Sunrise mist

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:

Stripping paint

While Dave was busy on the tractor, I spent most of my time during our visit stripping off paint from the old window and door frames at the front of the house.

The old paint was loose enough that with the help of scrapers and elbow grease we managed to get it all off without resorting to using a heat gun or chemicals.

Here's a few before and after photos:





I can't take credit for doing all of it though, I had huge help from Pete and Jen (my brother & sister), and also of course Dad who had arranged for the scaffolding to be set up...

Dave digs a big hole

The big test for the tractor came when we needed to do a fairly major excavation, to fit the wastewater treatment tank.

It took Dave nearly 2 days, but he did it. :-)

Dave digs a big hole from Lynette on Vimeo.

... and for a taster of the full noisy experience, here's a short clip:

Planting trees

As has now become tradition, every visit we plant some more trees.

This trip we put in the special trees that Dave's Mum had been nurturing for us, as well as some replacement lemon gums to fill in the few odd gaps along the driveway.

Planting trees from Lynette on Vimeo.

Nelson, Dave's 11 year old nephew dug all the holes with the tractor - he was the best at using it, I guess due to all the practice playing with the machines at the Science Museum and the like. :-)

Once each hole got dug, Dave and his Dad and brother installed irrigating pipes and added better soil before planting the trees. The finishing touches were some rocks to help act as a sort of mini dam in catching water which Anne and Dave's Mum helped with, as well as strong fencing and shadecloth to protect from the sheep, kangaroos and wind.

Prue helps us lay out the garden

After marking out the new house, the next day it was time to think about the garden.

Prue Metcalfe came up to help us, as we had some big decisions to make that I didn't want to risk screwing up. Added bonus was she brought along her husband and little girl the night before, so we had a great catchup dinner. :-)

Armed with piping and spraypaint as markers, we worked out where the main garden beds would be, especially the long border to run alongside both houses. Then we worked out the shape for the terraced area that we will eventually be excavating, including the haha.

(We later used the tractor to dig a trench along the paint to get a marker more long lasting...)

By the end of it we had solved some of the major questions we'd been worried about - like where to plant the pines and where to dig the giant hole for the wastewater tank. It's amazing what a difference being onsite makes.

Here's some photos and clips, including one with Prue talking through the overall layout.

marking out the new house

On our first day, we were met at the block by Sam and John. Fuelled with celebratory champagne they brought along, we proceeded to spraypaint out the layout of the new house. (Not that we planned to do any excavation work this trip, but so that we had it as reference for working out the location of other things)

Needless to say, it was an entertaining job. :-)

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

Talbot market (17th Aug)

Mum went to the Talbot market last weekend and took some photos for me. It looked pretty cold so I don't think they got the usual turnout, but still was quite busy. I'm looking forward to a time when this is where I do my shopping. :-)

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

even more news

From Dad's email 10th August:

Work proceeds well at Amherst. This week we will focus totally on painting and preparation. If the olive tree enclosure doesn't get done it will have to wait for another trip, but I will continue to hope for completion. I am very pleased with the state of repair of the old weatherboards despite the peeling paint. The old paint comes off fairly easily with the grinder. Dave has done most so far because I have had to build the access scaffold for the other side. I will do more of preparation and painting this week however.

Dave has been fairly warm. The chiminea has performed well, especially since I removed the heating plate because of the damper effect it was having, causing too much smoke. I need to make more space for the firebox to vent so will add spacers and see if it has both draw and is close enough to effectively heat water. At least it is a great comfort for Dave to lounge in front of at the end of his working day... I will repair the door of the little van this evening so he can properly close it and make better use of the small gas heater which Dawn provided. My antique kerosine heater has performed really well for my van and adds to the candles to provide adequate heating even when it is below freezing outside.

It was good to come home for a respite as we were very exhausted. Dave has taken a few pictures for you. Dad

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)

more news on progress

From Mum's email 7th August:

Amherst has more work than they will get done this time, even Dad said so. Dave’s van and annex is lovely, very cosy, good views – I rather wish I could stay there sometime! It has apparently rained quite a bit – more than here anyway. All is green though short grass, dam is fuller than it was but far from full, and the drive is very slidey. I almost did not get up the hill to the house. Jess and Tony went up, staying overnight in Maryborough and going home this afternoon. Big tank coming Friday, 5000 gallons I think they said. Huge, 12ft in diameter? Ir 16?? Hope the truck gets up OK.

I went off for a drive to photograph ruins etc – Asked Dave if he wanted to come for a drive but he wanted to get the work done. I lucked on Talbot museum open (normally only Sun afternoons) and dropped off my family names; ordered pies for lunch; drove about Majorca and Red Lion and got photos of about 8-10 “ruins” and decrepit houses in Talbot etc; went back, ate, and came home. I was back by 5.25pm having missed the worst of peak hour by using the ring road which was slow but not as slow as coming through the city.

Vida is going up Friday evening to get Dave so he is back for the weekend and he will go back with Dad (who is coming back Sat) on Sunday. Everyone seems to be working out how we can spend time with Dave! I have said I will go up to the market next Sunday – not this one – and Dave MAY be there then. Peter has said he will come with me if Dave is up there to talk about what he wants done. He almost took the day off work yesterday but I said it was not a good idea without prior arrangement if he wanted to keep his job.

update from Dave: progress!!

Dave is actually *on the ground* in Amherst for the next 2 weeks. I am SO envious.

He's working with my Dad to get the house stripped back, weatherboards repaired and painted. From his voicemail today:

"The guy called as he couldn't make tonight, so we're going to see him tomorrow instead. (This is the structural engineer Jeff he's talking about).

We had a fair crack at doing the weatherboards today, I got the side on the right hand side of the house as you come out the door half stripped, while your Dad's been doing bits and pieces. We'll get our way through it, it was a really good day today, so hopefully the weather will hold and it'll be fine"

I am just so happy to feel that real life physical actual tangible progress is being made on the house, with more to come. It's just brilliant to be getting properly stuck in - I just regret I can't be there to help. :-(

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)