Though none of the components of the new solar array are hooked up to each other yet, they are all in place. I’m pretty proud of the whole thing. I dug the hole, the pole is exactly vertical, I measured and cut the rebate at the top, drilled the hole, attached the hinged timber to the panel and the whole thing went up pretty much the way I had planned.

An electrician friend is going up there next weekend with my son, and he is very keen to do something useful while he is there, so, linking the panel to the charge controller, then to the battery then the inventor seems like a job ridiculously suited to him. It also means that task, which I would find daunting and time-consuming will be done by someone with real skills, will be done well and in a tenth of the time it would have taken me. So it’s not like I’m cheating or avoiding a difficult task, its more like I am being sensible with my resource allocation. Does that sound right?

So the next time I get to the property there will be power in the van. Wow how exciting is that. I thought I would be able to tough it out but I missed electricity the most In the middle of winter. There is every chance I will be up there for the AFL grand final so I need to be able to watch that.

This weekend I also finished the wood fired oven in the backyard here in Sydney. It has taken almost two months from start to finish. It’s a cracker. We fired it up on Sunday afternoon soon after getting back from Dungog and cooked some lamb, just to get the feeling of using it. It is going to take a while to fully understand the cooking process and the options, but for a first meal it was a raging success. Sitting around the oven, with a glass of wine in hand, bathing in the warmth of the fire was just a perfect end to a busy and productive weekend.