September 2009

Oh dear, I am hopelessly behind with updates about Hukatere! It is March 2010, and soooo much has happened over the summer! If I look back to these photos, I can't believe how it looked up there, and how much we have come. And yet, we are anything but finished. But that is the beauty of the whole thing: It will always be a work in progress. I love going up and mucking around with planting, building, moving things, etc. The only thing I don't I don't like are the endless dollars we'll leave at Mitre 10 Mega, and at TradeMe (for you non-Kiwis: Trademe is a kiwi version of eBay - and we are best customers, haha!)...
I am catching up with the progress now, and will do this in chronological order by month, starting with September:

The weather was quite nice in September, and we got quite a bit done. On the photo below you can see the half finished skirting (see previous blog), and the roll for the right side skirting, which we put on that weekend. When taking photos of the bach I notice that the deck is always a mess - always stuff lying around, especially tools and equipment ;-)

The watertank (photo with camera (not Blackberry)...

On TradeMe we found a person out in West Auckland (actually, it is even beyond Kumeu, close to Muriwhai), who sells loads of plants. So I bought a few cheaply, and on the way to the bach we picked them up. Man, was that woman scary, haha! Kind of looking like a witch in fairy tales, and talkative! The "quick pick-up" took about an hour - we just couldn't get away! But she had some great stuff - we could choose our plants, and buy additional ones or swap some...

Our first large yukka goes into the "planter box" made of the left over skirting

Since our ground is so poor quality soil (mostly clay), nothing would really grow there. It is either bone dry, or muddy/sticky. Thus, for every plant I have to dig a hole and fill it with potting mix and compost, before I can plant anything. Increasingly, I am also having planter boxes (build and bought)...

Another load of potting mix


Hard work at the end of a long day...

A palm we got from that crazy woman - has some growing to do ;-)

Another palm. According to that woman, this is the kind of palm that lines the street in L.A., and grows up to about 20-30 meters. I wonder if I'll live to see that!

And here our bananas...

And our little garden next to the bach. It'll change a few times, but now is starting to be established (see later blog of early 2010)

Here you can see the completed skirting and the start of our "big box". The box is supposed to be filled with top soil, and then roll out lawn. More about that in later blogs...;-)

The big box, seen from the bach.
The planter boxes look a bit random, but there is reason behind it, haha!

Oh, yummy hot dogs for lunch!

We decided that the futon couch was way too uncomfortable, and it also took too much space. Thus, we took it back home, and got bunk beds. You have guessed it - bought on TradeMe... They are much better, and suitable for the bach. Until we have the "real" bach up much later, they will do...