Arriving at Possum Valley 1976

The above picture was taken within a couple of months of arriving at Possum Valley.  I bought the place as ‘tenants in common’ with Mike Cheshire who took this picture and kindly sent it to me a couple of days ago.  We had just set up camp by dragging a few sheets of tin through the rainforest and fixing to a few spindly bush poles.  There was no track in.  This shed had 2 walls and and a roof with 2m headroom where I am sitting and just over a metre at the other end.  A few metres to my left I have a little faded 2-man tent.  The shed was right at the bottom of the valley looking over towards where Blackbean Cottage now stands.

After the shed was the job of finding some 4WD access for our ancient clanking 1962 Landcruiser.  Using our skills from exploration work, we bought stereo high-resolution photos of the area.  With stereo, we could see the slopes.  In fact there is about 10x vertical exaggeration.  The way we found started many kilometres from the present track and came through an adjacent farm and 7 gates.  My neighbour kindly allowed us to go through his property for the next  12 or so years.  The old ‘Crown’ stove and chimney would have arrived on the back of that Landcruiser.  I think I still have the chair I am sitting on.  I think I got some idea of the conditions the early settlers laboured under, and the isolation from the rest of the world.  When it was really wet, not an infrequent occurrence, even the Landcruiser couldn’t get out and we would hike to the road and hitch-hike to town and back-pack the supplies back to PV in the rain.  It didn’t seem like hardship back then, more of an adventure.

Next job was to build a house.  Nothing flash as we didn’t have much money at all, just labour and enthusiasm.  For the previous 2 years we had been working out bush in remote parts of WA and QLD with just a swag roll and blackened billy as we saved money to buy PV.  No tent required, it only rained once in those 2 years.

Blackbean was constructed entirely from timber outside and inside.  It was the first building on the property and constructed entirely with hand tools before the power system was built.  It was started in 1976 without benefit of plans, knowledge, building approval, or money.  Completion time was about 11 months at a cost (1976 dollars) of about $1,400 complete with doors, windows, plumbing, wood stove etc.  A third of the cost was the tin on the roof.  Building approval was obtained 25 years later.  Originally, there was a porch and wood store where the entrance corridor and bathroom now are.  The ‘bathroom’ was a long drop on the other side of the creek and 50m up the hill.  When my wife was heavily pregnant, especially on wet windy nights, I was told in no uncertain terms that an upgrade was required.

All the materials for the present buildings were brought to PV by that old Landcruiser and it was our sole means of transport for about 15 years.  We bought it at 15 years old for $750 and sold it for $750 when it was 30 years old.

Mike and I both got married, and while a couple of blokes can get along in a small house, it is not suitable long-term for 2 couples.  So we both built a new house.  Mike built Maple Cottage, and I built the Homestead and we soon had kids.   Then Mike’s wife wanted to move to Brisbane where her family was, and with considerable help from my mother, I bought out Mike’s share.

I now had 3 houses and a couple of sheds.  It seemed the obvious thing to do B&B.  There has been no master plan for my life, I just went with the flow. I don’t regret any of it, except perhaps the failure of relationships but that’s another story.  I am rapidly approaching the traditional retiring age of 65.  I have worked for wages for perhaps 5 of those years, probably less.  I have enjoyed the freedom of having my time to myself and paid the penalty of having little money all my life.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.