Light at the end of the Tunnel

Nykaj and I have been working on the Project, to build our Home, for just over a year now. Around this time last year, we were positive that our home would be ready by early 2009. We had no idea what was in store for us to just get this project off the ground, leave alone completed.


We were too optimistic about the timelines and thought that we would find a builder in 2 weeks, get the draft ready in one month and obtain all the council approvals and the planning part completed in 2 months.


It took us 6 months just to find a builder! We changed 3 builders during this time. The fact of the matter was, we were pretty much given the run around. Things like returning our phone calls only after a week, taking 4 weeks just to draw the initial draft, taking another 6 weeks to come up with the second draft, etc... were some of the "small" issues we had to face during the journey.


As soon as we faced a few bad experiences with one builder, we would move on to the next one. We wanted to make sure that we picked the right builder, even if it meant the project getting delayed by a few more months. It was a frustrating exercise but we had to go through it!


Some time in October last year, one of our close friends from Melbourne came over and helped us pick the builder. Since they were from the same Industry, they told us what to look out for. Their advice really helped us to find the Right Fit for us and since then, everything has started moving in the right direction.


We got our council approvals early this year and completed our selections within the last couple of months.


The actual construction started this week! As soon as we got the news that the ground was dug up, we hopped into our car and sped off to the site eventhough it was already 9PM! I was in seventh heaven when I saw the block.




The next day, after breakfast I drove down to the site just to have a peek again :)









Today the foundation of the house has been laid.
















Guess we should be ready to move into our house in another 7 to 8 months! Hurray!


If you would like to read Part 1 please click here

Flinders Ranges - South Australian Outback

Most of the time, Nykaj and I make holiday plans at the last minute. It was the first long weekend after we bought our Jeep and we decided we should make good use of our 4WD during the holiday. We were like 2 excited kids with a new toy. A couple of days before the long weekend, we figured that the best place to go is Flinders Ranges.


I searched the web for good accomodation deals but most of the places were fully booked. We never thought that it was going to be this busy. We should have known since the weather was perfect and it was long holidays! Someone had cancelled their holiday unit booking at Rawnsley Park Station at the last minute and luckily we called them at the right time and were able to book the last available cabin. We were excited about the whole trip as it was the first time we were going for such a long drive to the South Australian outback.


It was close to one full day of driving to Rawnsley Park Station with a few stops in between. We started early in the morning and drove through many little towns on the way. We stopped at Two Wells to fill up petrol and when we went into the shop, we were surprised to see the shop filled with Rodeo gear! I was expecting to see something similar to a Servo shop.





From Two Wells, we hit the highway again and in a couple of hours, I felt hungry. We drove into the next town which was Port Germein and thought of having lunch at the local pub, but it was closed! The beach was near by and we decided to stretch our legs a bit. There was a rather long jetty which turned out to be the Longest Wooden Jetty in Australia (as we found out later). We started walking and it kind of never ended! However the scenery was breathtaking. On one side, you had the start of Flinders Ranges, on the other side a crystal clear ocean and above, the beautiful blue sky with patches of clouds. A must-see if you ever head that way.





From Port Germein we headed straight towards Port Augusta. From there we took a diversion to Quorn to reach Wilpena Pound where Rawnsley Park Station is situated. I think we drove around 700Km in total that day.



View Larger Map


We had a typical Aussie pub meal at Quorn; chicken schnitzel and beer. Quorn is a small town where a lot of miners live. Their families stay back while the men folk go away for a few months to work in the mines. The local people were friendly and helpful. We were given Hot tips on must-see places and towns we should visit.


Just in front of the pub, we saw the historic Pichi Richi Railway Station where a timber-bodied diesel carriage was on display. There were a few tourists waiting to board the train. I think these trains are around 100 years old.


From Quorn it took us about 2 hours to reach Rawnsley Park Station. The Flinders Ranges was magnificent. The drive was really spectacular as you see endless stretches of barren land with red and orange dust. The Ranges are a riot of colours. Sometimes they look yellow, other times they look orange and yet other times they are blue in colour.





By the time we checked into our unit it was too late for another adventure. The main reason being, you might get hit by Kangaroos while driving at night. It seems the Kangaroos would jump in front of the car at night and get hypnotised by the lights. As you are driving, on an average, at 110 Km/hr your car will be smashed and the roo will die. As we did not have a roo catcher in front of the jeep it was not advisable for us to venture out in the dark. So we decided to freshen up and drive around Wilpena Pound and just explore the area surrounding the station.

The sun was setting and Wilpena Pound suddenly lit up and became golden in colour. I was reminded of the movie Mackenna's Gold where Mackenna waits for the sunset to find the hidden path! It was that beautiful.





After enjoying the sunset, we came back to our little cabin and had a snooze before heading off to the Woolshed Restaurant for dinner. It was an old Woolshed converted into a restaurant and it had that rustic charm about it. The food was good and both of us had steak and some wine to go with it and off we went to sleep.


Read On - Ranges Day 2 & 3

Flinders Ranges - Day 2 & 3

Next morning we woke up just before sunrise and packed our gear for our next adventure. We reached the Flinders Ranges National Park gateway and paid the permit fees to enter the reserve area. The interesting part was that it was an unmanned post. We had to write our own receipt and drop the money and a hand written ticket into a small pay box. I found it a bit amusing.







The drive was real fun. Nykaj and I took turns to experience the joy of driving in such a rough terrain. It is a bit hard to sit in the passenger seat when you are going up, down and sideways. We went through Brachina Gorge which was absolutely spectacular. You find yourself in a different world, one which you never even thought existed. We stopped at almost all the Lookout points to immerse ourselves in the beauty surrounding us.



On the top



The ranges we were going to cross




Inside the gorges




All alone in the middle of nowhere



We continued our journey and went to Parachillna via Blinmen. We stopped at Blinmen which is an old, copper-mining town. We had a coffee and cake at the Wild Lime Cafe. The Cafe also had an Art Gallery with lots of Aboriginal Art Works on display.



The Wild Lime Cafe at Blinmen

Afterwards, we walked around Blinmen a bit and found that the town was having one of its local Food and Wine Festival. The place was packed and we saw people camping and cooking, outback style. They had coal burning on the ground and old pots filled with slowly cooking vegetables, meat etc. Also, some of them were baking bread over coal fire.


After a few hours at Blinmen, we headed towards Parachilna. The Prairie Hotel at Parachilna is famous for the Ferrel's meal they provide. We ordered their signature dish which had Emu, Roo and Camel meat in it. Was really good. They had put tiny flags on each meat type which looked rather cute.






A stick on every meat type stating what it is

After that heavy meal, we wanted to see what is there further up. We knew that the Desert was somewhere up there. We thought, maybe if we drive a couple of hours we might get lucky and hit the desert. After 2 hours or so of driving, we had managed to reach only Leigh Creek which is another mining town bordering the desert.


We asked a few local guys about heading to the nearest desert but it was getting late and I think it was another 3 to 5 hours away. Time was against us so we decided to postpone the Desert trip for another day and returned to Wilpena Pound via Hawker.



View Larger Map

The route we travelled through the ranges


We were really tired and as soon as we reached our shack, we crashed into the bed for half an hour. At around 7.30pm we had dinner at the Woolshed Restaurant.

The next day, we woke up early in the morning and headed back to Adelaide. It was a 6-hour drive @ an average of 110 Km/hr. The journey back was as breathtaking as the onward one. I took a few pictures from inside our car.




We reached home at around 4 in the evening. Nykaj and I were in the dream land of Flinders Ranges for another month or so! It was a wonderful holiday and I am sure we will visit the Flinders Ranges again, one of these days...

Liked this post?... Then Read our Kangaroo Island Trip

My Own Business - A Leap of Faith

It has been one long year since I have written anything in my blog. Lot of things have happened during my absence, the main thing being I quit my Job.

I worked for WC Penfolds for three full years. I was busy with work and was helping the business grow, however, it was getting a bit mundane towards the end of the third year and I was not learning anything new. I lost the motivation to be creative and to try new things out.

I must admit that the first two years with the company was really good in terms of what I learnt and what I could achieve. Once the trust was built, I was given free reins and was able to execute new ideas that worked towards making the overall business better (of course with the CEO's consent). However, by year three, I personally felt that I had hit a wall, reached the boundaries of the organisation (so to speak) and could not do anything more. I felt that it was time for me to make my next move...

I had two paths; the first one was to get an answer to the question, When will I be the CEO of the Company? and the second one was to start my own business.

With the first option, I wanted to have a set career path and a well defined timeline to become the CEO. When I realised that this goal would not eventuate within couple of years, I understood that it was time for me to do something else as it would be more or less status quo. I did not have time to sit around and wait.

The second option was something that was equally scary and exciting. I had a gut feeling that it is time to leave but doing it is the hardest part. I knew that I had a burning desire to start something on my own, but it is not everyone's cup of tea. Questions like
What if I fail?
Will I be motivated to put in the effort?
Will I have all the answers?
What if I cannot manage this?
Would I know what to do? etc... kept on spinning in my head. I thought long and hard about this decision. Talked to Nykaj and we decided that we will think about it during the holidays which was just a couple of weeks away.

We went to Bali on holidays in December. It was a great place and had lovely people. Somehow the trip gave me good clarity. I figured that my venture into the unknown is like going on a holiday to a new country. Unless I try it out myself, I will not know what's in store. We agreed that I should give myself one year to dabble around and experience the joys and pains of starting a business. The decision was final!!

We came back from the holidays and the first thing I did was to put in my resignation. Within a few days, I placed the necessary job adverts and assisted the company in finding two new guys to replace me. Trained them as much as I could and officially left the job early Feb.

I am really happy and excited about this new beginning! Guess time will tell how things would turn out! :) Fingers Crossed.


Read Part 1 - When Will I start My Own Business

Building a house? Not as easy as I thought!

We have decided to call Adelaide Home for the next 5 years. Once this decision was made, the first step was to buy a house. During weekends, we would check real estate web sites and visit open houses. So far, we have been to 30-odd open houses during the last few months, but nothing really caught our attention.

It was really difficult to find the right house we needed in the right location at the right price! Finally we decided to go the other way round and build a house. It is easier to find a location and the rest is in your hands. Building a house is a bit of hard work and time consuming but we thought "What the heck! Let's give it a go! ". At least you won’t be blaming someone else for something that is wrong in your house:)

Next, we identified an ideal block of land in a picturesque location. The process was really long winded since demand was high. As prices are rocketing, people are scurrying around to buy houses and land as quickly as they could. Since the area that we were eyeing was being landscaped by a developer with plans to have man made lakes, reservoirs and a playground around that area, it was even more difficult. We first had to register our interest with the developer. They then invited us to one of their land release events where we were given tokens with numbers.

Then they picked out random numbers from a box and people whose numbers were called could choose from the remaining available blocks. Luckily we got the block we wanted. It was a triumphant moment but a heart wrenching experience. Talk about a bizarre system... What demand and supply does to things around you!

The next step is to find a builder and we have been running around the last 2-3 weeks to find one. There are too many around and that makes it hard to pick.

Anyhow the ideal time frame is to get the house completed by Feb next year (2009). It is a bit too far fetched. There is a lot of work involved with long and hard weekends as well as weekdays in front of us. But it should be fun and I hope the end product comes out well.

When will I start my own Business!

Some days I get this crazy feeling that I should have my own business! I have no clue what it should be, but I just have ideas spinning in my head.


I have no reservations and am open to anything. The only condition is that I should be able to manage it! As simple as that :). Sometimes I think I should open my own coffee shop then other times I would think, maybe a restaurant. Or maybe some export business.


I see and read articles about people and my friends who have taken the plunge and it "looks" really inspiring and exciting. But, I kind of pull myself back and think, "Hey, you are not ready yet".


I got into this "My business" dream when I was working in Bangalore, India for Cisco. This was my first job fresh out of Engineering school. It was exciting and fun for a couple of years as I learned a lot while working there. But, after 2 years, I started feeling that my work was getting a bit monotonous. I wanted something more! I figured out that the only solution to the inevitable monotony and boredom was to ultimately be my own boss.

I had a close friend from Korea and we used to live in a "shared accommodation" apartment in Bangalore. One day we were having some mangoes and she said that they do not get Mangoes in Korea! Together, we said that we should export this stuff to Korea! The entrepreneurial bug had bitten her as well. We decided that we should do our MBA, gain experience and then get together after 7 or 8 years. So I packed my bags to Australia and she went back to Korea after studies. We are in touch with each other and are going through the motion! I guess when the right time and opportunity arises we will know.

In Australia, my husband and I, with a few other friends almost did get into the initial stages of starting up our own business. This was during our MBA days but we later realized that it is "safer" to first have a strong financial base and accumulate some solid assets before actually plunging into anything. I guess we are more risk averse than we thought!

So we are back into the workforce now. I am working for WC Penfold as the Marketing & Business Manager doing a combination of IT, Business Management and Marketing. So far, I am enjoying my job. I guess one day I will get bored and the "itch" will be unbearable and I will have to give it a go!

My Initiation into the World of Blogging

I never thought that Blogging is such a hard thing to do. Especially writing the first post! When I used to skim through multitude of blogs, I used to be a bit critical and mentally categorize each of the posts that I read.

After attempting to write just one post, I have experienced first hand the effort one has to undertake and the pain one has to go through to be creative. I guess experience teaches you a lot :).

All of this is new to me and it feels as though I am starting school at 30 but I want to experience first hand what others are gaining by writing blogs. The number of blogs seems to be increasing day by day so there must be something right about blogging!

My blog will be just a small drop in the ocean where I want to share my ideas and thoughts, my aspirations and anything under the sky that I find interesting. The sky is my Limit!