21 Flaggy Rock; Some time out but work still goes on!

We were given some beautiful citrus by Andy and his wife Pam who own the  Dozer. We visited theie place and were given some amazing fruit. Bags and bags of it. We didn't want to waste it and so spent a day and a half working in the kitchen making us some jam and marmalade. As you can see it was a success and we can say very yummy too...



We now have our water bed from Brisbane and so what a luxury it is not to have to sleep on the floor. This bought to a conclusion our inside efforts and so just a few photos to keep as a reminder of our little sanctuary that is clean, dry and vermin free....


Our lounge room consists of our communication with the world....




Kitchen now has a full size fridge that will keep all the efforts from our garden soon....


The Studio....


A stunning morning to go and fish the tide in....




I an not sure who is keeping an eye on who.....


We are promising ourselves to do some exploring of places we  have heard of and place John remembers from a child. This is on the top of a hill looking west where John's parents along with some other families had beach huts in the 60s. Notch Point is now a National Park and has free camping but no facilities. John climbed all over this rock as a 5 year old and his parents hut was within metres...




Looking out to the east from the top of Notch Point....


South...


North...


and west...


John was Christened in this hall at Orkabie. Orkabie has a school and did have a shop and garage but  sadly all are now gone...


Back to our fishing we did manage to catch our selves a feed of Brim and a day or so later John had a wonderful dinner...




The garden is going ahead really well. Much to our amazement we have hardly lost anything we planted so far. We are slowly buying up fruit trees to enlarge the Orchard that is further down the block...






Back to work and our aim is to spend two full days cleaning out the larger shed behind us. This means getting rid of the snake enclosure too. In the full clean up we were able to dispatch 5 snakes in total and we hope that is all there is for some time to come!




It really was a lot worse that this. A lot has already been removed and sorted...


This tree was double this size and in the first cut the sap burnt John's skin so finally he gets his revenge....


Presto !! Two days later and what a difference. Now it might be a bit more useful to us. In summer this is one of the coolest places we have found and so we have already ordered two hammocks for afternoon siestas....


A shot of the most valuable items the shed unfolded to us.....




This is going in the garden somewhere not really found in the shed but around in different place in the grass....




The view from our Studio now is much more pleasant....

20 Flaggy Rock; At last the Dozer

Friday 15th June is a very big day. Our dozer man called Andy has arrived and we are over the moon. Finally some real clearing of the land. He starts in our front yard which to us has been fairly wet and not draining away but there was no problems and really the rest of the time he worked for us it was in dust even though the soil type changed dramatically....



Now he moves onto just beside the main large shed...


All manner of things pop out of the lantana at us....





What a waste...we were to find more and more of this. Fencing wire taken down and rolled up. Why....




Slowly working from the sheds along a bank on the northern boundary which has creek flats beside the bank....






A view we have never seen before looking back at the sheds....






John's heart was in his mouth a lot of the time as Andy just went up and down the slopes without a care in the world. As we were to see over and over again this man knows his machine and how to operate it.....


A duplex Hilton Chook house emerges from the lantana and vines....


A very high tank stand is discovered...


And a Pig Sty with a concrete slab floor....


Cuppa anyone.  This panican has hung here, swinging the breeze since 1988 when Shelia died....


Andy is down that bank again.....


Toilet block we didn't even know about...




More wire, how many thousands of dollars wasted here.....


At the end of day one and we are exhausted keeping up the instructions and the pace that Andy sets for us. Little did we know or expect he is coming back tomorrow....


Day Two of our Dozer and we are up early to have boundary pegs in place for him to follow...








It really does resemble a jungle....


But what a difference a few hours make....




We did know this old trailer was here and maybe can be repaired one day just depends how many hours there are in a day....




The cattle yards are in here somewhere. No honestly we are not joking...


John has found the Tamarind tree his mother planted in the yards all those years ago...




He has to show Jenelle what Tamarind's are because she is not sure. Looks like there will be some online searching to see what we can use them for.....


It is like a work of art watching as the dozer pulls away vine and lantana without damaging the fences....


A lot of the yards look in reasonable order but will still need hours and hours (no days and days) of cleaning up. It is around this time Jenelle decides she wants a chainsaw too. Just  a little one to help in the clean up....






The old killing block is still here after all the years of neglect...






The most beautiful trees are now able to be appreciated. These trees are where many picnic lunches were had when the men were working in the cattle yards. The females would bring the lunch and set it out on rugs under these trees....




Another boundary peg is found to back up our skill as amatuer surveyors...


This the last area for the day to be cleaned is beside the orchard and for as long a John can remember even when mustering cattle as a young boy this was an area no one went into. Until now. Andy finds a most amazing fig tree that is really a picture but we have a lot of work still with chainsaws first before it's full majesty can be appreciated ...


As we finish day two, Andy tells us he will be back tomorrow but a later start of 9am becuase tomorrow is Sunday....


Day Three and we have become inspired by Andy's knowledge of  trees and timber and so have added lumber jacks to our skill set.  Who knows we might turn into wood turners at some stage so we keep some of the timber logs. Jenelle has already ordered coasters and pot stands and so she has to help in the taking home and storing of the logs...


More tidying into stacks for us to burn later...






We have had a very large unsightly hole near the front of the Studio and so we are getting Andy to fill this in for us and at the same time improve the slope of the bank near the vegetable garden...




In and around the garden with such a big machine and nothing bumped or bruised...


Just perfect!!!!





Back on the boundary and some of the time creating smooth roads and filling in some of the deep ruts made by trespassers in the past. This in some areas is giving  us a fire break around part of the block...


A little invention by John to help smooth the road areas....




A whole lot of fun for the both of us. Just as well we get on as there could have been arguing over who gets to drive Chucky the most....


Later on Sunday we take payment to Andy's place which he has invited us to have a look at. We are only 8 km apart. His family has over many years planted most of the fruit trees you could name. These are called miracle fruit. After eating the flesh it can make lemons very sweet and the opposite of a sweet fruit very sour. Andy gave us these to try at home and they made a lemon taste like lemonade. Well we think Andy gave us a miracle in all the clear ground we now have our little block seems huge and that's only one part of it....