This project was more than just a milestone. It was an amazing community project!

Many of my friends, and their friends, came together to build the shack over one weekend. This was helped immensely through the generous contribution of accomodation and kitchen by my friends Sal and Ant. Everyone else pitched in with labour, cooking, advice, and encouragement!

Day 1 - Saturday 3/9/2005
Wow... What an excellent day!
We got most of the four walls up, plus, part of an internal wall. We also organized a lot of materials.
The crew really worked well, taking on tasks which for most of them was outside of their experience.

At first it was a bit disorganized, mainly due to my lack of experience at running a large group of people not used to tool related jobs. Working with recycled materials slows things down a bit too.

We started off working with Cindi, myself, Mabel, Irina & James. Later on Steve & Dave showed after they'd dropped past the tip to pick up some excellent pieces of oregon, which we used as studs.

Simo, Selina & Micky showed up to dig up a few natives for their block, from the section to be cleared for the slab. They also brought their dogs Red & Ash... This could have accounted for our mysterious loss of sausages.
(Simo also showed us the way a nail gun should be used). Wazza had a great time learning a few things about tools and ended up being our nail gun guru! Also Thx to Jen & Billy for dropping in to say hello.

Day 2 - Sunday 4/9/2005
Unfortunately today we where hindered by rain (again).

Ant & myself headed down to the site before the others, to erect some sort of tarp over the shed & put away all the materials which didn't like water.

After protecting most of the shack working area, Wazza showed up to see if he could lend a hand. As the tarp was so effective we decided we would keep on working. Ant got a fire going in a 44 gallon drum, and we often warmed our hands as the misty day progressed.

I didn't want to run power in the rain, so we worked with a cordless and a chainsaw to cut noggins & purlins to length!

Sal and Ant did a great job getting some tin up on a wall for bracing, while Cindi finished hanging a door. Wazza & James did a great job of sorting out noggins & purlins. Mabel & Irena just went hard - those girls really got a steam up with tools!

We finished up the day at about 5ish, with most of the walls clad, both doors hung, and a fair amount of the roof on. A long way to go, but with all of this done I will be able to finish most of the shack myself. All in all it was a pretty amazing accomplishment by a bunch of friends with minimal building experience - using recycled materials!

I'd been involved in planning this weekend away for months and it was really exciting to have it finally happen! I can't imagine anything more enjoyable than a weekend in the mountains with friends messing about with power tools and having something to show for it at the end. So it was my absolute pleasure to be able to cook and feed everyone for the weekend!

My recipes for those of you who are interested... well we had lots of tea and coffee and great snacks, breakfasts were raisin toasts and egg & bacon sandwiches. For saturday nights dinner we had a huge vegie curry with brown rice and a massive salad, and a lemon cake brought by jen. There was just enough to feed all 12 people who stuffed themselves! And on Sunday we had a great hot lunch of sausage sandwiches (as the doggies hadn't stolen our meat after all) which was cooked on the fire in the 44 gallon drum that Ant had set up to keep us warm. James and Mabel brought stacks of snacks so all in all we were very well fed little worker bees.

I want to say a HUGE thanks to Sal and Ant who were so gracious and generous to let us all come and stay (Instant party, just add water!!!) - your mountain hospitality is inspiring.

Thanks to Craig for letting us be part of your project. Its challenging, interesting and is going to awesome. I hope you are learning as much from it as we are!