Bugga its hot and the house is hard work!

Blog_10_Bugga it hot and the house is hard work!

26th November 2006-11-26
Well its Sunday and another week has passed! It has flown by with another week of tradesmen and quotes and work!

Monday the internet man was meant to be coming around again to sort out the internet, he should have phoned Sunday night to confirm when he would be with us but did not L

So Monday did not start too well as we thought we would be connected up to the internet and be able to chat to family and friends with out having to go to the library and sign up for a session. The day passed and Tim got more and more rattled until we eventually went to sirrus shop to find out what was happening, they sorted and said the boss would phone with it all sorted for us. So we left knowing that the owner of the store was good to his word!

Well perhaps not on his day off! It dragged on and Tim said he would go in to see them tomorrow.

We ended up in library to see if there were any emails about jobs, Tim went on to sirrus web site to get phone number and he went and rang them to try and sort it out. The only reason we are persisting with it is that they are the cheapest and give a great rate for phone calls to the UK!

Lots of tree trimming and hedge cutting as the lumberjacks are coming on Wednesday to cut down seven trees !! Put in loads of plants and sorted out lots of little things in the house. The demolition guys are coming Tuesday to knock down the old asbestos garage which was almost falling down anyway! Strangelty the guy who sold us the house told us it would only cost $300 to get it taken down! Needless to say it cost 5 times as much!

Had a phone call at 7.30am to say they would not be there until dinner because of another job for a load of bikers in a commune out at the airport, he said they were big fat hairy bikers with tattoos so he just did the job! One poor guy cycled to our house ready for demolition, as I was planting and watering the garden I was able to tell him that the others were not coming until dinner (or lunch as we know it!) So poor guy had to cycle back home, know wonder he was so skinny! Later the boss turned up to tell the worker they would not be starting until later, as the guy did not have a mobile! Started to worry that they were a bunch of cowboys! But turned up at dinner and got such a shift on it was incredible to see, they worked so hard and the foreman was a guy from Pompy! But had been here 15 years and loved it said he would never go back home!

All the roofing was off and then they went to twon on the asbestos, taking it all off they were only being good and wetting it down when I went to look otherwise they weren’t bothering, but they did have on masks and suits to protect them, apart from the guy knocking all the panels out who was only wearing shorts and tee shirt!

By 5pm there was only a shell and the garden looked huge! It was amazing how much space there was once you could see through the walls. We surveyed the garden and turned the pumps on in the pool to make sure all the muck was taken out.

Wednesday and the boys were back and in full pelt as they tore down the timber frame of the garage, wish I had taken pics but completely forgot as I went to pharmacy to get some drugs as I was suffering with sweaty places sores!! (blush!!) Look I have never sweated from those places and my body was in shock! Can you melt fat that way!!?? Ummm! Now there’s a thought! Shame I have to drink so much to stop myself from fainting! J

Tim was on a mission with the internet people and managed to give Sirrus an ear full telling them how unprofessional they were etc etc etc……………. So 10 minutes later the guy phones back who was erecting the aerial and says he is coming around to try again as he had the right equipment and he could do it now. Well he had no idea how to do it, how the box was mounted or how it worked to be frank! Then the power supply was not working so he gave up and went home saying that as soon as he got the right power supply he would be back to sort it ! I don’t hold out much hope to be on the internet in the next few weeks or even before xmas …………….. we shall see! I always thought that ozzy workmen were 100x more reliable than the Brits but not so in this case! He said it all when he said that he was only paid by piece work not how long it takes to install! So that is why he could not be bothered as he could install more simple systems in the time it took to install this one!

The garage was down and they had levelled it off with a digging machine, it looked great and the garden huge! Well impressed with these guys even though it did cost 5x as much as we thought! Got a call from the lumberjacks they were free at lunch so they would be around in the afternoon to start on the trees !!! Blimey so different from the internet man!

We got back from shops and they had nearly taken down all the trees apart from the huge one in the front garden! I was in shock! The house looked so different and there was so much more light in the house it was nice, not sure if the neighbours liked it as the old man next door was just standing out side watching them, I am sure he was watching to see if they would cut down his mango tree! (No way, we are going midnight scrumping when they are big enough!)

Well no sign of the internet yet, the garden looks huge and we still need to get some fence put up now that the garage has gone, we also need to sort out a drive way as it is all dirt.

Hitting the high life! We went out for dinner at the RSL which was a bit of a let down there are only a couple of things I can eat on the menu in the main restaurant so if find it hard. It was nice to go out and not have to drive as the bus picked us up from the house and dropped us back again. We took advantage of the bus and bought some beer, brandy and a local type of baileys, ready for xmas visitors, if any of you make it out here!!
It looks like xmas will be 45 degrees and most of it spent in the pool! With salad if I can be asked and meat cooked on the BBQ as I am not going anywhere near heat!
Did some more garage sales and bought a swing double chair only after me sulking that I wanted one as Tim would not let me have it L Well I had to leave behind my old one in my house as Tim did not want it in his. We bought some mozzie nets which do not fit as I did not realise that they come in single bed and double bed size, so I will have to keep being bitten until we sort something out, I look like I have the plague on my legs L Not sure why its just me and they leave Tim alone!

Exciting day today as we bought a wormery (something I have always wanted, sad isn’t it, but so exciting to give my veggie waste to worms and get out liquid fertilizer J for free! (well not quite coz we had to buy the wormery and the worms!) Tim got a rain butt and was well into sorting out using all the new tools he had collected over the last few weeks, strangely every time we went to do a job there was something else he needed, strange world that men live in! Every time we went to Bunnings (B&Q equivalent) his eyes lit up and he would be drawn to the tools and get excited about drill bits and cutting things, along with plastic things……………… very strange world!

I went out on my own this week! Woo hoo! And played squash with Nerida from the cabins, we had a great game and it was nice to get out and do something different apart from the house!

Me I just bought a sun hat at Koala market today as it has now reached 34.8 and that was at 7am ish! And my head was burning!

Tried to do things in house today, not a good day for me, stripped all the silicone out of shower and kitchen as it was mouldy, they always say mould free silicon but it never seems to be! Then after picking out all old pubic hairs yuk! Gag! (I always get the shitty jobs!) I cleaned it all up and tried to silicon it all again! The shower went well apart from the mozzie who kept following me around so I lit some citronella candles and that got rid of him! Then I went on to the kitchen and the sealant was drying before I could smooth it out L kept going lumpy so I got fed up and just striped it all out again and left it to do tomorrow!

Gave up and tried to get on with the removal of a built in wardrobe in a room that we are going to turn into the dinning room, Tim had already started so I thought I would just get on with it! It was not easy as there were a million nails holding everything in, in such an order it was hard to get the wood out and keep it in good condition.

Tim came in to supervise and tell me what bits I should pull out next with the crow bar! After a lot of pulling and bits coming out I went into the kitchen for some water and realised that the flimsy plaster board between the kitchen and room where I was taking out the cupboard was all cracked and split! L. So not a good day, but we knew it was going to be difficult as there was only the plasterboard at the back of the wardrobe! The last guy called himself a handyman!!! Bodge job man I think more like!

So now we have to leave it as we are not sure that one of the wooden beams is not supporting the wall!! ?? So it will be a call around to Carl for some advice and help tomorrow! No more garden, it will be concentrate on house now, as we want to get as much done before we get jobs so we can just relax when we get back from work!

Watered all the plants in the garden which takes forever and then swim in the pool which has heated up really nicely today and then beer/rum and coke o’clock!

Just to let dad know, we have in the garden………… (Wanting to make him jealous as he keeps on about curry we cant get, and make him want to come visit!)

2 Macadamia nut trees
1 orange tree
1 mandarin tree
1 Cashew nut tree
1 paw paw tree
1 mango tree
spinach
coriander
broccoli
chillies
aubergine
Butternut squash
basil
rosemary
thyme
aloe vera
strawberries
tarragon
rocket
spring onions

But I will let you know if we manage to kill them all before you visit!

Sitting on porch drinking writing this and its still warm so I will have to go inside in a mo and change in to my pj shorts!

The dog and I are sort of in sync as we both run for the same bit of shade and when I go in the pool she runs in with me waiting for the lightest of splash to fall on her to keep her cool, and if you don’t splash she will bark at you until you get her wet!

Serious job hunting this coming week!!

Big hugs to all

Love Y&T