Christmas Feast

Beautiful surprise Christmas Eve dinner was prepared by our beautiful European and middle Eastern volunteer staff this Christmas. Complete with menu's courtesy of  Josh Campen, printed in Swedish Dutch French and Yes .... Hebrew.... What the?  Sarah joined in the family Christmas and bought to the table her favourite Jewish dishes. How lucky are we to have the opportunity to celebrate with these delightful young travellers!

 Christmas Day of course was prepared by the Men of the Household and duck terrain and asian salads and rice paper rolls were perfect for the tropical temperature in the North East here at Spring Spur.

Re-duce Re-use Re-cycle

With a commitment to sustainable building practice, the right choices in design and materials goes a long way to meeting or sustainable goals. Along the way there is unavoidable waste and the the creed of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle comes into play. All waste is separated into type, and dealt with according to best possible outcome.
There was a generous "estimate" in the supply of waffle pods used in this construction, and surplus material and offcuts were sent back to the supplier for reuse/recycling.

Waffle Pods awaiting backload in empty truck.

Timberzoo

After a recent trip to Moolap, Steve found some suitable timbers for the lounge trusses. Looking forward to getting vertical in the new year. These timbers are clear straight and should clean up beautifully.

There is something very satisfying about re-using Australian hardwood timbers.

Christmas Greetings from the Bogong Bairds

Christmas AGAIN the start of many exciting new roles for us all here at BHA and especially for George and Mildred the Christmas Mule~deers! LOL
To all of you whom we adore out there in the world of Cyber Space ~
Have a Safe and wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, don't eat too much and send a little something to a charity or buy a goat for a village in Africa rather than a whole lot of stuff from China~ Compassion is a gift and the heart of life ~ Generosity sustains us ~ Be generous in simple acts of kindness ~ See the smiles from my family to yours ~ AND smile too ~ With all of our love from deep within our PUMPS ~
We all love to celebrate this special time  ~ Influenced by great SAINTS that have walked our earth ~ since time began ~ Time for Stillness~ Contemplation ~ Love ~ and a couple of  DAYS OFF! Ya Hoo!

Mildred, Lin, Kath, Steve, Clay and George

Time for reflection

After a solid effort, both slabs are complete, storm-water system is in place, wastes are mostly completed and the heavy lifting of the landscaping is complete. As we prepare for the framing stage   we can be thankful that most of the in-ground work is complete and the summer is ahead of us.

After wetting down the concrete, the early morning sun is reflected on slab2.

Storm water gets away

In a good season when the tanks are full and the many roofs that feed the water tank are shedding a summer thunderstorm or winter cloudburst, all the excess water will spill into our little rock spillway, and flood into the stallion paddock.

Steve and Lin put the finishing touches on the spillway.

Slab2 pour

Ollie's team were back for the second pour, in ideal conditions. Another well finished slab and a solid foundation for the construction ahead.

Troweling machine puts on a good finish, while Ollie adds a bit of fall to floor wastes.

Slab2 takes shape

Second time around the slab prep seems easier. We re-used the boxing from slab1 and laid the sand and plastic out first this time, as there was no break in level to contend with. The set out was a bit of a challenge thou. 

Jack's level helped get the complicated shape up to level.

Tayla, local horse enthusiast and sometimes guide, helps secure the boxing