Some firsts at the block......

Its been another wonderful week here with some firsts at the block!

But to start with I want to share some of the ordinary every day happenings which we tend to take for granted. Like the post....

'Posties' here are kitted out in fetching florescent yellow uniforms, crash helmets with Sahara neck protectors and all of course wear shorts.  They ride along the pavements on scooters delivering letters into mail boxes which are sited by the entrance of each driveway.  So much easier than for the UK lads and lasses.  There is only one delivery a day and they work a 5 day week.

Then there's the house hold waste......
The recycling/rubbish collections are much the same as they are in West Sussex with the exception of having all waste food collected.  This is put in special little purple (lovely colour) bio-degradable bags in the kitchen then every three days or so it's placed into the organic/garden waste bin.  It makes life very much easier.

The newspapers are delivered in much the same way as they are in the USA but around here it involves a man in a white van.  All possible lights flashing hurtling along zig-zagging up and down the quiet sleepy suburban streets and turning around in driveways.  It's quite alarming to see him hurtling towards you as you have no idea which way to dive for cover.  Luckily this takes place in the small wee hours when most people are still asleep, heaven knows what mortality rates would be like otherwise!

Also the radio programmes are different, all being much more community minded.  Everyone rings up for a chat, interesting topics are debated, from good news stories to world wide issues.  It's great and I guess comes from the days when you relied on your neighbours for help and everyone had to pull together just to survive.  This tradition continues and it is so refreshing to find these values still exist.... it seems to be second nature here.

Which leads me neatly to the block.

We headed off to the Fox Den at first light, another trailer and car load of 'stuff' to unpack and store, bulbs to plant and the 'Dunny' to get sorted out.

This is me at my elegant best, putting the Canna lilies in.  It's the first time I've used a long handled spade... to say it was a little dangerous is a slight under statement.  It will take some getting used to, I guess it's a very different technique from the shorter handles I'm used to using.  Anyway it was a joy to dig the soil for the first time.
We discovered a clump of Easter Lillies, past their best now, under one of the gum trees. I put our bulbs beside them and scattered the Freesia seeds Rick had kindly collected for me from the ones in the Adelaide garden.  They grow wild here and their fragrance in spring is amazing.
And not far from the Canna's I planted about 40 garlic cloves.  The soil is very sandy and free draining.  So for a lot of things we want to grow like the veg and herbs we'll need to dig in a lot of compost.  Probably best to grow these edibles in a raised bed as there are a lot of bunnies around.

It seems there are also quite a few Roo's around too first thing in the morning they graze a while on the grass on the block.  We've not seen them yet though our neighbours have.... something else to look forward to

Meanwhile Rick was busy unloading trailer and boot before getting stuck into sorting out the outside loo!

Deb, Mum (Hazel)  and Fred arrived with tea and coffee, very welcome and a little later on Robert and Peter (Robert's brother) arrived with a water tank and all sorts of equipment to help with the unblocking.

After much discussion and pipe clearing the loo was declared in working order.  The run off from the shower was also sorted out.

While the boys worked away, sun getting ever hotter, us ladies went and sorted out a picnic lunch.

Cold meat and salad, cold drinks and tea and coffee.  It was out first meal at the block and very special.  It is so peaceful there, gentle breeze blowing through the leaves on the trees.  Lorikeets chasing each other around and lots of Galahs.    We were so lucky, the bird noises changed which made us all look up to see a beautiful Wedge Tailed Eagle gliding past majestically.  They are huge with a wing span of over 7'.  I didn't managed to get a good picture of this one but here is one I took earlier......

Hopefully it will give you an idea of the size, that's a full grown gum, in the back ground.

These are the mosaics on the public loo... very colourful images of all the flora and fauna from around the area.  I thought it was a sports centre! We passed it on our early morning walk with Fred.

The weekend was finally over all missions accomplished.  We'd discovered the wool museum/information centre also sells a lot of handicrafts all by ladies of the town.  It seems a very creative and skilful group of people live here.

We set off for Adelaide taking the road back along the Coorong, much longer journey but so beautiful.  Groups of pelicans gliding past like something out of another age.  Tiny kestrels on the hunt and yet another Wedge Tailed Eagle, we're doing very well considering how rare these beautiful birds are supposed to be.

We caught the punt back across the Murray the whole area dotted with hundreds of Corellas  what a noise they made, all chattering away.  From the photo which  I hope is not to small the bank looks like it has a bad case of dandruff.

Wee beasty in the sink and other ramblings

As you can imagine coming from a land where there are lots of wee beasties which make you jump but can't actually do you much harm to a land where practically all wee beasties can do a person serious damage it can make one a bit cautious. Well that's my excuse.....

So to set the scene, I've just cleaned my teeth, had a lovely shower, drying myself off and I notice a fairly large brown 'thing' in the sink, which was empty when I cleaned my teeth a few moments earlier.  Breathing deeply and with heart beating much faster, I cautiously move towards the bathroom door having wrapped a towel around myself first.  Calling for Rick while looking for my glasses.

My knight in shining armour and I peer into the sink, the brown thing hasn't moved and looks fairly dead... and then it starts to look familiar.  Deb and Robert (whose bathroom it was) have a shelf above the sink and keep a couple of seaweed 'pods' on it..... one of the pods was the wee beasty in the sink..... not at all frightening.....

Well thank goodness for that.... note to self.... I must remember to take my glasses with me everywhere in future.

And on to other things...

It is coming to the end of summer here, the days are getting shorter and  the weather quite changeable.  Rain keeps being forecast but we've not seen any of it yet.  In the past week the temperatures have steadily risen, reaching 39c here in Adelaide yesterday, cooling down to 28c at night.  Something which not so long ago I found hard to imagine.

To stop the plants from completely keeling over we water the garden a couple of times a week about 6.30 a.m. to give it a chance to soak in before the heat really gets up.  Lizards go skittering around, they don't need the warmth of the day to get going as it's already warm.  There was a beauty yesterday morning.  Brave little fellow headed straight for my foot, reached the toe end and peered over the flip flop (thong) before skittering past me.  He was about 3" long from nose tip to tail end, pale blue with darker blue zig zags down his back.

Rick spotted one of the doves paddling around in the bird bath as if it was a duck.  It did look funny.  Mostly during the hottest part of the day (afternoon) not much moves, including sensible humans.


To help me keep cool Rick has rigged up a home made outdoor shower, it's brilliant and has helped huge amounts.... no sign of any heat rash which would have normally appeared by now (possibly a wee bit too much information).  The hose pipe attaches to the end (which is probably very obvious to all of you).  It's hanging over the shade frame in the back yard...saves alarming the neighbours when I dash out in my bikini!

Highly recommended for cooling off quickly.

At the weekend we went to a swap meet (my first), it was held at Murray Bridge.  It's very much like a car boot sale without the car boots being used.

This is the local (portable) radio station, it was brilliant and they played very good music.

 There were so many fantastic things there from old books, engine parts, lights, furniture even an old cart wheel.

Unfortunately when I took this photo half the people there had packed up to go home but it hopefully gives you an idea of the size of it.  There was a great deal of banter and bantering going on between everyone, lots of good humour and smiley people.  Great fun.

Following this we found a brilliant Gluten Free cafe and had fish, chips and salad for lunch... delicious.  They had a great range of home made GF food, the only thing which looked a little odd was Vegemite Fudge!!! Hmmmmm

Then onwards to the SA State Nursery.  What a fantastic find, they grow and sell native plants there and offer all sorts of invaluable advice.  You can imagine just how exciting it was (for us anyway) but we managed to restrict our buying to just two plants, both attractive to nectar feeding birds and great for little insect eating lizards to hide in.

All in good taste!

It's been a busy but a great week, lots seems to have happened but of course as soon as someone asks what you've been up to... the mind goes blank!

Friday evening we loaded up the car and took off again to Naracoorte, it was a great journey down there, very fast this time I wasn't driving and there were no trailers to pull so we didn't have to keep stopping to pick things up that had fallen off!

After a very peaceful nights sleep we got up very early (it was still dark).  Rick was on a mission to sort out the 'Dunny' at The Fox Den and unload the car.  We had an early appointment with one of the builders down there so we needed to be all done before 9 a.m.

I went down to help unload the car but was so excited about the birds waking up and the sunrise I got a bit side tracked and by the time I'd finished taking photo's Rick had almost finished.  He moves with great speed that lad.....
 

The dunny at the den!

We needed to see if the shower and loo were connected to a septic tank and they are.  So with a little bit of sorting out, like a loo, shower and window oh and a water supply too and some weather proofing it will be good to use.  I don't think it will be insect and arachnoid proof though so I'm hoping I will still be able to whizz up the road to Deb and Robert's.....

Meanwhile these are some of the photo's I took:

When I took this picture the light seemed much brighter than it looks in the photo.  Day break is gorgeous there, it's cool with a promise of heat once the sun has woken up.

This will roughly be the view we will wake up to every morning once the house is built.  Fantastic isn't it......

The sky was magical, very golden light.  The leaves that look like they are hanging down in bunches are mistletoe.   It's a big problem in these parts and spreads very quickly, sadly killing the tree's it attaches itself to.  That will be one job we will need to get on top of quite quickly, once we can work out how we get up the tree!

And these are the sleepy Galahs, chatting very noisily as they preen themselves ready for the day ahead.

There were Lorikeets, Australian Magpies (much larger than the real Maggies in the UK after which they were named).  And much to my excitement 4 Black yellow tailed parrots did a fly past while we were there.  These were on the decline and it seems it's still rare to see a group together.  Also all being very noisy... it was fantastic.

And then I spotted a male Superb Blue Fairy Wren a fantastic name for a fantastic bird.  They are about the size of sparrows, their tails are about the same length as their bodies and the colour is amazing.  A beautiful dark blue and turquoise feathers over it's head, the female is not as colourful. Very camera shy.

All done at the block and off the builders meeting.  The more we learn I think the more we realise we need to learn.  It was a very interesting meeting and if we go with them we should be able achieve a 7 star energy performance rating.  The standard now for new builds in Oz is 6 stars and the top is 10.  The higher the rating the more energy efficient the house will be.

We learnt a little about using black and grey water, as we'll be in the sticks we will need to have a system which deals with this waste.  What we would like is to have a system which cleans it up enough to be able to reuse the water after treating for watering the tree's.  There is a huge list of detergents, oils etc., we can't use.  Interestingly some which I thought were eco friendly are not!

And then there's the insulation, obviously the more we have the more passive the performance of the home, which will need less cooling in the summer and less warming in the winter.

I had to smile when they started explaining the joys of double glazing.  It's a fairly new concept on this side of the planet but can be very effective in energy saving.

All very interesting... our heads were buzzing by the time we finished 2 hours later.  They listened to our likes and dislikes and will do a concept drawing for us, we are not obligated to go with them but it is good in that they manage everything for us from the drawings to planning permission etc., etc.,

More research to do and at least one other builder to talk to.

Before I forget this is my beautiful restored spinning wheel.

Just thought I put that photo in before I forgot again.

We paid a visit to the local Taste Festival.  Sampling the joys of the local food and wine, in the shade of a beautiful tree, breeze gently blowing is a very pleasant way to spend a few hours.  It was great fun, there were some local bands playing, a couple of youngsters dressed as clowns handing out fruit to anyone who wanted some.  Face painting for the kids and lots of happy smiley families.

The weekend went very quickly and it was lots of fun.  Since then I've spent lots more time doing research into waste systems and insulation, I bet you can't wait to hear all about it!

Rick found a local yoga class which was fantastic, I will be going again, hopefully on a regular basis... And I've purchased a push bike.

This is Brigitte (to be said with a French accent) or I may just call her Betsy.  Anyway she is really lovely to ride... spot the comfy wide saddle (deep joy). It's very up right and no bar (to get my leg over) and she is very light being an alloy frame.  A joy to ride.

All I need now is a wee Cairn Terrier in the basket, some sparkly red shoes... oh and a yellow brick road!

Rain glorious rain

It's been raining!  Last week after a couple of days of chilly cloudy days.  I say chilly but really the temps had dropped to 23c in the UK I'd be celebrating and wearing shorts and T-shirt!  It started raining and kept on for at least 4 hours... proper rain.

It was fascinating to watch the plants reaction to the downpour.  Independent of the water hitting the leaves they seemed to shudder, like they were really enjoying the shower.  It doesn't take much to make everything in the garden look clean and green again.

When we arrived were given a lovely present of an Aussie 2013 gardening diary, full of very helpful advice for gardening in Australia.  One of the things you would never see in a UK diary was the rainfall chart!

So that's two things, I didn't think I would ever get excited about rain again... at least not so soon and finding temps in the 20's chilly!!  Must mean I'm settling in.....

This week we've seen a return to sunshine, big blue skies and today a 'warm' 34c.

In between reading about permaculture, passive buildings, organic and bio-dynamic gardening.  My head bursting with facts occasionally I need a break from the study, I've been in the enviable position of being able to watch the local wildlife.  

Our back yard with the Geisha Girl

Outside of the kitchen window is a beautiful shrub called Geisha Girl, a favourite of our local and territorial Honey Eater (very hard to get a photo of) and honey bees.  

The Honey Eater is a very busy little chap, not resting for long but yesterday I caught him having a quick bath, he was having a glorious time, diving into the water and back out again.





We've got a couple of fledgling blackbirds, one in the front garden and one in the back, the parents have a wonderful time sorting through the pea-straw for insects for their hungry charges.

This morning our friendly native brown rat (a dear little creature) whizzed along the fence while we were having breakfast outside.  Far too fast for me to get a photo of him.

Sunday we took the bikes out again, a gentle cycle ride through the Parklands (which are currently being converted to a racing track and into the CBD (she says trying to sound like a local, it's the Central Business District!).  Easy and believe it or not a pleasure to do, I don't think I'm friends with the bike but neither did it try and throw me off this time! 

And of course we had to stop for lunch at the little cafe (Always good to support local economy).  I had a delicious freshly made salad, pretty yummy and Rick tucked into a BLT on what looked like freshly made bread.  Delightful......

It was a lovely very gentle ride home after a quick whizz through a very small part of the City.  I was amazed and relieved just how cyclist friendly it all is. AND it only takes 20 mins to get there!


Onwards then.... we've been talking to builders and drafts-men local to Naracoorte this week. They know the lay of the land and the soil,  which apparently is one of the best to build on.  It's so interesting what can be done to make the house ecologically friendly these days.  All new builds here have to reach a 5 star energy rating but after talking to a drafts-man we should be able to get ours to 7 or 8 stars.

So we're off to Naracoorte this weekend to talk to a local firm of builders and to join in with the local wine festival!