Begining of the Build

I find this incredibly mind blowing, looking back on what this man, with a great group of mates to help and support him, has accomplished. From a side of a very rocky hill to a pad carved down to solid rock, Allan started the amazing build. With a large old compressor generator, he jackhammered rocks out of place, then drilled footings down into solid rock. All rocks were then hand laid for the retaining wall in front of the restaurant. A feat in itself!

All timber was slabbed by dad and his mates. David Johnson has a Lucas Mill and spent many weeks slabbing all size timber with dad. I remember working with him one week and being amazed at the size of the trees and locations he was dragging the tree out of. If you look at one of the photos you can see the back wheels of the loader coming off the ground as the log endeavoured to get away. Nothing seemed to fear Dad, sitting and talking with his mates they would shake their head about the predicaments he use to get himself into and out of.

Teddy Garth took his old crane down so Allan could use to erect the restaurant, oh and, to give lucky visitors a ride and unique view (really loved to scare them a little). He had such a vision that he always knew he was going to build a level above which he wanted to be his home. As the crane could not reach the whole length it was built in two stages, top and bottom of each stage.

Dad taught his youngest son, Brad, how to operate the crane. He then had to manoeuvre dad to places to weld brackets, drill holes, and pin the beams. There were many days it was just the two of them chipping away at all the jobs. Looking back, this has created a very skilful, determined, creative person. Brad has taken over dads, solar and electrical business, and grown and shaped it to be a credit to himself. Glen Solar and electrical, I think dad would be incredibly proud of him, as we are.