97% complete... three weeks out!

the tanks are connected, plumbing finished, sparky's work done and the painters have splashed on their first full coat outside. we are on track for our august 11th move....

the above shot gives you a good indication of the house levels by looking at the roof line

the kitchen is complete-just needs a fridge and a chef and some organic home grown?!

The hoop pines peeking into our bedroom

lounge looking accross indoor deck to kitchen.

another shot of our favoured radial sawn timber...and the potting bench and sink. A little work on the garden is required...ummmm perhaps a lot actually.

94% complete

two days work lost to rain and the faffing around by many of the subcontactors has eventuated in the site not being where it should be right now. we didnt reach our much hoped for 95% complete. it was a very big week (often 20 cars parked outside our property) which finally saw our cool as a cucumber builder pat turn red as a tomato. oh well, if it was ever going to happen it this was the week and he seemed fine yesterday now the worst (in terms of volume of subbies on site) is over...

the solar hot water system is now complete (finally at the preferred angle of 26 degrees for winter sun - as the sun sits lower in the sky over the cool months). the painters still havent painted the gyprock under the radial sawn timber but it was more important for them to concentrate on the interior (something they still havent completed - and should have!).

behold australia's first 5 star toilet. i cant belive this hasnt been thought of before! a sink has been placed on top of the cistern and when the user flushes the toilet they wash their hands in the water (fresh from our tank) that fills the cistern for the next flush. should we use a nice eucalyptus soap (or similar) then the flush will incorporate a semi-clean/disinfect as well....

almost done in the ensuite. The toilet has a soft close lid which means you can just drop the lid and the seat will return to normal position without slamming (perfect). we bought the duchess off ebay and the builder dropped the sink into it leaving a very cool "cottage bathroom effect". the lights are from ikea - a store i have come to respect greatly....

above are our bedroom lights that we found on sale in january. they suit perfectly. the blue frame around the window is painters tape that will come off soon.

lastly i thought we would show you a few of the local inhabitents that are always around the eco village. there has never been occassion when they havent been spotted and with 80% of the 465 acres being left in its natural state we dont expect them to be going anywhere in the near future. next week the floors should be sanded and polished which means the interior should then be ready for a final inspection and fit off... our fingers are crossed (and removalists booked) for august 11th....... but as they say in the building industry.... anything can happen....

92% complete...

we are really getting down to the wire which will really tests this fixer's ability to come up with new topics for the blog.. pat, our builder, commented yesterday that he would be complete in two weeks if there were'nt so many hoops to jump through at this stage of the game... by the end of next week the plumber and electrician should be wrapped up. we then apply to energex to do a final connect from the on site electrical box to the house.. this will take approx ten days from application-- then we apply to the Eco Village Design Panel for final appoval in meeting all the sustainability requirements-- then we take this ticket and get the surveyor out for final council approval-- then we get this ticket and attach it to our final invoice from pat which we need to get through the bank which will take another 5-7 days... so you can see how two weeks will be more like four....

The daybed is finally in completing our indoor/outdoor deck. Originally it was supposed to be a dayseat being only 200 ml wide but we managed to change this to 400 ml making it the perfect place to enjoy a cup of tea and the courier mail on a sundee morn..

you might be able to get a hint of the colour in the above shot. porters doe skin. the gyprock under the window to the right of the pic needs to be painted doe skin as well. the awning also needs to be fitted out.

the bow deck is coming along off the kitchen is coming along quite nicely. they will wire it up this week completing this area of the house. I had to chuckle as the heavens had opened on this day and I smiled at the thoughtof our tanks filling up now that the downpipes had finally been connected. Little did I know that the plumber had yet to put a bottom bung in the tanks ( as well as a few final connection pieces) so it was all in vain...
by the end of next week with the interior complete, the house will be handed over to the flooring dudes for a final sanding and polishing. after that she is all done barring a few final bits and pieces....

further developments..

so...... less than 8 weeks until completion and the house is really starting to take on a character of its own.the above cladding is weathertex. Weathertex is made by breaking down local hardwoods to its constituent fibres using steam and pressure (the hardwoods come from sawmill tailings, thinings and managed forests - no old growth forests are used making it very eco-friendly). the fibres are then transported to the presses in a liquid bath that removes all of the starches and sugars making the finished product very un-attractive to ants and termites. the "wetlap" (liquid goo) is then squeezed under great pressure and high tempartures in massive presses which activates the natural lignins in the timber that forms the glue which holds the structure together. this brings the product weathertex into being..
the carport is almost finished. the builder just needs to render under the radial sawn timber and lay down base. the sandstone paving effect has also come up a treat and will look even better once we wash the stones at the end of the build.
the plumber has finally linked the two largest tanks to the gutters and soon our much needed "liquid gold" will start collecting. The two tanks in the above photo have 22,600 litre storage capacity each. The one under the bow is 9000 litres and there is a small 3000 litre tank collecting water off the carport roof.

the laundry is just about complete. we are really happy at this usage of space. to the left we have cupboards and the washing machine at ground level. a sink and bench space for folding and large cupboards at shoulder/head height. on the right (not visible) it's all one very large cupboard that is layered with shelves. screened hanging space (some under cover) will be off the deck.
next week we should have the outside cladding first coat of paint finished which will really give us a first glimpse of "the look".

interiors.................

and the build continues. Pat's team are almost finished with the interior and will soon be moving outside to finish bits and pieces. there's still atleast 6-8 weeks work but the house is really starting to take character.
above is the kitchen. the cabinetry is spotted gum and the benchtop camphor laurel. in the above pic the benchtop is raw (freshly cut) and the sealer will be applied this week which will really bring out the colour and grain.

the main bathroom is really starting to take form. the shutters will provide ventilation allowing breezes to circulate throughout the house. the bathroom tiles are fedora walnut and have really come up nice (i just had to marry someone with expensive tastes).
we hired a landscaper for a few hours to assist with the stone pavers from the front stairs to the carport. they are huge sandstone blocks that required a bobcat to move (too heavy even for two). I rolled up my sleeves and was helping the dude position the blocks but almost lost my foot at one stage when I slipped in the mud and saw one of the sandstone blocks (on its side) teeter towards me. I managed to get out of the way just in the nick of time.
the painter should be in this week to finish the inside and then the plumber and electrician will move in to do their stuff.... things are changing constantly.

this year's pick of festies - PARKLIFE

Now in its ninth year, PARKLIFE is as much an Australian icon as the eucalyptus trees under which it was first staged, and once again in 2008 this festie will be bringing a tasteful array of fresh and experienced international live acts and dj’s to Brisbane and the rest of Aus.

• Goldfrapp
• Soulwax
• Peaches
• 2manydjs
• Dizzee Rascal
• Martin Solveig
• Plump DJs
• Diplo
• Jesse Rose
• Does It Offend You, Yeah?
• Blackalicious
• XXXchange
• Metro Area
• Elektrons
• Yuksek
• Van She
• Dragonette
• Boy 8-Bit
• Familjen
• Bag Raiders Live
• Ajax
• Slyde
• Grafton Primary
• Van She Tech
• & many more

BRISBANE
Saturday,
October 4 2008
Riverstage
Tix go on sale July 15th and whilst it might fall a little short on the European offerings the u.k. fixers are privy to - Sal, Shags and I reckon its worth the price of admission.
we'll be there - anyone else??

who wants to be a queenslander?

but do WE want him? no bloody way! (it looks like hodges is telling him that anyway)... I missed the match due to an inconvenient ship in freo but thanks to coltrain i was kept up to date with one of the most defiant qld battles in origin history. yeah farken ha!!!!! the queenslanders need to stand up and take a bow. steve price once again, the bloody warrier he is, lead our team into battle and all stood tall.
i just love origin.. especially when we stick it to them.....

doors....

we popped down to the property today to check out progress and its all about the doors.

the rajastani front door is on and we are pretty stoked with the outcome. its over 100 years old and just too beautiful not to be proud of it. we grabbed the handles in a cool shop in west end which suit it perfectly.

a pic of the doors leading into our bedroom. above the door there will be glass framed in hardwood and we will finish off the rest of the wall in painted gyprock.
we also dropped into the kitchen designer to have a look at our cabinent doors for the first tme. The doors are made of recycled spotted gum and our benchtop will be camphor laurel.
its all moving along quite fast now. next week the tiles, kitchen, laundry, bathroom fit out and architraves and skirting.yep its all coming along quite nicely (including our mortgage). it really is nice to see a long time dream come within reach. can't wait..
keep yer posted.

Bring on Origin 3!

30-0

INTRODUCING THE NEWEST CREW MEMBER, LITTLE ALEX HARVEY

Check out the Madness for more ......

rant

fark me.... you would think it wouldnt be so hard. I dont see what the big deal is? hunt to fullback, slater to the wing, lockyer in command and prince off the bench as one bloody effective impact player. just why don't the qld selectors give him a go? whats he done wrong? the only thing prince is guilty of this season is guiding a new team to the top of the league.
darius boyd earnt himelf a jersey and don't get me wrong he's a great player and will no doubt do us well, but is he a better option then one of the league's best players?
thank gawd steven price is back..... Anyway, ENUFF... i guess we'll just have to wait and see.... do or die..... a call to arms boys..... we have to win this year so we can rub the faces of those dirty roaches in ground and smile at an era of QUEENSLAND SUPREMACY!!!

Jimbo is looking at putting up the big screen at his house. all those that are interested give him a shout for further instructions...

high above brisbane....

check these shots taken from breeza and col's camera. col and I bought the girls a flight for their brithdays. can't highly recommend it enough though we had to giggle when we seemed to stop still right over one of brissie's dumps.....

radial sawn timber

things are proceeding along at a rapid rate now. its hard to keep up with all the decisions needing to be made. you hope the little things you may not be putting enough thought into now wont be the ones to haunt you later. a new favourite feature has taken over from the rammed earth walls at present. shaz and mark your sons name may well have been "radial sawn harvey" if you had let me choose the name of your son.....
love the look and angles the rough cut gives. i wish we had used more..

above shot is from the lounge room looking to bedroom 3 (right) and to the main bathroom and bedroom 2 (left). you can just see the front door on the floor next to one of the recessed wall lights. lock up next week....

external cladding is almost complete. on the left the white cladding (master bedroom) is weatertex weatherboard - obviously to be painted. it gives you a good indication of how our bedroom sinks into the hoop pine forest... it wont be too long until we are able post a tentative housewarming date as pat reckons he is still very much on for a august handover..

now......what do you think colamari is up to??

more pics from 10 may....

breaking news........

Rusty has popped................ Mark and Shazzy are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy. born at 12.47pm on the 28th of May. 6.1 lbs.......
Both the baby and Mum are doing fantastically........... dad's cool too....
by the way it looks like borgus won the bet being the closest to the mark.. looks like I get to name the baby..... ummmmm....... let me think about that.......????

place yer bets....

whadda ya reckon folks. when are burgs and rusty (a.k.a. shazzy) gonna pop......

to give you a heads up burgs is due the end of june, shazzy on june 15th..... post a comment and place yer bet -> date, sex, weight.................... extra point for birthing postion..

current bets for rusty

shazzy - boy 18 june 7.1lb

mark - `gal 16 june 7.0lb

borg - boy 07 june 5.2lb

sal - boy 17 june 6.12lb

shags - boy 14 june 7.2lb

col - boy 18 june 6.0lb

breeza- gal 13 june 2.75kg

george - boy 18 june 7.0lb

manta - gal 12 june 6.5lb

dog - boy 16 june 6.6lb

burgs - boy 19 june 7.4 lb

si - boy 14 june 7.9lb

current bets for burgs

burgs - gal 27 june 8.8lb

si - gal 6 july 9.3lb

borg - gal 27 june 6.7lb

sal - boy 5 july 9.2lb

col - gal 25 june 7.8lb

breeza-boy 18 june 3.2kg

shags - gal 2 july 8.olb

mark - boy 30 june 7.5lb

shazzy - gal 3 july 8.6lb

george - boy 3 july 8.6lb

manta - tba

dog - tba

winner of each gets to name the baby. futherest one away has to host the party!!!!

we now pronounce you mr & mrs erectus...

what a special day. we just loved it and really felt honoured by everyone's presence. I SO do!

What a pretty lot the crew are! Plenty of style and panache.

Why so many tears? Apparently they had all wanted to marry Tyler.Even Mick Jagger shed a tear.

palais de erectus

check out the current stage.

we were quite excited to see the radial sawn timber effect today. the timber cut is straight off the tree and not squared off. it gives it a bit of a log cabin effect. our builder hadnt used it before so we werent quite sure of the final look. we love it.

the windows are in. most of the roofing and gutters complete. electrical, coms, and plumbing near complete. shes about ready for lock up.
lock up to keep this type of creature out. a modern day monger....
you can sort of see how thermal mass will work in the picture. the winter sun will come in and warm up the rammed earth walls making the house nice and toasty. in the summer the sun sits higher in the sky and will be blocked from hitting the r.e. walls by the angle of the roof keeping the house nice and cool. pretty cool eh.....

LAST CHANCE TO SEE RARE BEASTS

They're not often seen these days in aussie waters and sadly this Sunday will be the last opportunity for a sighting of the Exotic German Painted Sweetlips fish and the Eastern Shovelnose Ray. Col and Isa are taking a big jet plane back to the UK this sunday night, so we're having a Sunday Session at the Breakfast Creek Hotel to see them off. 3pm kickoff. Come one, come all.

state v state.... mate v mate.....

Letter from Nardine!

Hi all,

Sorry for the group email but I am basically just a slackass communicator. In saying that, I am feeling quite homesick and missing you all dearly.

Life is good here..a little boring during the week, not a lot happening in Al Ain where I live. The attached photos are quite typical of how comical the people here really are. I am finding it quite interesting learning about the Muslim religion and then there's the elitist Emirate culture itself. Boy the Nationals have it good - they have all been given free property,a shitload of money, free electricity / water, great jobs and salaries...etc.
The ladies (maths teachers) I advise, are a good bunch whom I get along well with...but none of them have to work but choose to so they can have some sort of social life. Otherwise they are pretty much only allowed to socialise with their extended families...there are baby shops everywhere!!!

On weekends - I have been getting out of town most of the time - Dubai or Abu Dhabi where there is more happening and much more cosmopolitan. The night life is pretty good, Dubai especially has got the restaurant, club and bar scene down pat. I have made a few friends in and out of town..none of which however match up to friends from home.

Am dying to hear about Sal and Tyler's wedding and have been checking the weeklyfix daily but alas all I see is Bluey and his blow up friend - neither of which are particularly surprising. Tried contacting Sal and Tyler but no luck. Can someone please pass on their email addresses to me. I have lost a lot since I am no longer scabbing off work email from Clayfield.

I have agreed to stay on and teach at a Summer school program for the first couple of weeks in July, then will have 4 weeks off so am planning on heading to London to see the gang, then off to Africa for a trip through Botswana for 10 days followed by a week in Greece (does anyone have any tips on what not to miss in Greece) before starting back for the new school year. Then I will get another 2 weeks off during Ramadan in September - thank God! Can you imagine not being able to drink or eat anything in public during daylight hours for a whole bloody month?? I think I will have to start wearing an abaya and hiding drinks (intravenous tubes maybe) and snacks for the 2 weeks I am here for it.

Sorry to talk just about me... Would love to hear how the beautiful Mums to be are travelling (Shazzy and Burgs), news from the wedding, and any other news I should know about. Shagga - how are you liking Brissy? Kymbo and Pauly - have a great time in Sydney (Happy Birthday Callum), congrats on the promotion! Kym for some reason couldn't reply to your work email. Kyls - how goes the half - marathon training. Plenty of job opportunities over here for you and Katherine. Drew - are you still being a workaholic or have you returned to anti-establishment, scientific entrepeneurial behaviours?

Big hug and love to you all and all those whose email addresses I don't have. Please forward on to anyone who might be interested..Sorry it's not a little more entertaining and witty...am a bit out of practice and humour is pretty much lost and wasted here. (although plenty to giggle at)

Could someone please send me addresses for Sal, Tyler, Jo, Drew, Lyndal, Jonathan & Jarrod etc

Well I know you are all busy so won't take up any more of your time. Again - I miss you all very very much.
Nardine the Sardine xxx

buck on the run... hen on the loose..

well well, the hens and bucks nights were just on for those of you that didnt know. more photos to come. the below is just a teaser....

bring on the weekend and the main event. its almost too much to conceive...... just like below... thanks to everyone that made last weekend one to remember..

by the way there is lost and found from both events. can everyome make sure they see Shagga this weekend so we can hand it back.. or alternatively it will be in the paddo vinnies next tuesday... bluey, luke & bear manton we definatively have some of your gear..

oh dear.... oh no.....

the x factor.... go the double drop mate.......

Would you marry this man?

yep, its that time of year???

nice werk shagga.. keep those eyes open...

vegas baby......

Hound, it is true.... An Interesting Fact!

In the Huichoi tribe of Mexico, the presence of the baby's father during labour may be required so that a string can be tied round his testicles on which the woman can pull as each contraction mounts to a peak of pain.

For more info - 'Rediscovering Birth', Shelia Kitzinger

onwards and UPWARDS.......

it's been a few weeks since I have been able to get down to view our work in progress. work committments have got in the way but don't they always??? Anway behold the creation - we have the floors down and the stick framing almost complete.......
the rain has been playing havoc on the site which hasnt been the best thing to happen but living in a drought stricken country one soon realises that complaining when it rains is general bad karma.... some of the floor has come up as the damp wood has expanded but this seemed trivial when I mentioned it to Pat (our builder)...

check out that runway (above). There are two ramps heading down to the kitchen and we reckon once she is polished up the idea will be to tie two mop heads to one's feet and go for glory. who needs the olympics when you can have the finals of the eco village lot 206 polished floor slaloms... shagga has already claimed dibs on the first run..
so the next step is the roof and that shouldnt take too long - like a couple of weeks. the dry season isnt too far away..... i hope...... toliets, tanks, tiles, bath tub, oven, range hood, cook top, dishwasher and more are all ready for delivery... bring it on....

What The!!