Last weekend we pulled up a heap of bricks that were laid as pavers, and also broke up the concrete slab from the old laundry/shed. We also took off about 150mm of dirt where the deck is going to be, to allow enough clearance for the bearers. The deck will be the full width of the yard and will come out to around where the bike is.

Our efforts last weekend filled the first 3 cubic metre bin in the space of two hours. The next one lasted a bit longer as the day wore on, and the wheel barrow seemed to get heavier and heavier. On Sunday we hired a jackhammer to break up the foundations of the slab, and that finished up the bin.

This weekend I gave up on the 3m bin, and went straight for a 6m one. More bricks to lift up and shift into the bin, but we gave ourselves a little break every now and then by shifting a few barrows of tan bar. Much lighter than bricks. The tan bark was a good idea when we first moved back in, with the aim of keeping the mud and dust down. But the stuff sticks to Connie (our King Charles Cavalier) like glue, and end up all through the house.

We also demolished the temporary lean-to shelter that I built for the boat about three (maybe four) years ago. That lone tree in the middle of the yard will go soon, but I first wanted to wait until we’ve got at least a little greenery in the form of those trees along the wall. It was rather satisfying to make that planter box - actually doing something constructive after two weekends straight of shovelling bricks, dirt and rubble! The mound of dirt around the tree at least shows how much dirt we took out of the backyard - the whole yard used to be level with the top of the mound.

Kira, Ed and myself spent the better part of two hours running line between milk crates sitting on the bottom of the pool, whilst Jane did her best at task loading us, including simulated OOA scenarios, simulated zero vis (blindfolds over masks and taking off masks), crossed lines and loose lines.

As this was the first time any of us had dived together, and we didn’t really get much time to discuss communication beforehand, there was some confusion going on, but for the most part I think we managed ok. It also didn’t help things out when our sequence was changed for every exercise. Certainly something to be discussed at length before getting wet at Mt. Gambier next weekend!

I definitely have to say that the GUE Fundamentals course I did last year went a long way to preparing me to be a lot more comfortable and confident with what the rest of this course is no doubt going to bring.

We did see plenty of Wobbegongs and Port Jacksons (below), as well as a number of cuttlefish and a couple of morays amongst other fishlife. The weather was also kind enough to let us into Spider Cave as the last dive on Sunday, but surge stopped us from getting too far. Pics of the weekend are in my Jervis Bay gallery.

Even though to winds were squalling and the waves pounding outside the heads, Mick and Lyn managed to find a quite spot inside the bay for us to anchor on Sunday night.

On Monday there wasn’t much to do other than sight seeing at the local museum or national park, so a few of us opted for a walk to the cliffs above where we were diving over the previous couple of days, and I took the opportunity to photograph some plantlife.

First up, the view of our house from the street. The street frontage hasn’t changed at all really. Still looks pretty shabby and in desperate need of a new paint job. We’re slowly getting to that bit.

Stepping out to the side of the house, you can see the added storey. Looks much nicer all freshly painted and such. That’s what I spent a week of my life doing - patching, sealing, sanding, priming and painting the second storey weatherboards before the scaffolding got taken down.

View from the back yard. Or what’s left of it, amongst my dodgey old lean-to boat shelter, a couple of overgrown palm trees (if anyone wants a palm tree or two, bring a shovel and a trailer) and a huge pile of dirt left over from digging foundations. The doors is the entrance to my workshop, and above that is the balcony coming out from the master bedroom upstairs.

The boys from M.K. Millar Constructions laying the Tasmanian Oak floorboards, working frantically to prepare the house for plastering before the plasterers arrive. Picture taken from the courtyard, looking into the new living area through a sliding door.

Just off the study into the ceiling cavity is the data and electrics room. On the left is the mess of data and A/V cabling. Almost a kilometer of cabling including around 40 Cat6, 10 Cat5e, 12 RG6, and 24 speaker wires. Just beyond that is where the electrical switchboard will go, and to the right is the all the lighting wires along with Clipsal’s signature pink C-Bus Cat5 cable.

Smoko room. We decided Kirsty’s old couch could find a better home, but we figured we might as well leave for hte builders to use until the end of the job. Just like the palm trees, if you’re in need of a couch. Dire need. Come along with a trailer. You won’t need a shovel for this one.

Master bedroom, looking into the walk-in robe. We had to cut the upstairs ceiling height from 2700mm down to a rather low 2400mm to fit the roofline into the “building envelope” to avoid having to go to town planning to build the extension. So to add a bit more headroom in the master bedroom, the centre of the ceiling is raised back to 2700mm. It’s actually ended up looking quite good.

The kitchen got delivered today, and looks pretty good. Stone benchtops and two-pack paint finish. Aside from a couple of minor problems, and that the door contours aren’t exactly what we asked for, it looks pretty good. When the pantry door closes, another cupboard door opens itself. Might have to get them to fix that one!!

The plasterer is still hard at work. Most of the upstairs and the the whole kitchen has been plastered now, but there’s still a fair stack of plasterboards to go. Definately not a job I envy.

This is a photo from the entrance hall, looking at the stairwell. I thought about cancelling the stair order, and just leaving the ladder there. Much cheaper, but it might be a bit tough to get the furniture upstairs. By the end of tomorrow, the ladder will hopefully be replaced by a proper staircase.

The bathroom vanities also got delivered today, and the one in the ensuite upstairs has been installed already. I was pretty much over looking at cabinets and benchtops and doors and handles and things, so the bathroom vanities get the same handles as the kitchen.

I think that’s enough photos for one post to bore anyone still reading. And I’m also all out of things to caption any other photos with.

Kirsty and I arrived on the island the Sunday before, along with our immediate families and a few friends. Others arrived on various days during the week, whilst those on the island partook in many a merry affair. Watching sunset from One Tree Hill with cheese and wine in hand was an event we were told not to miss. So much so in fact that we did it twice.

My own photos on this trip are a little light on - I didn’t need to take that many photos, we had a photographer doing that for us! Well okay, she was only there for the wedding day and the sunset cruise aboard Banjo Paterson on teh Thursday night. But I was just having way too much fun the whole week. So to any of our guests that took photos, we’d love it if you could send them to us!

Work started about 10 weeks ago, and after a small delay with some badly time downpours flooding the backyard and turning it into a mudpit, the Mark from M.K. Millar Constructions and his team finally managed to get the footings in and could start working on a solid timber base instead of squelching around in the mud.

Here are some of the latest photos of where its all at. We thought that once the plans were finalised and approved the hard part was over. But that was the easy bit! It’s all the little things that are a real pain. Plumbing and light fittings, tiles, kitchen layout and cupboards, window types. The list just keeps getting longer!

The framing starting to take shape. Below is the view from the new (downsized) backyard into the kitchen window.

The last photo below is from the master bedroom upstairs, looking past where the balcony will be, and into the bricked garage and workshop area. As you can see, one of the builders has a permanent marker and a sense of humour!

Pentax K100D :: Sigma 70-200 DG EX @ 200mm :: ISO 200, 1/350 @ f8

Amid the usual attractions there were also plenty of tributes to the late Peter Brock, including a display of all his past cars, coloured seats in the grandstand along pit lane spelling out his name, and plenty of graffiti. There was also a silver Commodore covered with tributes. On race day, his picture was painted at the front of the grid, and pole position started on spot #3, leaving #1 and #2 as a mark of respect.

Pentax K100D :: Pentax DA 16-45 @ 45mm :: ISO 200, 1/180 @ f8 :: Internal fill flash

Ben organised the weekend, and got us some great grandstand seats along pit lane, about 50m in front of the start/finish line. There’s not that much to see as the supercars come flying past at speed, but its good to be looking over at the pits and big screens. As well as getting a good view of the stunt bikes.

Pentax K100D :: Sigma 70-200 DG EX @ 200mm :: ISO 200, 1/750 @ f6.7

Walking around the marketing stands and the paddocks, we on occasion happened by some of the grid girls who were more than happy to have their photo taken. Well, at least at the start of the weekend. By Sunday I think most of them were over it. My excuse is that I needed lots of practice getting the exposure right in such harsh sunlight.

Pentax K100D :: Pentax DA 16-45 @ 40mm :: ISO 200, 1/60 @ f9.5 :: Internal fill flash

To try get some panning practice in, and for some cornering shots, I tried to get a good possie on the start of pit straight. It was a struggle to get through the crowds, but my Sigma + 2x tele seemed to do the job alright.

Pentax K100D :: Sigma 70-200 DG EX @ 200mm + Kenko 2xTC :: ISO 200, 1/125 @ f9.5

And finally, the winning team - Betta Electrical 888 driven by Craig Lowndes.

Pentax K100D :: Sigma 70-200 DG EX @ 200mm :: ISO 200, 1/180 @ f13

After a long overnight bus ride, we pulled into the Puño bus terminal at about 3am and caught a taxi to our pool, spa and sauna equipped hotel - not that we actually used any of those facilities. Lula organised a late breakfast which we had about 10am before heading off for a walk around the streets and down to the lakeside docks, about 30mins away.

Puño is not a particular attractive town, and definately has a strong air of poverty about it. Although looking into some of the very basic and run-down looking shop fronts and houses located on dirty streets, they are furnished with all the latest creature comforts and electronic gadgetry.
The was a little bustle around lakeside, presumably the same celebrations as were going on in Cusco, but to an extremely smaller scale. The water’s edge and docklands are covered with a green floating moss, which looks almost like a carpet inviting you to walk over in order to board a boat. I think not!

Even though there was not a cloud in sight, at almost 4000m above sea level, and with a breeze blowing over the water the temperature was quite chilly. In the evening we walked down the only street in the city with any night life to speak of to find somewhere to eat.

< Back in Cusco | Lake Titicaca >

Finally a day with no wake-up call! Instead just a leisurely day taking in the sights & sounds of Cusco. And still being the leadup to Inti Raymi, ‘Festival of the Sun’, there were certainly a lot of sights and sounds. Kirsty & I spend a good hour or so in the main plaza watching a parade of school children dressed in colourful costumes performing traditional dances.

We then checked out a few museums before heading back to the square to see the end of the parade from a restaurant balcony overlooking the plaza.

Kirsty headed back to the hotel via some jewellry stores while I spend some time uploading some photos into my gallery. When I got back to the hotel, Kirsty greeted me with some bad news - while Cindy and Julie were also watching the parade, Julie was pick-pocketted of her money, credit card and passport. So they spent the rest of the day at the consulate, police station and airline office in order to get back to Lima for a replacement passport for Julie.

Meanwhile we were also informed of a transport strike starting at midnight, meaning that we needed to catch a bus to Puno at 8pm instead of 9am tomorrow morning.
It’s sad to have to say goodbye to Julie & Cindy in these circumstances, but hopefully they’ve enjoyed their trip up until now, and have a safe journey home. Goodbye guys, the last ten days with you were great fun!

< Machu Picchu | Puno >

Okay, so all those previous early mornings had nothing on this one. Wakeup call came at 4am to get us up in time to beat the rush to the checkpoint 500m from camp. We were the first to arrive at 4:30am, and by 5:30am when the gate was supposed to open there were another 200 trekkers behind us. The guard arrived at 5:50, just in time to stop a collective effort by some of the guides to break the chain between us and Machu Picchu.

At around 7am we climbed the last 80 steps toward Intipunku, or the Sun Gate, and found ourselves looking down on the ruins of Machu Picchu below. Nursing aching knees and calves we waited with the crowds of trekkers for the sun to clear the mountains and hit the ruins.
It was an awesome sight when the entire Incan village was lit by sunshine, and the surrounding area still in shadow. Walking around the sight was definitely an amazing experience, even after it started crawling with people when the day buses started arriving. But to look down on it from the Sun Gate definitely made the four days of agony worthwhile.

A bus trip to Aguas Calientes followed by a 90 minute train ride to Ollantaytambo and then another 90 minutes on a bus took us back to our hotel in Cusco for a good night sleep on a comfy bed.

< Inca Trail - Day 3 | Back in Cuzco >