Tandaland

I know, I know… I’ve been very slack keeping the blog updated! But since we moved in, I’ve been far too busy to even contemplate it!

Lots of stuff has happened over the last month. We’re all moved in, mostly settled and have started work on getting the outside as nice as the inside! The first step was to get a driveway and deck built. We had Stylish Decks construct two decks for us, one under the portico out the front, and one out the back under the extended alfresco roof. We’re stoked with the outcome! Looks great!

The guys that came in and did the decks were extremely polite and professional. I was actually surprised at how quickly they managed to build the whole thing. The neighbours are still waiting for theirs to be finished and they started a long time before us! And they weren’t just quick either, but detailed. Every plank spaced perfectly, every cut was nice and neat. The whole thing was just finished off really nicely. As an added bonus, they actually cleaned up the site after they were done, and that is a rarity these days!

The portico is about 2m x 3m and leads out to the concrete path. The colour looks great, and provides a nice highlight to the front of the house. It needs a bit of a clean, because I’ve been in out the front door a bit the last few days!

Portico deck

Out the back we have alfresco with our new BBQ now set up and working. It’s already had a few uses since Friday! I’m very happy with the outcome, and definitely glad we went with the deck rather than pavers. We will pave between the deck on the garage (that’s on the right), and probably move the BBQ out there. We’ll then get some tables and chairs our there, and maybe an outdoor couch.

Alfresco looking to deserted backyard

Stylish alfresco!

The wood is Merbau, and it’s just been stained with some deck oil. The colour is just amazing. Beautiful reds! Gets a really nice glow with the sun on it!

Merbau

We also had Stylish Decks do the driveway. We had a stenciled bluestone look done. Looks really good. I was initially concerned that it might look a bit “fake”, but I was surprised at how nicely it came up. Very happy over all!

Driveway

I was about to go to bed, but then Thuy reminded me I haven’t posted about our inspection yet! (I’m sure it could’ve waited until tomorrow… but hey).

Overall we’re pretty damned happy. We had a bundle of sticky dots, but overall we really struggled to find anything to pick on. Most of the issues were very minor paint issues; mostly things like a bit of wall paint on the skirting board, or a scuff on a door or whatever. But for the most part the place was in near perfect condition! We have one sliding door that is a bit misaligned, one bench top that has some strange marks on it, a few lights that must have dodgy globes, and someone must’ve hit one of our down pipes with a bobcat during the clean up but that is really about it.

A couple of things aren’t quite finished yet, but they’ll be done during the week (namely the render isn’t quite finished, and the theatre room door is coming as well).

We went there with the intention of being really picky and going over everything with a fine tooth comb, but there really just wasn’t anything to pick on. Believe me, I’ve read a lot of people’s blogs about the dramas they had come inspection time, and we’re both relieved that we have had no such problems. I mean, you expect little imperfections in paint and stuff like that… particularly on very large walls like the hallway which any imperfection just jumps out, but a lot of what you read you wonder what the hell the builder was thinking.

I thought I’d have a heap of photos, but it turns out we were so busy inspecting that we forgot to actually take any photos…. DER.

I have one photo of the front of the house, and that is about it! The render near the front door isn’t quite done, apparently the guy ran out of paint (or whatever it is that they use).

IMG_7130

So with any luck, we’ll have our second inspection friday next week (fingers crossed they can get all the tradies back in to finish the place off), and assuming the bank doesn’t stuff us around with their inspection, we should be able to be in before the end of the month!

Well we’re now at lock up…. well, the building is locked at least. Not sure if that is the same thing! There is still some roof tiling to be completed and the bricks on the south side aren’t quite complete, but its very very close to being complete! There is a bit of water inside the building, which is never good, but we don’t think it will be a problem. It is just a result of them having not quite finished the capping on the roof, and we’ve had an awful lot of rain over the last couple of days!

Roof nearly completed

Master bedroom with ensuite and courtyard

Brickwork looking quite nice! Loving the bricks we chose!

Hard to see inside with plastic covering windows (kitchen)

Our modified alfresco!

So we’re back from Sunny-ish Queensland anniversary trip.

The weather was mostly good, and by that I mean it only rained two days out of five!

I don’t have time for a full spiel, so here is a brief rundown on our first anniversary trip to the Gold Coast.

Day 1 - landed 8am, picked up hire car, shopped, checked in to hotel, pizza for dinner
Day 2 - Off to see the inland, rainforest treetop walk, Mt Tamborine, Hinze Dam (closed), Mexican for dinner
Day 3 - Outlet mall shopping for Thuy, bag carrying for Al, walk around Surfers, Hard Rock Cafe for dinner
Day 4 - Wet N Wild in the rain, flasho Chinese restaurant at Jupiters for dinner, casino for a bit of fun, came out up a few bucks!
Day 5 - More shopping, only one pair of shoes purchased….. tired… want to go home, plane delayed… home around midnight!

And now for some photos!

..and what is a trip to the Gold Coast without Mario Kart GP!?!?

30m in the treetops… yeah lots of fun

Let this be a warning to ya’ll boot wearing types! Your kind aint welcome round these parts…

No concrete and steel here, all rickety wood and cables! Only 6 people allowed per span!

Panorama

Thuy is great at using the "we’re here for our anniversary" line!

Uh oh… we’re taking photos of wildlife!!

You cant have an anniversary without a Fudge Brownie Sundae!

We just went and saw the movie “Dan in Real Life” with Steve Carell. It was ok I guess… nothing to write home about.

BUT the funniest scene in the movie was when Steve Carell, after having something of an epiphany, goes to talk to his daughters to ask their forgiveness for being a bad father. Whilst everyone else is in tears, Thuy and I are PISSING ourselves because of this:

This photo may not be terribly amusing, EXCEPT that this is what Thuy wore to the Cinema….