The Road to Amherst

daily weather during 2011

2012-01-01T18:48:00.000Z

I can't believe this is the 6th year I've done this... but hey, it's now tradition. Here is the annual weather round-up for Maryborough (the nearest weather station to us), courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology. For previous years see: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006

Here's a graph showing the maximum and minimum temperatures reached each day, in celsius (click to view it bigger):

The hottest it got was 39.2 on 1st February 2011. The coldest was -1.2 on 27th July.

After the rain bonanza of 2010, I was expecting things to return to the longer term averages but 2011 was still a pretty good year for rainfall with over 725mm of rain - the 6th highest on record. I'll be so annoyed if we've missed all these great rain years and it goes back to drought when we move(!). Although it was pretty sporadic. January alone had over 240mm of rain. That means one third of the entire year's rain fell in one month - and almost of all within a single week!

This graph shows the year's rainfall plotted cumulatively, and the one below it gives the historical perspective:

Logs, hidden water and tents

2011-12-29T18:02:00.000Z

The latest in the series of random ideas that - if time and money were no object - we could explore. Meaning that in reality we likely will not, but hey... it's still fun to jot them down :-)

Small sliced logs as wall decor
One of those ideas you have to see the picture to appreciate. I love this concept, and we're going to have to cut up wood for firewood, don't see why they can't do some extra slices while they're at it. :-) In Martha's version it is birch wood, but I think it would be nice to do it with some native wood, there must be some that have a nice pattern

Chandelier inspired from nature
We saw this in person when in NYC in September at ABC Carpet & Home in Union Square. I used to love window shopping there and was thrilled to find it still existed, nearly 2 decades later. I loved this chandelier and came pretty close to wanting to buy it when Dave pointed out with a little ingenuity we could make our own version, and we'd have to rewire the damn thing anyway as US wiring is totally different to UK or Australia. I still love it though. It's called "The Enchanted" and it comes from a company called Canopy Designs.

Disappearing swimming pools
Sadly they don't give any prices which usually means it is not something any mere mortal could afford. But it's a cool concept nonetheless.

Safari cabin tents
I've always loved the safari tent cabins we've stayed in when in Africa. I think they'd work just as well for temporary (but more comfy than usual) guest accommodation in Australia too. Here's an Australian based company that makes various kinds: Ecostructures

Lining the lake house ceiling

2011-12-03T17:02:00.000Z

Dad is pressing on with work at the lake house, whenever he can find a spare couple of days. Now we have a roof on both sides, and a start made on lining boards holding up the insulation too. I love the way it looks, it will be brilliantly airy and light feeling.

Email from Dad, Nov 13th: (originally we'd planned to leave the lining boards as a job for us to do)
I want the best lining boards to go on the old house veranda... that means that I will possibly have to use several different types of boards to do the lakehouse. I have realised that if I don't do this task now I will have to provide another 4 rafters for the task of fixing the ends of the boards and that is pointless. So I will do that task now.

Email from Dad, Nov 26th:

I sorted the boards of several of the most promising board size with respect for quantity to complete the work with one type of board. This was worthwhile work as I needed to be sure before committing myself to a size. As it transpired I have a sizeable pile, I think I will get all the dado as well as the ceiling from it. There are very many boards which almost work-in but don't because of the ends being split or rotted. These will be cut to use for the dado up to 900mm. Above this dado will be plasterboard painted to provide the contrasting and set off the lining boards. I didn't straighten the underside of the rafters as when I checked they were pretty good on this side at least.

Hedging our bets with the old house

2011-11-22T16:22:00.000Z

So we were all set with the plans for the old house - it was to be a lovely little guest cottage, and a place to live in temporarily while the new house was built. As the move looms closer though, we're being more practical and hedging our bets.

We'll need to be *very* sure before selling up in London and building the new house, since it'll be unlikely we could recoup that investment should we ever need to sell. So, we've decided to make sure the old house is renovated in a way that, if worst came to worst, we'll be happy to stay living in long-term.

Which really just comes down to a question of space. The way we had it planned was perfect for a holiday rental, but for permanent living there just wasn't enough storage and the kitchen was too cramped. So we're tweaking one last time (hopefully). It'll add a little on to renovation costs but Dad doesn't think too much - and certainly it will be a hell of a lot cheaper to make the changes now than later.

Here's the latest planned layout:

For comparison, here's what it used to be:

There are 3 main differences between the old and new versions. First, we stretched it - buying us space for a walk-in robe in the bedroom, as well as a more spacious dining area. Second, we added an extra small "L" shaped bit to the kitchen area, again just to buy some more cupboard space and help the kitchen feel not quite so open-plan. Third, the entry to the laundry is now enclosed to give a small back entrance area - a place for coats and muddy boots. We've also made some minor tweaks - eg: changing the position of the bay window to have the symmetry of windows at either end; changing the direction the back steps go out, etc.

When I look at it, it feels pretty minor - but that extra space is going to make all the difference between feeling cramped and feeling comfortable.

We also gave some thought to how we might incorporate some of the scavenged materials - there are quite a few that, on initial glance, seem like they could fit. Here's the ideas:

Lake house update

2011-11-05T09:36:00.000Z

Dad has been making steady progress. I love seeing it coming together, it's looking even better than I imagined.

Here's the latest photos Dad send, showing the roof being added, on one side, and below are extracts from his emails explaining what he did.

From email 22 Sept

"I got the rafters into place the first day. I had to accommodate a small dip in the wall plates by cutting the rafters to suit each position so as to get a near perfect fit against the ridge. I am very pleased with the fit of the 14 sets of rafters.

Overnight I was worrying how I might manage to do the roof battens and sheets as I do not have materials for making pipe scaffolding to that height that can be easily put there as all my long pipes are involved with the scaffold for the old house. I woke up with the answer, as is often the way.

I had ordered material that would be used for the second half of the veranda at the front of the old house, but had to use the rafter materials for the lakehouse. As you can see in the photos I managed to create a high perch using the long battens with enough remaining for the lakehouse. I didn't have enough to be sure until I am finished with the fitting of battens on the lakehouse to use any for handrails, but will use some if possible.

I placed the scaffold to trim the rafter tails, fit the fascia, fit the battens, and then the sheets. I had to space the rafters at 450mm centres because we are lining the underside with lining boards for the high ceiling. Normal spacing for this kind of roof is closer to 1mtr. As the roof grows in timber members so the weight increases. Consequently, I have installed very sturdy bracing against wind and weight as I am building the roof. This bracing had to replace bracing made earlier but which was in the way of current works.

The triple grips to anchor the rafters at the plate were put on prior to making hoop iron strap bracing to make it all more rigid. I have to put sarking on top of the battens before the sheets. I have placed the battens to suit the secondhand sheets holes from previous fitting"

From email 25 Oct

"I got the first half of the roof sheeting done last visit. The breeze was at times difficult, and at the end of the second day the drill fell into the water. I had to stop work until it could be checked for safety... I was obliged to make a ridge hook ladder from one of my old tressles made of pipe. It worked a treat, but it is quite strenuous to my feet to remain standing on such a gradient for any length of time.

I will have to assign the ladder to be used for the loft access because it must remain for use when getting on the roof to do any maintenance. Are you still keen to have the rusty iron atop the roof to render it old looking? I have to proceed with this stage if that is the case before I remove access scaffolding. Once I put the weatherboards on the gable ends it will be neccessary to access the roof from the aluminium ladder founded in the dam bed beside the pier.

I have to get some suitable material to make the ornamental barges also. Do you have any special pattern for the ornamentation in mind, or should I try to copy that in the photo of the old boathouse you sent me? The tooling of the boards is to be done prior to fastening them after cutting to size from the stock board. I can do a small range of router tooling for the edges, and can use a jigsaw for the shaping of the board. Ideally I will get some secondhand cedar from the demolition yard. Using cedar will mean it will endure"

(NB: We've decided not to worry about the rusty iron on top because it looks so splendid as is, so that'll be a good time saver. In terms of the ornamental barges, I'm still trying to figure that out - am not exactly sure what they are yet :-) It may be we delay that until later, but tbd)

Inspiration from India

2011-11-02T08:08:00.000Z

We recently spent a week in India on a whirlwind trip... the so-called Golden Triangle of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur. I *really* did not like the cities - Delhi in particular - but it was worth it to see the architecture at the historic sites.

The whole trip was planned to see the Taj Mahal, to finally tick it off my "must-see" list. I'd fully expected to be disappointed, but even with high expectations, it was stunning. Then there were all these other places, like Agra Fort and Qutb Minar that I'd never known about that were awe-inspiring too.

Anyway, as was usual, I was always looking out for ideas for Amherst:

Flower decorations on wall
These were at the Red Fort in Delhi. They were carved into the stone but I'm wondering *if* you got the right mould, whether you could do something similar, pressed into adobe. I liked the fact that they had detail but it wasn't ornate everywhere, just very simple and true to life shapes.

Single tiles as decoration
This is from a big arched gateway at Humayuns Tomb, also in Delhi. There was just a single panel like this at the top of each side. I'm not sure if originally there was decoration all over, but seeing it like this made me think that a way to stretch out our antique tile collection could be to place them in a similar way, set above doors either side of the wall.

Flying staircase
This is from Fatehpur Sikri. I loved the shape it made next to the wall. Obviously would only work for narrow staircases and probably violate all kinds of health and safety rules... but I still like the look of it.

Interestingly shaped pools and drains
This is from Agra Fort. Lovely shape for an ornamental pond. I don't have the slightest idea how you'd build it though if you didn't have a team of free stonemasons on hand. Perhaps make a mold in concrete and pour it in? It'd be a right pain though, so suspect this one will stay on the drawing board.

But this is much simpler... who said drain catchment thingies needed to be boring looking? This catches the water from the pipes from the roof, as a kind of mini pond, and then there appeared to be a place for water to drain out under the little central round bit.

Hobbit houses in Wales

2011-09-27T08:20:00.000+01:00

My Dad for a long time has wanted to build a kind of hobbit house as a hobby project, on the far side of our hill. So when I spotted this article with pictures of a similar kind of hobbit house in Wales I just had to share. He loves it, apparently this is exactly the kind of thing he was thinking of. I don't know when or even if it will get done, but wouldn't it be cool? :-)

You can find out more about it at the guy's own site: SimonDale.net, including lots of photos of which the below are just a sample.

Lake house gets beginnings of a roof

2011-09-17T16:18:00.002+01:00

The exciting news is, we have the outlines of a roof! There was a little to and fro'ing at one stage, Dad was considering a shortcut of making a much lower roof using some old bullnose sheets we have lying around... but on consideration we stuck to our guns and decided to stick to the original plan of having a nicely pitched roof. I'm so glad, I love the shape it's turning out to be.

The Great Pillars of Amherst

2011-08-26T16:08:00.000+01:00

Pete had a chance to do some more work on the brick columns for the garden. Or as Michael (who helps with the mowing) christened them, "the great pillars". I agree, they do look a little ridiculous out on their own in the middle of a field, but just you wait till they're joined up :-)

yet more holes... awaiting stumps

2011-08-13T12:49:00.001+01:00

Besides getting the windows in for the "lake house", Dad also made progress on the front verandah. He's dug the holes for the stumps, so next trip hopefully they'll be able to get put in. Once the stumps are in, the rest seems to happen relatively quickly - or at least more visibly. :)

the lakehouse starts to take shape

2011-08-13T12:37:00.002+01:00

Progress at Amherst is always sporadic, but we're on a bit of a roll at the moment.

My brother Pete saw a lot of old cedar windows being thrown away from the building site he was working on, so rescued them from the skip for Dad to collect. They're in great condition - I can't believe people throw away stuff like this!

Anyway, rather than hassle finding a place to store them, Dad decided instead to use them right away in building the "lake house", aka the fancy shed being built on stilts in the middle of the dam.

He moved the scaffolding from the house down to the dam and set up little plank walkways so he can move around the outside. Dad seems to be making up the design as he goes, and there's a lot more windows in than previously envisioned, but that's OK. It'll end up I suspect feeling more like a sunroom than a boathouse, but it still suits the setting so I'm not fussed, and I am just grateful to have progress!

Mowing update

2011-06-12T10:17:00.000+01:00

I can't get over how fast this year is going. It seems like only a few weeks ago that we had the mowing done but it was actually 4 months!

Michael kindly sent some photos so we could see the finished job. The orchard looks same as last time except that the trees are in their winter / no leaves coat.

This time he also mowed up in the olive grove, and that's looking a little more exciting - the olives are looking like proper bushes now, giving me hope they might one day appear tree-like. His main focus was clearing around the fenceline I think, which Dave had run out of time to do last trip.

Next trip I want to get some more plants in around here to take advantage of it being fenced... I was thinking of Agaves, but not sure they will be practical around the olives, so perhaps will need to look for some other succulents that are hardy enough to grow with zero support. Hmmm.

Cotton trees and vanilla beans

2011-06-07T22:49:00.001+01:00

We recently went to Mauritius and while there I came across two fascinating plants that I would love to try and grow one day. Both were at an old colonial house that is now a restaurant and sugar mill making its own rum, called St Aubin.

The first plant was cotton. I'd seen cotton before in Mississippi, but it was a shrub, waist high, with little wads of cotton you picked about the size of cotton balls. Well, it turns out that if you leave it long enough, cotton plants grow into beautiful trees.

This tree at St Aubin is over 100 years old - but it is beautiful, with a bottle shape and canopy with enormous seed pods and bright pink flowers that reminded me of magnolias

Being realistic I know that I am never going to have a tree like this at Amherst. Not just time is against me, so are the winter frosts. Still, according to this really helpful blogpost, you can grow them OK as shrubs in Sydney... and I reckon if I got creative wrapping with fleece I could probably help the shrubs survive at least a couple of winters with hope of them getting at least a bit tree like? Hmmm...

The second plant was vanilla which to my amazement looked really similar to a french bean, in the sense of it growing like a vine. I think this would be great for growing in a light bathroom where you could ensure it'd stay warm. There's no need to worry about bees not being able to get in, since they're hard to pollinate naturally anyway - but there's a way to manually do it by removing a membrane and folding the top of the plant flower over. Orchids Australia put a bit of a dampener on the concept but I still reckon its worth a try.

We have wildlife (not all welcome)

2011-04-24T19:53:00.000+01:00

So Dave saw a snake when he was clearing the long grass in the olive grove. We knew they were around but I wish they would just stay hidden. It ran away from him into the forest so at least it wasn't mean.

On the plus side though, in the olive grove he also saw a stumpy tailed lizard. These are cute in a monster-ish sort of way. They are harmless but they have a bad temper and if you come near them they will stick their tongue out and hiss. Like in this photo. Unfortunately they are also stupid and so unlike snakes that run away, these guys just stay fixed in position meaning you have to be ultra-careful when mowing.

More interestingly in the dam we have yabbies (a kind of freshwater crayfish). As I will never be able to get rid of them, I am now thinking I may adopt them as a kind of low maintenance pet.

Dave has a yabbie net - he throws it in with bait to catch them so he can see how big they are. He swears he lets them go... and indeed in this case I have proof that at least one escaped the pot. I never knew yabbies swam backwards before!

The olives are thriving

2011-04-24T19:37:00.000+01:00

Dave spent the last day at Amherst clearing his beloved olive grove. He moved away all the bits of wire and mowed it, and it looks amazing.

Some of the trees are nearly as tall as Dave. Even better, some have actual olives on them!

Behind the olives, there are a couple of peppercorn trees that Dave planted on his last visit. They're doing really well too, they'd nearly doubled in size. They're meant to be pretty fast growing so with like by the time we move there they'll look like actual trees.

Step 4: building the columns

2011-04-24T19:04:00.001+01:00

Once the foundations were sorted, the most exciting part (for me anyway) began - building the columns.

The brick delivery guy kindly used his forklift to scatter the pallets around the paddock, so they'd be near where Pete would need them.

Then Pete began work. First he used the mixer to make mortar by mixing cement, sand and water.

Then he started laying, using the Daniel Robertson bricks on the outside and the cheaper (less nice looking) bricks on the middle. Each row needed leveling, then more mortar and repeat.

After a few rows - apparently called 'courses' - he built a frame to serve as a guide to the level. Then he just continued straight on up.

To make it easier to join up the middle bits, he left holes on the side parts. And at the top he did a nice pattern which is modeled on the shape of our chimney in London. For the time being, the top is filled in with cement, but left flat so ultimately we can perhaps put a planter or something on top.

In the end Peter managed to get 4 columns built in the time they had. Each column is around 2.1-2.2m tall (Dave can't remember exactly). But you can get a good sense of the scale in this pic with Pete atop. :-)

Originally I had planned on having columns every 3-4m, but on site Dave revised that to every 5m. I've been worried about this, right up till today when I finally had the brainwave to go and measure at the walled garden in the park - and found they were even further apart! (more like 5.5-6m). So now I am much relieved. :-)

They decided to do large columns (3 x 3 bricks) on the corners and for the gateposts at either end, with smaller columns (2 x 2 bricks) in between. This is the rough plan they sketched up:

We've got a long way to go obviously, but at least from here on progress will be visible!

Step 3: pouring the concrete

2011-04-24T11:40:00.000+01:00

Once the steel was in position, the next step was to fill the trenches in with concrete.

The area was way too vast to attempt to do by hand, so we ended up getting readymixed concrete trucked in from Eureka Concrete. Who clearly are great suppliers, not only because they were friendly and reliable, but because they have trucks that look like Tonka toys :-)

Each truck contained 5 cubic metres worth of concrete, and we needed 7m for the short sides and 10m for the long side. We poured a side a day, so each day we had two trucks turn up.

The concrete came out of a big funnel which had a lever so you could direct it. To get it to spread and settle in properly you poked it with a shovel. Then finally to smooth it out you use a little spreader thing, as if you were icing a cake.

The final complication was that our ground was on a slight slope - but the concrete had to be level in order for the brick columns to be built upon. So every so often the guys had to put in little steps in the concrete - this too had to be worked out in advance.

Overall, it took about 20-30 minutes to pour each side, then another 30 mins to do the smoothing. The concrete was hard enough to walk on within a few hours, but to be safe we didn't start building columns on it until the next day after it had been poured.

Step 2: laying the steel

2011-04-24T11:03:00.005+01:00

After the trenches were dug, each needed steel to be carefully laid within.

Two layers were needed. The first, 5cm from the bottom of the trench; the second at least 5cm from the top of where the concrete would be poured to. Plus all needed to be at least 5cm from the walls of the trench. The steel came in 6m lengths, by around 30-35cm, so the guys had to cut it to measure using an angle grinder. Where there were joins, the steel had to overlap by 60cm. And of course the columns needed to cover a wider area.

To position the steel, effectively in mid-air, they dangled it from wires tied to rods that were balanced across the top of the trench. In short - it was a really fiddly job, and pretty tedious when you consider they had to do it for 130m of trench!

Finally, the upright steel poles that would go in the middle of the columns needed to be put in and wired into place in the mesh. These were carefully measured to be 5m apart and there were two poles per column, each about 6 foot tall.

Step 1: digging the trenches

2011-04-24T10:55:00.000+01:00

Dave is back, and brought the camera with more photos. Looking through them makes it clearer just what an enormous task it was to get the foundations in place.

The first step was the get the trenches dug. They needed to be 60cm deep and around 50cm wide, except where the columns were, when they needed to be about 1m wide.

The guys tried to do it first using our tractor, but it was such slow going that they ended up having to hire another tractor - the main difference being that it had a bucket with special teeth.

I fear we are going to need to buy one of these teeth buckets.

The first columns go up...

2011-04-15T00:49:00.001+01:00

Despite the disasters, the guys have slogged on and made progress. I'll have some more photos to put up (I hope) once Dave returns with his camera, but in the meantime, here's a sneak preview of what they've achieved thus far from Mum. I really like them :-)

This shows a close-up of the first column Pete built, looking I think along the short end. Even here the concrete trench looks endless... The yellow sticky up bits are steel rods that apparently go in the middle of the columns to provided added support.

Here's some more views of columns being built. The gaps are for us to attached whatever it is we end up using to fill between the columns. The inside is solid brick also.

Here's a view of one of the gatepost columns, with Pete in the background. I really like the little pattern he's done at the top - we took a photo of our chimney here in London and it's modelled on that I think. :-) Ultimately we'll probably put planters on top of each column for succulents - the kind that need little water and will trail branches down, as a sort of living finial - but waiting on that until we get the walls filled in.

And finally, here's a view where you can see a couple of the columns done.

digging out rock to put down fake rock (aka why building regulations suck)

2011-04-12T23:21:00.001+01:00

So things haven't gone quite to plan in the work at Amherst on the brick wall. I'd had the notion that it would take only a day's work to finish off the trench digging that was started a couple years back. Then a quick visit from a concrete truck or two and voila - ready to lay bricks.

Unfortunately it turned into an epic saga, and not in a good way.

The first bad news was that the old trenches were apparently unusable, as the rainwater they'd caught and held like very long thin dams had apparently worn away the edges and made them too wide. So the guys decided to dig new trenches everywhere.

The second bad discovery was that despite having had so much rain recently the ground was as hard as a rock. So hard that digging the trenches was taking forever, and so they had to hire a bigger tractor! (This is after justifying the purchase of our tractor by it saving us from ever having to hire equipment again *sigh* I swear, next time I'm buying a new car and forget the tractor).

Even with the hired tractor and working round the clock under floodlights on shift, it still took them days to get the trenches dug. The ground was so solid and they kept hitting rock.

And then, this is the bit where I think building regulations are UTTERLY MAD... we were only digging out all that rock to replace it with FAKE ROCK aka concrete. Honestly, I don't understand why this was required. Our 2 storey brick house in London has stood with a foundation of about 10cm of rubble on clay soil for over 100 years now with no problems. (I'm serious - we found this out when we dug down to have a look when we put on extension). Yet apparently in the middle of a paddock in rural Australia you can't build a brick wall on rock-solid ground without sinking a deep concrete trench. *sigh*

Oh, and then there's the steel. All this steel mesh and rods and other stuff had to be buried in the concrete. No-one had told me how much steel we'd need - or how pricey it'd be. In the end I reckon the raw materials alone have come in about double the budget, and that's before you factor in the dire exchange rate at the moment.

Still. It had to be built if we wanted to get anywhere near the dream for the garden. I guess I'll just be working in London a while longer than planned to pay for it all. :-(

da da, the bricks are here

2011-04-07T22:16:00.001+01:00

So... it was a saga and a half to get the bricks. The delivery company never told us it'd come in two separate loads - and then they decided to deliver one of the loads a day early (thankfully a combination of my Mum on the phone, and my brother making a mad dash to get up there early saved the day). And of course they all got confused about the location, having not paid attention to the instructions we gave when ordering.

But all is well in the end - they arrived safely and they are lovely. This is my brother Pete showing a few off. :-)

New photos from Google Earth!

2011-04-07T21:35:00.001+01:00

I signed up a few months ago to get an alert whenever imagery in Google Earth was updated for our place. Lo and behold, today an email arrives. They've put on new satellite photos - this time from Oct 2009 when it was green!

It was quite fun to re-do the site plan map and see what a difference it made. I especially like how in these new photos the dam is full and you can see the little dam shed as if it is floating. :-)

For comparison, this is what it used to look like, with the imagery from April 2007:

choosing bricks for the garden wall columns

2011-03-23T23:46:00.000Z

We're having a big push on with work in a few weeks when Dave visits. Dave and Dad are planning to focus on the house framing for the cottage extension. Pete (my brother, who is a bricklayer by trade) is going to finally make a start on the vegie garden wall, and for that he needs bricks.

As this wall is such an important a part of my dream - basically I want a traditional English old walled garden that looks like it has been there 150 years - choosing the bricks was not straightforward. Especially since I'd already compromised once.

To recap: originally I wanted a solid brick wall, but quickly learned a tall thick wall for a 25m x 40m enclosure was going to break the bank. So now we are just having brick columns which we can then join up in between. To begin the fill in will likely be a mix of wire or cheap fencing sheets, then as time permits we can thicken it up adobe/cob style... perhaps even stick on cobbles and small rocks to finish like on this old wall we spotted in Cambridgeshire:

So, back to the bricks. Originally the plan had been to use secondhand bricks to build the columns, because they'd be cheaper and also would have the right finish (ie: old and bashed about a bit). That wasn't viable unfortunately as the only two places we found that could deliver them didn't have any in stock, and Pete wasn't willing to risk ordering sight unseen. Apparently there is a big variation in quality - some are harder, 'first fired' vs others are more porous and 'underfired' so you have to inspect.

So then we started looking at new bricks. Mum and Pete went to meet a friendly Ballarat brick supplier and sent me photos of their major lines. Which was when I nearly gave up on the whole concept in despair. Some of the bricks were OK colours, but they had nothing like the textured feel of the old English bricks I'd fallen in love with.

Luckily, Pete came to the rescue with his suggestion of Daniel Robertson bricks. They're a bit more expensive, but justifiably so given they have a far nicer blend of tones and have captured that 'old' look even though they're new. Just consider:

Elmhurst Red Daniel Robertson blend 153

To cut a long story short, we've splurged for the Daniel Robertson blend 153 for all the visible bits of the columns... and saved a little money by getting the Elmhurst Red for the hidden parts. Now we're reliant on Pete's bricklaying skills to get the right effect - but I have faith. He's apparently been working on top-end heritage projects in his day job for a couple of years now so he's had lots of practice. :-)

We have a bridge!!

2011-03-10T09:03:00.000Z

I am so excited that I don't care I'm making myself late to work to post this. Dad just emailed on his return from a working trip to Amherst. He decided to surprise us by putting in the bridge to the "dam shed"!

Eventually this building will be a (quite fancy) garden shed/retreat. But my dream is that it will be finished enough by the time I next visit so I can camp in it. The big hiccup to that had been that after the heavy rains, we'd had no way to access it to finish the building work... now, thanks to the miracles of Dad, we do!!

Dad describes it thus: "It is a full 900mm wide and four panels long. It is supported on steel pegs driven into the soil under the dam. It is very sturdy. It is approx a foot above the water. I could push a loaded wheelbarrow over it if needed. I used all the surplus fence panels from Toora to make an everlasting and safe bridge rather than a flimsy affair that needed lots of care to keep it safe. I hope you like it as it was a bit of an ordeal to build"

I love it! I especially love the curve - I hadn't even though about having it curved, had just presumed it would be built straight as that would be simplest, but having it curved gives is such a lovely shape, it's perfect. The only thing we will do to give it a finishing touch is - eventually - put some decking over it, to make it look like a mini-pier / boardwalk. But that's a minor detail - already it is functional and beautiful. :-)

hessian rugs make great sun shades

2011-02-27T11:14:00.000Z

Besides the tiles, the other big idea I got from our Seville trip was the notion of using hessian rugs as window shades. We saw them in quite a few places as an alternative to the more intricate blinds. I can imagine they would work better too as they'd be heavier and thus block out more light.

Of course, we'd have to think carefully about how they were used at Amherst to ensure it didn't cause more bushfire problems. Maybe they're in a form that can be easily taken down during high risk periods. Or maybe we don't do it at all... still, I like the idea :-)

tile inspiration from Seville

2011-02-27T11:08:00.000Z

We spent a few days last week exploring Seville. It's one of those places I had been meaning to go for years just never got round to - but very glad we did as it's been my favourite place in all of Spain so far.

As is usual when I travel these days, I'm always looking out for ideas for things we could do at Amherst and Seville didn't disappoint.

I've always loved tiles and in Seville they were everywhere. It was common for buildings to have little tile panels as decoration, they were on the walls, underneath balconies...

They were on the floor...

They were used on stairs, at the edge of ponds... and even on garden paths as flowerbed edging

But my favourite of all, they were used to make benches...

We were pretty limited in terms of our baggage allowance in what we could bring back, but we did manage to scout out a tile shop - Ceramica Santa Ana, in Triana - and buy enough to do the edging on two small benches at Amherst. Here's the shop:

and here are the tiles we bought - we got 12 of the curved edge tiles, and 10 of the bigger ones:

Orchard mowing

2011-02-13T18:24:00.001Z

Dad helps us out a lot, but he can't get up to work there as often as he would like - and when he does go much of his time seems to get used up by maintenance. So, we decided to find someone local to help us out with the garden work - and were put in touch with Michael who is proving to be a godsend. Not only did he do a brilliant job mowing the orchard, he sent photos! :-)

Lillicur road was flooded

2011-02-10T17:58:00.000Z

So it's been raining like crazy ... with the result that some of the driest parts of Victoria have been deluged by flood. Our place thankfully is fine as it's on a hill, but on the flatter parts it was pretty wet. I hadn't even realised there were creeks that ran across Lillicur Road until Vida sent me these photos - it's from Dad's last visit... thankfully he managed to get through OK but apparently it was touch and go for a bit.

even more ideas

2011-01-30T08:01:00.000Z

Another collection of random things spotted that might one day be useful...

I love this concept for painting stairs from Maryam's blog... stencilling, with a different pattern on each.

Or how about a roof shingled in old vinyl? (via Treehugger) It could be interesting for something like a carport where it didn't matter if it wasn't 100% watertight. Apparently this guy just put a nail through the middle holes in the record and that was enough to hold it down. (There's more photos at Treehugger site)

Perry Bird Pickets - a brilliant store in Melbourne that sells all kinds of cast ironwork to go on verandahs and fencing. It isn't cheap, but is nowhere near as expensive as I'd expected either - in some cases even cheaper than wooden fretwork.

Finally, a couple of my favourites from Martha Stewarts "50 tips for the kitchen"... (yes yes I know - even though no-one could do all she suggests without a fleet of staff, she still has some brilliant ideas). I like the idea of having glass storage positioned partly in front of a window so that you get light shining through it (tip 11). And I really like these "birds beak" shelves (tip 2) - apparently it's an old carpentry style for adjustable shelving. It's functional but also decorative.

daily weather during 2010

2011-01-02T08:24:00.001Z

Here's my 5th annual round-up of the weather for Maryborough (the nearest weather station to us), courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology. For previous years see: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

Here's a graph showing the maximum & minimum temperatures reached each day, in celsius:

The hottest it got was 42.8 on 16th January 2010. The coldest was -2.2 on 28th June.

But the big news in 2010 was the rainfall. We had a ton more rain than normal - so much so that I had to increase the axis scale! This graph shows it plotted cumulatively:

For the year as a whole we got nearly 1000mm of rain - 950.7mm to be precise. This was a HUGE increase, nearly double the rainfall of 2009 which had already been a banner year. The chart comparing historical rainfalls shows this vividly:

Overall, 2010 turned out to be the second wettest year recorded for Maryborough since records began in 1878. It was beaten only by 1973 when there was 1022mm. There was one record-breaking figure though. In November we had over 155mm of rain in 2010 - the highest ever recorded.

We planted pigs ear

2010-12-31T07:39:00.001Z

While browsing in Talbot's nursery earlier in the day I'd spotted a lovely succulent bush that was waist high. The guy told me it would only take a couple of years to reach that height, so thought I'd experiment with putting them in at Amherst. We bought 8 plants.

So as to protect from kangaroos and sheep, we put them in the orchard, in a sort of ring near the fence. Although they won't grow fruit, they'll still look nice and shouldn't be in the way of anything as we can grow climbers behind.

It was a great feeling to actually get something new in the ground there - a very small progress step. But even more amazing was to see the soil. I guess thanks to all the rain it was really pliable - no need for tractors in digging, we didn't even need to add extra compost. It was much better soil than I'd imagined.

To show you what I mean, here's a short clip of Dad digging a hole...

... and here's me putting in one of the 8 plants.

Mowing the orchard

2010-12-31T07:10:00.001Z

Even though Dave had mown it in August, there had been such a lot of rain that the grass was crazily long again. So although we hadn't planned to do any work on this visit, Dad and Vida pitched in to get it cut.

Meanwhile I climbed into the mulberry enclosures and cut back the overgrown grass to reveal some very bushy little trees - complete with mulberries!

We win some, we lose some with the trees

2010-12-30T06:57:00.001Z

The bad news first... the wollemi's didn't make it. Despite all the rain and the (too late) added sun protection, there's no sign of life. It's one of the biggest disappointments we've had. Hoping against hope, will leave them until Dave's next visit, then will replace them with some other kind of hopefully fast-growing tree.

However, on the flip side the lemon gums are looking magnificent.

The peppercorn and almond trees are also looking healthy - there are even some nuts growing. Although calling them trees at this stage is a bit of a misnomer, they're really still just the size of shrubs... hurry up and grow!

Fleeting visit - little progress but still nice to see

2010-12-30T06:39:00.002Z

I managed to make it back home to Australia for Christmas, and in the process spent a day at Amherst.

Although there hadn't been any change to the house since Dave's visit, it was wonderful to see it up close in person.

The same with the "damhouse". Even with the spillway having been added, the dam is still so full that there is no way you could access it without sinking to your waist or more in water. Dad has a great idea for how to quickly build a ramp to it using various old fence panels, so with luck we'll soon be able to make progress on it again.

But there has been some big visible progress, with the construction of the new shed. This was partially completed back in August when Dave visited. Since then Dad has got it pretty much completely to lock up stage.

update and idea for dam shed ramp

2010-10-31T06:31:00.001Z

All is quiet at Amherst for the moment because Dad has instead been working on some emergency repairs on the Toora house instead. One small step forward though - Dad managed to rescue some strong metal fence panels (remnants of the old Toora fence) which he's thinking about using at Amherst.

I don't much like the look of them, but one possibility is for them to become the base for the pier-like ramp that Dad plans to build, so he can access the damhouse without needing a boat!

the dam gets a spillway

2010-09-12T10:40:00.000+01:00

Somewhat controversially, Dad has created a spillway at the back of the dam in order to lower the water levels after the recent torrential rains so the "damhouse" isn't totally flooded. It apparently is going to have rocks added next visit to prevent erosion. Ironically, this is the same spillway that Dad closed up several years ago in order to boost the dam capacity. Dave had wanted it not to be changed but there was a misunderstanding and, well, now we have a spillway again.

This is what it looked like before the spillway was put in... the dam floor was covered but not by as much as I expected, so in the scheme of things the spillway hasn't reduced the capacity by that much because the water had already started to overflow around the dam sides.

A full-to-bursting dam

2010-09-05T16:15:00.002+01:00

It has been raining incessantly at Amherst. In August alone, there was over 110cm of rain, and then on Sept 4th there was another 80+mm. Considering we normally get only around 500mm of rain in a whole year, this was pretty incredible.

When Dave was back in mid-August the dam was already the fullest we'd seen it:

The water was already lapping at the floor of the "dam house":

Then on Dad's last visit a week or so back he said it was over the damhouse floor and you could just see a window sticking up. I wouldn't be surprised if now you can't even see the window (!). Fortunately, Dad reckons it'll all be fine once it dries out as it is all hardwood / treated pine. But still. Seems hard to believe that it could go from being the lowest water level we'd ever seen to the highest in the space of scarcely 18 months.

Work continues on new shed

2010-08-27T16:30:00.000+01:00

Given the weather didn't allow for working on the house, Dave and Dad instead focused on getting the new shed erected. Dad had already made a huge start by getting the frame up, but there was still a lot of work to do in terms of getting the roof and walls installed.

Then they set up frames inside to support shelving, and Dave started cutting up some old boards to serve as the floor. Once it's fully finished, it should give us a lot of extra undercover working space, as well as overflow storage.

Olive grove gets a mow too

2010-08-24T15:38:00.000+01:00

The olive grove also needed a mow... Here's what it looked like to begin:

And here's the final result...

Mowing the orchard

2010-08-23T15:29:00.000+01:00

The fences we put in are working brilliantly to keep the sheep and kangaroos out... but the sad byproduct is that they no longer can eat down the grass. One of Dave's favourite jobs is to mow.

Here's the orchard pre-haircut:

Midway through...

And at the end. Note how Dave took away all the rocks from the trees... they looked lovely but apparently turned out just to be housing for giant grass weeds and spiders.

The campsite gets a (sort of) bathroom

2010-08-21T14:20:00.000+01:00

Over his big (UK) summer break from teaching, Dave spent a few weeks working up at Amherst with Dad.

Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time they were there and was absolutely freezing, so they had to get creative about what to do.

One of the things, done largely out of self-preservation and a desire to get warm I think(!) was to get the "camp bath house" in workable condition.

Here's as far as Dad had got it. The bath was hooked up with the tank, with water heated by the wood fire. But it had no walls(!)

They used some of the windows and old wood and corrugated iron Dad had salvaged from rubbish over the years to knock up walls, even stuffing them with leftover insulation from one of Dad's old projects. Some old curtains and wall candles completed the transformation. It's still pretty basic but functional at least for a temporary camp bathroom.

Bullock teams in 1900

2010-07-27T16:54:00.001+01:00

Here's another old image that I've just come across, thanks to Museum Victoria. It's of bullock teams between Talbot and Amherst, circa 1900.

Da-da ... the kitchen doors are in

2010-07-20T15:13:00.000+01:00

Some of the finishing at the edges is still to be done, but the patio doors Dad scavenged for the kitchen are now installed. They're centred between the two verandah posts which will (eventually) have steps leading down, and are exactly the style that I'd hoped for.

A collection of ideas

2010-07-07T16:51:00.001+01:00

I don't have time at the moment to research these, but didn't want to lose them. So here is a random list of various things that have sparked my curiosity about trying when we finally get to Amherst:

For the garden...

Growing our own hop vines
Finding out more about growing irises - "they like to bake" sounds promising...
Using hollowed out books as planters - bizarre but quirky
Indigenous plants for Murray Valley - but Tiff says some of them are same for ours.

Decorating the house...

George Washington's paint colours - this might be an interesting reference
Another painting idea - using photos to decorate the wall - tape on and then cover with plexiglass, ala Martha
This Arts and Crafts shop looks brilliant
Even better than blackboard paint is this new white paint that turns any wall into a dry-erase whiteboard
It could be interesting to jerry-rig something like these magic windows using an old computer screen for an inside wall? I think I'd skip the necklace bit though...
Even better... just fit a slot for an iPad in a kitchen cupboard and then you can use it for recipes, listening to music, checking mail... I *love* this concept

Afternoon tea in 1910

2010-06-16T07:34:00.003+01:00

I've set up to get an alert whenever new items about the neighborhood get posted online. Mostly it's irrelevant but every so often there's a real gem - like this photo:

Via Museum of Victoria photo collection.

It was taken in 1910 in Amherst and features two ladies from the Brehaut family enjoying afternoon tea in their garden. I love that even the family's pet dog and cockatoo get included!

Ebay win: Edwardian screen

2010-05-30T12:17:00.003+01:00

I like screens, they're useful as a quick way to hide messy corners. :-)

Originally I got this to use in London but it turns out to be twice the height I expected - it's door height, not waist. But I can imagine many uses for it at Amherst.

It is a little bashed about, as you'd expect, but I like it as it is. The bottom isn't as badly damaged as it appears in the photo. I will just varnish it I think to protect, and put on replacement hinges, then it will be fine for another few decades.

From the description:
Edwardian tri-fold screen featuring prints of birds by Lynn Bogue Hunt. Green painted screen with detailed bird prints on both sides. In need of rejoining and attention to bottom of panels. An unusual antique for the bird enthusiast

Patio doors

2010-05-24T14:51:00.000+01:00

Dad stops by architectural salvage yards regularly and has managed to get some rather incredible bargains over the years. Recently he picked up two sets of lovely old hardwood patio doors for use in the old house renovations.

This set we'll use for the side door from the bedroom. They even came with have made-to-measure blinds(!)

The other set are the perfect size to be the doors from the kitchen to the verandah.

a full dam

2010-05-02T14:34:00.003+01:00

We had a lot of rain recently in Amherst, so the dam is looking pretty full. The steel that Dad put down to be one side of the path to the damshed is already underwater(!)

It's so funny considering that last year when we built it, everyone was worried that it would never fill up again and just look silly being up so high. Now I'm wishing we made the stilts higher...

Here it is now:

Here is as it was, when first built:

setting up the new shed

2010-05-02T11:17:00.006+01:00

Because we are running out of storage space, Dad has taken the plunge and begun work on erecting the old shed Michael gave us, down near the container.

He had to tweak things a bit because some bits had been cut off when it was taken down. Dad also decided to build it higher so that we would have option of storing taller things in it. Overall, it's now a good size: approx 8mtrs long by 3.3mtrs wide by 2.6m high.

This will solve the storage problem temporarily, although I like where he's put it so hopefully will be able to stay there long-term too.

So far the frame is partially up - here's some photos:

Dave might get to do some excavation, after all...

2010-05-02T10:24:00.000+01:00

It's only a few months until Dave is next back to work on the place. One of the things that Dad would like Dave to do this trip is to get the area for the soaker field sorted.

We've installed a treatment plant for the sewerage/greywater, so that it can be recycled. In order to work, however, it needs to have an area where the cleansed water from it goes.

Because we don't want to fuss with chlorine (risk of smell, bad for environment, more cost), we need for this to be dispersed in pipes that are underground.

There are two areas that we would ideally like to have soaker fields - the long border, and the secret garden (see rough plan).

The first soaker field to go in though will be the one in the long border. This means therefore that we need to get the terracing done for the path/border area. Which means that we need to start the new house excavation, in order to get the necessary dirt.

I'd originally hoped not to have to start this until we were back, but now it seems unavoidable. So Dave may get some tractor action on this trip, after all :-)

rough proposal for garden layout

2010-05-02T09:40:00.002+01:00

This isn't drawn up properly to scale, but I wanted to jot down my recollection of the garden plans agreed at our last visit.

Of course, a few details have changed since then - not least because I have (for now anyway) abandoned the idea of a giant haha and huge terraced lawn... It would take months of work, and so I want to live there for a bit and be *really sure* that it is what I want before we attempted it. It's such a lovely slope down to the dam now anyway that it seems a shame to lose it.

But the garden areas close to the house are unchanged. This is what they look like thus far:

Birds eye view:

There are 3 distinct areas I'm thinking of:

The Long Border: this will be my main garden plot.. It will likely be a mixed border, with some shrubs like roses, but lots of perennials. From memory it is about 50m long by about 3-4m wide. I will have the occasional stepping stone within it so I can get in to the plants, but mostly it will be layered planting. Eg:
Herb Garden: I may relent and have some roses here too, but at the moment am thinking this would be lovely to have as a herb potager... some parts could be laid out quite formally, others could perhaps be more informal, like the lavender/sage/yarrow in this:
The Secret Garden: I'm not sure exactly what this will look like yet, except my thinking is that it will be the more shady area, so where we could have things like hydrangeas, maybe even ferns, a small fountain...

The secret garden and the herb garden would be left as the natural slope of the land. The path and the long border though would be levelled, forming a terrace. Supporting the terrace would be a rock wall. To provide further fencing protection, as well as windbreak for the plants, I would propose to have a chest height fence running along the back. When you're in the house or on the verandah you'd be high enough up to see over it, so wouldn't be blocking the view. And I'm hoping that combining this fence with the rock wall would be sufficient to stop the kangaroos.

Side view of long border area:

Peppercorn 'party tree'

2010-04-14T10:40:00.000+01:00

Dad has made a big symbolic step forward in his dream of having a 'hobbit house'. He has planted the "Party Tree".

According to Wikipedia, the Party Tree from Tolkien's writings is "a tree that grew near the Bag End in the Shire. During the renowned party held by Bilbo Baggins in S. R. 1401, a huge tent was build around it, where the main guests were assembled".

So, it needed to be planted somewhere level and to be of a kind that would grow fast in the dry conditions. We decided upon a peppercorn tree as it looks nice and should be a great feature shade tree out in the paddock for the sheep. :-)

Passionfruit vines in the orchard

2010-04-12T10:30:00.001+01:00

As a surprise, Dad did some more orchard planting. He had the idea of putting in passionfruits to grow high along the wire fence.

I hope they survive - Dad was told that if they can get through first year OK then they should just take off. Even when it is dry at our place, there is water in the soil below so they just have to tap down deep roots. So fingers crossed!

Round the corner on the old house...

2010-04-12T10:14:00.001+01:00

Dad has now moved on from the side verandah to focus attention on the back of the house. This was where there used to be an extension, but because the roof wasn't replaced it was virtually fallen down.

This is what it looked like when we bought it:

Last weekend, Dad and Pete knocked the rotten parts down, and got it cleared ready for Dad to start working on replacing the weatherboards and installing windows.

Now it looks like this:

They salvaged as much as they could, so now we have yet more Piles of Stuff. But it'll be worth it, I'm sure I'll be able to build a shed or something out if whatever they can't re-use.

So exciting to see more changes underway... :-)

Ebay wins: more lloyd loom

2010-03-30T22:27:00.002+01:00

I love Lloyd Loom furniture - but only the old styles from around 1930-50's era. Even though they still make it today, I don't like it as much... it's either boring/modern shapes, or else outrageously expensive.

So, I am always keeping an eye out on Ebay for interesting old pieces to add to our collection. Here's the most recent wins:

Original 1935 Lloyd Loom table

"Marked to the underside MAR 35 and with faded evidence where the original paper label was, we are pretty sure it's a Lloyd Loom" (Actually: I know for certain it is Lloyd Loom as it is an identical match for one of the pieces in the historic catalogue I've got)

"Standing on four cabriole legs in original stained polished beech, with gold top. Excellent vintage condition with just one tiny break in the weave in the centre. 20" diameter x 18" height"

Lloyd Loom armchair

It needs a bit of a cleanup and paint, but the fundamental weave is fine which is what matters. I've been looking out for a chair shaped like this for years, glad to have finally got one. Now I just need another to make a matching pair. :-)

inspiration for our swimming pool

2010-03-13T21:35:00.004Z

We've just been watching an old episode of Grand Designs Revisited that is one of the most inspiring I've seen. This couple built an amazing place with literally no money in Puglia, Italy. They did all the work themselves, from carving the stone and building the terrace arches, to making furniture, etc etc. You can see more about it on their website.

My favourite part though was the natural swimming pond they made. So much so that I'd like to do something similar at Amherst. To keep for inspiration, I filmed the bit where they talked about it off the TV :

This wish for a natural pool isn't new, but I'd been close to abandoning it given all the ones I'd seen previously required you to have plants in the water to keep it clear... which would be bad in our situation as it would attract snakes and goodness knows what which could hide amidst the greenery. But this pond is just made from rock so no hiding places for any nasties to hide. It would also fit much more naturally in the landscape given we're on the edge of a quartz reef.

Even better, it solves my second issue - how to have a fence that doesn't look hideous. The stone wall surroundings here look wonderful. I think we would do something similar that enclosed the pool area on three sides, including a small terrace area alongside. And if we built it on the hillside alongside the olives, as I'm thinking, we could use a ha-ha to provide the fence on the 4th side - and thus retain the lovely view.

It's not going to be the first project we do, of course, but it's nice to have the idea. :-)

Update on the trees

2010-03-02T20:25:00.002Z

It's the hot period in Australia now, so the real test for all the trees recently planted.

The driveway trees continue to thrive:

According to Dad, the olives are going well... "Your olives are thriving... All are very well leafed, and two of the small ones at the end have revived from being dead, or so I thought. That means only 2 of the original plants have died".

Unfortunately not so much the Wollemi's... although there is a chance they may be resurrected: "I have capped the Woolamai pines, and perhaps they will survive. One at least of the two that were scorched has very tiny green leaves forming at the topmost of the stem. Both stems are very pliable, although most of the branches are not and break very easily as they are dead. All along the stem are miniscule leaves that are apparently this plant's survival tactic when scorched as this time. I am very hopeful we have sheltered them in time".

The verandah gets a roof

2010-02-28T20:19:00.000Z

Dad has been making some great progress on the verandah. Here's some photos and his reports below:

"As you see I have at last done some carpentry work. I got all the common rafters nailed into place (22 all together). I had to measure them individually as the old house was out of plumb in the rear corner and that factored into some variation in the rafter lengths. The beam is perfectly straight and the rafters nailed, and I have fitted the roof battens and braces, and made a start on the sheeting.

I need to complete the screwing of the roof sheets next visit. I was altogether too tired to finish them further than one course of battens and nails on the lower two battens. I will be ordering the flashing on Monday so that can be placed.

Altogether, I am very pleased with the veranda so far. All the rafters are aligned beneath so when I have time to do lining, after the frame inspection and electrical wiring, it will be very easy to do this with minimal packing.

The temporary deck provided a base for the trestles and I was able to reach easily. I will take out the braces to the house now that the rafters are in place and have open workspace.

Your house is perfectly placed for a hot day. The sun was to the rear of the house and a lovely breeze blows when the sun is hot due to the shadow cast by the house. I am very very pleased with the aspect of the deck, and the size as it affords living outdoors very well"

Inspiration from Morocco

2010-02-27T22:27:00.000Z

We recently spent a week in Morocco - splitting our time between Marrakech and a very relaxing chill-out hotel in Ourika Valley.

Overall, it was interesting - I can't say it was among my favourite places I've visited (and I feel a bit guilty about that as have some friends for whom it is their dream destination). But, it just wasn't really my style.

However, as always when travelling, I did get some ideas:

Decorating outdoor features with tiles

This is the remnants of an old fountain or well in the Palais Badii, next to one of the sunken terraces full of orange trees.

I'd seen outdoor tilework as decoration before, eg: by Gaudi in Barcelona. But what I liked about this was that it was less mosaic / crazy paving like. I think I also like the fact that this is so weathered that only remnants remain. If it was still covered in tiles as it would have been originally, I wouldn't like it as much.

Interestingly tiled paths

These are from one of the courtyard gardens inside the Palais de la Bahti. The bit I like is the square white paving stones interspersed with the strips of mosaic-ey style colour. I would want to keep it subdued though - eg: I don't like so much the photo on the right when it joins up with the bright mosaic and fountain thingy.

Cactii can be interesting

We spent a few hours visiting Jardin Majorelle, which is apparently one of the most famous Marrakech gardens, renowned for its plants and use of colour. The most striking feature was how vividly the pots and buildings were painted - really bright blue, interspersed with lemon yellow and shades of red. It was almost like the pots were as much a star of the place as the plants. There was no grass - just red gravel - and the plants were predominantly succulents, cacti, bamboo or palms. You can see all my photos of it here if you're curious.

Although the garden was interesting and very well suited to the climate, it isn't the kind of garden I would like to have. BUT I have learned that a couple of strategically coloured pots in a shady area can work brilliantly, especially if you make a feature of them on a plinth. And, if they're large enough and grouped together, cactii can be beautiful. Of course, we'll never be able to afford such giant specimens, but hey I can dream. :-)

Donkeys!!

But the most inspirational of all was the donkey we met when we went on a hike. We paid extra to have the donkey along - I love animals - and so far as I was concerned it was just like we were taking a dog with us. (I refused to let the donkey carry my bag - so he didn't have any load at all, it was a day of rest for him as well as us).

The donkey was very sweet, and once we got going they took off his harness and just let him wander alongside. He responded to verbal orders, and enjoyed nibbling at grass as he walked, looking around, basically really good company.

So Dave has agreed, I can have a donkey or two as pets at Amherst. They would be a lot easier to look after than a horse and they would be good company for the sheep. :-)

Mowing the orchard

2010-01-30T12:42:00.004Z

On his last visit, Dad discovered the orchard grass had gotten out of control again. Because of the risk in attracting snakes - plus the fire danger - Dad spent a while mowing it.

Here's some photos... It's good to compare it to the photos from when Dave last mowed, as you can see that now the fruit trees have leaves. :-)

Before

After

The red caboose sees some action

2010-01-30T12:20:00.003Z

Dad spent some time working up at Amherst last week. One of the things he was doing was installing new water tanks.

To make a flat base for them, he needed to get some dirt... and so the little red caboose trailer saw some action!

Then, da-da... back at the block, the red caboose does its magic tipping trick, sparing Dad from having to shovel it all out. :-)

Pretty cool, hey!

Talbot Tourism gets a jingle

2010-01-29T21:04:00.008Z

Talbot is the little town closest to Amherst. One of the things I do in my spare time is look after the Talbot Tourism website.

For fun, when I heard about the LoveJingles project, I decided to order one for Talbot. And today was the day it happened!

Basically this talented guy called Love (yes, that really seems to be his name) writes and performs jingles for anyone and anything - within reason. He's doing 1 per day, starting on 1st January. The price goes up by $1 per day. Luckily I was an early bird in ordering. So today, January 29th, Talbot got its jingle for $29. For what he delivered it's an absolute bargain...

UPDATE: There's now an even better version of the video, which includes photos of the town. It's a bit cheesy but hey, it makes you smile. :-)

questions about lead paint

2010-01-25T11:51:00.001Z

This is the third and last in a short series of posts, where I get my questions about painting answered.

Q3. How do you know if you have lead paint, and if so, how should you deal with it?
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Nick Keigher's answer

Although you can be fairly sure on older houses that lead based paints may have been used at some stage in their life, to be really sure you are dealing with lead paint you can buy what is called a Lead Testing Kit.

Your local hardware store should stock Lead Testing Kits for a reasonable price. I just quoted a kit from Solver Paints here in Brisbane for around $23.50. To administer the test, just follow the directions on the pack.

If the paint you're going to be removing is lead based, I would definitely recommend putting plastic sheeting underneath the area where you intend to strip to minimise any contamination in the soil below. When you're done wrap up the plastic and tape it up (so bits and pieces don't fall out on the way to the garbage tip) and dispose of it safely.

If possible I don’t recommending any grinding of lead based paints. (I think by this he means sanding or scraping. Hmmm... that is exactly what I have been doing - oops!)

Instead use paint stripper.. it melts the paint and you just have to scrape it away which makes the job a lot easier and faster. You will need to wear all the safety equipment for paint stripper though - safety goggles, plastic gloves and even a long sleeved shirt to make sure you don't get any on your skin.

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Nick Keigher runs Keigher Painting & Decorating, servicing the Brisbane Metro and surrounding areas.

can you paint in all temperatures?

2010-01-24T20:00:00.005Z

This is the second in a short series of posts, where I get my questions about painting answered.

Q2. Are there any special considerations that you need to take into account when painting in really hot or cold temperatures?
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Nick Keigher's answer

Pretty much the whole range of exterior paints these days are designed to withstand the harshest of climates. From the searing desert sun, to the below freezing desert nights.

Obviously though, the paint that is exposed to the sun more will obviously deteriorate faster than the paint in the colder climate.

When it comes to applying the paint to the substrate you have to look at the conditions you are applying it in.

You can apply the paint in 40 plus heat in direct sunlight but believe me it's extremely difficult, and dries literally as soon as it hits the wall making it next to impossible to achieve that smooth fresh look you're searching for.

On the other extreme, I know a painter that lives in New Zealand and he literally can’t paint for three months of the year because it is either too damp, or just too cold and the paint won’t dry in these really low temperatures.

The ideal temperature for applying paint is 18 – 30 degrees Celsius (64 - 86 Fahrenheit). The painting preparation, regardless of the temperature outside, is the same as anywhere else and a far as determining factors, that's going to affect the quality of your paint work more than anything else.
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Nick Keigher runs Keigher Painting & Decorating, servicing the Brisbane Metro and surrounding areas.

Best methods for stripping paint from detailed moulding

2010-01-16T09:42:00.009Z

This is the first in a short series of posts, where I get my questions about painting answered.

It all started 'cos I got an email from a Brisbane painting service who said they'd be interested in guest posting. At first I was a bit worried it might be an advertorial. But then we came up with the idea of doing it as a Q&A.

Win-win all round I think, as it means I get my painting-related questions answered for free, by someone who seems to really know their stuff.

So without further ado, let's kick it off.

Q1. What are the best methods for stripping detailed moulding?
We have some quite fiddly bits that need stripping on our house - eg:

So far we have been simply scratching and sandpapering it off, but it is pretty tedious work. Any tips for making it easier?
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Nick Keigher's answer

Unfortunately, there is no super easy way to strip detailed moulding. As you mentioned, one way is to scrape and sandpaper it off, but this is very time consuming.

I would definitely steer away from the heat gun, all it takes is one leaf behind a weatherboard or sheeting to ignite and there goes your house. I have heard of a couple of painters who have lost entire Queenslanders due to heat guns.

One way I would recommend to make the job easier is trying paint stripper and buying a new scraper to scrape the melted paint off afterwards.

You will need to wear all the safety equipment for paint stripper though - safety goggles, plastic gloves and even a long sleeved shirt to make sure you don't get any on your skin.

Just a word of warning if you choose the paint stripper route - follow the direction on the can. It might seem simple, but a lot of people don’t or quickly skip through them. The instructions can vary brand to brand.

As for the front of the house with the old stone block looking effect, you can use the same method as shown above for removing the paint from the grooves. Go to your local hardware and get a blade that will fit inside the grooves (Bunnings usually have a fairly wide variety).

When the paint stripper melts the paint you just have to scrape it away which makes the job a lot easier and faster.
______________________________________________________________

Nick Keigher runs Keigher Painting & Decorating, servicing the Brisbane Metro and surrounding areas.

daily weather during 2009

2010-01-10T21:57:00.003Z

So it's a few days later than usual, but I finally got round to doing my now-traditional weather review.

Here's what it was like in 2009 for Maryborough (nearest weather station to us) according to the Bureau of Meteorology:

To start, here's a graph of the maximum & minimum temperatures reached each day, in celsius:

Click graph to see it full size

The hottest it got was 45.4 on 7th February 2009 - over 4 degrees hotter than the 2008maximum. The coldest was -2.8 on 8th August. This is around about the time that Dave and my Dad were working up there, no wonder they were freezing!

Next, let's look at the all important rainfall. This graph shows it plotted cumulatively:

It was looking on track to be a pretty bad year for rain, until November when it absolutely bucketed down. Over 100mm in a single month!

Overall, in the historical context it ended up being a pretty average year for rain.

Dad's planned work

2010-01-03T17:18:00.000Z

Dad is taking a breather from working on his own place to do some more up at ours. Below is what he plans, very exciting!

Email from Dad 3rd Jan:

Once more my attention is turned towards your project and I just want to sketch again for you my priorities for progressing. A lot of time and effort has been devoted to getting started there, and the time to stand and deliver completed stages of this project has come. On all the RDO days I plan to work on the project in the near future.

At present this is my list of jobs to tackle:

I will need to put concrete stumps under the dry toilet because I found it infested with white ant when I went there on New Year's day to deliver the tandem with a huge load of things from my shed that will be used by you. Either I save it now or we will have to scrap it in the near future. I am surprised it has lasted so long before getting white ant.

Then I will complete the framing of the veranda begun. I will get the roof over that side and cover the floorjoists with secondhand corro sheets.

Then I will tackle the painting and repair of the weatherboards of the front facade so I can move the scaffold.

Then I will complete framing of the veranda and roofing it.

All that will take time, but possibly if the dam comes down enough this summer I will make the access ramp and complete the "lake house".

concrete trough and a sash window

2009-12-28T16:35:00.000Z

My Dad is brilliant at scavenging useful materials. Here's some more things he found that we'll be able to use:

An old cement trough, from a neighbor:

A sash window:

Dad thinks this will do well for the kitchen windowbox window. The dimensions are: 860x860mm. It would need a casing so it could be opened with a winder so the dimensions would run to approximately 900x900mm.

Update from Dad's visit

2009-12-03T16:30:00.000Z

Dad has been focusing on the renovations at his own place recently, so things slowed down. He did manage to make a quick trip up though recently... Here's his report:

I got up there for work at 1000 after taking time to talk to the man at the tank place with a hope of getting a tank delivered while there. Not possible. Will need to order it later and arrange for delivery. Will discuss this in another email. And the underground tank up on the hill with the shelter beside it.

I found that the green timber used for the ledgers that we bolted onto the stumps for storage had shrunk and settled. I had to remove all the timber stored and reset these with additional supporting droppers. I moved about half of the lining boards, then ran out of time.

I need to mow the grass again in the orchard so may go up on the 10th and also paint the verandah posts and beam as they are not happy in the full sun and are beginning to get splits in the length. Not a problem if we were using them as fencing, but they are destined for greater things. I will not get another chance to go until after Christmas.

I pumped 3/4 of a tank of water into the big blue tank, and it is absolutely full now. I used my pump and hose and it was very quick indeed compared to the very slow septic pump. My pump had not been used for nearly a year and it was okay.

All is brown there now, the dam is very full. Will need to get an overflow pipe installed at the appropriate point so the water level doesn't flood the damhouse. Not that so much rain will ever come.

new sash window

2009-09-20T17:09:00.000+01:00

So this one sadly wasn't for free - Dad spotted it in a salvage yard. But I couldn't resist as it is such a lovely big size.

It's the one in the left of the photo:

Dad says it is in great condition and he thought it could fit well in the laundry extension. It is authentic rope and weight double hung window.

new rules in bushfire building regs

2009-09-15T16:52:00.000+01:00

We got some great news on the bushfire zoning requirements from Eric recently... They introduced a lot of new rules after the horrible fires in 2009 which we thought might cause us problems. It turns out it will be a bit restrictive but nowhere as bad as we feared.

Here's Eric's notes:

According to the site diagram that you sent, the bushfire attack level would be 12.5 which is pretty easy to manage. I can itemize compliance issues with a table on the "general notes" page.

Most of the items can be covered with simple detailing. Several will require a bit more thought.

Cladding needs to be either:
- 6mm cement sheet, or
- a timber species listed in appendix E1 which includes Silvertop Ash that I often use.
http://www.radialtimbers.com.au/zproducts.htm

Windows that are less than 400mm from ground or deck level need to have toughened glass. Also they need to have either:
- bushfire shutters, or
- metal window/door frames, or
- timber frames made with wood from table E2.
You may need to check timber species from window suppliers, or else use the hybrid metal outside and timber inside windows.

Miglas does a nice window, and the timber species might comply. They don't do traditional double hung windows, though. http://www.miglas.com.au/top/home/

Decking needs to be either:
- non-combustable
- a timber species listed in appendix E1 which includes Silvertop Ash

In a nut shell, it all looks manageable to me without any drastic changes. You might need a few slightly more "modern" finishes than we've been thinking of, but not many.

Ebay wins: lamp and planters

2009-09-08T19:42:00.005+01:00

I'm a sucker for stained glass and oak... so when I saw this lantern I couldn't resist.

From the description:
A very attractive and ornate 1930's Arts and craft or Art Deco hall or porch ceiling lamp... The lamp is in very good original condition no broken glass, can do with a little light restoration, a number of woodworm holes to the top square the widest point (unknown if treated) one joint is a bit loose and a couple of beading strips missing, easily replaced, Size; 53cm height (without the chain & gallery) 10.9cm square at the at the widest point.

I also recently got a bunch of old planters. They were billed as being stone but I'm pretty sure they are just concrete. But, they were nearby so easy to collect, and I quite liked the designs, especially of the square-ish ones. They also have the aged-look to them already. For now they will do great service in our garden here, and we'll decide closer to the date whether its worth sending back to Amherst.

There are 6 of the square type, and 2 each of the others:

Talbot Farmers Market

2009-09-03T08:07:00.003+01:00

Talbot is a little town of great charm, about 10 minutes drive from Amherst, and only 15 minutes outside of Maryborough. Once a month it stages a Farmers Market which is among the best I've ever seen.

It's been going for around 5 years now and proved so popular that ABC Radio (the biggest radio broadcaster in Australia, like the BBC in the UK) did a special segment on it.

You can hear it in the video below accompanied by photos taken at the markets.

If you ever get a chance to visit Talbot Farmers Market I highly recommend it; and if not this video will give you a little taster of what you're missing. :-)

tweak needed to veranda ceiling

2009-08-31T18:49:00.000+01:00

So... while working on the verandah, Dave and Dad ran into another little hiccup, relating to the ceiling lining.

The problem is that the top of the eave, where the ceiling lining level occurs naturally, is 2300mm and approximately 300mm lower than the top of the old window in the lounge.

So, if we are to make the verandah ceiling flat, where it joined the wall would knock out part of the window.

Dad's recommended solution was to have a sloped lining on the front part of the verandah, so we don't have to change the window there. And then change it for the long part of the verandah to be flat, and just use a shorter window on the side (given there is no window there at the moment). He suggested we use the bay window for this.

I had a play with the layout and think moving the bay window there will be fabulous. So that's changing regardless of the ceiling.

After some deliberation though, we decided to abandon the idea of having a flat ceiling and just go with the easier approach of letting the lining boards follow the verandah rafters on an angle.

Partly this is because I think it will look wrong to have one section of the verandah with a different shaped ceiling to the other. It is a relatively small area and I want the space to feel like it flows from one to the other, which it won't do if the ceiling isn't the same.

Most persuasive of all, after a closer look at the photos, Dave persuaded me that the other house that I really liked that I thought had a flat verandah ceiling - actually didn't! So now I'm happy that we will be able to get the right effect going with them on an angle. With the added bonus that it's less work. Yay!

sketchup model of divider shelving

2009-08-30T00:31:00.002+01:00

I spent some time today playing around with SketchUp again. This time, doing a mock-up of the divider shelving between the kitchen and lounge in the old house (see plan here) to make sure that it works.

This is meant to be indicative only - I haven't thought in detail about the precise layout of shelving - but it illustrates how it might work.

The unit in this mock-up is measured at 2.6m by 0.5m, which I think should fit? I'm guessing because of the height and weight of this, we will want to have a support beam somewhere, going to the roof perhaps. We can figure that out later...

possible doors

2009-08-29T11:58:00.005+01:00

Dad spotted these doors a while back being thrown away, so nabbed them thinking they'd come in handy.

They're really solid old doors. I'm not a fan of the yellow 70's glass, but that could be easily replaced.

They are apparently normal door width, which should mean that they could possibly be used for the doors from the kitchen to the verandah in the old house.

I haven't decided for certain yet, as I had originally been envisaging something less fancy and simpler (more like these).

But, the curvy bits could work well with the curve of the bay window now it is being moved, and they would lend a slightly more formal touch as befits being framed by the stairs that will lead up to them. So I am almost convinced... just need to think on it some more. :-)

You can see them in context of the house (albeit not quite in the accurate position) here, which gives you an idea of the scale the steps will be.

tweaking old house plans

2009-08-29T11:23:00.005+01:00

Dad came up with the idea to move the bay window that was previously planned to go in the bedroom to the lounge, and build in a little window seat.

In order to see whether this would work, I needed to revisit the old house layout plans. The previous version was out-dated as we had moved the location of the kitchen doors so they lined up better between verandah posts.

The final architectural drawings for the old house are here. Using them, I played around with moving the window and overlaying furniture, and think I have come up with a layout that will work well:

We'll have to be careful how we position the window, to make sure it is nicely lined up between the verandah posts outside, while still leaving enough space for the divider wall. Also, we will need to plan carefully to get the window seat at a comfortable level without looking out of place relative to the existing front window. But in principle, they're different enough that I think it will work.

Another side-benefit to this is that it gives us more flexibility in the layout of the bedroom. By not putting in the bay window and just leaving it as solid wall (as it is currently), we would save ourselves a job as well as gain more space for furniture.

Next door's sheep come to visit

2009-08-25T20:14:00.000+01:00

I am a big fan of sheep, so delighted that next door have a flock. I am even happier that they let them come to visit and graze... not only is it cool to have them around, it means that Dave doesn't have an even bigger mowing job!

Here's some footage Dave took of them wandering up the driveway:

work on the verandah

2009-08-24T19:41:00.002+01:00

Dave and Dad made great progress while they were up there on the verandah foundation, pausing only when the ran into a hiccup with the ceiling height.

They got all the stumps in for the verandah on the long side of the house. This was a big job apparently as not only did they have to dig out the holes, it was a pain getting everything lined up perfectly. Even worse - the tractor got a flat tire, so after all the effort to get the augre, they had to do a lot of it by hand!

Here's the beginning...

They dug out each hole ...

Then filled with cement.

Repeat many times and you have a forest of stumps...

A quick tangent to dig out a flat area for the under-verandah tank...

Then it's time for some framing...

They even got the posts up (with temporary supports until Dad gets the roof frame up) and voila, the verandah starts to take shape.

scavenged finds: doors

2009-08-23T10:36:00.000+01:00

Dad found these lovely solid-wood doors being thrown away, and rescued them from the side of the road.

Dad suggested to cut out the wood and install glass at the top, then use them as doors from the kitchen to verandah in the old house.

But I think that seems a shame, and would rather hang onto them as they are. Eg: they'd be great to use as doors from the library to the tower section, if we went back to the idea of having a big centrally open part (which I'm leaning towards doing).

Also, earlier Dad found these other somewhat shabbier door and window set, which I think he wants to use for the external side entrance to the laundry

I'm not in love with them, but they should scrub up OK. They are solid wood, which is the important thing (not plastic).

mowing the orchard

2009-08-21T19:36:00.002+01:00

One of the tasks Dave did while back was to mow the grass in the orchard. Clearly the fence was working well to keep the sheep and kangaroos out, as although everything else was nibbled flat, this had just gone crazy.

To help with the task, Dad bought Dave an early Xmas present: a lawnmower!

Here's a short video showing what it looked like before mowing. The trees might look dead from a distance but when you get close up you can see that they've got buds on.

Here's what it looked like midway and after...

why are tractors so expensive?

2009-08-20T20:32:00.000+01:00

So, in advance of Dave's visit, we decided to buy the posthole digger attachment for the tractor, to help in digging the stump holes.

Then Dad decided to get three differently sized augres for it (8 inch, 12 inch, 18 inch) which he said we need for different jobs.

Then when Dave got there, it turned out the tractor annoyingly was missing the bit that you needed to attach the attachment to! So we had to buy that bit as well.

And when they were in the shop they spotted a Ripper attachment supposedly going cheap, so they got that too.

I swear, this tractor is turning into a money pit. :-(

When they finally got it all connected, they couldn't resist doing some practice digging, so proceeded to dig potholes near the shed. Dave assures me he filled them in again though...

Sunrise mist

2009-08-18T20:22:00.000+01:00

While Dave and Dad were camping out at the block, it was unfortunately pretty cold. Not a surprise given it was the middle of winter, but still not pleasant.

The only positive was that it meant Dave was able to take some lovely misty sunrise photos. This is my favourite:

Mum's update on Amherst

2009-08-16T18:42:00.001+01:00

Dave is back in Australia now. After a few days catching up with his family in Melbourne, Mum drove him up to Amherst to work with Dad. Here's her report of the day:

I got Dave at about 6.15am and we set off to Amherst. It was VERY windy and dark and there was rain on and off – I dropped Dave at your place (Dad was there from Friday afternoon) and went to the Talbot farmers market. I went back out to the block to take stuff out and see them again but Dave was asleep. I had got him so early and I guess he had been so late.

The dam is as full as I have ever seen it, and from the top of the hill by the house it looks like the floor of the landing is only a foot or two above the surface – and it is almost up to the bottom row of reeds.

It was raining so much I had a bit of trouble getting up the hill, slipping and sliding but not daring to stop. I gave the stuff to Dad and let him go over the caravans with his four wheel drive. Everything is green and there were some puddles along the road.

Your two separate fruit / nut trees are in blossom. Did not see anything in the orchard but you have to understand it was raining so I did not go down on foot and when driving I was sliding about and not looking at trees.

trees doing well

2009-08-12T19:29:00.000+01:00

The trees continue to thrive...

The lemongums along the driveway are beautiful. Hard to believe that only a few years ago they were the size of pencils!

The new trees that we put in last trip survived the transplant shock and have put on some growth. A big relief as it's very different for them to be in the ground vs cosseted in their pots.

The dam is full, and the damhouse is perfect

2009-08-12T19:19:00.000+01:00

Wow, the dam is fuller than it has ever been. And the dam house (really a glorified shed) looks wonderful, like it's in the middle of a lake when viewed from the front. Just the effect I was hoping for... :-)

Here's what it looks like now:

Just to put that in context, here's what it looked like when we built it in April. The water would be lapping at your feet if you were to take that photo again today.

Green green green

2009-08-09T19:09:00.001+01:00

Dad took some photos for us on his last visit, showing Amherst as wonderfully lush and green... Oh how I wish it was like this all the time.

Dad's plans for work with Dave

2009-07-25T18:35:00.001+01:00

Dad is getting organised for the work that he and Dave will do in August. Here are his plans:

I want to build the veranda portion that is the same as the north face of the house, leaving off the mitred end that returns on the east face for now as I have scaffold there for painting. I am building baseboard doors to open for access and close and lock for security along this north face portion of the veranda. There will be 8 bays for storage and two shelves permitting material of short and long length. I will be doing this work when Dave is on-site, and hopefully store the lining boards away, sorted into the various types.

I do not wish to put on the veranda posts yet as I plan to use the old iron to cover this area while work goes on elsewhere over the long-term. The posts will be in the way for now. I will use the 3m lengths of roofing from the Toora house for my temporary storage.

I want to spend some time finding a source for the flooring. It will be a large cost item, and many options present. That will be discussed later.

I also want to leave the steps from the north face for later discussion as I believe they merit a proper detailed consideration and construction in keeping with the rest of the veranda. Alan has figured a simple open plank structure which is really not sufficient unless you are happy with this design. I do not want to sacrifice one or two bays of storage area to build the steps now rather than at the end of the project.

I have aimed at having sufficient work for Dave and I, without being overly stocked with materials that must be stored safely. Later, I will address the repairs of the east face weatherboards and windows and door entrance as my next project, and completing the painting. But doing the north face now as well as giving storage area will give access to place the window and doors along this face at a comfortable level.

The tractor will have the posthole attachment on it while Dave is there so if you have holes that need to be made for trees we will put these in and place topsoil into the holes.

I hope Dave will have time to do some tractor work excavating the house site and establishing the spoil fill-in of the sewage effluence field while he is here. However, that will not be a priority. Doing holes for trees will be, but only if you have considered well where these are to be placed.

we need a verandah tank

2009-07-22T17:35:00.000+01:00

In advance of Dave's return trip in August, Dad got organised in planning out what we should do. He decided to focus primarily on the veranda and foundations.

One of the questions that came up related to where the water caught by the verandah roof should be funnelled. We have to capture every last drop of rainwater and store it, so can't just let it run off...

After some discussion we decided the best solution would be to have a tank that fits underneath the verandah itself, from which we can pump water up to the main storage tank.

For instance, depending on how much space there is, we could get a bladder tank made to fit, like the kinds that Flexitank and WetEarth offer.

Initially Dad wasn't keen as he had been planning to use the area for storage, but then he came up with a workaround:

I am going to plan to leave an area of veranda subfloor at the east end (the front) in the corner where the mitre is made between the two sides of the veranda, for the bladder tank should you decide to have it under the veranda. It is quite easy at this end to permit an open area as I can span the area with subfloor beams and still have access to install later. This spot was not intended for the storage so no loss is suffered there. I will see what it costs for a tank apx 2mtrs wide x 3 mtrs long x 1mtr high if made to order - have emailed Flexitank to ask for a quote.

mistakes in old house plans, arrgghh

2009-07-20T18:24:00.000+01:00

After all the euphoria over the building permit being granted for the old house, Dad has now discovered there are some mistakes with the plans.

He had got a 'friend' of his to do the drafting work on them which was far cheaper than going through an architect like Eric... but wow, talk about a hassle. I would not ever use that draftsman again. Not only did he take far too long (months and months of promising and never delivering), it now turns out that there were mistakes!!

Fortunately Dad spotted them before we proceeded too far, and the guys at the Shire have said it is fine to alter, phew. But still... one hassle Dad didn't need.

Here's Dad's update on the problems:

Alan states the veranda posts are 125x125 cypress pine. I plainly told him they were to be 100x100 cypress pine but he forgot to alter this. I have called the shire to enquire if I can alter this detail.

Alan also states selected treated pine baseboards around the outside of the veranda. I may wish to use hardwood due to the longer lasting nature of hardwood due to being more stable in the sun in larger sections. Treated pine tends to curl a lot and look awful after a few years. I will ask the surveyor if I can change this also.

Alan also states the 1 metre high column encasing the three posts is to be made of weatherboards, but I believe it will look better with lining boards. Same material, but no need for total weather tightness on these and a very much superior finished look. I will also ask the surveyor if I can use the lining boards.

Alan also was not told or forgot that this will be a lined veranda with the ceiling level forming an air space with the roof. I see he has mentioned use of 100x50 HW F8 for the rafters of the utility, where it is more usual to use 100x 38 HW F8. I will ask the surveyor if I can alter this. The use of heavier than required framing members above the ground is pointless and bad building. I plan to use 100x38 HW F8 for the ceiling joists that the lining boards attach to as well.

As there is a large quantity of material involved I need to sort out this anomaly earliest possible before running afoul the inspector after much expense.

the little red caboose trailer

2009-07-18T08:16:00.001+01:00

We are the proud owners of a lovely little red trailer that works like a dumptruck. Here at last are some photos:

It started back in early February. Dad was really keen to get a tandem trailer with a dumping facility - ie: so it will tip itself up to empty a load, rather than you having to stand on it with a shovel. He said we'd need it to move around the dirt when we are doing the terracing and foundations.

What we need is a 6x4 with a removable 3'cage to be better used for shifting various kinds of materials. Mostly it will be loaded from the side, as in when you get material loaded in a yard selling bulk sand, screenings, etc. For the heavier,denser materials you need the smaller size as the Jackaroo is limited in how much it can pull. Also tipping a heavier material requires a strong tipping winch.

We were initially against it because of the cost, but after a few months eventually Dad wore us down (and managed to find one at around one third the previous price).

He placed the order in late February. Because it was being custom-made it wasn't due to be ready by end March. In his words:

Have ordered the trailer. Have customized it to suit your needs as much as possible. Will be 600mm deep, 6x4', inverted 2.5mm checkerplate deck inverted to it will not grip load when emptying it. Has a checkerplate tailgate hinged from the top that is removable to use as ramp to drive a ride-on mower onto it when needed. I chose red because of the tractor. There is a spare, which was extra. Wheels are all secondhand, and tyres are secondhand but roadworthy. Cost a lot more to get the commercial truck tyres new fitted now so thought that could be arranged another time if needed. Got the deeper side rather than a cage because it was more useful when tipping so the load doesn't exit over the top of the tailgate rather than through the slip space. Have a chain adjusted slip space for spreading the load as you move forward and the tipper is up to the degree to get the load to slide. May have trouble with clays, but dry soil and lilydale topping, which is the most likely way to benefit from tip-spreading for road making and large terraces.

Unfortunately though, that date slipped and slipped, to the extent that it wasn't ready when we were back visiting. In fact, it ended up not being ready until early June!! Despite the huge delay though, Dad is very happy with it. And I like it because it reminds me of a little red caboose. :-)

old house restumping

2009-06-22T18:10:00.000+01:00

Great news! The building permit for the old house renovation is finally all confirmed. And they agreed to all the final details that Dad was worried about, like letting us use matching zinc alum steel for the verandah to what is already on the house. Yay!!

So now we really can go full steam ahead on it - well, as much as is possible given Dad's time constraints and us being on the other side of the world. :-(

Dave is due back in August for another working trip. So before that Dad decided to get cracking with my brother Pete's help working on replacing the stumps on the old house that the building inspector wanted done.

Yay! Building permit is granted

2009-06-16T19:54:00.001+01:00

We got a letter from the Central Goldfields Shire Council today, which gave us the great news that the building permit for the renovations to the old house has been granted.

BS-19314/20090076/0 is our number. :-)

I didn't scan it as most of it is just details about the property location and other details we included in the permit application.

The only really important thing is the date: Building work must commence by 16th June 2010 (not a problem as Dad and Dave will start in August), and be completed by 16th June 2011. That latter date will be a stretch given we are still stuck in the UK... but perhaps something miraculous will happen. Worst case we extend it for a year and Dave takes a semester off work here to go back and work on it.

inspiration from Tuscany

2009-06-13T13:38:00.004+01:00

We got back a few days ago from a short break in Tuscany, Italy. We stayed near Lucca with the aim of visiting lots of old villas and gardens. After reading the book "A Garden in Lucca" it was something I'd always wanted to do, although we unfortunately didn't get to visit the actual garden in the book as they only did group tours.

As per usual, I kept my eyes open for ideas for Amherst. We visited 5 gardens but our favourite by a mile was Villa Reale di Marlia. It was the largest and where Napoleon's sister lived. Here's some things I found that could be really interesting for Amherst...

I really liked this garden room, which had a central structure with vines all around and climbing over the roof. Might be an interesting alternative for the gazebo thingy in the middle of the walled garden, or as an outdoor lounging area in a corner of the secret garden? Or even perhaps up on a hill near the olives as part of a BBQ area? Maybe Dave could grow his grapes over something like this and not just on boring rows. :-)

I also liked the way they used little ditches of water flowing at ground level in the Spanish garden. It lead to a fountain at the end here, but I can imagine it working just as well without. There's a short video of it here, see especially the 2nd half, but the photos will give you the gist.

I was also intrigued by the way they used terracotta pots to make a garden. The Lemon tree garden at Villa Reale is supposedly famous for this, and because it gets to cold for them to survive the winters there, they have special orangeries (or actually they call them limoneries) where the pots get wheeled off to every winter. :-) This might be an interesting way of getting our "secret" garden in the courtyard going. We won't be able to plant things in the ground until the new house is built or else they'll just get trampled, but there's nothing stopping us from growing in pots which can then be carted off elsewhere when building starts...

Every garden we visited had a grotto style fountain. I didn't find them that appealing to be honest, with the exception of the one at Villa Reale which I liked for the simplicity of the steps shape...

Finally, my other big inspiration came not from a garden but from a tower. The Torre Guinigi in Lucca to be precise. It has trees growing at the top of the tower! Perhaps we should think about this for our mini-library tower... I suspect it would be an engineering nightmare and wouldn't pass any of the fire hazard criteria, but hey I can dream... ;-)

Updated site plan

2009-06-12T20:25:00.002+01:00

Dad got a call from the local Planning department to say that they would like to have an updated site plan, which includes everything we plan to build in the "relatively near future".

So, I took a screengrab from Google Earth and then overlaid on as best I could where everything currently envisaged goes. Hoping this is enough...

Bushfire Assessment Level details

2009-05-17T19:34:00.003+01:00

After we learned about the new building regulations, Eric gave us some documentation about the key steps to assess where our property falls as regards bushfire risk.

We spent some time during our visit to go through it... Below is what we came up with based on our measurements:

Relevant FDI = 100
Classified vegetation types: Woodland at rear of house (the state forest) is Group A forest , Low Open Forest 04
Distance of site from classified Vegetation: 60m
Effective Slope under classified Vegetation: Upslope

The map below is not to scale but shows measurement of where the ridgeline (change from upslope to downslope) occurs in the woodland, position of house, fences etc.

As to what this means for our Risk level however, I haven't a clue. Cleverly, Eric didn't give us the section that tells you how to calculate it - as he didn't want that to sway our estimations! We'll just have to wait and hear back what he says... fingers crossed!

Romantic Vineyard

2009-05-05T21:05:00.001+01:00

While we were at Amherst in April, we stayed at the Romantic Vineyard. It was the perfect base - just 10 minutes walk.

We rented the cottage which had fabulous views over the vines, as well as wonderful open fire and small kitchen. Not that we used the kitchen often given Renee's fabulous cooking and Dave's amazing home-brewed beer... and that's before we got to the wine. :-)

Overall, highly recommended as a place to stay, we will be back!

This was the view we had every morning at sunrise, watching kangaroos hopping through the vines.

Bay window

2009-05-05T11:25:00.000+01:00

For our Christmas present a few years back, Dad got us a lovely bay window - most likely to go in the old house in the bedroom. I've only just got round to getting a photo - here it is:

Work begins on the "boathouse"

2009-04-12T17:33:00.000+01:00

Really it's just a glorified shed, but boathouse is a nicer name. :-)

Originally this was planned to be on the edge of the dam, but when we got there and saw how much of the central ridge was exposed, we decided to take the opportunity to build it in the middle of the dam instead.

Building the boatshed from Lynette on Vimeo.

Dad was the ringleader and did all the planning and calculations. Dave and Pete assisted at various stages, but this was basically Dad's project. He even sourced a lot of the materials from his stocks of scavenged wood, so with the exception of the pier supports, it will basically be all from recycled material.

By the end of the few days he had managed to get the base in and floors nailed down, and the frame and windows for the walls on one side. It wasn't quite as far as he'd hoped, but hey... I think it was an amazing effort all things considered.

Building it on the ridge made it a bit more complicated than it would have otherwise been - we needed to secure the stumps deep enough as if for a pier, and we eventually will need to have a ramp walkway. But it will be worth it in the end, just imagine being able to sit on the edge and look out over the water. :-)