The Great Flood, 2011 style

If February 2010 was The Big One, then March 2011 was The Really Big One. It peaked twice, once just before daybreak, and again 6 hours later at high tide, and the second peak was 8.7 meters, which is higher than the ’71 flood on which our 1-in-a-100 floodline is marked (and all the houses at Bend are above the 1-in-100 line, and they were all fine in this flood, sadly unlike some other houses in Bega, which were inundated).

waterfront property, again

million dollar views

soggy

24 hours later-Sierra's well-watered veggie patch is bottom left

24 hours later-wattles bent, not broken??

24 hours later-dam's full!

water beats boulder

Bend as pot o' gold

3 days post flood

mending fences

all hands on deck

So, we may live here the rest of our lives and never see a flood so big again, or apparently, we may have one every year….

Front yard blitz

Had a few requests to update the blog-fair crack of the whip, can’t a guy who has just built a house sit back for a while and just watch the grass grow? Well unfortunately that too creates more work, as I am constantly battling the invasion of weeds and grass, in particular kikuyu. I had intended to include weekly updates with pictures of the grass invasion, but for some reason Peggy thought people may not be interested. So…instead I have done a front yard blitz to get the blog groupies off my back, and Peggy for that matter. So here is the latest completed project; a native garden including a rock water diversion channel. The creation of this involved covering the entire area in cardboard boxes and newspaper (theoretically to kill the kikuyu) and then laying out the rocks to define the diversion channel and front entry paths. This was then mulched with chipped eucalyptus to a depth of approx 100mm and then planted with a variety of native trees, shrubs, and grasses. Plants have been strategically placed to perform a particular function or niche; there is a flowering eucalyptus as a feature tree at the front, ground covers around borders, climbing vines along a fence, and shade tolerant plants close to the house.

Sheet mulching

Give me a break

1 week later…