Gonna try to write a bit more often here. A bit of diary.

We have a lot of projects going on or listed. Before winter we started on setting up bathroom. We ended up going to the toilet all winter outside anyway. We set up a temporary shower just outside the verandah. It all worked out fine. Then one day after winter was over we got hold of vinyl flooring and glued half of it down. Put the toilet in there and voilá at least we are inside. But still no door. Windows will only be netting so the shower steam will go out easily. Anyway the sink is almost done and now we have started to work on the bathroom again. But we have to move a big pile of wood that lay under the verandah/bathroom so we started doing that before we can get under and figure out to position the drainage between the floor beams.

We have been sawing for two days and sorting and stuffing and pulling nails. There is still some under the floors and another pile that we might as well move while we´re at it. But we crawled under the floor and one on top to measure out where we shall fit the drain. And then it got too hot so we stopped and went to the creek instead.

Then we made ice cream. Just an experiment. The second Ice cream trial. It turned out yummy but need a bit of tweaking.

Our Magpies are still two but it seems to be two girls now. Or the mom and a baby who is either going to be a girl or is a not grown boy. Interresting. Magnus himself is gone but we call them all Magnus now. We have two kookas again and one has a sort of halfass laugh.

The wild fires are out except one and it is over in Taylors Arms upper. Right now we have thunder and a bit of lightning. We hope and hope it does not set fire to the bush. If it does we are in trouble with all the dry bush and grass around. Please give us rain!!!!!

The garden is full of birds flying here and there eating from the nectar giving flowers.

Plants that have flowers right now:

No more Loquats. Now we will put the net over the grapes. We did a pretty hefty pruning on the grapes. We will see if we get more grapes than last year. Odd with grapes that fruit in the summer though.

They are working on the big road. Wonder how it will look when it is finished. Flat as Holland hopefully but first rain and a lorry and it will be back to 4-wheeling.

They are working on the big road. Wonder how it will look when it is finished. Flat as Holland hopefully but first rain and a lorry and it will be back to 4-wheeling.

The grass is mowed, the patches are weeded, the trees are pruned, the avocados are planted and most is coming to flowers or fruit so we only have to wait now and keep an eye on things. We can start working on other projects. Back to the bathroom for example and do some work on the new spot for the water tank. I want to get a patch for the wild raspberries (Rubus rosifolius,) and some blackberries that already grows there in order too. A new projects that we are doing is transforming the temporary shower cabin to a garden tool shed. Ohh there is never a moment without womething to do and figure out the best way of doing it.

Woah, just seeing two Rainbow Lorikeets in the Silky Oak! Nice having them around. They can get quite friendly. We are keeping an eye on our patches too. We might have to put netting over 3 and 4 by and by.

We are also keeping an eye on the bush fire that is slowly growing but allegedly under control. Luckily the wind is next to nothing otherwise it would probably not be under control.

Also we are trying to dry dill to store in jars instead of freezing.

Dill drying in a net

 Here is one of the avocados we have planted. It has a natural barbed wire so the wallabies will not eat the leaves until it has grown a bit. The barbed wire are wild lime trees.

We threw two bones with some meat on it in the paddock for Magnus and Maggie who are nesting. They got competition straight away. Bruce the goanna finally even dragged the bones to it´s nest in an old tree.

But meanwhile Willie Wagtail, a raven, the magpies and the goanna fought over it. It is fun to see the little wagtail nipping at the big goanna and birds to chase them away. To no avail of course. Magpie in the tree wondering what to do.

Goanna is eating my food!

Now raven is also eating my food!

I need help! Maggie comes to help.

Bruce the Goanna wins!

Brings all the bones to his nest.

Haha lazy Willie Wagtail is stealing insects from the spiders web! Or is there a nest up there??

The garden is full of birds flying here and there eating from the nectar giving flowers.

Hard to take pics because they are up there in the tree tops against the sun.

Woah, just seeing two Rainbow Lorikeets in the Silky Oak! Nice having them around. They can get quite friendly. We are keeping an eye on our patches too. We might have to put netting over 3 and 4 by and by.

Here is the only dill plant that made it but we have harvested so much dill from it it is uncanny!      

Below is the Macadamia blooming and there are lots and lots of insects flying around fertilising it. On the other hand the Guava is faring miserably. Something that we cannot see is eating all the leaves.

Lazy morning by the fire.

Did September cleaning and vacuuming.

After lunch we started working on the vinyl flooring in the dunny-to-be. Cut the corners and decided to glue half of it tomorrow. Half so we can move the dunny from the verandah. And only half because we have to make a drain for the shower and sink before glueing the rest. Looking forward to this.

After that we raked the garden behind the house which was full of leaves again.

Still have the sliver and the Pecan square to rake and remove branches and twigs.

But things are looking up, really. The beans and radishes are sprouting and some other things which we are not sure if it´s weeds or veg´s.

Woke up and from the verandah saw one of the big Wallabies licking a very red spot on his stomach. It was sitting down on it´s tail which was sticking out front sort of instead of backwards as usual. Jen spoke to it and it did not jump away. The two big ones are a bit shy otherwise. Went in and had brekkie. Later it lied down in it´s side. Now we got nervous it was sick and maybe would die. We talked to it a couple of times and it looked at us but did not jump away. In the evening it got up and jumped away and ate some. I hope it´s back to business. We planned our day´s work: the dunny and raking the back yard but then our plans got thwarted because it stunk in the storage. The cans with beans we had conserved had yeasted and run over and gotten mouldy and stunk prawn and fish. One of the bottles of lemon juice had leaked a lot and mould loved it. So instead of following our plan we picked the innards of the old fridge apart and cleaned them and sprayed mould stuff on. Poured out our beans on the compost and did not do much else. Sometimes days are like that.

Going in to B to dump the trash at the recycling centre and posting the census and a letter to the ATO for a stamp to send to Greece to prove that we live here. How does that prove anything? The Greek authorities and our lawyers are the pits. They can just call the council in K and the tax people in AU and check that we live here instead of making us get stamps and pay out of our noses.

Anyway. We got on our city clothes. Jen let her hair down and the weather has been fine a couple of days. The postman (lady) came through without a hitch so we thought we could leave the chainsaw at home.

More than halfway through lo and behold a tree with a gazillion vines wrapped around it! Good thing we had the machete with us and gloves. So just started hacking away and pulling off the vines until the tree was free. That nicely hanging hair in face and mouth and dirt on our city clothes. Phew! Snatch strap on tree and pull it aside with the ute. Road free after maybe 30 min! Not a bad job! Then on to the village.

Had a cuppa at the General Store and had a nice chat with, haha, shows – the postman’s father! Small world!