And they are looking for special trophy properties rather than choosing specific townships or regions.
Ms McQueen said her company had seen some amazing sales of properties over the past few months with more properties coming up.
She said she had broken her own regional sales record two weeks ago at 9 Hill Street in Clunes when it sold for $2.68 million.
And then smashed that again just last week with a property, not even being marketed, within 15 minutes of the goldrush town.
“With Hill Street we did a very beautiful marketing campaign which was very high end and vast-reaching which started less than a week before stage four lockdown began and sold it in that first week.
“With the second one it was again sold in the middle of the pandemic and stage four lockdown to the same type of buyers as Hill Street. Very professional, incredibly busy, high-end buyers who want something very special. The second property went to people who didn’t even have this area on their radar but we had built a relationship with them and were able to sell if off-market, very quietly and very confidentially. Happy days for everyone.”
Ms McQueen said she had a lot of experience selling high-end properties through regional Victoria and Australia, and buyers were not looking for a township but a special property.
“These properties are special and unique in that they very much stand alone when we price them. We don’t think about what sold in the town or region because there is going to be nothing like it around. We are specialists in this area of sales. The buyers are looking for an attractive region and usually within a drive to restaurants and cafes, but it is about the property itself. I call it a compound, they drive in the gate, close the gate behind them and just enjoy this incredible world they have entered.
“These buyers tend to be affluent Melbourne executives and business owners and they also appreciate the history behind a lot of these properties. For example, Hill Street was a very historic property and the owners had renovated to a level that is on par with any of the best properties I have sold in Toorak. Our buyers are very mindful of that, so whether it be Clunes or Daylesford or Kyneton, wherever it is, is a little bit irrelevant. They are looking for the ideal property rather than what is around it.”
Ms McQueen said some recent sales included Stone and Straw on the Midland Highway just out of Daylesford for $1.55 million – in one week. Twenty-seven acres in Drummond with a three-bedroom house for $1.265 million – when the asking price was $1 million to $1.1 million, and an older-style house on an acre at Kyneton for $1.7 million.
“I know everyone is sick of reading about it but what we are seeing at the moment really is unprecedented. We are selling month-on-month, each time we think we can’t sell any more and the next month we surpass it. It really is quite amazing.
“And it is definitely families and older couples coming up from Melbourne to Central Victoria. They see it as a great place to raise their kids and grandchildren and something they have always dreamed of but never been able to do because they have been working five days a week in banking or Collins Street.
“Now they are working from home and people have more options and choice to conduct their business from home or maybe commute two days a week, that sort of thing. It’s just incredible.”

Words: Kyle Barnes
Images: Contributed

This is the second in a series of features on what’s happening with real estate in the Central Highlands.

This explanation by Mayor Cr Licia Kokocinski follows an outcry by residents over proposed tough new laws which they say already caused the sale of a block of land to fail almost at the last minute.
“People have been wanting a buffer zone for years,” Cr Kokocinski told The Local. “Now they have got one.”
She said risks from an old waste site at the officially titled Material Recovery Facility area include fire from methane gas or harm to people’s health from polluted water.
“The council would be sued to the eyeballs if this happened,” she said. “We are acutely conscious of that.”
A great irony in this ruckus is that it was a residents’ group in the area, Friends of Ajax Road, which drew the council’s attention to the 500-metre buffer, found in the Environment Protection Act guidelines. Now a number of residents want it scrapped and continue to lobby the council before its last meeting this month until a new council is elected.
Waste fires have caused enormous damage in Melbourne, with two underground fires sending out what was said to be a toxic chemical smell as they burnt for at least three months in a Sunshine landfill. The Ajax Road landfill closed 16 years ago.
Helen Tobias, who speaks for the residents, concedes that it is possible that gas may leak but a proper study needed to be done before any drastic steps were taken.
Residential building is banned and a permit will be needed to put up a fence within the Ajax Road zone.
Fences have to be solid and at least 1.5 metres high or half transparent with screen landscaping. Building is banned in the zone, as are balconies and private open spaces facing the facility. Sub-divisions may only be a hectare and fresh access is banned. But with no new residential buildings allowed, probably not something many will do.
A State Government inquiry found that high-risk facilities endanger surrounding areas and had to be separated from existing or future urban areas.
Massive flaws in laws around such facilities were found in a study last year for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
Ms Tobias painted a grim picture of the former tip where household refuse was dumped in a big open shed, stinking out the surroundings for two or three days before a semi-trailer took it, sometimes at 3am. Birds dropped refuse into neighbouring properties.
She said the row blew up because the council was not meeting EPA guidelines on risk assessment of its transfer stations.
It also failed to complete comply due diligence in response to the two-year-old Grampians Central West Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan on land use, she said.
The residents also believe the council did not fully assess the effects on them.
“There is no proof of danger,” Ms Tobias said. “What is happening is causing a lot of anxiety.”
Eighty submissions have gone to the council, she said, with more coming from the 100 or so residents in the area.
“There is a compelling argument that if this continues the process could take a year or more to take effect.”
She said the residents want a collaborative process that balances the need to meet ministerial and EPA requirements for transfer stations, against the need to act in the interests of all Victorians, as required by the Planning and Environment Act.
“We want the council to complete the risk assessment work required by the EPA to inform the waste management strategy review, which in turn would then inform appropriate responses…”
These would include a due diligence study according to law and the residents’ perspectives.
Practical solutions could be found and implemented without a drawn-out bureaucratic process.
“We are not trying to be difficult,” Ms Tobias said. “We need to have a great waste management strategy and manage it well.”
She added that a proposal was presented to Crs Redwood and Kokocinski and Bruce Lucas, director Infrastructure and Development Services, and this would be followed by talks with CEO Evan King to try to get his support in taking this recommendation to the council.

Words: Kevin Childs Image: Glenn Robinson

The winning pie was the pepper beef pie.
The popular bakery also won Australia’s Best Plain Beef Pie, Australia’s Best Gourmet Pie – barbeque pork and quail egg, Australia’s Best Flavour Beef Pie – pepper beef, and Australia’s Best Vegetarian/Vegan Pie – curry, cauliflower, lentil and chickpea. All up a total of 48 medals for 2020!
Bakery owner is Chan Khun, who migrated to Australia from Cambodia in 2004.
“We were very, very excited to win the third time in a row. We were confident with our product but you just never know what will be the judges’ choice.
“We have had quite a few people coming to say congratulations, and lots of phone calls and emails.”
And Chan’s favourite pie? Like any good Aussie, the classic plain meat pie, of course.

My Mama, Dada and I moved to Woodend last year. We’d had a really challenging few years in Melbourne and my Mama and Dada decided to act on their dream and move to Woodend. We came up here and fell in love with this very special town straight away. I think it is actually a magical, fairytale place.
My Dada has some health stuff, which I won’t bore you with. But it meant I never went to childcare and only started four-year-old kindergarten this year. Then this pesky virus appeared and Dada’s hospital said that we actually couldn’t go anywhere, which is how it’s been for us since March. I couldn’t go to kinder anymore! That made me really sad because kinder in the Macedon Ranges was the best thing ever, especially all the wonderful friends I was making.
Mama and Dada had only just started making friends too. But each of those people, though we didn’t know them so well, reached out to us anyway at this strange time, doing everything they could to help. One of those people was Mel. Mel’s boss is God. My family isn’t religious, but Mel said she didn’t mind at all, we are now Woodenders and that’s all that matters.
Mel did lots for us, bringing food with a sunshine smile on the side. One day she asked Mama if there was anything else she could do. Mama explained I would soon be five, maybe Mel could help bring some happiness to my birthday in isolation?
So Mel reached out to Woodend. And Woodend reached out to me for my birthday in the most amazing way! So many people I have never even met donated the most beautiful, awesome gifts. Mel and her Ray (of Sunshine) brought them to our front verandah and we couldn’t speak. Mama cried and Dada smiled and shook his head. I have so much to play with now, to read, create, enjoy – I could stay home with my Mama and Dada a whole year and still be playing with my presents.
Even though I couldn’t go anywhere, I had the best birthday ever. And it is all because of you.
You have given me the best story about kindness my family could ever tell and will share always.
Mama says that if you leap, the net will appear. You have all made this true. She also says it takes a village to raise a child, and to keep a loving family just that.
Thank you so much, Woodend. We are so lovingly proud to be a member of your community. Please know that your kindness has made such a huge difference to this little family’s life, and outlook.
And when you see a little person with his Mama and Dada on the Five Mile Creek track with huge happiness in his eyes and smile, please know that’s me, and that joy comes from you. You put it there, in the three of us. We hope that sharing with you the story of kindness you wrote for us gives some of that joy back to you too.
Love always, Aubrey (and his Mama and Dada) x

• Mel is Reverend Melissa Clark from the Woodend Anglican Parish

**Aubrey’s parents are Caitlin and Michael – both of whom had wanted to move to Woodend before they even met, and are now living their dream together (albeit locked down for now). The family is so appreciative of the Woodend community for not only making young Aubrey’s birthday so special, but for its ongoing support as they remain in isolation due to health issues. They really wanted the chance to share this beautifully positive story “written” for them by the people of Woodend.

Starting in Bulgana in Victoria’s west, the project would connect to Sydenham in Melbourne’s north-west and establish a new terminal station north of Ballarat.
Existing energy transmission infrastructure in the state’s west was not designed to accommodate the large-scale generation now being achieved by wind and solar, causing inefficiencies and congestion in the network.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has contracted Mondo, the commercial arm of AusNet Services, to develop and build the project. Mondo referred the project to the Minister for Planning to determine whether an EES was required and will now complete the EES, which will assess the comparative effects of different feasible routes, alignments, design and operational alternatives for the project – as well as the effectiveness of proposed measures to avoid, minimise and offset any environmental impacts.
The EES process is a rigorous environmental assessment framework for projects with the potential for significant environmental impacts. The process will enable transparent consideration of the project and provide several avenues for public feedback.
Draft EES scoping requirements will be exhibited for public comment in the coming months. After public comments are considered, Minister Wynne will finalise these requirements. Mondo will also be required to do an EES Consultation Plan to share information with the community and offer opportunities for feedback.
The Local has run two stories on the project, with a number of residents concerned about the impact on the environment and also over bushfire safety.

So, in regards to the questioning bit, that makes me a sort of sovereign citizen too. I am forever questioning the legitimacy of what all levels of government are legislating. You just have to look at my views on #geesegate, Local Law No. 2, The Rex and whether our local governments have invested large amounts of capital in wheel alignment companies with their road repair schemes, or lack of.
But enough about me and more about WHO (World Health Organisation) or the government or wherever the mainstream media is getting its messaging from, let’s just call them “they”, as in “they said”. Now, call me a nut-job but I think there is some sort of weird political shenanigans type of agenda going on with the messaging that “they” are giving us.
It may surprise you to know I am not a scientist, but I do know a couple of common sense things about nature. This bug is not magic, it has no legs and can’t jump – it is transferred through water particles and it can land on surfaces and be spread that way. So, I must question “their” stance on face masks back in the midst of the pandemic when the position was that we didn’t need one with the message now being we have to all wear one, at least in Victoria. And probably New South Wales soon enough
I always wore a mask while shopping or anywhere indoors apart from home. My reasoning was spittle. As anyone who has been to an Aperitif or drinks in the late afternoon and watched people in the sunlight talking, there is spittle everywhere. So, I have to call into question why they took that stance and the answer was simple, because we got caught with our pants down and didn’t have enough masks, and now that we do “they” have changed their message.
The latest statements around the vaccine are saying that we may never see a vaccine yet the Oxford studies, as well as plethora of other organisations around the world have been producing positive results, so positive that billions of vaccines have been pre-bought.
So, should we trust the message or is their actual message like the face masks, a kind of suppression message to keep the idiots in line so as they can get their ducks in, well you know.
Conspiracy and well above my pay grade rant over…

Firstly, thanks to the security guards at the quarantine hotels. Thanks for taking people shopping, holding card games, sleeping with people with COVID-19 and letting people out because they were tired of being in a four-star hotel. The inquiry into the horrendous figures in Victoria looks like they all can be pretty much traced back to you. Must be proud.
Secondly, thanks to people who looked at us like we were idiots because we wore masks before they were mandated. A few comments come to mind. One woman working in a store at Woodend, looking around slack-jawed and then coming out with the prophetic “I don’t think it will come up here”, another in Daylesford with the zinger “I don’t care about germs” and yet another who, after I told her not to touch me (she prodded my shoulder with her finger as a “hello”) told me I was overreacting and worrying too much because she was “clean”.
The third lot of thanks go to people who are still not wearing masks. The bloke strolling out of the hardware shop, the woman wandering past Coles’ Click & Collect and the teenagers sitting outside a takeaway shop in Daylesford. Sadly you can enforce mask wearing but there is no legislation for either stupidity or just plain selfishness.
Oh, and perhaps a fourth. I was talking to someone in Melbourne and they came up with “at least you are in regional Victoria – you’re all OK”. Hmmm. Maybe they need to have a think about regional Victoria and where a lot of its income comes from. Visitors. From Melbourne. And yes, I know they are doing it tough there and I would much rather be here, but perhaps think before you speak.
Anyway, here we are again and I hope this time that we can get it right and eradicate this virus from our state and our country. The numbers each day make me feel like crying. I don’t know how anyone with someone in an aged care facility in Melbourne is coping. And like everyone I miss my life. I didn’t do much but I didn’t mind a pub meal with mates, or a movie, or just a stroll around the shops. And I feel so sorry for all those businesses who closed and then re-opened and now have to close down again. I know some will not make it through and that is just awful.
I guess we all just have to take it day by day, be kind and don’t panic buy. And maybe make a phone call to your mates and just ask how they are doing. I know it’s like we are living in a nightmare, but they do always end. Just sayin’…

Prepare the beds by roughly digging over the existing soil to open it up for future rainfall and add a compost, leaf mould and cow or horse manure, and a dusting of garden lime.
Don’t break it all up or rake the surface to a fine tilth – you can do that at the time of planting – it’s best to leave it open to allow better penetration of any future rains rather than have it compress the fine soil and cause run-off.
By pre-composting the beds now the plants will be greeted by a lush, organically- rich, water-retentive environment.

Rotate your crops

There are two important reasons for changing the planting site of your vegetable crops each year. You gain maximum use of the soil’s nutrients and, more importantly, you avoid the build-up of soil-borne pests and diseases.
The concept of leaving fields fallow to rest the soil has persisted since feudal times but the idea of crop rotation was introduced in England in the 1700s by Viscount Townsend who advocated a four-year crop rotation cycle, including one fallow field, to obtain better yields.
Today, although we are able to regulate the level of soil nutrients by adding different quantities and blends of fertiliser, rotation still has a great deal of merit. In the vegetable plot, light feeders, especially the nitrogen-generating legumes – peas and beans, can follow the heavy feeders like potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes. Carrots, parsnips and other root crops dislike fresh organic matter and excess nitrogen so should be planted after a heavily-manured crop such as cabbage or lettuce. A good sign that your carrot patch is too nitrogen-rich is a crop of strangely shaped and stunted, mutant “carrot creatures”. No doubt, to the delight of the littlies.
The real value of rotation is the control of soil-borne diseases. Botanically-related crops should not be grown immediately after each other in rotation. For example, tomatoes, potatoes, capsicum and eggplant all belong to the solanaceae family, so tomatoes, for instance, shouldn’t follow after potatoes.
Similarly, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers and zucchini are all in the cucurbaceae tribe and should not follow each other in rotation.
Even if you don’t go to the extent of rotating your vegetable crops, you should, at least, take the precaution of not growing the same crops in the same bed year after year, to avoid the build-up of soil-borne diseases that could eventually lead to crop failure. And it still wouldn’t hurt to allow for at least one fallow bed each season.

Got a gardening question? Ask Glen. Email glenzgarden@gmail.com
So…who says there’s no colour in a Winter garden?

It has been a delight to take a country drive this Winter, at least when we’ve been allowed out on parole, with this year’s Autumn and Winter rains ensuring bounteous roadside displays of golden wattle wherever we drive. Local gardens, as well, are full of colour from our other natives of the proteaceae family – banksia, grevillea, leucodendron and leucospermum.
Among the other Winter flowering shrubs making their presence felt are the delightful Winter rose or helleborus. For years their small, rose-like blooms have peeked out from the other perennials. But now, with the recent arrival of the large and brightly-coloured hybrid varieties, as pictured above, the hellebores have taken front of stage.

Words: Glen Heyne

The silver wattles are blooming in the Wombat Forest and surrounds – a few weeks early this year. One reliable sign of early Spring is right on cue, the appearance of amorous echidnas.
On that lovely warm day at the end of June – just before this cold snap, we were delighted to host a pair of echidnas mating in the garden bed.
The echidna is usually a solitary animal, with a large home range of between 30 to even 100 hectares. The echidna wanders around his or her territory using extraordinary muscular strength to move rocks and logs to get to tasty termites and ant nests in the ground, and if another echidna is encountered, they usually ignore each other.
This indifference turns into the complete opposite in mating season – 100 per cent commitment and attention. A female of breeding age, around five years old, suddenly becomes hot property in the bushland, and randy males follow the female around, shadowing her every move.
This behaviour forms what is known as an echidna train. An echidna train is composed of a female in front, with three or four males following head to tail behind, forming an echidna conga line. An echidna train may have as many as 11 males.
Echidna trains last for about six weeks. I have heard three reports in the past week so we are right in the thick of echidna breeding season now. Isn’t it lovely that nature keeps on with these lovely seasonal cycles, whilst our human world is dealing with so much strife right now.
Such comfort.
When it is mating time, another unusual behaviour occurs; the creation of a mating trench. The female decides she is ready to mate and partially buries her front legs and head into the soft dirt at the base of a tree or bush. The males get very excited at this point and start digging a trench around the female.
If there is only one male the mating trench will be a simple straight trench, if there are several males, the trench becomes a large doughnut-shaped ring that can be 20cm deep. The males push and jostle each other in the trench until eventually only one male is in position to mate with the female. They mate on their side, with their openings (cloacas) pushed together.
Our dogs find echidnas fascinating creatures, as I am sure many of yours do. Please ensure that your dogs do not have the opportunity to disturb echidnas during this special time.
Note: This is an updated version of my story on echidnas in Daylesford Nature Diary: Six seasons in the foothill forests.

Image: Stuart King

Tanya Loos is a keen field naturalist who spends a lot of time wandering around the bush in our beautiful region. She loves writing about nature and science – she blogs at https://tanyaloos.wordpress.com/

It’s no small irony, then, that the forced shutting of meatworks means that Tammi, of Jonai Farms, Eganstown, brought forward her long-held ambition of running a small-scale abattoir.
With COVID-19 temporarily bringing down the shutters at places such as Diamond Valley Meats at Laverton she, too, faced having to close. But a reopening gave her a reprieve
Her previous consignment of eight pigs just beat the shutdown, so she reignited plans for an on-farm abattoir in a former container. It’s a project that she is glad to say has state government backing, which included a study trip with her husband Stuart to her US homeland, in 2017, 18 years after leaving.
Here, small regional abattoirs have steadily closed, forcing farmers to send their sheep, cattle and pigs long distances, with increased stress.
To open an abattoir she of course needs a meat inspector’s licence. “This will mean a big change, it’s a movement,” she says. “A lot of other livestock farmers are talking about it. They are all keen on an abattoir.”
She puts the cost at between $60,000 and $100,000. “It’s a simple set-up.”
Jonai Farms runs up to 110 heritage breed large black pigs and 20 speckleline cattle, which roam over 28.5 hectares. She describes her nine-year-old property as a paddock-to-paddock community-supported agriculture set-up where the surplus from the boning room is processed to grow a small commercial crop of garlic. Almost all the beef, pork and smallgoods are sold to 80 households in the region and Melbourne.
“When we shifted to an entirely waste-fed feed supply from our local brewery and other produce from other surplus yield, we thought we had exited commodity feed production,” she says.
But overnight most of her food sources dried up, because when pubs shut so did breweries, whose waste fed her pigs.
“We’re still receiving occasional container loads of muesli bar ingredients among other diverse oddities, as food waste in fact just got worse with the sudden disappearance of food service.”
The nutritional quality of the feed took a steep dive, however. Previously, livestock were fed surplus, damaged, or unwanted produce from other food and agriculture systems in Victoria, such as brewers’ grain, eggs and milk, which meant organic waste was diverted from landfill.
Intriguingly, after reading Peter Singer’s renowned book Animal Liberation, Tammi became a vegetarian. This lasted 10 years, because it was not meat she objected to, but the way animals are slaughtered, something she now has a chance to begin rectifying.
The parents of three children aged 16 to 20, Stuart and Tammi have academic backgrounds, hers in cultural studies. Her analysis shows that the low margins of most abattoirs in the best of times, means it is likely that many may not be able to continue in the face of a prolonged shutdown. And so a more humane abattoir draws nearer.

Words: Kevin Childs | Image: David White

In regards to public service to the citizens of Victoria, the story begins with Alexander Peacock. Born in 1861, he was the eldest of five children to parents James and Mary Peacock, and grew up in the town.
After briefly working as a teacher and grocer in Melbourne he returned to Creswick in 1881 to join W.P. Jones’s Legal Mining Manager business before starting his own firm. In 1889 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Clunes/Allendale defeating Thomas Cooper and held it until his death.
During that time he served in various ministerial positions including those for forests, labor, education and was premier of the state no less than three times: from 1901 to 1902, the war years 1914-17 and again for just three months in 1924. For services to the state of Victoria he was knighted in 1902.
Sir Alex was a popular and likeable conciliator, never strayed far from his roots in Creswick and was very much a politician of his time. He was prominent in the movement for Australian Federation in the 1880s and 1890s and associated nationalism. Described as a liberal/protectionist he worked on a platform supporting the interests of mining, forestry, opposition to non-European labour, and free education.
In 1901, Sir Alex married Millie Gertrude Holden (1870-1948) in Port Fairy and she came to live with him in Creswick. Originally from Framlingham in Western Victoria, Lady Peacock as she was to become after her husband’s knighthood, quickly made herself familiar with the people of the area.
She soon became president of the Creswick Red Cross, a member of the Ladies Benevolent Society, Children’s Welfare Association, the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind Auxiliary and at election time often made speeches on her husband’s behalf. Sir Alex, as noted by a Sydney newspaper, was often heard to say that she knew more of the electorate than he did.
In 1933, after a period of declining health Sir Alex died in office after 44 years of service. His funeral was a major event with a turnout not seen since the funerals associated with the Australasian Mine disaster in 1882.
A by-election was called and many of Allendale’s constituents as the electorate was now known, begged his widow to stand as the United Australia Party candidate.
Lady Peacock, still in mourning, made no public speeches or appearances during the campaign but nonetheless won her late husband’s seat comfortably. And so, nine years after women were permitted to contest state elections, she became the first female member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
However, Millie did not enjoy politics, saying it was no place for a woman and did not re-contest the seat at the next state election in 1935.
Today, little remains to mark the lives and times of arguably Creswick’s most famous couple. They are buried side-by-side in the town cemetery and a cenotaph sits in Cambridge Street marking the political service of Sir Alex. Lady Millie is featured in public art at the Metro Tunnel construction site in Melbourne and one of the boring machines is named after her.

Words: Tony Sawrey | Images: Tony Sawrey & courtesy of the Parliament of Victoria

Sir Alexander Peacock and Millie seated on a bench at the Caulfield Cup

“I’ve been the chair for one month…but I was vice-chair before that, I’ve been doing stuff on the board for about a year previously, I’m the newest board member,” Chrissy explained.
Chrissy moved to Creswick only two-and-a-half years ago with husband Chris and their three children, after about 20 years living in Melbourne, but before that she had grown up very much participating in the country community she lived in as a child. Now? She’s participating in her local community, as is her way.
“I’ve always, through my work and just personally as well, done lots of things in the community – we all really do need to lend a hand and that can be in all sorts of ways.
“It’s meeting what the community need is, and what your interests and circumstances allow, and often people think that they need to give a lot to be significant, and it’s not always the case. At the Neighbourhood Centre, we’re always looking for new volunteers, so I urge people to give it a try.
“Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to find the right thing, another great thing is the people that you meet because you cross paths with people and come to know them on a deeper level, people who you otherwise might not come across.”
Chrissy certainly is a people-person, but instead of being too socially isolated during the restrictions of the global pandemic, she has used her extra time for good.
“Well, we have a ‘Share and Swap It’ cupboard on the back porch of the Neighbourhood Centre, it’s one of the few things that’s actually still in operation at the moment, because people can come and go and it’s not staffed. It’s where people can drop off food and pantry items, a community-led food share.
“I pick up bread and vegetables, and other things that are getting close to the end of their shelf life from the Ballarat ‘Second Bite’ program, which is designed to stop so much food ending up in the bin. We put it in the cupboard and people can come and get it, and I’ve also been taking it to some of the residents at the caravan park.
“I’m a fairly social people-person, so working from home every day can be difficult at times, so having some hands-on helpful things in the community can keep me going, to be honest. It’s really great to be able to help people in a really hands-on practical way.
“Because I’m in Creswick and not having to go into Ballarat every day, I have a bit more time to do that, it’s been good for me personally and also just with the kids too, they’re not in care long hours when you get a little bit of time back in your life.”
Chrissy has also been a regular at the fortnightly Creswick Market, helping with the centre’s information stall there and also, more recently, helping take names and contact details of people attending and also welcoming visitors.
“We volunteer at the market, doing bits and pieces, we support our manager Tim. The market is running fortnightly to allow locals to have somewhere to sell their produce, and it’s an open-air market and we remind people about social distancing when we welcome them.
“It’s the hands-on aspect of it, I love it.”

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Contributed

The nomination comes from a number of people who say the medical centre is going above and beyond during COVID-19 times.
One person said the centre offered a “warm welcome” with friendly staff who were on hand to offer up masks, hand sanitiser and ask “all the right questions”.
“They just make you feel so positive about your visit and you come away thinking all will be OK.
“The staff at the front reception area are upbeat, friendly and really caring. I have seen them deal with a few people who obviously don’t want to wear masks and they are firm but friendly, offering phone consultations.
“I have had my hesitations about going to a medical centre but they are certainly doing everything possible to keep it all safe and not be the least bit confronting.”
Springs Medical Centre general manager Emma Johns and Dr Brad Wyer said the entire team wanted to thank the community for supporting them “during this really challenging time”.
“We’re working really hard to ensure all patients, staff and visitors feel safe and cared for – whether that’s face to face in our clinics, over the phone or via video call.
“Please know we’re here for you and we will get through this together.”

I think, as a human, I am becoming worn down. This has now been almost a year of terror for some parts of our country with the early fire season starting in the Gold Coast area last Winter.
Although it does show just how adaptable humans can be, with most of us wanting to do our bit and giving to the people who lost so much in the fires and then doing our bit with social distancing and all the other new world measures to keep us safe.
If you had said to me last year that in 2020 you will find yourself in the post office talking all things masks, what is the benefit of the N95 compared to a homemade mask, and for that matter your bog-standard surgical grade mask, I wouldn’t have believed you. But there I was, standing in the post office having that very same conversation with Jodi Flockhart from Sault as if it was quite normal. So at this stage if I saw a pig flying outside my window I wouldn’t pay it too much attention, just accept it as my new normal and try to remember a large umbrella.
And once again the conversation rolls around to “my rights” which are apparently being breached because these “my rights” knuckleheads think that putting a mask over their muzzle interrupts their way of life, meanwhile laying waste to our economy and poor citizens who are drowning in their own fluids in the overflowing ICUs. Good on you! Not!
As humans we do have rights however there are accepted things that we need to do to live in a civilised society like the right to wear clothes or not – I choose to wear them. The right to urinate in the street if you’re busting – I choose to locate a toilet or a quiet tree. Then there is the right to take a, well you know what, anywhere – and I certainly choose the comfort of my own toilet for that.
Some people in other countries have the right to have their curtains open during a bombing raid and also the right to bear arms but I am glad I don’t live there.
My final word on the anti-mask movement is that you have far too much time on your hands and a disrespect for the folks you share the world with. So please make sure you film your tirades outside Bunnings. And when this is all over you should be marched into the town square and be judged medieval style by the vast majority of the frightened population as is your right.
Your rights, my rights, no rights rant over…

It’s so easy for things to go viral, as we have noticed quite literally, but you need to keep a sense of humour and proportion.
By the time you read this in print (I only say that because we are online on Sunday) we will all be wearing masks. Whether you are in Brighton or Bunnings or even wandering around Blampied. Don’t you love alliteration?
And why would anyone put up such a song and dance about wearing a simple mask and then film themselves doing that and post it online – for all the world to see what a covidiot you are.
But there they are, quoting scripture and verse and women’s rights – that was a strange one – and then burning masks in an outdoor fire pit. I watched that happening and apart from thinking “what a dick” thought “hmmm, a fire pit would be nice, I wonder if they sell them at Bunnings?” My attention span is not what it used to be.
Now I am not advocating masks for pets, but we did receive a media release from the RSPCA about it. It is great advice but I felt reading it, that it could prove a tad difficult. You see, pets take their cues from their owner’s facial expressions and if more than half your face is covered, it becomes hard work. So the release said it was important to take it slowly, keep smiling because your eyes can show that, but not to keep up too much eye contact, which can be confronting.
If the pet is stressing and if it is safe to do so, take the mask off and show your pet your face briefly. Oh, and never wear a mask which has a face or eyes – that is really going to freak out Fido or Fluffy. So much for the “Love your cat? Buy a cat face printed mask today” websites.
It’s all probably good advice. Better than the one the RSPCA put out when we lived in the Pilbara. Up there they have cyclone season and at the time, 2010, no pets were allowed in the evacuation shelters. So if worse came to worst, the advice was to either build up a stack of furniture so Fido and Fluffy could climb to the ceiling if needed, or just drown them in the bath on the way out. Your choice.
The only thing was that cyclones have a sneaky way of coming in fast and then either doing a U-turn or being downgraded. Would be a sad homecoming…
But back to masks, just wear them. Wash or sanitise your hands. Get tested and stay home if you are sick. And please, don’t be a Karen. Well, not a Karen of Brighton anyway. Just sayin’…