FUN WITH TRENCHING

Trenching - it started as a suggestion from Edith when she put irrigation on the vines - "you know you could easily run a pipe from the dam and irrigate all the trees you are hand watering".  The result is YET another adventure in setting up a new property.

First our pump expert, Steele, thought that it would be better to use the bore near the dam.  We already had power to the bore as it was installed when we brought power 200 mtrs from the road to the house and a pump on the dam could be easily disrupted by the camelids as they love to run around the top of the dam.  In the final washout, I had to get an electrician to install a waterproof double powerpoint near the bore, then Steele would put in the pump, then Kevin would come in and do all the trenching, then Edith would lay all the pipes, sprinklers and drippers and Kevin would come back and fill in all the trenching.

Remnants of an old building

Near the front stairs

Trench to the bore

 Nothing ever runs to plan.  First I asked a local electrician to have a look at the cable near the bore and he told me it was all black and green and had problems.  I waited over a week and still no sign of the electricians who originally installed it, so I thought I would get on with the trenching.  Yesterday and today a couple of hundred metres of trenching have been completed and the front of our house looks like a construction site again.  Trenching is a great adventure (ha, ha, ha) - you find such unexpected things like telephone cables, water pipes and even electricity cables in the most amazing places!  We even found the footings of an old house and had to pull out old bricks and concrete flooring.  But after 13 hours of trenching including repairing water pipes, it is all ready for Edith to come and lay the pipe next Thursday.

We'll need a small truckload of sand to fill in the trenches wherever traffic runs, so that will be delivered tomorrow.  The fourth phone call to the electricians has resulted in a promise for someone to come also on Thursday to resolve that problem.  We'll also end up with a lawn - or rather something green in front of the house as a sprinkler system will be installed there.  The water is salty, so a mix of various grasses will be sown.  The control box will be on the verandah and we will have 3 separate areas to water - 2 lawn areas, trees at the front gate and down the driveway and a new tree area in the dam paddock - still to be planted.

Then, I am pleased to say "planting of the trees" will have come to an end.  We refuse to water anything else.  More pics when we finally see some green.