Training Log Archive: Mess Engineer

Whilst brother had a trailer we went and got 1 tonne of packing sand for underneath the pavers. My brother shovelled about 2/3 into wheelbarrows and dumped it in his undercover carport whilst I shovelled about 1/3 into buckets and carried them downstairs to his shed under the house where his stairway project is currently up to.

Rest of day with trailer ferrying furniture from Wallalong.
One load of unwanted, and seemingly unsellable, furniture taken to Lifeline Shop on Clyde Street at Hamilton.
Two loads of my high quality outdoor furniture, outdoor dining setting, bench seat and two recliners taken to my brothers rather than putting in storage whilst I decide where I am heading from here.
I was still unloading trailer after 8 pm so it proved to be a long day and a very physical weekend.

Slave labouring for my twin brother.
More than 5 hours in a car driving twice between Arcadia Vale and Kincumber with a two axle trailer and the rest of the time labouring in the humid heat (very different from the morning when it was pouring and I decided to skip parkrun!).
Originally was getting trailer from Kennards Hire but some confusion meant they didn't have dual axle ones and had load limits of only 400 kg. Ended up going to three Bunnings before we managed to get a trailer that wasn't booked out.
Brother was buying over 900 new paver bricks for $50 off Gumtree (an unbelievable bargain!) to finish off his staircase project.
Twice we loaded more than 1 tonne of bricks in the trailer and more in the back of his 4WD and in the passenger foot wells. The car certainly had a workout.
Finding one of the trailer wheels had a flat from a screw in it and having to jack the fully loaded trailer up to change it added to the challenge of the day.
Had to wheel the bricks all up the drive on a trolley from the house selling them and then wheel them down steep drive to my brothers.
But managed to get through the day without breaking the trailer axle or wrecking the tyres (even though they distorted under the load) was a bonus!

C • Definitely 1

Half day at work as had to come back home to be present for Pest Inspection, Building Inspection and House Valuation for potential purchaser.

Looked up information about my old house at Cardiff today as someone at work told me it was up for sale.

Heres what I found.

I bought in 2001 for $315,000.
I sold in May 2010 for $454,950.
Increase of $139,950 or 44% over 9 years.

https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-...
It sold again in December 2015 for $600,000!
Increase of $145,050 or 32% over 5 years.
It was interesting looking at the Real Estate photos as very little had changed (they had repainted the roof and I think the cedar cladding) - nearly every modification I had made was still there.

https://www.realestate.com.au/sold/property-house-...
It sold again in October 2016 for $695,000!
Increase of $95,000 or 16% over 1 year.
Again little had changed - apart from a chandelier being added in main living room and different curtains.

This interesting website shows all 3 sales next to each other
http://www.ozhouseprice.com/sold/list/state/NSW/su...

So in the 6 years I have been at Wallalong my old house increased in value by $240,000 or 52%!

Based on the selling price of Wallalong (still to be signed off yet) it increased in value by $120,000 or 16%.
So lesson is .... if you want house price growth live close to town in suburbia where the demand is - not out in the sticks.

Also whilst there was things I loved about that house - such as the cathedral ceilings, exposed beams and wooden floors - I wouldn't go back to that steep yard, stairs and separate garage again.

Hills everywhere on this map. Have run here 2 times before.

Route 1S 3J 3H 2J 1E 3D 1J 2L 2M 3C 1P 2E 3A 2G 1C 3B 2D 1K

45:33 and 6.57 km for 18 Controls / 36 Points (1 Point x 6, 2 Point x 6, 3 Point x 6) so -1 to bring total to 35 Points. Blame my lateness on equipment malfunction today.

I had never run out 2J-1E-3D-1J-2L on previous runs (although had been there before looking at Christmas lights).

It started bucketing down at 2M and I got soaked. At 2E the water was inside my iPhone pouch and affected the touch screen stopping my timer. I hit restart a few times but the bubble of water kept turning it off again. I eventually took it out of the pouch and carried it in my hand. I wasn't sure how much timer was now out so I elected not to try for 2N or 3G and instead return to the western side of the start. When I finished I was about 2 seconds under on my phone - but had in reality had lost 35 seconds playing around with stop start on the timer!!