Who is Sarah McLeod?

Sarah McLeod. Tasmanian Great GranMa…

When You get to our age you start to wonder what next, then i get a phone call on Boxing Day, my fourth grandson, We are having a boy in a few days. Yesterday I got a photo, a healthy dark haired great grandson. I was so proud of him and my eldest grandson has a son due in a few months as well. I am so happy, because I also get the chance to follow my Dream as well…

This is my Story.

Family has always been 1st for me, if fact it was what pushed me to do the things I had to do. Raising 6 kids, 7 if you include their father, takes time and money and soon I realised we had to do something with the land we had because the money from managing a local apple orchard was not enough to pay for all the extras children need as they grow, even with the extra I earnt during the harvest season.

Multi Fruits My StoneFruit Orchard

We cleared our land, built a dam and sunk a bore at the bottom of the hill to feed the dam. I started with a test orchard, while I researched, planned and sourced fruit trees. This was my then Project and I wanted Stone Fruit, to compliment the Apple season. While the Trees grew, I added strawberries, enough to supply the local market and produce jam from the seconds.

Setback one:

We had a week of snow, a rearity for Tasmania and my youngest son, a big boy was only months old. He was 11lb at birth and then a good 20lb, so at the end of that snow week I took him out to show the Agricultural boys who had come up and as they left I slipped on the wet clay in the drive, holding the baby close as I fell, then crunch crunch!

I had broken two bones in my lower left leg. Luckily my Mother in Law was living with us then to watch the other 5 children as I spent the week in hospital with my son. I was feeding him at the time. That summer I had strawberries to pick and was still on cruches, so I invented a trolly to fit between rows and I would make my way to the top of the row and glide down as I picked. Being versatile was part of living in the country.

Designed StoneFruit Packaging

I was always an Artist, though my Dad said I would never make an income from that. I needed to prove him wrong, so I learnt signwriting. It become the thing I would do during the Winter Months and the Orchards during the Summer. I developed the artwork for all the Stonefruit boxes for the now thriving Stonefruit industry and earnt top possition on the Stonefruit Association board. Both my Orchard and the Signwriting were doing really well.

Setback two:

I recieved a phone call one evening… “You should leave Wayne”, Why I asked, “because we have been going out for four months.” My world had shattered, the man I had loved and trusted since childhood, the father of my six kids had betrayed me. My Mother in Law knew about it way before I knew. I knew his attitude had changed, and twenty years of Marriage ment nothing.

So I left, my older children were in College, my younger kids setup in school, but my younger son could not cope with the change so he stayed with her Dad. That did not work out so well, so we swapped the two younger children and Bill lived with me and his Sister lived with her Father and their Nan.

Props for Award of Excellance Night

I was Painting props for the Local supermarket at that time, so I folding them out on the new veranda during the day to paint, to the amazement of the locals . When the Manager asked where he could pickup the props, I told him and it turned out we lived right next door to each other. That night we all went to the Award of Excellance presentations. Part of the props was a 3 dimentional mask of Michael Kent and the theme of the play was Michael rising out of the grave as the Purity Stores became the new Woolworths Brand.

Landscaping to Buses

I went on to do Landscaping, until an insident left my lower back permantly dammaged. Then I was driving School buses and when Metro, the Government Bus Company, brought the Company, I joined Metro. I loved driving buses and more so dealing with the Public. I knew every run around Hobart, sometimes doing the country runs as a fill in. But that ended when a tourist stopped suddenly. There was another bus between us by then and we both had to react quickly. My passengers were safe, I missed hitting the bus in front, but my bus dipped and flipped back.

Setback three:

I had damaged my neck and soon I found out, I had torn the back of my eye as well. It required surgery and even though that was my left eye, when I got home I could only see at arms length. My Dad sat at one end of the table and I was at the other and I could not see him, so we moved and I could just just see him across the table. “What are you going to do now?” he asked. I could see the computer, so that became my world as it took a good 6 months before I could see enough to drive again. Ihad lost my dream job with no compensation, so when I could see clearly I packed up and drove to the boat, then to Melbourne and to Seymore in Victoria where one of my daughters lived.

Family Deaths

A couple years later we were on the speaker phone to another daughter, she had newborn twins a month or so before, they were asleep next door to her 16 year old son and the older girls were also asleep. When she returned to her sons room to tell him to let her know when the twins woke, he was purple on the floor. I talked her through resuss untill the Ambulance got there, but there was nothing anyone could do.

I paid for my Daughter and her kids to go back to Tasmania for the Funeral and while I was there I caught up with my Dad. “You know I am Stuffed” he said, and I noticed he had lost weight, but did not realised untill later what he ment. I had mentioned a mark on my leg that had developed while I was driving busses and it was changing. He made me promice to get a biopsy when I got home which I did. Shortly after I was returning to Tasmania again, Dad was dieing. He had gone from a solid man to skin and bone and was in a coma when I got there. A day later he was gone.

Setback four:

Once I returned to the Mainland, I went back to the Doctor. “You have an advanced Melonoma“. You mean I have what just killed my Dad! It was like the biggest kick in the gut ever. I had an appointment booked with the Cancer Clinic, but I thought if I was going to die too, I would go to an Online Expo in Queensland for that week. I came back with a whole new attitude. I was not going to die, I wanted to do this Online thing. I had a unit in my daughters yard by then, but my daughter regreted it because she could not move for 12 months as part of the Housing contract.

Cancer

It took two surgeries to totally remove the Melonoma. My sister came over to stay with me, eventhough she had Bowel Cancer. We would take the train to Melbourne and stay the night at the BackPackers, only to do the same a couple days later. I loved my younger sister, she noticed the attitude with my daughter. “Is she always like this?” and I nodded.

A couple months later my Sister and our younger Sister returned to Melbourne to see the Cancer Specialists, but there was nothing they could do. We all rested when we got back to the Hotel. “I feel Dad” I said, “I just seen Dad” she said and our younger sister reckoned we were Crazy. I knew then Dad was waiting for her. Katie would not let me go back to Tasmania and look after her, she wanted me to remember her at her best.

Shortly after the Funeral, my daughter warned me she wanted to go to Queensland to live. I needed to get my own home. I still had some of my Super that I had got to pay for the funerals, so I brought a Transit. The Transit Chap offered me a room at the factory while I decked out the van, in exchange for test running his vans. I packed the van and headed to Melbourne. I’m a good carpenter, learnt from my Dad, the Van was functional, solo pannels and internet. Then the yard was sold, I moved to Jo’s other yard, he moved his camper out on the street to allow me space. That night his van and a number of other vehicles in Dandenong were firebombed. I was terified, stuck behind a metal fence and the firebregade guys trying to get to me.

Home to Tasmania

There were other events that all added up to me returning back to Tasmania, including my Computer crashing with all my work lost. Living in a van on a hot 40C day, and I was downloading when I was called away. When I returned the MacBook vertually had melted, never to go again. That was the last straw. Soon after I returned to Tasmania. Mum was not well, she had been in a Nursing home for some time, but now she was in Hospital, she had a syst that took up one lung. I visited her often, still living in my van until Housing gave me a Home.

Orlando Expo

Having a stable place to live ment I could now reset up my websites, so I got a pair of computers, one for each parent, a Mac and Windows computers. I re-established with my Mentors and worked on the websites. The Mentors had a Expo in Orlando and the inheratance allowed me to splurge and take the trip. A week in Orlando with all the perks of being an upgraded Member was amazing, even though I was barely standing due to my back. I had the time of my life but when it came to coming home I get to the Airport and it was “you are in the wrong area” and I said to him I simply can’t walk another step. I don’k know if it was the Aussie acsent or the fact the plane was due to leave, but I was whisked away in a wheel chair, to get on the plane, the same at the next airport and in Australia, but in Tasmania it was “You can walk that far”… I was so glad when my kids delivered me home.

Back Issues

Back home the van finally broke down on me, so I was walking down to get food with a walker. My back was not good, so I had food and meals delivered. Eventually I was able to get a cheap Getz car and as long as it was day light I could drive again. Cooking was the problem, not being able to stand for any length of time. Eventually I moved into a shared complex. The second room was big enough and meals were in the dining room. I could work on my websites again but When the server crashed. I gave up.

I had a good friend there, but many people were unique to put it bluntly. We eventually moved out to a country property, but that place was not livable, even though we loved the Kangaroos who came for breakfast, we had to move, so we ended up here. The two flights of stairs are a challenge at times, but we are happy for now. My dream then became that one day when I could afford it I would get a real house, with verandas all around and new cars in the garage. That is what instigated one last attempt to get my Dream Project back online.