The Beginning

Temporary Accomm/Garage – Finally Blackball residents

Off we go
Our storage space in Bluespur – still plenty of space
Unpacking and packing in the rain
Bed is loaded and all covered for trip to Blackball
Bed reassembled and all made up
My office desk is all set up
Doggies temporary home as this is where the fish tank will go.
Bathroom bench built by Al
The chaos!

13 – 15 May  Our very first nights in our new home. We travelled to Hoki on Friday after work with 2 full cars and trailers.  We stayed the night and then in the morning dismantled the bed to take to Blackball.  We needed the bed but we were also going to use the space for storage, alas our weekend getaway spot is going to have to wait until we can get the container over. Sat was Al’s birthday which we would celebrate properly at a later date, it was a wet morning but luckily with the huge deck at Bluespur we could use that as a staging area. 

Once we got to Blackball then it was time to unload everything and put it in our new home. It was still raining but having the carport was also a godsend. Al had brought over two big water tanks to start filling up for the big fish tank that would be coming in a couple of weeks. We had brought over a spare couch, coffee table and fridge plus kitchen necessities, my work desk and as much as we could fit into both our cars. All of our household furniture will stay in the house at Coalgate to be used for ‘staging’ and also we need it there when we return on weekends. We ended up staying one night extra as we were too tired to drive home and drove back to Coalgate Monday morning.  

Small tank all set up
George & Mildred
Yes me and Al lifted that up there using our scaffold and doing it in 3 stages.
Al’s office I am lucky I have the stairs.
Logfire in place but not installed yet
Al making souvlakis yummo!
First day working from new home with my lovely view
Being given my EMT epaulets at FENZ training night, thanks for organising it Al x
Al on the right – Hazmat training
And the letter box is up. 21 Hilton Street.
The roller door being installed. We could’ve done with that lifter when we were getting the photocopier up.
Garage door in place not that it will be used for several months.
Back in Coalgate and unloading

20 – 27 May Staying a whole week in Blackball

Our longtime housesitter Kate was available so we decided to book her in for the week. The photos don’t show but it was quite a stressful trip to bring over the small fish tank plus 2 clownfish (George & Mildred), some corals and snails. Plus the fact we were away for the week and Al needed to pack up his office, plus more stuff to pack up and we needed to leave the house presentable for Kate. The biggest issue though was the weather as there had been snow reports in the passes, and we were going to be transporting marine life so we didn’t want to get turned around. We had some worried moments as we drove through the increasing snow through Porters up until Flock Hill when it turned to sleet and then rain. But there was no snow in Arthurs so we knew we were home free. We (Al) got the fish tank all set up and all had arrived safely. The rest of the weekend was setting up our respective office spaces ready for work and a trip to Greymouth for some kitset bedroom drawers and some grocery supplies. The week went by pretty quickly with work but we enjoyed being in our new home for a whole week.

The tank
Heaters in each bucket before sealing
Corals in the back of the ute
Fish and corals in the back seat
And the lucky anemone in the front with Al
Tank loaded and time to go
Setting up in Blackball
A chaotic night setting up the tank and into bed at midnight.
It was a hard day for Quasi too.
Lights on, all fish alive and happy and everything is working.

30th May – 1st June – Monday was the biggest mission of all. This was the day that we would be dismantling the big marine fish tank. This had been days in the preparation and planning by Al. We kicked off at 7:30 in the morning and started with the other small tank that would be combined into the larger tank. All the corals were bagged ready for transport. All the rocks were moved out of the big tank and cleaned and then the fish placed into individual buckets. The tank was drained and all plumbing dismantled. Lucky Kate was around to help us lift the big tank off the stand as it weighed around 80 kg empty. We finally hit the road at 3:30 with two cars and two trailers. Once we arrived at Blackball, Irish (Mark) came and gave us a hand to lift the tank back onto the stand. Al quickly (over 2 hours) reassembled the plumbing to make the tank water tight and then we frantically mixed up salt water from the water tanks that had been prefilled and heated and filled the tank. Meanwhile I was helping keeping the pump running and checking on the fish. everyone made it over although they were a bit cold. We got all the fish and rocks back in and finished up around Midnight. Al spent most of Tuesday sorting the electronics and pumps for life support, we were a bit worried about one fish but as of today (Wednesday everyone is alive and well and the corals are back in the tank.

Tank all set up