A New Home for Our Caravan!

This week saw the completion of our carport and the relocation of our caravan. We're much more comfortable as the caravan is now well sheltered from rain and from the heat of the day. There is plenty of space (as you can see, the carport is HUGE) and we've set up a little 'entertainment area' outside the caravan, which will be very useful as the weather warms up. We've also improved our caravan grey-water drainage system so that the grey water now runs through 20m of Nylex grey-water hosing and empties directly onto the ground well away from the caravan and amongst grass/bushes etc. Previously we had it emptying into large buckets which we had to manually empty every day. If we want to collect the water for watering our plants we can still do this easily.



On the house front, we are still plodding along with the painting though it seems like it will never end. We've finished undercoating, the laundry is painted (other than the trims) and 2 ceilings are complete...still plenty more to go. Painting ceilings is not much fun! However, the Dulux EnvirO2 and Aquanamel paints make things much more pleasant as they are relatively odourless and easy to apply. Our ensuite and laundry are now tiled (we will post photos later) and the showerscreen is in. We are waiting on a new toilet from Caroma (see below) called the 'Profile Suite', which should be available in October. It has a hand-washing basin built-in on top of the cistern and uses the hand-washing water to fill the cistern, so the water is effectively used twice (go to http://www.caroma.com.au/ for more info). It costs around $500 and will be available from stores such as Bunnings. sooj says ... "my grandma and grandad have had these for 25 years in their unit in Tokyo... its about time Oz caught up..."


We are quite enjoying actually living on our property now (even though we're in a little caravan) as there's plenty of space and it's quite pleasant pottering around in the morning with lots of different birds going about their morning routines. Sooj recently discovered some Eastern rosellas nesting in a tree hollow and I've been enjoying bird-watching in my own backyard. Apparently (according to the ecological assessment guys who did the initial eco reports on this property about 5yrs ago), there is a large population of ringtail possums here, and there are also antechinus; some koalas were also seen when they did the original assessment. I plan to go spot-lighting soon to have a look for myself!


Must go and have dinner which Sooj has cooked on the barbie. Have a look at the pics below.

Bye for now,
Nettie



The carport provides a perfect shelter for our caravan (no more leaks) and fits both cars as well. When the shed is built, it will be connected to the carport on the side which is furthest to the right on this photo (northern aspect). The solar panels will sit on the north-facing side of the carport roof.
We have a nice little set-up outside the caravan, with gas barbecue (sitting alongside the outer caravan wall) and tables and chairs. There will be no more issues with mud when it rains as the floor of the carport is crushed recycled concrete.
Sally-Ann doing her book/computer work for Wyong Equine Clinic, just outside the caravan.

The new Caroma Profile Suite...see http://www.caroma.com.au/ for details.