Building a driveway

Finally things are underway again. After weeks of watching the weather luck was finally on my side and I managed to get a weekend with no rain in Violet Town, and nothing else on!!

I have been watching the weather religiously the last few weeks, and believe it or not barely any rain has fallen this month, so the place had dried out just enough. My biggest concern was the cold… was one degree Friday night/Saturday morning!

Anyway, after work on friday I headed straight out to the rental place in Ferntree Gully to pick up the excavator, then headed home to pack. Fi had a haircut booked, so it was well after 8pm by the time I said farewell to the family and headed to Little Duna.

Was an easy drive with not much traffic, and I made good time on the road, arriving about 10:30pm. I opened the gate, slipped the car into 4WD-Lo and headed in. I stayed off the driveway knowing it was a bit slushy, but it didn’t matter because I got about halfway in when suddenly the car stopped moving… I was bogged 🙁

Lucky I had the winch, and after about 30 mins of winching and driving, I managed to pull the car and excavator out of a very deep rut… well it was deep by the time I finished!!

I setup camp and got a fire going to chase away the cold. As I had to tow the excavator, I couldn’t bring my caravan with me, so I was rouging it in “Brock ’05”, the old caravan we purchased. Was comfortable enough to sleep in, but I had no kitchen, shower, toilet etc so while not as rough as I have done it, it is roughing it compared to what I am used to.

Shortly after midnight I called it a night thinking that it wasn’t as cold as what I thought it would be… maybe it was just a few cans keeping me warm because nature called about 3am, and boy was it cold!!! Felt like I was at the snow!! My sleeping bag is rated to -5 degrees and I was snuggled down inside it with a blanket over the top to keep warm.

So, Saturday morning I woke to a very cold start. I threw a couple of logs on the fire while I waited for the kettle to boil and once I could move my fingers again I set about getting the excavator off the trailer. Unfortunately getting bogged last night meant I had sprayed the excavator with mud, so I had to clean the seat before I could even start. I got it off the trailer and had a bit of a play to figure out how it worked… all that time in the sandpit as a kid paid off and it wasn’t long before I was a competent excavator driver.

I set off towards the driveway to get to work. Now I had planned to take a lot of videos this weekend, but unfortunately as I was taking my first one, my phone died!! I was planning to walk the driveway to give you all an idea of what lay ahead, but I guess my phone had other ideas, so I just kept on working. I switched it back on later that day and there was nothing wrong with it… go figure… maybe it was just too cold for it!!

This photo gives you an idea of what lay beyond where the other video cut out… a boggy mess. 

So Saturday was spent trying to learn how to fix a road. I gave up at one stage and spent an hour digging a hole to bury the left over rubbish from the bon fire. Now that was fun, and I honed my skills before heading back to tackle the driveway.

It was slow going, and by the end of the day at 5pm when I called it quits I hadn’t got as much as I would have liked done. What I did figure out in the last hour was how to build the road. I basically had to dig a lot of loose soil from the mound by the front dam, then pick it up one bucket at a time and drive it at walking pace to the road and return for another bucket. Took forever given how slow the excavator moved 🙁 Each trip wasted precious minutes. I probably got about a tenth of the driveway done by dusk on Saturday.

Disheartened I packed up and sat around the fire having a much needed beverage. Then it hit me, tomorrow I should dig loads of soil free, then just do trips back and forth to get the soil onto the road.

Pleased that I had a good plan, I changed and headed to the pub for a counter meal… I was roughing it remember… no cooking for me!! (I didnt even bring food!!!)

Had an awesome steak at the Violet Town pub… really it could have been horrible but not having eaten all day it was the best steak ever! The pub had a real country feel to it, and I loved watching the barman who had a one for you one for me approach to pouring beer!  Only something you will see in the country!

Anyway, I woke Sunday morning and once again defrosted my fingers by the fire while the kettle boiled, then as soon as I could I was off to execute my plan from the day before.

Was very slow going and I spent most of the day going back and forth, back and forth. Boy was  it boring… took all my will power to not give up out of boredom, but in the end it paid off and by 5pm I was done. While I could barely feel my legs from sitting all day, and right now I can still feel the jolt and sway of the excavator, (feels like when you have been on a boat), but at least we have the base of a driveway ready to bring the crushed rock in.

I was even able to drive out on it, although it was still a little soft in spots.

Done for the weekend, I packed up, loaded the excavator and headed home, arriving about 8:30pm, just in time to kiss the kids goodnight… then it was straight into the shower for stinky old me!

Hehe… well I had better finish this off and head to bed, as I have to have the excavator back before 7:00am tomorrow morning.

Before I go though I’ll tell you what is next.

So, next weekend I will need to do a day trip up with a trailer load of carpet.

Yes, you heard me… carpet! My neighbour (in Melbourne) has a carpet shop, and he is putting aside about 60m of old carpet next week that he is pulling out of peoples homes. I’ll take this carpet and use it as a foundation on the soft bits of the driveway to stop the crushed rock from disappearing into the ground.

The following weekend, I’ll return once more as it will be time to spread the rock. Now this will be a challenge as the quarry doesn’t open on the weekend which means I may have to take the friday off. I’ll arrange for 33 tonne of crushed rock (about 20m cubed) to be delivered and will need to get a bobcat this time to spread the rock in a good layer. Hopefully won’t be as time consuming as the slow old excavator!!

Anyway, the driveway has finally started, although still a bit to do before Giovanni can get in and finish the slab!!

Cheers.