I should be saying Wow! look at us now! And while we think that, the camera (and probably me operating it) let us down so don't have many good photos to put on here.
But I can say, we drove to Yarrawonga on 18 December, through a little rain on the way, knowing they'd received a good dose of rain in the preceding days. Can't tell you how delighted we were to see the gutter crossover had been inserted and gravel spread from the road to the hangar roller-door. The ground consists of red soil which quickly turns to red mud after rain, so although the driveway was a little soft, we were able to drive straight into the hangar. Downpipes had also been connected to the stormwater outlet, so from now on we shouldn't have quite as much water on the ground.
And inside, the best! The toilet was in and operational. The septic tanks had been installed and also mains water connected, and not only a toilet but outside two water taps.
We also had power, so after several leads were laid out we have a fully functioning hangar.
Of course we had to try out the enormous hangar door, and yes, while it does take about 1.5 minutes to open, and the noise is incredible, once up it opens onto a marvellous outlook. The door still has to be adjusted to include counterweights, which we're told should improve the performance.
A delivery of timber arrived the next day as scheduled from Van Steensel's at Officer, and they also delivered Stan's saw benches. As we hadn't received any glass sliding doors from Cobram Windows, Stan decided to use timber flooring sheets to block up the door openings to make the building secure. He then started laying out timber for the frame of the caretakers residence.
We were delighted when Darren from Cobram Windows arrived with one of our glass sliding doors, and that should be working in the next few days. A lot of businesses take the opportunity to close for several weeks over Christmas/New Year so we know the other doors won't arrive for several weeks, but it's so good to receive one.
It was reasonably cool prior to Christmas, but no doubt the heat will be intense during the next few weeks.
Our trike is now in its new home in our very own hangar and looks marvellous. We did push the trike out and both thoroughly enjoyed flying a few circuits each one evening on sunset. Magic!

Next step is insertion of the septic tanks and connection of water supply. (Not sure if enough time left for all that to be completed prior to Christmas).
The rear roller door has to be adjusted as it’s a bit reluctant to do what it’s supposed to do - go up and down.
It’s a nuisance that Christmas will get in the way, but no doubt time will fly (even if we don’t) and before we know it I’ll be back at work.
Whenever we turn around we seem to have another form to fill in and another fee to pay. No doubt it’s the same for everyone building a residence, but hopefully we’re closing in on it all now.
We even have keys to our very own rubbish bin, so soon we’ll be classed as locals.

Wow! It’s finally happened.
Ted came to put on the main hangar door.
The result seems to be terrific, but we’ve only seen it during construction as we had to reluctantly return to our real world at Pakenham prior to completion.
You can see by the photos it sure looks impressive, and we’ve been assured it’s now fully operational - but slow. The speed should be adjusted and improved in the new year.
And yes, it does keep the wind out, with no gaps for dust, or creepy crawlies (yet to be proven).
We intend spending time at the hangar over the Christmas holidays and between building work we might actually get in a few hours of flying time.

Well a lot has happened in the last few weeks.
Firstly Stan and electrician Alan Campbell together with Glen Saunders on his excavator spent a day organising the wiring and meter box in readiness for electrical company to connect power. The estate has underground power so it’s not just a matter of stringing in wires from power poles.
They wired it with several power points, but cannot go much further at present until the residence is constructed. (The power was connected on Monday 8 December, so next time we go back we’ll ‘see the light’).
Stan spent several days staying at Burke’s Hotel in Yarrawonga’s main shopping area which has been extremely convenient, as they supply breakfast and of course have a bistro.

Weekend of 22 and 23 November 2008.
Oh boy, was it windy. Blowing an absolute gale all weekend so didn't see any aircraft movement.
Our first visit to hangar with the concrete floor down. How different it looks - but really pleased with the result.
Despite the wind blowing anything and everything out the back door, Stan marked out the floorplan for the caretakers residence. We really could have done with the main hangar door to keep the wind out.
A big day on Monday as Stan arranged the construction for the sliding doors with Cobram Windows (also to keep wind out).
A visit from Tony Parr from Moira Shire and Grant Case from Cobram Plumbing and Engineering to organise the Driveway crossing and other council related connections.
Also on Monday Glen Saunders dug a trench enabling our electrician, Alan Campbell, to insert underground cables, then install our metre box and put all in order for the electricity to be connected.

Saturday 1 November 2008.
Most of the walls are now completed, the guttering is on and now only the Colorbond barging and corner flashings required, and things are great.
Inside looks very large, but the back six metres will be taken up with the caretakers residence.
Openings have been inserted in readiness for sliding glass doors and of course our 16 metre wide main door to taxiway will still be a few weeks away.
The residence plumbing has been installed by Cobram Plumbing and Engineering, and Glen Saunders (from Yarrawonga) was busy levelling packing sand and digging trenches for concrete beams.
Our concretor, Brian Godfrey, all the way from O'Connell (near Bathurst) in New South Wales was readying the site prior to concrete pour on Tuesday 4 November for the residence section. The remainder to be poured several days later.
We painted tar onto inside of Colorbond, below lowest girt prior to concreting to form an isolation barrier between the Colorbond and concrete. (You might be able to see the black tar on the lowest section of the wall in the background of the photo of Brian Godfrey).

17 October 2008
We now have a large 'Shade Shed'. In other words, the roof is on!
Went to Yarragonga and the roof on our hangar and Mark Howard's hangar are both on, and the airport seems to be a hive of activity with work being done on several other hangars.
Weather was very pleasant, warm and sunny.
Won't be long before we'll be complaining it is too hot. Landscape around Yarrawonga already dry and dusty, but an hour's drive south to Benalla toward Mansfield and many paddocks are still lush and green.
Saturday morning and the airport livened up as about five trikes landed with pilots from Corowa and Barnawatha.

Friday, 26 September.
Received word a start was made this morning on the erection of our steel frame. We traveled to Yarrawonga the following day and cannot tell you how exciting it was to see eight uprights and supporting beams in place.
It gives a different feel to the block to have the size of the hangar defined in steel. Not yet sure if it’s larger or smaller than I’d envisaged.
Most of the hangars at Yarrawonga front directly onto the taxiway, but we decided on a set-back of seven metres. If at a later stage we decide to enlarge the hangar we’ll have several metres to play with and in the meantime we can park our trike in front of the hangar and not encroach onto the taxiway.
When we drove into the airport, we were pleased to see another two hangar sites were well into the construction stage and several more blocks were also ‘ready to go’. Our friends Mark and Jeanene Howard are building the same size hangar on the block next to us, being constructed simultaneously by the same company, Cobram Plumbing and Engineering. "CLICK HERE"
Externally they’ll probably look like twin hangars, but they’ll differ internally.

By Jeanette Walker

I am building this blog site at the same time our long-awaited hangar is under construction at Yarrawonga Airport.
Last Friday (12 September 2008) my husband, Stan and myself visited our block of land at Yarrawonga Airport where the concrete footings of our hangar, set with bolts to hold the steel frame, had been poured.
Well, that might not seem very exciting for some people, but for us it certainly was.
It has been three years since we paid a deposit on our little airport block of land, which measures 25 metres across by 35 metres deep. The attractive part for us is that one end 25 metres fronts onto an asphalt road, and the opposite end fronts directly onto the sealed taxiway at Yarrawonga Airport.
While we were at our block of land viewing the footings, a large truck arrived and workmen proceeded to unload the steel for the frame of our hangar.
Construction is finally underway!
Our hangar will measure 18 metres by 18 metres, but on the road end we are using six metres within the hangar to build a caretakers residence, which obviously should leave us with hangar space 18 metres wide by 12 metres deep to house our Microlight Trike.
Yarrawonga is situated approximately a four hour drive from our home, so we have at times found it a bit difficult organising building contractors “long distance”. At the same time, all we have dealt with have been extremely helpful.
For those unfamiliar with Victoria, Australia, Yarrawonga is situated on the southern side of Murray River, which defines the major part of the border between Victoria and New South Wales. It is on the edge of Lake Mulwala.
We chose Yarrawonga for several reasons, the first being airport blocks of land became available in a new subdivision, and airport blocks are rather scarce in Australia. I believe there are now a few more subdivisions being contemplated in other areas.
The second reason is that several friends also purchased blocks at the same time we did. It isn’t often you get to move into a street where you either know or know-of most of your neighbours.
The third is with approximately one-hour flight time in a Trike (slow for aircraft, approximately 100 kph) in most directions of Yarrawonga there are suitable airports for landing, having a chat and a cuppa, and an hour flight back to Yarrawonga.
Yarrawonga itself is a lovely, large country town that for many years has been extremely popular with tourists and holidaymakers, particularly over the summer months. And while it has the feel of a country town, it has all facilities required by modern-day visitors, from top-of-the-range accommodation and restaurants, to caravan parks and campers and fast-food outlets, and everything in-between.
A flight along the banks of the Murray River reveals many campsites hidden under large gum trees. The river and Lake Mulwala abound with pleasure boats for skiing and fishing. In fact, in summer it fairly hums.
Now like us, you will have to wait for the next piece of our hangar construction!