So we looked over the Marsden photos and sketches to see how this part of the garden had originally been created and decided it was time to clear it all out and start again - not a recreation of the original but in a sympathetic way.
The hard work started in June this year and has continued since then with one of the garden beds cleared out and replanted by September leaving the garden bed between the path and the pool to deal with.

There was a further complication. Next to the pool was a very large gum tree that was mature when the house was built (it can be seen in this photo from 1982 - the middle one.) 

He cut most of the tree trunk and major branches into firewood lengths but left three large sections for me to make into nesting boxes to hang in the trees around our garden (a later project!)

Now, of course, we had a big pile of firewood and I set to work over the next 3 weeks with a block splitter - should see us through next winter, really well!

So, that's where we were up to by Christmas and for the past week I've been completing the very tough grass removal and then the tree stumps (eight big tree stumps wrestled out of the ground with axe, block splitter, chain saw, crow bar and mattock in 30- 38 degree hea - finishing each day with a swim in the pool to cool off.)

With that all out of the way, five bags of cow manure, five bales of lucerne and weed blanket should help to get the worm action going to improve the soil and hopefully keep the weeds under control.

To finish the job, the drip irrigation system and mulching. 

And now, it's ready for planting out next April after the hot weather!

It happened last time in 2011 (check our the photos from back then) so I guess that's only 1-in-5 years for us! This time we got 50mm of rain in the Abbotsley rain gauge in 50 minutes and sure enough - the creek overflowed over our driveway.

Since the last time our driveway flooded, I've made sure the under-driveway concrete pipes are kept clear of debris but I hadn't thought about the ferns growing a meter or so upstream. When the storm hit and large amounts of debris filled water came rushing down the creek, they pushed the ferns over and into the mouth of the pipes forming a great debris trap. In no time the creek had filled to overflowing and then, of course, the easy path is straight down the driveway!

So now, the gravel surface of the drive has been gouged out into deep channels, peeling off into the garden bed - just like in 2011. Too busy now but in a week or so, I'll get a delivery of gravel and put it all back together again. (sigh!)