Well I said I had a plan..

So here is the plan! First up let's look at the block. North is to the bottom of the page, south the top. East is left, and west is right!

The house is a double story rendered brick veneer house sitting on a roughly 760 sqm block. The yard area is made up of the southern side of the block, what we call the "side yard", and a large area to the rear of the house, aka the "back yard". The back yard is dominated by a large substantial Monterey Cypress pine tree, and there is also a further row of large cypress trees along the southern border of the block, one of which (the biggest of course) is very much dead. More on the adventures of getting rid of a dead tree in a later post! 

All the major trees in the estate are under what is known as a Heritage Protection Layer, meaning "hands off", "don't touch", "don't even think about it!". There's even a fine system based on the thickness of any branch sawn. The more centimeters = more dollars, so above all the trees must be protected. I guess we are just lucky to be blessed with seven of them on our block! Ha! If you look at the large circle that represents the cypress, you'll see an even larger dotted line circle. This represents the "protection zone" around the tree where one is not allowed to build without permission, or else. It also takes up most of my back yard!

In the south eastern corner of the block there is also a hedge of trees that were planted when the estate was built. These are included on a covenant for the block and as such, also cannot be touched. You'll see them drawn in the picture below.

With all this in mind, I put pen to paper and came up with the grand plan.

Each of the numbered items on the plan that represents a section of work that needs to be completed. Generally they are also listed on the order that they need to be completed in owing to access to the block.

1. Circle paving: This is a circular paved area made up of sandstone "crazy paving". There is a circle in the middle which is to have some form of mosaic tiling where a steel fire pit will sit. Seating will be around the edge of the area, and on the northern border of the block will be an area to accommodate a wood-fired pizza oven. Delicious!
2. Back Lawn: This is a large lawned area. The area is "big enough for a kid to kick a footy around or have a game of cricket" as we say in Australia
3. Steps: This is a short set of steps to link the lower circle paving to the higher level of the lawn
4. Stone wall: This stone wall runs the length of the southern side of the house and splits the side into two levels. The upper level retains in all the large trees and the fence, creating a lower leveled area, level with the house
5. Side paving: This is another sandstone "crazy paved" area linking where the back deck will go (item 12!) to a path to link the side yard to another side deck
6. Path: This is a "meandering" loose packed stone path heading up the side yard. It features large wide curves to accommodate garden beds on either side
7. Retaining wall: This is a reasonably high retaining wall of about 1 metre. It will also have a large screen fence in front to separate the "utility" area of the garden from the more formal areas
8. Steps: These steps join the side deck area up to the higher utility area. They are also "crazy paved"
9. Clothes line: The old rotary hills hoist clothes line goes here surrounded by a loose packed stone area in the middle of a lawn
10. Tank: This is a rain water tank between the garage wall on the north side and the new retaining wall
11. Side deck: this is a large 30 odd sqm decked area dominated by a large water feature on the southern side that aligns with the double doors into the front living room of the house. The deck also features substantial garden beds around the edge to "blend" it into the surrounding area. There will also be a high garden sculpture featured just in front of the steps, to give a focal point when looking up west from the bottom of the garden, as well as a lit up focal point visible from the dining area beside it
12. The back deck. This is the big one! 75 sqm of multi-level decking to join the side and bottom yards to the door at the back of the house, and also the front of the house via the existing fence and gate on the northern side. There will be a landing from the back door, leading down some steps to the deck proper, and another set of steps leading down to the lawn area
13. Bottom steps: These steps will be integrated into the embankment to link the deck to the circular paved area below

So there you have it. Quite an ambitious plan! At this point I am planning on Stefan doing all the hard scaping (paving, stone walls etc.) and I'll look after the decking and fencing myself. Let's see how it goes!