There are not many dunnies in the world with a leadlight window and attendant angels.

For that matter, there are not many dunnies with such a flash colour scheme.

Yes, the dunny is finished.

The spuds, eggs, broadbeans and herbs for our first homegrown meal...

....the bread was less of a success.

I found out too late that the thermometer on the oven is totally dysfunctional. Even the pigs rejected this loaf of bread.

Christmas produced a visit from a very gorgeous, and very young Santa, a new dunny (unfinished at that stage) and hot water and a stove.

A very late update

Lots of things have happened since the last post:

I have returned to teaching as a result of the realities of the set-up costs of this project bite. Basically, we're stony broke. Fortunately, Southern Christian College in Kingston (about 30 minutes away) were in the market for an experienced English Lit teacher, and are interested in someone with IB experience in both DP and MYP, even though they are not an IB School (yet?) Enter, stage left, Profesor Pablito. So "bye-bye" dole: "hello" salary.

The shed is finished and provides good overflow accommodation from the caravan.

Sue bought a small car, a Hyundai Getz. It was cheap enough to sneak it onto the credit card. We decided that for her to be stuck here without transport while I was at school was not only unfair, but dangerous for her.

Sue's sister, Gay, has been down here for the past 6 or 8 weeks.

Rachel, our daught

er, and her husband Duncan and daughter Alex visited for a couple of weeks over Christmas, and during their stay we managed to plumb running water to the shed, install a stove and hot water, and build a dunny (i.e. a toilet.) We had been traveling down to the local park to use the public toilets whenever we wanted to go, but there were occasional problems with synchronisation of needs, so a local dunny was important.

Our grandson Aidan has been down here with us for the past 3 or 4 weeks, and his Mum, Leah, visited for a few days.

All told, it's bene a very busy time.

The goats have eaten out their previous 1/4 acre enclosure, so a new one has been fenced and they have been moved. They also have a 3/4 built shelter. Aidan was an enormous help with both the fencing and shed building.

We have eaten our first few potatoes, broad beans and peas, the eggs are still coming (although the new chickens haven't started to lay yet - malingerers,) we have just had our first feasts of wild blackberries and Sue has made a brilliant blackberry cheesecake. So there is some virtue in those tangles of brambles that are all over the place.

Alex gets to know a local.

We have plenty of these fellas - bluetongue lizards - all over the place. We also have quite a few of their more worrying cousins - tiger snakes.

The running water runs for the first time in the shed.

Massive apologies.  The Christmas period has been hectic, and the blog has been neglected as a result.  However, the shed is up, the stove installed, we have a bath with running hot water, the dunny (toilet to all the non-Oz readers) is functional and nearly completed, the goats, pigs and chooks are thriving, 'er indoors is still as beautiful as ever, and I have a teaching contract for next year.

Will do a proper update, with piccies very shortly.