Recent photos

Here are a couple of photos taken a few weeks ago that Dad just sent me.

I can't get over how big the trees are now... they almost look like proper trees! As well I'm really pleased with the deep blue colour of the house.

update on trees

Dad recently did a trip up to Amherst to fix the irrigation for the new orchard trees. While there he took photos, here's a few:





In Dad's words:

These were taken when I went there to install small watering pots to the new plants, and check progress of olives. Only 3/4 of a tank of water has rained since transferring water to the large tank. I will pump the irrigation tank full next time I go and water the entire orchard. I will also install a drip attachment to all the small watering points for the orchard and allow the full tank to slowly drip into these tree pipes. That should help them through the dry season.

Lovely views

Dave sadly didn't take many photos while he was there but I forgive him: as he said, he was working! (And there's a reason that it's usually me wielding the camera...)

But besides the photos of the fence and house showing their progress, he did get a smattering of scenic views. It's these more than anything which remind me of why we're planning to move there.

View from the hill near olives:





Early morning at the dam:

Dave's visit

Dave got back yesterday, at last. Here's his short summary of what they did each day along with a few photos:

Monday 4th August
rained all way up, got there 2pm, built shelter


(this photo was taken a few days later obviously, given the blue skies!)

Tuesday 5th August
cold morning, started to strip back panels on side wall, forest side



Wednesday 6th August
primer coat on stripped wall, continued stripping. Planted lemon tree, blood orange, almond, pecan.





Thursday 7th August
painted first coat on side wall, built scaffold for work on dam side wall.





Friday 8th August
more painting and stripping, 5,000 gal tank arrived and installed. drove back to Melbourne in the late afternoon.



Saturday 9th August
rest day in Melbourne

Sunday 10th August
drove back to Amherst in the morning, arrived early afternoon. started initial work on olive fence, put 5 posts in



Monday 11th August
more painting and stripping. forest side finished, dam side half stripped. another 10 posts in



Tuesday 12th August
30 posts put in am, primer coat done dam side all other posts in.



Wednesday 13th August
first blue coat on dam side, holes dug for fences round almond and chestnut trees.



Thursday 14th August
second blue coat, started completing fence with first run of wire



Friday 15th August
wiring up fence. finished first run, started top layer.

Saturday 16th August
finished second run of wire (upper) started fences for trees

Sunday 17th August
ran hare fence around olive trees

house painting update

Dave and Dad have been working hard on painting the old house, with some extra help from my sister Jen who spent 2 days working with them this week. Thanks a lot Jen!

They've made amazing progress. In the end they decided it was best to just get a coat of paint on rather than faff around with replacing and repairing weatherboards. This way they'll at least all be protected until we can next get back to work on them, and it turned out that not that many of the boards need replacing anyway.

I really love how the colour is working out. You can see the ultimate planned colour scheme here. It should look equally good when both green, as here, and in the height of summer when everything is parched and orange.

fences and water tanks

Vida, my stepmum, writes with more news about progress at Amherst, and best of all photos! They've got only one more working day to go after this before they return to Melbourne. Dave then has another 5 days or so to catch up again with his family and friends before finally jetting back to London.





I can't get over how big it is. There are over 50 posts in it apparently. They have just one final thing to do to it, Vida said, which is to put extra wire around the bottom to stop rabbits. They're planning to do that tomorrow.

The tanks too look brilliant. I really like how they're different colours and how they've put rocks around the edge, it almost makes them look like sculptures. We had at one stage been toying with getting metal tanks from the supplier Eric recommended but Dad sourced these instead and seeing them in place, I'm glad he did. They stand out, yes, but I like it.







Email from Vida 16th August:

Hi Lyn

I've just returned from Amherst. As it is Saturday I decided to cook Dave and John some decent food and save their time from cooking. I arrived at about 2p.m. and it was time for lunch. I enjoyed watching them eating the food as if they were eating the most delicious dish. I told John not to eat anything for lunch so they were very hungry. Dave made nice coffee for us.

After lunch I walked around and took some pictures. Dave's parents brought two olive trees so I helped Dave plant them to replace the dead ones and later we loosened the wire enclosure around every olive tree to let them grow wider. Dave has done colossal work building the big enclosure around the olive grove.

When I was there, a man brought the second water tank. I was lucky to be there at that moment so I took the pictures of them. Enjoy the photos.

Love Vida

Photos of the campsite

Dave is staying on-site at Amherst while he's working up there. It's the middle of winter so absolutely freezing, so Dad built him a great shelter. Dave has the little old caravan that used to belong to my Gran, which Dad restored, and Dad built an annex alongside with a fireplace, so he has somewhere to cook and keep warm. (Dad is staying in his caravan a bit further down the hill).

Here's some photos Mum took when she visited:





It's hard to see but the pots are on top of the chiminea, Dave is using it to cook on. I also love the bricks, Dad laid a little patio floor!


This is the view from the front of the annex. You can see the poles laid out to build the Olive grove fence. (The dog is called Angie, she's my Mum's)

progress on the shelter shed

Dad has made more progress on the shelter he's building , that we suspect will one day serve as a barn.

3 more of the trusses are up now - I still can't get over how he's managed to do all this singlehandedly.




Via email 12th July:
I had to abort the plans to work on my shed because of bad weather so hired the dingo to use my time well once there. I had gone up without a trailer, met with snow near Ballarat and lots of rain, so turned around and went back to get the dingo. (nb: this was to dig post holes to enclose the olive grove: a project he will do with Dave in a few weeks)... I made the new track to the hobbit house below the perimeter of the olive grove and will drive there and create a safe road, although it is a little sloped in places. Once there are no longer building projects there it can lapse back to grass and be a walking track.


Via email 20th July:
I am sending some photos of my near completion of the shed frame. I could go no further this trip because of time and because my arms would not permit more lifting of the heavy planks at the end of the day. I have the battens ready for iron on one side, but must remove the two fascia beams for attachment to the ends of the rafters either end. These were needed to walk on while framing. I must lower all the planks again, and install them on the outside for fitting the fascia beams. I have stretched the span to the limit of all members, but it is a very sturdy structure nonetheless. The posts are on stirrups in concrete, bolted to the ribbon plates at top and the end trusses are resting on saddles cut into the top of the corner posts. Two opposing strap braces are fitted as well.

If I have enough old iron I will complete both sides of the roof, but if not only the downhill side so this area can be Dave's lounging area. I will put the small caravan on the downhill side leaving room only for parking a car where you see the Jackaroo, only closer to the posts. I will put a small tank uphill to catch the runoff and provide bath water. We can cart the water from the tanks near the old house for now and transfer to the standing tanks.

This uses 4 of the trusses, and there are 6 remaining. This accommodates 2 vehicles easily, but using 6 trusses will accommodate 4 vehicles. I will discuss with Dave if you and he can decide where you might like such a structure. If built down on the flat near the container it is good for neighbor supervision, but a long way from where you ought to have if for maximum utility. I think probably up where the drive ends in the turnaround, but to the side of the track I drive to go to the hobbit house now. I think it important that track look and feel graceful just as your driveway with trees looks.

building a shelter

Dad has been spending free time working on a side project at Amherst: building a shelter using the roof trusses he salvaged.

I'm not sure quite what it will end up being like - eg: whether it will have any sides enclosed - but it's already starting to look nice, and huge!



Dad is planning to put the small caravan under it for protection, as well as setting up a woodheater for warmth. That'll be where Dave stays during the 2 weeks he's there in early August. Positioning a tank on one edge he'll be able to use the roof to collect water, which will then be used to rig up a rudimentary outdoor shower.

These photos give you an indication of not only what it will look like, but also how amazingly improvisational my Dad is. He's managed to build this entire thing with huge heavy trusses 10ft in the air single-handedly.



In Dad's words:

(via email 30th May):
I am pleased to have succeeded in getting the 8 stirrups into the concrete in the right places so the next fortnight weekend that I go up I can erect the pine poles atop these, and put the long beams in place. I will need to make braces for the pole walls which at either end support the trusses. Then I will need batten materials for the iron roof. I have some up there, and will use all my own stuff first, stuff which I took there long ago for the hobbithouse. I have enough scavenged western red cedar weatherboards to box in the two ends of the truss roof. And I have enough secondhand iron to complete the roof, I think.

(via email 22nd June):
I have plans to go up for another working day next weekend, and spent today loading tressles, planks, and extra pipes with more ladders. I could not proceed last weekend because of being too short of ladders to work safely at any height. I must totally anchor the first truss before I can move the towers to the next set of posts. I then erect the two posts and connect them temporarily to the first truss with battens. I then move to the third set of posts, and so on until all four trusses are erect on their posts and then connnect all with battens both beneath the ends of the trusses and above. I then put on braces and ensure all is square so when I put on the sheets it works well. I am lucky I have the extra truss that is hanging upside down as a stablizer and connector for the two posts so they can be held in a plumb status. I then put bolts through the connecting points and it will withstand high winds and be safe.

Rescuing the olives

What with all the attention focused on the orchard, the poor olive trees planted up on the hill got neglected. The enclosures were broken into by next door's sheep and escaped deer, and many trees were eaten or at least severely squashed. :-(



Dad very kindly made an emergency trip to make repairs so hopefully they'll bounce back. Ultimately though I think we're going to have to invest in a big fence for them too like the orchard. *sigh* Here's an example of a repaired enclosure:



And here's what we can expect to have lots of, one day. :-) Despite everything, we have fruit on a couple... so it's not all bad.




Just for the sake of future records (not that I suspect anyone but me will ever be interested) here's the saga in full as described by Dad:

On Feb 14th Dad emailed:

"Watered orchard. Found great damage to olive grove. 12 trees nearly destroyed by roos or sheep. Broken down barriers. Must go next week to repair and replace all tree barriers".

On Feb 21st Dad he did as promised and wrote back with an update:

"I got home at 0200 this morning after spending the past two days to save the olive grove. I understand from talking to your new neighbor down the hill that there have been deer on the block only last week...

I set about to replace the damaged plastic pickets with new ones, using 4 each tree not just 3 pickets as it is apparent that the trees get much more protection from would-be grazers with 4. I acquired all the now unneeded pickets from the orchard, having considerable trouble to extract them until I figured a way to use a chain and pin in a hole to grip them to pull with the picket-extractor... (Overall I regret buying the plastic ones, but at the time it seemed the best thing.... They are still the best for safety around stock, especially horses... but on your block will always need to drive a pilot hole first with a steel picket, extract it and then drive the plastic: time-consuming and frustrating but the only effective way to get the penetration in your soil type)

I was able to gather only half enough plastic pickets to do all repairs from the orchard, and began my work of repair. After finding it took nearly an hour each tree... I took the decision to use the 50 new steel pickets bought for Tex to fix the fence. I gathered all steel pickets we had on the block about 10, and ultimately extracted 18 of my steel stakes from around the hobbithole site. In the end I had just enough to do all repairs on all the trees as needed. There were only 4 tree enclosures which did not need to be replaced urgently since these were in satisfactory condition if I only beefed up the fixing. So I finished at dark yesterday, 830pm feeling as knackered as Dave felt the day he made the first enclosures.

I posted the pics of the tree damage (typical), the plastic post replacement, the all steel post replacement, the wiring clipped to strengthen top, and some pics of the little olives which demonstrates that your grove is ready to produce if only the animals can be kept away. I think the chief damage is from hares (from below) so I redid all wire wraps with apx 6 inch of fold along the ground. I also strengthened the overall by clipping nearly all the holes in the pickets to the wire instead of only top and bottom holes. The use of 4 pickets allows further distance from the wire for the centre of the tree. On all the trees cropped to the ground there are new leaf buds forming. I judge none of these trees will die. One of the trees damaged in the first year subsequently die even though the wire was fixed. So you have only 1 fatality to date, but if I had not acted promptly this time I fear most of the grove would have been destroyed. We are quite lucky I took a stroll up the hill when watering last weekend so noticed the damage soon after the attack and had time to go within a very short time".

Photo-history of the gum trees

I am in awe at how fast the gum trees lining the driveway have grown.

Here's a photo taken last weekend, when Mum and Dad went up to water the orchard:



They're recognisable now as trees, small trees but still, they're trees!

Hard to believe that this is what they looked like when we planted them back in October 2004, less than 3 and a half years earlier.



They were only about the height of a pencil! We coddled them yes - they got cages, they got irrigation pipes set up, they got pea straw; later they even got shadecloth to protect from the wind & frost. But they started off TINY.

By September 2005, they'd grown to just over knee height:



Over the course of that summer they shot up to about chest height. Here they are in April 2006 swaddled in their shadecloth to protect from the frosts soon to come:



It was a tough winter that year and most of the trees hit the roof of their cage, so started to bush out rather than go up. (We later took the roof off and put side extensions). Here they are in December 2006:



By October 2007 they were all doing well and most taller than a person:


And finally, by mid January 2008, here Dad is with one of the biggest that's over twice his height!

We have peaches!

Wow wow wow.



I would never have dreamed we'd have fruit already - considering how last year we were happy just to see the trees had some leaves, given they were getting constantly nibbled at and constrained by the wire. Dad was so right about putting in the fence.

Here's the same tree from a distance. A very happy tree I think. :-)



(Notice too in the distance there are trees. They are the gums lining the driveway that are huge! More on them in a sec)

Here's a few other tree shots. I'm just so happy that we have some that are thriving.

Orchard fence is finished

Well, almost finished. It only has a temporary gate at the moment, but close enough as it'll probably be years before we get something permanent.

Here you can see the fence clearly, and also how we've interspersed old tree trunks with the poles.


The old trees were from some that had long-ago fallen on our property. They're Ironbark which is incredibly strong (hence the name) so they're not going to rot away anytime soon. The posts need painting perhaps to make them match the trunks, but overall I like the effect... I think it'll be even better when I get creepers growing over some of the poles, etc.

Up close the trunks have a lovely pattern:



The other thing I like about the fence is that from a distance the wire fades into the background (at least when it isn't wrapped in shadecloth):



I was so worried that having the fence would make it feel like a compound but it doesn't. When the fruit trees grow big it'll be even less noticeable.

Orchard fence is halfway there

We've prioritised getting the orchard fence built so that it was done in time for Spring, when the trees put on their biggest spurt of growth. Let's hope it makes a difference.

As a reminder, here's what we planned.

Dad has now got the poles in, including some fabulous dead tree ones! I wish we had more dead tree ones but it's OK, we shall work with what we have - it's going to look better than I hoped I think.

photos of trees

Poor Dad. I am always pestering him to take photos when he visits. I just love seeing how it's changed and having the photos also makes me feel like I'm there. Here's a couple of shots from Dad's recent visit:

From Dad's email on September 24th
The dam is half full. The gums are very large now, some 2.5metre and growing++.

painting has begun

Dad has started painting the old house.

There was a little mix-up in that we'd thought Dad was going to be putting undercoat on - and thus we still had time to tweak the final choice of colour - but it turned out that for this kind of paint, you use the 1st coat of the paint itself as the undercoat.

Anyway, it's turned out OK in the end. Dad got the paint mixed to match the colour we came up with while in Savannah. It looks good in situ, so I think that's what we'll stick with.





For the moment, Dad has just been painting EVERYTHING in this deep blue. Ultimately of course we'll have the frieze patterns picked out in contrast colours - much lighter - but he assures us he'll easily be able to paint over them later, and that the easiest thing for now is just to get a first coat of paint on all over to protect it.

Interestingly, I saw another house of similar vintage to ours while in Rushworth. They too have gone for a deep blue albeit a bit more grey/purpley, so it's not that unusual.

What a difference a week makes...

... well, actually 2 weeks, during which time there were several days with solid rain.

I've just got back from a very fleeting trip to Australia for a friend's wedding, and managed to squeeze in 2 hours at Amherst en-route to the airport. To my amazement, it was green! It's such a relief to see how quickly it greens up; to have a reminder that it's not always dusty and drab.

The lemongum trees are doing magnificently. You're starting to be able to get the effect of them lining the driveway now.




The dam has filled up quite a bit - the ridge is still visible but closing over at one end.


Unfortunately the orchard isn't doing so well (more on that soon) but just look at the green!


Here's a short clip combining images with some panoramic videos to show more:


Music thanks to Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Day four - digging

Today Dad and Dave started digging a trench for the kitchen garden wall foundation. Dad managed to get hold of a digger which was brilliant, once they got the hang of it. The first challenge for Dad was getting it off the trailer!



They started digging the trench for the back wall. It took ages as the ground is so hard, but they managed to get this back trench dug in about 6 hours. Dave did most of the digging while Dad busied himself setting up 'hurdles' and ensuring everything was totally in line. Here's a few action shots:



Mid-afternoon there was a discussion, during which John (Sam's fiance) made a wonderful suggestion that will save us lots of $$$ and time. He told Dad about this product called "Hebel sheets". Dad hadn't heard of them but they've apparently been out for about 5 years and are a revolutionary product... very light, weather/fire/bug proof, etc. They slot together really quickly and can be finished however you want. Even better, they seem to be more environmentally friendly than brick. We've now decided to use Hebel sheets for the kitchen garden wall, between the brick pillars, to save on labour and expense. We'll render them so the finished effect will be the same, just easier to achieve. :-)

In particular, it means that because the sheets are so light, we don't need a wall foundation on the long sides. We'll still need them on the short sides as that's where we'll have more brick and possibly sheds etc leaning against. But using the Heber sheets we can get away, assuming they're as light as they seem, with only having foundations under the brick pillars on the long side. Which means we don't have to dig 40m trenches today, yay...

But that didn't stop Dave and Dad keeping on digging late at night!

Day four - modifying old house verandah

This morning we continued a somewhat difficult conversation we'd started yesterday, about the verandah for the old house aka 'the cottage'.

There were three areas of contention - the flooring material, the alignment of the verandah posts, and the roof configuration.

Let's start with the floor.

Dad had bought some decking to use for the verandah floor which was nice... but... not exactly in keeping with the spirit of the house. Instead what we'd been expecting to see was traditional tongue-and-groove. Luckily he's only put it on around part of the front, so with Sam & John's help (friends visiting) we came up with an alternative which should be fine.

We're going to leave the decking he's already installed in situ. Instead of using the leftovers as verandah, however, we're instead going to put a step down and extend the decking forward, so that there's a section in the open too. It should look really nice, we could put a little table out there, surround it by garden, etc.

For the rest of the verandah we're now planning to get Jarrah tongue-and-groove, 80mm wide, 19mm thick, from the same place as Sam & John just got theirs ("Australian Choice Timbers" in Kilsyth). It'll work out a little more expensive perhaps than modern decking, but it'll be worth it.

To help cut the costs further, we've decided that even though the verandah roof will go all the way around the house, we will not have a floor for it on the uphill side. There's not a nice view there, so instead we'll make a kind of mini -garden to look out over, just under the windows.




Now, onto the verandah posts.

Dad had only installed a few posts, evenly spaced. But when you looked at the house it seemed odd, akin to someone wearing their spectacles askew, because the posts weren't symmetrical around the windows/doors.

We've come up with a way to salvage it though. We're going to install an extra post, to make it seem symmetrical, on the front right... and then to give it a reason for existing, use it as the point from where the step down to the deck extension happens. I might even put trellis between the two posts and grow a climber up it, which will help disguise it even more.

Luckily Dad hadn't progressed too far with the verandah so we've carefully marked out where we think the other posts should go on the plans... so fingers crossed it will be smooth sailing from now on.


Finally, the verandah roof.

Dad had been planning to have the verandah roof about 5m deep in front of the door, so it covered the steps. We have changed this back to where the verandah would ordinarily be, so now it's only half as deep, because it will look more in keeping and allow light to get into the hall which would otherwise be quite dark.

As well, we've decided to raise the verandah roofline to put it where it was in its original incarnation. Where Dad has put it so far is a bit too low, but again we have a cunning salvage plan... which is to leave the verandah over the deck as is, but to build it higher everywhere else. This should look OK we hope as, because the other part is set back it'll make it appear in line with the diagonal roof slope.

Day three - kitchen garden

Today we got to the block around 9am and met Dad, who'd driven up the night before and stayed over in the caravan. We talked in more detail about the plans for the kitchen garden, so Dad could work out how to tackle it given that it was slightly different to what he'd been envisaging.

At 10am, as we were leaving to get to the architects, two big trucks turned up - one with a load of manure (luckily old manure so it doesn't smell!) and the other with bricks, so we can build a test column later this week perhaps, if time permits.



Dad worked today to get the corners exactly in place, based on our rough line markings using his laser surveying thingy. Tomorrow there is a someone coming at 7.30am - either they're dropping off a digger, or they're actually doing the digging for us (I don't remember what Dad said about it exactly). They'll be digging out a trench for the wall foundation. We may still need to do some widening of it by hand in the areas where the columns will be, but we haven't worked that out yet.

The plan is to have brick columns - probably with breeze blocks or something cheap on the inside, with just bricks as the cladding - with the wall inbetween the columns being finished in a kind of rendered / adobe style. If cost were no object we'd do the whole thing in brick, but this is a compromise I think will look really good.

Next things to do: (tomorrow / Friday)

• Mark out the location of beds and cover with newspaper/manure.

• Work out where the columns will be in relation to the beds. We want to be sure that it's symmetrical.

Day two - paint paint paint

Today was tough... it was hot, it was dusty, it was tiring. But we made a lot of progress.

First up, we focused on the walled vegie garden. Dad is arriving tomorrow with digger in tow to dig the trench for the wall foundation. Before he gets here we had to work out where exactly it was going to be positioned, and what shape.

In the end we decided to put it down near the orchard, slightly closer to the dam than originally envisaged. We choose that spot for a couple of reasons: 1) The land is flat there, so cut out the need for terracing; 2) By having it nearer the lake, the boathouse can also double as a place for having a relax while gardening; 3) We needed to get it out of the shade of the tree.

After trying a few alternatives, we settled on a size of 25m by 40m for the walled area. It sounds enormous, but we want space for a green/shade house, for a big potting and tool shed, for lots of compost bays, for some of the fruit trees that require more protection, etc.

Here's the layout we came up with, at least as a starter. The round thing in the middle is a fountain shaded with a big pergola (ala the one at Sissinghurst in the White Garden):



We used stakes to mark the corners, with the help of string and a measuring tape to get the lengths of each side. 90 degrees was worked out by eye, comparing it to the scrapbook shape! I'm sure it's out by a little but not enough to worry about. At the end, we used spraypaint to mark out the borders, to make it easy for Dad to dig in the tractor thingy.



At lunchtime we went into Maryborough to get some supplies (including hayfever tablets and a new hat for me). On the way back we drove past the house I spotted last time, with the glorious front verandah. Sadly it's in a worse state of repair, oh I really hope they fix it up.

I adore the square bay window on the diagonal and the lovely simple fretwork combined with fancy columns on the porch.



I also ADORE the ceiling... using light blue to mimic the sky. We planned to do this too but I was thinking about skimping and painting it straight onto the metal. Now I see this though I'm afraid we will somehow have to line it to give the effect of boards, even if not the real thing.



In the afternoon we laid out the new house, measuring the downstairs layout in situ, then marking with spraypaint so we could "walk around" the whole thing and get a feel for it:




In wandering round it we discovered that we want to stretch the house to make it a bit more spacious - especially in the library. But that will be the subject of tomorrow's email, as we're seeing Eric to discuss then.

Day one - exploring

On our first afternoon we didn't do much work - instead too busy exploring! After the trees (see previous post), the house was next on our list to look around.

Even though only a little work had been done to it, Dad had rearranged things to give the effect of a room at the front. It really started to let you see how it might feel:



There's also the beginnings of the wraparound verandah at the front, which has been a wonderful place to sit during the hot days:



Dad has also managed to take down a lot of the collapsed extension at the back to reveal the original shape of the house:




The dam was looking particularly nice, albeit less full than I would have liked. It's not really low yet though as you can't see the 'humps' in the middle. We saw lots of sheep go down to the dam for a drink which was lovely to watch. We also saw two egrets wading, getting yabbies no doubt.



I'm more relaxed about getting the dam to look like a lake now than I was. Hopefully the waterlilies will take, but even if not provided we can get the big clay bank covered with reeds and other green stuff, the dam will take on the appearance of a lake. It's the dam wall that makes it look muddy (although the darn yabbies have something to do with it too).


To cap off the day, on the way back to our rented Avoca cottage, we explored some new roads too... driving along Lillicur Road up the side of our property all the way up to the Sunraysia Highway. There was a fantastic sunset as we came over a ridge:

Day one - inspecting trees

Today we drove up to Amherst. It was the first time I've visited in nearly 2 years, and the very first time we've ever been there together with no-one else around.

We arrived mid afternoon and spent several happy hours wandering around. Our goal this trip is less to get lots of work done (although we'll still be busy), and more to get a proper feel for the place. We're staying up here for an entire week, so I'm going to try and blog every day about what we get up to. It's so exciting to be actually on site rather than stuck on the other side of the world!

The brilliant news is that the trees we planted last visit are by and large doing really well. We've lost a few, but nowhere near as many as I'd expected.

The mulberries and plums are doing the best out of all the fruit trees:




The peaches are doing OK but are infected with something on their leaves; the persimmons are OK too although a bit twiggy still - I guess they're just later to bud. The almonds are doing well though.






Overall, the lemon gums are doing better than we expected. We've lost about 5, maybe 10, of the 70+ we planted, which isn't too bad. Almost all the ones lost were in the lower part of the driveway, where the frost would have been most pronounced. The ones that had the fullest shade cloth wrapping as protection unsurprising did the best. There are some that look pretty dead with only a few green leaves; Dave reckons they will bounce back though so fingers crossed. Here's a photo of one of the nice bushy ones.



It's amazing to think that two years ago they looked like this.


The olive grove too is going brilliantly. Again a couple of trees are a little the worse for wear, but most have put on new growth and are looking healthy. Because the soil is so poor and there's little water, we are expecting them to take their time in getting big, but the fact that they've all got new leaves shows that they've settled in.

wrapping trees in blankets

Below are various updates from Mum and Dad about the trees progress, and the huge effort they're putting in up there to protect them from kangaroos, frost, drought, etc. The trees are thriving far more than we'd even dared hope, and it's largely down to our parents efforts. Thank you!!!


Email from Dad (March 12):

Dawn and I spent a huge day yesterday shifting water from the dam and the top tanks and giving the trees along the drive a big drink. I have used 1 1/2 tanks of the potable water and pumped for 3 1/2 hours apx from the dam to leave the olive tree tank full and the watering tank by the house almost full by the end of the day, apx 8 pm.

Where wind protection for the fruit trees was provided, there is tenfold leaf growth. And it is obvious that where the trees have reached height of original tree protectors, without extension, the roos have grazed the tops uniformly on those which did not have a top of shade cloth. On one which is extended, the tree has reached the top of the extended wire and has lovely fresh growth on it and will doubtless continue to outgrow its confines and begin to spread itself. I am relieved that it is patently clear that the young trees have reached into the earth for deep water during this dry spell, and our strategy to not water them much has proved wise indeed.





We're going up again for the next Talbot market and I will do some more watering then of the olive grove, which didn't get water this time, and 4 fruit trees and 8 upper driveway trees. I will also put shade cloth on the remaining fruit tree enclosures while there if I feel up to the job.


Email from Mum (March 31):

Dad and I went up thurs morning, got there about 2.30 as we had lunch on the way and had left late. Got some of the trees done, whipped into maryborough for more wire (Dad had thought only about 10 needed doing urgently, but they all did) and came back - did somemore, knocked off a bit before dark - went into Talbot, walked dogs whilst our meal was being got ready. Bed.. and woke early, breakfast and out at work byut about 7.15 when it got light. Worked furiously, left about 5.30




Email from Mum (April 16):

Dad and I went up yesterday (Sat). We did some of the trees when we got there but not a lot, and got tea and were in bed early, asleep by 8pm. Woke early and dozed on and off, ended up late getting up and it was light an hour before we got out there. We got all trees done that we had shade cloth for and finished as planned a little after 3pm....





We just got home, very tired and sore fingered from wire ties and sore knuckled and handed from the roughness of the shade cloth. We have from memory 16 to do in total still and another 18 or so to do the wrap with but they already have a top on. All wire tops are folded down so they are not hugely above tops of trees so will do some good - a foot or two clearance.

All trees have grown a foot or so since being released from the lower constraining shadecloth.

We plan to go back Tuesday to get the rest done - will buy shadecloth tomorrow, another 50 m or so needed just for the gum trees and then there are a lot of fruit trees to get it done as well - they need it for wind protection.

It has been very cold at nights up there, close to freezing... It ws 0.1 at Coldstream this morning at 6.30am. no wonder I felt so very cold. It was not that bad at Amherst, think it was about 3 there. I think we are getting this tree blanketing done just in time to be honest. Sad they are not going to get so much sun but soon there won't be any anyway. When this lot of shade cloth comes off in about October November - depends on the weather - it will not be going back. I refuse to use a step ladder to put blankets on trees - if you think they need blankets still next winter you two will have to come and do them!


UPDATE: Email from Mum (April 18):

Rest of trees all done including the fruit trees for wind protection. Dad
got an extra 29 metres of shade cloth which was the full amount left on the
roll and we do not have one inch left over. In fact we could perhaps have
done with another couple of inches but made do. If we had cut an overlap or
two shorter earlier we would have been just right - using about 6 inch
overlap early fruit trees (6 total needed wrapping) and the last two were
short but were made to JUST meet.

diggers and decks

It's been a while since I've updated this, so thought I'd catch up on a few developments while I have a spare minute.

We have decking!



This is for the verandah for the Cottage. Dad saw it on sale at a special knock-down trade price so bought it even though we don't need it for a little while yet. The decking is made of Merbau Kwila, and according to Dad "makes a very good and longlasting deck, much better than treated pine and cypress when exposed to the weather".

We also have some big holes. Dad hired an excavator to level out an area around where he wants to build the hobbit hole. Here's some pictures, which also show the caravan he's set up as a place to stay on-site.

videos from our first visit to the farm

One of the reasons for my sporadic posting to this blog in recent months has been because I've been busy converting videos. I only have so much spare time and for various reasons, I've ended up with the task of digitising family home movies. Sometimes there's crossover though - recently I found some footage from the very first visit I made to Amherst, a few months after we'd bought it.

It would bore you stupid - not to mention make you seasick thanks to my wobbly camera technique - to watch the full thing. But I created a couple of compilations, complete with cheesy music, that will give you a flavour.

To begin, let me introduce our nearest town, Talbot, via a 1 minute drive through the main streets. I think sleepy would be the most appropriate adjective to describe it, but notice that there's some lovely old buildings and a thriving pub! Plus a great farmers market once a month. :-)




But the piece de resistance is the footage from my first visit to the farm. I went with my parents and filmed a huge amount so I could bring it back to London to show Dave. Unfortunately, the filming was incredibly wobbly but to help disguise it I sped it up to 4x speed, pausing every few seconds to let you catch your breath! I expect most people will only be interested in the first few minutes, arriving at the farm, driving up past the dam to the old house and then wandering around it. As you'll see it was extremely derelict when we found it, although that didn't stop my Dad setting up a makeshift camp in one room! The bulk of the film is walking around the land. I've deliberately kept it all in even though it gets a bit repetitive as it's a reminder of the distance... I still can't get over that it takes a good 10 minutes to walk across!

trees are still struggling on, but lost some

Let me start with the bad news... Dad says at least a dozen of the lemon gum trees are dead, like this one:


Dad thinks this wasn't due to the frost because it isn't tip damage but the entire tree. He says it was due to "wet feet" - in other words, in one of the driest parts of Victoria my trees drowned! His theory is that because we'd planted them in a little 'hollow' to help in catching water during the dry season, when it bucketed down in huge storms in winter the holes filled and the water didn't seep away fast enough.

Even more bad news, many of the other trees which hadn't drowned were being choked by grasses, like this one:


... but fortunately, upon weeding, there was still a surviving tree inside:


It took Dad ages to do. He had to cut access slits in the protector wires for each tree in order to be able to reach inside. He then weeded each and put down the cut grass as mulch, then sewed the slits back up. All up it took around 15-20 minutes per tree!!! Dad has worked so hard on this, I wish we could have helped. We owe him big time.

After he was finally done, you can see that the driveway is starting to take shape, they are definitely little bushes now. It will be worth it in the end, I just hope we don't lose any more... and next year, they will hopefully be big enough to stand taller of the grasses.

our temporary verandah

The old house now has a front verandah! It is only temporary but it's a start. Dad built it as a place for the dogs to stay when he's up there, while also giving some protection to the decorative features on the front until he can repair them.

In Dad's words: "I've built a great compound for them from the access scaffold. Scaffold must remain where it is for the duration of the project. Will use other scaffold to gain access to other parts of the building. Spent two days to build it, but it is roofed and walled, with windows and ventilation. The planks are protected from deteriation and yet safe for dogs to use. Can also store other planks on top of them so as to not suffer from termite damage or rot. Much of the timber stored on the ground last christmas has white ant infiltration. Not much damage yet, but given another few months and there would have been"

Here are some pictures:

progress on restoring existing house

So far, the only progress on restoring the existing house has been to tear down the rotting & caved-in extension from the back...



...exposing a wall that also looks in pretty bad shape. Thank goodness it's coming into summer now in Australia, so hopefully won't get too badly wet. Dad's first priority is to build on the verandah which will add protection, and give him a spot to work in wet weather when it comes to repairing the weatherboards.

This photo is also good at showing the wierd shape of the roof. See how it has this crossover bit in the middle? Apparently, almost the entire roof is supported by the hallway walls in the middle of the house. Which, as Murphy's law would have it, is also the section we were planning to knock out.

Now, it could still be done but we'd have to invest in buying heavy supporting beams etc, and we'd rather avoid the expense. So, we've come up with yet another iteration for the floorplan... largely designed on the plane flying back to London!

I'm fed up with designing floorplans (see here, here and here), but I think it was all worth it to get to this, because this is the first one that feels like it properly works, and isn't just a compromise.

Here is the "cottage" floorplan, click to make it bigger:



There are three key elements that distinguish this from earlier drafts.

First, the idea of extending the bathroom out beyond the confines of the existing house shape (an idea from Eric). We like it as not only does it give us extra space, it also adds to the charm of the old house. Dad likes it too, he suggests that it'd be nice to do the extension as a kind of bay window almost, which I can imagine working really well.

Second, the idea of putting a laundry area enclosed on the back verandah. This was often done in old houses, can't believe I didn't think of it before. It saves us a lot of space inside.

Third, and most subtle, is what I'm calling the "open plan compromise". Because we don't want to incur the expensive of buying new supporting beams, we can't knock down the hall walls. But, that doesn't mean we have to have them as solid walls. My idea is instead to leave all the supporting beams exposed and build open shelving around them, kind of like in this:



This will give us extra storage and an effect of open-ness while also preventing the feeling of the entrances opening straight into a room, which I don't like. I figure, if the existing beams are easily sanded we'll paint them. Otherwise I'll just wrap them in fabric or something, I'm sure there's a creative solution.

Dad is going to get some more precise measurements the next time he visits so we can work out exactly where doors are positioned, etc. Then, they need to get properly drawn up for submitting to get building approval.


For now we're focusing on the Cottage. But, just for the sake of completeness, let me also share a potential longer-term version, in which we convert it to be two large bedrooms if we were to ever run it as a B&B. It works, I think, and the only change is to the back corner:

Dad's caravan & future hobbit hole

Yes, I really mean a hobbit hole. Dad has always loved Lord of the Rings, he even read it to me as a bedtime story when I was only a few years old. I like it too although I skip all the elvish poetry(!), but not to the same extent as Dad.

Dad's dream is to build a hobbit hole and the far hill at Amherst is a good spot for it. So far, he has excavated out a flat section - all done using pick & shovel, which was hard work as it's really rocky up there - and installed a caravan as a temporary shelter.

Here's the first picture of what he's done so far... it may not look that impressive yet, but bear in mind it was a 45 degree slope on the place where he's now put the caravan.

meet our charming container...

A few months ago we bought an old sea-freight container to give us some secure storage up there, so Dad doesn't have to cart all his tools back and forth each time. It was installed near the dam and it looks a lot better than I expected it would. I think the sheep like it too. :-)



The inside is pretty big, even though it has lots in it already there's room for much more.



The shelves that came fitted with it also proved a perfect size for storing the shipping trunks we sent back a few months ago, jam-packed with tiles, etc. They must also be really strong as those trunks weighed a ton!

photos of lemon gums

We got back from Australia two days ago & have new photos of Amherst.

The most exciting thing for me is that it is green! A gorgeous lovely deep green colour I feared it would never achieve given what a dry area it's in. I'm now reassured that - at least for a few months of the year - we'll be able to get it looking like I've dreamed.



The trees are also doing very well. Given how cold it's been we were worried they might struggle, especially the lemon gums. But, they've made it and they've grown an amazing amount considering it's only been around 10 months since we planted them.

Here's what the lemon gums look like now...


...and just as a reminder, here's what they looked like when we planted them in October 2004. The tree was so small and thin, you could barely see it!

the devastation we're starting with

We're about to embark on doing up the old house at Amherst. Our original plan had been to keep it as a shed initially so we could focus first on building the new house on the other side of the "cloister garden" ( our new name for the secret garden courtyard which both houses will back onto).

Now (for reasons explained here) the plan is to first repair the old house so that it is liveable as a small cottage. Depending on how long it takes, we'll then either move back and live in it ourselves while we work on building the dream house next door(!) - or we'll rent it out for a few years while we continue to save here.

It's going to take a long time. To give you an idea of the task ahead, here's some pictures of the state it was in when we bought it, about 18 months ago. It had been sitting empty for nearly 20 years! In the few months after we bought it we did some minor fixing up (eg: covering the windows) so it didn't deteriorate further, but it is pretty much still as it looks in these photos. We bought the property for the land; the old house was just the cherry on top.

Let me start with the worst first. This is the inside of the house, the view from the front door:


Basically it's a shell. See all the old lathes everywhere... we're unfortunately going to be replacing them with plasterboard, but I'm going to salvage all the parts and use them to make wooden venetian blinds and plant trellises - so they'll still be part of the house, just a different part! The wood flooring looks awful but according to my Dad it will polish up beautifully.

This is what it looks like from the outside. It has a lovely shiny "new" roof (ie: 20 years old but still in tip-top condition) and similarly "new" foundations. All is structurally sound and because it's so dry there is very little rot in the timbers, which I find amazing considering it's just been left to fend for itself.

We don't know a lot about the house's history, but the planning officer told us it had been moved from Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne by the sea, and it certainly fits the style of the old houses round there.

Now, just the fact that it has a solid roof and foundations isn't enough to justify doing it up... for me, the real reason is the detailing, which you can see a glimpse of in the next photos. It still has all its original outside trim! Including the wood cut to look like bricks on the front. We'll have to do a lot of repairs but after having seen the transformations done by other housebloggers, I'm confident it can be resurrected.

yabbies and olives!

Dave's brother Paul and his wife Denise went up to Amherst recently to check on the trees and give them a water. Here's pictures of Dave's pride and joy Olive trees, looking really healthy, and they even have little baby olives growing! Also while they were there they threw a net in the dam and found there were loads of yabbies. (Yabbies are kind of like a fresh water crayfish native to Australia)

Tree-planting

We've just got back from 3 weeks in Australia during which we spent 5 days in Amherst planting trees! It was a marathon effort and we couldn't have done it without everyone's help, so thanks to everyone who came. (Especially since I
had the flu for several days so was not much use) Saturday and Sunday were the biggest days, and Saturday night we had a BBQ by the stove and gazebo that Dad had built. The evening was finished off with fireworks, but the photos from that didn't work out unfortunately.

Here are a couple of photos




We planted around 120 trees in total - 70-plus lemon gums to line the
driveway, 30 olive trees up on the hill, and 15 fruit/nut trees as the
start of the orchard. We could only plant the most hardy kind of
trees this trip which could largely look after themselves, so we put
in 2 chesnuts, 5 persimmons, 2 apricot, 4 plums (two kinds)and 2
mulberries. I can't wait to seem them grow! It's brilliant also
because now it feels like we've started.

Despite how small the trees are at the moment, each one required a
huge effort to plant. After the hole was dug by the post hole
digger/tractor thing, the sides had to be chipped in so the roots
could spread out. Then we had to add compost, watering pipes, plant
the tree then lots of mulch. Then we hammered in the stakes (3 for
most, 4 for the bigger trees) and cut and tied wire around them to
protect from kangaroos, sheep, etc. Finally the finishing touch was
tying a square of shadecloth to the lid of each enclosure to provide
protection from frost (which usually hits by sinking down from above)
and also the sun this summer. Then the watering system... laying out
the pipes from the water tank, connecting the taps, digging the
trenches to bury the pipes for the parts cars might drive over.

We started on Thursday, marking out where each tree needed to go.
Friday and most of Saturday was drilling holes and driving stakes.
Planting started Saturday afternoon and continued until Monday
morning, as well as starting the wiring and irrigation system. Monday
afternoon and Tuesday morning were spent finishing the wiring and
attaching the shadecloth. So thanks again to everyone who helped, we
owe you bigtime.

soil test results

These are the results of the soil testing which Dave's parents did, with some help from Mum and Dad





Overall, the pH seems to be between 5-6, so slightly acidic, although not as bad as I was expecting. The other minerals are worse than I'd anticipated though... I guess it just means we have to do a lot of preparation of the soil in advance; but in the scheme of things it's not impossible.


The tests were done after about 5 years of low rainfall, so all the soil was very dry. After clearing, the land was probably used for grazing, and at testing, grass was dry and sparse to very sparse. The soil is a grey to reddish brown loam
In most areas there is 20 to 30cm topsoil with small to medium sized quartz fragments on the surface or in the soil. The area called up creek and down creek was probably a shallow gully which was filled over the years with soil washed from the uphill forest area. The top soil here is at least 30cm and is a fine dark grey loam with an absence of quartz fragments. This area supports the greatest quantity of grasses. The ph tests showed the creek soils to be slightly acid probably relatred to the humus content and overall the creek soil would be the easiest to cultivate and probably the most fertile.

The land

OK, so in the previous post I focused on the house. But actually the house was the "cherry on top" in terms of deciding to buy; really we bought this place because of the land itself. It's 30 acres which is pretty big to someone who grew up on a suburban block. Best of all, on one and a half sides it's bordered by forest, which is part of the State park so highly unlikely ever to be touched. On the other sides it has other properties which are of similar sizes. So even though there are a couple of other houses within say 5-10 minutes walk, you have this great feeling of seclusion.

The land is tucked away in the corner of a valley, up on the side slope. It has sweeping views down the valley and in fact in every direction there's a lovely view. Although it's on a hill, the slope isn't severe; in fact it's more of a gentle incline except for one small part, maybe half an acre. It also has a rock outcrop of rose quartz on the edge bordering the forest. It's a lovely pale pink colour which has flecks of sparkle in it. The sparkle is gold, or at least fool's gold - it's very close, like a few minutes drive no more, to a place called Daisy Hill which was one of the earliest places in Victoria where gold was found. The town of Amherst itself (sadly no longer existing) was a classic gold rush town, and you can still see the remnants today in terms of the bluestone drainage culverts, etc - quite fancy features for what are now very small gravel roads!

There is of course a huge downside to the land, and in fact to this entire part of Australia. It is dry. Very dry. It was particularly bad when we first bought it as it was at the tail end of a 12 year drought, as you can see from these pictures. It's still beautiful though, in a stark kind of way







Water is going to be a problem for us, no doubt, but we're hoping that by being clever about it - catching it in every way we can when it does fall (and 30 acres is a lot of catchment area, especially as we can get runoff from the forest too). We already have a big dam on the property which you can see in the last photo above. But hopefully with clever storage and irrigation we can minimise waste to evaporation, and of course recycle *everything*. Basically, our plan is to invest upfront and put in place the infrastructure so that we can make best use of whatever water we've got. And if we get another 12 year drought, well then we'll just have to invest in tanking water in if we run out. But hopefully it won't come to that.

The house

Continuing on... Yes, as of March this year we purchased the property without having seen it - but it's not as crazy as it sounds. We hadn't seen it ourselves in person, but my parents had visited it on our behalf and emailed us lots of photos.

My Dad in particular is a very good judge of the possibilities of land and buildings, as not only is he a carpenter but he grew up in the Alaskan outback. So, when he looked at this shell of a house which to anyone else would seem beyond saving, he noticed the good things. Like the fact that there was no rot in the timbers, and the building frame was all still solid and intact, at rightangles except for the tacky little extension that was thrown on the back . How the floorboards were the old original ones that even though they looked old and worn now would polish up brilliantly with a bit of effort. Even how the ornate old sash windowframes, long minus their glass, weren't beyond saving. And how, stored up in the rafters of the house were a lot of weatherboards and other things, many of the raw materials for restoring it.

I've always loved old houses, especially ones crafted in wood. They seem to have a soul and spirit that modern built houses lack. So this house, an old Victorian weatherboard that the Council later told us was moved there from Williamstown (a suburb by the sea in Melbourne) in the mid 1980's. It was given a new roof and new stump foundations on arrival, and then largely left alone for the next 20 years. Now we have an opportunity to bring it back to life. It's a mammoth task though, as you can see from these pictures. These are from the set taken by my parents on that very first visit. If it hadn't been for my Dad's building advice, we wouldn't have had the confidence to take it on.

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