October and we decided to pour a slab in the back part of the kitchen. This will be covered with floor boards milled from the trees that died on the block, the same trees that have provided all the timber used so far.
                               

 

Meanwhile, back at the shed, work continued on the paving of the carport area.

 

What!? It's November already?

So, two months to catch up on. Still the weather is slowing progress but it's improving, and I'm thinking all the prep work has been done so soon the build can can go ahead full steam.
Big BIG news for September was the removal of the porta-loo; yeah the one I thought we'd have for a couple of months but two and a half years later we finally bade farewell to the old stink box. Big thanks to whoever it was that covered the hire for all that time.

Bye bye stinky.

So what do we use now?

Behold! A new dunny installed in our new bathroom. Floor by Michelle. 

All made a bit more private now there are a couple of doors.

 

Meanwhile work on the landscaping continues. With style. Michelle is promising to add photos and details of that so stay tuned.

OK so it's official, that was the wettest winter in the last sixteen years, and I'm using that as the reason I haven't finished the house, as so many laughingly expect.

 We did get a few fine days here and there, and now it's spring I've been able to push on and make progress on a small but busy wall. We nearly have a bathroom!

Smarty pants me thought I'd build a cabinet into the wall.

Smarty pants

Smarty pants Michelle is adding glass rods that will hopefully light up as coloured dots in the wall.

"How the hell....?  A common pose.

Rainy July

Work progressed and the window was set in place.

And then it rained. A lot. And when it didn't rain it was foggy. Not really the sort of air that dries mortar. About here I pretty much abandoned the build until the weather improved, and got stuck into that list of jobs that just kept growing. An electricity cable was brought up to the house, second hand bricks ferried to the block from a neighbours house, and building a shower in the lean-to were the main ones.

Oh and these things appeared. Hmmm.

Autumn schmortum.

So we laid that first brick.

And carried on

We've started with the bathroom, hoping to get it all finished before our hired ( but free ) portable dunny and shower are taken away. The weather isn't being helpful, hence the temporary roof. Note the first window frame in place ready to be "mudded in".

Where it all began

March 2008

Where it all began. 

We stumbled on this piece of land almost by accident, in Michelle's home town! 6000 square metres, north facing, heaps of trees, on a quiet road - perfect!

So we bought it.

So we began thinking and planning and working out just what we were going to do with it. Michelle built a shed and we filled it with stuff we found, and I put a fence in down one side. ( there weren't any fences when we bought it, just vague ideas about where the boundaries were).

In August we let itchy feet get the better of us and decided to head back to Scotland for at least a few years, and this is how we last saw our block of land, with a dusting of snow, as we headed off for summer on the other side of the world.

2009

And this is how it looked when we got back. On 7th February 2009 the worst bushfires in living history swept through a large part of Victoria, killing 173 people and destroying hundreds of homes. It almost wiped Kinglake off the map. Michelles parents lost their home, and with it all our belongings we had in storage there.
We were lucky; we only lost things.

The heat on the day was so intense that most vegetation was killed. and our block was left a moonscape.

 

 

 The soil lay lifeless for six months, during which time we had to decide whether or not we wanted to build a home and make a life here, knowing that it will burn again, sometime in the future. It was a decision being made by many people in the affected area, with many deciding the risk and stress were too great and moving off the mountain.

Finally, some green shoots popped up from the scorched earth, and the decision was made.

We're staying.

What follows is a collection of pictures that hopefully depicts our journey so far.

Most of the trees were Mountain Ash, a species that doesn't survive fire, so sadly they all had to come down.......

 

 

 .....and so began the cleaning up and the milling. There were a couple of portable sawmills available in the area, and in four sessions over a few months I managed to make quite a pile of good timber.

2010

So, once the logs were turned into lumber and stacked to dry, the next job was to build a shelter to live in.

with a little help

sometimes things got a little silly.....

 

















meanwhile Michelle was creating a garden.

I sorted out some plumbing

and the new bead-house was open for business.

 

we made sure we were comfortable, oh yes.

 





OK. So now we turn our attention to the house.
 What house?
This house.



It's made of mud brick, north facing, solar passive design and built to comply with the local bushfire standards. We're building in three stages, this being the front view of stage one. I don't know how long it will be until we get onto stage two or three, but hey, whats the hurry.

I started making a model.

 

 

2011

And Michelle borrowed the neighbour's Kanga and moved some serious dirt!

There were still twenty dead trees standing, slowly rotting and becoming more of a danger, so they were brought down too, and once again there was the long and tedious task of cutting and moving and stacking and burning.

 



until we had a clear patch for the house.




and the model was finally finished. Well, finished enough.

 

oh and we added another water tank to the top of the hill.

and I started making the 28 window frames ( out of the timber from the trees etc )

and drew on the ground.



One foggy morning in November the digging began. Being a mud brick house and quite heavy, the footings need to be quite substantial.



and soon...



we had an unusual trench...

that was filled with concrete

and then the brick laying began!

brick number one.

2012

 
until we had five courses in two rows the whole way round.
 

 naturally, our neighbours dog Pippy was a power of help,

but I did get a lot of expert guidance from two specialists all the way from Scotland.



 footings done, bathroom floor poured

and finally the first load of mud bricks arrive!