Allen's Grass Tree

Rules Beach

Rules Beach located 15 mins from home.... A great place just to get away!!!!

The Girls & Guys

Pool Rainforest Garden

The before pics


View from the orchard looking down towards the main pool. This area was completley covered with scrub and lantana..

The gardens are slowly coming together... We have been busy taking cuttings and propergating plants... A closer look and you can see the many new plants and cuttings... We hope to end up with a beautiful rainforest and then a natural swimming hole.... perfect for the long summer days and nights.

The chicken residence!!!

Check out the old chicken residence... taken after the fire!!!!


The last of the fire can be seen here and the stack to the right is now burnt.. Love having fire parties...


This view is taken from the new pool area.... our new ducks have now realised that with the recent rains we have a great un finished pool which they can enjoy until the true structure begins.... There will be hours of training coming their way once the pool starts to take shape and we take back the cleaned pool etc for our use... But for now the little buggers have the pool... Their dam is just past our pool and they will have to waddle a little further in the future.

The Pool Project

Here are some of the pictures taken just after the big guns had been in to start the work on our pool.

The ongoing work

Bring on the heavy equipment....
But what a mess!!! We have spent two days on the end of garden rakes just leveling the tractor marks.... part of our lovely couch lawn was destroyed but with the results achieved it was well worth the mess...







Here is one of the two trees which overhung our house... very scarey situation indeed .....one good blast of wind and our place would have been flattened.... we now have these great logs we intend to have someone come in and turn them into fence posts...The stump will stay and form part of a outdoor garden setting....







If you look closely you can see the grass plants on the ridge... We intend to remove some more smaller srcub trees.... This will then open up the ridge just a little more...








Well fancy that!!!!!
A nice pile of srub trees just in desperate need of a good FIRE !!!!!!!! I love these days... Getting so excited to see the trees fall and watching in anticipation as they are pushed together to make a bomb fire stack... Happy Days !!!








This is a favourite of mine, just love the new veiw...As you can see by the pile of rubbish this veiw was covered by scrub... We felt very enclosed so after two days of Excavator work we now have a massive veiw reaching across the creek bed and onto our ridge.... We intend to dredge the bottom of this creek bed as it leads around the corner into our large dam... If all goes to plan our house will have a horse shoe dam stretching around the entire front and side....This will more than double it's enormous capacity......Bring on the rain!!!

Our Happy Family

Ray,Glen,MaddieTyme and Mac's back..

Yes we are two guys and a girl.
Now that is success!!!!

The New Arrival

Maddie and Tyme.... Maddie decided to teach Tyme to swim whilst on her school break the two became inseparable and when she left for home Tyme looked everywhere for her...

















Tyme's sister Shadow at play fighting the evil mop!!!















Tyme getting in on the act... Obviously he thinks Shadow needs help















Having a snooze.. Been a long day!!

The Ground Work Begins

OH WHAT A MESS!!!!!!
We have had 2 days of heavy machinery tearing up our ridge behind the house...
All neccesary to stop the heavy rains flooding our house...

New Storm water drain has been dug !!

Notice yet another water pipe to repair.. This was the second pipe to repair just with digging the one drain... We wonder where they come from.

To the right you can see the platform built to accommodate the new shed.

Our Road leading to the Red Claw Crayfish Dam!!!

The road has had some major reconstrution with the local Grader team..

All neccesary to ensure we have a strong angled drive to ensure the expected rains drain into our large back dam.. Water collection is imperative to our survival... Some small trees (sapplings were remved to ensure the house was protected from native pests (snakes) and fire.

The black tank in the distance needs to be repaired, we have bought the neccesary equipment. another task with more obstacles no doubt.. The tank in turn will feed our house water, via gravity, no power will be required. This will be a great saving on our solar power sytem..

New Driveway!!

We decide after many hours of walking, looking at the contours of our land that we were best to build a flat building site. This site will enable the water to slow and disperse. The site eventually will contain a three bay garage and workshop.. The existing three car garage with then be used for guest parking.

Grass Tree Planting!!

During the course of the few days we had to move four grass plants.. Three were situated on the bank of the drive to red claw dam the other was relocated to an established grass tree garden...

All were moved via backhoe and considerable soil was moved to ensure their survival..

Discovery Coast - our area

Check out these links to sites around our area.

We must really do the tourist thing one day!

http://1770discovery.com/index1.php

http://localaccess.biz/cgi-bin/searchguide/localguide.cgi?ID=986946326

Agnes Waters/1770 are located 30 minutes north of our property.

http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/QLDAgnesWater.shtml

http://www.lmcruises.com.au/ Fun in the water!!! Cruises leave from 1770 daily

http://www.bargaradive.com/popups/placeinfo_mon-repos/fs.htm Our local turtles - Mon Repos is just south of Bundaberg, BUT they come up and nest on the beaches just near our property.

Our Home........Just a few weeks in!!!!

A view from the loungeroom towards the dining and guest rooms. Check out our new lights and fan! Ray's handywork and they even work!
Our teak dining suite now has pride of place in a room that encourages usage. Floors, walls, ceilings have now been painted...we chose white for the walls and ceilings as it creates light and space - particularly considering we are solar powered.







Open plan again ... our loungeroom has the centrepiece of the projector... check out the ceiling!
It took us a day on the roof, in blistering heat, sweating our stingers out, lifting roof iron and running cables. As you could imagine...it didn't all run smoothly - we aren't your typical tradesmen, but we achieved the desired result ... even if it took all day. Have you noticed the finished plastering and painted surfaces?





Our Bedroom. The wardrobes are presently in place where built-ins will eventually be constructed. Very open plan at the moment; however we have plans to temporarily close off the bedroom from the loungeroom ... you will just have to wait and see. This structure has to be temporary as we can watch our TV projected onto the loungeroom wall ... from bed...luxury!

Our place thus far !!!!!!

Ok work in progress. This resembles a grave at this stage but will soon transform into a indoor water feature, complete with water fall and quartz from the near by mine. (Below Left)


Here is the view from the entertainment area....above.....
We have planted a few palms since this was taken....
Trying to create a natural cooling canopy.


Check out the retaining walls.....
We built them from our own timber, milled on the property. They have been painted in Diesel oil to protect against termites.....
I just love oil paintings.....









Our front yard.... When we moved the whole area was over grown and very attractive to snakes..As you can see this is no longer..... We have managed a few relaxing evenings with a couple of beers here.



Check out the Triangular palm we found by accident...

Our first few Days

Well life over the last week or so has been interesting to say the least......


Mid 30's sunny bit humid but very lovely.. We experienced a few tropical showers/storms not long after arriving and yes it buckets down

Unpacking,realising we have way too much stuff and not enough draws to hide any of it...but do not fear we have built shelving in the shed to accommodate all the unpacked boxes.....
.
Digging veggie patches

Moving logs, palm leaves off the existing gardens and general weeding to reduce the risk of snakes..

Lots of mowing and loads more to do...

We have been spraying numerous weeds...... Glennie looks the part, tank backpack on, stubbie shorts, singlet and blundstones all with the very large straw billabong hat.. looks a bit like a cross between out back Aussie meets rice growing Asian...

We have even built a retaining wall out the back ,looks a bit rustic but hey not bad for a first attempt.. I have just finished painting the whole thing with diesel sump oil..(probably as close as I will ever get to a designer brand out here )

We have also installed a security/screen door... OK we have had to add a new concrete step as there was a bit of a gap.

The good news is that I will be working at the local bottleshop next week. The Tavern has had some council problems and will be delayed for another 3 months but I have the job when it finally happens and yes the building is looking much better with the recent renovations. We went down on Sat night for dinner, good country tucker, large meals, salad Pizza.mmm

Glennie has been working at the real estate and will be filling in while the office person is on holidays then he will start to do his real estate course early next year...

I must say the medical emergency kit has become very handy especially the rash cream....
The heat has gotten to Glennie just a little..

This place is lovely we bought a above ground pool very relaxing
the only problem being that there was not enough sand placed underneath, the pool seemed to lean on one side, being the inflatable plastic style it ended up more oval then round. I dived in and almost went out the other side.. yes correct the whole side collapsed with the wave I created that was two days ago and since has been used as a wading pool. There are plans this afternoon to correct the problems and refill... so another two days to fill the pool...mmmm

You will be glad to know that we have had a few fires YAHOOOOOO (just to get rid of the garden rubbish of course) Although I am still not allowed to have matches or a cig lighter it was great fun..(Glennie had control of the fire starters). Dancing around the fire with hose in tow.... Love a good back burn!!!!

Friday night we arrived a few locals came over for a welcome drink. Lights, Stereo and with numerous electrical appliances operating, our solar rand out. Off to the generator room Glen and the other two local blokes went.. 20 minutes passed and still no power. We went to bed that night with candles......so much for the butch ones


Well this has been the first few days lots more to come I am sure

Bye for now
Ray and Glen