My new neighbours were extremely helpful at getting me started, making all sorts of suggestions on how to do things and make life on the land a bit easier.
As it turned out they did have a bit of fun with me at the beginning with one even admitting, much later, sitting out on her verandah to watch me 'doing things' for a bit of entertainment.
One bit of advice was to buy a small tractor, a decent chain saw and a brushcutter as a minimum amount of equipment.
I have never got around to the former as I always felt that 10ha (25acres) was too small for a tractor, the cattle keep the grass down and in any case I could always get a contractor in to do slashing etc.
That is not to say I never, deep down, wanted one. A red Massey Ferguson has always been on my wish list. A red lawn tractor has been a substitute.
The latter two items have however proven indispensable.
Both were Husqvarnas and have been extremely reliable and have gone through a heap of work over the years.
The brushcutter survived its last service 12 months ago, just. The repairman said 'that was it' he could do no more and the next breakdown would be terminal.
So last week it spluttered its last and I was off to the Big Boys Store today for a new one.
Technology has sure gone ahead over the 20 years but prices have surprisingly not altered too much.
So I am now the proud owner of Husqvarna 535RX.
The co driver and I struggled a bit putting it together (some things never change) despite a pretty comprehensive operator's manual but it fired up first go and did a trial slash with ease.
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