bush house tour

stage 1: outdoors 
I wanted to put this up as a way to record and remember our lives near the semi-rural community of Dayboro in S.E. Queensland. Sometimes it's all too easy to move on and forget what's been before, only to wake up months or years down the line with regrets and only memories to keep the past alive. I want to remember every inch of this journey which has seen so many changes in our lives.

We arrived here five years ago. Back then there were five of us, all so eager for this new adventure across the border in Queensland, the second biggest State in Australia. Work commitments, and a more relaxed way of life, are what instigated our move north. And this is what really spurred us on....

Picture taken by first owners

We went from living on our neighbors' fence lines in Sydney, to living on fifteen acres of predominantly eucalyptus forest - and nothingness! Put together with the spectacular vista over the D'Aguilar Ranges in the distance, and the added attraction of an in-ground pool, we couldn't walk away from this one. After a family huddle to decide whether we should or shouldn't, the decision was unanimous to make this our forever home.

Picture taken by first owners

And here we are, five years and many changes later, planning to swop our tree change for a sea change! Our numbers have declined on the home front which frees us up to make this change. So the time has come to say goodbye to five very wonderful years of wilderness living, and look forward to a bright new future elsewhere - one where we will enjoy long walks on the beach with our dogs, try our hands at kayaking in the surf and lakes nearby, and soak up the salty, coastal breezes from our deck each night. This place is still a dream, but who cares? Dreams do come true!

For now though, I'll walk you through some of the many changes that have happened since our arrival. Let's start out front.

Bank 2007

That was then, and many hard years of loving labor later, this is what it looks like now. I don't know about you, but it's a lot easier on the eye - don't you think?

Bank 2012

Gardening has been another first for me. Did I tell you that this was my blog of many firsts! ;-) See that grevillea hedge in the background? That was also planted by me. I do the planting; the hubs does the digging. And digging is not an easy option around here. The ground is a combination of shale and clay, so it either gets boggy in the wet, or requires a heavy-duty mallet to crack through the layers in the dry! It still has the power to blow me away at what we've accomplished out here.

And here's another first. To joosh up the appearance of the driveway, we built this retaining wall ourselves. It took a couple of goes before we got it right. It started off life as a dry wall structure, but when we discovered how many trailer loads of stone, and hours of work it was going to take to complete, we moved to Plan B. Let's take a look.

Stone Wall

 Not bad for a first attempt, huh? Well, this little project was turning into a back-breaking and very expensive one, so we kissed it goodbye and moved onto this next attempt which was a whole lot easier on the back and the pocket. What do you think? Improvement, or what? ;-)

Block Wall

Did you spot the solar lights on the top of the block wall? They were purchased from the lighting section of Bunnings for the cracking price of only $6 each! Now that's what I call a bargain.