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.

She thinks she's hiding.

Job done. 
Then some gardening, lawns etc. It's that time of year again with watering to be done. Keeping the place green is a priority to reduce fire risk so Tim's out shifting sprinklers in the middle of the night again. Speaking of Tim he's been doing a bit of milling again. Some redgum, Stringy messmate and blackwood from windfalls. The Redgum has been claimed by Pam for a table top. Sorry guys but this one won't be seen in the cottages. We need to let it sit for a year to make sure it's finished moving.

Now a little story: Last year at this time (flowers forming) we had a very large limb fall off one of our very large Stringybark trees. Thank goodness it missed anything important! After it fell Tim said we'll have to prune the ones that are left because there's just too much weight for the tree to support because we know that it has or has had white ants in it. You see the shed is right next to it. We were still "gunna" prune it. Well, here we are at the same time of year and guess what? Yup you guessed it. Another limb fell. We think that Pam caused this one to fall although it has an awful lot of flowers forming on it. You see; pulled the office door open then "CRASHH!!! She said it sounded like it went through the shed (NO! Not the shed!) Now we know what you're thinking "how can opening the office door make the limb fall off a tree 50m's away?" Well it just so happens that last year (at a different time) Tim opened the office door and the flowering gum in the driveway blew over in the wind. Do you see it now? That's 2 out of 2. This means that opening the office door is a risky business. We think it has something to do with the effect of wind or atmospheric pressures changing when the office door is opened. HMMMMM? Tim went to inspect and wow! It missed the shed! Phew! The limb twisted down and under itself before it fell onto the shed. This is where we say "Praise God" because if it had fallen straight down it would have made a real mess of the shed and it's contents. The only damage was to the roof of an old water tank Tim was keeping for a wood shed. It's all cut up now for fire wood with a few bits saved for making stuff and then mulch all the limbs for the garden. Another job done. 
Water pump woe's today. Fixed now. Ahh, the things we do to live in a place like this. 
​LOVE IT!