Sorry, it has been awhile since we have been able to tell you how beautiful it is here. 
Winter has come and gone, we have had some wonderful weather. So much so, we have had lots of visiting birds, as well as the birds that live here in the bush. Our wonderful array  has been, Swans - Spoonbills - Ibis - Native Ducks - Native Hens - 
Our regular birds are: Blue Wrens - Swallows - Red Robins - Yellow Robins - Lorikeets - Rosellas - Kookaburras and many more.
Along with the birds we have been serenaded with frogs, all different varieties of frogs. We did not realize how many we did have.
Let me not forget the Fauna, Pam is very blessed to be able to go for a daily walk, she has been able to see wallabies - kangaroos - echidnas. These are so much more interesting than cars and traffic lights. As a matter of fact it's is not very often you encounter a car on our road. We are also able to walk in our scrub, or the regional scrub across the road.
On our way out today we had to stop for a koala, who decided it was time to cross the road.
It did put a smile on our faces.
We have lived in the city, in the burbs, both in Adelaide and Melbourne. So, being here, feels like being on holiday every day.
Recently we have had several people tell us they have thought the same thing.

looking back to cottages from swamp.

Oh How beautiful

magnificent

Hello to all you loyal followers and new comers. As most of Australia knows, SA and many other places have had a lot of rain. Now down here in "the Southeast of SA, we have had quite a bit less. "Really?!" I hear you say "but it's always wetter in the SE." Well not at the moment. Whilst we're still wetter than the average year we didn't get the rain that most places got. We're almost half in comparison to Adelaide. As you would have read we're excited here at Bush Haven Cottages about the water accumulating in the swamps. Well we're still excited because even though we've had less it's still more and our swamps are (after today) at the highest level for about 15 years!
​Here ar some picks taken today and below those are pics to compare from July:- 

In front of Rose cottage is a hollow (depression) which never holds water. It actually drains away very quickly. We have only seen it full twice in the 23 years we've been here. One of the times it filled was after a couple days of very heavy rain and then it was all drained away 12 hours later. Now that's no mean feat I might add, this hollow would hold the equivalent of a very large inground pool and it drained through the soil. The second time this hollow filled was a few years later but this time it stayed full for some time which was puzzling. then we realised that it was staying full because the swamp was overflowing in to it at a rate fast enough to keep it full. So this morning we discovered that the swamp is at a height where it is now flowing into the hollow again. Ooooh! Exciting!
​It would be really nice to put a canoe in the hollow again and have a paddle around again. I wonder if the weather will deliver a couple really wet days so that we can?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. If nothing else, the ground and catchment has had a much needed catch-up. And about time too.

Here are some more pics taken of the swamps. They have reached the level that was the average height. With a wetter than average July they've had a good head start. If you've been checking out the Facebook page you would have seen some of these already. For those that haven't; enjoy. 

This year is shaping up to be a very wet one. We: here at Bush Haven Cottages are hoping it will be anyhow.  We do so love it when the swamps fill. It's been a while since that has happened. 2011 was the last reasonable amount of water. We have only seen the swamps full twice back in the 1990's. Needless-to-say we are a little excited we might get them filled and overflowing this year.

More reno's have been started this time we're in the three bedroom cottage (Rose). As some people know we have had problems in Rose cottage with peeling paint on the ceilings. It seems the original painters hadn't heard of undercoat. We have had 3 previous attempts at repairs just to find it just peels somewhere else. We're having another go. We decided this time we'll have to scrape it all off right back to bare plaster board.  We've done the ceiling in the Kitchen/dining room and the main bedroom (using a heat gun). It all just peeled off except where it had been repaired previously. 

Then re-plaster the walls again after a lot of timber frame alterations and get things straight (they definitely didn't build it better back then). Put up some nice "Art Deco" cornice. It's amazing how much it starts to look like a room again once it goes up. There will be a few more embellishments to do next week and that's it. We have ofcourse stuck strictly to the our theme. This theme is hopefully a bit of "Art Deco" mixed with our own special eclectic style (we can't do "Normal") with different types of wood stuff. Most of which Tim has been collecting for years. Hopefully you'll enjoy the difference and have something to talk about. ​

Here are some more pics for your perusal.

Hi all. thought we'd share a bit of what else has been done. This time Tim has made a light bar for Pam"s quilting machine. Started with research into LED strips then 18 months ago Tim took a walk in the 15 year old bluegum plantings and found the smallest diameter one for the bar. He cut the smallest one because it needs to be very strong so it can span the 4.2 metres (the slowest growing tree is the strongest). Then cut it to length, strip the bark off and route out a 20mm groove to take the LED's then rap it and put it away to season (dry)........tick tok tick tok.....tick tok tick tok.....18 months later and found a couple balusters in the shed; cut mortices in the balusters and tenons on each end of the bar. He then fitted the steal tubing to make brackets to fit at the bottom of the balusters to slip into the frames square tubing (nice of them to have a piece in exactly the right place on the machine's frame). Clean up all the timber, sand it down and fit the LED's and a switch, finish in Danish oil; done! Fit it to the machine frame. Happy anniversary Pam!!

OK: so who's checked out the facebook page? If you had you would have seen the work being done to dining rooms with a shift around and restoration of 3 sets of chairs. These have now been placed in their respective cottages. 

Lots of work done but well worth it.
Events
If you happen to be coming to the MT. on the weekend of the 27th or just looking for somewhere to go then you could do worse than stay with us and head in to town and check out the "Fork& cork, Mount Gambier food and wine festival 2015".
​The City of Mt Gambier has recently opened the latest park in the city. The old railway land was given to the city and it has been refurbished. There have also (since then) been some events held there including some pop-ups. You just never know what's going to "pop up". This week it was a karaoke night. For all you punters there's the "Pacing Gold Cup" on the 27th Feb.

Yep 2016. A thought occurred to me today. Anyone sick of the heat in the city or inland. Did you know Mt Gambier almost always cools down nicely for the evenings. Just imagine sitting looking at this, in that cooolness with your favourite drink in your hand.

All the best to everyone for this season of festivities. A celebration of the birth of Jesus.