Saturday, 9 February 2013

Hard Yakka, Has Rewards


Luckily for us Plantation Homes left about 150m2 at the back of our lot from where their safety fencing ended (this area was heavily overgrown), however this gave us a great opportunity to get in there early and dig up those pesky grasses that start to accumulate over time. The reason we are doing this is so the soil is ready for top-soil when hand-over occurs. We do not want to have a paddock of wild grasses to dig up when we move in. I think that if we get on top of it now then all we have to do for the next couple of months is light weeding every couple of weeks to keep the creepers at bay (hopefully).

As a courtesy we informed our Site Supervisor that we would be "onsite" although outside the safety fence. It is nice to be there and watch your house be built, but if you decide to do the same yourself then ensure you have a reason to be there and your sole purpose is simply not to sticky-beak the workmanship. Hmmm.. although I was informed by a close friend that the only reason to go to the work-site is to watch the roofers strip to the waist and play with their trowels. 
Yes you know you you are..!!!

Communication with your Site Supervisor is paramount and he was fine with us being there. 

I can tell you the grasses and crawlers had set a good root into our land. One crawler had already climbed 1.8m of fence. Call me old fashioned but the only way I saw possible to get rid of this was a good soak with 'Roundup' weed killer about a week before digging. After trial and error it appeared the best 'you beaut' way was to whipper snip the long grasses to root level and then apply the 'Roundup'. Leave it until it turns to straw and then rake away the dead foliage. After that, all that is left is to dig up the roots. Trust me, not so easy when you are digging into clay; but a bit of perseverance and brute force will get them up. You really get to know your back yard doing it fork by fork. I made sure I got the hilt of the fork all the way into the ground before turning it over and breaking it up. We were so relieved at the end. We dug, We churned and we toiled. A great combined effort. We now know every single ant colony we have. But more importantly! We know our soil. By getting in there and getting dirty you feel happier with your land and you get a better feeling as to where you will plant certain flora.

This picture says it all. Mission accomplished, I'm buggered, let it rain...


Now all I have to do is control the neighbours grasses too..!!!

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

DIG DIG DIG



Another day out in the hot sun, digging to our hearts content.
A little bit more progress today, electrical and Air Conditioning rough in done.

I have been trying to find out the name of a plant that I admire and have grown and want to grow in our
garden too. My lovely cousins wife Mel was able to find out the name today.

Cana Lily (Red)


Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Windows and Solar Panels On...



Front

Front Right - Bed 3 & 4

Rear View

Alfresco through to front

View from Family Room

Left side
Back we go tomorrow to do some more digging in the yard.

Monday, 4 February 2013

Guess What? WE HAVE A ROOF....



After our quick trip to Sydney we decided to head out to the block to continue digging out the weeds that are consuming the yard.
We also discovered that we now have a roof.
 We will be heading out there again tomorrow so we can dig some more.


Rear

Rear

Scott the Landscaper.

Doing my bit.

All done for the day.









Monday, 28 January 2013

WET WET WET



After preparing for the worst today, we decided to have a look and see if our house was still intact after
last nights winds. All is good, albeit with a few puddles..

Portico Water Feature




On Friday the gutters and fascia were supposed to be put on, but that did not happen because the rain was so heavy. And the roof tiles and solar panels were to go on this week, but somehow I think that is not going to happen. OH WELL!!!

Thursday, 24 January 2013

YIPEE!!!


WE HAVE A FRAME....

"OH MY GOODNESS" is what we first thought when we saw our house, it is enormous and now it actually feels like we are moving forward.
This time next week we will have a roof (if the weather holds up).

Here is what we saw today.

Welcome Home (portico)

Front - Left (garage)

Front - Right (Bed 3 & 4)


Alfresco/Living room

Main Bed & Alfresco

Next Thursday we will swing by just to have a look at what has been done during the week.



Tuesday, 1 January 2013

MAY YOUR YEAR BE FILLED WITH HAPPINESS & JOY