Day 157 Sunday after the zoo we headed back to the Chilla for there were spots on the paddock we could get in and pick some cotton off. We took a nice scenic drive down D'Aguilar Highway towards the Bunya Highway and home. We arrived back at the farm just after four and the Gevans invited us for a nice home cooked meal. Before we ate we started a huge bonfire. The week before we left we bulldozed a whole whack of trees to make room for the trucks that were coming to pick up his modules. We lit the fire and went in to eat. Good times as we talked about our trip and what lies ahead for the week. After diner we went out to the fire with the kids to roast some marshmallows. The next day we pushed all the non burned wood together on top of the ashes and small remaining flames and it flared up again. The fire burned for 28 hours total and it smoldered for another two days.
The paddock conditions were favorable so we picked away at it for the next few days. This morning we seen a sign of relief on Greg's face as the trucks arrived to pick up the modules we have already built. They were here about a week ago but the first one got bogged when he went off the track Greg made with the tractor. Greg did pull him out but the others refused to go even the right route so they left. Anyway they were here today and carted off 20 modules to the gin. I went out there for a look while they were doing it. They got it down to a science, it takes about 5 minutes to pick up and load an 18 ton module onto a flat bed truck. The machine inches under the module from one end on a 30 degree-ish angle, then lifts it up level, the truck backs in under it, then the truck and the machine both inch opposite ways till the module is on the truck and off the machine. We kept picking today till we got hit with a light shower.
We also seen an Echidna this week. They are a porcupine like creature that love to chomp down on ants. That's the reason for the weird looking long nose. He lives in they haystack in the shed behind the house and frustrate the dogs to no extent as they can't get past the needles. They are really hard to pick up as they burrow themselves into the ground with their sharp claws. They are actually really hard to pick up on the concrete too, they just grip to it somehow. Oh and it peed on Greg's coat lol!