21 The Bridge

Pick up and delivery of the now two metal beams went perfectly in the very cheap truck we hired. We left them by the creek above high water mark and were back in Canberra in time for me to go back to work for an evening session to catch up. The problem now was that I would have to build the footings for the bridge which would have to be big enough and strong enough to carry these massive metal beams as well as a vehicle.

Our back creek crossing had once been trafficable. When the land agents had created our approximately 100 acre blocks back in the 1970s, they had been required to provide access on to each block. For our place they had put 1m diameter concrete pipes into the creek to carry flood waters and placed the gravel road over the pipes. They had done a similar job on another creek further into the property using slightly smaller pipes. All had been washed out in a flood a decade later.

I found three of the big pipes tumbled down stream but still intact. The fourth was broken into pieces. I also found 2 of the smaller pipes with their tops protruding from a soil wash 20m from their original site. One was intact. I decided to sink the 4 intact pipes vertically into the creek banks, well back from the sides. I would fill them with rocks then place the beams on top and weld them in place against steel posts that would be concreted into the pipes. Ideas are so easy. The mental moving pictures can be so vivid and detailed. At this stage though the concrete pipes were still scattered and they were too big for me to handle alone.

It was time to call out the red dragon. I had a big $100 drag chain, a couple of heavy wire hawsers bought via the Canberra Times adverts section for $10 and the bits of bullock chain from Johnny the shearer. All fastened together they were long enough and strong enough to pull the required concrete pipes out of the creek and burial sites. The tractor provided the shaking power. Phase 1 was complete almost exactly as pictured.

Digging the round holes to take the pipes was easy, just needing a pick, shovel and muscle power. The soil was soft. A copperhead snake wandered over and watched me. Probably thought I was wasting my time that should have been spent in planting Toona. Too much digging affects the thought processes.

There had to be quite a bit of thinking to work out how to get the heavy pipes into their custom-made holes. The tractor hoist couldn’t take the weight without bending so there had to be a flash back to the pyramids to solve the problem. Of course I could have called on muscles in the shape of the RFB but I already owed them heaps of Brownie points. Better to use my brain. As I shovelled the soil out of the holes I arranged it in a spiral ramp around each hole. Theoretically I could balance each heavy pipe on its edge and wind it up the ramp till it exactly overhung its hole. Winding it just a bit more over the edge and jumping sideways should see it dropping vertically straight down the hole. Precision balancing was required. I could finish up in the hole with concrete on top of me.

Amazingly the first pipe followed the mental video exactly. I stopped then to make sure this was reality and not brain pictures. The snake was still there, the tractor was watching as before. I decided to celebrate with a coffee break. So it was Nescafe Instant, two spoons, delicately lifted with a little myrtle honey.

The next two pipes fell in as ordered; now it was the small one. That was so easy to manoeuvre. But I rushed it. It fell into the hole at an angle so the lip caught half way down. I couldn’t budge it by muscle power. The tractor and chain completed the job. The snake had got bored and left. I filled the pipes with rocks and sealed them with concrete. Next weekend was the big one, putting the heavy beams across the creek, somehow.