Evening all,
We seem to be in a weather loop. The conditions here are just about the same as when we first arrived. The ground is a bit wetter and the sun is shining.
I started pretty early for me (830). Feed the animals and then finish off the second window frame so Susan could continue the varnishing. She let the chickens out today into the green grassy area as distinct from their own run which is denuded of all greenery apart from some tall weeds and rushes. They enjoyed it although I had to chase the dog off a couple of times. Fortunately she ran off up the street when Susan came back from the shop and reappeared about 3 hours later (she does this regularly) covered in mud of course.
It was then onto finishing the eternal wire twisting tying the top plates to the rafters. Susan toodled into town and did the grocery shopping, visited the chemist and picked up coffees. She spent time in the house cleaning out the pantry. There is a goodly cockroach population here which of course makes her skin crawl. I was called upon to despatch a mouse that was only caught by the foot in the trap.
I managed to reassemble the electric fence and remount the controller. I was unpleasantly close to the pig in it's pen while I was restringing the tape. It was grunting and carrying on next to my hands with white saliva coming from its mouth, quite unnerving. The controller works but it looks like there is a lot of earth leakage since I could get sparks from the earth clip with each pulse. The insulators are pretty rickety so further investigations are required.
Tomorrow is a day off. Susan is dismayed at the disarray in the tent so I have suggested first job tomorrow is to tidy up. Then we will head to Iluka to have a look around. If we return in time I will do some waterproofing of the canvas.
We are getting closer to having the hay bale extension up to the render stage. Before it is rendered it is vulnerable to moisture so if rain looks likely the plastic has to be remounted. If it gets wet it has to be pulled apart and down the drain goes all our labour. I'll be glad when the wire is on and the rendering is under way.
Fingers crossed
night folks
cheers Simon
Day 22 Gulmarrad Friday 29th June 2012
Evening all,
The weather is slowly improving. The odd shower early and misty drizzle. Mind you the track we drive the car up is looking decidedly ordinary.
Today we started building the window frames. It all went pretty well. I managed to only cut one piece of wood to the wrong size. As usual we didn't get as much done as we anticipated although to be fair there was a fair bit of measuring beforehand plus we had to pull the wood out of the pile. The pieces of wood for the frames are fairly hefty 140mm * 42-47mm. Will be interesting lifting them up into position although after the top plates everything else will feel like balsa wood.
Today's downer was Susan driving off in the Pajero with the extension cord plugged in to the inverter in the car (power was off) with the back door closed. The other end was firmly held in the box in the camper. The cord broke and the 240V socket was pulled out of the inverter. I had been using the 2nd battery in the car to power the laptops since we didn't know when the sun was going to shine to recharge the camper battery. I threw the broken cord away since it had been well and truly stretched and there was no telling what other unseen damage it might have. Pity it was just about brand new. Susan bought a new one and I araldited the socket back into the inverter. All fixed apart from the allocation of blame of course.
With a good drying day tomorrow I will do the water sealing of the camper. We have a fair few towels and an old sheet to wash and dry from our mopping up so hopefully by Sunday things will be back to normal.
One item i forgot yesterday was the number of scripts waiting to be filled and the number processed ready to go behind the counter in the pharmacy in Maclean which is not an overly large town. Carl's answer was that since Ballina became yuppified Maclean is now gods waiting room in this area.
Night folks
cheers Simon
The weather is slowly improving. The odd shower early and misty drizzle. Mind you the track we drive the car up is looking decidedly ordinary.
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| Not much to show for a days work really. 1.5 window frames |
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| One goes up on top of the top plate. Have to take the straw down first though. |
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| Working so fast I am a blur. |
Today's downer was Susan driving off in the Pajero with the extension cord plugged in to the inverter in the car (power was off) with the back door closed. The other end was firmly held in the box in the camper. The cord broke and the 240V socket was pulled out of the inverter. I had been using the 2nd battery in the car to power the laptops since we didn't know when the sun was going to shine to recharge the camper battery. I threw the broken cord away since it had been well and truly stretched and there was no telling what other unseen damage it might have. Pity it was just about brand new. Susan bought a new one and I araldited the socket back into the inverter. All fixed apart from the allocation of blame of course.
With a good drying day tomorrow I will do the water sealing of the camper. We have a fair few towels and an old sheet to wash and dry from our mopping up so hopefully by Sunday things will be back to normal.
One item i forgot yesterday was the number of scripts waiting to be filled and the number processed ready to go behind the counter in the pharmacy in Maclean which is not an overly large town. Carl's answer was that since Ballina became yuppified Maclean is now gods waiting room in this area.
Night folks
cheers Simon
Day 21 Gulmarrad Thursday 28th June 2012
Hi folks,
We are going to have to grow webbed feet. By my reckoning it has rained for 36 hours straight. Fortunately we are now into showers. We awoke this morning after hearing the rain fall constantly all night. By the nearest reckoning we have had around 100mm since it started.
I looked out the door this morning to see we were cut off from the house by a stream via our normal route. The reason being the little dam had overflowed it's wall with the 4 " storm water pipe being unable to cope with the run off.
We have found the constant wetness quite wearying. However whilst it is showering as I type this things are looking better. We need a sunny day to dry the moisture from inside the canvas and outside for that matter. We are still mopping up water coming through our door and the edge of the bottom sleeping bag once again has a damp spot. However given the amount of rain I am pretty happy with the way the canvas has held up. Plus I have my seam sealer and waterproofing compound to apply with gay abandon once we have some sun. It's a pity we don't have an electric blow heater. I would run an extension lead to the house and have it roaring away to dry us out.
The weather made things difficult today. Susan did some tidying and cleaning inside. After I slugged through the mud to feed the critters I spent the day twisting up wire ties and ended up installing 15 at least partially, since I couldn't remove the plastic to complete the job. Tomorrow finish installing and tensioning th ties and make the window frames.
Carl sent me up the back into the badlands to have a look at the swale that catches water and feeds it to the dam to see if I could divert it around the dam since the water flowing down the yard was overflow over the bank. I couldn't make head or tail of it in the dense undergrowth except for where water seemingly bubbled out of a pipe in the ground to feed the dam. In my travels I thought I saw something around the 4" overflow pipe inlet. I fished around with my shovel and found a tortoise. It had apparently become stuck in the opening due to the suction. I placed it away from the pipe on the edge of the pond. It was a bit tired. The water rushed out faster and as the rain decreased the flood subsided.
Night all
Simon
We are going to have to grow webbed feet. By my reckoning it has rained for 36 hours straight. Fortunately we are now into showers. We awoke this morning after hearing the rain fall constantly all night. By the nearest reckoning we have had around 100mm since it started.
I looked out the door this morning to see we were cut off from the house by a stream via our normal route. The reason being the little dam had overflowed it's wall with the 4 " storm water pipe being unable to cope with the run off.
We have found the constant wetness quite wearying. However whilst it is showering as I type this things are looking better. We need a sunny day to dry the moisture from inside the canvas and outside for that matter. We are still mopping up water coming through our door and the edge of the bottom sleeping bag once again has a damp spot. However given the amount of rain I am pretty happy with the way the canvas has held up. Plus I have my seam sealer and waterproofing compound to apply with gay abandon once we have some sun. It's a pity we don't have an electric blow heater. I would run an extension lead to the house and have it roaring away to dry us out.
The weather made things difficult today. Susan did some tidying and cleaning inside. After I slugged through the mud to feed the critters I spent the day twisting up wire ties and ended up installing 15 at least partially, since I couldn't remove the plastic to complete the job. Tomorrow finish installing and tensioning th ties and make the window frames.
Carl sent me up the back into the badlands to have a look at the swale that catches water and feeds it to the dam to see if I could divert it around the dam since the water flowing down the yard was overflow over the bank. I couldn't make head or tail of it in the dense undergrowth except for where water seemingly bubbled out of a pipe in the ground to feed the dam. In my travels I thought I saw something around the 4" overflow pipe inlet. I fished around with my shovel and found a tortoise. It had apparently become stuck in the opening due to the suction. I placed it away from the pipe on the edge of the pond. It was a bit tired. The water rushed out faster and as the rain decreased the flood subsided.
Night all
Simon
Day 20 Gulmarrad Wednesday 27th June 2012
Hi Folks,
Some days ago I tempted fate by entitling this trip "Ending the Wet". Fate has struck back as it has been raining all day with the only variation being the rate. Some of it has been pretty darn heavy.
We awoke this morning to rain, lots of rain. I hopped up at 7 and piled into my rain gear to check the plastic protecting the straw bales. It was mostly intact except for one small gap which I closed. No great damage done mainly due to the low wind and the fact the gutters were cleaned the other day so the rain wasn't flowing down the fascia boards.
It was not a particularly fun day.
I started off slogging around feeding the animals in the rain. Followed by blundering around inside the dark hay bale room clamping down an end plate. Under Carl's instruction I started stringing the tie wires from the rafters to the top plate. He has decided there will be windows at both ends so more work to be done before rendering. If the rain doesn't cease tomorrow it will be a wet day since the wire has to be fitted from the outside. The upside is my rain wear is good although the "water proof" gloves seem to be wet through.
Speaking of wet the camper held up pretty well last night. However a little bit of water goes a long way. We had a couple of small leaks, one in an area that is normally under the awning and another from a different spot. I am confident these can be fixed as other touch ups seem to have worked. For what ever reason the door seems to have sprung a leak through the canvas but that should be easy to reproof. I took a trip to the local outdoor shop and bought 5 litres of canvas water proofer today. Overkill but 2 litres was $44 and 5 was $60, go figure. I have a suspicion the leak may be self inflicted from lubricant over spray on the zip similar to the experience with the car awning.
The annoying thing of course is the leaks were onto the bedding. Susan took a trip to town and 10 minutes in the drier fixed the damp spots. Had it been sunny today we could have dried them easily in the tent.
Unfortunately while she was in town she slipped over in the mall on the wet tiles, whilst collecting the pigs stale bread, so is feeling a bit sore tonight.
Funny when we arrived here the place was pretty swampy and with the string of fine weather it had dried out a fair bit. Tomorrow we will be back in the swamp again. Susan has rubber boots and I am wearing my waterproof hikers.
The highlight of the day was Susan's delicious beef stroganoff for tea. Excellent!
C'mon Sun!
cheers from Soggy Bottom
Some days ago I tempted fate by entitling this trip "Ending the Wet". Fate has struck back as it has been raining all day with the only variation being the rate. Some of it has been pretty darn heavy.
We awoke this morning to rain, lots of rain. I hopped up at 7 and piled into my rain gear to check the plastic protecting the straw bales. It was mostly intact except for one small gap which I closed. No great damage done mainly due to the low wind and the fact the gutters were cleaned the other day so the rain wasn't flowing down the fascia boards.
It was not a particularly fun day.
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| The wires from the rafters to the clamping plates. have to build a window frame to go between them. |
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| The plastic and the rain |
I started off slogging around feeding the animals in the rain. Followed by blundering around inside the dark hay bale room clamping down an end plate. Under Carl's instruction I started stringing the tie wires from the rafters to the top plate. He has decided there will be windows at both ends so more work to be done before rendering. If the rain doesn't cease tomorrow it will be a wet day since the wire has to be fitted from the outside. The upside is my rain wear is good although the "water proof" gloves seem to be wet through.
What I was saying was "fortunately the plastic held up".
Speaking of wet the camper held up pretty well last night. However a little bit of water goes a long way. We had a couple of small leaks, one in an area that is normally under the awning and another from a different spot. I am confident these can be fixed as other touch ups seem to have worked. For what ever reason the door seems to have sprung a leak through the canvas but that should be easy to reproof. I took a trip to the local outdoor shop and bought 5 litres of canvas water proofer today. Overkill but 2 litres was $44 and 5 was $60, go figure. I have a suspicion the leak may be self inflicted from lubricant over spray on the zip similar to the experience with the car awning.
The annoying thing of course is the leaks were onto the bedding. Susan took a trip to town and 10 minutes in the drier fixed the damp spots. Had it been sunny today we could have dried them easily in the tent.
Unfortunately while she was in town she slipped over in the mall on the wet tiles, whilst collecting the pigs stale bread, so is feeling a bit sore tonight.
Funny when we arrived here the place was pretty swampy and with the string of fine weather it had dried out a fair bit. Tomorrow we will be back in the swamp again. Susan has rubber boots and I am wearing my waterproof hikers.
The highlight of the day was Susan's delicious beef stroganoff for tea. Excellent!
C'mon Sun!
cheers from Soggy Bottom
Day 19 Gulmarrad Tuesday 26th June 2012
Evening folks,
Today's downer was that Susan's phone was/is nowhere to be found. She has talked to Optus and there have been no calls made since the 22nd which is good and the IMEI is now blocked so the phone can't be used. This assumes that it is not lurking is some odd place waiting to be found. She visited the phone shop in Yamba and we now await a call to say the groovy new phone has arrived. It has given her the opportunity to move to a more suitable plan. Unfortunately a number of new contacts in the phone book have been lost since they were added since the last backup. The better news is that she will have the same number as before.
The weather was a bit gloomy today and we had one short shower with the promise of rain tomorrow.
This morning, as noted above, Susan went shopping for groceries, a new phone and to pick up the electric fence battery. I knocked up a new entry point into the front paddock and enticed the lawnmowers (alias the sheep) into it.
My frustration started with the brush cutter which I needed to trim the long grass swallowing the electric fence. After several tinkerings i put it away since it would only idle and die when revved. I went back to the hay bales and put up the plastic to protect them from the rain. I then installed one of the top plates Susan made yesterday.
Examining the path of the electric fence I decided it wasn't really practical to move the fence away from the undergrowth so it was back to the brush cutter. I managed a little bit of cutting before it died again. Another examination and I realised the fuel hose had a slight split in it where it joined the carby body. A quick trim and reattach and it was all systems go. I then started repairing the fence an activity curtailed by darkness.
Inside before tea I installed the new battery in the fence controller. I can attest to the fact the controller works as it gave me a good zap. I was sure the switch was in the off position!
Hopefully the weather will hold long enough tomorrow to get the fence up and running.
Susan knocked up an excellent tea of sausages, veg and a potato bake. Tonight she has been planning our route and travel schedule from here to Imbil in Queensland.
There is still a way to go with the hay bale extension so I am crossing my fingers that we can get it to the render stage else I will feel that we have underachieved in our time here.
As rain drops patter on the roof and thunder rolls in the distance That's all for today.
Cheers Simon
Today's downer was that Susan's phone was/is nowhere to be found. She has talked to Optus and there have been no calls made since the 22nd which is good and the IMEI is now blocked so the phone can't be used. This assumes that it is not lurking is some odd place waiting to be found. She visited the phone shop in Yamba and we now await a call to say the groovy new phone has arrived. It has given her the opportunity to move to a more suitable plan. Unfortunately a number of new contacts in the phone book have been lost since they were added since the last backup. The better news is that she will have the same number as before.
The weather was a bit gloomy today and we had one short shower with the promise of rain tomorrow.
This morning, as noted above, Susan went shopping for groceries, a new phone and to pick up the electric fence battery. I knocked up a new entry point into the front paddock and enticed the lawnmowers (alias the sheep) into it.
My frustration started with the brush cutter which I needed to trim the long grass swallowing the electric fence. After several tinkerings i put it away since it would only idle and die when revved. I went back to the hay bales and put up the plastic to protect them from the rain. I then installed one of the top plates Susan made yesterday.
Examining the path of the electric fence I decided it wasn't really practical to move the fence away from the undergrowth so it was back to the brush cutter. I managed a little bit of cutting before it died again. Another examination and I realised the fuel hose had a slight split in it where it joined the carby body. A quick trim and reattach and it was all systems go. I then started repairing the fence an activity curtailed by darkness.
Inside before tea I installed the new battery in the fence controller. I can attest to the fact the controller works as it gave me a good zap. I was sure the switch was in the off position!
Hopefully the weather will hold long enough tomorrow to get the fence up and running.
Susan knocked up an excellent tea of sausages, veg and a potato bake. Tonight she has been planning our route and travel schedule from here to Imbil in Queensland.
There is still a way to go with the hay bale extension so I am crossing my fingers that we can get it to the render stage else I will feel that we have underachieved in our time here.
As rain drops patter on the roof and thunder rolls in the distance That's all for today.
Cheers Simon
Day 18 Gulmarrad Monday 25th June 2012
Evening folks,
Not a huge amount to report today.
We continued on with our hay bale adventure. Progress is steady but unspectacular. My hands are sore from bending wire. The devil is in the detail since each step we complete brings different tasks to be completed. We had to make two more small top plates for the top of the bales. Easy enough except when the wood is jarrah. Susan made most of the boxes after I cut the timber.
Tomorrow a break from the room as we tend to the animals. Need to rig up a gate to allow the sheep into the paddock near the road then brush cut down the undergrowth enveloping the electric fence. Hopefully if the battery has arrived I can fix the fence and let the pig out of her enclosure into a bit more space.
I took Misato to the bus stop tonight at 6. She has a 2 hour trip to her next Helpex at Evans Head. We will miss her quiet efficiency especially in the cooking and dishes department. Hopefully we will catch up again.
I had a quick search for Susan's phone just now as it seems to have disappeared and calls go straight to message bank. Last seen yesterday when we were out and about and it was fully charged. We think it might be in the house, which has a double layer of chicken wire under the render which tends to creates an effective shield. Hope it turns up tomorrow.
Cheers Simon
Not a huge amount to report today.
We continued on with our hay bale adventure. Progress is steady but unspectacular. My hands are sore from bending wire. The devil is in the detail since each step we complete brings different tasks to be completed. We had to make two more small top plates for the top of the bales. Easy enough except when the wood is jarrah. Susan made most of the boxes after I cut the timber.
Tomorrow a break from the room as we tend to the animals. Need to rig up a gate to allow the sheep into the paddock near the road then brush cut down the undergrowth enveloping the electric fence. Hopefully if the battery has arrived I can fix the fence and let the pig out of her enclosure into a bit more space.
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| Carl and Misato |
I took Misato to the bus stop tonight at 6. She has a 2 hour trip to her next Helpex at Evans Head. We will miss her quiet efficiency especially in the cooking and dishes department. Hopefully we will catch up again.
I had a quick search for Susan's phone just now as it seems to have disappeared and calls go straight to message bank. Last seen yesterday when we were out and about and it was fully charged. We think it might be in the house, which has a double layer of chicken wire under the render which tends to creates an effective shield. Hope it turns up tomorrow.
Cheers Simon
Day 17 Gulmarrad Sunday 24th June 2012
Hi folks,
I hope you appreciate the hardy writer sitting shivering in the 5 degree igloo to bring you today's news!
Our day off so we headed to Yamba for a coffee at Carl's friends shop which was closed and to attend their local market which was somewhat of an anti climax after Salamanca in Hobart. We ended up waiting around 30 minutes for a coffee at the market. Just as well it was good even if they did have to remake them the correct size.
We proceeded from Yamba back towards Maclean and took the road to Brooms Head. We drove to the head but didn't see any whales. It is a nice seaside town with the road winding through the caravan park which is quite extensive. There were many holiday makers taking advantage of the weather. We signed in at the bowling club to take advantage of the $7 lunch specials which we didn't end up having although they looked to be good value. We both had seafood and chips for $12. We were able to sit and watch the finals of the club bowls competition and then the casual afternoon. Certainly a place I would return to.
We then detoured southwards on a fairly rough dirt road to Sandon in the heart of Yuraygir National Park. This has a NP camping ground,a beach and an estuary. We had a short stroll around and concluded this is another place we would return to to stay. It was also moderately full indicating perhaps there are school holidays somewhere at the moment. Carl tells us that you can get mud crabs there, which surprised me as I didn't think they were this far south.
We drove back to Maclean and wandered past the closed shops before having a drive over the bridge to the other side of the Clarence.
Returning home Susan prepared a lamb roast in the camp oven inside on the gas ring. We explained to Misato that this is probably a traditional Sunday Australian meal if such a thing exists as she had asked us about traditional foods several days ago.
After tea I managed to get Misato's phone to serve as a wireless modem to her PC (much to my surprise). I prompted her to say in a loud voice. "Simon you are a brilliant genius". Which lead to the inevitable "big head" retort from Susan.
Anyway plenty of pictures and videos for those of you who don't like reading!
Cheers Simon
I hope you appreciate the hardy writer sitting shivering in the 5 degree igloo to bring you today's news!
Our day off so we headed to Yamba for a coffee at Carl's friends shop which was closed and to attend their local market which was somewhat of an anti climax after Salamanca in Hobart. We ended up waiting around 30 minutes for a coffee at the market. Just as well it was good even if they did have to remake them the correct size.
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| Looking south from Brooms Head. Sandon in the distance on the furthest land Click to enlarge |
We proceeded from Yamba back towards Maclean and took the road to Brooms Head. We drove to the head but didn't see any whales. It is a nice seaside town with the road winding through the caravan park which is quite extensive. There were many holiday makers taking advantage of the weather. We signed in at the bowling club to take advantage of the $7 lunch specials which we didn't end up having although they looked to be good value. We both had seafood and chips for $12. We were able to sit and watch the finals of the club bowls competition and then the casual afternoon. Certainly a place I would return to.
Sandon (17mb)
We then detoured southwards on a fairly rough dirt road to Sandon in the heart of Yuraygir National Park. This has a NP camping ground,a beach and an estuary. We had a short stroll around and concluded this is another place we would return to to stay. It was also moderately full indicating perhaps there are school holidays somewhere at the moment. Carl tells us that you can get mud crabs there, which surprised me as I didn't think they were this far south.
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| View of the Clarence at Maclean |
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| Snoozing in the Sun |
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| View in the main street of Maclean |
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| Susan liked this window |
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| The post office |
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| Maclean information (click to read) |
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| The wharf hoist |
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| Treatment for old dogs? |
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| One of the tartan poles in the main street showing flood levels |
We drove back to Maclean and wandered past the closed shops before having a drive over the bridge to the other side of the Clarence.
Returning home Susan prepared a lamb roast in the camp oven inside on the gas ring. We explained to Misato that this is probably a traditional Sunday Australian meal if such a thing exists as she had asked us about traditional foods several days ago.
After tea I managed to get Misato's phone to serve as a wireless modem to her PC (much to my surprise). I prompted her to say in a loud voice. "Simon you are a brilliant genius". Which lead to the inevitable "big head" retort from Susan.
Anyway plenty of pictures and videos for those of you who don't like reading!
Cheers Simon
Day 16 Gulmarrad Saturday 23rd June 2012
Hi all,
Back to a chilly 8 degree evening here in the canvas igloo.
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| You need a lot of tools to move compost 1 metre! |
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| Wall with 2 windows top plate being tensioned |
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| Side wall |
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| View of the ratchet clamps doing their thing |
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| The worlds most varnished window surround. It is bloodwood. |
More of the same here today, not that that is a bad thing. Susan varnishing and digging out the compost bins and generally repairing them. Myself wrestling with the wire and the straps. I am getting better mainly because that is the only direction I can go. It's not looking too bad. We are truing the wall up as we go. I just hope the window frames fit.
Misato and Carl took a spin down to Brooms Head where they saw a couple of whales. We have a day off tomorrow so will head down that way and beyond. It is in Yuragir National Park so we should have a good idea of the local vegetation and some pictures for tomorrow night.
That's it for tonight kids!
cheers Simon
Day 15 Gulmarrad Friday 22nd June 2012
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| Blue faced honeyeater |
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| Whistler duck invasion on the chook house roof. |
A slightly warmer evening it's 15 here at 9pm rather than the usual 8 at this time, probably a result of a bit of light cloud. (as evidenced by the lightest rain shower falling as I type).
We walked again this morning in the sun before heading to Maclean to do some shopping for Carl. Groceries etc, wine, pick up stale bread for the pig, enquire about his van and buy another battery for the solar electric fence controller. We also stopped for real coffee mmmmmm.
The car was ready so I got to work out how to drive it. It is Ford vanof the Austpost variety. It is a manual that has been converted to auto operation. There are three buttons on the dash, drive, neutral and reverse. When the van is in drive the computer operates the clutch and changes gear (it is still a manual transmission). It works surprisingly well although the changes are not as fast as an automatic transmission they are still pretty quick.
On our return Susan applied more varnish to the window frame surrounds while I had a lesson in how to tie the wire to hold down the clamps. I must admit it is one of the more difficult jobs I have done. The wire is fairly thick and is draw about 1/2 hard. The ties are done with double strands. Of course as you bend the wire it starts to harden. Then when you twist it bodgy joins either come apart or if you have put a notch in it, it breaks. Suffice to say it took me about 3 hours to fit 6 wires accompanied by some pithy epithets.
The quote of the day,
Susan, " I don't want to hear any more of that swearing"
Simon,"Well you better go inside then .....and take a beer from the fridge and put it in the freezer for me" However the east wall is straight and correctly aligned to the roof jamb and top plate. Tomorrow it will be tensioned and the wires tightened. Once I publish a picture it will all be clear as mud.
Misato cooked tea again tonight and also uploaded pictures to face book so at last we have some pictures for yesterdays blog.
cheers Simon
Day 14 Gulmarrad Thursday 21st June 2012
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| Sushi Susan |
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| Susan's rolls |
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| Preparation table |
Hi Folks,
A short picture less blog tonight since we took no pictures and I have a headache. The pictures are now inserted thanks to Misato.
We alighted before 8 and went for our walk around the large block estates up the main road and onto Mahogany Drive. This finishes across the paddock from the muddy extension of the road we are on so makes a nice loop.
After our usual leisurely breakfast we sprung into action. I did some brush cut corner sculpting on the hay bales although I omitted the two window ledges so I will finish them them in the morning. A pity Susan has already swept up the loose straw. Susan continued on with the never ending window frame varnishing which is mostly complete except for needing 4 coats on two untouched surfaces. She then stapled the plastic to the bottom of the bales. I brush cut around the worm farms and compost bins and also Misato's caravan which made it look a lot tidier. Susan also worked on the worm farms and cleaning a lounge suite stored under the verandah.
This afternoon I started the strapping of the top plates and the tensioning process. Basically the process is to use big 2500kg truckers straps that go over the walls and hook into anchors set in the concrete. When they are tight you attach and tension the hold down wires. I am not very good at this wire work as it is akin to fencing of which I have scant knowledge. However it is all hidden by render so as long as it is sound it doesn't matter if it looks a bit ugly. It is going to be a slow process with me doing it. I shall try to take some pictures tomorrow.
We also have 4 metres of sand and 20 bags of cement arriving tomorrow ready for the renderer so the pressure is on to get finished.
The highlight of the day was tea. Misato prepared sushi and what can I say it was delicious. Susan was a keen student and helper so now can confidently make it herself. I celebrated with 2 beers (reckless huh!) which hasn't done my head much good.
Due to the days routine here we are tending to go to bed earlier and arise earlier rather than the midnight to 830pm when we were home. I guess this is a good thing.
Cheers Simon
Day 13 Gulmarrad Wednesday 20th June 2012
Evening folks,
A busy day with no pictures to break up the text.
We started off with a walk instead of the usual dive into the computers. The area is quite flat with large blocks and not many roads. It was a pleasant 5km's in the morning sun.
After breakfast Susan and Misato headed out to do the shopping. Fuel for the machinery, a replacement power pack for the power tool batteries, groceries, a whole rump etc. Doesn't sound like much but there was a bit of mucking around and a trip to Yamba.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I trimmed the rest of the hay wall with the brushcutter. Then with the imminent arrival of a tenant for the caravan out the back I had to put on the gas bottle and check it for leaks. There were no leaks and no gas flow either. After a lot of mucking around it turned out the regulator was full of dirt probably from a wasp nest. Flow restored and leaks tested for it was pronounced good to go.
I then turned my attention to the post hole digger. Clean mud and algae out of the fuel tank, dig some mud from the filter and replace it with a towel scrap held on by cable ties, repair the fuel cap with araldite, mixup some fresh 2 stroke throwing away the resident 2 stroke oil that looks suspiciously like engine oil adjust the mixture and it runs perfectly. Oh and reglue the fuel filler cap.
The final job was a clean up and doubling the cable up on the power supply to suit both power tool battery chargers.
Susan in the meantime has started on resurrecting the worm farms. She also recoated the window frames and did some cleaning of the caravan.
A busy day as I said.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
A busy day with no pictures to break up the text.
We started off with a walk instead of the usual dive into the computers. The area is quite flat with large blocks and not many roads. It was a pleasant 5km's in the morning sun.
After breakfast Susan and Misato headed out to do the shopping. Fuel for the machinery, a replacement power pack for the power tool batteries, groceries, a whole rump etc. Doesn't sound like much but there was a bit of mucking around and a trip to Yamba.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, I trimmed the rest of the hay wall with the brushcutter. Then with the imminent arrival of a tenant for the caravan out the back I had to put on the gas bottle and check it for leaks. There were no leaks and no gas flow either. After a lot of mucking around it turned out the regulator was full of dirt probably from a wasp nest. Flow restored and leaks tested for it was pronounced good to go.
I then turned my attention to the post hole digger. Clean mud and algae out of the fuel tank, dig some mud from the filter and replace it with a towel scrap held on by cable ties, repair the fuel cap with araldite, mixup some fresh 2 stroke throwing away the resident 2 stroke oil that looks suspiciously like engine oil adjust the mixture and it runs perfectly. Oh and reglue the fuel filler cap.
The final job was a clean up and doubling the cable up on the power supply to suit both power tool battery chargers.
Susan in the meantime has started on resurrecting the worm farms. She also recoated the window frames and did some cleaning of the caravan.
A busy day as I said.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 12 Gulmarrad Tuesday 19th June 2012
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| The glorious grevillea outside out tent doorway. I only have blurred pictures of visiting birds today, try again tomorrow |
Hi Folks,
Another cool evening here just 9 degrees under the canvas. I was talking to Carl's helper this morning who has lived here for 10 years. She said for the first 5 years the winters were like this, sunny and dry and the next 4 were horribly wet. Maybe our arrival has tipped the balance from wet back to dry. Perhaps an application of chaos theory. Chaos theory applies to the amount of gear we have in the tent at the moment. Mind you it is fairly tidy.
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| Susan's early morning hairobics |
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| I knew she was in there somewhere |
Susan and Misato took Carl's postie van to the auto electrician this morning and popped into town for some supplies.
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| The new bedding in the chook house |
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| Looking into the chicken yard with the duck/goose/turkey/sheep pen behind. |
On her return Susan, brave soul that she is, took on cleaning out the chook house. If the guano was any thicker I am sure a mining lease would have been taken out. I kept my distance as she worked with her face mask on. The geese in the next pen were making a racket since they associate a person in the chook house with feeding time. I am sure the chickens will appreciate their new straw and cleaner perches.
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| Trimming...trimming |
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| Old grey beard trims the straw beard |
I sanded and varnished the window frames for the new room. They are fairly large and fairly heavy. Next job was to align various hay bales in the wall to improve the straightness. It was then onto trimming the walls with the brush cutter. Unusually this had a 4 stroke engine. Whilst it started easily enough it ran fairly erratically. I did the usual things cleaned the air cleaner, cleaned the fuel filter, emptied the fuel etc. It was running better for longer but we need to get some fresh fuel to rule that out of the equation. The trimming of the bales was quite difficult. I was looking at the neat cut pattern from the previous assembly and it looked quite straight as if from a hedge trimmer. However I am assured it was done with a brush cutter so I will have to lift my game. I finished the outside and had a quick run around our camper. Tomorrow I will do the inside.
Misato is leaving on Monday to go to another Helpex up the road at Evans Head. I think Susan appreciates her doing the cooking since it would fall to her otherwise.
That's about all the news for today.
Cheers Simon
Day 11 Gulmarrad Monday 18th June 2012
Hello,
I may be tempting fate but I am going to title this tour "Ending the wet". This is a contrast to our trip to Tasmania in 2007 which was entitled "Breaking the drought". Another fine sunny day with no clouds in sight. The clay swamp here is actually starting to dry out!
Today we continued with our hay bale construction. This was a heavy day since we had to lift the clamping plates on top of the wall. This presented a few difficulties the main one being they are bloody heavy. Susan being unable to lift one end over her head. However by some judicious techniques and a hand from Misato for the one piece we couldn't lift end for end we finally had them on top, in position and mostly bolted together. This small amount of work consumed most of the day.
Susan has been researching straw bale construction and downloaded a document sponsored by the CSIRO so we now have a bit more background into various techniques of construction.
night folks
Cheers Simon
I may be tempting fate but I am going to title this tour "Ending the wet". This is a contrast to our trip to Tasmania in 2007 which was entitled "Breaking the drought". Another fine sunny day with no clouds in sight. The clay swamp here is actually starting to dry out!
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| Sitting in the window |
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| Cleaning up the loose bits note the clamping plates on top and how close they are to the fascia board |
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| View of an installed clamping plate (3.4 metres long) |
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| Looking inside over the wall. Plenty of bales still available |
Today we continued with our hay bale construction. This was a heavy day since we had to lift the clamping plates on top of the wall. This presented a few difficulties the main one being they are bloody heavy. Susan being unable to lift one end over her head. However by some judicious techniques and a hand from Misato for the one piece we couldn't lift end for end we finally had them on top, in position and mostly bolted together. This small amount of work consumed most of the day.
Susan has been researching straw bale construction and downloaded a document sponsored by the CSIRO so we now have a bit more background into various techniques of construction.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 10 Gulmarrad Sunday 17th June 2012
Hi Folks,
We had rain last night a shower that lasted for about 3 minutes. It took 2 minutes for me to wake up and zip up the windows so a lot of rushing around for nothing.
We awoke to clear sunny skies and little breeze. After breakfasting and scratching the usual body parts we headed along with Misato to Maclean. Here we indulged in an excellent cup of coffee after we had driven up to the lookout. Maclean has it's wooden stobie poles decorated with Scottish tartans as there is the Tartan Festival running this time of year. The sounds of the implements of torture (bagpipes) were emanating from a club in the main street.
From Maclean we journeyed through the sugar cane to the seaside resort of Yamba. This is one of the gun fishing towns I used to read about in my fishing magazines 30 years ago. We cruised to the headland where the lighthouse is located and strolled around before walking out out on the southern breakwater before returning to Jaws and Chips fish and chip shop. A tasty good value meal in pleasant surroundings next to the marina.
It was then back to Coles to do the house shopping before finding the last coffee shop open in Yamba. It was pretty late @345 and they were closed by the time we left. They obviously didn't want us to linger serving the coffee on the cool side.
We investigated the ferry across the river to Iluka. This was passenger only and was $7 each way. We passed on that.
Back home we had a tasty fish and veg tea prepared by Misato who taught cooking in a private college in Japan.
All in all an excellent day off.
night folks
Cheers Simon
We had rain last night a shower that lasted for about 3 minutes. It took 2 minutes for me to wake up and zip up the windows so a lot of rushing around for nothing.
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| Polishing the bench at the lookout, Misato in the background |
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| Mosaic bench a tribute to a local woman |
We awoke to clear sunny skies and little breeze. After breakfasting and scratching the usual body parts we headed along with Misato to Maclean. Here we indulged in an excellent cup of coffee after we had driven up to the lookout. Maclean has it's wooden stobie poles decorated with Scottish tartans as there is the Tartan Festival running this time of year. The sounds of the implements of torture (bagpipes) were emanating from a club in the main street.
From Maclean we journeyed through the sugar cane to the seaside resort of Yamba. This is one of the gun fishing towns I used to read about in my fishing magazines 30 years ago. We cruised to the headland where the lighthouse is located and strolled around before walking out out on the southern breakwater before returning to Jaws and Chips fish and chip shop. A tasty good value meal in pleasant surroundings next to the marina.
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| Water dragon (i am guessing) on the breakwater |
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| Enjoying the ambience |
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| View from the lighthouse headland |
It was then back to Coles to do the house shopping before finding the last coffee shop open in Yamba. It was pretty late @345 and they were closed by the time we left. They obviously didn't want us to linger serving the coffee on the cool side.
We investigated the ferry across the river to Iluka. This was passenger only and was $7 each way. We passed on that.
Back home we had a tasty fish and veg tea prepared by Misato who taught cooking in a private college in Japan.
All in all an excellent day off.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Lookout at Maclean (9.7 Mb)
Lookout at Yamba (9.5Mb)
Yamba breakwater (11.1Mb)
Day 9 Gulmarrad Saturday 16th June 2012
Evening folks,
Laurel and Hardy strike again. We awoke to water droplets on our heads and the rest of the bed this morning. Memo to selves "make sure you leave sufficient ventilation to avoid internal dew fall". Fortunately it was sunny today and the temperature under the tent climbed to over 30 quickly drying it out.
Misato the Japanese helper drove Carl into town today after we had both had a lesson in using the tailgate loader. There were two mishaps in this operation. Susan told me to open the gate for the van and I obeyed. Whereupon Clarry the female italian sheep dog used this opportunity to bolt down the road. I walked in pursuit but could not gain any distance. Meanwhile Misato had managed to impale one of the vans mirrors on the gate. After they had left Susan and I took the Pajero and some dried liver treats and recaptured the errant hound who was making her way back slowly anyway.
We continued on with our hay bale walling today with most of the blocks being in place. Whether they are any good or not remains to be judged. Since there is the possibility of rain tomorrow we nailed the plastic drop sheeting back up to protect the hay. While doing this i discovered the gutters completely choked so we did a last minute rough and ready clean out. Should make the area behind the extension a lot less boggy with the rain water going out into the paddock rather than down the fascia.
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| DOH! |
We have a day off tomorrow so the plan is to do a tour around.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 8 Gulmarrad Friday 15th June 2012
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| Susan beating the bales into submission with a crow bar |
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| Susan getting the good oil from Carl. |
Hi Folks,
A warm sunny day again. We packed away the swag after cooking off the dew in the sun and set up the camper trailer on the driest patch of ground we could find. We are well on the way to settling in and looking forward to some good outcomes and continuing good weather.
Under Carl's direction we started rebuilding the hay bale walls. It was fairly straight forward as things always are when someone is telling you how to get it right. It will be interesting to see how the walls look with respect to straightness before they are finally shaved with the brushcutter.
After lunch I was anointed to chop up the duck carcass with a meat clever. It was boiled up in a pot and became the basis of a vegetable stew which we had for tea with rice. Quite a reasonable meal. The only downside was a few bits of bone floating around probably splintered off by multiple cleaver strikes in the same cut. I shall remember that for next time.
Other than that not a huge mount to report. The ground here is still pretty muddy although it has dried a slightly today. If it rains again we will consider rubber boots.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 7 Gulmarrad Thursday 14th June 2012
Hi Folks,
We have arrived at Gulmarrad which is near Maclean and which is about 50 km north of Grafton.
Let us rewind to this morning which actually started last night. We checked the thermometer at around 8 and the ground temperature was already -2.5C with frost already forming on the camper cover.
I prepared for the night by digging out my long johns and thermal top. We were in bed by 830 me resplendent in my thermals woolly hat and gloves. This morning the gauge said the overnight minimum was -4.2. Of course we were toasty warm in the swag. We awoke to a carpet of white frost. This soon melted away under the morning son. We packed up slowly giving the sun time to dry the swag and the awning,
We also took the time to have a chat with our neighbours Bob and Heather who were waiting for an exchange motor to be fitted to their 4WD coaster bus. We have an interesting conversation covering modes of travelling and destinations. They have done a heck of a lot more than us with a lot more adventure.
We stopped at a couple of look outs and walked down to Boundary Creek falls which is where we should have camped last night. At Grafton we parked at the "big" shopping centre where we partook of some excellent coffee before heading up the highway to Gulmarrad.
We arrived just before dusk and met our host Carl who familiarised us with the property and the main task the straw bale extension. The ground here is wet in fact it is waterlogged testimony to the rainy weather. One surprise driving up the highway was sugar cane growing. We didn't know cane was grown this far south. Due to our late arrival we decided to sleep in our swag tonight. It is much warmer here so it will be comfy (i.e.14C as i type this). We have decided to sleep in the camper in our time here. There is plenty of work to do so we won't be bored. Tomorrow we should start on the hay bale walling which was mostly done but was partially dismantled due to the builder taking off and it being impinged upon by the weather. Wet straw is not good! There is another helpexer here, Misako a Japanese girl who cooked a spicy duck and rice dish for tea.
The weather forecast for the week ahead is looking pretty good so hopefully some of the water will dry up else we will be buying rubber boots!
night folks
Cheers Simon
We have arrived at Gulmarrad which is near Maclean and which is about 50 km north of Grafton.
Let us rewind to this morning which actually started last night. We checked the thermometer at around 8 and the ground temperature was already -2.5C with frost already forming on the camper cover.
I prepared for the night by digging out my long johns and thermal top. We were in bed by 830 me resplendent in my thermals woolly hat and gloves. This morning the gauge said the overnight minimum was -4.2. Of course we were toasty warm in the swag. We awoke to a carpet of white frost. This soon melted away under the morning son. We packed up slowly giving the sun time to dry the swag and the awning,
We also took the time to have a chat with our neighbours Bob and Heather who were waiting for an exchange motor to be fitted to their 4WD coaster bus. We have an interesting conversation covering modes of travelling and destinations. They have done a heck of a lot more than us with a lot more adventure.
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| Raspberry Lookout (click to enlarge) |
 |
| Boundary Creek falls |
We stopped at a couple of look outs and walked down to Boundary Creek falls which is where we should have camped last night. At Grafton we parked at the "big" shopping centre where we partook of some excellent coffee before heading up the highway to Gulmarrad.
We arrived just before dusk and met our host Carl who familiarised us with the property and the main task the straw bale extension. The ground here is wet in fact it is waterlogged testimony to the rainy weather. One surprise driving up the highway was sugar cane growing. We didn't know cane was grown this far south. Due to our late arrival we decided to sleep in our swag tonight. It is much warmer here so it will be comfy (i.e.14C as i type this). We have decided to sleep in the camper in our time here. There is plenty of work to do so we won't be bored. Tomorrow we should start on the hay bale walling which was mostly done but was partially dismantled due to the builder taking off and it being impinged upon by the weather. Wet straw is not good! There is another helpexer here, Misako a Japanese girl who cooked a spicy duck and rice dish for tea.
The weather forecast for the week ahead is looking pretty good so hopefully some of the water will dry up else we will be buying rubber boots!
night folks
Cheers Simon
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