Author: Lisa

Hello there!
I hope everyone’s week is going well.
The sunshine ceased in the last couple of days and its been raining steadily today.
Luckily, got the fence all sorted within a sensational week of sunshine

Sharon’s husband Paul – who knows how to do so many fabulous and excellent things – took on the job of fixing our fence, now that we (the collective ‘we’ meaning Paul, one or two of his friends, myself and Jeff) had finished clearing the timber on the neighbours paddock.

As you can see, this corner of the properties was a bit of a mess, so the other Sunday while Jeff was sleeping, I got in and tried to clear and move as much as possible so when Paul got in the next morning, we’d have a better shot of getting in to work on the fence.

Hmmmm
Chopping, dragging and pulling up clumps of weeds along the fenceline. Lucky with the recent rain, the grass clumps came up without putting up too much of a struggle

I unearthed the tin and steel droppers that we put in ages ago to stop the cows from wandering into our yard.

Cut everything back and dragged them out too

Some of the bigger pieces of timber I couldn’t move without the help of the steel droppers.
I’d watched Paul move huge logs with a long crowbar and took a leaf out of his book

Amazing what you can do with a little leverage!

Felt good to be doing something constructive

There was a lot of timber in under this grass… big and small.
I dragged the bigger ones over to their own pile and Jeff sorted them out with his chainsaw a few days later.

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Oh… and a bit of blackberry that slowed me up a bit – annoying grabby bitey stuff!

The next morning, Paul came in and helped me finish up clearing out the area

I got the job of rolling up the wire so we could reuse it all again.

A couple of the treated pine posts we were able to set aside and reuse. The rest of the posts we took from what Paul and Co. had milled a few weeks back.
Once the area was clear, Paul dug a whacking great hole for the corner post.
I helped carry this massive beast to its resting spot and I tell you – that was the very limit of my carrying capacity! So heavy!!
Its gone into the ground down about a metre and a half.
Its solid!

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Well… you can’t really see how deep

Once the corner post was in, Paul ran a string line to one of the other posts that was still part of the fence line to find the places we needed to dig holes

Deep holes

So… as apprentice Hole Digger I managed to almost complete two holes.
Luckily Paul isn’t as slow as I am.

Ahhh… the satisfaction of lots of nice holes haha

And some of the things found whilst digging those holes

So… Tuesday and there is no more hole digging (yay)
I will confess that Paul finished off the two holes I was working on.
Mostly because I was having trouble once they got quite deep getting the soil cleared out. And because he got to the paddock before I did Tues morning!!

Back to putting in posts, filling with broken pieces of cement blocks and soil.
Paul has chiseled out the posts to put in a cross beam as well.

Starting to string the wires back up and things are looking fence-like

The chook wire did get a bit stretched after dropping a few trees on it, but this handy little gadget helped by snicking it all back into place, best and even as we could

Paul has all the cool fencing gadgets for sure!

Morrie, who has the paddocks, stopped by to check things out.
Reckon he was impressed so far. Honestly he needs a medal for being so patient for so long!

Wednesday… Jeff recovered from nightshift usurped my place as Apprentice Fence Builder and got in to help Paul and learn a few more things along the way.

They cut down timber to size and moved it to the fence

They put up the three cross beams and decided to forgo the barbed wire.
Will be completely unnec. with the timber in place

Meanwhile I did more than stand about looking gorgeous (snort)

The old pallet fence that was half mangled by the falling tree then turned into Ugly Fort Knox trying to thwart chooks from flying over needed to come down

So I pulled everything up.
A lot of wire to undo!! Happily the steel droppers came up pretty easily which I wasn’t expecting.
Usually there is a big fight peppered with lots of swear words

We will keep the pallets for now as when Ed comes back with his mill, we will need something to put the milled timber on to store it, so we will use them to set something suitable up.
Now that the fence is down it also means getting the mill in and working in this area will be a lot less hampered.

Well… I reckon Paul did an absolutely fabulous job!
He was very particular on getting it just right and was also really patient teaching both of us useful bits and bobs along the way.

Lucky to have such excellent friends!
Honestly… I dont think anything is going to break through this fence in a hurry!
Morrie must have been totally confident too because he let the cows back into the top two paddocks the very next day!

Cow photos coming soon! They are super cute – and keep rushing up to the fence to stare at us if we go out the back!

Oh… and I have a question…
Groots dodgy Grandpa or an Ent???
Cheers!

Hello again, just dropping by with the rest of the days photos… not much more of a story in there.

I love all the waterways, tarns, puddles etc

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I think Cradle is getting slightly closer…?

And Jeff further away!

…

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I think the above view is one of my fav’s from up that way

Since we felt we didn’t have enough time to do the Face Track (Last bus back to the carpark was 4pm) we just walked back via Marions Lookout where we sat to enjoy the views and lunch

Hit the spot for sure…

Picnics always bring out the freeloaders too

Nope, sorry. You can’t have my sandwich!

Instead of going down the usual way, we took the steep direct path that went down to Dove Lake instead of Ronnies Creek where we started

The chains are very helpful – less tumbling down on my part

The track comes out just before the boathouse where a keen wedding party was standing around getting photos!
I snuck a quick snap before getting out of the way

Sunny day or not… I bet the bride was feeling chilly!

Dove Lake car park is being turned into some kind of interpretation/visitors centre. (General visitors haven’t been able to drive up here for a long time… have to rely on the shuttle buses now)
I am not sure why its nec.
They’ve just built a lovely big visitors centre at the fringe of the park which is great – quite big, but got everything there to appease the visitors.
I tend to feel the more structures and buildings, the less wilderness it becomes.
Horrifyingly they are talking of putting a chairlift up to Marions Lookout!!

This is a Natural World Heritage Site – and while it would make that spot more accessible to those that can’t walk it, I can only imagine the impact of excessive amounts of day trippers up there, not to mention the act of installing and maintaining it. (And then comes the safety boundary fences probably – I am sure most people who hike up love the open feeling of standing up there without the man made structures enclosing us)
There will be more rescues needed – We’ve already caught people heading down really dangerous paths with toddlers who they managed to get up to Marions!! If they get an easy lift over that hard slog up, I suspect in many inexperienced walkers, there would be a false sense of ability to tackle some of the other tracks from that point.
And rubbish. Sadly its creeping in more with the popularity of the spot.
So, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that a chairlift/cable car wont actually get built there.

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We made it back to Dove Lake in plenty of time to get the bus back to the car and on our way home before the roads iced up again!
We really couldn’t have asked for a better day out!

Hope you enjoyed
Cheers!

Hi! Busy week but fence is done!
Decided to do the walk story in two parts otherwise I was in danger of not getting it done at all!!

As you can see… it was a magnificent winters day up at Cradle!
Fresh, crisp air – fabulous for walking up hills!

We started out at the usual Ronnies Creek… lots of the little ponds and streams were iced over

Still frosty where there was shade too

Spotted a nice fat wombat eating his dinner before presumably popping off for a snooze

Crossing the bridge

Didn’t take us long to find the first mud puddles!!

There were a number of people out on the track that morning. A group was geared up to start the Overland.
We took the turn off and went up the Horse Track where there were no other people

I admit I struggled in the morning. Its not as steep as going the other way but its longer and stretches up for ever

The views as always just get better as you go

The narrow paths are quite pretty

(Still struggling on up!)

Came across a mini waterfall and waterway

Looking across the hills… so clear that day!

Then looking back

Then looking ahead (Sob)

Getting high enough again to see Cradle peeking over the edge

The track was icy in parts. Nothing too difficult though. Enough to slow us up a little.

The old timber tracks look cool but can sometimes be a bit hard to navigate. (Easy to slide off or end up in a puddle)

Not far off the top now…
A quick diversion off to Crater Peak for a look. Always love the views from up there

Makes me feel small

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Back on the track we stopped to refill one of the water bottles with some fresh icy mountain water

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Sometimes the ice between the rocks was hard to spot

Jeff saw these trees and thought it looked like an aerial shot

Onward!

The new tracks are so easy to traverse after the old ones!

Going to have to climb Barn Bluff one of these days!

Brrrrr… well… its cold sitting here and I will warm up better if I get off my bottom and do something with the day while the sun is shining…
Back with part two soon! (And Fence Stories of course!)

Cheers

So… been pretty busy so still not got to our hike photos!
Currently getting the fence put back up – Sharons husband Paul is doing the fencing but I’ve been helping.
Dug some holes.
Now I have a backlog of stories!!!
Will get back to you when I can!!
Cheers!

Hello… I haven’t really finished sorting the photos from Sundays hike… but as you can see, we had a fabulously amazing sunny winters day up at Cradle!

We had planned to do the Face Track but things were a bit slow going up the Horse Track (Me with my ‘Up’ issues)(and early morning issues) and enough ice on the track to slow things up as well

Plus, the last bus out was at 4pm and we wanted to be heading home before the temps dropped and we hit black ice.
We hit a few small patches coming in and its not a nice feeling.
So we ducked back across to Marions and went down that way.
Still a great day out!

And guess what??
We booked in to the Overland Track again!!
25th January!
Sharon and her husband Paul have been wanting to do it for a while and had decided to do it as a family for Paul’s 50th birthday.

That would be in May so I had a chat to them and said they would enjoy it more in summer – longer days, less chance of snow and – more importantly – ice!
Booking for the next season opened at 9am this morning.
They invited a few others in on the adventure (us included – I didn’t just crash the party) so they went in and booked first thing – then rang us to tell us what date they got. The 24th Jan. Jeff got online and couldn’t get the 24th so booked us in on the 25th. We can do a double on the first day and catch them up I’d say pretty easily.
No-one else they invited could lock in bookings. 🙁
By 9.30am all of December, January and February were booked out!!!
Its always kind of like that, but now even worse with the reduced numbers allowed to start each day due to covid.

Anyway… its a while off but am pretty excited!

Hope your day has been great!

Cheers

Hi!
Just a little showing off with my first attempt at making a ‘drink like’ soap

I’ve seen a few versions of this.

It was insanely tricky getting it out of the mould!
Its a choc-orange sundae!
(Fragrance is bitter chocolate and orange)
The creamy top today has more of a latte hue as the fragrance has discoloured it
Perhaps the next lot I might set aside the top layer and not put in the fragrance.

Anyway, they worked out pretty cute. (and smell amazing)

Currently I am working on some photos from a hike up at Cradle we did Sunday so will get back when I am done to share!
Hope everyone had a great weekend (now that we are mid-week!)
Cheers!

Hi!
Not done a lot of excessive soaping lately…
I have been out of the soap with the English Rose fragrance so made a batch of that. Spent some time cutting out the matting for the bottom of each cavity.

I just used two clays for the colour, so its a lot more subtle than my normal style! (Brazilian purple clay and dusky rose clay)

Quite neat…

This one was with the mango fragrance… and worked out nothing like I planned!!
Oh well… it happens.

A new matting for the bottom just to see how it turns out

Nice big chunky bits with an ‘interesting’ pattern!

And then… some Wasabi soap as I was running really low

A loaf and some leftover mix into my horse mould

I like the bubble type design!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!
Cheers!

Hi… Got the wood stacked… with my resident snoopervisor, Flea.
Her foot is getting better and better but she is still separate from the flock and in her B&B inside here at night.

She is clearly doing a lot better judging by her adventurous spirit returning
We do supervised visits with the flock. She gets pecked a little bit but she is usually happy wandering off to do her own thing like usual.

(Yes, I did get her down to save any unnecessary impact on her foot)

So… the front yard! Willfully neglected, grass/weeds running rampant.

First up, dug out the concrete edging from its grass prison

Flea was delighted! So many worms and grubs up for grabs here

We started digging out the path itself the day before yesterday… but the rain started pelting down… so we stopped at this point

I managed to use a fair bit of the soil and grassy bits to top up under the bottom gate thats been annoying me forever.
The sloping land left an uneven gap under the fence which we’ve tried to block with wire and planks of wood… not a great look and pretty inconvenient.
Really… I just want to walk through a gate, open, shut and thats it… not a 5 minute removal-reconstruction job.
And if you don’t – its a sure bet a chook will squeeze under and call the others!

So I just started building up the area with the unwanted soil/grass.
I have faith it will grow in ok.

Next day, less rain, more digging.
Luckily we’ve got that whacking great hole down the back – so all unwanted material could just be put down there.

Jeff decided he wanted the path up through this area cleared as well.. so he cut a gap in the concrete edging and we sorted that too

Ready. (note to self… find plants for this garden that the rabbits don’t like)

Now for the lifesize, freestyle jigsaw puzzling with Margies shed cardboard!

Done…

Then down to the macrocarpa woodchip pile to start putting the finishing touches on the path

It was getting a bit later in the afternoon and we were a bit over it (ie backs were aching a wee bit haha) but we had to finish since we had gotten this far!

Quite the improvement!
Its pretty fine material so we will see how it goes… once it settles we might get a couple of trailer loads of coarse woodchip to top it off. Less stuff being tracked up onto the deck and inside.
(Or just buy a heap more doormats)

Hope your week is going fabulously!
Cheers

Back up the Postmans Track we go!
It was a rather nice day on Sunday so we put the hiking gear back on and headed out.

Stunning views as always

Today we were planning on following the coastal track down a short way, then divert off down to Cathedral Rocks

Rolling hills and the track ahead.
Jeff uncharacteristically unfettered by hiking poles and a pack!

Rather happy to be going down rather than the severe ups of the inland route

Sorry… lots of Jeff’s butt in todays shots. (Not that I minded at all)

Small wildflowers even in winter!

Small balancing acts required

As with the other end of this track, there is a pile of materials in the bush that are clearly meant for use in some track maintenance. The lot up our end has been there since about 2017 I think? I presume this lot got put down at the same time (Helicopter)

It might be time they used them.

There were several balancing acts along the way. Happily neither of us fell in to any mudpuddles or streams

New path for us. Every time we’ve been past this junction we are usually a bit too tired or have to far to go to do the diversion

Getting down to sea level again

Destination in sight

Fungi growing in a burnt out Xanthorrhoea

The path suddenly became quite rubbly

And here we are. There was no path out to the point but we scrambled along a fair way best we could

And scramble is the right word!

How great does that look? White and orange lichen!

Jeff pointed out this section where the rocks have frozen in a flowing formation

Jeffs smiling face rather than his bottom haha

All sorts of fabulous rock formations here

These rocks were so chunky… but easier to walk over

Over the other side…

Where the rocks turned white

Someone has taken time to arrange the driftwood

Jeff on his way over… gives you some scale

We wandered a short way but eventually turned back. Wasn’t sure on the tide times or how long it would take us to get over to the point, being that there was no path

Weird toothy rock monster

I accidentally disturbed a crab who ran about backwards for a while

And found a tiny rock pool with a couple of blue-green sea stars

Before heading back we walked up the ‘beach’ a short way and over the creek

Love the colour of the water

I can’t remember if the tannin colouring is from the buttongrass or teatree in this area or upstream…

The winter afternoon light is quite beautiful

A few minutes spent arranging some seaweed!

Mini rock gardens!

Last look before heading back up the track

Up up up… not too bad really.

Anyway… it was an afternoon well spent! When the sun is out in winter, best to take advantage!
Cheers!

Hi!
We’ve had a few rather nice days – good enough to be in a t-shirt while working outside!!
My spring onions above… sigh. Poor things. I dug them out of a patch months ago and dumped them on a stump. Undeterred… they are growing nicely!!
I’ll be kind to them soon and find them a plot to stretch their legs in.

Garlic… talking about garlic all year in that offhand way “Yeah I don’t plant until mid June”
How did mid June arrive without me properly noticing????
Panic…

Flea’s foot is doing a lot better… we bring her out of the hothouse to play in the garden when the weather is nice.
She was really happy helping me in this plot! Worms galore!!

As usual it was the twitch that slowed me down a lot.

I topped the plot up with a little of the leftover fancy compost I bought ages back and some leaf mould compost.

(All looking scrumptious)

Got my garlic (Purple)(And you can see IT knows when to grow even if I don’t!)

Ready to go…

I don’t even want to show you the next photo… but I will…

Seems like a horrible waste.
But by the time these got to the red (ish) stage they weren’t tasting very nice and they were bruising quickly. (and half eaten by slugs) The season was not on the side of the tomatoes this year.
So… I hardened my heart and just ripped it all out.

Flea was on hand to assist here too

Another worm smorgasbord!

This plot will be for the white garlic. I need to go into town and get some blood and bone to dig through… that’s on tomorrows job list.

Remember how Flossie-Veloci was looking so scruffy a while back?

She is now super sleek and pretty!

Moving right along…
The blueberries!

Margie just got a big garage/shed built and I managed to snaffle the carboard packing!!
That and several barrow loads of the macrocarpa woodchip and voila!
Much Better!

Cousin Jeff came around yesterday morning with his son and his wood splitter and split the rest of the wood that seemed impenetrable to the axe

I’ve probably gotten about half stacked

Its pretty green so it won’t be used for a good long while

Getting a few nice evening skies too when the weather is on form

And nothing much changes in Pips world.
As long as there is a warm towel and a comfy chair?
Life is grand!
Cheers!