An eventful week...

Another week has gone by without writing - it makes these entries too long so I will try to get back to short daily ones!  Spent a lot of time inside this week as the weather has been abysmal - really bad, even compared to the weather throughout August when we were both home on break.  Howling winds, lashing rains, stinging hail, etc, etc!

Major progress this week ...

Got our ABN... we can now officially start doing business!  Booked and paid for all my travel and accommodation to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Hong Kong and Singapore.  Grace has decided to come with me to HK which is great!  I also emailed Rickshaw to book my flight back to Africa 24/10 (that is cuttig it very fine as i arrive back from HK that morning but i want to be sure i am there in good time for Kili.)

Saw Aaron re the DA - he has dropped his price by over 1k and says it should be no problem getting it through on the info i gave him.  Al kindly offered to do our plans for us too - it is a very generous offer and so i got busy doing the sketches to give him.  I think we will end up doing the whole approval for less than 4k and maybe even 3k.

First materials for the house arrived on site - Ross and Bres got busy on these.  Unfortunately one of them left the power lead in the shed door and caused it to be blown and buckled by the wind in the storms this week - i am not at all happy about that and will raise it with Ross on Monday.

Spent most of the week working in the mulberry paddock too - mowed as much as i could given the sodden state of the ground and cleared the two big piles of rubbish that have bugged me for ages!  The log pile was an archeological dig - digging through the kitchen middens of history!  I recovered fencewire, crockery, cutlery, oyster shells and other seafood remains, a shoe, bits of tin, asbestos, bolts, nails, etc, etc!  The pile of branches near the fence was almost worse - i was sure i would find a nest of dugites but turned out it was only rabbits and they bolted for the house as i pulled each branch away.  I also took my quad bike up the road fence firebreak and collected at least five trailer loads of sticks and branches to add to the fire.  Pity the storms came along next day and it looks twice as bad as before I started! 

And on that subject there are tree branches down everywhere!  I will be out there morning, noon and night when it fines up and clean up as much as I can.  The rest will need chainsawing when Rob gets home.  (Will add some photos tomorrow...)
The Subaru was taken away... blown head gasket with a possible cracked head.  Will cost at least 1500 to fix and probably more - still have told to go ahead as we will need to fix it to sell it.  Leigh the Subaru man says it is a known fault in the Outback that has since been remedied in later models.  Great to know (now).  The tow truck was interesting - so was the driver!  Photos attached.

Have been very busy with small things too - I mentioned that I had Talon-ed around the kitchen cupboards last week - almost the very next day it seems they invaded in force, took all the baits and pood all through my lovely clean cupboards.  I have decided housework does not pay (but have still religiously done the dishes every single day!)  I have a big poisons day planned tomorrow and am targetting rats, mice, rabbits, spiders, cockroaches and anything else that moves on more than two legs.

I devised a sneaky way to work on my project plan given my computer crash.  I copied the document to my home computer and downloaded Project 2007 for a trial period.  I figured i would be finished before it expires and at least could print a hard copy in the meantime.  So have revised it and am now able to record progress as things get done.  Am very happy with myself on that one!

I have rung all the family this week - started with Dad for Father's Day and continued with the rest of them!  All have said they will try to get down some time before i go away again.  Been quite a social week with lots of phone calls from from friends - Grace, Di, Mel, Michelle, Cath.  Am starting to get back into the world of the living!!

Trish was planning to come down and bring some tubes from Men of the Trees - she didnt end up coming but her son brought them down to Busselton and i met him there - 240 trees!!!  They are bankia, melaleuca, hardenbergia, eucalypts - unbelievable!  And we got them all for $50.  Bought some star pickets while in Busso so i can make a start on the fences when I plant some of these trees.

Think that is about it for now - will take a break while i download some photos and maybe add them later - anyway, for now it is goodnight!!