Peter and Natasha

1. What a great photo!
(Comments)

...n has the brightest little face. Clearly a happy little chappie. I can't wait to see what stands on the land that was previously just a sparse rocky paddock near the bush....

2. Achievment
(Comments)

...inarily proud. What you've achieved continues to blow me away. I can't wait to come and see the plot of land that I stood on a couple of years ago and see the 'not-so-little' straw house on the prairi...

3. The 'will he build again' question
(Comments)

As you know, your family back here in New Zealand are still staggered that you've built ONE house, much less contemplating another! I'm in total awe of what you've achieved Peter and can't wait to com

4. Kreepy Krawlies
(Comments)

I'm sure that the lesson to be learnt here is - Live in New Zealand!

5. The longest time
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ing, and so is our spirits. Peter has a new job he loves, and better still, it's part-time. He's landed a job at Virgin Australia Airlines as a pit crew member, loading/unloading of luggage and...

6. Nice Dream
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ack from outings - before we moved in to our house - of driving home past the turnoff to our block of land. We’d drive past wishing we were going that way, going home to our straw bale house....

7. Our Fabulous Composting Toilets
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...rviour was only 11% full! Crazy stuff! So I did some investigating on the web and found that Moreland Council had a policy on installing composting loos in seweraged areas. So, I called Western...

8. From the land of more door
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

We've been buying second hand doors again on eBay. Six of them in fact. A great Monday evening hike yielded great results as the ute and I, armed only with directions all across Melbourne, and an iPho

9. Twos
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ocus on working for the majority of the time recently, we've spent little time maintaining our block of land. As a result it's become a bit of a jungle. The grass is not only as tall as me in places b...

10. Off the wagon
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...house. I have a confession - I have been a full-blown procrastinator when it comes to planning our land/garden layout. I have a great permaculture book, and have read lots of it, but succumbed to...

11. Carried Away
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

..., we need to get our fire plan in order and clean up the place - all this rain is certainly helping the land sprout even longer weeds and grasses, as well as our vegie patch which is looking very happ...

12. Past the two-year mark
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...as well as dreaming about it. Needless to say, we absolutely love this place. This spectacular piece of land, its sky, its sun sets and sun rises, its sounds, smells, colours, seasons and feel. In fac...

13. Website and progress
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ebsites don't get provided for free and we don't have too much money kicking around, having just bought land a couple of years ago and then built this house we're living in. But Natasha's logic was un...

14. All weather access
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...2008 and since that time we've been subject to the vagaries of the weather when trying to get on to the land by vehicle. At times this has meant taking on a little rally driving, which I've improved a...

15. A holiday
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...f doing any building. The only house related task we did was to have a good look with my parents at the land layout and plan out how we might use it.So we returned from our travels with a fresh view o...

16. A big list and a special visit
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...his rendering we had a visit from Brian Hodge (our building consultant), who hasn't stepped foot on our land since he came out to design the house (Jan 08). He doesn't get much chance to see the house...

17. Bog blog
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...at I could install the toilet.It's easily the most pressing thing that I have to do since our favourite landmark, the blue portaloo, was picked up on Monday. Since then there's been nowhere to go. Wit...

18. Getting closer
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...oler air too. We had 7mm of rain by the time I left today which will help to reverse the dryness of the land that the recent heat has caused. We all had a lot of fun today with everyone working togeth...

19. Exstrawdinary
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...ogan, a fellow Kiwi living over in Victoria but planning his own strawbale house back in Wanaka, New Zealand. No two of these people are the same but all share a willingness and competence which makes...

20. Roof 1, Toilet 0
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... jobs on at once right now. One job is to prepare a level 4m square base for our water tank (on sloping land), another is to do more work around the clerestory windows and on the outriggers which prov...

21. Roof on, except when it's not
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...s I've spoken to about the wind say they've never experienced such a windy season. When I was in New Zealand enjoying the calm of Wellington the yet another damaging storm came through and ripped a co...

22. Specifications of the house
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...n holes - 200mm * The stumps were put on the concrete pads and held with packed earth The land: * Soil classification - H (highly reactive clay) Stumps to sub-floor: * Joists ...

23. Suppliers & Contractors we recommend
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

... Straw Bale Construction) Soil Classification: (structural & civil engineers) Colin McClelland & Associates -mail@colinmcclelland.com.au    Phone 03 5333 3030 Su...

24. Fresh Air
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...didn't think I would make it through the day, but the fresh air, and the sheer joy of just being at our land building, was enough to keep me going for most of the day.Peter put up some massive rafters...

25. Welcome advice and ideas
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...0mm would not be acceptable. So I had to pull out the post (feeling like a competitor from the Highland Games), the biggest of the lot mind you, redig the hole and reset the post closer to t...

26. Rain stops play
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

Nothing happened yesterday. I went out to the land and watched the rain on the windscreen for a few hours and listened to podcasts. It gave me a chance to catch up on some phone calls and to do some p

27. Questions answered
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...work during the week, and with Peter back at paid work in the city, I was hanging out to get out to the land to do some physical work, get back to nature, and get some progress on the build.  ...

28. Clerestory, cloistery or celestory
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...to be sure of getting good quality for a sensible price. By then it was lunch time so I went out to the land to get into work. This involved working out what new timber I had to get to replace anythin...

29. Action aplenty
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...to have been so many hold ups of late, and I just wanted to get into action! When we did get out to the land today (with extra timber to re-do the posts), it continued to rain. It was amazing. The vie...

30. T is for Termites
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...ved again yesterday and as it was raining in the morning, a minor miracle in itself, we set off for the land in the afternoon via Bacchus Marsh Building Supplies. It's always a pleasure to talk with t...

31. First post the past
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

We have had a great day today. We got out to the land at about 9am, quite relaxed timing but after all it is a Sunday. We received a bunch of timber yesterday to start assembling posts and beams so we

32. Building with Beethoven
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

... day moved on it became more and more hazy until the only hills I could see were the nearby Long Forest landscapes.  Otherwise, it was nice working conditions at last, just a gentle breeze, sunny...

33. Ouch
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...t straight down with one leg on either side of a joist - and that's where I'm thankful.  Somehow I landed almost safely with some good scrapes but mostly a very big and sore lumpy bruise on my kn...

34. Tradesman tan
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...hat it feels like to win a game.  Can they do it?  I hope not, because they're playing New Zealand.  Go the Kiwis!  NB. Views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views h...

35. Nog Blog
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...an inside the convent that's for sure. Thankfully we did have a serious temperature drop, and at the land today the breeze was our saviour, and it only got to 30. We put on about 45 noggins today, ...

36. Gold mine
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...at you can get for very little, and it's this kind of thing that is reducing the waste filling up our landfills, and re-using our precious resources.   Can't wait to get stuck into build...

37. I want it all
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

... But we sure are growing in the character stakes.  The last few days since we returned from New Zealand have certainly illuminated the way forward.  The joist layout is more complicated than...

38. Rain has arrived
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...ll be great to have his eyes and arms and contribution! He has built his own house in far North Queensland, and has heaps of experience. Tomorrow we get our concrete poured in our stump holes and t...

39. Rocks and stump holes
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...here have been some lovely surprises, relevations, and lessons learnt. We are so enjoying being at the land and getting to know the locals, who drop in and introduce themselves. The physical work i...

40. Our Land
(Our Land/Our Land)

We had been looking for a block of land for years, and finally took the plunge and bought some land in Merrimu. Merrimu is 10 minutes' drive north of Bacchus Marsh, which is 55km west of Melbourne o

41. Straw Bale House
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale Homepage)

...reaming about building our very own straw bale house in the country. After over a year of searching for land, we bought our 2.86 acre block in Merrimu (near Bacchus Marsh) in December 2007. After lots...