Wow, I can't believe its been almost 6 months since my last post. Alas, not a lot has changed & life has gone on!

Our menagerie of pets has both increased and decreased.  The 6 Araucana chicks I purchased late last year turned into 4 Araucanas and 2 ring ins....One I believe was a Malay game bird, and the other was some other variety unknown (probably mixed breed, certainly not an Araucana). Unfortunately the Malay, the unknown and 2 of the Araucanas turned out to be roosters. Although all nice looking birds, we couldn't keep any roosters so one by one they all met their fate and become chicken dinners.

The 2 remaining Araucana hens are now laying us their blue eggs which was very exciting when the kids found the first one. Although these araucana eggs are only bantam size, they taste just the same as the other eggs we have.

The only issue seems to be that the Araucana have a problem with excess feathers around their eyes and I've twice now had to clip them so the poor things can see where they are going.

The 2 remaining Araucana hens, who are now laying lovely blue eggs

One of the Araucana roosters

The Malay rooster

 

The unknown suspected mixbreed rooster

Then of course, there is Daisy..... named such in the hope of ending up with a female.... well no such luck, Daisy has grown into a very cheeky drake. He is rather regal looking now with the green neck feathers, and just lives for watermelon. We thought about changing his name but Daisy had kinda stuck by then. Daisy, being a now mature male, is starting to get abit amorous with the chooks so I am on the hunt for another Khaki female as a companion. Maybe I'll call her Gus or something very male just to even things out.

Daisy the Khaki Campbell drake

I had grown disshevelled with the chook water system I had previously. It was a Wet-a-chook which is a brilliant product, just wasn't enough for 10 chooks and 3 ducks...duh!  Even though we now only have 6 chooks and 1 duck, I decided on trying an idea I came across on youtube - the chook waterer.
There are several variations on the products and equipment you can use, but essentially it is a water container with a pipe attached and several 'nipple's for the chooks to drink from. Seems to work okay for ducks too (although I still use a small wading pool for Daisy as well).

I used a 25litre plastic container with a lid (to keep mozzies out), drilled a hole through for a pipe connection, then added some irrigation pipe which connects to a section of pvc pipe which has 5 nipples.  The nipples can be purchased online very cheaply, and all the other bits and pieces were either in my shed or easily found at Bunnings. I find I only need to refill the container about every week or so depending on how hot it is, and the chooks learnt how to use it very quickly. Daisy can make a bit of a mess because he likes to guzzle water rather than delicately drink likes the chooks.

Chook waterer

I had ended up with a section of large concrete pipe in my yard. Long story but basically it came from another property we had renovated and my brother had decided it could be turned into a nice pond. He had the vision and I had the trailer and so it ended up sitting in my back yard for several months.  One day, John arrived on my doorstep with a bag of cement and announced he was going to help me make a pond. After several weeks of concreting the base, applying pond paint, and then waiting for it all to dry completely, I filled it with water and some pond plants I acquired and voila.... one concrete pipe pond. It has an edible water lily along with some other plants, a couple of swordtails and a quickly growing population of white clouds and snails.

My vege garden is also finally back up and gaining enough attention to be flourishing again.  It was slow to get going again mainly because I was postponing replanting until I had 2 large trees cut down at the back of our property. I wanted to relocate 2 of the raised  garden beds but unfortunately that was right in the path the tree lopping machines needed to take to get access to the trees.  Once the trees were gone, I relocated the chook run and the garden beds and now its full steam ahead....

In this bed - Celery, eggplant, chia, tomato, basil and comfrey

In this area - Corn, turnips, pumpkin, parsley, coriander, pak choy, tatsoi, lettuce, carrots and more

Another invention - mesh covered frame, sprinkle bag of chook-friendly fodder seeds, water, and voila.....growing plants the chooks can graze on but not dig up.

4WD'ing fun

Although 4WD'ing is still relatively new to me I am very pleased to say I have caught the bug.  My partner Brett has introduced me to this whole other world that the Australian outback has to offer and we just love discovering places where few others can go.  I will admit I was once a 'soccer mum' driving around in a Toyota Prado that never left the bitumen - if only I'd known what these vehicles are capable of!

We recently decided to do a day trip to a place called Blue Valley Weir. You basically follow the Bruce Highway until the turn off to Clare, and then follow the Burdekin River up stream toward the dam. When the public road ends you are met with a gate and a sign:

I'm not certain but I think you enter a privately owned cattle property - they do (at this point at least) allow people on. We follow the basic principle of leaving the place as we found it - close gates after us, don't leave litter behind, etc..... And hopefully if others adhere to this, this beautiful area will remain open for anyone to explore and enjoy for years to come!

It wasn't long before we were experiencing the more challenging of 4wd tracks. Lots of washed out sections and steep declines.  We were travelling with 2 other vehicles, Bretts sisters and their partners.  Deb and Ray with the brand new standard triton were also 4wd novices but we soon discovered they had a very capable vehicle which surprised even them. Diff lockers - makes all the difference!

Photos never do justice but these next few photos show the toughest section. A long steep track with lots of deep ruts. Took us about half an hour for all 3 vehicles to navigate our way up. Some track building (logs, rocks) was required and some precarious balancing acts were experienced.

The challenges continued...... a few wheels in the air and plenty of dust flying

Brett almost came unstuck here - you gotta watch those badly placed rocks...

It was very dry except for one small spot near the river. Nothing to fear. I certainly wouldn't want to attempt this track after lots of rain.

FAST - the only way to get through deep sand....

Rewarded at the end of the track by this beautiful spot. Great for camping (maybe next time), fishing and careful swimming (there have been crocs spotted here).

 

exploring by the river

Of course being only one road in means what you go up, you must go back down.... and so the trek back began much too soon.  Somehow it seemed easier....

You definately need a full day to do this trip - probably around 6 hours just to drive from the gate to the weir and back out. 

Oh and there is another weir just nearby - Gorge Weir.  Next time!!

New additions to the family

Getting back to my interest in being a little more self-sustaining - sadly the north queensland heat has killed off most of my veges and with my attention focused on travelling and renovations over the last couple of months, it has had little help to recover.  Project garden will start again with earnest very soon, I promise.

Luckily despite perhaps a little neglect (they possibly haven't got as many scrap treats as usual) our chooks & ducks continue to lay lots of eggs. In fact, we have some additions to the family.

It started as a bit of an experiment. I had a hen go broody, and I had fertile duck eggs - so decided to put the two together and see if the hen could hatch us some ducklings.  It was a big learning curve and sadly we lost 2 out of 3 - they started to hatch but died before they made it out. The 3rd, Daisy, continues to amuse us as he/she grows.  Hopefully Daisy turns out to be a girl (thus the reason we named her Daisy) because two male ducks aren't much good to us.

Daisy hatching

Daisy 1 day old

Daisy with her 'mum'

Daisy about 1 week old

Daisy today - nearly 3 weeks old

Daisy now lives with some Aracauna chicks I bought. Aracaunas are the blue egg layers and I wanted something a little bit different. I got 6 in the hope that at least half will turn out to be hens. We can't keep roosters here so they would have to go. Time will tell!!

Renovations

I seem to be one of those people who find it truely difficult to sit still for very long. I always have to be doing something - working, planning, dreaming......  True to form, the last couple of months have been non-stop. Only now that I finally have a little bit of time off work with not much planned, I can sit down and write this.

There was barely chance to unpack after our wonderful holiday up the Cape before we were settling a house and undertaking major renovations....ourselves....again!  Having already undertaken such ventures several times in the past, it would seem we are suckers for punishment.  The 2 weeks we gave ourselves, turned into 4 and then some. Only now do we finally have a tenant moving in to (hopefully) look after the place.

I've always had a passion for old Queenslander houses. The unique features and design is one thing, but also being made entirely out of timber, there is just so much scope for re-designing these houses.  The possibilities are endless.  I get so much joy out of buying an old run down, ugly, unloved house, and turning it into a beautiful lovable home once again. And it doesn't take much - a good clean, a coat of paint. Even new bathrooms and kitchens can be done on a budget.  One of the houses we've done, we found a 2nd hand kichen on Gumtree.com.au for $900 which was in great condition and included appliances. With a little tweaking we re-fitted it to our ktichen, had new benchtops made, and voila.. a new kitchen for under $2000. But the Pièce de résistance would have to be uncovering beautiful timber floors hidden underneath newspaper/vinyl/carpet for generations - ripe for sanding and polishing.

If I didn't need to keep my current job, I'd seriously consider doing this for a living. To be in a position to pay someone to do the hard stuff, even better!

Here's some before and after pics from our latest venture.  Its not a classic Queenslander, but we think it has potential - the worst house in a good street. In fact, this house used to be a RAAF duplex and was relocated in the 50's to its present site. There is evidence of where walls have been removed and whats left is a unique layout that we may one day redesign. And luckily the kitchen was already done!

she ain't pretty but has potential

the back

 

Lounge - as it was originally

Lounge - removing vinyl tiles and masonite revealed timber floorboards ready for sanding and polishing

starting to sand the floors and apply filler

Fully sanded but not yet varnished

Main bedroom - original

Main bedroom with new dividing wall for walk-in-wardrobe

Main bedroom finished

2nd bedroom - original

2nd bedroom finished

3rd bedroom finished 

3rd bedroom - original

bathroom - original

bathroom - original

bathroom - in progress

bathroom finished

bathroom finished

Gumtree.com.au - Great for finds like this Blanco dishwasher, only a couple of years old, for $90

Kitchen - luckily all we had to do here was paint the walls and add new blinds. We also replaced the stove and added a dishwasher. The rest had already been done.