Garden Works Begin!

After all my talk of creating a wonderful garden after moving in to our house, it has taken just over nine months for works to start. Dad spent a day with me over Easter measuring and designing a retaining wall for the back boundary. This was the vital first step as the wall will allow a fence to go up, which will define the space for garden beds. So with the design done and materials ordered, a weekend was designated for work to start. Dad and I started on Saturday and Lloyd joined the team Sunday.
Before:




The first little job was to remove the tree stump that was right on the boundary. I only broke one maddock in the process but it came out fairly easily.

It was a cool start Saturday morning.

Digging the post holes didn't go quick as well as I had hoped due to the fill that was used on the block. Our little post hole digger we hired didn't do a great job, so Neil was kind enough to lend a hand with the tractor. However, this wasn't a success either, it just made massive holes. Fortunately, the fill stopped about 10 metres down the boundary, then the little digger worked a treat!

Dad and I spent all of Saturday digging holes, then putting up the posts. We nearly made it half way.


Sunday morning saw a lot of progress, as Lloyd with his experience and confidence started constructing the wall. Dad and I kept going with the posts, with the assistance of a keen pint-sized helper.

The cold didn't deter Abi, she just rugged up got to work!


Roland only popped his head out on the rare occasion to take a break from his school work. And when he did, you could be sure he wouldn't move a step without his Black Shadow stuck to his side.

The finished product. The wall was completed in the weekend. The post still need a bit of work to get them ready for the fence, but it was a great start. I've already ordered the fruit trees that will call the boundary home by Spring!

We wish you a merry Christmas!

We have been looking forward to this moment for three years - our first Christmas in our very own home! Although we didn't actually spend Christmas at our home, we had lots of fun putting our first tree and decorating it with the decorations we bought two years ago.
This year worked very well with time spent with both families. Christmas Eve was spent with the Adkins' and Christmas afternoon we arrived at the Pikes.


Even more fun then the tree was making a present for our parents. After a full day of baking, Roland and I had our own houses to assemble and decorate for our respective families. We shared creative ideas and had a lovely afternoon together. The best feature was definitely Roland's snowman!




Both houses were well received but the most excited person was undoubtedly Angus. I don't know how many times I heard him say, "I like that one!", "I really like it Aunty Kellie!" or "You made it all by yourself?!" He was very cute. All the kids were very excited when it came time to break it up and eat it!


As is always the case with Pike family gatherings, there were dogs everywhere, but none more excited by our presence than Scally. All her Christmases come at once when Roland is around and Sarah put this little sign on her back when she was lying under the tree. It says, 'Roland, Love Santa'. Emily knows how much Roland likes walking the dog. She told me that I should get a dog for Uncle Roland then he can take it for walks and I could have a rest. That way, I can watch what I want on TV and I don't have to watch the cricket with Roland. Child logic is a beautiful thing!

The kids loved the giant ball from the Donaldson's, especially when it was deflating!

By the 27th, everyone else had left Enysbury. Dad took us to Werribee Gorge for a lovely little walk. The rocky cliffs were very interesting, showing a number of anticlines and synclines.

Cup Weekend Away

On the weekend of Melbourne Cup, Mum and Dad came away with us to Cape Schank Lighthouse. I had always wanted to stay in a lighthouse keepers cottage and this four day weekend that backed on from my 30th birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was a cosy, three bedroom cottage, and in the howling wind it's not hard to see why stone was a good option for building!

Our first day.

The cottage by night.

The lighthouse was only a few hundred meters away, perched at the top of the cliff. It is a rugged section of coast and the rocky shoreline was great for rock hopping. We took a walk down the board walk to the shore, but the wind was very strong and very cold!






we had a little church service on Sunday and the tea-party set the Mum bought at garage sale came in handy during communion!

And of course, what Pike family gathering would be complete without a good afternoon platter. Yum!

On the Monday, I went to Diggers for a workshop and Mum had a very pleasant day just hanging in the beautiful gardens.
We had a lovely weekend together, despite the terrible weather. The accommodation was nice but a bit over priced but at least I now know what it would have been like to live in a lighthouse keeper's cottage!

Overland under cloud and snow

Once you walk the Overland Track, you understand why it’s counted as one of the best in the world. Easily accessible, well maintained, visually amazing, it’s not surprising that people come from all over the world to walk it. I walked it in 2006 with some friends and ever since, I’ve been trying to get down there with Roland. It’s a place worth sharing. When we were in Tassie during the mid-year holidays, we did a few day walks, including one a Cradle Mountain. It renewed my desire to come back and do the walk together.

So Term Three was spent organising this little adventure; our first private bush walk together, no teenagers allowed! A quick plane trip to Launceston, afternoon of food shopping and a night in a hostel followed by a half day bus ride to Cradle Mountain saw us at the start of the walk. There was one hitch though – snow. There had been a two metre dump the previous week and there wasn’t any up-to-date info on how much was still on the track. We were told it would probably be alright to walk without snow shoes, but it may be necessary to turn back if it was too deep. Given such conditions, we stayed overnight in Cradle Valley to allow a full day to walk the first 10kms, rather than the five hours of remaining daylight we had left that day.

It was a good choice, and even though the day didn’t have the stunning sun shine of our arrival day, we really did need the full day. It took us about six hours to walk 10kms, and I was utterly exhausted by the end. The soft snow was nightmare to walk through but we met some walkers coming in the other direction who told us that there was no more snow to walk through once we were off the plateau.

Overall, we did the walk over five days, saw a few spectacular views, enjoyed the alpine environment and met some great people. It was a cold week, but a wonderful one none the less.

This is a side-on look at the walk (click to enlarge). As you can see, Day One, getting over Cradle Plateau is by far the hardest! We stayed at all the huts except Kiaora Hut.

Cradle Mt. on our arrival day

Two walkers about to set off

Example of some of the board walk.

Because of the melting snow, every water course was pumping!

A happy walker about to ascend onto Cradle Plateau

Crater Lake was spectacular

The steepest part of the walk - part of the ascent onto the plateau - not for the faint hearted!

The first patch of snow with Crater Lake in the background

A cold camper in some shallow now. It wasn't uncommon to fall though to my knees or waist in the deeper sections. (and I did put some pants on after lunch!)

Cradle Mt.

Barn Bluff

Night One: Waterfall Valley Hut - a wonderfully warm place after a hard day of snow walking.

one of many creeks

Brief views of the surrounding peaks from Frog Flats on day 3.

Above and below, examples of board walk. Not all the walk is board walk. There is still enough mud to make sure you know you're in the wilderness!


One on the majestic peaks that could be seen from our final hut when the cloud lifted.

Narcissus River. This water flows into Lake St. Clair, leaves as the Derwent River and passes through six power stations before ending up in Hobart and flowing into the Tasman Sea.