A short while after the Shed Raising weekend, David sent me an email with an interesting proposal:

“I am at a bit of a loose end at the moment. So I am available for a couple of days work if you need some unskilled labour for your next project. I work for goon and food, in that order Just email me if you would like some help.”

I jumped at the chance to get another project back on track so David and I arranged a suitable time.

My designs for the pergola had been changing over a period of time, and with a suggestion from Pa for a lean to, the final design came slowly forward. The suggestion was to bolt a horizontal support along the shed frame and then hang the pergola from that. The shed was strong enough and this eliminated the need for more posts and gave us more floor space against the shed.

My memory traced back quite a few years to Steve and Ralphie’s place and helping Steve to pre-paint the pergola that they were having done. Then it rebounded to the pergola that Raph and I had built at the old house at Para Hills, and the fact that we didn’t pre-paint the timber. I was learning from experience that painting the timber before it was awkward to reach would be a good idea.

Pa and I had a bit of the painting done when David and Amy arrived and I quickly explained some of the design and thinking behind it to David.

David also has an engineering background, but he has used the way of thinking about a project a lot more than I would have. Raph’s influence was again brought into play as David came up with the mantra:

“Measure twice, cut once.”

David also introduced the idea of using a template for measurement and double checking things – always a good idea.

We made the cut outs in the posts for the facia to sit on and then tackled the hard stuff – drilling into the shed.

Time was marching on and we didn’t have much to show for it, just some cut and painted timber. Was Meg going to believe that we’d been working hard all day?

The first support was bolted to the shed with care. Measurements were made and checked as we had only a small margin of error. The supports were bolted through the horizontal C section of the shed frame that is 25mm high. We had 10mm bolts and then washers and nuts to put inside that 25mm window of height, drilling from the side where we couldn’t see the C section.

More measurements were made as we moved along, but one of the holes was slightly high. How could this happen? We checked level, measured again and scratched our heads as the answer remained elusive.

The solution was to drill the next hole by eye – surely it would be right? Surely? Before there was too much objection, I drilled the hole straight through the frame, nicely in the middle and David came up with another quote for the project after I’d dodged it up:

“Measuring is for the am… Dodge it up in the pm!”

It was another succinct observation of the way in which I work.

We finished the day with the main support in place and plenty of work left to do.

Bottles of Goon, a nice warm fire, a nourishing camp oven chilli (complete with Jalapeno chillies, sour cream and corn chips) and a dodgy DVD later, we crashed for the night.

Day 2 dawned nicely and after a good sized breakfast of sausages, eggs and toast we were ready if not raring to go.

We all did the dishes at the sink overlooking what we have been calling the stock paddock (even though we have no stock, but that is the plan). It was a nice sunny, morning with a bit of chat and the dishes getting done – it reminded me of those cooking shows where the chef cooks outside, except we were on the wrong end of the meal.

Pa arrived and we were soon drilling the cement to dyna bolt the feet in.

Soon after that we had a post in with joists hanger in place on the supports. Some discussion later and the frame took shape quite quickly, certainly quicker than I had expected.

By mid afternoon the frame was up and the purlins were ready to be cut and screwed in. David suggested templates again and this was probably the most time saving suggestion yet.

A frenzy of alignment, cutting, clamping and screwing took place and by the time David and Amy had to leave we had completed the major structure.

Day 3 was a little more relaxed as all we had to do was slip a couple of roofing sheets on. How hard could it be?

Pa and I started after lunch and were careful to line it all up nicely on the first sheet, as any error here would compound across the roof.

I’d bought the right screws for the job, with little holesaws in them to cut an oversize hole to allow the polycarb to move as temperature changes and a good rubber seal on top. They took a while to get used to, but when I got the hang of them we were away.

Unfortunately the cordless drill didn’t keep up and we resorted to running the other two corded drills. I’d found that drilling a quick pilot hole with a pop rivet drill bit was a lot easier that just using the special screws, especially when I was at full reach on top of the pergola.

We finished a few hours later, just in time to bring the table around and crack a drink. Meg brought out some nibbles and the three of us enjoyed the first sit under the pergola.

Is there a better satisfaction that seeing your ideas come to fulfilment? The aches and pains float away as the sun went down and we watched the wind in the trees through the clear roof.

Thanks to David and Amy for all of their help. The “Work for the Goon” project is now a part of life at the Journey. I can’t wait for “Work for the Goon II”.

In the vegie garden we have decided to include a pond to attract frogs and bees.

At the old house we had a pond in our outside dining room, or entertaining area, and today (on moving day) we have decided to catch some fish, water snails and grab a pot plant of water plants from it to take to the property.

We got a big black plastic container from Bunnings and a smaller clear container for transporting the fish and plants.  By the time we got the fish to their new home, the dirt from the pot plant had spread through all the water turning it a muddy brown.  We didn’t hold out much hope of our fish surviving, but as it turned out our little brown fish are pretty hardy and after their harrowing journey, could still be found swimming around.

The winds blowing in from the north last time that we had camped looked to be affecting the fruit trees more than I had planned.

I’d assumed that the prevailing wind would come up the gullies from the south and west and had planted down from the tank in the lee of the ridge. It seems that I hadn’t considered the hot dry north winds in summer and they were severly drying out the new citrus trees.

As a temporary step, I had found some pea straw bales going cheap and arrange for Pa to help pick them up.

Arriving in Clare from Adelaide reasonably early, I was reminded of a computer problem that Graeme had asked about and changed plans slightly. This also gave me a chance to have a look at his new shed and property for ideas.

Due to the dialup connection providing slow downloads, we were soon tight for time and struggling to get to the pea straw at Halbury for mdday. The vague instructions didn’t help but we met Richard at about ten past and it was then that I realised that we were to load the bales from the paddock ourselves.

Lachie had come along for the ride and I figured it might be good for him to drive the “Goon Mobile” while Pa and I loaded.

With two very full trailers and Pa’s Patrol loaded inside as well, we decided to just make it up and follow dirt roads home, rather than interrupt traffic on the highway.

Apart from one unmarked dead end, we made our way through to Kybunga and up the hill back to the Journey to unload.

After lunch we stacked a series of windbreaks on the northern side fo the trees in increasingly heavy rain.

Soaked to the skin we left the Journey heading to Halbury to pick up the last five bales of pea straw and head back home to Adelaide.

With the rain, what had been bulldust in the morning had turned to very slippery mud. Any chance of heading back uphill after loading the bales was lost and we again had to make up the route as the “Goon Mobile” flicked mud everywhere.

Justing and Lachie laughed as the mud flicked in the windows and onto the windscreen as I fought the wheel to keep everything in a generally forward direction.

Running late again, we returned home to meet Raph, Meg, Caro, Rod, Ralphie and Marilyn. Ralphie and I had the Tour Down Under ride the next day and nothing on my preparation list (including bike cleaning and prep) was done.

It was a full on night of cleaning, packing, mounting bikes and preparation before a 5:30am start in the morning.

Rob and Raph spent a 38 degree day paving 35 square metres for the pergola to help sell the house at Para Hills.  They then went and bought four trees, a Mandarin Emperor, a Lemon Lisbon, a Washington Navel Orange and a Seedless Valencia Orange (two types of oranges as they are meant to produce fruit at different times of the year).

After this exhausting day, Rob picked me up and we drove to Clare in the “Goon-Mobile” with a car full of citrus trees and no air-conditioning.  We pitched the tent on the property while it was still light, put the swag inside and headed off to Rob’s folks place for dinner.

In their shed we constructed a toilet from a pallet, a milk crate and a toilet seat.  A hole was cut into the pallet and the bottom of the milk crate then everything was zip tied together.  We decided to use a pallet so that we could dig a wider hole making it a lot easier.  We put our newly constructed toilet in the trailer then after dinner we headed for our first night at the Journey.

We had a drink to celebrate then I made Rob hide in the tent while I went to have a pee over (what we now call) “the toilet log” as the hole for the toilet had not been dug yet. 
Then off to bed (or should I say swag).

Life has changed.

Six months ago I was running a bike shop in Adelaide, working six or more days a week and long hours every day. I was struggling with my rehab program from yet another break in my leg and was slowly getting worn down.

Quitting was a revelation. Thanks to Meg, I now had time to sort myself out and get my life back in order. Some might not have seen too many problems with what I was doing, but to me I had been working myself into the ground for no real reason or benefit. I wasn’t living life, I was enduring it!

 Meg and I both bought mountain bikes and I set some goals for myself. I had an appointment with my surgeon scheduled for August and wanted to walk out of his office with surgery scheduled to remove the bulk of metal from around my knee. Regular riding and the renewed interest in going to the gym with Mick combined with my healthier lifestyle helped me to achieve this goal.

I started eating better and with the huge help of Raph we transformed the overgrown garden to a manageable vegie patch and built and paved a pergola and barbecue area.

Working on simple outdoor activities like growing vegies got me thinking about where we should be and how we should be living and I started watching some real estate sites and gauging locations, prices and features within 150km from Adelaide.

 Life started coming together and after talking with the folks we agreed to look at a property outside Clare.

It was interesting country with rolling hills, deep valleys and suspect fencing. Over a hundred acres sounds like a lot to me, but as Meg suggested, we don’t have to use it all.

Some startling features stood out apart from the massive views over the Blyth plains. Power was already on the block and there was a bore with a new submersible pump that was reported to have good quality water.

 Of course, the downside was the price was over my upper limit for a block of land but Meg and I both felt that this was worth the stretch. We were both amazed by the possibilities that the place offered for our lifestyle somewhere in the future.