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Yes, it seems like there was some sort of issue with some glue and a pipe not getting on too well, and sometime over the last few days there was a “catastrophic failure” of a joint and all the water went bye-bye. Apparently that might have been a sight to see, as it would have happened with some force!

Hopefully that will get fixed this week, and we can get on with all the things we wanted to do. But in the meantime we have a lot of very damp soil that’s perfect for planting in around the shed. And I guess all the other water will eventually seep back down to the bottom of the well so we can pump it back up (again).

In other news, the first 2 radishes popped their heads up yesterday, and we’ve got a few more today. Yippee!

Today we had a long list of things we planned to do out on the ranch. We had a lot of trees to plant, a kit-set wheel-barrow to construct, some raised vege gardens to construct, etc etc etc…

But when we arrived out there Bec noticed that the big orange ball on the water tank was looking a lot lower than it should have been. In fact it was at the very bottom of its possible height. Uh-Oh. And when we had a look around the pump-shed the ground was absolutely soaked. As was the floor of the shed. Uh-Oh again. Not sure if that’s where the whole 35,000 litres of water went (along with any more that the pump had pumped up in the meantime – presumably quite a lot more!), but that’s the only obvious place that it could have gone.

So until we get the irrigation guys in to have a look at it there’s been a bit of a slow-down in any proceedings relating to anything like plants that might want to have a drink now and then. Not a complete halt though. Of the many natives we took out with us we decided to go ahead and plant a couple more Pittos that had been liberated from the garden here, and a larger cabbage tree that we didn’t think would cope too badly, along with a tangle-wood tree that didn’t quite want to go back in the back of the car today.

We did manage to get the wheelbarrow put together though. With a minimum of cursing and swearing! One thing crossed off the list at least…

And it was so bloody hot today, with not a breath of wind, that it was almost a relief to decide to wait for the rest of the list and just sit in the shade of the roof and soak up a bit of the environment. And stare at the long grass and think it might need a bit of a trim very soon!

Ok, so we’re still a post or two short from the overseas trip, but more important (to us) was seeing in person what progress had been made on the house in our absence. So yesterday after a night’s sleep (I wouldn’t say a good night’s sleep) so we were actually safe to drive out there we headed on out. Unfortunately it was raining that horrible misty rain, so we couldn’t see the shape as we were driving down the road, but we got a pretty nice surprise when we pulled into the drive. The roof was on!

We’d hoped it would be, but it was still great to see it. What we hadn’t expected was that the house would be wrapped in building paper kind of stuff too. So instead of the matchstick house, we have a paper house!

Wandering around inside now with the “walls” and roof on gave it yet another different feel. And made it seem bigger again! We need some of the sliding doors in to close off some of the rooms to make it seem smaller!

Currently the soffits are going on (or should that be “soffit is”?), then it’s time for the windows and doors hopefully next week. Things seem to be going quickly again! I think it’ll slow down again a bit with the cladding, but we’ll see.

Today we went out again to get instructions on all of the water pumping equipment. It’s not that complicated. Well, that’s what I keep telling myself! We’ll just have to see if we can remember what we need to do and when. I guess we’ll know we’ve got it wrong when we run out of water. No doubt just as we’ve put a big wodge of shampoo in our hair or something!

While we were out there we also put in a bit of physical labour, just to see how unfit we’d managed to get in the month we’d been away. We filled in a big hole left by the power guys with the stack of dirt on the side. Did I mention it was a big hole?! Huge! Well, huge enough for the two of us and a brace of spades…

I can report that I think we’re not as fit as when we left, but possibly not as unfit as we possibly deserve to be after our month away!

Almost forgot to put this post up, which would mean we’d have missed documenting another step in the process!

Or intrepid reporters sent this from a visit last weekend. The fascia going up around the edges of the roof. Or we assume that’s what it is! Hopefully the roof has gone on in the week since this was taken. We’ll see!

In other news, in the last couple of days the water tank and all ancillary plumbing has been installed and hopefully filled. Hopefully now we can get on and plant a decent number of plants around the place and not have to cart buckets of water from the river to keep them alive!

A few photos came our way from intrepid reporters sent out to survey progress. Looks like all the trusses are up now, and they’re working on the fiddly bits in the valleys…

My, that blue sky looks good from here!

After seeing the size of the hole they’d dug out, seeing what they were putting into it was a bit of an anti-climax!

Six loops of pipe about 100m long (each way) all laid out neatly. And that’s it! Apart from the joiny bits as well, of course! All to raise the temperature of some water and antifreeze from just above zero to about 10-12 degrees. For free. Well, that’s the theory. We’ll cross fingers that’s what actually happens!

And in other news, our trusses have arrived. Looks like there’s still a bit of work to do in spreading them out and standing them up though.

But for the next couple of weeks we’ll have to rely on others to fill us in on all the exciting happenings and take some photos for posterity, as we’re off to earn a bit of cash to pay for some of this!

Well, the space that it will eventually inhabit, anyway!

Today we had a walk-through with the kitchen guys, who marked out all the pantry, bench and island spaces so we could have a walk around the kitchen and make sure it would all actually fit in the space left by the builders. Which it did. Whew!

As an added bonus, unexpectedly there was another digger in action today. Digging what can only be described as a “bloody big hole in the ground” to contain the pipes for the geothermal underfloor and water heating systems. It’s about 2m deep, 6m wide, and will be about 100m long when it’s finished. As I said, a bloody big hole!

Luckily before they started the digger driver spotted the golden elm and adjusted the pit slightly to make sure that it didn’t get dug out. Just as well after yesterday’s blog entry! I’m glad now we left the floppy bit of bamboo stake beside it which presumably was what alerted them to its existence. I just hope that they manage to remember it’s there when they go to fill it in!

Driving down the final road on the way out today to have a few meetings on site, we suddenly noticed that we saw some timber jutting up where there was previously no timber. It had grown!

Driving in the gate, Bec said “maybe it’s not so small after all?!”. And she might be right! It’s amazing how the space changes with a few bits of timber around the place to delineate the space a bit more. Some rooms look bigger, some still a bit smaller than we thought or imagined, but overall we think it’ll do us. It better do!

Even at this stage there are a few little issues to hopefully get fixed, and we’ve made a couple of changes to some of the windows now we’ve seen the size, shape and placement of them. Nothing too drastic though.

In other news. The sparky’s put up a temporary box, and another switchboard box in the pump-shed, so within too long we can get power on and get some water, so then we can plant some plants! One step at a time, I guess.

As our obligations to babysit last weekend vanished, we made a call and escaped city life to have had a really nice weekend “over the hill” with T&G, enjoying the obligatory Akaroa fish and chips, chicken life, getting gardening ideas, sipping some nice wine, and enjoying some really great company. Another masterclass in relaxed hospitality, and on short notice too. Just what we needed for a quick change of pace. Thanks guys!

But then it was back to our “normality” on Tuesday with another trip out to see what had happened since the concrete set over then weekend. This trip some large piles of timber had grown around the place.

I really hope they’ve got some sort of numbering or references on them so they go in the right place! Looks like a fun puzzle to try to put together. A bit more complicated than the shed!

And while we were waiting around a bit to see if they were actually going to put a frame up, with the “help” of the builder’s dog we managed to clear the rest of the lambs ears, and accumulate all the various piles around the place into a single heap. That took a few loads in the back of the wagon. The photo really doesn’t give the right idea of the size of that mound!

Now we just have to watch that bit of ground to see if they’re going to try to escape from there!

Oh, and while we were lurking around they didn’t put up a frame – either there was a bit of prep on site still needed, or they just didn’t want us watching while they all stood around scratching their heads trying to work out which bit goes where to start things off. We just left them to it!

Another early start for us today as we raced out to see the slab being laid. The closer we got to the land, the denser the foggy mist got, until we were surprised by that most rare of sights – concrete trucks in the mist….

By the time we’d got there (and we really did start early!), the concrete boys were almost half done already. But at least we got a glimpse of the underfloor heating pipes before they were buried forever in the concrete.

I have to say it was slightly amusing (though slightly worrying too) to watch them edge closer and closer to the final corner, while they were desperately trying to will the concrete to somehow spread out or swell up and fill the last remaining gap in the slab. Which it didn’t. DOH! One more truck, with just a couple of barrow-fulls on it please!!

We can only hope they sorted that out. As it was going to be some time for another truck to arrive, and as we’d forgotten all the tools we needed to actually do anything useful out there today, we left them to it and headed back into town to try to track down a toilet that was actually comfortably to sit on. It appears that simple thing isn’t as simple as we’d assumed!

Unfortunately (given that everything is now encased in concrete) we think we’ve spotted the first visit from Mr, erm…, Muck-Up. It appears that however many times over many months we’ve tried to make sure that something should be somewhere on everyone’s plans, it’s still been put somewhere else. Sigh. Umm. Shouldn’t be a major issue, but reminded us that we maybe shouldn’t just assume anything. Actually, I think we knew that anyway, but this has definitely reminded us!