Week One: The highlights

First things first

The first thing we decided to do when we got the keys was paint the inside. It hadn’t been painted before and we chose the loveliest pale mint colour. First thing Shaun did after we opened the paint tin was step on the lid. Second thing he did was step on the floor.

We tried to get this off as soon as it happened but with zero luck, so we gave up and now it has become just another one of the many quirks of our home.  

We envisioned doing the first coat in the morning, and then going out, getting some chores done, maybe browsing for some fireplace tiles, coming back and doing the second coat in the afternoon. The shack is small and only has two rooms in the main living quarters so we figured painting would be a breeze. Blessed with so much time on our hands we also decided to go out for a nice leisurely breakfast before getting started.

Despite painting houses before, we are both guilty of always being under prepared and also having no real memory or sense of how long anything takes.

We then spent the next ten exhausting hours essentially painting non-stop. There are so many different shaped sections and windows to manoeuvre around, we were balancing on the kitchen sink, laying on the floor, getting in each other’s way, getting out of each other’s way, running for cloths to mop up drips.  

The previous owners had left a cheap bookcase in the lounge room, which at first we were mildly annoyed about, but after realising standing on it was our only way to reach the higher parts of the walls, we loved that bookcase. We lugged it around, section by section, back and forth between each room. Best bookcase ever.

We managed to stop for 10 minutes every now and then, eat some fruit to recharge, and then get straight back into it. Far from the casual day of running errands between coats.

So after almost ten hours, with only a little bit left to go, we both laid on the hard wooden floor, realising how naïve we were at the start of the day and comparing the level of pain we felt in our backs.

Painting into the night and being exhausted we expected to come back the next morning to a below average looking space. I went inside the next day, whole body still aching, and it actually wasn’t too darn bad!

Sleepover time

A few days after we got the keys and painted the inside of the shack we stayed for our first night, officially starting living off the grid.

As some kind of nasty housewarming present, the battery went off about every hour and a half. High pitched. Screaming. Piercing. Alarm. Which would only stop if you turned it off, which would turn our fridge off (the only thing we were powering). This continued, all the way through our first night, which definitely put a damper on that new house buzz. Actually, it continued all the way through the first week. Fortunately after that it then lessened to one alarm per night and now we are blessed with longer, sunnier days and it almost never goes off at all.

Back to night one. Off to a good start & not being able to sleep we wanted to get the fire going. After talking about it we realised neither of us had actually ever lit a fire before.. This is one of the things I’m talking about when I say we didn’t go into this lifestyle prepared.

It took way too many tries, frustrated, crouched over, alternating turns, adjusting the oxygen levels, changing up techniques, a whole newspaper, but eventually we got there. Each night we got slowly better at starting them and keeping them going and now we’re pretty pro. One of us more than the other! (reflecting back on this time I can’t even work out why it was so difficult). The place is pretty small so it doesn’t take much to make the place toasty, though it did take us a few nights to realise the blinds had to be drawn to keep the warmth in. Probably common sense to most but all part of this learning experience.

I also want to note that a couple of months earlier Shaun took part in the ‘billy boiling competition’ at the Tocal Field Days. This involves cutting up wood and lighting a fire from scratch, then creating a stand by cutting more wood blocks and getting the billy to actually boil over. He was terrible at it but he neglected to mention he had never even lit a fire so looking back it shocks me even more that he took part in this competition, which is much more difficult than getting an indoor fireplace up and going.

After our first night was over, we woke up the next morning, completely unrested and also in disbelief that we were here, in this off grid shack, and it was our off grid shack. We woke up ready to keep embracing it, piercing alarms and all.

Back to work

Both exhausted from the weekend, and pouring heavily with rain outside, we were both needing sleep. But with only a few percent of our phone battery left and needing alarms for the morning we headed for a night time Bunnings trip. Really just so we could charge our phones on the short car ride but we also kind of needed a few things from there anyway so two birds! We got two battery powered torches with magnetic handles and a hanger on top which have been super handy since.

We didn’t get much charge but both set our alarms for 6am and by some divine intervention we woke up at 6, both alarms going off. Although this was a victory, both phones dying shortly after meant I couldn’t go back to sleep as I usually do when Shaun goes to work for fear of sleeping in and also meant Shaun couldn’t watch his phone. He usually gets ready for work and then watches boring (to me) YouTube videos whilst eating breakfast.. it’s also still dark outside when he gets up for work during winter. After laying in bed half dozed for some time I remembered that he does that, and knowing his phone was without battery I called out from bed asking what he was doing if he wasn’t watching videos. He so sweetly replied..

“Watching the flame of the candle I just lit”  

Simple living.