Spring Holidays

As we all watch the sky this afternoon, in anticipation of the first of the Spring storms my eave is gradually becoming enclosed and my painter is sitting on the scaffold painting to take advantage of the easy access while it's available.

The spaces are in for the top louvre windows.

And I'm off for a much awaited Spring Holiday to the tropics. Hopefully when I get back there will be a roof on and I will also have some exciting snaps of stores I've discovered on my holiday as I know that watching a house construction can get a bit boring at times.

Roof trusses

The house is starting to show it's form now. The main roof trusses are on and from various angles you can see the new house appearing.

Last week the bricks were acid washed and sealed. Bricks are a porous material and the special sealant used gave them 7 years of maintenance free- aside from the usual hose down you'd give a house for dust etc.

This is the form work going up to support the roof trusses.

Abra Kadabra- the basics of a roof start to appear.

It's certainly looking big from the viewing point in the back yard.

Here's the roof appearing over the old shed.

The builders have been dodging the showers that have been continuously passing today.

In the name of self promotion I've put a sign on the back fence to catch the passing groups of golfers!

This week, whilst on sale, I've brought the new dining table and bench seat. The table is 3m x 1m. I've been eyeing it off for about 18mths. It's made from the 200 yr old timber of the Chinese villages that were pulled down for the Olympic stadiums.

External walls up

The past couple of weeks have seen a few different trades working on my site.

The brickies were here for 3.5 days putting the block walls up.

The walls almost done. The gap in the middle is for the stone clad fireplace and either side it will be flanked by huge windows looking out onto the golf course. There is also a deck going on this end. I am fortunate to have 2 aspects from my block. Not only do I look onto the course to the south, but I have an eastern aspect which I am opening up with large bi-folds. Whilst it overlooks the carpark, in a couple of years time that will be planted out but I will still enjoy the panorama and the beautiful colours of the sunsets on this side. The eastern side also brings the beautiful bay breezes.

Then the walls were core filled with concrete. You can see the boom operator on the left filling from the tube.

The boom pump swinging in behind the old shed.

Since yesterday the timber has been going in. This side forms up the bi fold doors and creates the angle for the skillion roof. I always like seeing the carpentry begin and smelling the cut timber.

So the push is on to get the roof framed up and sheeted before the Spring storms begin. At least then the builders can keep working underneath.

Sweet As...

Here's a store with a difference and a great one to visit especially at this time of year with little ones.

The Rolin Pick Your Own Strawberry Farm at Caboolture.

As you head north on the highway past the Caboolture air field you'll start to see the PYO strawberry signs. At the turnoff it's about 2km in.

Rolin Farm is run as a commercial farm, but they keep a few rows free for the public. Each of these punnets holds about 1kg and it's $10 kg for the sweetest most enormous strawberries you've seen in years!

How yummy does this look? Although you're not supposed to eat them while you pick, there's plenty of red little mouths coming out of the isles.

This is their "shop" where you get the punnets weighed. They also sell other strawberry products- chocolate coated strawberries, soaps and orchids. You can have a coffee after or enjoy a homemade strawberry ice cream.

Check out the size. These ones are about 6-7cm's and that's pretty normal. They taste and smell as sweet as they look!

And the smell through my house was divine!