Saturday, 29th June

Waiting for the rain to stop:

Well things have been a bit slow over the last couple of weeks here at Noosa.   It seems (according to locals) we are experiencing unseasonable seasonal weather, of the wet variety.

Given the early stages of building generally entails a lot of negative changes in elevation, wet dirt or mud as we know it, is not ones friend.    Mr. Mitarai and the ute in particular don't cope well.

We have had heavy downpours followed by sun, then heavy downfall, etc, etc.  The ground never gets to recover before the next deluge.

One afternoon's shower drop.

So what's been happening?  

I have had two flat batteries, one on the Merc and one on the ute, plus a flat tire on the ute to give me something to do.  And as I worked on making our temporary caravan surroundings a little more pleasant, I got the ute bogged in the paddock, and beyond redemption until the ground firms.

I got into the paddock with a 1/2 ton of gravel, but after emptying the load I couldn't get out; that was 4 days ago :(.  Getting a 4wd in tyre at present will just dig up everything.

The mud bucket arrived, being the wrong colour (no big deal) but with the supplied mounting pins being a slightly larger diameter than will fit the BX. On top of that there were no grease release holes for those pins, meaning you could pump grease into the zerks (aka 'grease nipples') till you couldn't anymore or they potentially exploded with the pressure.  Contacting the supplier, OX Buckets, resulted in a lukewarm response... "send them back"; well thanks.  I decided it would be quicker to sand them down till they fitted, then drilled grease release holes myself.   All done, but then I find one of the holes for the retaining pins is off centre so you can't insert the supplied securing bolt. Great. I'll deal with it.

So what else?

- been stocking tip on required tools, second hand that is, through FB Marketplace.  This has been a great money saver and also allowed us to drive all around the region (within reason) picking things up and meeting interesting people.  I'll flog them all again once the job is finished.

- had a meeting with the Architect and a CSR rep for a product called Cemintel, which we are considering as the external facing for the three buildings.  It is a fake 'board formed' composite panel which looks the part and will be easy to install.  We are pricing this product and considering issues around corners details, etc. before committing.

- also talks with Arcpanel who is a local supplier of one piece insulated ceiling/roof panels.  These could be used on the two bedrooms and would also be a very easy and simple to install, look good and keep rooms cool.

- a trip to the Noosa Farmer's Market is always fun and tasty.  These strawberries from Bundaberg were enormous but absolutely beautifully sweet.

Wildlife:

- kangaroos everywhere, some with Joeys come and eat the grass in the afternoon.  Always nice watching them;

- "Running of the bulls". Yes we experienced our very own version right here in Cooriobah (I'll try to upload a video).  I was settled back using the iPad when I heard a lot of squishing of feet, and low and behold about 4x steers, 2x calfs and a big bull go roaring past the van and into the back paddock, closely following was a local hill billy trying to round them up.  All interesting and a tad different from an afternoon in Bayview or Mosman.

Next Week:

The rain is due to stop so next week so we may be able to move Mr. Mitarai to Marnie Crescent to start on the driveway and prepare the caravan and container area sites .  Fingers crossed.