The road to Amherst

update on trees

2008-11-04T18:23:00.000Z

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.

Proud owners of a tractor

2008-10-30T17:45:00.001Z

I'm still awaiting photos, but Mum reports the tractor is now officially ours and sitting in Dad's driveway. In her words, "it looks very nice"! :-)

More info from Dad's email on 25th:

I have arranged to get the tractor home to my place on Weds. The new front tyres are not yet ready for fitting. He hopes they will have arrived by Mon. With the work he has done and the tyres you have had a reduction in the price by $300-400. He is also giving the full service history and owner manual for the tractor and backhoe. I went up there to ascertain whether I had to jetison my garage door to fit the tractor into the carport, and have found it is not necessary at all. I do have to raise it as high as possible and then it fits like a glove. The overall length is perfect too. I need to obtain a posthole digger for it whenever, and some anchoring things for when it is on the trailer. It fits perfectly onto my tandem trailer. I need only to devise the ramp arrangement. With the hydrostatic drive it will be very easy to ease it up onto the trailer for anyone.

buying a tractor (perhaps)

2008-10-18T13:02:00.003+01:00

Dad emailed yesterday to say he'd found a secondhand tractor he recommended that we buy.

We've toyed with the idea of getting a tractor a while. It would mean we could do all the excavations needed ourselves and save a ton on labour and equipment rental. And once finished, we could sell the tractor on again to recoup some of the capital outlay.

It is a B21 Kubota, 4 1/2 years old but has only 860 hours on the engine clock. It comes with a bucket and a backhoe, but not a posthole driller (although it is possible to buy them for it). Before selling, the dealer will be putting on new front tyres and replacing a bush in the front bucket, along with a new pin to lock the backhoe apparatus mechanically for safer transporting. We'll be getting a mechanical test done on it before decided to go ahead, but assuming that gives the all clear then it looks like I will soon own a tractor!!

From the description in the dealer's book:
"Extra heavy duty machine; For contractors requiring a heavy duty machine capable of handling long hours of operation in punishing conditions, the B21 is ideal. Specifically designed for the construction industry, the B21 has a reinforced frame, steel bonnet, cast iron front axle, heavy duty transmission and a 4 post rollover frame with steel roof. Features 4 wheel drive, self-levelling loader mechanism, industrial tyres, wet disc brakes, optional vertical stabilizer and optional 4-1 bucket (although the one we are looking at has a standard bucket, not the one that has a splitting capacity to more quickly fill it). HP 21, Engine 3 cyl diesel, Transmission is Hydrostatic, Backhoe has a max dig depth of 2330 and a reach of 3080. The Loader lift height is 2250 and lift capacity of 420 kg.

Priced new 18 months ago it was A$49150 + gst. The one Dad found second hand is A$25000. Still a pretty hefty sum, more than I've ever spent on a machine (I can see I am doomed to never have a new car!!) but given it's $500+ per day to rent the darn things that is only 50 days worth of rental... I am sure we will have more than 50 days worth of digging to do with all the excavation work needed for the garden, house, tanks, trenches for electricity wires, etc etc.

Apparently the hire firm selling it bought it new in order to rent it to one customer, a gas maintenance firm in Shepparton. It has been used by one team since new, has had all dealer services as required. Has had a new clutch plate installed 10 engine hours ago. The engine has only 860 hours total work time in the 4 1/2 years. It has been placed for sale because when it was returned from this firm for whatever reasons it meant there were too many in the yard for hire than the usual business pattern.

It weighs 1.2 tonnes, so should be okay for Dad to transport on his tandem trailer, meaning that it can be stored securely in town rather than left at the block. Dad assures me too there are ample service depots in Ballarat, and probably even in Marysborough, given it is a popular, tough machine.

update on wastewater plans

2008-10-16T12:41:00.000+01:00

We're in the throes of trying to sort out the wastewater treatment system.

Even though it will be years yet before we install, we have to get the plans in place now in order to be get the building permit for the old house.

It's a little frustrating given that technology will no doubt advance in 4 years, but given that we've had no luck getting responses from local plumbers in Maryborough, it looks like we'll have to go with getting people up from Melbourne to quote and ultimately do the work.

(The way I figure it, if people aren't interested in helping us out now with a quote/plan even when we offered to pay for their time to do it, then they don't deserve our business in 2-3 years when we come to install).

We're in discussions with Septech, the company who won major brownie points nearly 2 years back by being the only one of 5 to respond acceptably to an email.

Dad has been to see them this week and I've had a phone conversation too, with a nice guy called Michael Pound. Michael needs to call the Amherst health officer (John Kelly) to clarify what the precise requirements are, and make a site visit before he can give a final quote. We'll then need to pay 20% deposit before he'll work on drawing up the plans.

The one hiccup is that in speaking to him it became clear that the system didn't do precisely what I'd understood it did. Although it does recycle everything: greywater and blackwater, treating it so it is safe for irrigation; because of stupid council regulations it isn't allowed to be stored!!

So you currently can't do what I'd envisaged, which was to store it in a special tank that could use to selectively irrigate the garden. It just waters it 24/7 along the 400m of irrigation pipe. And the pipe has all these restrictions on how far away from the house it needs to be etc so I can't even use it to water the courtyard garden which is the area that will need water the most. It's *very* annoying.

It's not a total writeoff though: there are trials underway with some councils in which they are letting people store the treated water to re-use on their property, and Michael said he was confident that by the time we come to live there it will be allowed. Fingers crossed.

Patch Rogers: arts & crafts dealer

2008-10-07T12:19:00.001+01:00

If you like this era, you will love this shop. I stumbled across it by accident when I looked at a listing he had on Ebay. It looks like not only does he specialise in Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau etc, he is heavily involved in gathering pieces for the Liberty exhibitions too.

You can see latest stock including photos and (for most) prices on his website here.

Amsterdam School architecture

2008-09-29T16:39:00.004+01:00

I was in Amsterdam last week for a work conference and managed to stay a bit longer so as to get an afternoon to explore.

There wasn't really anything specific that I'll take away as inspiration for Amherst, but there were still a few quirky things that caught my eye. In particular this amazing building called Het Schip.

I found it totally by accident when I was walking from the hotel to the conference. It turns out it's one of the most iconic buildings by Michel de Klerk, a famous architect of the Amsterdam School. He made me think of a dutch version of Frank Lloyd Wright...who had a thing for brick. :-)

I took tons of photos and video of Het Schip and surrounds, here's a compilation.

Besides this, Museum Van Loon was great to wander in: kind of like a National Trust house but dutch. I wish I'd had more time to properly explore. In particular it had a fabulous garden room, really light due to the use of mirrors; and a great kitchen that had the very clever idea of white tiles on the (very low) ceiling to make it easy to clean. :-)

For some reason, I also really liked this row house that almost looked like it had a triangular corner, and the effect you got looking through the windows.

Planning permit is approved, yay!

2008-09-25T18:26:00.001+01:00

We had a slight panic a few months back when it appeared they'd re-zoned our property from Rural Zone to Rural Farming Zone, which meant that ordinarily we'd only be allowed to have the one house on the property. We decided therefore to get clarification as soon as possible before investing more time in doing up the old house, by applying for a planning permit.

And the great news is, they've granted it!! So we can go ahead with everything as planned. Yay!!!

There are some constraints but nothing that seems out of the ordinary or unexpected. You can see the full details here.

Below are Dad's initial thoughts and updates from September 24th:

I think the development commencement can be considered with the Septech system, watertank for the fire service, and renovations of the old house. However they may consider the work on the new house must be commenced within two years. If so perhaps I could ask if site preparation, eg the required cutting before foundations are established, would be acceptable as a commencement of the new structure. An extension of completion time is probably relatively easy. There is a risk that if an adequate commencement is not achieved it will lapse and the planning permit come up for consideration again. I think we ought to proceed with getting a permit for the new structure before commencing any other work on it, especially the site preparation, even though you do not wish to proceed with it until closer to your return. I am waiting to hear from the plumber, and will call him soon. I took the work of drawing to Allan Davies. He has only to tweak the original drawings and print some copies. Should not be very costly, and he promised completion by the end of this week.

Ebay win: iron balustrading

2008-09-21T07:42:00.004+01:00

We got lucky recently and picked up some old wrought iron stair balustrading that I'm sure will come in handy for some of the outdoor stairs, probably on the old house.

From the Ebay description:

11 Pieces of wrought iron stair balustrade, it is well made in heavy iron and looks like its hand made . I bought it second hand about 15 years ago but have never used it. It is in good condition been stored inside, looks like it has only had one coat of paint on it from new so not to hard to clean down.

2 Corner Bits are 36 ins high 12 ins bottom edges.
2 Flat centre bits 36 ins high 16 ins across bottom edge.
1 Flat end bit 36 ins high 8 1/2 ins across bottom edge.
1 3 way centre post 40 ins high 7 ins across bottom edge.
3 angle stair poles 36 ins to top tip 8 ins across bottom edge.
2 Angle stair poles 34 1/4 ins to top tip 8 ins across bottom edge.

email updates from Dad

2008-09-19T16:00:00.000+01:00

Dad has been making progress at Amherst, see updates below. Thank goodness we have his help, it would be impossible otherwise.

September 17th:

Hi, I have just returned from a day to Amherst to meet with the building inspector dealing with the application for a permit. I met with him for about one hour, but had to get there and back the same day. I took a large load up of wrought iron balustrading, pinepoles for the gazebo, and wrought iron posts to use as needed, or to access material for completing other tasks. I got another load of wood to finish my winter. I will work tomorrow on the stumps and stirrups of my back veranda. I had two days together to do work here, but the inspector could only fit in with Mon, Weds, or Friday, so I took time to meet with him. I have to do some additional drawing of details of the Juliet balcony over the bathroom of the old house. The present plan shows that posts to the ground and footing is the support mechanism, but I made it clear to the draftsman that cantilever beams would support this. I will draw an addenda detail asap and send to you and the council. I am too tired now to tell you all he wants, but will send an email tomorrow morning with greater detail.

September 6th:

I returned home from Amherst at 7pm, to a small party for my Father's day. Pete brought his new girlfriend, and Jenny had been there visiting with Vida since 6pm. I had a great conference with the plumber, who used to come as small lad to your paddock to hunt rabbits when it was Fisher's Poultry farm. I will hear back from him soon as to the cost of a 3000 litre septic with effluence drainage fields. He feels it will be best to proceed directly with Septech though because of the cost, probably near $5000 depending on what specifications John Kelly the health officer requires for the length of the effluence field. But he is going to be the plumber of choice I think for the rest of the old house plumbing. I will explain later in greater detail. I am off to church now so must hurry for now.

September 1st:

I will tell you now of my plan to continue to build the hobbithole, but instead to make it an actual chicken house in the short-term. I like chickens, and it will do it no harm in the course of the construction of the house over a long time for it to be used primarily as a chicken house. So I will continue to dream and use bits and pieces that come to hand to create the dream. Dave said when we spoke of it that this was alright, and after consideration I think it proper to proceed when I feel like it after my work here in Ringwood is completed.

August 29th:

I have completed the roof of the shed except for some ridge capping and spouting and drainage. There has not been anymore rain so transfer is not needed to the upper tanks. I still need to contact the plumber and electrician. I will place the drip system into action for the citrus trees in the orchard when things start to dry. There has been showering rain there it seems.

Edna Walling's "Bickleigh Vale"

2008-09-06T13:17:00.004+01:00

A few years back when researching herbaceous borders, I wrote about Edna Walling, an Australian garden designer from the 1920-50's who was like Australia's version of Gertrude Jekyll. (See here and scroll down about halfway for the section about Edna)

Well, there was an 8 minute feature about her on last week's "Gardening Australia" TV show that Mum kindly told me about, and you can watch it for free on the ABC website here: Link to ABC website

Because I'm not sure how long the ABC will leave it accessible, I also created my own copy that you can access below. Please try watching at the ABC link first though: not only will you be able to view it all in one go, it'll help to save my bandwidth allowance! :-) Plus they have lots of other good stuff that you can browse while you're there...

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Ebay win: flywire door

2008-08-28T08:31:00.003+01:00

Every so often things like this come up and, if they're conveniently located for collection and in good condition, I take a punt on putting in a low bid. And very occasionally, I win. :-)

We're going to need one of these on every outside door and this is the first I've found so far. You can buy new 'old style' replicas but figured if I can get the real thing for a price of a cup of coffee, why not.

From the description:
Antique fly screen door from back veranda - an Australian icon. It's in Kew. It's very heritage, but unfortunately we have no use for it. Pickup only please. It's 765mm x 2025mm.

Lovely views

2008-08-25T09:06:00.002+01:00

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

2008-08-25T07:54:00.003+01:00

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)

2008-08-19T12:26:00.001+01:00

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

2008-08-16T18:33:00.004+01:00

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

2008-08-16T18:09:00.006+01:00

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

Ebay win: stained glass lampshade

2008-08-12T08:31:00.004+01:00

At last! I've lost track of the number of these I've bid on over the years. Finally I won one. It's an old stained glass lampshade, which will be perfect to have as a little feature light above the front door of the cottage.

From the description:
Here we have a traditional period antique exterior stained glass Canopy Porch Lamp shade from the 1930's. This beautifully shaped shade comes in very good condition for age. All stained glass panels are intact and display no cracks to the coloured glass

even more news

2008-08-10T15:43:00.002+01:00

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

hunting for the Crown Title

2008-08-10T15:08:00.003+01:00

I got in touch with my solicitor in the vain hope that they might still have the original Crown Title (after learning last weekend that the previous owner, Steve, didn't).

Sadly, when they checked their files, not only did they not have it, but they had no record of having ever received it from the Titles Office.

Given that the Titles office would have sent it to them, if anyone, we are now hoping against hope that it's still sitting in the Title Office files. Mum is going to go in there in the next few weeks to see what she can learn.

According to the solicitor, the normal approach when an electronic title is issued is for the original to be stamped "obsolete" then sent on to the new owner as a keepsake. We're just praying that for some odd reason it fell through the net ... it will be awful if they just destroyed it.

Keep your fingers crossed. :-)

Photos of the campsite

2008-08-08T20:52:00.002+01:00

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

2008-08-08T15:31:00.000+01:00

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.

Ebay win: stained glass bird windows

2008-08-06T20:23:00.000+01:00

So these were a little bit of a splurge, but it's rare to find two handpainted sections of this size and (almost) matching... plus I really liked them. :-)

They're even nicer in real life, I'm using them here just propped up against one of the conservatory windows, but at Amherst I can see these could work well either side of a door perhaps.

From the description:
Two beautiful and lovely traditional hand painted and stained glass panels, depicting two different birds. These would have been made using traditional process of hand painting, staining and then kiln fired to make all work permanent. They could be incorporated into a stained glass or leaded panel, as decorative glazing or enjoyed just as they are as light catchers. All glass is intact. The centre glass is a clear rough rolled texture and the border is a blue/green of a similar but slightly different texture. Size of each panel is approx 28.2cm x 23.5cm

update from Dave: progress!!

2008-08-05T21:06:00.004+01:00

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. :-(

Old miners certificate for Talbot

2008-08-04T07:40:00.002+01:00

I just stumbled across (thanks to google alerts) an image of an old Miners Right certificate for Talbot.

You can see it online here (including ability to zoom in close) but just to make sure it doesn't get lost I've also copied below.

Beautiful old document, I wish they made official documents as pretty as this today.

researching our property's past life

2008-08-03T10:40:00.009+01:00

I've always been curious to find out about the history of our property, so today I took the plunge and starting researching, starting with the previous owner, Steven Kingshott.

I found his address from the purchase documentation, looked on Whitepages.com.au and lo and behold there was still a Kingshott living there! I called, it turned out to be his Mum, and she gave me Steve's new number. We had a great chat where he filled me in on what he knew about the property:

From memory he thinks the date on the original title when the land was subdivided was 1881, and it was owned by a guy called Fisher.
Steve bought it in the year of the really bad drought (1983?) when it didn't have a blade of grass on it. It was never as bad as that again. He was 23 and single when he bought it, with the intention of it being a weekender. But what happened was he got married and had kids, and just didn't have the time, so when they needed to do renovations to their place in town he was convinced to sell.
The house that's on there came from Williamstown and he moved it up. It was an old double-fronted Victorian house that his Mum found for sale, not too far from where she lived. He pulled all the lathe and plaster off and found a fantastic guy to cut it down the middle and move it up on the back of a truck. The guy who did the relocation was brilliant as unlike the others who'd quoted who used chainsaws, this guy cut it up using a handsaw to ensure it could be put back together with only a very small gap.
The guy Steve bought it off, Lance Dunstall, was the one who enlarged the dam. He was a friend of Steven's brother's and had owned it for about 10 years before (so from early-mid 1970's). He'd kept horses on it, he used to go to horse shows, etc. Before Lance, not sure of the owner but thinks it was one of the farmers.
Lance had lived in Williamstown and his family owned a dairy there. He was engaged to the daughter of the people who then owned the property in front, Mick Pentreef (sp?), who owned a newsagent in Williamstown. The Pentreefs sold the property in front and moved into the town of Talbot about 15-20 years ago. Their daughter also moved up there and worked at one of the schools. She was also involved in the community regeneration work.
Back when Lance bought it he had the property surveyed and found it was 5 acres short. When they'd built the fences sometime over the past 100 years they'd put them down wrong: it was supposed to be a rectangle but it wasn't. (Aha, this explains the old fenceposts in the far corner!)
There had been some beautiful old wooden sheds that dated back to the turn of the century on the property in front. One of them extended halfway into the road! There was also an old sunshine harvester there in brilliant condition. In 1987 the bushfires went through. The house in front didn't get burnt but unfortunately the sheds did. Amherst town had been a great little place before the 1987 fires. It had a number of old houses and the old school, but it all got burnt down.
The neighbor across the road (who's since moved) used to run his cattle on the property when Steve owned it. So he never had luck growing trees there because the cattle used to eat everything. He did however once use a rotary hoe in front of the dam where the fence is and planted corn(!)... it grew but didn't survive long.

I'm so happy to have got in touch with Steve and to have found that he loved the place as much as we do. I'll keep researching and try and track down the missing Crown title - I'd thought it was with Steve but he doesn't have it, so it must be with the solicitor still... Also Steve is going to dig out some old photos and any other documents he can find, so fingers crossed... it'd be brilliant to see how it has changed (or not).