Call it a driveway, an access track or a long and winding road; it is now in place and looking pretty special.

When we first looked at this block we cast an eye over one particular gully – of the half dozen available – and wondered how much water might come through. A month after we took up residence the water came through and it was pretty special. The theory that ‘we might need a bit of a causeway there’ shifted to thoughts of bridges, dams and roads in different places.

In our normal style we avoided the issue for as long as possible. The shed to store our gear while we travelled, and which is now our temporary home, was placed to provide access avoiding the gullies. Eventually, though, we decided that the best site on the block for the sort of house we want to build is on the side of the hill and access needed to be sorted.

The plan for this block involves creating a number of zones – a domestic zone for the house, vegetable garden, some animals; a grazing zone probably in 3 or 4 identified cleared areas; and a zone that would include both the current native vegetation and areas that we want to revegetate. This revegetation zone includes all of the gullies and low lying areas and link to the current bush at the top of the hill. It is important that the access road provides good access while not compromising the revegetation plans too much. At the same time we also need a road that doesn’t end up in the Mary River every time we receive a couple of inches of rain.

All of this is relevant but it also demonstrates how much I don’t know.

Yes, the crossing was an issue, but at least as substantial were half a dozen other areas along the length of the road. In some of the areas the clay subsoil had become inundated. In other areas the subsoil is a sort of sloppy grey mush – like porridge but without the lumps. Water coming off the hill, in addition to the stuff flowing through the grass, was seeping along between the nice topsoil and the clay subsoil, ensuring that it was, and remained, nicely inundated.

The road is a tad under 500 metres long. Eighty ‘body’ trucks delivered a total of 709 tonnes of processed overburden – basically gravel material but with rocks that vary from 25-75mm and 400 tonnes of 75-150mm ‘spec sized spalls’ – shot rock. We used 3 X 450mm ‘Black Brute’ pipes in the main gully, another large pipe plus two small – 300mm – ones in the dam overflow and further 3 of the small pipes at strategic places along the road. At areas of concern, high tech fabric was laid either under or over the rock, occasionally both, to provide extra stability and ensure that the subsoil did not arrive at the surface.

To keep the water away from the subsoil in the future, drainage trenches and gutters were installed in appropriate places along the length of the road.

Major earthworks involved the building of a substantial bund wall to divert the significant overland flow that occurs whenever we receive more than 50mm of rain in a day or two. This water, if it all goes to plan. will now flow back into the main channel of the gully. To protect the entry point of this water to the gully we also brought in 3 truck loads of ‘armour’ rock – up to 1 metre boulders – to place in the shute. These rocks were carefully placed to protect the area on top of an even more expensive high tech fabric called ‘Grass Roots’ I think. The rocks were covered by topsoil and grass scalped from well-grassed areas of the block and, with some luck, there will be a good cover by the time the next flood arrives.

One bit is yet to be sorted. We still need the causeway or culvert that we originally considered might be all that was needed. The earthworks are done, the pipes are in and it all looks the part; but, with a large amount of water over the top, it is likely to head for the Mary River. So we need a substantial concrete causeway. So far we haven’t had much luck finding a local contractor. My current plan is to do the job myself, perhaps with a little help.