THE LEANING WALL OF ILLOURA

Well, the first week in the construction process is nearly over and we've managed to fit in 5 trips in 7 days! No small feat seeing as the round trip journey, some oohing and aahing, the mandatory photo shoot and depending on how nice we are feeling, a play in the park for the kids takes up the best part of an hour.

Our most recent trip revealed that our SS had autographed our Portaloo, but still hasn't called.

And that we now have retaining walls!

One retaining wall runs about 80% of the way down the left hand boundary and retains "cut".

The other one will be behind the garage, is much shorter, and retains "fill".

The big one is nice and neat.

The second one was perhaps installed by the work experience boy.

The long one....this looks OK.

Layer upon layer upon layer....I think we'll end up a fair bit higher than our neighbours.

Do not adjust your monitor. I was standing up straight....the wall, well, not so straight.

Nope, your beer goggles are not on!

Is this the work of a novice, or an industry ploy to reduce the amount of fill required???

Hope these woodworkers aren't coming back to do the Frame! :-0

Have a great week!

356 DAYS....

....After we signed up for our Block of Land, we have FINALLY started!!

Yippee! Have known that this day was coming for a long time now, but it still feels really good to be at this stage.

So, our Commencement date is February 16th 2009, leaving only 186 days left in the Contract period, lol!

Three trips in 4 days have revealed a tap, a rubbish cage, a site scrape and the much anticipated portaloo!( Kenny would be so proud! ;-)

We were very excited today to get out there and see "our" cut and scrape. I'd been a little nervous as to how "big" our cut would be, seeing as the neighbours behind us have just had their block cut and it looks as though it could accommodate a ten foot deep pool, and our neighbours to the right also have quite a significant cut out. Thankfully, ours doesn't seem too bad, much better than I had been expecting. Then again, we did buy this particular Block as it was supposed to have the least amount of fall out of all the Blocks in this stage of the development.

How long is this desire to do daily site inspections going to last??? I'll be needing another loan to cope with the petrol costs!
Oh, and if anyone has any recommendations for an Independant Building Inspector, I guess I now have a reason for getting one!! ;-)

And now for the pics...





TA - DA!!! The first sign of action....the tap!

Followed closely by....The Rubbish Cage.

And what Building Blog would be complete without a shot of the Portaloo!!

This one was taken from our Neighbours block....looking up and over their retaining wall, and across our block.

Our nice flat land, looking from front corner to the back one.

Looking forward to retaining walls now, and of course - THE SLAB!! Woo-hoo!

FOR VALENTINE'S DAY I GOT A.......

.....TAP!!
Yep, went out to our block this morning and found out we are now the proud owners of a tap!
And guess who forgot to take her camera??? I NEVER forget it...but today, when there is finally something to take pictures of, it was left at home, so you'll just have to take my word for it...pictures next time! ;-)
Quite a bittersweet discovery really coming on the heels of all the tragedy and devastation of the past week. And seeing as we have direct views towards Kinglake and Mt. Disappointment made it quite sad actually to be up there. On the one hand we had this tap, but in the background we could still see the smoke billowing from the Ranges. So there was no happy dance... :-( ...wasn't the time for it, and certainly wasn't the place..... perhaps by the time we get a slab??? Oh, and our " Commencement " date is Monday 16th February...found that out from the 24/7 site 2 days before CSC told me! :-o

HOORAY!

Just a quick little update to say that I am so excited today that I could just burst!
Our Building Permit has been received and I have just received word from our CSC that our final drawings are in the mail and I should receive them on Monday!! Yay! Great to finally see something happening.
She also let me know that they picked up the fact that when we upgraded our Skirting Boards at the last minute, we left the architraves as they were....and they won't match!! DISASTER! Luckily they have picked this up and are willing to let us change it! HUGE relief...how bad would that have looked???
Small steps I know, but definitely in the right direction.
I feel a Happy Dance coming on...... ;-)