Hi, so I Darrel and I have been really busy around the house. Here are some pics of the progress we have been making. So far we have really just made a bigger mess of the yard, but I think we are starting to see some results.


This is what the greenhouse looked like before I began to dig it out from the clutches of the grape vines. I did pull the vines out without damaging them too much.

Ta Da! It still needs a bit of work, like removing all the paint, painting the frame, cleaning the glass and then replacing all of it. I was pretty happy to realize how big it is. Instead of aiming for winter greens, I am just going to try to get it ready for spring propagation and a jump start on the veggie garden.

Ah, the grape harvest! This is just a fraction of the full bounty, and of course I can't let anything go to waste, so I squeezed the grapes into juice and froze it in ice cube trays. The cubes go great in mixed drinks!


Free wheel barrow with house! Woohoo! Just needed a bit of oil- check out the metal wheel.

Darrel going down into the crawl space for the first time to start planning the bathroom project. He was not so happy when he came up for fresh air. It is definitely meant for crawling- no basements in NZ.

This is the early days of the bathroom project. It has been going on for a few weeks now, so far we have put in a shower head and replumbed the tub filler, and removed this pedestal sink. After adding the shower, there was not really enough water pressure to have a proper shower (pretty disapointing after all of that work) so Darrel added a pressure reducing valve and cut out the header tank in the roof... and now we have the best shower in the world! Thanks Joy and Brian for all of the plumbing advise!

Here is the sneak preview of the bathroom vanity. We have made the box out of shelves from one of the bedrooms. The wood is Rimu, the floors through out the house are the same wood. We hope to uncover them someday soon.

This is one of the hundred of roses on the property, most are in need of love and attention to restore their glory. There are tons of beautiful plants hidden behind overgrown bushes and under grass.

Darrel has drawn the whole house up on the computer, he even created 3-d movies of the place. These are some sketches that he has drawn to brainstorm ideas.

I hope you enjoyed the show!