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.
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 ScreeningChris 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.
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.
