News - late March 2008

Our secondhand shipping container arrived on Thursday afternoon. The truck that brought it could only just squeeze around the bends and between the trees on either side of our 2km track. When he got to the top of the hill the driver wasn't in a particularly happy mood - unlike most people who arrive at the top and immediately exclaim "Wow! What a great place!"

But then, he probably realised that he had to get out again.
Anyway, he put the container down with the most amazing precision - within a couple of centimetres of where we wanted it.
On the way out the truck had a lot of trouble getting up out of our creek crossing - a combination of lack of weight over the back wheels and the track still being damp from the rain that morning. Took him four tries before he got out, and then it was only because he tipped the tray of the truck back so that it increased the weight on the back wheels.
It looks kind of huge alongside the shed, and takes quite a bit of getting used to. We are eventually going to move it a bit, so that it is parallel to the shed and then put a roof over it that will extend to the awning of the shed. This will keep the container cooler, and make sure it is weather-proof, as well as giving us a carport alongside it. Maybe one day when we have finished the house we will put some windows and another door into it, and make it into guest accommodation. But for now it is much needed storage space.
We spent Friday moving the stuff that came back from Holland out of the rented storage in Gatton (the cost of that had gone up 40% in six months). Then on Saturday and Sunday we sorted through the boxes and got out things that we needed, and put back stuff from the shed that we didn't need to have access to for a while.
Also moved some boxes into the container from the shed - these boxes came back from Cambodia two years ago and we were very glad to have them out of the shed. Quite an effort, and by Sunday night we were both exhausted.

Our Red-necked Wallabies have been back around the shed every evening - the new grass in the forest is probably getting a bit older and tougher and they seem to prefer the new growth on the grassy area that has been mown. They are obviously the same ones that were here before the rain, because they are so used to us and our noises. Strange to see them sitting not far away and taking no notice of us talking or moving things around, but then stopping and pricking up their ears and looking toward distant noises from down in the valley. Feels great to know that they are so accustomed to us.
We think that this group is an older female, with a quite young joey (we haven't seen it out of the pouch yet, though it feeds on the grass it can reach as its mother bends down to eat), and a male that is probably her last offspring from then end of last year.
We had a fight outside our bedroom window in the middle of the night last week - we could hear the loud "thump" as they kicked each other in the body with their back legs, while balancing on their tails.