150 Planted and More to Come

Yesterday and today were again spent in the garden, I really enjoy the time Karren and I spend together in the garden but my muscle and joint aches and pains are really pushing my patience with it. We are close to having the front garden done so I will need to push on...

I counted late yesterday afternoon how many plants we have moved, replanted or bought and planted and the tally came to more than 150. That is a lot of holes to be dug and when you dig that many holes you are bound to put some holes in the irrigation system and I did, hence I have more repair work and moving of existing sprinklers and new irrigation work for new garden beds to be done! The killer yesterday, however was the second last Golden Cane Palm, it was a biggun, over three metres high and  despite digging around as much of the root ball as possible we were only able to move it with the aid of mechanical advantage.

I'm stuffed already!

The root ball measured 900mm in diameter and was over 600mm deep, unfortunately this meant a hole slightly bigger was required.

Ooh that's a big root ball!

Opening up the gaps between the Palms means that a lot more morning sunlight will reach the Cycads, so hopefully they may grow a bit quicker.

Hopeless without the winch!

It was a massive root ball, I would never have moved it without applying 8000lbs of pulling force thanks to Mr Warn. The Hilux was then used to drag it into position adjacent to the orifice for insertion. When it came to digging the hole it was lucky for me we had some rain Friday night and the ground was marginally softer and just that little bit easier to dig. You can see some Agave Attenuata, Song of India and Bromeliads above the hole in the photo below.

Ground still very hard.

You see how far Karren got before she ran out of puff and the hardness of the ground overcame her ability to penetrate with the spade, from here on it was all Mattock and Crowbar. More than an hour later the big Palm was in the ground

Last two Cane Palms planted

Then it was just a case of planting more of the plants we had bought that morning at the Moggill Markets. We have been getting heaps of cheap plants at both Moggill and Rocklea markets, however I am beginning to think it is a false economy, especially when we end up spending mega bucks on breakfast and brunch at the markets, Omelettes, Gozleme, Dumplings, Bratwurst, Bockwurst, Bacon Rolls, Orange juice, Sushi, we have spent nearly as much on lovely food as we have on cheap plants!

Looking West

Planting a Dracaena in this shot, Rhoeo and more Cordyline Rubra and Red Star to follow. I would never have realised just how easy a purpose made hole shovel could make digging holes when planting. It has been one of the best tools I have bought - ever!

View from down the street.

We planted an Asparagaceae called Snake Plant or Mother-in-Laws tongue this afternoon, apparently named thusly because of the leaf sharpness! It was once used to make bow strings...

Mother-in-Laws Tongue

We also planted a Mauritian Hemp plant Urcracea foetida, which was once grown as a commercial fibre crop, is another member of the Agave family. Pretty soon we will be twisting our own rope!

A sad looking Dracaena - Song of India

In the photo below which is looking west north west you can see the Mauritus Hemp in between the hedge and the Cane Palm, hopefully it will grow to fill this gap nicely. From here on we will be planting heaps of ground cover. There is another Mauritius Hemp behind the Palm, they should look great once the fence is removed, it is ugly and superfluous.

Looking down the hill.

This photo is a little disappointing, I am not sure you can even see all the plants in the garden, the weeds stick out like the proverbial dogs though.

Does it look any different?

Looking better?

Now we need a good rainy season to get all the plants established and growing.

One of Karren's favourites a Strelitzia or Bird of Paradise.

Next weekend we will get a welcome reprieve from the garden when we have some guests visit us. Looking forward to catching up with them and giving the aches and pains a chance to abate.

Same, Same but Different?

After the last post I mentioned we would be back in the garden the next day, unfortunately I got my abilities mixed up with my ambitions... after spending Saturday in the garden I couldn't move Sunday, aches and pains were every where!

Instead of gardening Sunday we went to the Rocklea markets and got some more plants in the morning, then went for a drive in the afternoon to explore the Wivenhoe and Somerset dam areas. It was a lovely drive up to Somerset, shared with heaps of Bike riders out enjoying the weather and the roads.

Somerset is one of a few freshwater lakes available for water sports, the number of boats and PWCs on the water was simply staggering, they numbered in many hundreds. Hectic does not really describe it, we took a few photos from a high vantage point but they don't really show the sheer number of people on the water.

Somerset Dam

Somerset Dam

Yep Somerset Dam

More of Somerset

Final shot of Somerset!

I was told of a park near Wivenhoe that was home to a reasonable Koala population, so we thought it appropriate to see if the girls could find any in the "wild". I said to the girls that the first person to find a Koala when we entered the park would be named the best Koala spotter in the world.

Entrance to Wivenhoe Park Area.

No sooner had I turned off the highway and gone around a right hand bend in the road and Rosie yelled from the back seat she had spotted a Koala, sure enough she had seen on, not 200 metres into the park. She was thusly crowned best Koala spotter in the world. We got some ice creams and had a wander around the picnic grounds but were unable to see any more Koalas. Rosie was truly a most excellent Koala spotter!

As it looked from the road.

The winning Koala.

Lazy Bugger Too!

This weekend we got back into the garden again, the aches and pains tell me we did, that's for sure! I finished off the garden edging and we planted heaps more plants. We got a few more plants and weed matting from Bunnings and today we laid the weed matting in the back garden. Unfortunately the weeds had overtaken our first garden bed construction next to the pool and it needed urgent attention. Then we planted the new plants in the front garden as well.

Plants laid out for planting

Top notch garden edging

Not a straight line in sight... 

Lots more to be done.

Replanted Golden Cane Palms doing really well!

Along with the gardening Karren has decided to do a little crafty, handy work as well. Not content unless she is insanely busy it seems! Anywho we got this dodgy old coffee table off the eBays from a dodgy dude in Tarragindi. It was as expected and the perfect base for Karren's Ottoman/coffee table project.

Started like this!

A little bit of white paint on the legs, a bit of high density foam from Clarke rubber, bit of groovy material - in orange - of course and hey presto the finished item...

Who's a clever girl then?

I'm impressed, it looks great!

More gardening to come, I hope we get it done soon it's getting bloody warm!

You may also remember from a previous post we had some issues with the Crimsafe warranty, well Karren has learnt a lot from her current role, particularly how to get things done with unco-operartive contractors. Karren contacted Crimsafe directly, not the installers who work as authorised installers of Crimsafe products (who wouldn't fix the door originally). A couple of calls from the Crimsafe rep, a few emails and photos exchanged and we have some action. Crimsafe have instructed the manufacturer / installer of the Crimsafe product, that it was made incorrectly and needs to be repaired under warranty. In fact all four doors need to be removed and fitted with the Crimsafe mesh properly. Needless to say we are not popular with the manufacturer / installer. Well all I can say is stuff em, it is now going to cost them a motza to fix all four doors instead of just repairing one - suffer in your jocks you pricks!

I have to say the the people from Crimsafe have been excellent, they really do care about their product and their quality, a big thumbs up to them!

Another warm day in the garden

It was another beautiful day in Brisbane today, we took advantage of the weather and got cracking again in the garden.

I have been putting off doing the edging, mainly because it is not great fun digging the channel for the edging pavers. Mixing the concrete and laying the pavers, although not great on the back is far easier than digging the channel in bone dry, rock hard ground. We have finished the top garden bed, and half completed the bottom bed, which should be finished tomorrow.

In the right centre is a small Golden cane palm we transplanted.

You can see the palms and other plants that have been planted or transplanted. Once the edging is complete we will put down some sort of weed mat, fix the water system then mulch.

Some Agave and Bromeliads planted.

You can quite clearly see just how dry the garden is, the grass is all but dead, the weeds of course are thriving. We haven't had enough rain to fill the tank and water the garden, I need to remember form now on that all the rain up here falls in the summer, not winter.

Edging channel almost complete.

Front garden edge finished.

The Pencil Pines are going. Bottom front edge almost finished.

The largest of the Cane Palms is still to be dug up and moved.

Edging laid and complete. 

A good days work.

We are still investigating plants to add to the garden, currently we have three type of Bromeliads in and Karren plans to plant the big ones we have in pots by the front door. There are three or four types of Cordyline planted, Karren has identified a few more that she wants, we plan on hitting Rocklea Markets and a few local farmers markets looking for cheap plants.

Large Red Necked Wallaby (quite at home with me)

Charlie took great interest in this big fella, thankfully the hidden fence stopped the dog getting too close and being carved up by him. The Wallaby was completely unfazed by Charlie the wonder dog, he got himself a quick feed, and kept one eye on the curly black fool while we were splashing about in the pool. The white peg in the background marks our northern boundary corner.

He is a retriever after all.

The pool is now getting plenty of use, nothing better than a swim after a long hot day at work. I read somewhere that dogs should not be in pools because of the huge load they demand keeping the pool properly chlorinated. A dog is the equivalent of having 30 people swim in your pool, but trying to keep him out requires too much effort to worry. So far we are not having any issues keeping the chemical levels in check.

The girls are no longer the lily white southerners, however keeping them covered in sunscreen is almost a full time job, thankfully they are very good at putting it on themselves. The wearing of rashies is compulsory in the hours between 10 and 4.

Tomorrow we will hopefully finish the edging, leaving the public holiday on Monday for us to get out and explore somewhere.

A year ago...

12 Months ago this week we flew to Brisbane to look for a new house to live in before our big move to Queensland. Hasn't time flown by!

It was a busy week, we visited more than 20 houses in the week, many that did not meet our requirements, went to some theme parks and then watched my beloved Hawks lose a Grand Final, to top it off we sold our house over the phone. Towards the end of the short stay we decided to make an offer on a house that we had quickly inspected, in the end it became our home.

No need to fast forward 12 months, as it seems to have been so anyway, this week I hope for a change in fortune for the Mighty Hawks, I won't be watching... I am sure my short temper and frustration will ensure I wouldn't enjoy it anyway. Instead I will get out into the garden and get back into the long list of jobs to be completed.

We have not done a lot in the last few weeks, we have been doing any number of things, many to avoid the hard work needed. Last weekend I went pig hunting, wasn't the most successful trip but we had a great time anyway. The property has plenty of pigs on it but not many that we could find, the only one we saw crossed our path while all firearms were secured and unloaded in the ute. Needless to say he had all but made good his escape by the time I had unpacked and loaded the BLR. An off hand fleeting shot at him as he disappeared into the thick dense scrub was not accurate enough to pull him up. The Cocky's game camera mounted on his pig trap indicated we were minutes away from a mob of 30 odd pigs when spotlighting but alas we did not see them and for the life of me I can't think where they disappeared to!

The pool has been swum in everyday and we are loving it, the solar has warmed the pool up to a balmy 28 degrees Celsius, so warm that we had to adjust the temperature set point to prevent it becoming a bath. The girls are swimming like fish and are loving time spent in the pool, they have invented any number of games to play and keep themselves amused. Much to my chagrin, my swimming ability is on par with that of a rock, however I have taken some time over the last few weeks and have successfully taught myself to swim properly. The pool is big enough to allow me practice my breathing and stroke, however I am yet to get the whole tumble turn thing.

You may recall that there was a Magpie by the name of Graeme that was making my working day a Hitchcock inspired nightmare, the little black and white prick chased me over a combined distance of more than a kilometre during which time he would swoop and peck, or hit me or my helmet more than 50 times each day! Thankfully Auspost decided that it was a safety issue and organised to have the bird relocated. I was informed Monday afternoon that there had been a successful capture and relocation of Graeme on Friday! It was amusing to see the reaction of the boss when I told her that the $600 spent to move the bastard was spent on the wrong bird and in fact Graeme was still dive bombing all over Kingfisher Park to his hearts content. This morning I was rapt to get a phone call from the bird catcher letting me know that this time she had indeed got Graeme, not convinced I met her at Kingfisher Park to confirm his entrapment. It was him and the smile on my face was a mile wide, I truly enjoyed the rest of my day, while Graeme was in transit to the Sunshine Coast, good riddance you cowardly feathered fiend.

You might also remember I had a run in with our Crimsafe screen door, what a saga that has turned out to be. I have had heaps of trouble getting the installer out to repair the door, obviously they are not happy having to honour the lifetime warranty. Finally after three weeks and many phone calls they came to have a look. Surprise surprise the stooges have squibbed on the warranty, claiming a door of that size should have a centre stay and the previous owners must have waived the warranty to have it installed thusly without a centre stay. Can't really argue about what might have happened six years ago when installed, but I do find their reluctance to cover the warranty and the fact they have weaseled out of it pretty damn poor. Needless to say that I reckon Crimsafe is not worth a pinch of hot cocky shit! Scumbags!

It's a Small World...

We have had a few of the it's a small world moments since we have been up here!

Firstly Karren came home from work and asked if I knew a bloke called Hambly who used to work at Mars, yes was the reply. It turns out that Karren now works with his son in law.

The second it's a small world moment involves a long and detailed story that I am about to regale, or bore you to death with.

I saw a video produced by the Ballarat RSL, a story of a man called Bull Allen. The video tells the story of a brave Ballarat man and his gallantry during WWII, the link was posted by Bruce an old workmate of mine. The video inspired me to search for similar stories on YouTube.

One video that I found was titled Tribute to Australian Soldiers in Afghanistan 2012, and was posted by MozfromAus. At the time it meant nothing to me but I kept searching. Later I returned to the video to read some of the comments and I had a WTF moment. MozfromAus was a bloke named Ken.  Those of you who went through their secondary schooling at Sebas Tech with me and escaped unscathed will probably, no certainly remember a larrakin called Ken, who left school to join the army. I don't like posting the full names of people on Blogs and the like so if you can't work out who I am on about send me a message. One of the last times Ken and I were in touch, he sent me some photos and a letter from Namibia where he served with the UNTAG forces.

Photo from the Australian War Memorial Archives.

I had been unsuccessfully searching for ways to connect to Ken to no avail. MozfromAus was a clue that would eventually enable to me to connect with Moz on Facebook after not being in touch with each other for more than 20 years.

So last night I was next door having a BBQ with our neighbours Jason and Danielle, Jason was ex-army and he handed me a stubby holder that was emblazoned with a Combat Engineers insignia. I was sure that Ken/Moz was at some stage a member of the Combat Engineers when he was in the army. I thought it was a remote possibility that the two gents would know each other but asked the question of Jason anyway. The answer didn't really surprise me, Jason "Killer" knew Ken "Moz" very well, they great mates in the army and have known each other for years.

I find it amazing that I now live next door to a bloke who is mates with an old mate of mine from the other end of the country from more than 20, nearly 30 years ago. I reckon it's a great story, but I will certainly not be asking why Killer is so named.

It has been some time since my last post, nothing of real note has happened.

We fired up the Chimenea to roast some marshmallows, one thing led to another and soon I had consumed the best part of a bottle of Bourbon, Karren a couple of bottles of Vino, the girls a bag of marshmallows, they also ended up with a couple of little burns from the molten marshmallow as well!

mmmmmm fire.... so pissed I couldn't even hold the camera straight!

 That night I did explode the myth that Crimsafe screen doors are Crimsafe! I was a little joyous after consuming three quarters of a bottle of Devil's Cut and walked straight through a closed Crimsafe door. Crimsafe they might be, pissed idiot safe they certainly are not!

Didn't hurt at the time!

Last weekend I had my 44th Birthday, a forgettable one, the only positive is that I keep having Birthdays, getting older is better than the alternative.

For my Birthday treat we went to the Brisbane Boat Show and dreamed of what we would buy if we won the Lotto, then we followed that with lunch on Sunday arvo at SouthBank. My luck was out and we had the misfortune of picking the single worst restaurant in Brisbane, thankfully is was so bad I have forgotten its name, or is that old age, anyway where was I.... we tried a few establishments that were too busy, then found one that wasn't. 

The fact that this restaurant wasn't busy should have rung alarm bells, but once we saw our food it became immediately apparent why it was so quiet. I ordered a seafood basket, one would think a safe enough choice when on the coast near some of the best fisheries in the country! Alas my seafood basket consisted of some crumbed and fried fish, calamari and prawns all thoughtfully prepared and frozen by Birdseye or some such similar company many many weeks before my birthday! The fish fillets were hardly fillets, instead more like a oversized fish fingers. The food was so substandard Karren and the girls were also unable to completely finish their meals - which is highly unusual for Emily and Rosie! The restaurant proudly proclaimed to serve Australian cuisine. If by Australian cuisine they mean cheap and nasty food that tasted like crap and was prepared by chefs too lazy to batter and fry some seafood, they nailed it!

Karren's Birthday is Tuesday so I need to get my backside firmly in gear and organise something special for her for dinner. Processed and frozen seafood is not on the menu!

The things you see...

Just a quick update, we went to Seaworld today, just a treat for the girls. They have been behaving pretty well lately and have kept their rooms clean for two whole weeks!

Driving down on the M1, when in the distance I could see something large, it wasn't instantly recognisable but as we got closer I saw not a truck as I initially thought but rather, a very large dual cab ute.

Big dual cab F750

So I was thinking to myself - why? Then I thought hey why not! I wouldn't really want one forever, but would love to pedal one just for fun! It is a massive vehicle and Emily posed a pertinent question. How and where would you park such a beast? If you are that big I would suggest anywhere and anyhow you please. It dwarfed the Mondeo.

Monster Truck F750

After I had spent a few ks drooling over the F750 we eventually made it to Seaworld arriving just in time to see the Dora show, both girls are a little old for Dora the Explorer, however watching one of their favourite school teachers from Pleasant Street PS perform as Dora was a special treat for them.

Kate Lewis as Dora the Explorer

Later during her break we were fortunate enough to catch up with Kate for a quick chat, both girls adore her and it was great treat for us to see her smiling, happy and enjoying herself on the Gold Coast.

Rosie is slowly getting taller and has just passed the 120cm barrier (by a couple of mm) which qualified her for the Sky Climb. We didn't get the chance to get any photos of the Sky Climb, because all four of us were able to go on together. It certainly challenged Rosie and I who are a little acrophobic and possibly thanatophobic. Emily and to a certain extent Karren, were bounding around on the ropes course without fear.

After the Sky Climb we went on a few of the roller coasters, and then Viking Flume - repeatedly, which we love as it is one of the few rides we can enjoy together. Emily and I rode the Jet Rescue ride, Emily then conspired to trick her mother into going on it, by telling her the ride was pedestrian and boring. Karren is not all scared by roller coasters, so the enjoyment was in the sting rather than getting her on the ride.

Post Script.

As an adjunct, Karren and I noticed the Boss is touring again in Brisbane in February of 2014, we are currently looking for a reliable baby sitter so that we can both go... I will hope to be camped by the computer on the 21st when the pre sale tickets go on sale to ensure we get seats.

More Gardening

Today we got stuck into some more gardening, transplanting Golden Cane Palms was the order of the day!

We have searched on a number of different occasions for instructions, for moving Palm trees. Last night Karren stumbled across one that outlined a very technical process.

1. Firstly remove about one third of the palm fronds from the tree.
2. Dig up the palm tree leaving a decent size root ball.
3. Dig a hole big enough for the root ball.
4. Put the palm in the hole and fill with dirt.
5. Water the palm.

Gee, we would never have thought to do it that way! The only step that was not obviously necessary was step one. After starting on the first tree the reason became immediately apparent! You remove the palm fronds that hinder your efforts to extricate the root ball at the base of the tree.

The Golden Cane Palms were tightly clumped like this.

We began moving the palms at the western corner of the front garden. The Palms were planted very tightly and in our opinion were not particularly well set out. We chose the ones we wanted transplant and roughed out where we wanted them to go, once decided we hooked in to the first and smallest of the three we wanted moved.

First two Palms in place

The little one in the centre of the above photo was first to be moved and planted, it wasn't too bad, but was very heavy and awkward to move. The bigger ones would be more problematic, twice the size and weight.

Hilux in place for winching the third Palm out.

We got into the second tree with a different plan. I hooked the winch on the Hilux to the Palm, dug up some of the roots then winched it out, this method proved to be much easier and a lot less back ache.

Third Palm ready to plant.

Given how dry and warm it has been, the ground was very hard and required a lot of effort to dig the 800mm diameter 400mm deep holes required for the two bigger Palms.

In the ground and tethered.

The two larger Palms were tethered to prevent them being blown over in the wind.

View looking north west

Karren and I were utterly exhausted after spending the best part of three hours moving the Palms so we cooled off with the girls in the pool!

Next week we move four more Palms from the eastern side of the garden, then commence the garden edging. We are slowly getting there!