www.goanna.com

Well,

Autumn is upon us and we are moving in this week!  It has been an interesting time, trying to get services connected and getting ready to take over our new place.  So far most things have gone smoothly, the only major hassle has been Internet access.  It appears that we are unable to get ADSL due to ageing telstra infrastructure so the next option is wireless.  Naturally we wont know if this is possible without first signing up for a wireless service.  They will then come out and see what the signal strength is like & decide if it's a go'er or not.  The previous owners used satellite internet so I suspect we will end up using that, very slow, low bandwidth allowance and bloody expensive )-:  On Thursday we will go over to check our new place & then Friday will see chaos break loose when the removalists arrive with our massive truckload of stuff!  Anyway, stay tuned, it's all coming together at last & we should soon be able to regale you with the tales of our new rural life!

Well our building inspection went well, no major issues with either of the houses, that's good news!  Unfortunately there was some evidence of recent Termite activity in the older of the two houses.  As you can imagine we were pretty disappointed when we got this news.  After a discussion with our Termite Guru, Cameron, we decided to go for a more invasive inspection to see if they had actualy done any damage.  Fortunately the second inspection confirmed that there is no damage to the house, just an exploratory foray by our local wood eating critters.  So we have agreed with the vendors to go halves in the cost of a Termite treatment which should put a stop to any future Termite adventures.  Such a relief, we have now gone unconditional on the contract and will be moving in soon (-:

We are pleased to announce that we have just purchased an 11 acre farmlet in East Gippsland.  The property is a little ripper with two cottages located on the land along with a small garage and a half-decent machinery shed!  There is also a substantial orchard with about 35 trees & plants including Apple, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Cumquat, Loquat, Pear, Peach, Tangelo, Nectarine, Apricot, Feijoa, Nashi, Carob, Grapefruit, Olive, Grape, Blackberry, Avocado, Fig, Mulberry, Chestnut, Walnut, Hazelnut, Guava & Plum.  There are some basic cattle yards and a chook shed that needs a bit of a renovation.  The place has been let go a little so we will have a lot of work to do once we move in.  The fruit trees need a lot of attention and the dam is as dry as a cracker!  The fencing is in a fairly good state and there is enough feed to support a couple of head of cattle without requiring any extra feed in the short term.  We will also be adding a 6m by 12m shed with a 3m wide lean-to along its side.  The lean-to will be the home of our Aquaponics set up and I will add another tank to the shed to help maintain the Aquaponics.  Stay tuned for more as we move in soon & will be posting regular updates (-:

Well I'm excited.  We picked up our new (used) trailer this afternoon.  I was very fortunate to have a builder friend sell it to me for a very reasonable price.  We will be towing the trailer from Brisbane to Nicholson in the new year (a mere 1643 kilometers / 1020 miles).  It will be chock full of the pot plants we want to keep and I'll pop my aquaponics IBC in there too!  But wait ... there's more....my parents have given us a lovely Hereford cow to get us started.  No land yet but we already have a cow .. how good is that (-:  I officially ceased paid employment today so now it's time to concentrate on packing and maybe taking a couple of trips up to North Queensland while we have the chance.  Merry Christmas everyone.

Well tomorrow is my last day at Merlo Coffee here in Brisbane.  All I can say is that it has been a hoot.  A great bunch of people, passionate about their product and fun to work with.  I know this is the next step on our road to self-sufficiency but it's sad to leave all of mates at Merlo behind )-:  If you are after seriously good coffee visit www.merlo.com.au

Cheers,

Scott.

Well our house has sold and we are off in early January to Victoria!  Now all we need to do is pack, move & find a new place to live.  Once we have moved I will be blogging a lot more about our adventures (-:.

Well our new agent has taken over and we have an offer on the house!  It has been pretty stressful but the building inspection has been done.  It's handy getting the results as it turned up a couple of minor things that I had not noticed, but it's all good.  We now have a list of jobs to do to make the house perfect (-:.  Now I'm working on a budget for the move, if it all goes ahead we will have to get everyhting shifted by late January .. hmmm that will be fun to organise.

With the help of a couple of mates (thanks Anthony & Kim) I went to pick up my latest ebay acquisition, an 800 litre IBC container.  This puppy is going to be turned into our first fully fledged aquaponics system.  Not only that but it will come fully equipped with a wireless iobridge module that will allow me to monitor and control the entire system via the Internet.  Now I can keep an eye on the water temperature and pump status from anywhere in the world (-:

The IBC, cut and ready for installation of the
suppports and plumbing.

The iobridge module connected to a wireless
access point.  This will interface with the pumps
and provide water quality information.

Well, we have had the house on the market for several months now & have yet to get a firm offer.  A lot of people have looked through and most like it a lot.  Common feedback we get is that it's a shame that it only has 3 bedrooms.  So what to do?  Well why not add another bedroom (-:  We have had plans drawn up to split our rather large master bedroom into two to provide an extra bedroom.  The plans include an extra toilet downstairs as well to service the two other bedrooms down there without having any impact on access to the ensuite from the master bedroom!  So stay tuned as we start to crunch the numbers to see if this plan is a goer!

We were excited to happen across a great new Australian innovation,the biodegradable toothbrush. To quote their website: "The Environmental Toothbrush is a simple solution. Made from bamboo, a natural cellulose fibre, they are 100% biodegradable, environmentally sustainable, and do not pollute the environment. The amazing growth and self-renewing ability of bamboo means that deforestation is not necessary either. Even our packaging is bio-degradable." We received our first batch yesterday and they look pretty good.  Whilst they are made in China, and thus clock up some serious carbon miles, at least they are recycleable, non toxic and a great innovation! Now if only Dr. Nat can find a manufacturer here in Australia this would be the perfect product. Swing on over to their website if you want more information.