Landscaping with pickaxes

Last Saturday at Glentui, the hut building workforce included Karol Sleczek, our very knowledgeable travelling teacher and his lovely wife Hermina, Sasha (energy +) from Melbourne Oz, and the usual suspects Niki and Chris (the boss), lovely Lyla and Rody.

After a short and sweet meditation punctuated by the calls of the tui’s from
the beautiful surrounding bushes, the action was full on.

Karol, Hermina and Sasha levelled a flat area of about 4m in diameter for the yet to come water tank, (back breaking convict work!), Karol proved that the different road rules in force in Poland should not affect one’s ability to negotiate tight corners with a wheelbarrow full of dirt in NZ, while Hermina and Sasha displayed outstanding (and surprising) pick and shovel skills.

Niki and Lyla were busy levelling and landscaping a flat area, this time, right in front of the hut. Mateusz, previously against this idea after experiencing difficulty in fine accurate carpentry work on a slanted ground, suddenly agreed.

Chris and Rody were busy finishing the eves at the back of the hut, skilfully balancing on makeshift trestles and and a ladder whilst hammering in nails upwards. Very effective exercise for developing neck and shoulders muscles (and very entertaining to watch). The inside insulation was also started in the upper part of the hut, wool batts were cut to size and fitted in the walls.

Lyla and Niki’s combined effort provided the working gang with a delicious and wholesome lunch, which, added to the breathtaking views, made the event a delightful and convivial experience.

Every sanga and friends are warmly welcome anytime to take part in the action and lunch is always of the finest quality (no reservation is required

PS. Lyla and Rody went back to the site on Tuesday to re-grass the front of the hut and complete the wall insulation. The upper part was thoroughly tested during a (clean) “nana nap” and got a two thumbs up rating for cosiness.

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