I did spend a week in county Victoria helping out with a group of about 200 people completing various projects and helping out where they could with Bushfire Relief. It was a fairly emotional time, particularly in Marysville – to see the devastation in the town, had to be seen to be believed and felt. Look over the town from a nearby hill, it looks like a new estate with slabs the only thing really visible – sadly its all some people were left with. The terrain around the area is intriguing, I wont say nice because it is far from nice but it is interesting and makes you glad for what you have. It was cold and wet for the first few days we were up there, but we had a place to stay and a house to go back too, some people are still living in tents and caravans. The recovery will be long, houses can be rebuilt in time, but the scenery will be take a long time to repair. I would like to go back again, at least to drive through and see how it is going, and plan to do so on the way to or from the Winton V8 Supercar round next year I think.

Below are some of the photos that I took, didn’t take heaps, because it felt weird taking photos of people’s loss.

Also being quite busy getting my veggie garden happening, got all my plants in and dripper system in on the weekend of 17/18 October. I planted 4 Might Red Tomato’s, 8 Roma Tomato’s, 6 corn, 8 capsicum, 6 zucchini and some bok choy. The bok choy has been eaten by what looks like birds or caterpillars, same with some zucchini but not as bad and one roma tomato plant has gone missing. Hopefully by Christmas I will be picking home grown veggies. In a separate garden I have 4 new chili plants and a strawberry plant (which has sort of split into 3 plants) from last year. I will hopefully be picking strawberries soon – there is only a few but they are ripening – photo will come of gardens and the first fruits.

Yesterday I begun, I pulled out the conifer/pine tree in the back right hand side of the of the garden as shown in the image.

So that is step one of the makeover, I also got a some herb seedlings, chilli plants and strawberry plants really cheap from Stratco, they have been planted and hopefully they all survive – I just need to remember to water them.

The other next priority was a the passionfruit plant on the fence line – see image below

Well this morning when I got up that problem was being solved for me. My neighbour decided to start cutting it back or should I say butchering it back – not sure if it will end up surviving but I will be sure to keep watering it and maybe even organise some fertiliser.

There is more plants that I need to pull out, especially out the front of the house but the ground is so hard I think I will have to wait till at least some rain to be able to dig them out. Next thing to do will be to mow the lawns.

It feels a little weird with no one else in the house, but I still haven’t fully settled in – I don’t have a proper fridge till tomorrow so I have still been eating at Mum and Dad’s and I still have a stack of things at Mum and Dad’s that I haven’t bought over yet.

Over the Christmas break I plan to finish it all off and get set up properly. It has been fun, but hard work and I don’t plan on moving again any time soon that is for sure.

The list of jobs to be done around the place gets longer everyday – but most of the things are long term jobs that don’t need to be done today, so I will slowly get them all done over time.

Some random photos of the house:

I deduce from that, that I will be in within 6 months (that 6 months started about 6 weeks ago now). I really don’t know much, I am sort of happy that they are paying rent it has enabled me to pay some of the bills that are associated with a house and not have to worry too much. I have also been away to Winton which I wouldn’t have been able to do if I had moved in either. But on the other hand, I am now paying off a house and I would love to be in it, by the time I get in it I wont be able to do as much work outside as I would like because it will be getting too hot.

Of course with Google street view I can show you some photos of the front yard at least.

The 2 small trees/bushes in the front yard – not including the council tree, I think will be removed, not 100% if the one on the right of the block is actually on my property though, so I will have to wait and confirm. The other will definitely go, I am not a big fan of trees like that – 2 metres maximum, that way they are under control. The garden shown doesn’t look like much – but there must be a stack of annuals in there because it looks a lot better at the moment, but I am not a fan of annuals for the reason that the garden only looks ok . So most of those bulbs will get pulled up and mum and dad can have them if they want them.

You cant see out the back (of course), but the trees that you can see aren’t on my property, I do worry about the big ghost gum it has already lost a limb onto the roof of the shed. Might have to get to know the neighbour and try to convince them to get rid of it.

Speaking of neighbours they have pools, well 3 out of 4 do. Check out the latest Google map image of the area.

So my immediate neighbours is green but its still a pool

From the aerial view you can see the verandah out the back which has those plastic cafe blinds around it, the shed down the back (with pit) and the small tool shed on the left hand side between the house and the fence. You can also see some shrubs down the left hand fence line – I don’t like them either, so I will probably end up pulling many of them out too. I would like a veggie garden and that will probably end up being between the shed and fence area, just depending on the sun coverage near there – but it should be ok.

I am hoping to be in before my birthday, so I can have a housewarming/birthday party all in one.

It was bought privately so I don’t currently have any photos to show, which is why I included the google maps image of the house.

So whats it got I hear you ask, 3 bedrooms all with built in robes, lounge, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, laundrey. Nice outdoor area, a huge shed with a pit, a tool shed and a Carport with a roll-a-door. Its a fairly plain house but it is all relatively new inside, which is handy for an unhandy person like me and I think it will to me well for many years ahead. The most important feature is it is connected to an Agile ADSL2+ exchange which is pretty important to me

Now for the not so good news, the current owners still haven’t put an offer on a new house which means they are going to rent it back off me. So on June 20th (next Friday) I become a home owner and a landlord on the same day. So I am a little disappointed that I cant move in straight away, but it gives me an opportunity to get some extra money paid off the loan.

I hope to get some photos next Friday, and I will post them up. I am already planning on making a few changes – but not straight away thats for sure.