G'day to all our
readers. Our last post for 2015 mentioned that us Trooprock Aussies
are starting a new kind of adventurous way to travel Australia. We
still have Rocky, and she still takes us to some wonderful places.
Our new way to travel Australia is to house sit as well as camping in
between house sits. We have had a couple of smaller 2 week house
sits, but we have landed ourselves a 6 month house sit in Western
Australia. The last couple of months on the blog have been about our
journey across Australia from East to West and the crossing of 4
states; NSW, VIC, SA, and WA. We are now house sitting in a city
called Bunbury two hours south of Perth until September. Our posts
from now until then will be based around the South West area of
Australia and Western Australia. The blog posts may become shorter,
but we will still strive to publish a weekly post on Wednesdays. We
have already posted about Perth, but seeing it is a city we may end
up posting more about it at a later date. The region has many
breweries and vineyards so we may do a couple of posts about these
too.
Today our adventure
starts about half an hour East of Bunbury where lies a tiny little
place called Gnomesville. It is the classic story of a gnome who
moved out to the country to form its own little piece of paradise in
the hollow of a tree by a round-a-bout nestled away in the Ferguson
Valley. Soon the gnome grew lonely and invited some mates to come and
live out in the country for some company. The other gnomes soon also
realised the beauty of this little piece of paradise and word spread
quickly among gnomes from all over the region then all over the
world. And so it is that the sleepy little county tree hollow soon
grew to become Gnomesville, a city for gnomes.
If you know anything
about gnomes you would know they are crafty, sneaky, mischievous and
most of all smart. Their legs too short to be able to walk such great
distances. They use us mere unsuspecting humans as a means of
transport. They love the outdoors, gardens, and forests. While you
are out shopping they will jump into your shopping trolley or basket
before you even realise what is going on. Other times they will sit
on the shelves looking ever so cute that you simply can't help but
take them home. Once an idea pops into the head of a gnome you have
no chance to convince it otherwise.
Sometimes though they
do not like their new home. Perhaps they do not get along with the
house hold pets, or maybe they are scared of a basketball smashing
them, (remember they are fragile pottery creatures), which leads me
to tell you how the Gnomes came to live at Gnomesville. Upon hearing
of the delightful place called Gnomesville, gnomes started hitching
rides in any way they could. Some gnomes sneak into the car during a
family outing, some climb into the taxi to escape the Nursing Homes,
while others enjoy going for some adventures first by climbing aboard
a tour group bus and politely ask to be dropped off at Gnomesville on
the way through.
Gnomesville makes gnome
villages found in movies such as 'The Smurfs' or 'Gnomeo and Juliet'
look rather small so believe me when I say that Gnomesville really is
a city for gnomes. It is even complete with schools, community
groups, hospitals with intensive care units, and even the local
police station. Some gnomes even like to live free if you get my
gist.
Cameron and I drove out
to visit Gnomesville for a visit. It is an unusual but a delightful
site to see. There are paths going in all directions full of gnomes,
and there must be thousands of them (not an exageration as you can
see from the photos).
Sadly the gnomes don't
always have respect for human property. The gnomes do bring tourism
into the area, but just like any other city, there comes a point
where the population starts to exceed the boundary lines and new
suburban areas develop. The problem with this unique situation is
that these new suburban areas of Gnomesville are crossing into
people's properties, fences are being destroyed and the ground is
eroding. The owners of these properties are scared of liability if
someone gets hurt. What these property owners would like is a new
fence to be put up by the council, but not just any normal property
barbed wire fence, but a permanent fence with hollows for the gnomes
to live, but who knows. We all know the councils loves tourism, but
it usually takes a bit of convincing for them to put any money into
it. Another option is that if you find yourself with a convincing
gnome trying to trick you into taking it to gnomesville to find a
home, perhaps you can play the same game and trick it into starting
its own village. Who likes to live the big smoke anyway? Not us!
Perhaps you have a mate who lives on a property who would have the
perfect home for gnome. I do!
Gnome-atter what your
age or back ground, Gnomesville is certainly worth a visit if you are
in the South-West region. Wellington National Park is not far from
Gnomesville and is also worth a visit. Keep your eyes out for a post
here in the near future.
Happy Gnoming!
- Jeni
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