Another birthday

Gema wishing you a big "Happy Birthday" for yesterday.

Only a day late *blushes*

We are getting there!!

We had been going out every few weeks to see how everything was progressing...... not a lot it seemed... big piles of dirt had been pushed, from here to there... lots of big machinery sitting idle, okay it was Sundays that we were going out there, and I guess they need to take a day off work :(!! Anyhoo about 3 weeks ago, we took a trip to the estate to see how much more had been done. We were initially given "November" as a finish date to all the earth-works. Depending on the weather, it could be start, middle or end. Seeing as the weather had been fairly good recently, we wanted to see how everything was progressing.... and we were very happy to see that the road was nearly done and they had started placing retaining walls around the properties that needed it. We were also quite glad that we could get within a jumping distance to our block. Previously it was "neck-craning" and "finger-pointing" and saying "its somewhere over there, near that pile of dirt/big pipes" No pegs were up at that stage and there still was an awful lot to do, but we were happy to see it s..l..o..w..l..y.. getting done.

Approximately 3 weeks ago:



This is a picture looking towards the entrance to our street. Where we parked the car was as far as we could drive in.











This is looking up towards the main entrance, still got a lot of work to do.









This is our block.... where the piles of dirt are!




So fast forward 2 weeks when we went again..... (late in the afternoon, so no Sunday night roast)... and there was a huge amount of work done. We could drive up to our block!!!
We were very happy as it means that we are one step closer to building. Most of the main entrance is done. It is still blocked off from the highway, but the road has been sealed. Possibly need to put in median strips, or at least clean up whats there. All the light poles where there ready to put up. Bridge has been nearly finished, and I love the stackstone...... been thinking about putting that on the front of our house with a deep red/purple colour (think new mcDonalds cafe! But dont know if it will be within our budget)
Footpaths are done up the main road, it looks like the one out our front will be done soon too, as it was all scraped out ready to go. All the roads are done and are drivable (well up to the end of the "stage release" anyways. Pegs are in and we can officially see where our block is. As we have underground power, I guess that would be in too, there were a couple of pipes sticking up (?) one was from the water co.

Last week:




This is our block...note the two youngest were more excited about the large hole than the idea of a new house. :/

Looks like oldest was doing the "toyota" jump....Ohh what a feeling!!











Note the hole that is "being investigated" is not that deep. So no danger if they fell.










This is the bridge that is over the brook. Some more railings need to be put in, but it is looking very nice.

This is the brook that runs through the estate.





I think there is about 250-300 houses on one side and around the same on the other. This is meant to have bbq's and picnic tables, bike track etc, once the whole place is developed. At the moment there is no water in it, dry as a bone!

After all the work, and seeing as there wasn't much left to complete, Mr G gave the Project Manager a call and was informed that by Wednesday 5, the final inspection of the blocks will be done and then everything goes to council for them to do their part. Then he was told our council is the slowest and usually takes 4-8 weeks for everything to get approved. Darn country bumpkins.... who do we talk to, to get this part sped up!
Now if we were building another house, and not the budget one, and/or with another building company...we could at this stage go and do the siting/contracts etc. But because we have chosen what we have, we have to wait until we have officially been given titles. This means that we can't lock in the house price now, and I hope it doesn't go up after the holidays. BLAH! If so we will be looking into a smaller design, without all the features. DOUBLE BLAH!
So now it is back to more waiting...waiting.