last weekend for a while

 

After two weeks solid work the builder, his lads and subbies have completed the preliminaries in the west wing: gyprock is in and joins plastered, electrical wires dangling and pipes in the new bathroom and toilet. It's breath-taking how much has been done and exciting to see it looking so much lighter and more open.

But now we have to leave it as our cruise on Queen Mary 2 starts tomorrow - booked and paid for long before we even dreamed of buying a beach house.

Fingers crossed all goes well in our absence.

Daisy and Chris are determined to learn fishing so they came down today for a lesson in catching - which they did - and cleaning.

 

 

Daisy and the fish she caught

 

David insists they do their own scaling down on the beach but I notice he kindly did the filleting.

 

Daisy and Chris scaling their fish watched by ChrisM and Hannah - taken from The Nook

 

There are 3 Chrises now designated as Daisy's ChrisB (who was first), Christopher (Alison's) and ChrisM (Hannah's).

All stayed for lunch on what will be the deck and helped to remove another metal rainwater tank to the builder's skip. This was our only source of rainwater and suddenly developed a hole on Saturday morning, dumping its contents onto the dune. Our water problems continue but David has ordered two large tanks for rainwater to be delivered on his return so let's hope it rains soon after.

We had to empty out the drab kitchen which I've come to accept, but the new one will be enormously better.
 

 

to be continued in 3 weeks+ time.
Go here for my Queen Mary 2 blog: http://boomsmasandthequeen.blogspot.com.au/




nearly a jumbo

Stephen arrived from Victoria to spend two nights with David at Beechwood in all the builders' chaos and brought good luck with him on the fishing front.
They hauled home two ordinary sized crayfish and one that's nearly a jumbo plus garfish, bream and mullet.



David and Stephen proudly exhibit their catch

Meanwhile in Mount Gambier I have practically taken up residence at Banner Mitre 10 choosing taps, tiles, stoves and toilets - to the extent that when Karen was busy I advised a customer on what toilet to buy.

 

Family dinner at Beechwood in honour of Stephen and amazement at how much more has been achieved: plumbing for the new bathroom and two toilets is in place (which is why I went shopping), gyprock mostly done and electrical re-wiring nearly finished.

Crayfish score: +2 that David caught diving and +3 on the pots today = 27





the footie boys arrive

Ages ago Alison gave David a special present which she won at an auction - the services of North Football Club's A team to do a backyard blitz.
Finally the right time came to use her imaginative gift at Beechwood today.

12 hefty blokes who are willing to work can make a lot of difference in a short time. The first group jackhammered out the rocky floor of the shelter shed:

 

I

Another group demolished the fern house which has always said 'snakes' to visitors, some sorted timber in the lumber shed and garage roof and Mick with his bobcat picked up the firewood tank (another possible snake haunt) and dropped it on his truck  .

Then with energy and teamwork they deconstructed the bush house and re-erected it nearer the shelter shed.

Finally they emptied the rainwater tank and rolled it up the road to the western end of the house where it will become a bore water tank.

  

We are enormously grateful to all these willing workers and were  happy to provide a barbecue lunch with Hannah and Daisy helping

it's not all hard work

We came down on Friday night to find the west wing stripped of old gyprock and cupboards and framed up ready for electrician, plumber and gyprocker on Monday. Such a lot in a week! The builder plans to finish that section first so we have somewhere to live while the rest of the house is fixed.

Saturday morning we collected a new toilet from Heather and Mike who kindly donated it to the cause. The forecast of 39' didn't eventuate and David was able to investigate the stuff stored in the garage rafters which included a hammock and some art work amongst lengths of timber: I think the pig skull he found under the hedge.

At last the tide was right for fishing out the front where he was joined by Rory and they caught garfish and tommy ruffs while Di and I enjoyed happy hour on the beach deck.

day 3 of renovations

 

We couldn't stay away - just had to drive down  for an overnight stay on day 3 to see what has been achieved.

 

 

Oh my paws and whiskers!

What has happened?

Where have the walls gone?

Henrietta is disconcerted but we are pleased with what has changed in three days. All the interior walls in the bedroom wing have gone to the builder's skip.

The blue bedroom has been enlarged and is well on the way to becoming bedroom 1 (white) and the yellow/pink/purple bedroom now opens off the kitchen/dining and looks like a sitting room if you ignore the power bench and wheelbarrow. I enjoyed putting the pink curtains in the skip. Planks on the floor to the right show where the toilet and bathroom will be.

the builder has begun

 

Two young men and the boss arrived at 7 am just as we were ready to leave for the working week in Mount Gambier.
At 11 am Eric, the builder, sent me a photo of what they had achieved:

 

the dreaded pink bedroom with its stripey cornice and 2 doors is revealed

A beam has gone in to replace the wall and this space will become a sitting room accessed from the kitchen
. The pink curtains and the mosaic mirror are for the tip.
This is what that wall in the kitchen looked like before:

 

old wood heater

The old wood heater will go outside to the shelter shed to replace the even older wood heater - which we lit on Friday night because it was a little bit chilly and everyone likes to play with a fire. (Except I don't want one inside and we'll have reverse cycle airconditioning instead.)