Wood Wood and more wood

Wow, seems like only a few minutes ago I was writing about Easter and here I am blogging again (yes it was only a few minutes ago!!)

So, if you can remember all the way back to the Easter post (which I’m sure you only just finished reading), we had run into non-stop trouble with the generator going kaput and just no luck with getting a sharp operational chainsaw!

Well, jump forward a few weeks to the 26th of April. In fact, first jump back one weekend cause I spent most of a day out the back trying to fix both my generators and cleaning and sharpening the chains on every chainsaw I own!

My big diesel generator turned out to need a new battery and a good charge. The old battery couldn’t even hold charge overnight, so I think that was the problem. I also manged to fix my smaller 4Kva petrol generator with a new spark plug and battery, so at least if the big one dies again I can use the smaller one as a backup.

For my chainsaws, well I pulled them apart, cleaned all the gunk out of them, refueled then and sharpened or replaced the chains so they were ready to go. I also bought a new 20″ chainsaw for the bigger jobs… can never have too many chainsaws…apparently!!

Anyway, jump back to the 26th, and we took a drive up to Little Duna to spend a day collecting wood. Was really important that we got this done before winter as not only does it get cold without enough wood to burn, but before long the block will be a wet slushy muddy swamp and I wont be able to drive in with the trailer to collect wood.

So, it was on this Sunday morning that we loaded up the generators and chainsaws and headed north. First stop when we arrived was the Café for lunch. While there were no bikers in town today we decided to take our food with us again. As we arrived at Little Duna, the first thing I noticed was the colour green!! Wasn’t much, but you could see that things were turning and the vegetation was starting to grow again. I let Zac drive Fi and the girls up to the shed while I wandered in to have a look at how things have changed… and changed they had!!

The front dam was mind blowing! Remember the picture I took at Easter just 3 weeks earlier, well compare it to this!

Must have had some rain in the last few weeks!!!! Here is the Easter photo so you can remember what it was like.

Anyway, I wandered up to the shed to find an irate family waiting patiently for lunch as I still had the keys in my pocket. We opened up and ate our Chicken and Chips in the shed on our new tables (ex school ones). While eating, Fi spotted a herd of Kangaroos over by the second dam. Was only half a dozen, but was pretty cool to watch.

After a bite to eat, we unloaded the generator and put it back in its house, then loaded up the chainsaws and went in search of wood. There were a few good sized branches that had come down during the summer storms on the way over to the second dam, and the kids and Fi went off to play at the tree bridge while I got to work. Fi took some photos to show just how much the place had changed. We even had water in the creek!!

Some great photos and new PC wallpapers for me in that lot!

Meanwhile I started the cutting. First I would use the 12″ chainsaw to remove all the smaller branches from the end of the tree. As the chain got loose and the branches too big, I would swap to the 16″ chainsaw before pulling out the big bertha 20″ saw to slice up the trunk. Was hard work, but I had plenty of helpers to collect the wood.

Everyone pitched in and it wasn’t long before we had 3 to 4 big trailer loads of wood back at camp. While the picture doesn’t really show it, there is a lot of wood here and should be more than enough to see us through winter.

While cutting, we spotted some monkey’s up a tree, but Fi wouldn’t let me cut them down, so we just took some pictures instead.

Also, just showing how much these kids need to get out more, for some reason Zac and Tara were absolutely amazed to discover that this wood was orange!!! Tara wanted to take a photo.

Was a good days work, and I’m glad we were able to get it done, and return the generator to its rightful home. I’m also glad we got to see the place as it is amazing just how quick the landscape can change. Of course the question I’m sure you all are asking now is how much water is in the tank?

Well, about 7000 litres!

Must have been quite the downpour! Amazingly though the ground was still hard, and there was little water lying around. At lest it was keeping the dust down though!

So that brings me to yesterday. Yep, that’s right we are almost up to date!!!

This weekend was supposed to be a boys weekend. I checked the calendar and the next chance we will get to head to Little Duna will be in July sometime 🙁 So I put the word out but unfortunately everyone was busy!! Anyway, looking for a new set of mates, I’ll be holding auditions in the coming weeks…… just kidding :p

Anyway, last weekend I helped Kate move into her new house. Was so much easier getting the bed and drawers off the balcony than it was pulling them up!! At her new house, there was a huge pile of redgum sleepers that she didn’t want, so I offered to take them off her hands.

With a full trailer that needed to be emptied, I took advantage of a day off to head up to Violet Town for the day. Now as I arrived and was heading down the driveway I noticed a lot of tree litter around the place. We had obviously had some good windy storms in the last few weeks.

As I arrived at the van, I thought Oh my God how lucky are we!! There was a huge branch that had come down from one of the nearby trees narrowly missing landing on the van! In fact if we had left the ends of the van open, I’m not sure it wouldn’t have hit it!

Took me awhile to figure out where it had come from and I was almost thinking someone had put it there when I noticed a break in a tree about 3-4m high and about the same distance away!! Must have been one hell of a wind!!!

Unfortunately I didn’t bring my chainsaw on this trip, so it will have to wait there until we head back next. At least we will have some more wood.

Anyway, I unloaded the trailer, fired up the generator (to make sure it still worked) and had a cup of tea while I waited for the water to get warm. Then I got to work giving the van a good wash down. Was looking a bit worse for wear after spending the summer up here and needed a good clean. As I was stepping around the branch above, I almost stood in a little present that a fox had kindly left just behind the van! A half eaten rabbit!

WARNING: THE NEXT PICTURES MAY BE DISTURBING FOR SOME VIEWERS.

If you don’t think you can hack it, scroll quickly!!

I moved the remains onto one of the larger ant nests so the meat ants can do their job and clean it up. I’m sure it will be well gone by the time we head back up again.

Once the van was clean and looking a little more respectable, I went for a wander around the block and did some practice shooting at the range. I also took a few photos. The place is looking so much more greener now and it won’t be long before mowing becomes an issue again. We got lucky last year, but I’m not sure I will be so lucky again this year!

Well that’s it, we are all up to date! Only thing left to say is there is about 9000 litres in the tank and until next time….

Have fun 🙂