After what was a very wet winter, spring has definitely arrived in Bridport. The last month has seen almost no rain at all and with the El Nino firmly in place it is likely to be a long dry summer. Just in time for our water tanks to arrive, so they may need a manual filling to kick things off. With the warmer weather the wild flowers have really started to show their true colours. Now anyone that knows me will understand that I know almost nothing about flowers - ooh, tha

I was going to headline this week's update something along the line of "Raise the Roof" or "The Roof is on (fire!)" given that we finished last week looking forward to the roofing as this week's main event. However, there has been that much going on around the town and building site this week that those titles really didn't seem enough to do it justice. Yes, the roof has gone on, but following that we have also seen windows and sliding doors installed ("Let there be Light!")

After all of last week's attention was focused on the shed, the main house felt just a little neglected. This week, all of that has changed, with the roof trusses for the living room finally making an appearance - and what an appearance it is! The communal living space could be considered on the larger size, especially for a building that is unlikely to often hold more than 8 people (and will more regularly see just 4). At around 10 metres by 10 metres - or approximately 10

This time last week we were marveling at the fully framed and trussed shed skeleton, and how far things had come in just a few short weeks since getting the slab poured. This week, despite some rather ugly weather including a couple of days of near gale force winds, we no longer have a skeleton, but a fully clad shed. Alright, we are still missing roller doors, the internal lining and power. But it definitely feels like a shed now, only bigger! From frame to shed in a week

Another week has passed and there has been more decisions made, more progress on the build and a new toy added to the arsenal. First, the new toy! Don't we all love new toys, and this week we have got a doozy. We now have a new drone all of our very own. With much of the marketing work for this project being done ourselves, we thought we should try to jazz things up a bit and get some overhead shots. Now, I am new to this drone thing, so you may have to bear with me a bit,

In the last week, we have cured and smoked our latest batch of home made bacon. The process takes around a week of curing in a salt and sugar mix, with treacle added in the last couple of days for an additional depth of flavour. The blocks of pork belly are smoked slowly (generally with apple wood) on our Kamado. We have been doing this for over a decade now and I struggle to eat store bought bacon any more - even the nicer stuff. Now, I may be biased, but I believe there i

In what was expected to be a wet week with not much getting done on the build, I had initially focused on a few other ideas to be able to provide at least a short update. But true to form, the weather is anything but predictable and and it has ended up being a lot better than expected. We will come back to the build in a bit, but for now…So what else has been going on? The shade house is complete (at least the outside). While not strictly part of the business itself (residing

It is early August and that means it is time for the Scallop Fiesta in downtown Bridport. While some may be scared off by the mid Winter time slot, we are in the midst of scallop season and there is no better time to enjoy one of the best products of the region. For a town of around 1500 (many of whom are travelling north at this time of year), the Fiesta attracts a crowd of around 3000 so there is quite an influx. Last Sunday, the weather was an absolute delight and saw t

In all the excitement of breaking ground, setting up a blog and getting something out there, I forgot to introduce ourselves. In this episode, we rectify this and take a brief look at how we came to be here, doing this, right now… Kirsty and I are both Tasmanian raised and educated. As is fairly typical of these parts, we left Tasmania post-University to find work and have spent the past 30 odd years on the mainland - primarily in Sydney - working and raising a family. In thi

After nearly 18 months of planning, negotiating with council, builders, designers, surveyors, engineers, consultants and more we have finally broken soil on the new build for the Stripey Pig Lodge. It has been an interesting year and a half during which there were a number of occasions where we thought this would not get off the ground. The shifting financial tide, global uncertainties and inflation have all seen us question the financial viability and/or logic of such an und