Category: Renovation updates

It’s beginning to feel like Summer!

The end of a very long year is finally upon us, and time for us to make some last minute updates, and then to run away to Tasmania while our holiday guests give Lochanbar a real run for their money. … Continue reading →

The end of a very long year is finally upon us, and time for us to make some last minute updates, and then to run away to Tasmania while our holiday guests give Lochanbar a real run for their money. We put up just a couple of decorations to make the house look friendly for Xmas

That circular thing next to the Xmas Wallaby is the vent for a solar power roof ventilator installed for us by Solazone at Marcoola. The boss, Ernest, and his sidekick Baden, had already installed two of these at our house in Brisbane, and we knew this ventilator would help shift hot air build up in the cathedral ceiling during the summer and keep the house fresh. Our natives took to Ernest immediately 🙂

 

Actually, the birds were all rather cheeky and a bit annoying this time. They had become rather too used to being fed by some of our guests, and as a result, were a lot more determined to get up close and personal with us, which is alarming enough when it’s a king parrot

But when it’s a currawong or a huge sulphur-crested cockatoo (or several of them at once!), it can really be off-putting.

It was also causing the birds to fight amongst themselves

The thing is, no one has to feed the birds. We never do, and yet we see them on the front and back decks all the time. Feeding them alters natural behaviour, removes their fear of man which makes them vulnerable to people who would hurt them, and can make them sick or overbreed. So we ask that you don’t. It’s actually a by-law of the estate, and a National Park regulation.

And when they aren’t fed, they don’t hang around and poo all over the furniture. Yours truly spent hours and hours and hundreds of litres of water trying to clean the deck chairs. Not much fun, and the birds promptly soiled it all again 🙁

The deck is a refuge though. In our recent spate of wet weather, some nearly fledged King Parrot chicks hung around looking miserable

At least it was dry, and not that cold. They were all fine the next time we saw them in the dry.

The rain has brought grass, and the grass has brought baby wallabies. One young mum with a joey that had just left the house, was a source of much amusement, because the joey was at that stage when it looked like a skinny little rat with long legs, and was so adorable

Doug had a chance between showers to go for a short walk in the forest, and photographed these mighty trees

I’ll end this post with some of the lovely feedback we’ve had from recent visitors either through our visitors’ book or the accommodation centre feedback page:

Lochanbar was a beautiful relaxing place to stay. The renovations have made this a very comfortable accommodation – home away from home. All the little extras made it more so and we certainly would consider staying there again should we have the opportunity. Having the linen provided was a huge plus. Not having to fit sheets into our airline luggage was so helpful. The snuggle rugs in the lounge were great for we Far North Queenslanders. The beds were very comfortable and a great height for my disabled husband to get in and out of.
This short holiday was a 21st Birthday gift to our Granddaughter. On our first night there she said ‘This is such a lovely place, if I have a family we are coming here for holidays’. I think that is the best endorsement.
I rate everything A+

Thanks to the Lochanbar owners for sharing their home.

We have 4 small children and it was a delight to walk into such a kid
friendly place…  with lots of other properties I have to do a sweep of the
property lifting up ‘breakables’ and putting up stair gates!

We were able to unpack and immediately relax, we can’t thank you enough!  We
had a wonderful weekend of relaxing quality family time!

And this gorgeous picture recent guests left with their note

So all that remains is for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a safe and joyful 2018!

More lovely feedback

The year is getting away from us so fast! We were up a couple of weeks ago, installed a new electric dryer and front load washing machine, as well as a new dishwasher after the last one turned out to … Continue reading →

The year is getting away from us so fast! We were up a couple of weeks ago, installed a new electric dryer and front load washing machine, as well as a new dishwasher after the last one turned out to be a lemon (note: Beko will not repair machines if you don’t live in a city, so their guarantee is worthless!)

We’re going up next week and that’s the last time before Christmas and New Year. We’re fully booked up from 18 December until after New Year, so I hope our visitors have a great time.

We just had some lovely feedback forwarded to us by Sue Unwin at the Accommodation centre:

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay!
Staff were friendly and efficient, property was kid friendly and clean!
Our overall stay was fantastic!
Thanks to the Lochanbar owners for sharing their home.
We have 4 small children and it was a delight to walk into such a kid
friendly place…  with lots of other properties I have to do a sweep of the
property lifting up ‘breakables’ and putting up stair gates!
We were able to unpack and immediately relax, we can’t thank you enough!  We
had a wonderful weekend of relaxing quality family time!

Which is so nice to hear. We have worked hard to make the place welcoming to our young visitors, and to everyone else, of course.

In 2018, with all the kinks worked out, we should be able to take more proper holidays up there, but we will keep working to keep the house friendly, usable, and a luxurious place for our visitors to rest and play in.

Early indications are good :)

We crept away at the start of April, renovations done, house reopened for bookings, just a teeny bit trepidatious about how people would react to the revamp. We went back at the start of May, and I went straight to … Continue reading →

We crept away at the start of April, renovations done, house reopened for bookings, just a teeny bit trepidatious about how people would react to the revamp. We went back at the start of May, and I went straight to the new visitor book to see if anyone had left a note, mentally girding myself for complaints.

Well, if the first entries are anything to go by, the reactions are good! (Don’t worry, I don’t plan to post every entry as they come in 🙂 ) And as you know, complimenting someone’s house is like saying nice things about their child, so I feel all warm and glowy about it now.

I loved it! So beautiful and relaxing! Lots of wallabys and [sic] sqriells

It was aw[e]some to stay. We all loved it.

A thoroughly comfortable and enjoyable stay in your beautiful house.

Amazing house! Very well equiped. Thank you for making it a lovely home away from home.

What a beautiful place to relax and unwind! We loves it. So comfy and well appointed. Thanks for making it a great place to stay. PS The transformation is awesome!

Thank you to the guests who commented, and all those who’ve stayed there since we reopened. The weather has become dramatically colder (which is lovely after the summer heatwaves) so the blankets and split cycle heater came in handy. I hope our visitors continue to enjoy staying there, and we will keep working on Lochanbar to tweak and improve it more.

One more expense

So, we can add one (and later another) septic tank pump to the list of new equipment we’ve had to buy for the house. On Saturday we suddenly had a power failure affecting all the power outlets, crucially, especially the … Continue reading →

So, we can add one (and later another) septic tank pump to the list of new equipment we’ve had to buy for the house. On Saturday we suddenly had a power failure affecting all the power outlets, crucially, especially the water pump and the fridge. Without water, we couldn’t continue finishing up the cleaning or anything else, so we packed up in a hurry and drove back to Brisbane (which I didn’t enjoy in the dark or while very tired.) Fortunately the lovely Jenepher at the Bunya Mountains Accommodation Centre was able to hook me up with Peter Elliot, who had a look at it on Tuesday. He reported that one pump had failed, the other is close to failing, and was able to replace the first, and get us our power and water back so we could finish up and clear out.

Even now we are still waiting for Kingaroy Joinery to replace the lock in the new laundry screen door for the second time!

Two things are good about all this though. One, that these problems occurred while we were still up there, and not while we had our first guests after renovation, and two, that they are fixable. We’ve ended up with quite a few unexpected expenses with the house – all of them pretty major, like the water tanks needing replacing, the driveway needing to be concreted, the front balustrade needing to be completely replaced and so on – adding at least $30,000 to what we’d budgeted. It’s not what we wanted, but in the end we have a house we are proud to let out to people, one which we believe is comfortable and safe, and hopefully there won’t be any more enormous expenses while we own the place (for many years, we’d like!).

Anyway, now we’re home and taking a well-earned break from being in our holiday home (oh the irony :)!)

And we are done!

Almost. Just a teeny tiny problemette with our electricity (which fortunately occurred after we had the photos taken by the lovely Helen for the Bunya Mountains Accommodation listing) so we’ve had to come home briefly, before returning one last time … Continue reading →

Almost. Just a teeny tiny problemette with our electricity (which fortunately occurred after we had the photos taken by the lovely Helen for the Bunya Mountains Accommodation listing) so we’ve had to come home briefly, before returning one last time to collect the rest of our stuff and clear up. We’re running late thanks to builders and Cyclone Debbie, but we will be open for bookings as of Thursday morning, 6th April!

These photos are not done by Helen, so don’t blame her for my amateur efforts 🙂 Click to see the entire gallery.











































So, so close!

In the home stretch now! The last ten days or so have been exhausting, but productive. New driveway. New kitchen. New bathroom. New water tanks. New deck screens. New window screens. Newly emptied bank account 🙂 Doug has worked his … Continue reading →

In the home stretch now! The last ten days or so have been exhausting, but productive. New driveway. New kitchen. New bathroom. New water tanks. New deck screens. New window screens.

Newly emptied bank account 🙂

Doug has worked his butt off, but we also have to thank Hansen Kitchens, Paul Reeves Carpentry and his team (hi Mark and Jason!), John Paynter and team (the concreting), Bradley and team at Nanango Tank Makers, Brian Stoker and his team at Sunset Canvas (Toowoomba), and Kingaroy Joinery (Alu-gard window screens). Still a little to finish off in the bathroom, and a lot of painting to do inside and out, but we’re getting there.

Have some photos!

Trying to reach those hard to get at places requires interesting positions!

Out with the old water tanks

Which have to be rolled up the hill

And in with the new!

John Paynter (left, in straw hat) and team, waiting for the pour

Waiting for the concrete

Spreading the concrete

Finishing touches

And, it’s finished!

Kitchen gone

And now it’s back, better than ever!

Jason the plumber hard at work

Bathroom in progress!

We’re back in Brisbane, fortunate not to have been trapped on the mountain by this very welcome, heavy storm on Sunday afternoon around four (just as we were leaving) Meanwhile Paul Reeves and his crew are working on the house, … Continue reading →

We’re back in Brisbane, fortunate not to have been trapped on the mountain by this very welcome, heavy storm on Sunday afternoon around four (just as we were leaving)

Meanwhile Paul Reeves and his crew are working on the house, demolishing the kitchen ready for the new install this Thursday, and putting in the new bathroom

Including a new floor (view before installation, obviously!)

We go up this Sunday to pick up the new house signs from Anne Ralph at the Bunya Mountains Markets, and to drop off part of the five or so cubic metres of furniture and other items still waiting to go up to Lochanbar. I can actually see some of the sunroom floor now.

With the weather a little cooler, we are now sprinting to the finish. So much left to be done though. Can’t wait until the new bathroom and kitchen are done!

Renovation progress post no.1

Whatever we’re doing up here, there’s always time to stop and look at the wildlife Thanks to the hard work of Paul Reeves and his team from Kingaroy, we now have back stairs from the deck, and a brand-new hardwood balustrade … Continue reading →

Whatever we’re doing up here, there’s always time to stop and look at the wildlife

Thanks to the hard work of Paul Reeves and his team from Kingaroy, we now have back stairs from the deck, and a brand-new hardwood balustrade on the front verandah. Airconditioning went in a couple of weeks ago, and boy, we’ve needed that on a few days. The new fridge with its bigger capacity was also welcome, as were the powerful new pedestal fans we’ve bought for the living room and bedrooms.

We finally sorted out the issue with the Telstra Smart Antenna—it was simply faulty and has been replaced. Now we have moderately decent reception inside the house, at least for a few hours a day. Not much help to our guests on other networks, but the Optus reception tends to be better without any assistance anyway.

Doug has painted the floorboards and balustrades on the front verandah, and the house exterior is almost completely repainted. Inside the house, we’ve replaced the mattresses in the queen and double bedrooms, purchased close on $3000 worth of art, mostly from local artists, got rid of a lot of the old, tired furniture, and replaced it with new stuff waiting to be set up once the kitchen and bathroom are finished. Lots of new rugs and brand new bedding to go in too.

Michelle and Clinton Hansen of Hansen Kitchens will be installing our new kitchen on March 2, and Paul Reeves will be working on that and our new bathroom around the same time. On March 1, we get new window screens and a new water tank!

Still to be done. Painting, painting, painting! Washing all the things! Buying all the things! Carpet cleaning! Running around and waking up in the middle of the night wondering what we’ve forgotten!

Oh yes, the life of a new holiday home owner is a nonstop whirl 🙂