16th December 2009

Dave went back to the section on Monday to await the arrival of a water pipe and we both went up on Wednesday to welcome the telephone cable. But somehow it mysteriously leapt into the trench while we had our backs turned - we slipped off to a local shop during a downpour in the morning and lo and behold we discovered it was there mid-afternoon!

So we now have an unconnected electric cable, a connected water pipe leading to a tap and an unconnected telephone cable.

Of course there was the small job of filling the trench which required a lot of muscle work

and a new use for the mower (and gave Dave a rare chance to drive it).

We met our builder on site, which was very exciting and made it seem as if our new house was almost on the way.

And before and after the downpour, there was some awesome weather (summer at last) which allowed us to mow almost all of the section (with two jungly exceptions) and it really does look rather good now.



And the gums are growing apace. Yay.

13th December 2009

We returned to our new section the next day after an anxious night wondering if the trench would still be there and how on earth we were to clear the last 23 metres.
We got there bright and early with a whole range of new tools - a cutdown coal shovel mounted on a very long bamboo pole (too tall for the photo), a real bought fence post spade and an old carving knife

which proved handy for digging out the turf at the sides of the trench.

In fact it all proved easier than expected

and eureka we have a cable in a trench.

Dave kept muttering about the 6 cubic meters of sand that would need to be shifted back into the trench once the cables were all in place but that is a problem for another day.

12th December 2009

We didnt visit our new section on Wednesday as usual as the weather was not so good and we wanted to save our strength for the big attack this weekend - putting in the services. We were told we could hire a trench digger that was easy to use and required no strength to drive - yeah right!

Things started just fine, we had the materials we needed, the tool for the job,
the young strong muscle power, oh yes and Dave.

And the machine seemed to go OK

until you wanted to change course even slightly


but it seemed to be going down the hill just fine until we went back to check the trench and found the dry sand walls had all caved in

As we wanted to install the electric cable from the bottom, we changed plans and started again from the gate

but it was impossible to get the digger to work up the hill

so we started in the middle of the drive on much wetter sand, which the digger sank straight into. But at least the walls of the wet sand held their shape.

Progress was made even slower by various obstacles, an old fence post, a reel of wire and other bits of rubbish which had to be dug out manually

And as soon as any length of trench was complete we popped the cable in before any subsidence could occur.

We went to find help at the local tip and came back with some (rather nice) carpet and some lumps of wood, which helped a lot

but no sooner had we dug the machine out of one spot

it sank into another.


So much for 1 metre per minute, it took about 9 hours to dig as much of the 150 metre trench as we could and to get the cable into all but about 20 metres of it. We decided that was a job for tomorrow.

2nd December 2009

The weather forecast was particularly bad for today but it didn't look that awful first thing, so we went to our new section anyway. We decided to attack another 'wild' area, which was thick with kikuyu grass above waist height, and was now much more obvious as it was just near the top of the drive

We made good progress but both the weed-eating and raking were hard work and we were pleased when the rain came, rather hard and fast, and we could pause for lunch.
While we were waiting for the grass to dry out again, we measured out the trench to get the services to the house site and decided where the irrigation pipes should go. Sounds like a lot of work, fortunately for another day.

We also planted yet another refugee - this time a self-seeded pohutukawa that had grown at the junction of two walls in the corner of a very small garden. It should like it so much more by our new gate, to welcome all comers.

And once the sun had returned and the grass dried out, we returned to tidy up the newly-tamed area and it looked so much better.

25th November 2009

Back again to watch the final touches being put to the drive, and still full on action both for Mark ....


...and the local birds, still making the most of the freshly turned soil.

The two piles of dirt were easily lost on the slope, which now looks smoother than before.

And we also discovered a new use for the gorse remover - it proved very handy for extracting the mower from a tricky position.

Despite this little hiccup, we managed to mow a new section of the slope for the first time and use the cuttings to remulch all the trees. The trees are looking much better these days although one of the gums that was transplanted has since died and many of the gums have rather a lot of uninvited residents.

24th November 2009

We had missed our weekly visit for the past two weeks but that did not mean no progress was taking place. We arrived up at our new section a day early this week, just in time to check out....

the new drive. We werent sure when we arrived, it looked a bit straighter than we had expected.

but as we walked up it, it looked rather nice.

And action was certainly the word of the day, as Mark on the digger ...

and the compacter...

had the help of two trucks and their drivers and no sooner had he prepared one stretch, the next load of road metal from the local quarry arrived.

And the next truck arrived almost before he had spread it, just to keep the pressure on. At one stage, the three of them were all working at once, in their various toys.

And then there was the job of redistributing all the soil that had been scraped off, which had formed two enormous piles but was put to use modifying a steep slope.

And at the end of the day it looked rather good. Just a bit more topsoil to rearrange and a final roll for the drive required tomorrow.

The local birds seemed to relish this work and we had plovers, herons and skylarks popping in for lunch. And although it has been unseasonably cold recently, this was not snow but rain on a patch of flowering grasses.

And we have at last submitted the plans to the local council and we think we have found a builder. So yays all round.

4th November 2009

Some more mathematics this week.... If it takes one man about 10 seconds to plant a subdivided flax plant, how long will it take him to plant the missing 23 from the vegie patch border? The answer turned out to be about three hours, as he found a gorse bush in or near almost all the intended spots.

Never mind, at least he has a tool for the job, with his own should-be-patented gorse-puller. You just expose the root...

attach the rope...

and heave ho....
simple as that!

Quite impressive tap roots though, todays winner was...

Meanwhile, the neighbours had obviously enjoyed their lunch last week and came back for some more.

And the grass around the natives clearly needed some attention...



and looked the much better for it.