Finishing Touches- Landscaping

 We have been having some landscaping done to finish of the Granny Flat. We had the landscaper John around to put some paving out the back of the granny flat, put in some sleepers and put in some paths and some stepping stones. He manages a footy team so has access to some strong young lads who he puts to work and they have it done very quickly. We also had him put in some gravel on our drive and just love what he has done. He has been a great find and also has given us great advice and ideas to work with.

Some before and after shots of our driveway. The driveway was very uneven after having been dug up in serveral locations for water, power and various cables plus all the delivery trucks up and down our drive.

Here it is after we had compacted road base laid- we love it and the driveway is now lovely and smooth.

We no longer have any lawn, was missing the green, but we have had some artifical grass laid in the stone circle, it just breaks up the gravel and paving, I am really pleased with it, Bill is still getting his head around the idea of artificial grass, be seeing as though I do 95% of the gardening that is his problem!

The paths have been connected up and extended

Path and paving around the back of the Granny Flat

Stepping Stone Path around the side of the Granny Flat

Same path now all mulched around

We had a dry river bed put in, a couple of sleepers and blocks to edge the main path.

View from the back yard down through the aviary area and towards the front of the house

Everything now set, will wait till spring before I plant but that gives me time to work out what I want to put in and where- that will be the fun part.

Birds

 The alfresco and ramp area between the main house and granny flat have been meshed in. We are still waiting for the doors to be fitted but we have the doorways blocked in so have been taking the birds outside, they love it.

The birds love it and it stimulates and wears them out!

Amy and I making some bird trees for the birds to use.

Amy and Bill have been tryng to tame some of the wild birds that come visit. This is Colin who seems to quite tame.

Mudgee with Bill

 Was time for Bill and I to have some time away together. We headed to Mudgee in central NSW for 4 nights. We were meeting up with some of our cycling friends and the plan was to do some rides around Mudgee. We headed off Monday morning through Gunning, Crookwell and Bathurst to get to Mudgee. It was a lovely drive, I had been to Crookwell before but not beyond, so it was fun to travel a road I hadn't been on before. It was good to be off the highways, the road wound up and down through valleys and villages. I had been expecting long, flat boring roads like the drive through to South Australia but that certainly wasn't the case.

The weather was lovely in Mudgee, frosty mornings but clear blue skies. We rode each morning on various routes around Mudgee. The countryside was lovely with vineyards and hills.

Even Bill got on his bike, he didn't ride with us but would ride and come meet us at the cafe afterwards.

The buildings around Mudgee were lovely

One afternoon we headed out for a walk to Castle Rock- lovely volcanic rocks around the area.

                       On the way home we called in at Mayfield Gardens near Oberon. Even though it was winter the gardens were lovely. Amazing water features, we need to go again in spring or early autumn.

Middleton Beach, Victor Harbor and Goolwa

 Time to head back to the mainland, fortunatley we had a reasonable crossing the day before had been very windy and our ocean cruise had been cancelled. From Cape Jervis we headed to Victor Harbor we had lunch and checked out the shops before heading to Middleton Beach where we were staying for 2 nights. We checked into Middleton Beach Huts where we had a delightful beach hut studio for our stay. It was very comfortable and we wished we had a few more nights there.

The view back to Kangaroo Island after we climbed the hill after leaving Cape Jervis where the KI Ferry comes in.

After settling in to our Middleton accomadation we drove out to Hindmarsh Island to where the Murray River meets the sea.

We were 5 minutes walk from a lovely beach, I enjoyed a walk along the beach each morning.

This was our home for two nights at Middleton and our hire car for the trip. When we picked up the car the guy said- no pressure but it is a brand new car- it had done 14km!

Just a sample of some of the shells from the beach, we went back again for more so came home with bags of shells.

We did and ocean cruise from Encounter Bay which took us out to Seal Island, Granite Island at Victor Harbor. It was a great cruise and we saw seals, birds and dolphins.

The bridge to Hindmarsh Island from Goolwa Wharf

On our last morning Amy got up at 7am with me and she collected shells while I went for my walk, I then literally had to drag her off the beach so we could pack up and head for the airport.

On the way back to the airport we stopped off at Mclaren Vale for lunch then called in at the Beach House at O'Sullivan's Beach that I used to spend holidays in as a child- it was my grandparents beach house. Our plane was leaving at 4pm for Canberra, we had a wonderful time away.