Now the excitement of Zoe's wedding and the visit from the UK contingent are all over we are finding it quite difficult to motivate ourselves to get on with more work on the extension. Part of the point of enlarging the house was to give ourselves more room in the existing accommodation by shifting some of our crap into the new area, that has now been achieved and we are quite comfy so it is easy to forget there is still more to be done. 

So we have been having a bit of an extended break doing the things we enjoy like wandering around taking pictures of koalas and birds or just watching the wildlife from our (new improved) balcony. A pair of Galahs are entertaining us at the moment as they try to hollow out a joint in a tree to make a nest, one works on the excavation while the other stands guard, then they swap roles when the digger gets tired.

 We are also taking our time over things a bit more so when we needed to drive to Sydney a couple of weeks ago to buy some flat pack bookcases from the blue and yellow warehouse of doom, we decided to time the trip so we could stop at our local airport where the Antonov......something or other.....second largest cargo plane in the world, was due to take off between 8.30 and 9am. Williamtown Airport is a RAAF base as well as a domestic airport so the huge plane was there delivering secret stuff for the fighter jets. There were hundreds of people there but the scheduled take off time came and went and nothing happened. 

We would have left but every time we thought about it there was a flurry of activity as if something was about to happen making us stay a bit longer. Eventually the thing started to move at around 11am and everyone got ready with their cameras expecting to see the massive plane take the full length of the runway just to heave itself over the fence at the last minute. 

Well it wasn't like that at all, it trundled onto the runway and took off after a very disappointingly short run up just like a normal plane, it was big though and at least we've seen it in action.
Onto Sydney via a different route this time, we decided to divert off the motorway just short of the city and take the Berowra Ferry which brought us in quite close to our target. It was a beautiful way to go, tiny winding roads took us down the valley to the river where we caught the ferry across.

Berowra Waters would be a sensational place to live with houses and restaurants nestled peacefully on the banks of the river right on the outskirts of Sydney. We came back the same way as it was just as quick as the usual schlep through all the traffic and the toll roads but far more pleasant, I think this may become our preferred route in future.
Back to the reality of building work now. We like to recycle materials when we can and Ian has found 2000 brick pavers on Gumtree at a bargain price for the path. These are located an hour's drive from us and we can only get about 500 in one trip so we did two trips on Saturday and have another two to go tomorrow, I hate days that involve this level of manual labour but it will be worth it in the end.
I will finish with a few before and after pictures, when I look at these I am astonished at the change in just 8 months.