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Wednesday 29th we headed back to Blackball in the morning getting there just after 11. Allan’s parents Neil & Dianne arrived about 12 and set up their caravan and awning on our section. Neil is helping us with the framing build which is a great help. The first job given to him was a grinding off some of the slab so it didn’t interfere with the framing, he was off to a dusty start. For the rest of the time Neil and I worked together assembling each individual frame on the slab and nailing it together while Al measured and cut all the timber. This is pretty much how it worked each day.

As before we returned to Bluespur in Hoki at the end of each day. It did make for long days but we had left everything set up so didn’t have to do much apart from cook some tea. Each morning we would leave about 8 to get to BB by 9. We didn’t want to start too early as we are conscious it is the holiday period. 4pm was usually pack up time. Dianne kindly made cups of tea and organised lunch for us which meant I didn’t have to do that which was wonderful. Most of the photos are taken by me but I am there working away too and have either lifted, measured, nailed, screwed or moved each piece of wood you see in the photos. Al is the brains of the build and designer of course, he has a big responsibility in getting all the dimensions correct. A lot of time has gone into making sure the framing is square and has all the correct bracing and complies with the building code. It has been an enormous help to have Neil there helping with the building but also the lifting – some of those frames are very tall and heavy!

New Year’s Eve we decided to stay in Blackball the night so we could chill out a bit. We booked one of the Tiny Houses behind the Blackball Salami Co. And although tiny had everything we needed and was cosy and comfy. We had a yummy belated Xmas dinner with Neil & Dianne at the ‘formerly’ Blackball Hilton. It wasn’t going to be a late night for us but we fortunately had been told that the fire siren would be going off at midnight. We were grateful to be forewarned as we were staying right behind the fire station. We thought we might as well wait for that before trying to sleep. So at midnight the fire siren went off and there were also some fireworks. Quasi and Essie were sleeping in the back of the Falcon on the section and weren’t bothered at all by all the noise. So then it was time to go to sleep. We were both in a deep sleep when at 2.45 the fire siren went off again. Al had put himself as available so off he went and I was left fully awake and wondering what was going on. I did see the ambulance leave and also heard a helicopter so presumed it was something medical. Al was only out for an hour – the helicopter was already nearby and had landed by the time they got there.

Yesterday morning we were feeling quite jaded but carried on with the framing and managed to get most of the mezzanine floor in place as well as the mezzanine above the woodshed. We packed up about 3 and headed home, leaving Neil & Dianne there to have a bit of a break until we return on Monday. On looking at our schedule we are on track to get our part done before early Feb when the roofing and cladding is booked for. Even though we were tired it wasn’t a bad drive home and pleased once again that all was well with Sammy, the chickees, Ben and the fishies.