LAYING THE BRICK FOUNDATIONS Now we're onto the next stage, the brick footings. Bob the Brickie is built to match his job. BOB THE BRIKKIE Such a nice guy. Could do a second job as Santa Paws, I reckon. BRICK LAYING NEARLY FINISHED Looking past the house and across the billabong in the middle distance, you can see the creek line with the burnt trees, stark reminder of Black Saturday, 7 February 2009 [WHICH CAN BE EXPERIENCED HERE.] Very sadly, we have probably lost more than half of them - the ferocious temperatures even deep in the soil simply killed their root systems and they will not recover. At least the trees around the house have recovered and the billabong is overflowing, a wonderful sight now. BOB ANDERSON: Amazing how it has recovered so much! Glad to hear Portia is still in the area & that the fauna is being looked after . . . Loved the attentiveness of the Pups, too! Sue and Bill have done miraculously! JACKIE McGUINNESS: It's great to see Wombat Bend restored to her former glory. MARIE KORTA: We enjoyed hearing the good news that Wombat Bend is, indeed, surviving.

THE STRUCTURE RISES HERE