Cabin Build Pt5: Roof sheeting and strength

It has been a busy week preparing for this weekend. Ordering and taking deliveries at various outlets.
Big shout out to Stratco Campbelltown and Best Sheds Narellan for getting everything at short notice!

<strong>26th February 2016</strong>
We left of a friday afternoon, fully loaded as usual! It took 2 forklifts to put the roof sheeting on the Rodeo while Chris strapped the roof capping and flashings to the boat carrier on the camper.

We took a slow drive to the farm only stopping at McDonald's Suttons Forest for a bite to eat.

We arrived with minimal daylight and set up in ample time.

<strong>Saturday 27th February 2016</strong>
Up at 730am to coffee and making a start on the battens.

Roof sheeting started later in the day, dodging wind gusts to play it safe.

We had our first dinner in the house with just a partial roof which consisted of Chicken, Mayo and Lettuce rolls. Washed it down with a Somersby Pear Cider. Talking shit about the cabin name and other random stuff, we thought that the farm should be named "World's End" instead of "Amaroo", largely because; the property is beautiful and all but everytime we come here, something happens that we seem to attract either an unusual weather pattern or anything else that seem to make us think we cheated death! (Brown snakes, tornadoes, snow, getting bogged, severe heat, wolf spiders, giant rare huntmen spiders, golf ball sized hail, wasp stings and did I mention snakes?)
We watched the satellites and shooting stars pass over until about 930pm when it was time to head to Wyangala Waters for a well deserved shower!

We were all asleep by midnight!

<strong>Sunday 28th February 2016</strong>
Sleep in!!
Woke up at 830am which is something that never happens!
Back into roof sheeting by 930am and another hot day ensues!

Managed to get all the wall strapping on, the roof sheets of one side of the roof, all battens cut and ready to install.

It was a slow progress day but the heat was a struggle and safety first when handling 6m long sheets of corrugated steel in high wind gusts.
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We finished working at about 7pm but still had to pull 21 x 8m sheets of wall sheets off Juniors roof. Heavy as they were we were lucky the wind died down to allow the boys to safely relocate them.

We left the farm about 9pm and arrived at Goulburn at 1040pm. And in all the Km's we have clocked up on our travels, the wildlife we have dodged, the sleepy truck drivers we have avoided, it was while we were parked at a Service station when the damage happened. A P-Plater reversed into poor Junior while Johnny was refueling. Smashed his light bar across the top and luckily avoided a bump from the tow bar.

Arrived home at 1230am. Stuffed from a big weekend!
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Cabin Build Pt5: Roof Sheeting

First delivery arrived from Stratco Campbelltown, flashing and gutters in Deep Ocean Blue. Chris [and Johnny have spent the week calling and organising sheets, windows, doors, screws and everything else required for the upcoming build days. It was predicted to be a 40 degree day on the Thursday so we cut the trip short to avoid the heat.

Day Trip: 2nd February 2016

Completed a quick day trip to drop off 2 new 5000Lt water tanks. Chris finished as much of the deck as he can and also installed galvanized strapping to strengthen the roof trusses to the walls.

Cabin Build Pt4: Internal Walls and Deck

Since we couldn’t get the roof sheeting on last week due to poor weather, we returned to complete the task. However the wind speed was too high and just plain unsafe so we confirmed the internal wall placement, sliding door cavities, location of fireplace while Chris continued the mammoth task of completing the deck.

Friday 29th January 2016
We arrived at 9pm to a cold wind but managed to get all our tents up and pegged down. It had rained 22mm earlier in the day but the ground was still firm. The wind soon died down not long after arrival.

Saturday 30th January 2016
A day we won’t forget in a hurry….The day started like any normal day. Woken by sheep in the early hours, multiple coffees, brekky, talk shit and work as usual. It was a very warm morning not unlike previous summer days. Simone and I went for a walk to the dam looking for turtles but found something else.

At around 1230pm Simone and I left the property to get some ice from the service station and some chocolate bars. We turned the first corner and was met with black clouds. We hadn’t received a storm alert on the Weatherzone App but felt we needed to urgently return once we got ice. After our transaction I said to Simone “I think we need to hurry back and beat the storm”, the sky was angry!
On the 3km route, we were met by carnage, huge chunks of hail, storming wind and flying trees. I immediately put my hazard lights on and drove 30km/hr max! I pulled into our unsealed road but decided to park in an open section, the trees were swaying in the wind and were too dangerous to approach. Once the wind died we slowly made our way to our front gate. Huge chunks of hail covered the ground and our valley had been hit quite hard.

We drove down to the campsite where the boys were having drinks. They were ok thankfully and shot off a few target rounds while the storm passed.

Johnny installed my rain water guage on a post for me and we were lucky to be able to test it out almost immediately as another rain cloud passed.

We had our ice creams and chocolate bars and all went back to work. Simone and I had our went back to the Camper trailer for cold drinks and sit down and talk while the boys worked on their different sections of the cabin.

The sky had been looking cranky all afternoon up until about 2pm… when all hell broke loose. Simone and I were taking shelter in the Camper trailer awning constantly pushing large amounts of rain water and hail pooling off the roof. It was a calm storm at this point with just heavy rainfall and mild wind. When all of a sudden one of the annexe sidewalls blew out and was flapping around. The trailer door flung open and was flapping in the breeze, the other annexe wall flew up and I watched the poles turn into deadly spears. I launched myself at the left side wall to stop it blowing away eventually wrapping myself in it but my hat blew off and I started getting hit in the head with hail. Simone ran for help but the rest of the camper was picked up and demolished. I cut my losses and ran, I knew we couldn’t do anything more against this storm. I caught up to Simone and said “lets get under the cabin”. But as we crawled under the wind was howling through so hard the hail was like bullets. Sideways rain and hail! Our heads were protected by the bearers and lucky so because the wind tore pieces of rock off the boulders and flung them in the wind. I could see the boys under the carport which only has overhead protection. They were holding onto the metal sheets on the trailer as they had been unstrapped to install on the roof. As soon as I felt a break in the wind I told Simone we will make a run for the container, and just like that the break came and we bolted. I heard the boys saying something but I just kept running. I had to reef the container door open because the boys had closed it with the impending storm. Simone ran in with the Nail Gun and we were both drenched. Seconds later, Chris appears at the door yelling “first aid, first aid”, one of the steel sheets blew up and came down on Johnnys wrist, he had a purple golf ball injury on his right wrist. We fixed it with a trauma bandage then waited out the storm.

At 220pm we were finally able to leave the container and the sun had appeared down the bottom of the hill. Water was flowing over every surface of the property. Besides Johnnys wrist the only other casualty was our camper trailer…. Picked up and twisted and moved 4ft from its original place. A wheel lock the only mechanism that stopped it going further. The Waeco was wet through, everything had blown over, the bin tipped sending all our rubbish to as far as our gate.
We reset up the camper to find it was completely dry inside. However the main support struts were bent 45 degrees and the poles went through the canvas and flyscreens. We had a torn zipper on the feont window and the electrical junction box was smashed when the tailgate swung. We have been so meticulous with our canvas it was disheartening to see the damage.

Both boys were in the open during the storm and their arms resulted in huge red welts similar to a paintball gun. Chris’ shirt saved some of his skin but Johnny only has a singlet shirt and took the full force.

After fixing everything the best we could, Chris and Johnny went back to work. At about 4pm another gust picked up and blew the awning up over the camper. The ground was far too soft for the pegs to hold anything down, so we made the decision to pack it up and sleep in the Swag.
Dinner was cooked in the container as another storm approached. I was somewhat worried that the Swag wouldn’t hold out the water as it hadn’t been seasoned, so I grabbed out the bedding and threw it in the car. Good decision because water trickled into the swag. Hopefully it has had its first season however I will still be seasoning it again and adding some Scotchguard water repellent.

Chris and I slept in the car. I was surprisingly comfortable but Chris took the front passenger seat and I don’t think he had the best sleep ever.

Sunday 31st January 2016
Up at 730am for Coffees and a beautiful clear day. The storm took out the Optus network tower so we were unable to monitor the weather. Our neighbour who didn’t fare to well in the storm appears to have gone home overnight.

So our weekend progress looked like this:
It was definitely unsafe to be putting any roof sheets on this weekend but always other jobs we can complete.
Internal Walls in place, they will have sliding cavity doors to maximise space. Bedroom dividing wall still needs to be installed.

Chris has nearly finished the deck, he ran short of screws even after we all went for a search in the grass to locate more.

After the weekend, we are considering window protection for the main door and windows. Plus enclosing the deck railings – the original plan was stainless steel but now its looking like wood pickets or the like.

The cabin name: Worldsend, has become more appropriate than ever. I must say, while clinging on for life under the cabin, it did not creak, move or shudder at any point.
The local SES told us that we were hit by a Supercell and they don’t come around too often so hopefully we have seen the worst case scenario weatherwise and can make our changes to suit the conditions.

Driving home we saw the carnage left by the storm. Trees down and the vegetation blown off the hills. The grass had been flattened where the storm passed.

Creeks were full and flowing.

Hills bared of pasture

Cabin Build Pt3: Roof Trusses

Friday 22nd January 2016

So here is poor ol’ Junior loaded up to the hilt at Bunnings Goulburn getting ready to tow another load of wood to the farm. The weather is torrential rain with over 30mm in the 3 days including and prior to today. Pouring rain through Crookwell and slippery through the unsealed roads around Reids Flat and Wyangala.

I got a msg from Chris at 5pm telling me to be super careful on the roads as they were boggy. The boys found themselves with traction issues on the driveway up to our first gate ao I’ve made the decision to head in the long way tomorrow through Boorowa. Sealed roads the whole way!

I spent my Friday night packing my luggage bag and Colin the Colorado. I bought 6 slabs of water on special at Woolies plus Chris bought 2 also. Esky of drinks, 2 Deep Ocean coloured Whirlbirds for the cabin roof plus the plants and shovel for screening.

Saturday 23rd January 2016

I arrived shortly after 9am and the fellas were already up and well into their workload.

Bottlebrush screen planted out and four roof trusses complete. All timbers for trusses cut to size.

Dawsons River Weepers – Callistemon Screening

Chris had his workload cut out for him!

The first truss being assembled

Sunday 24th January 2016

I accidentally left my phone outside the camper with the alarm activated for 5am. So an early morning it was! I made everyone coffees and managed to see the planetary alignment. Couldn’t get a photo as it wouldn’t show on a phone camera but here’s what happened:

During the morning Chris and I went to Bunnings Cowra to get a lot more gang nails, brackets and nails, surprise surprise they didn’t have half of what we wanted! Managed to make do with bits and pieces.

The rest of the day was spent assembling trusses while Chris made a good start on the deck.

Monday 25th January 2016

Monday just wasn’t a great day, no one was feeling it, it was just a hot humid flat day. We were all so flat that when we sat to eat at 3pm, we decided to go for a 4wd tour over to the treacherous side of the property. Turned out to be one of the most fun things we have done yet!

Tuesday 26th January 2016

Happy Australia Day!!

The last of the roof trusses were assembled and erected by 5pm, the weather was coming over dark and we had received a storm warning. Thankfully a very small amount fell but the wind was picking up everytime we wanted to install another truss. We just needed one more day to get the insulation and roof sheeting on but it wasn’t going to be today. Finished installing the trusses but the decking is 1/3 of the way through.

We left during the evening whilst still somewhat light, minimal wildlife on the road this time around.

Cabin Build Pt2: Walls

Friday 8th January 2016

Another morning up early and ready to go. Alarms were set for 330am but the reality of getting up hit at 4am. Quick coffee and we were off. Chris and John spent part of Thursday getting the required timber for the project and boys had the worst experiences at different Bunnings outlets they probably deserve their own post. So to keep this entry positive we will move along!

We have got our camper packing down pat; specific bags of towels, toiletries and luggage pre packed makes life easy and we never seem to forget anything anymore. We can pay better attention to packing good food and being organised in general.

We left our home at 445am through a foggy cool morning, in our area this means the day will be hot! The sky was already turning a light blue with a brilliant remnant of stars.

We arrived at Amaroo about 830am, had a breakfast stop at McDonald’s Goulburn. The sky was clear, the grass slightly green and sheep not as abundant as previous visits.
Unpacked and Camper set up by 9.

The boys worked on the wall timbers while I went for a walk down to the Gorge. The Summer heat has killed off a lot of the thistle but St Johns Wort still covered the far hills like a yellow carpet.
No wildlife spotted but it was just too hot in the sun.

We spotted a man on a motorbike in our neighboring property rounding up a herd of sheep. He approached us later and introduced himself as Anthony, he was a Kiwi. He told us he was removing the sheep back to their paddocks and giving us new sheep and will be here herding up the rest while the sheep owner fixes the fences.
Damien, our neighbor and owner of the sheep, came along later and told us about how he had been fixing our fences for us. He was much appreciative that we permitted him to use our land in exchange for fence repairs and weed spraying. We were just happy the pasture will be grazed to reduce fire hazard. The neighboring property owner who organised the agistment doesn’t have a drop of water in his dam. I really don’t think he knew it will dry out so quickly in the summer. We have 3 springs a creek and a Dam, now the water tanks. We didn’t know we had springs until we got bogged in one and probably ruined the direction of flow.

Damien told us he had spent 2 days fighting a fire just near our boundary. He told us the neighbor had accidentally forgot to completely extinguish his camp fire resulting in the fire escaping and travelling up the hill. Firies were called and an aircraft had to drop fire retardant on it from the air. This fire which we thought was at the other end of our road, was actually just off our boundary! Very scary but marvelous work to the RFS!

So Day 1 looked like this:

One wall assembled and ready to be put up in day 2. All the timbers cut to size. Veranda beam placed in holes.
A lot of ground work today.

Saturday 9th January 2016

Up early to complete the walls. I headed into Cowra to reload on munchies, drinks and to get a birthday cake. On the way back the brakes on the Patrol failed but managed to safely get myself back in one piece.

Managed to go for a Quad ride with my Go Pro. Was testing it out so the footage wasn’t great. Did managed to find some decent new views.

Cooked a campfire feast for Chris and Josh’s birthday today. Poor Man’s Stew. Will try and remember what I put in it but Poor Man’s Stew is generally created from what you have lying around.
Utilized the vented door on the Oz pig, it is designed to have a contained fire with no sparks escaping.

Ozpig never fails!

Saturdays progress went well. 2 walls up and posts for the deck concreted in.
There will be 5 windows and one large sliding glass door.
We finished the night with stew, and a birthday mudcake for the boys!

Sunday 10th January 2015

A very hot morning and struggling with the heat by 9am. The boys were up at it while Josh and I went for a walk downhill. I normally wear a flannelette shirt to protect from the sun but it was just too hot. Shorts and singlet shirt day. I’m staying in the shade!

At about 11am I ventured out in Patty the Patrol to get another few bags of ice. Sure enough the brakes are failing but the gear ratios are low enough to be able to bring the car to a stop with the park brake. As I got out onto the road, more noises started. Long story short, I managed to make it back to the farm with 2 bags of ice, a loaf of bread and a severely bust front wheel bearing steaming and red hot! The steering was shocking and the realization of how serious the incident was happened as I tried to make a turn left down a hill, no brake and no steering and all I saw was the ground falling away and the car not responding to the controls. The Patrol needed a full turn of the steering wheel before anything would register.
This car won’t be going anywhere until it is fixed! Chris was pissed but I was just glad I was safe.
At least we now had cold drinks! Chris wanted a Mars Bar but I forgot it!

The boys worked tirelessly to get all 4 walls up and make the foundations of the deck. It is truly taking shape. Josh set up the shelves in the Container to organise all the bits and pieces we now had stored there. Next steps will be to erect the roof trusses and sheeting, finish the deck, and build the staircase up.

At about 830pm, we pulled the front bearing off the Patrol to take back home and get replacement parts. It was a nightmare! Molten metal and seized parts. We went with Plan B and removed the entire wheel section.

We traveled home in Johnny car Junior, he towed our camper home for us. We left not much before 10pm and were finally having a shower at 145am. I think I slept most of the way but heard much commentary around the wildlife trekking across the road.

Its weekends like these that give you lifelong stories to tell!

GoPro Footage – Cabin

Cabin Build Pt1: Floor

Day 1 & 2 – 10th & 11th December 2015

After weeks of Johnny and Chris planning, drawing and quoting, today was the day the first sod of soil will be turned for the construction of our cabin. We were finally set on plans so the boys headed own today for 5 days of cabin building pleasure!

They left late Thursday with the first load of timber and still managed to get some bits done with a late arrival.

A Dingo was hired to drill the holes for the posts, Chris tried his hand at smoothing out the bumps in out driveway but instead created speed humps!

Lots of H4 posts were added to support the floor that was to be installed. The shed is on piers as to not interrupt the natural water course of the slope.

Day 3 – 12th December 2015
The boys set the rest of the posts in shallow concrete in their final place and the rest of the concrete will be made in bulk with the Cement Mixer Friday. 35 bags of 40kg Cement Mix had been transported down over the last 2 trips.

Plus we had to make the landing pad for tbe stair case up to the shed entry.

End of Day 3 and the fellas got this far. Posts and bearers in place. Tomorrow is for the joists. Unfortunately we didn’t have all the materials needed to finish so a trip into town first thing for another delivery of material.

Day 4 – 12th December 2015
Our original plan was to shoot into Young Mitre 10 but had to stop in Cowra first to return the cement mixer. After a quick shop at Bunnings Cowra, the service attendant kindly informed us another Bunnings in nearby Forbes had all the materials on our list. So Young was scrapped and we were off to Forbes!

It only took an hour to get to Forbes and were heading back to Cowra before long. We were gone 4hrs in total and Johnny had done an amazing amount of work on the joists and was already halfway through.

Chris jumped on the Saw and starting making the fittings between the joists.
Before long we were ready to fit Yellow Tongue flooring.

Day 5 – 14th December 2015
Today was the last day of our stay so needed to incorporate Camp pack up as well as tool pack up and wrap our floor structure to keep it safe from the weather.

It didn’t take long to do the rest of the sheets of Yellow Tongue, and Johnny put braces in place between the timber piers.

The wind was picking up so had to quickly get a tarp over the top. The tarp was 11m x 11m but covered the floor nicely. Needed some serious anchoring due to the winds we get through here.

End of Day 5; short but productive day. Next will be a deck on the front which will also incorporate a staircase.

Day Trip 25th October 2015

Today we travelled down to organise the layout of our container, cabin and get some plans underway to build.

We met up with our friends at the State Park who had stayed the weekend fishing and then all made our way to the property.

Simon, Sacha and Daniel with Johnny, Simone and Caitlyn were all welcomed to our retreat.

The grass had not grown any longer and had finished seeding. The driveway we wore in was still visible in the pasture but no sightings of the sheep who had been left behind!

We went for a walk fown to the waterfall while Simon and Daniel went to the dam. Simon saw turtles in the dam while we all saw a Kangaroo.
I showed Simon the caves at the Valley then heard rustling across the creek. We went to investigate and we caught a glimpse of a something best desfribed as a ferret-like, red fur, spotted tail. It was not a fox or cat but quite possibly a Quoll. It disappeared into a small cave then never saw a sighting again.

We returned to the cars and indulged in our first beer we've had on the property. I enjoyed this moment right up until something crawled up my jeans and stung my leg! Twice! The burning pain was uncomfortable and started losing the ability to bend my knee as it swelled. I iced it but it hurt for another 5 hours after!

We drew up cabin plans and measured out the space. The enclosed cabin will be 8m x 8m with a deck that will expand the structure to a total of 12m x 10m. I am hoping to use recycled windows and doors to keep the cost low but be able to house 2 or 3 families comfortably.

We locked the gate for the first time as we left with our new chain and padlock.