About

It’s now been 18 months since we took over custodianship of Wombat Stomp. It would be impossible to catch you all up on everything we have achieved in that time, but our eternal gratitude will always be to the retired couple who saw a dream and went for it. They put in 23 years of incredibly hard work and as we take on this new phase of the property’s life we hope to always move it forward in a way that is gentle to the land, the bush and the abundant wildlife. John and Shirley, you are true heroes to the Australian Bush.

We have 30 acres of untouched bushland to play in. The dwelling is made from 2 40ft shipping containers and a welded together extension of approximately the same size.

We are running solar and wind turbines for power and have enough to run 24/7 anything the household needs. It isn’t pretty but it works like a dream! We have two Latronics inverters, one of which is currently being attended to by James (a few new transistors) and we have the arduous task of lowering the 10 metre mast, for the first time, to replace blades on both of the turbine generators. George is learning on the job with all this and he is taking it in his stride and stepping up to many challenges.

Our toilet is a commercial composting system which should be a lot easier to deal with than it is. While it works perfectly (no smell ever thanks to a 12v snorkel fan), and I would highly recommend it, the chamber changeover is clunky and complex. We intend to pave the area the chamber sits on and add a trolley to make the whole thing a shedload easier.

All our waste water (laundry, bathroom, kitchen) goes through a greasetrap and into and underground filter which releases the filtered water to the fruit trees. Our hot water is solar, and while I love this lifestyle, I’m no caveman and didn’t trust my beloved hot showers would be assured. We had, at my insistence, a continuous flow tank attached to our gas bottle for when I just knewwwww I’d be looking up at the showerhead of a lukewarm shower. All you do is turn the crank. We NEED it I said. The crank has never yet been turned.

Our water is of course tank water. We have a range of tank sizes around the place doing different things, but we are going to be adding a flat wall tank against the western wall which will help to keep the second bedroom cooler in summer. A bit of shade cloth over the top and Bob’s ya uncle! Our Dam/Billabong/wetlands/lake, depending on the time of the year, pumps up to our irrigation and fire tank. Fire, of course, is our greatest risk. We have a fenced, cleared area around the house of about an acre, however besides this we are in the middle of glorious bushland. Our trusty, good quality fire pump and two fire hoses are on standby in the yard throughout the entire fire season. We have 2 drinking water tanks and a header tank for our gravity fed plumbing. There is a large and 2 small tanks for multipurpose around the general yard and another small drinking and general use outside. Our power, water and sewerage disposal are all natural and free of charge. Imagine that!

The property is a listed sanctuary for both flora and fauna. George is a qualified Horticulturalist, his passion is natives, however he is also qualified in Permaculture and he is using many of these techniques to make a grow area that will be low maintenance, good yielding and gentle to the land. The infrastructure is all there, it is just a matter over time to makes the changes that brings it into our dream. Thank ferk that George has a huge amount of plant knowledge, because I would be up the proverbial creek! Learning through necessity.

My passion lies with wildlife, in particular, wombats. I work at a sanctuary a day a week and am capable to rescue, rehabilitate and release. We released our first wombat in April and he is still around. Seeing evidence still of him is very cool and we never get annoyed at filling in a hole under the gate. We have foiled him, for now, with some obstructions. I wonder how long that will last?! Eventually we will put in enclosures and a nursery to take in some poor little wombies that need fostering until release.

Its not all work at Wombat Stomp. We have built a bush music festival area for the times when its time for the Stomp to party! Just add a huge bonfire (winter), lights covered tepee (summer), DJ Booth with double vinyl decks, a big dome to chill out in, a fire pit with food simmering in a big ol’ pot, projectors in the trees, fairy lights everywhere, sound system/no close neighbours, great company……and you have a few sore heads Monday morning.

We hope you enjoy following our sometimes stumbling and sometimes victorious journey as we progress to doing things and living in our own way. If you have any questions, suggestions or advice, or just want to say Hi, you can contact us via the email on our contact page, or throw us a comment on here.

Onward and upwards…

B