Before and After

Now we all like a good before and after shot (that is of course if the 'after' is better than the 'before').  I can't always say that this has essentially been true for me at times, but when it comes to our little piece of paradise in Carool, the after is most certainly better than the before. It's just that these things take a little time.... and as Gareth says "you plant a garden for the next generation" (though, selfishly I'd like to stick around to see the fruits of our labours). Fortunately, this gorgeous climate of ours puts the plants on steroids  - check this photo out of Molly and I a few years ago and compare it to the gardens on the blog title photo above (even these have grown since it was taken).

There's been some major goings on this week. We've finally started building the tropical gardens on the right hand side of the entry to compliment Gareth's magnificent work that is the subject of much praise.

We've also started our bamboo tunnel in 'Bambusa Chungii' a beautiful blue/grey Bamboo, which will be a walkway from the cottage to the main gate. This should be around 4 metres tall in around 18 months. That's what I like, instant garden. That being said, just 1 more hour of daylight and time to shovel another 10 barrows of mulch.

There was a time when we'd spend Sundays on the sofa.....

Ah, I remember those days when I was unable to lift my head off the pillow nursing a hangover after a big night, or the only time you saw 5am was on your way home or leaving Phoenix to go to Arq.

Those days are long gone. Now it's sun up to sun down outside and there's never a shortage of things to do. Like cleaning up the front of the property. You'll remember the blog post a few months ago about pulling down the old shed - well here above is how it looks now. New fence and grass seeded!

There was a time when toys used to mean something different too. Now they take a much different form - generally agricultural (see left). And on that note I will leave you for this week as it's 7pm and bedtime will soon be approaching.

My how things have changed :-)

Did the earth move for you?

I was always accustomed to a bit of heavy machinery, having excavated the backyard at Stanmore before (well, not me personally), but landscaping has taken a whole new meaning at Carool.... and the machines are on steroids! It's amazing what one can do a Sunday afternoon - check out our new road (well, actually its a 'track' but it will be surfaced at some point in the future). Even Oscar approves - though he appears somewhat distracted in this photo.


This week sees the arrival of an excavator and bobcat to put in our new driveway, build some drains and lay the foundations for Gareth's new tropical gardens that will frame the rhs of the driveway - like the ones on the left he has already established. And speaking of gardens, this shot at the right shows the beginnings of our 'succulent' hill.

With all this digging, whoever said life was boring in the country probably just doesn't enjoy being dirty!

Lot's happening over the next few weeks - our container from Bali arrives tomorrow - so I will keep you posted. Gareth's folks are still here from Northern Ireland till Friday week - been great spending time with them - wish I didn't have to go back to work.

Have a great week! Oh, and by the way, many of you receive these updates via email, but we would love to see your comments on our blog from time to time. x

Tenders are finally out - bring on the 1st of October!

Well, you all be pleased to know that after almost 2 years in the making, our tenders have finally gone out to our prospective builders. The date for response is the 1st of October and we plan to break ground as soon as possible after that date.

Thank god for Mark Boyd is all I can say. His help and support through this process has been outstanding and friends don't come much better than this. He's not a bad architect either :-) As most of you know, we had hoped to have started long ago and the last few months have seen our frustrations rise to new heights - but it has been Mark who has kept us moving along and maintaining focus to reach this day.

As one of our other friends Annie put it, we're well on the journey to realising our dream and it's going to be truly fantastic. I'm with Annie... the way this year has flown it won't be long before we're all having cocktails on the lanai.

Fancy a Long Cointreaupolitan anyone?

Some things call for drastic measures!!

Scoffa, our favourite man with a bulldozer, arrived back at the farm this week (how he got the name Scoffa we'll leave to another time). We were expecting to see him 4 months ago, but he's on Carool time and better late than never I say.

So his latest challenge was to rid our property of the toxic Radiata Pines on our boundary. We have long debated the pros and cons of leaving these trees, but basically they suck the life out of Gareth's tropical gardens and nothing we have tried to grow under them for the last 3 years as made any progress.It was time to say - goodbye.

Remarkable what you can do in a days work in the country I say. Non of this stuffing around, no procrastinating, just bring the buggers down and you can see the result here.

Now for those of you who may be lamenting the loss off these trees, don't worry, we're planting natives that are local to Northern NSW on the boundary next weekend. And I'll leave the picture on the front page of our blog where you can see the pines in the background.

Such a satisfying weekend. No wonder so many of us Sydneysiders are foresaking our city life for the country. And on that note, we had some very exciting news this week, our friends Larry and Melissa from Enmore are moving to Mullumbimby - only 40 minutes away. You'll all be up here in the end!!

Have you ever wondered what our fabulous B&B will look like?

I was only saying to Gareth this afternoon, only a few people have seen how Escape Retreat will look. You've had a taste of the gardens (and by the way, I must show you some picks of Gareth's new succulent "hill".... more of that later.

In the meantime, here is a render. Sadly I can't seem to get the resolution better. But you get the gist. Check out the pool and pool house on the left.... and you thought NYE at Stanmore was fun!

It's days like these that make it all worthwhile....

I was just going through some old emails today, looking at when we first kicked off our project. It was October 2008 and here we are approaching 2 years and we've yet to commence building. Not that we ever lose sight of what we will realise in our beautiful part of the world, but you just get so damn frustrated with consultants, their complete lack of attention to detail and sense of urgency, regardless of how much you're paying them. 

And then, in the middle of winter, you have days like these..... 23 degrees....... just magic. You forget about all those issues and remind yourself how lucky you are and how much you look forward to sharing it all with old friends and new friends, sometime in the not too distant future.