Underhill in June

Last weekend Liz G and I drove down to Underhill together and arrived at about 10 am to find Terry and Ellie enjoying their cuppa at the gate while they waited for us. Greg and Ev arrived by about 11:30 am. It was a fine, still day, a pleasant change after a week of heavy rain in Sydney. We all worked really hard on raking and burning off while Terry set to work chainsawing stumps and logs to tidy the area opposite the loos and at our end of the drive.

Lots of time was also spent stacking the cut firewood.

Before dark Terry helped me attach the 12V sockets to an extension cord and, joy oh joy, the lights in the shed and dining area work again, having stopped working when we sold Surrey's old car with the extra battery for our solar lighting. The power now comes from the battery in the caravan which is trickle charged by a small solar panel that we had set up for Surrey's CPAP machine a few years ago.

After an early dinner Terry and Ellie left for home and because it was dark and we were all so tired we had a very early night (8:30 pm!)

Up by about 6:30 am to another beautiful, still, fine day. Once the fires were alight and coffee and tea and breakfast made Greg was willing to try lifting the fallen bee hive while it was still quite cold. Wow! It worked! Some of the bees that later appeared were a little confused but plenty were getting back into the hive after returning from their foraging.

Greg and I spent some time clearing the dead blackberry stems from the dog yard and burning them off.

The whole clearing is now looking much tidier.

We then investigated the runoff line to the top dam and Greg cleared a 'creek line' so that the runoff from the block above us could reach the dam better. We'll see if it works any better next time if the dam fills a little better.

We all left after an early lunch, Greg taking home a very sick Ev who had the flu. Liz and I had an easy drive home but as soon as we pulled into the house in Sydney the rain started again!

Thank you Terry and Ellie, Greg and Ev, an Liz for all your work and for helping to renew my passion for our Underhill.