The Story So Far

June 25, 2007: Sarah and I set foot on our 100 acre property near Canberra for the first time as the owners. It's been raining all month and the paddocks are sodden and we promptly bog the Hilux down to the axles. Digging her out while its still drizzling and with an air temperature of three degrees celcius isn't the most pleasant start to our life on the land, but we take it as a good omen as the area has been in the grip of a severe drought and the town dams are almost empty. Now they're overflowing.

And, things could only get better.

The property is part of a rural subdivision, a former sheep property in the NSW Southern Tablelands. Our portion of it, soon to become known as Tarabrae, sports a set of abandoned sheep yards at least fifty years old as the only man made structure on the property, apart from a rickety old fence line that skews off at an angle that makes sense only to its original builder. The sheep yards are still quite sturdy, except one corner which has been knocked down by the developers when they came through with their roads and fences and powerlines. Nonetheless we quickly earmarked the central pen as suitable for use as a dog pen. The rest of it we started knocking down with a view to reusing the materials.

Our first few weeks was spent living in the caravan we bought when we arrived, out in the open. Power was supplied by a generator (with remote control!) and water came from barrels. Sarah started work in Canberra after the first week so was able to shower at work in the mornings. I had to content myself with an occasional $4 shower at the pub, or if it was a sunny day and the air temp got above 10 degrees I might brave the outdoor shower, heating the water in the kettle. It wasn't the best time of year to be roughing it. Some nights it got so cold that even the fridge complained - screaming until I turned it off. In the morning the gas lines would be frozen so I couldn't even have a cuppa until it warmed up.

By mid August our shed had been built and we could start moving everything in and spread out a bit. The caravan came in too and took up the main task of being the bedroom. We built a kitchen and bathroom in the shed with running water (now supplied by a tank collecting rainwater from the roof), eventually filling it with all the mod-cons including microwave, dishwasher and clothes washer. The bathroom got an instantaneous gas hot water system so we could finally shower at home.

Our trusty eBay generator worked hard for several months but eventually we got mains power. I just wish someone had told me beforehand that I would have to fork out $20,000 for a transformer!

The other major task I did last year was fencing. The perimeter fencing needed upgrading and I built a big fence right across the guts of the property, from scratch. I also built a one hectare paddock behind the shed that the horses could be locked into if necessary. At the end of August I had to go back to Perth for three months, leaving Sarah to cope on her own. But I also had to finish that fencing job, and on the afternoon before I flew back to Perth I still han't finished. So, after a lovely dinner with our friendly neighbours I promptly went back to work in the paddock, finishing about 7am the next morning - just enough time for a wash before heading to the airport.

In December I was back and started my new job in Canberra, and we've been living here happily ever since. We have plans to build a house when we can afford it, hopefully later this year (2008). It will be a kit home that I plan to build myself, employing tradies where necessary. I intend for this blog site to show detailed progress. We've already started on the earthworks which I'll talk about in the next entry, with pictures.

Stay tuned!