As I write this post it is Spring on the Granite Belt, but it feels much more like Summer. It will be at least 31 Celcius later today, and completely dry. Fortunately we did get some rain about two weeks ago, which brought the grass back to life and we've got some really interesting wildflowers springing up.
The clearing along the track went well, but has now come to a standstill pending other things to do. There are some really attractive rocky outcrops on our property, although not as massive as at Girraween National Park just up the road.
This is the part I've just cleared and tidied up, and I'm very happy with how it looks.
This part of our track (above) is further along into the property and we love it's winding, bushy feel. The 'trick' will be to make it more user-friendly while retaining the bush-track feel.
With the bush being so dry, fairly sparse and 'see-through' I took the opportunity to bash around a bit, mainly investigating the future route of the miniature railway. Many really nice areas were viewed, all of which would benefit from some careful tidying-up. Another aspect that I enjoyed was 'finding' all the survey pegs on the line which runs down the middle of our property, defining the two 'blocks'. Two of these I had never been able to find before, in thick scrub. I intend keeping this surveyed line clear so that it will provide a useful reference for all aspects of the development, as it is very clear and defined, whereas the outer boundaries are not as easily referenced.
The other table for my portable model railway is finished, with just the edging to go on. This just leaves the two small 'bridging' side section to make. Already it is proving extremely useful!!
Naturally I am finishing the month with an excitement and enthusiasm for the various jobs that I have in mind for next month, particularly some areas of the miniature railway route. I suspect that 'mowing' will become an increasing demand with this warm weather, particularly if we get some rain, but that's ok. As ever, I can't wait to get stuck into it!!
With some of the urgent big projects finished- the clearing around the cottage and the Trainbarn site preparation- I'm able to spend some time on other projects that I've been putting off for ages. So the next priority is tidying up the bushland adjacent to our main track, which is currently more like driving through a tunnel than along a track. I'm widening the cleared area so that we can provide some drainage either side and then surface the track with decomposed granite (deco). Originally the main track was just bulldozed through the bush, which left it as the lowest point and therefore when it rained it became the drainage channel, and so is now fairly eroded. Incidentally I recently met the bloke who actually did the work all those years ago. I'm really glad there was a track established when we bought the property as I probably would've found it hard choosing where it should go.
I'm really enjoying this work as there's no time pressure, I can just plug away whenever I like, and it's nice and shady in this fairly hot and dry time. The other thing I really like is that I can finish it off properly. Previously I've just made it wide enough so that our cars don't get scratched and trucks can struggle through, but now it's becoming the way I always hoped for and envisaged. We have some really nice bushy and rocky areas just off the track, which were previously difficult or impossible to see, and now they're being opened up nicely.
As I said in a previous post, the track is the main artery of our property. Not only do we use it constantly ourselves, but I really want visitors to be able to enjoy using the track without risking scraping their cars on prominent rocks or getting scratched by overhanging bush.
It's too dry at the moment to form the track up ready for the deco- it's literally like dust at the moment- but by the time I've finished clearing this section we should've had some rain and then we can get our favourite bobcat man in!
Another positive thing that is happening is that the Preliminary Plans for the Trainbarn have been received. I've tweeked them slightly, so now the final, detailed, plans can be drawn and eventually submitted for quoting and council approval. I'm still hoping to at least get the footings and slab poured before Christmas, but it's going to be tight!!
A very enjoyable and satisfying time!
