The lake dam is full! Except we forgot our camera on the last trip.

The shed we're planning is starting to take shape, in our minds at least and we've staked out our preferred site and done some preliminary sketches, which have been roughed out on napkins, of course ;)

Paddock plans are advancing and the first shovel loads of earth have been turned as the earthship style animal shelters have had their location sorted. Some construction photos will be up after the next trip, along with more detail on how we went about it.

This trip was mostly about planning, finishing fencing and as usual, planting. We planted the  following seedlings at our front gate /access road:

x2 Royal Grevillea (Grevillea victoriae)
x2 Silky Grevillea (Grevillea sericea)
x2 Oval Leaf Grevillea (Grevillea miqueliana)
x2 White Wings Grevillea (Grevillea 'White Wings')
x2 Grevillea Canterbury Gold (Grevillea 'Canterbury Gold')
x2 Grevillea Poorinda Peter (Grevillea 'Poorinda Peter')

We also planted our first apple tree in a prominent location near the lake dam:

x1 Apple Tree (Double grafted Red Delicous & Granny Smith)

Kristina has converted the bus into a nursery, so it looks like a greenhouse will soon be on my construction list. Here's what Kristina has got growing so far in her providence nursery:

x25 Cheesewoods
x25 Golden Rosemary

On this trip Kristina planted the following additional seeds:

x25 Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia Lanceolata)
x25 Native Currant
x50 Native Thyme
x50 Button Grass

When you add the below non-providence seeds:

x25 Fuscia Gum

We're going to run out of space in the bus pretty soon!

Fencing, lots of it. Not with an epee but with poles, star pickets, pole drivers, wallaby wire and the neighbours big blue tractor. Best part of a kilometre so far. That's what we've been doing lately and we've still got a fair bit to go yet until this section is finished.

As the photo gives away, it's been a little wet even though rainfall has so far been below average for June.

We've bought three alpacas, Penelope, Creampuff and Callisto. Both Creampuff and Callisto are pregnant so I guess that makes five. Penelope will hopefully be mated in late spring / early summer.

Here's a couple of snaps of the fencing:

We've also been busy planting with another dozen plants going in along the creek line, continuing the same two varieties we've already been planting:

- 6 Swamp Gums (Eucalyptus ovata)
- 6 Blackwoods (Acacia melanoxylon)

Taking the total of each to twelve. The wallabies have been enjoying our planting of un-intentional free feed so we've taken some of the tyres we were going to use as walls of the sheep shelter, some stakes and a little chicken wire to keep them at bay. Let's see how this goes
:)

There's a crater where one of our paddocks used to be. At least it looks like a crater but it is actually a dam (or small lake?) that we built at the bottom of the water course of two springs that flow from the hillside. It's filling up steadily and soon that lump in the middle will hopefully be the island we envisaged it to be. It's also a whole lot bigger than it appears (you could put a house in there):

Aside from having huge craters made, we've been busy planting. We're re-vegetating the creek line with a variety of shrubs and trees. At this stage we're only planting the trees and we've planted:

- 6 Swamp Gums (Eucalyptus ovata) which grow to about 25M high
- 6 Blackwoods (Acacia melanoxylon) which grow to about 12M high

Although I don't trust those height estimates as the blackwoods already on site are some of the largest trees I've ever seen and easily exceed 12M and Wikipedia has them at up to 45M.

The two tree types are going to form a two layered screen along the creek line, with the Swamp Gums being closest to the creek, in the soil that is the wettest for the longest part of the year and the Blackwoods being the next line.

The Blackwoods were chosen because they are an impressive tree, water tolerant and will make a good screen. The Swamp Gums because they are fast growing, love getting their feet wet and native wildlife (particularly possums) love their leaves.

Here's a recent photo of us at the farm.

Just a short video giving a quick virtual tour of the farm with some panorama shots, the bus, composting loo (closed!) and Kristina doing her "sheep whisperer" thing :)

For those who've been out of the loop (and admittedly we've not been to good at communicating this ourselves) Kristina and I have bought 60 acres in Tassie along the Huon River :)

The first rays of sunshine across the farm, facing north.

Consider it an early "retirement plan", that's probably the best description I can give you. It's a great property with many awesome features (such as four permanent springs). We've a range of plans for this place which I'll detail here as we go along and actually bring them to fruition. In the mean time, here a few happy snaps :)

The view from the top (East).

The tassie car (look familiar? I now have two kombi's in two states, tragic) and the bus we call home at sunrise.

Kristina hand feeding Stompy.

The dog house - I've managed to avoid being sent here, so far!

Sheep, demanding more food.

Mooo?

Sunrise after herding the sheep.

Another sunrise shot (looking North).

and another (looking East? ;)

one more for luck (looking south).