This covers the period 1 to 4 August, Days 25-28.
A lot of activity has taken place this week which is wonderful.
We had to finalise drainage for the overflow from the billabong in times of heavy rainfalls, and although the rain has been a pain in getting this job completed, it actually has been a silver lining, in that it’s shown up possible complications we might not have anticipated had the weather been dry during this operation. Part of our goal was to ensure that our neighbour didn’t get huge run offs from our property – something he’s endured the 30+ years he’s lived here. Part of that is because of rain coming off the street, down our driveway – like a river in heavy falls – and then down the rest of our property, spilling on to his. His garage used to get flooded but now we’ve redirected the water away from there, that’s not happening. Trouble was, the water was more concentrated in one section, across his driveway that runs at the bottom of our property (his property runs beside and below ours) but we’ve now been able to add drainage that steers it away to a corner of his property. We consulted with our landscaper and our neighbour to get this happening. Over time, this should prove to be an effective strategy for him and us.
The pathways have now been all mapped out and all have crushed rock toppings on them, ready for the final topping, similar to lilydale topping, only more red. It’s now showing us where all our proposed garden beds are – a daunting but exciting thing too. We have sooooooooo much planting to do and will be calling on family, friends and local groups to help us from time to time. The apprentice has begun lining another pathway, this one below the billabong bank, with small rocks he’s found around the property. We’re amazed at how many he finds! Love the steps they’ve created on a steep path too, to make it easier for us all to negotiate as we walk around.
Graham checking out our new stone bridge (above) over the overflow creek.
Jarrod, who drives the main machinery, has been levelling the firepit area and work has begun on that now. Another apprentice arrived Friday afternoon and he and the other one, worked to get the cortenz steel in place. A fourth guy was busy cutting the poles left over from the deck, to make footings for the wooden seats to be put in place and there are also large pieces of granite going to be used for seating too.
And we’ve gotten more plants in the billabong now and have begun putting in Carex, which is a grassy plant that likes to grow in and beside creeks, into our creek beds. We were gifted two large papyrus plants (well, they will be large once they sprout again – growing up to 4 metres in height) and Luke helped put them into the billabong for me
