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LJ70 Build Thread!

Do you have to fill in the logbook for mileage with the club reg when you use them? I guess limited miles per year?

IIRC the VIC scheme is days per year; the NSW scheme has followed the VIC one, and up here we can use them for x number of days a year + club events. So if you get it right, you can do a weekend club event and it wouldn't come out of your days.

Landlord has his 2x Triumphs on it, and we thought about putting the old ute on it but you only get 60 days in NSW, and we tend to use it a bit more frequently than that.
 
Ben, What a thorough post you've provided. Great work. Your talents appear endless along with your energy in spite of the circumstances. Looks like it works. Keep it up! And God bless you and Bec on having that wee one on the way.
 
I remember when my son was in Sams age maybe little older, he’s now 22, and he was also totally into diggers and tractors.
We did the drainage around the house and I rented a 1.5 ton digger. I let him use the machine and his face was just a big smile. :D He learned to dig pretty quick.
I really wish you a good recovery from the sickness.
 
Ben you are amazing. You seem to achieve more in 3 months sick than I do in a year when I’m well! Best wishes to you and Bec. Rich.
 
Thanks guys. :thumbup:

Excellent work Ben, always amazed by how much you get done plus the added treatment.

Sam is definitely enjoying getting stuck in helping with the work, its great when the kids get involved.

Do you have to fill in the logbook for mileage with the club reg when you use them? I guess limited miles per year?

Thanks Gary.

No limit on miles its days.

You can choose 45 days or 90 days. If you choose 45 and its not enough you can buy another 45.

I've currently got the 2 LandCruisers on 45 days each and the Hilux on 90.

This is what the inside of the log book looks like and for particular of use I just put "Drive to ..............."

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Little update time.......................

Patio & Driveway.

I raked the crushed rock around on the driveway and tried to get all the levels right ready for the concreting.

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Then I realised I hadnt put a storm water pipe in for the car port roof to drain into.

So I had to dig a hole and put some pipework in.

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With the hole filled in me and Sam raked the crushed rock back over and got ready for wackering.

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We had some left for the patio base which I wheel barrow'd down and tipped into position.

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And raked out.

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Then it was time to get half a cubic meter of sand for the patio and the wacker.

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I wackered the crushed rock where the patio was going and pegged a couple of lengths of pine to the ground.

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I did a 4 to 1 dry mix of sand and cement.

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And began tipping it into position.

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And then I just used a length of timber to level it all out.

I also set a string line up as I learnt with the paving slabs under the shed that if they arnt laid perfectly straight they soon start running out and it gets worse as you go.

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When I had laid them all I mixed some concrete to go around the edges to help support it all.

The concrete will be covered with top soil and grass when I get a load of top soil and create a nice lawn.

I also gave it all a good soaking with the hose to get the dry motor mix under the slabs to set, this also made the patio look like a chess board.

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When they're dry they look a lot less like a chess board and when I picked them all up I actually thought they were all the same shade of grey until it rained a week later and I discovered there were 2 different shades.

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Fire Wood.

I spotted yet more fire wood left at the side of the road so I filled the tiny boot in the Subaru.

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Then went back with the Hilux for a decent load.

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All Australian hardwood and all only a few k's from our house.

It completely filled the wood shed.

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Its all green at the moment but will be nice and dry by next winter.

I'm going to buy a 10 ton electric hydraulic log splitter to split it all up.

Hoping to get the driveway concreted this Saturday and then I will build the carport which will house The 78 and Hilux. :thumbup:
 
I cut the grass this weekend...


Ben you’re mad, I swear. You’re supposed to be taking it easy :eusa-snooty:

OK, I know I’m wasting my breath, so I’ll shut the f kup.
Loads of work, loads of improvements, you’re doing a grand job matey :thumbup:

Hugs for Becs and roll-on September. Book her in on the 1st and the newby can share my daughter Ana’s birthday :lol:
 
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Thanks Clive. :thumbup:

I tried taking it easy and spent 2 days doing nothing when I last got out of hospital but I found it really depressing as it gave me too much time to think and dwell on the fact I was only half way through the treatment and still had another 3.5 months of chemo and hospital stays.

But when I keep myself busy I don’t have time to think about all that crap and I’m much happier! :shifty:
 
Keeping busy is healthy. too much time to think and dwell (unless thinking about projects, holidays, camping and food) is not! As has been said before you get an impressive amount of work done. Just don't strain yourself.

Regards Graeme
 
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Thanks Graeme. :thumbup:

Little update time................ :dance:

So I had a busy 10 days at home between my last hospital chemo admission and this one.

Patio.

The first day home from my last admission and Sam had gone down for this mid day nap and Bec and I decided to go and use the patio for the first time and cook some brunch.

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Bec's Dad has kindly offered to buy us a Weber BBQ so smokey BBQ's may be a thing of the past, at least on the patio.

We're getting the smaller one as we can then also take it camping with us, although I think I will always prefer to cook on a proper fire, sometimes its hard to go past the speed and convenience of cooking on gas.

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The Astra.

I was trying to avoid getting a roadworthy certificate (MOT) for the Astra, but after a month or 2 of not really trying to sell it I resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to if I wanted to get a decent price for it.

So I put it in and it failed on:

Front shocks being soft and one leaking.
Tie rod end worn out.
Wipers not working properly.
Rear tyres having insufficient tread.
Rear number plate had come unclipped and was hanging down inside the bumper.

I went to my local scrap yard which fortunately always has heaps of Astra's and an hour later I had removed a pair of front struts, tie rod end and wiper stalk and all for the pricely sum of $90.

It was hard knowing which car to remove front struts from as non of the cars have wheels on them its not possible to push down on a corner of a car and feel them.

So I settled for a pair which were aftermarket ones, my theory being a previous owner has obviously changed them so maybe they wouldnt have done many k's.

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Got the Astra down to the only flatish section of driveway and fitted all the bits.

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Then I took it to our local tyre place who just so happened to have a decent pair of part worn tyres which he did me for $45 each fitted and balanced.

I then took it back to the roadworthy place and they re-inspected it and gave me the certificate.

The next day it sold for $2500, which considering I bought it 18 months previously for $1200 and had spent every second of driving of it thrashing the life out of it I was quite happy with that!

New Tools.

I decided to invest some of the money in something I've wanted for a while and will no doubt need for house renovations/the extension and the business I'm going to start.

The biggest mitre saw the tool shop had.

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I also got some clamps/spreaders which have 283kg of clamping force.

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The Hilux.

As we move into winter and the days get colder I had found the Hilux was struggling to start so I bought some new glow plugs for it.

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The slug AKA Toyota 3L 2.8 litre non turbo diesel.

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The old glow plugs were really badly worn so it was no wonder it was struggling to start.

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With the new plugs fitted it now starts beautifully and hopefully will continue to do so until I find a suitable 1KZ-TE engine donor and can finally get rid of the boat anchor under the bonnet.

Concrete.

I did some more prep work last Friday, ready for the concrete.

As I knew there would probably be some concrete left over from the driveway I wanted to have some other areas prepped where it could be used up.

I had never been happy with how the concrete on the main driveway had been finished on this silly angle or how the end of the drain was just open to the dirt.

So I dug it out, squared it off and did some form work so I could concrete this corner.

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I threw a load of broken concrete rubble and stones int he bottom and wacked it down as best i could with the sledge hammer.

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I drilled into the existing concrete and added a load of steel dowels to stop this corner from sinking/dropping.

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And finally added some reinforcing steel mesh.

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Another area I wasnt happy about was a section of dirt/weeds between the driveway and the house.

So I dug that out also.

*Take note of the raised concrete plinth under the bin, another area I wasnt happy about as it wasnt big enough for all the bins to sit on.

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The other prep work I needed to do was around the other side of the house where the new concrete driveway would join the existing, as it had become damaged and cracked from me driving over it with the huge bobcat I had on hire all those months ago.

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So I cut that corner off to remove the crack and amazingly I even managed to salvage the original reo in the concrete. Then I did some more form work to re-cast the channel drain with support for the grate that will go in the top.

I also drilled holes all along the old concrete every 50cm for 1/2" steel dowels to go into to connect the old and new sections of concrete.

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Saturday was concrete day and I randomly woke up at 2am and couldnt get back to sleep, I was so excited!!!!

I put some reo mesh down at the bottom of the driveway but I couldnt put it all down as we hoped the mixer would be able to reverse to that point and we knew if the mixer drove over the mesh it would probably make a mess of it.

My concreter friend Michael setup the timber form work.

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When I ordered the concrete the company had said the driver would need 3 meters minimum width and that was the exact width of the driveway coming down the first ramp from road level.

The mixer turned up and was a big truck, fortunately the driver was really good and was happy to reverse down and get his truck exactly where we wanted it, he did a great job!

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I also had my other good mate, Michael helping and between him and the other Michael they worked really hard and did an excellent job!

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The fat balding guy on the far right also helped a bit. :lol:

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Sam who has been obsessed with mixers and diggers for a long time, thought it was great! he also had fun playing with concreter Michael's daughter.

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While the 2 Michael's got the driveway looking great, I took concrete over to the 2 other little areas.

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My old friend Michael went after a few hours and concreter Michael spent the rest of the day getting it perfect!

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Mean while I got busy around the other side.

As we had a bit more concrete left than I thought we would I decided to make the bin plinth bigger.

The Hilux was in a handy position to brace the form work off.

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Michael helped me make it look pretty as it wouldnt have looked anywhere near this good if I didnt have his help.

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The other little section was also looking good with his help.

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Michael worked really hard and was there until 5pm and left just as it was getting dark.

He did a great job and refused to take any money from me as he said he doesnt charge mates. :clap:

So I will repay him by doing a load of carpentry work on the house hes just bought which needs totally renovating.

By the end of the day it was dry enough for us to remove the timber form work.

He did a texture finish on the ramp.

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And smooth on the top section as that will be inside my carport/garage and I want to be abe to drag trolley jacks/tool boxes and car creepers over it.

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The next day it was hard enough to walk on and I removed the timber form work around this little corner of the other driveway and filled the dirt in around it.

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A few days later I did the saw cuts in the positions and to a depth of 20mm as per Michael's instructions.

The point of the saw cuts is so that if the concrete is going to crack, it cracks along the saw cuts and hopefully no where else.

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The bins fit nicely now.

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So my next job now is to build my carport/garage.

It will be long enough to fit both LandCruisers and my Hilux in and will go all the way from the top of the ramp where the storm water pipe is sticking up.

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To the gates and will follow the shape of the ground so will have a strange angle on it to fit snugly against the house.

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A few measurements on my dodgy drawing.

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I'm hoping to start that next week.

Once the roof is up I will enclose the sides and get a remote operated roller shutter door for the front. I'm hoping I can modify the existing gate and use it at the back of the carport, at the top of the ramp leading down to the garden.

Once its all built I can sort the double garage out and actually have space to work in there. :icon-cool:
 
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Nice work, the concrete look a great.
Carport will be really useful. I made one a couple year ago, for an area to store trailer and work on Hilux , it’s too tall to fit in garage. But I immediately filled it with a load of free elm wood I chopped up.... finally shifted that into wood store this year when I used the firewood that was in the store.. it’s nice to have my carport back for working on the Hilux now
 
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Thanks Graeme. :thumbup:

Little update time................ :dance:

So I had a busy 10 days at home between my last hospital chemo admission and this one.

Patio.

The first day home from my last admission and Sam had gone down for this mid day nap and Bec and I decided to go and use the patio for the first time and cook some brunch.

View attachment 166277

View attachment 166278

View attachment 166279

View attachment 166280

Bec's Dad has kindly offered to buy us a Weber BBQ so smokey BBQ's may be a thing of the past, at least on the patio.

We're getting the smaller one as we can then also take it camping with us, although I think I will always prefer to cook on a proper fire, sometimes its hard to go past the speed and convenience of cooking on gas.

View attachment 166281

The Astra.

I was trying to avoid getting a roadworthy certificate (MOT) for the Astra, but after a month or 2 of not really trying to sell it I resigned myself to the fact that I'd have to if I wanted to get a decent price for it.

So I put it in and it failed on:

Front shocks being soft and one leaking.
Tie rod end worn out.
Wipers not working properly.
Rear tyres having insufficient tread.
Rear number plate had come unclipped and was hanging down inside the bumper.

I went to my local scrap yard which fortunately always has heaps of Astra's and an hour later I had removed a pair of front struts, tie rod end and wiper stalk and all for the pricely sum of $90.

It was hard knowing which car to remove front struts from as non of the cars have wheels on them its not possible to push down on a corner of a car and feel them.

So I settled for a pair which were aftermarket ones, my theory being a previous owner has obviously changed them so maybe they wouldnt have done many k's.

View attachment 166284

Got the Astra down to the only flatish section of driveway and fitted all the bits.

View attachment 166282

View attachment 166283

Then I took it to our local tyre place who just so happened to have a decent pair of part worn tyres which he did me for $45 each fitted and balanced.

I then took it back to the roadworthy place and they re-inspected it and gave me the certificate.

The next day it sold for $2500, which considering I bought it 18 months previously for $1200 and had spent every second of driving of it thrashing the life out of it I was quite happy with that!

New Tools.

I decided to invest some of the money in something I've wanted for a while and will no doubt need for house renovations/the extension and the business I'm going to start.

The biggest mitre saw the tool shop had.

View attachment 166290

View attachment 166291

I also got some clamps/spreaders which have 283kg of clamping force.

View attachment 166292

The Hilux.

As we move into winter and the days get colder I had found the Hilux was struggling to start so I bought some new glow plugs for it.

View attachment 166285

View attachment 166286

The slug AKA Toyota 3L 2.8 litre non turbo diesel.

View attachment 166287

The old glow plugs were really badly worn so it was no wonder it was struggling to start.

View attachment 166288

View attachment 166289

With the new plugs fitted it now starts beautifully and hopefully will continue to do so until I find a suitable 1KZ-TE engine donor and can finally get rid of the boat anchor under the bonnet.

Concrete.

I did some more prep work last Friday, ready for the concrete.

As I knew there would probably be some concrete left over from the driveway I wanted to have some other areas prepped where it could be used up.

I had never been happy with how the concrete on the main driveway had been finished on this silly angle or how the end of the drain was just open to the dirt.

So I dug it out, squared it off and did some form work so I could concrete this corner.

View attachment 166293

I threw a load of broken concrete rubble and stones int he bottom and wacked it down as best i could with the sledge hammer.

View attachment 166294

I drilled into the existing concrete and added a load of steel dowels to stop this corner from sinking/dropping.

View attachment 166295

View attachment 166296

And finally added some reinforcing steel mesh.

View attachment 166297

Another area I wasnt happy about was a section of dirt/weeds between the driveway and the house.

So I dug that out also.

*Take note of the raised concrete plinth under the bin, another area I wasnt happy about as it wasnt big enough for all the bins to sit on.

View attachment 166298

View attachment 166299

The other prep work I needed to do was around the other side of the house where the new concrete driveway would join the existing, as it had become damaged and cracked from me driving over it with the huge bobcat I had on hire all those months ago.

View attachment 166300

So I cut that corner off to remove the crack and amazingly I even managed to salvage the original reo in the concrete. Then I did some more form work to re-cast the channel drain with support for the grate that will go in the top.

I also drilled holes all along the old concrete every 50cm for 1/2" steel dowels to go into to connect the old and new sections of concrete.

View attachment 166301

View attachment 166302

Saturday was concrete day and I randomly woke up at 2am and couldnt get back to sleep, I was so excited!!!!

I put some reo mesh down at the bottom of the driveway but I couldnt put it all down as we hoped the mixer would be able to reverse to that point and we knew if the mixer drove over the mesh it would probably make a mess of it.

My concreter friend Michael setup the timber form work.

View attachment 166303

View attachment 166304

When I ordered the concrete the company had said the driver would need 3 meters minimum width and that was the exact width of the driveway coming down the first ramp from road level.

The mixer turned up and was a big truck, fortunately the driver was really good and was happy to reverse down and get his truck exactly where we wanted it, he did a great job!

View attachment 166305

I also had my other good mate, Michael helping and between him and the other Michael they worked really hard and did an excellent job!

View attachment 166306

View attachment 166307

View attachment 166308

The fat balding guy on the far right also helped a bit. :lol:

View attachment 166309

Sam who has been obsessed with mixers and diggers for a long time, thought it was great! he also had fun playing with concreter Michael's daughter.

View attachment 166310

While the 2 Michael's got the driveway looking great, I took concrete over to the 2 other little areas.

View attachment 166311

My old friend Michael went after a few hours and concreter Michael spent the rest of the day getting it perfect!

View attachment 166312

View attachment 166313

View attachment 166314

Mean while I got busy around the other side.

As we had a bit more concrete left than I thought we would I decided to make the bin plinth bigger.

The Hilux was in a handy position to brace the form work off.

View attachment 166315

View attachment 166316

Michael helped me make it look pretty as it wouldnt have looked anywhere near this good if I didnt have his help.

View attachment 166318

View attachment 166319

The other little section was also looking good with his help.

View attachment 166317

Michael worked really hard and was there until 5pm and left just as it was getting dark.

He did a great job and refused to take any money from me as he said he doesnt charge mates. :clap:

So I will repay him by doing a load of carpentry work on the house hes just bought which needs totally renovating.

By the end of the day it was dry enough for us to remove the timber form work.

He did a texture finish on the ramp.

View attachment 166320

And smooth on the top section as that will be inside my carport/garage and I want to be abe to drag trolley jacks/tool boxes and car creepers over it.

View attachment 166321

View attachment 166322

View attachment 166323

View attachment 166324

The next day it was hard enough to walk on and I removed the timber form work around this little corner of the other driveway and filled the dirt in around it.

View attachment 166325

A few days later I did the saw cuts in the positions and to a depth of 20mm as per Michael's instructions.

The point of the saw cuts is so that if the concrete is going to crack, it cracks along the saw cuts and hopefully no where else.

View attachment 166326

View attachment 166327

View attachment 166328

View attachment 166329

View attachment 166330

The bins fit nicely now.

View attachment 166331

So my next job now is to build my carport/garage.

It will be long enough to fit both LandCruisers and my Hilux in and will go all the way from the top of the ramp where the storm water pipe is sticking up.

View attachment 166332

To the gates and will follow the shape of the ground so will have a strange angle on it to fit snugly against the house.

View attachment 166333

A few measurements on my dodgy drawing.

View attachment 166334

I'm hoping to start that next week.

Once the roof is up I will enclose the sides and get a remote operated roller shutter door for the front. I'm hoping I can modify the existing gate and use it at the back of the carport, at the top of the ramp leading down to the garden.

Once its all built I can sort the double garage out and actually have space to work in there. :icon-cool:

This is impressive Ben.:thumbup::thumbup:
One feature of concrete is that it does crack. You can minimize it with the fabric mesh you’ve put in and the tie dowels. It’s a lot of extra effort, but we’ll worth it. The saw cuts will allow contraction joints to form without ending up with crazy paving, nice job matey
 
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Thanks guys. :thumbup:

Time for an update............

Car Port.

I built the carport and the Hilux proved invaluable.

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I bought a fancy new saw.

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Dyna-bolted a joist to the house wall giving a nice fall.

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Then came out from that with level joists/rafters.

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I fixed galvanised shoes to the concrete to support the bottom of the posts.

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Top of the posts needed notching to support the rafters.

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More timber.

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I extended the fence up to enclose the side of the carport up to the roof.

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I had to add a gutter along the house wall.

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I needed to remove this section of concrete that the previous owner had obviously poured to allow normal cars to get down the ramp.

I needed to remove it so the 78 will fit underneath with its roof rack on.

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I looked into hiring a big breaker/jack hammer but the hire cost was as much as buying one, so I just bought one.

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I cut out a section of concrete for the gutter to drain into.

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I did the rear down pipe and gutter and discovered I'd put the storm water pipe in the wrong place. :doh:

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I got the roof sheets delivered and the front ones in particular were a bit of a struggle to carry and lift, being 8.5 meters long. The rear ones were a bit easier at 6.5 meters long.

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I worked through the rain to get the sheets on.

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I decorated the walls with some signs I'd collected over the years.

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I decided to get a bit artistic with some spare 70 series panels I'm keeping.

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Next I enclosed this side of the car port.

This is only temporary as when I build the extension on the back of the house with the 3 car garage underneath I will probably open this wall up again.

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Through out the project this nibbler has proven invaluable. Such a great tool for cutting tin sheets.

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I put some pallet racking up for the rest of my spare LandCruiser parts to be stored on.

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I built a new pedestrian door for the back of the garage, as I had removed the old full size tilting metal garage door.

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And I built a studwall up to the new door frame.

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I built a pedestrian door for the carport.

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Unfortunately I discovered there still wasnt quite enough height for the 78, despite me removing 200mm of concrete from the bottom of the ramp. :doh:

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So I used a length of timber on the trolley jack and jacked this front rafter up 60mm and spaced it up with blocks of timber.

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Its put a slight kink in the roof but its not very noticeable.

I will replace the timber spacers with steel shortly.

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I will have to redo some of the tinted corrugated plastic I had used around the curve around the front.

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But at least the 78 now fits in.

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I still need to get rid of all this rubble but that will have to wait until I'm stronger.

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I picked up a roller shutter for the rear of the carport off Facebook Market place for $50 from a house that was being demolished.

I never realised how heavy they are and in hindsight I should have used the Hilux to pick it up.

I still need to get one for the front of the carport and that one will have to be motorised and have a remote.

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Garage/Workshop.

With LJ out of the garage and in the back of the carport, I've been able to setup my workshop just how I want it.

I picked up a sheet of 10mm thick steel plate for my new welding bench as it only had a 3mm steel top and thats not thick enough for welding on as it would distort.

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It weighed 180kg so I had to use the crane to get it into position.

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I ordered a piece of steel with a nice 80mm overhang to make clamping things down to the bench top nice and easy.

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I would need to clean all the mill scale off the bench top, weld it into position, paint the bench frame and I had ordered an expensive new vice for it.

Up until a few weeks ago I underwent 6 weeks of chemo once a week with a constant high dose of steroids. The steroids were worse than the chemo and resulted in me only getting 2 hours sleep a night. It was horrific, but I made the most of it and I was out in the garage every morning at 2am pottering away, sorting bolts out, putting up lights and power sockets.
I did jobs I would never have got around to in a million years as I would never have been able to justify spending all the time sorting boxes of bolts out etc.

This is how the workshop turned out.

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I was pleased to clear out underneath this bench so that I can sit at it again with my legs underneath it. Theres times when you're working on something and its a lot more comfortable to be able to sit at a bench with your legs underneath.

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I'm really pleased with how the bench has come out with the new top, blue paint and new vice.

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I looked for a while for a second hand off set Australian Dawn vice. They were nearly all the much more common red ones and many of them had been broken and welded back together.

So I looked into new ones and discovered the Dawn green vices which are guaranteed unbreakable for life and are made out of different steel to the red ones.

Its the biggest off set vice Dawn make and its 100% Australian made and will last a life time, I imagine I will pass it on to my grandchild and I see no reason why it shouldnt last hundreds of years.

At $900 it wasnt cheap, but I've always had a thing for vices, particularly English made Record vices (I brought 4 out with me when I emigrated) but sadly Irwin completely F'd Record, like all the other tool companies they bought up, for the name only as they instantly shifted production to China and the quality went through the floor sadly.

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Cars.

I finally sourced a rear boot carpet section from a KZJ771 in the UK. This was the last section of carpet I needed to complete my LJ70 and was the hardest to source as usually the boot carpet gets dirty and damaged first.

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The Hilux was struggling to start on the cold mornings, so I bought some new glow plugs for it.

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The old ones were really badly worn.

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The non turbo 3L snail in all its glory.

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I had been looking for a suitable 1KZ engine donor for most of the year for my Hilux (as the 3Lis painful to drive at times, hills in particular are horrible, its so gutless) and I was really struggling to find a Toyota Surf with a manual transmission, all the ones imported were nearly all auto's.

Then I spotted this accident damaged Hilux.

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The car was in Geelong which meant I couldnt go and look at it without breaking the law as we are in lock down and non essential travel is banned.

So I bank transferred a stranger $4.5k and then paid a tow truck driver $450 cash to pick it up and deliver it to me.

It all worked out well and 24 hours after spotting it it was in my garage!

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The next morning I winched it out of the garage to try and pull some of the dent out of the bullbar, before I remove the bullbar completely.

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It wasnt very succesful so I will try and hammer it out once its off the vehicle.

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I stripped lots more parts off it and then got it outside to remove the tray.

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Brand new wheel and tyre, meaning the car came with 3 brand new tyres and 2 part worns.

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The original front drivers wheel took a hell of a hit.

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I disconnected everything to allow me to remove the cab.

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The pile of bits was slowly growing.

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I winched the Hilux back outside.

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And began jacking the cab up ready to wheel the chassis out from underneath.

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It was dodgy as F and you can see how much the back end moved across after escaping twice!

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After my heavily pregnant wife helped me for half an hour placing blocks of timber under it looked like this, which was probably the safest it had been.

The original plan had been to pull the chassis back into the garage but realising I'd have to go much higher still I decided to pull the chassis forwards and out the side.

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Next I needed to lower the cab down onto a trolley.

my plan is to try and sell the cab complete with interior, doors, dash etc. as that will cut down on the amount of car parts hanging around and needing selling.

The cab is also in good condition so it seems the best course of action.

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The cab got winched up the hill.

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The cab got parked out of the way and then the chassis could be lowered down the hill way to go in the garage.

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I had the wonderful idea of winching the back end around and in using the winch on the front of the 78.

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Only I discovered for the first time ever the Warn 8274 winch wasnt working. :doh:

The blame is very much being pointed at the albright style solenoid mounted to the winch motor as its getting power and a good earth.

So I had to resort to using the trolley jack and high lift jack to shunt the chassis around. It was bloody hard work, especially for someone who is extremely weak from months of intensive chemo and I was also infeced with Rino virus. :thumbdown:

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Eventually it was in though.

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I massively overdid it though those 2 days working on the Hilux as I then spent the next 7 days on the sofa battling flu.

Eventually I managed to do a bit more on it...........

I drained the power steering fluid and I've honestly never seen fluid this dirty before, I suspect its never been changed!
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Pulled the engine out.

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I'm hoping to make about $4k profit and end up with the 1KZ engine for my conversion, R151 transmission, aircon setup, airbox, exhaust, radiator, prop shafts.

I've already sold the side steps/scub bars for $200, owners manual for $50, bonnet protector for $50 and towbar for $200.

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I was hoping to pull out the 3L and get that sold last weekend, but unfortunately as Melbourne i in stage 4 lockdown, no on can legally come to the house to collect/buy anything. :doh:

But I've been doing some more work stripping the remains of the Hilux and working on the new engine. :thumbup:
 
Last edited:
Hi guys, all good down here thanks. :flags-australia:

Apologies for the long time with no update, life has been crazy busy and I don't get on here very often anymore. :shifty:

I got the engine conversion in the Hilux finished at the start of September.

1KZ going in.

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I got lots of new parts, but my injectors I got rebuilt by my local diesel injection specialist with all new Denso parts.

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My new manual fuel pump from JH Hilux in Queensland.

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I decided to fit a snorkel as I'd like to be able to use the Hilux for some 4wd trips.

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Finally ditched the snail LN160 badges.

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And fitted the KZN165

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I want to build a 3" mandrel bent stainless exhaust system for it, but apart from that it's virtually finished.

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The 1KZ has completely transformed this old Hilux.

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I finally got myself a finger linisher. I ended up importing one from Germany as they're half the price there than in Australia. I just had to change the lead and plug.

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I made a bracket for it next to my die grinder and angle grinders, above the welding bench.

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I've been busy getting lots of work done on the house,

My most recent project has been removing this raised flower bed which I've never liked and nothing much grows in because its south facing so doesn't get any sun.

My plan is to remove it completely, extend the concrete driveway all the way to the house and then build a fire wood shed all the way along the side of the house to the garage.

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We made a start smashing the wall down and digging all the dirt out. It turned out to be manly filled with rubble with just a thin layer of top soil on top.

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We pulled the fern out with the 78 and then drained the hot water cylinder to move it under the house.

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But in order to be able to get the cylinder underneath the house to where I was moving it to, I first had to take some courses of bricks out below the old access door and then make a new door and frame.

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In order to replumb the cylinder back in I had to put a new hot water pipe through the house up to the loft, so I renovated the laundry above the cylinder, moved a door way and knocked a few walls , which meant I was able to run my new pipe inside one of the walls.

New laundry/utility room door, off of the hall way.

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*The door will be getting painted and the 50 year old handles will be getting changed soon.

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The door comes through in what used to be the tiny 2ft square linen cupboard.

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I installed a loft ladder as the man hole in the hall way (which will soon be part of the bathroom) was only 500mm square and so too small to get much through it.

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The old sink and tiles came out.

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The huge 4ft x 8ft linen cupboard I built.

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I nailed cement sheet to the floor.

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And tiled the floor.

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New sink and tiles.

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And with that room almost finished I continued outside.

Lots more digging later......

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New posts in to support the stairs.

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That's where I'm up to now.

Tomorrow's job is to redo all the waste pipes coming out of the wall and the lower storm water and sewage pipes below the level of the driveway, ready for concreting.

On the 23rd September while Melbourne was in the middle of over one hundred days of one of the strictest lockdowns on the planet, after a very traumatic and scary birth, we welcomed our daughter Lucy to the world and from that day forward our year and lives got better!

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At that point I'd had my final round of intravenous chemotherapy, which had sadly finished my hair off so I was looking quite bald. Thankfully it's gown back beautifully now.

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At the end of November, as Melbourne marked 60 days of no Covid cases, Tasmania finally opened their border to Victoria after 8 long months!

So we arrived the very morning they opened and had an amazing month long holiday and Christmas!
We took the 78 and Lexi and did some amazing camping trips exploring the island state.

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Jacobs ladder was my favourite track and the views from the top were spectacular!

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We had a wonderful time exploring Bruny island.

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I installed a loft ladder as the man hole in the hall way (which will soon be part of the bathroom) was only 500mm square and so too small to get much through it.
It does seem to be a speciality in Austo make that access as small and as useless as possible - it's the same here, and we could do with the space!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ben
Hi Ben!!!!!
It's a pleasure read your post. I'm really happy for your childs. They are wonderful.But I cannot hide from you that by reading your words, a tear fell on me.
I remember that we became father during the same period. I feel our life I little bit similar, and you have passed a really difficult period of your life, but in this photo you make me smile.



Always good works on your cars and your house, but best job you ever made is your family :D
 
Congratulations Ben and Bec! :dance::dance::clap:
Fantastic work as always and good job on little Lucy, (mainly Bec) she’s a smasher!!
Good to have an update…I can breathe now! :lol:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ben
Hi guys, all good down here thanks. :flags-australia:

Apologies for the long time with no update, life has been crazy busy and I don't get on here very often anymore. :shifty:

I got the engine conversion in the Hilux finished at the start of September.

1KZ going in.

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I got lots of new parts, but my injectors I got rebuilt by my local diesel injection specialist with all new Denso parts.

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My new manual fuel pump from JH Hilux in Queensland.

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I decided to fit a snorkel as I'd like to be able to use the Hilux for some 4wd trips.

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Finally ditched the snail LN160 badges.

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And fitted the KZN165

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I want to build a 3" mandrel bent stainless exhaust system for it, but apart from that it's virtually finished.

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The 1KZ has completely transformed this old Hilux.

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I finally got myself a finger linisher. I ended up importing one from Germany as they're half the price there than in Australia. I just had to change the lead and plug.

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I made a bracket for it next to my die grinder and angle grinders, above the welding bench.

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I've been busy getting lots of work done on the house,

My most recent project has been removing this raised flower bed which I've never liked and nothing much grows in because its south facing so doesn't get any sun.

My plan is to remove it completely, extend the concrete driveway all the way to the house and then build a fire wood shed all the way along the side of the house to the garage.

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We made a start smashing the wall down and digging all the dirt out. It turned out to be manly filled with rubble with just a thin layer of top soil on top.

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We pulled the fern out with the 78 and then drained the hot water cylinder to move it under the house.

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But in order to be able to get the cylinder underneath the house to where I was moving it to, I first had to take some courses of bricks out below the old access door and then make a new door and frame.

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In order to replumb the cylinder back in I had to put a new hot water pipe through the house up to the loft, so I renovated the laundry above the cylinder, moved a door way and knocked a few walls , which meant I was able to run my new pipe inside one of the walls.

New laundry/utility room door, off of the hall way.

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*The door will be getting painted and the 50 year old handles will be getting changed soon.

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The door comes through in what used to be the tiny 2ft square linen cupboard.

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I installed a loft ladder as the man hole in the hall way (which will soon be part of the bathroom) was only 500mm square and so too small to get much through it.

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The old sink and tiles came out.

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The huge 4ft x 8ft linen cupboard I built.

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I nailed cement sheet to the floor.

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And tiled the floor.

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New sink and tiles.

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And with that room almost finished I continued outside.

Lots more digging later......

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New posts in to support the stairs.

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That's where I'm up to now.

Tomorrow's job is to redo all the waste pipes coming out of the wall and the lower storm water and sewage pipes below the level of the driveway, ready for concreting.

On the 23rd September while Melbourne was in the middle of over one hundred days of one of the strictest lockdowns on the planet, after a very traumatic and scary birth, we welcomed our daughter Lucy to the world and from that day forward our year and lives got better!

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At that point I'd had my final round of intravenous chemotherapy, which had sadly finished my hair off so I was looking quite bald. Thankfully it's gown back beautifully now.

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At the end of November, as Melbourne marked 60 days of no Covid cases, Tasmania finally opened their border to Victoria after 8 long months!

So we arrived the very morning they opened and had an amazing month long holiday and Christmas!
We took the 78 and Lexi and did some amazing camping trips exploring the island state.

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Jacobs ladder was my favourite track and the views from the top were spectacular!

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We had a wonderful time exploring Bruny island.

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Wow Ben, what a lot in one post. Many congrats to you both on the newborn, and here’s hoping that you’re finished with your treatment ...
I can’t hide that I had a tear in my eye at the good news of the birth, in contrast with your fight for the right to see them grow up.
Press on regardless eh mate? It‘s a good motto and you all deserve all the good things coming your way.
 
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