A long weekend in April at Underhill

The family gathered for a weekend together at Underhill last weekend. It was great to have us all there and birthday celebrations too. Barre was able able to join us for the weekend and was most astounded with the "concrete" we have for soil. He just loved seeing the two little girls, meeting Heather for the first time.

On the way down we were surprised to notice the Marulan service centre closed with lots of police and ambulance etc. A truck had caught fire in the parking lot. The Illawarra Mercury had an article about it.

We arrived in the last of the daylight so Barre was most impressed by the new roof which he had not seen. It ended up a cold night but we slept well enough.

On the Saturday a lot of 'projects' progressed just a little more. Geoff had a design for a floating pot in the dam hoping that the plant (in this case a juncus type) will flower and set seed or root into the dam substrate. We have always had trouble establishing plants in the dams because of the extreme level changes with the seasons.

The next task of the weekend was to attach the firebox door to the new stove (which is working fabulously).

Unfortunately all the vibrations from the drilling loosened the fire bricks on the inside, one of which fell down on Sunday morning so Geoff has now removed it again and will reattach it before restabilising the fire bricks. At least we now know how do and that the system works.

Then Barre and Geoff made the brick wall that will hold the pizza oven.

While Barre was moving bricks from the stock pile to Geoff he came across a small black snake which was dispatched forthwith.

There was then much discussion with Ivy about the danger of snakes around the house but that they were OK in the bush.

The loquat is flowering. I wonder if we will ever get any fruit from it?

Another project was making a mousetrap style water way for the girls to play with but with all the experimentation that had to take place I think Geoff had the most fun.

After a long day of hard physical work it was time for Geoff and the girls to soak in a hot tub, achieved by lighting a fire under the bath. Geoff had to sit in the bath because the base metal was still a bit hot for the girls to sit on. The water was fine though.

The evening entertainment was tent pitching and that was certainly lots of fun and frustration. Birthday celebration over dinner and a long sit around the fire on a cold night chatting until about 8pm when we all decided it was time to retire to our warm beds.

After breakfast and the mammoth wash-up on Sunday Geoff and family packed and left to attend a picnic with a friend in Sydney.

We all went for a walk to the Far Dam and the Bottom Corner. This view of the Bottom Dam shows it is very low indeed.

A dead echidna was found down on the bottom fence line. I've no idea why it died though.

All weekend a Flame Robin flitted around the clearing, entertaining us with glimpses and flashes of brilliant red.

We left at about 1:15 and had an easy trip home, making it in 2 hours. We were dreading driving home on a Sunday, the last day of the Anzac Day long weekend and the last day of the school holidays. We must have left at just the right time.