January first began with a whimper. The camp was waking up and the king parrots were already being generously fed. Cameron Green would soon be leaving for Monto as he had been contracted to help prep the Queenslander for a much needed paint job. He would therefore be my ride home. But we wouldn’t be alone. As it turns out, a small convoy was headed back that way. Between Mikey, Ian, and the other brother whose name I always forget, there would end up being four utes nicely lined up in the driveway.
After a simple breakfast, we bade farewell to the campsite and arrived in Monto before noon.
Now I had only had minimal experience with prepping a house for painting, as our farmhouse back in Hudson is made entirely of wood and so needs regular painting. Fun fact: that house is over one hundred years old and was moved to its current location on the back of a truck. Because the wood is so old and not in very good condition anymore, the most that would be completed each year was a side of the house. It would be scraped and painted, but that was really all. And because the wood was so spongy and water damaged in places, the paint seldom stuck for more than a few years at a time anyways. Usually by the time the house had been finished in four years time, side one would be ready for another coat. It was quite a task.
But the prep work that was being undertaken here, was probably the way a house should be prepared for painting.
By the time we pulled into the driveway, there were ladders and braces and boards creating platforms to sand and paint from. Mikey and another guy were already sanding the boards on the front of the house with electric disc sanders. This was much, much faster and much more thorough than scraping everything by hand. By the time the paint went down, it would have something to really adhere to. It was dusty work though and while some braved it without masks, others wisely donned them rather than risk breathing whatever the paint was comprised of.
This preparation would continue over the next several days. Cameron would stay at it for three days himself before leaving to undertake the four or five hour trip back to his home in Emerald. He was most often up on the roof or near it attempting to sand painted surfaces in odd corners and around windows. He was an apprentice carpenter and this work on the house would go toward meeting the time requirements needed to pass his apprenticeship. He had brought his tools as well as a very cool electric cooler. (Imagine if an Igloo cooler had a plug and functioned as a small refrigerator with no ice needed.) He also brought a plug in sound system which was gratefully used. Although many things were played, the majority of the time it was the original Kingdom songs, mainly because they created a enjoyable theocratic atmosphere to work in.
Tim stopped over to give direction later that day. Before returning to Cania, he mentioned that I should buy something simple for lunch. Chook on bread was the suggestion, chook being the name for a chicken here. I went to the Food Works and bought some bread, snags (sausages), chicken, and drinks: enough to hopefully feed five people. But by the time the food was ready, few were interested in having any. Mikey was leaving shortly, Ian was sick, and Cameron wasn’t hungry. One by one the brothers left and soon it was just Cameron and I.
Cameron was to stay for a few days and continue prepping the front of the house, along with a brother called Adrian who would be doing most of the painting. Adrian even brought a caravan to stay in. He would also be on hand for the alarming entry of the first huntsman spider and would show me how to wrangle one. For Cameron’s part, he was originally going to stay in a room at the house, but most often drove back to Cania each night to have tea with the Craigs and stay in his swag. For the next week, work on the house would continue until the painting was at last completed.
As mentioned earlier, it was during all of the commotion that the first official Huntsman spider finally made an appearance. While terrifyingly large compared to Ohio spiders, they are really very harmless. One evening as T and K where here and we were eating dinner, one appeared on the ceiling. Because Khiara was on hand, an impromtu video was quickly shot. Adrian assured me that hunstmans were harmless and proceeded to try to get this one to climb onto a piece of cardboard so that he could take it outside. I was asked if I wanted to hold it and I quickly and definitively declined the offer. But for days afterward I was kicking myself for not having done so and added yet another new experience to my list. Afterward I was determined that at some future point I would handle one of these spiders myself, or return home an abject failure.
In addition to the spider, another creature was drawn by the commotion. This would be the red bellied blacksnake I had been warned about by Nigel and Karen. I happened to see it purely by chance and we both spent a moment or two playing peak-a-boo at each other as we mutually gauged the threat level. I eagerly warned the other brothers of the clear and present danger the snake presented, but they simply ‘uh huhed’ and carried on, one continuing to work in only thongs (again this is what people called flip flops here). I was later told that these snakes are actually very useful to have around because they eat other snakes, including the much deadlier brown snakes. They have no wish to come into contact with humans and will generally make an effort to flee the scene before taking any other action. The black snake is indeed venomous, but even in the case of a bite, the harm done is usually minimal since the venom tends to run out onto the skin instead of into the veins. It’s therefore important to avoid washing a black snake bite as you will likely only flush the venom into the wound. Brown snakes, on the other hand, have hypodermic fangs, which means just what you’d expect it to with regard to their ability to inject venom into the blood stream. But the black snakes do not have those kinds of fangs, so their fangs can’t directly inject venom into the body. It’s still best to stay away from them, but as with so many things here there’s no need to worry overly about them. As for the brown snakes, I suppose I’m more thankful than disappointed that I haven’t seen one of those yet.
Now you might worry that these snakes are just sitting out in the open in common walkways waiting to strike at the unwise or unwary, but actually that’s not the case at all. They mostly prefer to hide in tall grasses. So the best strategy for keeping most snakes away from homes is simply to keep the grass cut short and the weeds down. If there isn’t any high grass they are not tempted to hang around and spotting them is much easier. Needless to say this has motivated me to regularly trim the lawn.
Now here I will briefly say a few words about “Iron bark”. Iron bark is a common type of timber that comes from a species of eucalyptus. It is extremely tough and cutting it takes a bit of work. It’s used quite a bit here because it is fire, heat, and termite resistant. It has a class one rating, which is the highest durability rating possible for timber, and it can last stuck into the ground for more than twenty five years, which makes it perfect as a structural pillar to use if you need to hold up a veranda or water tank. It is rather dense and heavy, lasts virtually forever, and has a wonderful look when finished. As a result of all of this, it is widely used for furniture and construction in Australia. I bring this up only because I actually had to try to cut and work with some of this wood and I was very impressed by it and wanted to give it a small plug!
By the end of the first week into January the painting was finally finished. Everyone left and I went back to working on the hallway and various odds and ends around the house. There was some trim in the bathroom that needed grouted and finishing, various openings at the edges of floors that needed closed, and a breezeway that needed to be worked on. This last items would involve closing up bug-friendly openings to the outside, filling gaps in walls, and painting. Beyond all of that, the entry area of the back stairway could also use prepped and painted. So there was no shortage of work to keep me busy.
I have to say I’ve never felt the pride that comes from working on my own house, as I have never owned a house. But the feeling I’ve had in this place must be very similar. It’s the kind of work you actually want to do and it’s truly enjoyable. So I have Australia to thank for yet another nice memory!
But tomorrow would involve a different kind of work altogether: an educational work that would bring a whole different kind of satisfaction.
My favorite video is the ‘house build’ along with the bluegrass, hillbillie music!! You did good putting that together!!