How are you all?
Just thought that I would send another short letter around to let everyone know what we are doing. A huge thank you to all of those we have had contact with since we have been over.
We are all well and looking forward to building our first straw bale building on the block. This should be happening in a couple of months time. We have ordered the bales and the frame work but are now of course waiting for council approval, that could take some more time. Anyone that has built knows how that goes… forever sometimes.
Tao and Kai are doing really well and have settled into life in the country, why wouldn’t they with plenty of room to move, and fresh air. Tao was crowned that master blackberry picker of the family this year.
When we are working on the block he often wanders off and you can see him from a mile away with a face that looks like he comes from another planet, all purple. He has also started kinder this year and the school that he goes to is absolutely beautiful. It is really hard to get in there and is a waiting list a mile long but somehow we managed to get him in there. He is doing really well at his numbers and is always asking what something says and is recognising letters and words.
I cannot believe how grown up he is. Time passes too quick.
Kai is doing a really good job of trying to catch up with Tao, whatever Tao does he has to do too, including the fact that we now have to buy two of EVERYTHING because Kai cannot be left out apparently, he is also nearly the same height so as a consequence we are asked quite often “ are they twins?”.
Kai is doing a really good job of trying to catch up with Tao, whatever Tao does he has to do too, including the fact that we now have to buy two of EVERYTHING because Kai cannot be left out apparently, he is also nearly the same height so as a consequence we are asked quite often “ are they twins?”.
The kids wen
t to their first concert in February of this year. The concert was the John Butler Trio and they had an absolute ball. We all danced up the front and amazingly there were about 3000 people there, which is a good turn out for Tassie standards. Here are some photos, the concert was held in the Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart.
t to their first concert in February of this year. The concert was the John Butler Trio and they had an absolute ball. We all danced up the front and amazingly there were about 3000 people there, which is a good turn out for Tassie standards. Here are some photos, the concert was held in the Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart.
The next exciting thing that has been happening on our agenda is that we bought a windmill and now have it on the block. The neighbours have all been pretty curious and we have discovered that we are pretty much the only ones south of Hobart with one, which I find amazing. It is lying on the ground but as soon as we have a dry weekend (hopefully this one will be coming up), then Jamahl and I can lay out the foundation and put it up. It is beautiful and will be a great sight to see. We will use it to pump water from our main dam (which we have also just had dug) up to our header tanks at the top of the block, this will be used for irrigation purposes.
Now to the dams…….
We initially thought that we would get two dams, a turkey nest dam at the very top of the property and a 1 mega litre (= 1million litres of water) dam at the bottom of the block on the key line. One day we were talking to the next door neighbour Michael and he suggested that we put tanks up the top, and we thought this was a better idea than a dam and went ahead and planned for this. We got the pad cut from the 5 tonne excavator and put a box section in and filled it with 10mm gravel, all ready for the tanks that we would be getting soon.
Next came the 1 meg dam. Wally the excavator driver started to cut the big dam and hit an underground spring, water exploded into the air and after a couple of hours of digging and the ground falling away from him and the excavator sinking he decided that perhaps we should not be having the dam in that particular spot and maybe make it a bit smaller. So we did, but it is still around 6m deep and we also got him to dig out the smaller existing dam that was a little further way up the block, this is now going to be our swimming hole in the summer time (when it gets hot).
Water is running out of the ground, it is the most amazing thing to see. Nothing like our situation in Adelaide. Our dams are now nearly full as a consequence. Cannot wait for those winter rains…….
Tao and Kai are loving the fact that we are going to have a swimming hole, as well as the permanent spring that we have aswell. We cannot believe our luck, water and a beautiful spot. Wait until the house is built aswell.
Anyway enough bragging and dreaming… just letting you know what we have been up to.
Our shed sites are now cut so just waiting on everything else to fall into place.
Well better get going and love to you all…..
Tanya, Jamahl, Tao and Kai.xoxoxoxo
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