It was at this point that my mum and her special little man Byron moved back to the block in her camper van. This allowed us all to be together and support one another. Mum and dad had been separated for nearly 20 years but it was important to us all that we were together, […]

We started the 2020/21 fire season – our third – I was already exhausted. Holly and I slowly moved from the shack into the Nook. During this season Holly switched roles, moving into one focused on community engagement and partnerships for the department in our district. I always admire her thirst to challenge herself and […]

The lesson? Have good people in your corner, whether they are directly involved in the project or not – let them in, be open, talk through your ideas and emotions with them. Sometimes we are so fixated on one thing that we need someone else, with fresh eyes, to break through our perceptions and help […]

For the first four months of this gruelling six-month period, Dad’s health appeared to be stable. The treatment at the beginning of the year had thankfully slowed the growth of the tumour on his kidney. Unfortunately, however, a scan then revealed that the cancer had spread into his lymphatic system. When I asked a dear […]

Like most things on this project, I heavily underestimated how long it would take to cut, join and assemble over 30 drawer boxes for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. Each of these were made almost entirely from recycled floorboards. In hindsight, I’m actually astounded at the speed at which I managed to get these boxes […]

The continuous ironbark handrail was built in situ, requiring lots of patience, deep breaths and delicate massaging (we’ll get to that in a bit). Finally the staircase was capped off with the installation of the LED strip lights on the underside of the treads. A giant jig was made for the assembly of the balustrade, […]

Bar one… the tiles for the bathroom had eluded us for the entire project so far, everything so far had missed the mark and didn’t fit the aesthetic we had in mind. Finally, after a year of searching, we had a breakthrough and finally found them… full credit goes to Holly on this one, what […]

As the fire season ended I hit the ground sprinting around 120%, cup of tea in hand, thanks to Holly. I figured if I wasn’t going to be able to see dad as often as I wanted to, then I was going to hold up my side of the agreement and make him as proud […]

Once again, the start of the fire season rolled around just as fast as it ended. This time we approach the 2019/20 season, which can only be associated with the most overused word of 2020, “UNPRECEDENTED”. Multiple mega fires spread across Eastern Australia, Covid-19 began running riot across the globe, and yet neither of these […]

AAAND BREATHE Even after achieving so much in such a short period of time, I remember being somewhat disappointed with where the project was at and how it was progressing. Looking back on it now, it’s easy to see where the time went. I had established this incredibly high standard and quality of finish from […]