It’s boiling hot and all I can hear is the buzzing of the flies, strange-sounding birds and the cicadas. I’m on the verandah of the main house at Coolabine Farmstead. Coolabine means place of koalas, though I’ve never seen one here.

The view is stunning. Rolling hills and trees as far as the eye can see. It rained last night so everything is impossibly green. The goats are sheltering from the sun and waiting for their afternoon feed.

Our shack is unrecognizable – only the roof remains. The bora ants ate all the tree trunks that used to support it so Christian’s brother has rebuilt it. Gone are the potato sack walls. My yurt is still standing, filled up with boxes of our stuff and other junk. The tattered prayer flags flutter in the wind.

Yesterday we went swimming in a big waterhole down the road and had a picnic in the rain. I’ve seen a goanna and some kangaroos but I haven’t seen a snake yet. A spider got into bed with us the other night but thankfully it wasn’t the huge spider that’s been hanging out over the door.

We cleaned the cheese-room and made some feta and halloumi which was delicious. On Christmas Day I finished a new song. Next week we’re off to Melbourne to see Christian’s sister then back here to start vocal recordings for the next album.

I hope you had a lovely Christmas wherever you are. Wishing you all very happy new year and I’ll see you in 2018.

xx