# MikiZ: Beginnings!



## mikiz (Feb 26, 2016)

So it's been a long wait for me to be able to add this to the forum, and almost didn't happen at all when the bank turned me down the first time.
I live away so I won't be able to update a lot until I go down next but this is the beginning of Zwinter Acres!
It's 40 acres just outside of a small town in Western Australia, no house yet and the fences are a bit rough, but it has permanent drinkable underground water, nice amount of trees spread out over the block and power running through one side that I can connect to when I do save enough to build a house!
The neighbour is currently renting it and will fertilize and seed it so he can cut some hay for his cattle. 

I only have some photos the real estate took, because I was so excited to go and see it that I completely forgot to take my own. These are late winter/early spring photos, it was much more dry and yellow when I went to look, but it's like this for 80% of the year so I can live with that. 

This is facing the flat part where the house will be:






And this is looking up from the back end of the paddock up to the road, the top of that hill is where the photo above was taken:





Across the dam:





This is from the top of the block near the road facing down the hill:





And some other shots:









Plan is to divide it up into smaller paddocks, so far there will be a large hay paddock at the top end and the flattest part along the roadside for the homestead:





Now to hope I can save enough in the next year or so to start changing out the boundary fencing, do the internal fences and build a house!


----------



## norseofcourse (Feb 26, 2016)

How exciting, congrats!


----------



## Mike CHS (Feb 26, 2016)

I'm excited for you and that is a pretty piece of property.


----------



## frustratedearthmother (Feb 26, 2016)

Gorgeous!


----------



## samssimonsays (Feb 26, 2016)

Congrats!!! WHat a beautiful property! SO excited and happy for you!


----------



## Southern by choice (Feb 26, 2016)

drooling here! 
 Congratulations! That is just wonderful!


----------



## Latestarter (Feb 26, 2016)

Very nice! Really nice that you have water available on the property! Hope you'll keep us up to date with you going forward!


----------



## BlessedWithGoats (Feb 26, 2016)

Aww! Congratulations!! Beautiful piece of property!


----------



## mikiz (Apr 16, 2021)

Well this update has been an even longer time coming since buying the property. I've persevered in my plan, a few relationships have come and gone in between, but I'm finally almost finished building my house! 
As I went with a modular construction, this is the house in the builder's yard, and some not-quite-finished inside photos, it's a 3 bedroom house plus granny flat for mum, will all be joined by a verandah the whole way around.
Handover is next month and mum and I are moving before the end of the year!


----------



## mikiz (Apr 24, 2021)

Well after a small setback with trucks getting bogged and needing assistance to get everything into place, the house is on the block.
The week leading up to the move saw sunny skies and dry weather, and everything was a go, until the 24 hrs beforehand they had a downpour and received 100mm of rain! Ground was boggy and they had some problems with the pad but the builders should have completed the verandahs last week.
Having some communication issues with the electrician and plumber, so the power may not be connected until next month (the pole is being replaced and a new transformer set up mid-May) and the backfill around the house can't be done until the power and plumbing is run from the house. This means the concreting for the verandah won't be done until the backfill is done. 
Not sure what's going to happen yet but they have until Tuesday to decide whether they want the job before we find another company to do it.
I still haven't been down to see it in person as we were meant to go last week, that got moved to early May and now it's been shifted to the end of May. We're hoping to have it all done so I can get the keys when we do the walkthrough.

We still need to install fireplaces, window dressings, pantry and linen cupboard shelving and buy or find furniture. I can't wait to start looking in the second-hand shops to find some unique and homely pieces to decorate. 

It looks tiny in compared to the land and trees around it, but I'm hoping once the verandahs are up it'll look more liveable. The gap between the houses is 2 meters, but it looks like barely a passageway in photos!

Next job is a shed and fencing, the current external fencing is new in some places and old in others, and all of it is barbed wire, which won't work for my horses so most of it will have to go.


----------



## mikiz (May 6, 2021)

We have water tanks!
Never thought I'd be this excited over water storage.
The builders haven't sent me any photos of the house now the verandahs are done but you can see a little tiny part of the house on the corner of one of these photos.

The septics are being done next week and then the power pole going up on the 14th, then the electricians and plumbers can do their connections and the earthworkers can backfill. After that it's just concreting and fireplaces to install when the bank hands over the dough and I get the keys at the end of the month!

Cannot wait for my new life to begin.


----------



## Baymule (May 6, 2021)

This is so exciting! You sure have a nice place and the house looks very nice. With a veranda all the way around, there will always be at least one side in shade with a breeze. Put up a hammock!

Ah the joys of fencing! And barn building! You will be busy for awhile. Be sure to put in a garden too, fresh vegetables are wonderful. How many horses do you have and what breed?


----------



## mikiz (May 6, 2021)

@Baymule i have 2 Gypsy Cob geldings, they're such gorgeous boys. Mum is in charge of growing things and I will learn, I'm not much good at getting anything past the seedling stage! I can't wait to get home. The idea is to be as self sufficient as possible, the only things I want to be paying for are the mortgage and power, and maybe the occasional treat of things we can't make or grow for ourselves, preferably trading what we do have rather than paying in cash.

I just bought byself a little camera drone to take photos of everything as we go from the air. I want to keep a book of how much it all changes.


----------



## Baymule (May 6, 2021)

What beautiful boys! I’m in love!  

I have 2 Tennessee Walkers, one is 34 and retired. Also a chestnut gelding with a blaze face and stocking legs. No idea what breed, he came out of a kill pen.

You will need a chicken coop! Gotta have those fresh eggs!


----------



## mikiz (Jun 15, 2021)

So the settlement date came and went, and the house STILL isn't finished! I'm sure it is all part of a bigger plan but it's so frustrating. I wasted 3 weeks of leave waiting for the go ahead to travel and it never came so I'm back at work now. 

We ended up finding new electricians and plumbers to do the connections because I never heard back from the original guys after a phone conversation and then an email telling me they couldn't fit me in until mid June (now).
The power was FINALLY connected yesterday, but needs to be turned on at the meter.
The last bit of plumbing is waiting to be dug in, but as I expected, it's been raining non-stop because we're in the middle of winter! So the trenches are full of water that's on the wrong side of the pipes.

Septics are in (I think) and the water tanks connected to the house (I think) so at least the water isn't all going to waste. 
The plumber has cost about double what I expected and he's not finished yet, but at least that's my only budget blow out at this stage, so I think we're doing ok. 
My first home owner's grant was paid into my loan account today so winning! Just waiting on the other 2 grants to be paid now.

The bank was going out today to do the final inspection, but I haven't heard how that has progressed and I'm not that confident it will pass in it's current state.
But hey, its all part of it right?

A friend went and cleaned up the trench the electrician had half-heartedly thrown dirt back into, and took some video for me. 

We're so close, I have less than 4 months until our current lease is up, and then whether the house is ready or not (hoping for the former!) we'll be moving permanently to our new home 😍


----------



## Baymule (Jun 15, 2021)

There may have been delays, but you are almost there!


----------

