Bits and pieces......

Not a lot of building work happened this week as we had to wait for the concrete slab to 'cure'.  I think we were both a bit surprised to find no footprints of any kind were imprinted into it.  We have been so lucky with the weather, the storms, very politely, held off until the concrete had cured so none was washed away down the slope.

Mean while life, of course continues.  We were invited to take part in the national tree planting day, which, given our passion for trees was very tempting.  But then we thought about it the site was quite a distance away from here.  So just how many trees would we have had to have planted to counter act the amount of carbon Dora would have produced to get us there... hmmm

So instead to celebrate Robert very kindly dug up a couple of their Lilly Pilly seedlings and we planted those instead on the block

With the excitement of the build there have been a few things that we've come across I've neglected to write about.

Firstly I'd like to introduce one of more furry neighbours, the lovely Tess, so gentle natured.  She very often wonders on to the block to say a waggy G'day to us. There is nothing nicer than having a good scratch... I am talking from Tess's point of view here. She sings and talks to us when we make a fuss of her.  Fred isn't to keen for us to share our affections but Tess just ignores him.

The other day she arrived with what could be mistaken as a very excited white fluffy duster.  It turned out to be Holly, a very fast white poodle type of dog.  Couldn't take a picture as she didn't stand still long enough!

Recycled Wire Gallery at KiKi

On our many drives to an fro to Adelaide we pass through a tiny town called Kiki and by a Recycled Wire Gallery. We had always wanted to stop for a look and eventually made the time to do so.

The couple who ran the place were a very interesting couple from New Zealand.  They spent many hours collecting abandoned rubbish and turning into fantastic art. If nothing else these pieces did make you smile. Broken mirrors were re-framed using barbed wire and tiny scenes scratched onto them. A herd of chicken wire elephants stood proudly in the back yard.  A water fall was made using an old shower. It was amazing,we are truly only limited by our imaginations. 

We'd certainly give homes to a few of the items for sale. The only thing which really didn't take my fancy was the huge wire spider placed on the ceiling. 

And lastly on the way to the block the other day we came across this flock being moved. The farmer was in his UTE following them and shouting the occasional direction to his Kelpie who was doing a grand job driving them up the road.  It was a great sight seeing how they were working together.

So many exciting happenings.....

Rain stopped pour....

The week started with a deluge of downpours so the Tuesday concrete pour had to be put off until the sun started shining again.  I know the next fact will hardly be impressive in the UK but we actually had 22 mms of water and the rain tanks were over flowing.  We were impressed but disappointed that we had to wait for the slab to be finished.

The weather reports were consulted and a cold but bright day was promised for Friday. Word was the pour would start at 7.00 am Friday morning. It was a blooming cold clear night on Thursday, the alarm clock was set for 6, and we were greeted by a very cold but dry morning.

After a quick but hearty brekkie many thermal layers were donned, scarves, hats and gloves, looking like a fat Nanook of the North, off we went to the block.  The team were (impressively) already assembled rugged up and ready. All except one chap who, rather alarmingly, wore shorts!! 

Looking towards the en-suite, north side of house

It wasn't long until the first of the 7 (and a bit) concrete mixers started to arrive. Slowly the wooden frames were filled.  The team worked hard to make sure there were no air bubbles trapped and all the nooks and crannys filled.  

It was a beautiful morning but very cold if you stood still for to long.  It wasn't long before Rick and I lost the feeling in our toes.  In total contrast the team of builders were soon stripping off their layers, which made us feel even colder.... brrrr

Last bit of concrete going in.

The concrete is given about a week to cure then the frames (which should arrive on Monday) will start going up.

The birds were very curious about the goings on and a couple of Kookaburras came down for a closer look. I do hope they approve.

Penny the pick up

As if that wasn't enough excitement the previous week whilst driving along Rick had spotted a sad looking Land Rover parked up but looking abandoned on someones drive.  After a few enquiries he got to talk to the owner who eventually was persuaded to think about selling it.  

He had thought the splines on the output shaft were stripped or the gear box was busted to you and I. A quick inspection and after a week of negotiations we hired a car trailer, hitched up Dora and went off to pick up the new acquisition.

In the Landy stable from left to right we have Dora, Landy and now Penny

As Rick says 'if you have more than one landy they will start multiplying!' 

The icing on the cake

THE Bendigo Sheep Show was on over the weekend and with a promise of all things connected to sheep off we went to Bendigo for a look.....and we weren't disappointed.

It is much much colder in Bendigo and there was actually an early morning frost (which did look beautiful).  The tall grasses and fencing were covered in spiders cobwebs with what looked like millions of diamonds glistening in the morning sun.  It looked magical.  On the way to the show we passed a field full of about 20 fluffed up and furry Kangaroos grazing. A couple of them were facing up to each other and started to box, quite an amazing sight, they looked quite off balance leaning back on their huge tails.

First stop were (nut surprisingly) the Wool Craft sheds.  We found the Ashford stand where a very kind lady persuaded me to have a go at spinning with one of the best wheels in the world. Her instructions were simple and before long I was spinning a fine yarn.  I soon became totally absorbed with the rhythm of the spin.  All went well until I over heard a Mum telling her curious daughter 'Look let's watch that lady spinning' eeek!

The Wool Craft sheds were like Aladins caves full up with many tempting treasures. Skeins of yarns all colours and natural fibres were offered for sale, the more unusual being possum, yak, camel and steel. Mind blowing.  I was amazed at just how many things I hadn't realised I needed before going there. We spoke to experts on many things, learnt lots and soon realised there is so much more to learn.  It was fantastic.

All types of sheep were being judged, there were shearing competitions and sheep dog trials.  Many schools and young farmers were represented.  We watched a Roustabout competition to find the best fleece preparer to represent Victoria in the Australian finals. These people were amazing to watch. They took less than 1 1/2 minutes to pick, clean and sort a fleece loosing points if the 'daggy bits' were put into the wrong basket, or if the fleece was hanging over the table. They also had to keep an eye on the shearer as these chaps can't be held up.  We were very impressed.

It was a very full day and we eventually headed back to campsite with Dora stuffed full of 'essentials' and our heads buzzing, for a quick bite to eat and an early night. 

Slightly off the beaten track we followed a 4wd track and found this amazing view from the top of Mount Moliagul Lookout.  So high up we looked down on three Wedge Tailed Eagles circling in the thermals.  Quite a breath taking moment.

Developments on the sand pit

With the water tank challenge sorted and the sand pit leveled the site was ready for the plumbers to do their bit.  Which didn't take long..... back to Sid and his 'band' of merry men to lay the plastic membrane and fit the blocks for the concrete pour.  At last it feels as if our house is taking shape, it's so much easier to work out where the rooms are now.  

The polystyrene blocks to make the waffle pods, (lots of them) were duly delivered, laid and held in place with steel construction.

It makes the house look huge.  We've been warned  by Sid that once the walls go up the house will look smaller.  Optical illusions!

Looking at the wet en-suite areas to the left is the master bedroom, to the right are the living areas.

More optical illusions looking at the north facing side of the house which is level but to me looks like it's slanting upwards.... though not quite so obvious looking at this photo.

The sparky has been everything is ready for the concrete.....which we are told will be happening next Tuesday.

There have also been more than a few moments of concern and sleepless nights.  Luckily Rick understands 'building' language and what all the 'shorthand' on the house drawings mean so he has been working very hard to head off any potential problems.

There was a recent report on the radio, a study into sleeping less than 7 hours a night.  Apparently there is evidence that people live longer... at this rate we're well on our way to reach 120 years old!!

The tale of the water tank......

We seemed to have waited for ages now for more action on the block regarding the house build. Which of course started, rather dramatically, the week we had to nip back to Adelaide.... always the way. Huge thank you to Deb, Robert and Fred for keeping an eye on the proceedings, taking photos and keeping us updated.

A huge hole was dug east of the house site, thankfully not to close to the veggie patch, for the 22,000 litre concrete water tank. A hole Winnie The Pooh would have been very proud of far to big for hafalumps more the size for woolie mammoths! I'm digressing....

By all accounts it was quite a kerfuffle, we all believed it would be sandy soil on that part of the block, perfect for digging and bedding in a water tank.  About half an hour into the dig a huge deep lump of limestone was discovered, it just went on and on as did the digger.  The race was on to get the hole dug before the crane and tank arrived early afternoon.  

A brace of diggers at work!

think this says it all

Hats off to the tenaciousness of the digger, digging that hole must have been no mean feat, from what started as a fairly easy two hour job it turned out to be a four hour marathon.

Much digging, two huge piles of rubble and one very large hole later the crane and tank arrived.  For some reason in his infinite wisdom the crane driver decided to take the scenic route via the back of Old Man Stringy Bark and promptly got bogged in the softer soil there.... hmmmm.  It was eventually freed and made it up to the hole and the awaiting water tank.

Water tank was slowly and gently lowered onto it's soft sandy bed only to find it went much lower than expected.... hay ho

It seems there has been a wee bit of a communications problem, we all had different ideas on where the roof of the tank was going to sit.  Varying from just above ground, just below ground level to buried! To cut a long story short after many hours of discussions with the builders of our house, the water tank constructors and quite a few sleepless nights the problem was solved. Another tank has been ordered, another huge hole will be dug, both tanks will sit with their roofs just above ground and we will have four very large mounds of limestone rock to deal with! A creative solution will I am sure be found..... eventually..... no worries then!!

The large areas of sand in the above photos are the leveled base of our new home, already for the plumber to do his bit, waffle pods and the eventual concrete fill. Very exciting.

Trees... lots of 'em

But first spinning a yarn.....

Every now and then over the last few months I've dusted off the spinning wheel, combed out some more of the huge bag of fleece and had another go at spinning.  My first attempt unsupervised at home with my newly refurbished wheel I was concentrating so hard at getting the right (slow) rhythm going with my foot and hands I hadn't realised that the wheel was steadily moving across the floor.  It wasn't until it crashed into the sofa and I almost fell of my chair I noticed just how far I'd gone!  Hauling the thing back to my spinning mat (not literally a moving around mat) I re-oiled all moving parts and thankfully stopped travelling.

I have finally, after three days with the very patient ladies of the spinning group and quite a few hours at home, managed to fill two bobbins of what is very kindly called Novelty Yarn. And had a go at plying them together and making my very first skein... (I use that term loosely)

1st skein of Novelty Yarn

1st attempt at plying

I'm not entirely sure what I will do with it after I've washed it though I have suggested to Rick that if I make something for him it would be his duty to wear it.  Obviously I need a lot more practice and constantly need to remind my foot to slow down, I am after all not in a race.  The last spinning group I went to there were about 11 ladies with their wheels, all very different all making different noises (I am referring to the wheels there), it was a great sight with the brave brief glimpse I had when I took my eyes off my wheel.  Very peaceful... you seriously can not think about anything else, thank goodness breathing is a reflex.

Tree Planting Festival
The weather has been getting steadily wetter, windier and colder as the weekend approached, though there have been beautiful warm sunny moments as well.  The rain gauges and tanks have been filling up fast. Months ago (when the weather was warm) we had volunteered for The Naracoorte Caves Tree Planting Festival which was to take place on what was now looking to be the stormiest day of the week.

Run by Natural Resources South East, volunteers had been asked to help plant some 15,000 seedlings to create a link and protect habitat for native plants and wildlife, including the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo.  We gathered as much warm wear and wet weather gear as we could find (thank you to Deb and Robert for their donation) and de-spidered the wellies.  On the day we discovered the elastic on Ricks waterproof trousers had given up the ghost, so armed with changes of clothing off we trekked to our meeting point at Straun House.

We were amazed at just how many people turned up, almost a coach full of us were shuttled to Sand Cave, split into teams of ten and introduced to our team leaders. Once shown how to plant the seedlings we were let loose on the designated planting areas. The Natural Resources people were full of information and very happy to share any knowledge. Our fellow team members were friendly there was a great sense of everyone working for a common cause.

The Lions Club did a fantastic job of the catering.  Homemade cakes for the morning 'smoko' (tea-break), Pumpkin Soup and barbie for lunch and more homemade cakes for the 'arvo smoko' (afternoon tea-break).  Delicious...

Some of us taking a quick break before being moved on to a fresh planting site. We dug holes with a neat tool like an unsprung pogo stick.  At one point I stopped walloping the guard stakes with my mallet to see Rick disappearing up the hill like a Roo on one!

Lunch time entertainment, they were really good.

A camera crew turned up to record the planting for a kiddies programme, which was great but every time we thought we'd given them the slip we found a camera in our faces.  Not a make up lady in sight and definitely not one of my most glam moments .... hay ho....





It was great fun and by the end of the day we'd planted about 5,000 trees and shrubs all had a real sense of achievement.... as well as happy full tummies.

Good job done