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.
Our last trip saw poor Patty our Patrol loose both Brakes and a Wheel Bearing on 2 separate days; leaving her completely immobile. So after a few hours last weekend; of pulling the entire wheel and numerous parts off Patty, they came home in Johnnys car to be repaired or replaced.
Now here we are on a return trip to get the big girl mobile and to bring her home.
Carrying just the basics for camping and with the camper in tow, we had a swag of parts and tools to replace both wheel bearins on the front Left and Right. Both boys had been shopping all week to get replacement parts.
We arrived at 6pm and had the Camper set up within minutes. Johnny set up his new rifle and the boys fired off a few rounds while I cooked sausages for dinner.
After a couple JD’s and some talking shit we had a relaxing evening in a mild wind and the moon in its half moon phase.
Sunday
Up at 730am for coffees and ready to fix Patty.
The herd of sheep had congregated around our campsite grazing as they passed. Not bothered by our presence.
At about 930 I had Johnnys awesome Bushnell Binoculars and was watching some small birds making their way in and out of a hollow in a tree. I then thought to look for the spotted lizard who lives in a nearby rock crevasse, who we have fondly named Spot, but couldn’t get a clear view of his cavern. I moved closer to where he hides but found another resident in the neighbouring rock that nade me want to run…. An adult Brown Snake, disturbed by me, raised the front half of its body into the air to rush into a large crevasse in the rock. I called “Brown Snake, Brown Snake” but the boys were too far away. Chris saw me waving and came down with a shovel. The snake had already gone but we waited to see if it was coming out the otherside. Lucky for him he was not sighted again. Johnny got his .22 ready in case of an encore appearance. Normally snakes wouldn’t bother me but this one was 5m from our camp and in our common walkway. It is refreshing to know they try to escape before you even see them. If they weren’t the 2nd most deadliest snake in the world, I would go as far to say it was a beautiful majestic creature.
I had intention to take my GoPro out on the quad but the Quad bike didn’t want to play today. The boys played around with it and managed to start the bike. I was over the moon! Refitted my camera and new FOX goggles to my helmet and went for a 15 minute spin. The goggles were amazingly clear and kept out all the dust and sweat. Highly recommended! FOX AIRSPC
My ride lasted 15 minutes but didn’t get up to the otherside entirely. Just testing out the camera positioning to make sure I don’t film 30 minutes of half the side of my helmet like I did last time!
I reviewed the footage on my phone and it didn’t look too bad. Upgraded the camera SD storage to a 16GB card as you can never have enough storage!!
Cooked the boys Bacon and Egg sandwiches for Brunch. Butchers Bacon is the best, tastes like BBQ’d Ham!
Patty Progress
Left side assembled
Right side underway!
We cracked our first beers at 4pm after discovering the brake caliper on the right would need to be replaced. Hairline cracks, evident heat stress and abnormal wear. The brake pads were fitted all the same so it will be a slow trip home.
After a quick pack up we begun to leave just before 9pm. Our neighbour John was on his property and rode to meet us. We went and met the rest of his family who were very friendly. We told them about random shooters coming onto their property late at night and firing off rounds. They must know people have been coming onto their property when absent as they told us we are now locking the gate and offered us a set of keys. We were really happy with this decision!
During the trip home, we had Kangaroos in abundance hopping in front of the car. We had one pod that wouldn’t let us past! They just stayed in front of the cars! One managed to bounce into Johnnys car after he stopped, no harm done to either party except Johnnys light now looked into the sky!
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!
Its pays off to be sharp when looking for bits to build a cabin.
And this week I managed to secure a Lido Oven/Grill/Cooktop for free from a lovely fellow who stripped it from a caravan he is renovating. I have often preferred Caravan ovens as they have the lid that fold down so you don’t lose bench space in small kitchens, plus noone uses their oven in a Caravan! One of the most underused appliances in the caravan world. The oven needs a costmetic clean but otherwise spotless and sparkling. It also came with a small rangehood but thats a whole other story.
Since our shed/cabin is planned for 10a non habitable outbuilding, a kitchen throws it back into the “Habitable” category unless it becomes a kitchenette. Pays to research a little!
Probably the last time I’ll see Amaroo this year so delivered some Christmas presents being 2 x 1000Lt IBC’s for greywater catchment. We were hoping to have a motor bike ride but the rain just came down too hard!
Better luck next time!
The tarp we covered the shed floor with was still in place but ripped all over. We re-secured it and tried to drain off the water pooling on it but we just kept getting more rain!
The down pipe off the gutter had fallen off and we missed the mornings downpour of rain. Its back in place now and awaiting PVC cement to secure it permanently when the other tanks are installed.
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.
Thursday
This trip was going to be a slow trip down.
Both cars loaded with trailers and ute backs filled to the brim and beyond.
We left at 2:40pm and the slow drive took 3hrs and 20mins so not as bad as we thought. Loaded with 1/2tonne concrete mix, a water tank, ride on mower and shelving for the container.
We unloaded as soon as we got there and finally were ae to rest just after 830pm. The wind was howling through the valley and really tested out the camper trailer. We struggled setting up an outdoor ensuite for the shower and portaloo and came to the conclusion it wasn’t build for any sort of wind. Meanwhile chris did manage a nice hot shower and came out pleased.
Through the night the wind picked up worse than we have seen, we had to get out of bed to check nothing was blowing away! All was secure and slept soundly until 7:15am.
Friday
We woke up to a warm day with very little breeze. We soon realised we had forgotten milk to make coffee and no bacon for breakfast either! The local servo opens at 9am so with a small wait on our hands, Chris decided to mow our immediate camp area and I had a look at some of the sections of fence that need repairs. I needed some plain wire to be strained along the bottom so there wasn’t much I can do today. I relaxed under our camper awning while Chris enjoyed his mowing time.
After a late breakfast and coffee, Chris mowed a new walking path down to the dam and then the waterfall.
I drove the Colorado to the waterfall, due to the steep descent down to the lowest level, there was a possibility we would need assistance getting the ride-on back up. We cleared a lot of the loose rocks and sticks to create a less bumpy track down and the Ride-on made it no hassles. The waterfall needs a lot of work with weeds, Thistle mostly and some Patinsons Curse. Unfortunately it wasn’t our property in spring and wasn’t yet our responsibility to conduct weed control so the problem was too big when the land finally changed hands.
Chris made a huge dent in the weeds with the mower but the mower decided she’d had enough for the day! The main cutter bearing seems to have broke.
Back at camp we enjoyed some lollies, Pepsi and a cool breeze! Our local Wedge Tail Eagles were out circling above us today. They are just magnificent! I wish I could get a closer photo of them!
We relaxed all afternoon until we got another burst of energy and Chris started tinkering with the Quad bike that broke down last time. He worked his magic and fixed the earth issue.
Meanwhile I headed off to do some weed control. I bought Yates Tree Killer and a Continuous Spray pack to tackle a huge bush Blackberry Bush in our immediate campsite. I admired a hole I dug last trip for our Bio-waste and continued my trip around the Blackberry bush counter-clockwise. I unloaded 5L of Weed Killer on the bush. As I came back around to the hole I had dug I glanced down and saw a Brown Snake!! OMFG I ran away so fast. Chris saw me running as I was yelling snake! We both agreed it was bound to happen sooner or later! It was a Juvenile but only 1/2 metre from where I was standing. Our friend Johnny uses that tree for a bush dunny so I have kindly informed him to pick another tree. I found a new area for digging Bio-waste into and have resolved to not go near that bush again, and upgrade my choice of farm footwear!
Johnny arrived that night about 6pm and showed us his new guns. We all love target shooting so he bought along some home made posts to put at specific ranges. Around 8pm our neighbour came over and said Hello with his yound bloke. His name was John and he bought the property that our access runs through. He was a quiet fella or didn’t know how to take us, especially with Johnny standing there with a 12 gauge shotgun. He told us of his plans to build a house on his land and spoke of sheep on our properties. He left after a long chat and informed us where he was camping with most his family.
Saturday
Up at 7am to start the guttering on the carport. It was going to need a few modifications due to the supports in place.
Johnny worked away on the carport while Chris tinkered with the targets.
The temperature rose quick and the flys became a nuisance. But nonetheless the boys worked endlessly.
With the water tank in place, it was on a terrible lean. Chris took to the challenge and dug out some earth to flatten it. Turned out a treat. The carport still needs flashing attached then its done.
I left at 12 while the boys stayed on. It was a nice quiet drive back but for some reason the Engine light on the Colorado decided to switch itself on. Colin the Colorado has bever failed to get me home and again proved to be a good workhorse.
