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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 have a fair bit of land elsewhere that we could devote to the growing of vegetables (and we will) but in the meantime we’ve borrowed just a small patch of Dad and Dawn’s garden for a few radishes just to test out how green our fingers are over here. (Well, I say “we’ve” and “our”, but it’s more like “I’ve” and “my”)….

While I’m pretty sure I’ve not seen any rabbits in the back yard, I just hope any rabbits that do decide to pass by can read! (Well I had fun, anyway!)

Tomorrow we’re planning to plant a few more seeds for planting out next month, and Sunday a few trees. Let’s see how close to plan the weekend goes!

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!