16 Flaggy Rock; Taming the Jungle Week 10 - We've Done It!!

At the beginning of our 10th week we are finally able to get some photos of the the very blue Kookaburras we have seen flying around here.  Could be a painting coming on one day.....







It's Sunday and Mother's Day and after working most of the day we take a drive to have a picnic on the beach....







This is a rare sight for us. While at the beach a Pelican flew past. John had never seen Pelicans here before so we will be on the lookout for more....



At least we can name one of trees in our citrus grove. The only piece of fruit visible to us was an almost perfect Grapefruit......


Another day without power due to transmission failure (this time unplanned) and so the citrus grove was pruned and made to look as clean as possible....


Yippie...Time to burn the stacks.....






It is now very dry and the soil has turned to a layer of fine powdered dust. We were hoping this cloud could have settled the dust for us but not this time. Since putting in a rain gauge in late April we have not had a sprinkle yet.....


Taps are in place....


Plumbing pipes ready to be covered.....


This is our first week of living here and we are comfortable. The windows are not in place and gradually the Studio is being sealed. When we think we are hard done by we only have to think of the early Pioneers. We have electricity, running water,  air conditioning and our coffee machine. All I can say is they were tough and we are marginally less soft than the average modern Aussie...






Our tent is our peace of mind at night. No insects and no creepy crawlers can get inside.....


This is our lounge area and not finished yet. Ceiling soon and front door and windows in a couple of weeks.....


The very first plants of a vegetable garden.....


After a long days work there is a quite drink and rest to have on our front patio. It has been an eventful 10 weeks and still a long way to go but we feel we have Tamed the Jungle at least in this area of the property....

15 Flaggy Rock; Taming the Jungle Week 9

Week 9 started with us arriving at our gate with this little guy close to our Studio, the novelty hasn't worn off yet....





Onto work and more walls for the lounge...


And a ceiling for the bedroom ( that's code for more aches and pains)....


This is here to show you that the washing machine is now installed with barely a millimetre to spare. We can now wash here instead of the $4 a wash at the Caravan Park where the Top Loaders just redistributed the dirt....



You don't see anything... but this is our first piece of Cornice and we are very proud of it. Only the pantry had to come out first. One step forward and two back....


 Now for the installation of the high kitchen cupboards. Notice the safety required props to bring the cupboards up to the height required to install....


What a beautiful sight the new kitchen ready to move into....


Our first night at the Studio, Friday the 11th May 2012 and after showers at the Caravan Park with final Good-Byes to our new friends there, we journeyed down to the farm feeling there was too much here with a fridge plugged in with food and the tent up for us to sleep in to leave unattended. The tarp was at the front door and iron over the windows to be weather proof what would we have to worry about. John and Jenelle had the best nights sleep they had had for many nights maybe exhaustion or the feeling they were finally home. What they hadn't bargained for were the visitors through the night they hadn't heard. Rats!!!!


Early the next morning the pheasant was a lovely sight...


We had been promised that a Bobcat would turn up today but here in the wilds of central Queensland, we are never quite sure. But at 8am on our first morning he rolled up to the gate and we said come on in...


About 15 mins work for a Bobcat and about a days work for us.....


More instructions....


A view we hadn't seen before....




Around our "Pride of India" grove....


Guess what !! Our man had discovered that the trees covered in vine were still alive and we have at least 10 citrus trees in just barley alive condition. We are ecstatic because we knew some were there but never thought they would still be alive.


Behind our main shed he pushes the soil to help with drainage....


It's hard to believe we don't have to trip over rough ground between sheds...


He really knew his stuff to help us because these stacks are ready to burn as soon as they dry out. We estimate the work he did in 8 hours would have taken the both of us 2 weeks and then we would not have been able to level the ground in places the way he did....

14 Flaggy Rock; Taming the Jungle Week 8

Week 8 starts with us rebuilding our walls for the bathroom and kitchen now with floor covering in place for these two rooms. The rest in a roll we continualy walk over the top of for another week until we are ready to start the next two rooms. We also now have the shower base in place...





We need to get some of the cupboards built and so we start to practice on the bathroom/laundry set we have bought in a "flat pack" from Bunnings.....


The vanity being built in what one day will be the bedroom....


Hang on before we get these cupboards in place we better build the ceiling in. Guess what we have chosen corrugated iron for this as well. There were a few teething problems in having two people install this as one who is female had to hold a sheet of iron up in the air while the other who is male attempted to nail in place.....


And then there were corners to cut as well. We made cardboard templates to guide the cutting process and these were remarkably accurate.....


As you can see the pantry only just fits.....


We install all the sinks and tubs so the plumber has only the connections to do...




In the middle of this Ergon turns our power off for half a day to work on the lines. Here they arrive in numbers to watch two men install a new insulater on our pole. I am not sure how many men it takes to watch this so it can happen but we had about ten in total look on....


Sinks and taps in place all ready for the plumber....




In the distance we can see a Stork has it's nest in a tree along the creek. With the camera we are able to see it is feeding it's young....




Back to work and the electrician has come so we now have two lights and three double power points. What a bonus that is for us....


John has been busy building all the timber frame work for the bedroom and lounge room. This is the view out the lounge room window....


We decide to complete the ceiling insulation before going on....


The first sheet of iron on our bedroom wall. We have decided to have a reverse cycle air condition to help manage the extremes of weather we have here...


Bedroom walls in place...


We have been working from daylight to dark to be able to get the Studio built and save costs by living on the farm. Leaving one night we didn't realise we were looking at the "Super Moon" rising across the plain, it was just so stunning....