, slowly fading into a dusky blue to cover the scrub for the rest of the day, with the wind whipping up across the dusty plains.

Back in the shop, it was a quite day, but exciting as we have a new project, I decided to 'buy' myself a video camera from the shop, I figured George had probably smoked the equivalent value, so this is what I got.

We have set it up, complete with a velcro dot so that it doesn't move when we turn it on and off, to record the coming and goings of the inhabitants of Dellaren! Spectacular!

We have already recorded some beauties! George has decided to start his own blog with the highlights from everyday!

We figured we really needed to have visual proof, as sometimes, words are just not enough. So we will make the most of the rest of our time here by recording what can only be seen to be believed.

What are they doing over there?

A lady from out on one of the properties came in to the shop today, I didn't recognise her but she knew my name, she went and found what she wanted to buy and as she was leaving she tried to bait me for some gossip.

L:'What are they doing over there?'

Keeping very vague, knowing where she was going with it and also knowing what they were doing over there I said 'over where?'

L: 'Over in that vacant lot over there,' referring to the block of land that George's parents used to own.

Me: 'I don't know'

L: 'I heard that they were building solar panels over there'

Me: 'Oh ok.'

L: 'Why would you want to do that for!'

me: 'Ah, to generate electricity.'

That was after she asked me when they were going to stop setting fire to the town, and that soon it would be a one sided street.

This vacant block has kept everyone in the town entertained for the past week, before the fire, it has been vacant for as long as anyone in town would care to remember and has a well worn 'goat track' through the short grass that grows on it.

It is the 'short' cut for many people in to the main street. So when someone started building a fence on the block on the weekend, hoards (slight exaggeration) of people stopped and stared.

There were a few committee meetings held on the footpath, which I watched with amusement from inside the shop, while the ladies (and men who could pass as such) gossiped and speculated about what was happening.

"What are they building?" A fence. Whoa big news!

When the tenant next door asked me last week what they were doing I said I didn't know, maybe she should go and ask them. Her response 'oh I did, they told me but I didn't understand.'

How much is dis ere?

A little boy walks into the shop.

I go over to watch him while he looks at the toys, and he asks me: 'How much for dis one ere'

me: '$15.95'

boy: 'oh, I dunt have enuf"

me: 'how much do you have?'

boy: '$20'

Dellaren Burning

15 months ago we were looking after the shop for George's parents while they were away, before we took over. It had been a long day and we had finally fallen asleep, when, in the middle of the night we were woken by a loud and frantic knocking on the front door.

At first I freaked out a little, not knowing what was going on, George was sleeping starkers that night so I was forced to stumble out of bed, I ran down the dark hallway only to find that the front door was deadlocked and I couldn't get it open, the Sargent of Police banging on the door.

I yelled out, asking who was there, all he managed to yell was Police, and fire!

The adrenaline was pumping through me thick and fast, I felt it swell up in my body, my ears hot and numb, I told him I had to go around and open another door, I ran back down the hall, calling out to George who had managed to put something on, we fell out the door together onto the porch met by the Sargent, who was flustered and telling us that the old bake house across the road from the shop was on fire and the embers were falling on the roof of the shop.

We jumped in the car, went down the long driveway and out the gate, as we rounded the corner we could see the glow on the horizon, feeling sick with the thought of what we could find, we drove closer to town, the whole sky lit up in an orange haze.

We drove down the lane, unlocked the gate and ran in to find the dogs barking, everything looked ok, George went in to open and unarm the shop while I, scared out of my mind had to climb the rotten old wooden stairs and go into the dark and empty house to make sure the roof wasn't on fire, my heart pumping in my throat and in my ears, the house had been empty for six years and I was certain that it was haunted, that or I'd be likely to tread on a dead mouse, the idea of either makes me jump.

Fumbling for all of the light switches I made my way room by room to the front of the house, everything seemed ok, George met me in the master bedroom and we peered out of the window watching the embers flying up onto and over the awning. The volunteer firemen and women had been hosing our roof down for a while and were afraid that they would need to get in the back way in case anything got out of control.

Once we were sure that everything was ok, we ran back down the rickety old stairs and into the car and around to the front of the shop, where we let the relevant people know that everything was alright.

We watched that fire burn for hours, waiting to see if anything would spark in the back yard from the flying embers. The volunteer fire fighters did a spectacular job keeping it under control and contained it to just one building, it was actually quite amazing to see the building next to it, which stood so closely, still standing barely a scorch march on it.

Once the major threat to our shop had passed and the flames licked the ground, we made our way home to try and get a little sleep before coming back in to open the shop.

We slept fitfully for the next few nights as each day passed there was another fire, three in total, the old bakery, and two abandoned houses, we waited to see what would be next to go down in flames, fearing the worst.

Rumour has it that it was a young teenage girl, a 'foreigner' (as in not from this town) visiting for the school holidays, she was bad news, and got a slap on the wrist and led on her merry way.

We now live in the house above the shop, a massive clean, some furniture and having the lights on makes it feel a little like a home.

For the past few days we have been fighting feeling a little off, the exhaustion from working so much creeping up on us so that our sleep is deep and restless.

I was up at 1am for a drink and I also took some panadol then went back to bed, later I heard George stir next to me but turned over and fell asleep again for just a moment, he had gone to get a drink and thought it was raining however as he walked past the lounge room and saw an unusual glow through the window, he knew that something was not right.

Initially he thought, what is shitcan up to now? Thinking he might have been doing some building at night, but that didn't fit, he raced down the hall yelling into the bedroom for me, "quick, wake up, come here."

Dazed, confused and frightened I jumped out of bed before my eyes had a chance to open and stumbled into the master bedroom, as we have been sleeping in one of the spare rooms to avoid the noise from the main street.

I asked what was wrong, but one look out the window told me everything I needed to know, the old stock and station agency that had survived unscathed fifteen months ago was now ablaze in full glory.

My hand pressed against the hot glass of the window, the red and blue lights from the fire truck flashed across the street but were dim against the blaze.

The street was littered with people, who somehow, had emerged from their houses, evidently more aware of what was going on streets away from them, when we unaware of what was unfolding just across the street from us.

The fire was hot and the flames were high, the fire fighters found it hard to get close, but the threat to our shop was minimal, it was a still night and they were able to contain the fire reasonably well, the old house behind the shop was well and truly alight by the time the fire was reported by a passing truckie.

An old, luckily diesel, pajero 4wd caught fire but they were able to save an old shed that stood back from the house and shop, so all that remained was the shed and an outhouse standing out proudly amongst the burning ash and rubble.

Once again we waited until the flames licked the dirt, I climbed back into bed but didn't rest until George was by my side. Waking only a few short hours later to open the shop, braced for the stupid comments about what happened, luckily we have only had a few, I smile and nod, no point trying to say anything.

I may have not spoken to late though, it may be the end of us time will only tell. Yesterday a young girl came into the shop and asked if I could change a $50 note into two twenties and a ten, I opened the till to have a look and told her that I was short of change and to try next door.

She walked out swearing "f*@k me" under her breath but purposefully loud enough for me to hear it, he friend standing in the door way laughed but told her to be quiet. I raised my voice after her telling her to come back and say it to my face. It's not something I would normally do, I usually let it slide and fume about it afterwards.

Thinking back, especially after the fire last night I recognised her and I know she is bad news, now I fear that she may have it in for us, she is not stupid, and it wouldn't take much to work out if you lit the old boarded up supermarket two shops down from us the whole street would go up, including us.

Someone else in town has recognised her and alerted the police as I assume she was a prime suspect in last years fire. At the moment they sit sentinel at the scene of last nights crime, I guess waiting for investigators to come and assess the damage and try to determine the cause of the fire.

So now we wait.

The aftermath of the fire 13 June 2010 approx. 4:30am

bright sky

Once you get past the rusty rooftops and tired looking trees, the world opens up to you when you look up into the sky.

At night the magic shines down on you, with more twinkling stars than you could ever imagine, thrown out across a think navy blue blanket. I love looking up, especially here, some can find beauty in the dusty ramshackle town, full of boarded up buildings and overgrown, broken down cars.

One thing is certain, out here, it is clearer than the brightest summers day, nature will always take back what is hers.

Leave something alone for just a moment, and it is gone, it may be revived with a little TLC, however once you leave it, it's no longer yours. She comes in and reclaims the space, a building can stand inhabited for hundreds of years but leave it alone for just a moment and it starts to crumble under her silent, gentle, beckoning force.

The sky here opens up and takes you away if you sit back and let it. I found a rare moment the other day after hanging out the washing on the line, to lie down next to the pool, on this warm wintery day, and look up at the big pale blue sky, not a cloud in sight with only the tops of the trees blowing gently in the breeze, the dusty yellow green in stark contrast to the milky blue.

Boogie lay by side me and for a moment everything was calm, a quietness that can only be captured in a moment of pure bliss.

Where is next door?

A man walks into the shop and asks about the daily paper. I do my best to explain to him that they come in the afternoon but couldn't give him a definitive time of there arrival.

Then he wants to know about where he can get something to eat, he asked about the bowling club, he appeared to already know where that was, so I told him that there was a take-away shop next door and pointed to my left.

His response, "oh the one on the other side of the intersection," um, no. No I said it is just next door, and again indicated to the wall with which the shop was on the other side of. "oh, so on this side of the post office?" No mate, it is literally NEXT door!... No I said, you just go out of this door, turn left and walk in to the next door you come across and it is right there.

"Oh" he says again, "I must have walked straight past it."

Bright.

Made with love

Yesterday George and I decided we would like a hamburger so we thought we would support our tenants and buy one from there. It turns out that on this day, our previous tenant was working for our current one.

Now I had a bit of a run in with her the previous day when she came in to buy her medication, I asked her something about a lay-by which I thought she still had here, not hounding her about it, just seeing if she was aware that it was still here.

Turns out it wasn't hers, a little mis-understanding, I hadn't actually checked the system before asking her, and she had collected her lay-by just the other day from George, well, she went on about it and was getting really concerned, even though I had already said that it was my mistake and had apologised, she kept going on about it, not twice or three times but probably about six times saying that it definitely wasn't hers.

Even George noticed her reaction was completely over the top, I was starting to feel really uncomfortable and tried to get it through to her that I was sorry, I had made a mistake, I didn't mean to upset her. It was borderline paranoia the way she was carrying on.

Our relationship with this woman has been interesting over the time we have been here, it was all gush and stuff when they were our tenants, then when they sold their business and left the premises she became very cold, and even a little withdrawn.

So I was a little anxious when George came back in after ordering our lunch to tell me that she was going to be cooking it, I joked with him that she would spit in my burger, even though she would never do such a thing, I was starting to think that maybe anything could be possible, the family is a little unhinged.

She was nice enough to bring our burgers in to us, I thanked her and passed George his and sat down to eat mine. On the wrappers she had written the type of burger, and underneath that was written "I love you."

I paused looked at George, he looked at his, and we both thought it was a little strange, not what you would expect as part of the order. I have never received a love note on my lunch before and I doubt that I will ever again.