Easter fishing and a trip to Melbourne

The building has been going on at what seems snail pace so I don't want to bore you with the same old photos. So here's some recent adventures.

 Sorry no photos from Kandahar or Kabul.

The boys were very lucky to go fishing on a gorgeous autumns day with our friends Kylie & Steve.( Thanks K & S) By all accounts they had a fantastic day but had to throw their catchs back because they were too small.

 From Pambula river to Melbourne city. Here are our 4 beautiful children in the gardens of the Melbourne museum.

With 4 kids one of them always pulls a silly face, in this case Timothy.





Inside Melbourne Museum





Outside the Melbourne Museum



I love Melbourne's architecture of yesteryear. They just don't build magnificent buildings like they used to. It's such a shame that that skill and workmanship has been all but lost these days.
Just look at those gargoyles. I want some too.





And the reason for going to Melbourne. MCG packed 90,000 out to watch the ANZAC day clash of Essendon & Collingwood.
No I  don't support either team, I'm a Geelong girl but the organiser of this is a Pies supporter and he didn't even get to watch the game!! He was on his "man holiday " in the Sand!!



Bread

As promised

WOW! Look at this wonderful bread! Yummy! This bread is looking very promising! I can't wait to have a bite of it!
By Elliott ;)

Pizza pizza pizza

Timothy thought we should fire up the oven tonight and have ourselves some pizza. So we did. Tim had his first"in charge of cooking pizza" experience tonight and he did a dam fine job.
He had the oven roaring and the pizzas ltierally took 30 seconds to cook. Tempreture was around 450 degrees,probably a little too hot. But that means by tommorow morning I'll be able to bake the bread which I whipped up this evening. yummy fresh bread in the morning!

Harry with his tuna & corn pizza. He didn't have to worry about anyone else wanting THAT pizza!!

Too much pizza for Ellz.


The trick to a good pizza (in my opinion) is to have a great base. Use good organic flour that has no additives in it and organic cold processed olive oil.

 The toppings obviously should be fresh , fresh herbs, today we used basil from our garden and capsicum. I try to buy the best quality deli meats that don't contain too many nitrates . Thats what gives you that awful taste and dryness after eating highly processed pizzas.

 It's a bit tricker getting the good meats here unlike Canberra. But I have found a butcher that cures their own stuff in pineapple juice instead of suplhates and nitrates and all those other chemical compounds.
 And then there is the cheese. Buffalo mozarella is a great choice but not in Merimbula. So I get the next best thing. I try to avoid the Mainland & Begas etc etc but sometimes that's the only choice. We also use Feta, Bocconcinni, Haloumi and they all taste great.

The fun is in experimenting with different toppings of course. We've made many great ones and some not to be repeated. As far as tuna & corn goes, we'll leave that one to Harry!!

Let you know how our bread goes.

The unveiling of the pizza oven

Drum roll please.................




The Canberra crew once again enjoying a Butler pizza on the first official firing. Long way to come but worth it no doubt?

This area is still not completely finished yet. There will be a pergola, more decking and wooden bench tops that sit on the stone.



The beginings of the chimney

The fireplace ( This has taken 2 weeks so far!)

It's been a few good weeks for the tradies turning up. Not only have they made a good start on the deck but also inside. Rooms are actually starting to take shape now.


This is the upstairs play/tv area for the boys.



Looking to Harison's room from play/Tv room



Here we have the laundry.

And here we have a mess.

Now why is it that builders can NEVER tidy up after themselves.

So there we have it folks progress is being made. I do hope the plasterer turns up soon to give us a quote. Maybe in a few weeks every room will have walls.

The stone mason's work is slow, not because he is slow but because of his meticulous attention to detail. Very impressed with his work. But when your paying by the hour sometimes I wish he would just slap those rocks together!