Day 1, Monday 17th September 2007.

At 1pm and the course began with an introduction by the tutors Micha and Kerry, (who are in fact landscapers and not tutors). We touched briefly on what the week ahead held, and it sure is going to be packed with a lot of work and learning. Before we headed out to the work site, we went over types of rock and where it maybe found, along with looking at good and bad examples of stone walls and stone paving. The stone we were to be using over the next week was basalt from Dunedin, Schist from Central Otago, and bluestone (basalt) from Timaru.

Once this was completed we headed for the fresh air and blue skies of South Otago to set up the profiles for the work ahead for the week. Profiles were constructed for schist walls, basalt and bluestone pillars and a basalt dry stonewall.

Day 2, Tuesday 18th September 2007.

Up and at it with air of anticipation of the work ahead. We split into 2 groups, group 1 was to be working on the schist walls, which we set up the profiles for yesterday, the 2nd group to head over and commence on some paving. I was in group 2 so paving here I come.
We were paving an area that was to be a basic courtyard. It was to have a bluestone boarder (honed), with schist stone to be paved inside. This was all to be paved into wet concrete, which Micha kindly took control of mixing the brew for us.

This was a very time consuming effort, there are a number of rules to follow (I mean they are more guidelines than rules set in stone). The likes of making sure there are 5 sides on the stone (well better than 4 sides and not having any triangles), not to have running lines, no internal corners, this all on top of ensuring we have the correct run off and spacing between the stones themselves, easier said than done, anyway as the morning drew to a close, lunch time was upon us and if  dinner last night & breakfast this morning was anything to go by, there was going to be a feast to have.

As the day drew to the end and you have been thinking you are not actually doing any good or feel things aren’t going smoothly, you take a step back and review the days work only to be pleasantly surprised with the master piece we have created.
Tomorrow we get our chance at completing the schist walls while the other group will finish our paving. Bring it on!

Day 3, Wednesday 19th September 2007.

Group 2 went to finish the schist paving we started yesterday and we began working in pairs using basalt, constructing a pillar and a dry stone wall. Basalt, we quickly realised is a very hard rock and involves a great deal of skill to shape it accordingly. Constructing the pillar took a great deal of time, especially in preparing the rock (shaping it to fit neatly as well as preparing it for the next rock).

As for the dry stonewall, you could be a little less picky. This was a very good opportunity to take time to look at the different attributes that were required for a stone wall vs. a pillar; Micha and Kerry were fantastic in helping us identify what to look for as well as how to go about chipping the stone.

Day 4, Thursday 20th September 2007.

First thing in the morning we all grouted the schist paving we had worked on over the last couple of days. Once this was done we cleaned it down and then gave it a clean with acid. Then it was onto constructing schist walls for our group and the other group began on the basalt pillar and stonewalls.

When building a schist wall the stone was a lot easier to work with and we all took to this rather well, moving at good pace in constructing the walls (ensuring it was level, ensuring there were decent sized steps so it didn’t appear to have that block type look about it).

The last 3 days using schist paving, schist rock and basalt rock, had been a great experience in using different rock and getting to know the feel and what to look for in the stone when building different structures. Something I know we will be able to take back to our workplaces.

Day 5, Friday 21st September 2007.

First thing we were in the classroom going over the workbooks we had been working on in the evenings as well as looking at the things to consider when constructing a water feature. Then we headed out and began constructing the pond with a mini waterfall. Here we paid special attention to the lining and underlay and how much care is needed in joining the lining, where to place the stone and things we need to consider when placing stone (i.e. ledge around the pond, the contour of the surrounding landscape and height of water level).

The stone we used was greywacke, similar in nature to Basalt (hard stone) but with fracture lines throughout it so chipping/shaping this stone takes a great more care.

Overall I found this a very valuable course, having not worked with stone prior I have come away with a great deal of knowledge of the characteristic of stone and possibly more importantly, experience in chipping and shaping stone for a number of different structures (paving, walls and pillars). I have a great deal more confidence with stone and look forward to what I have learnt into practice. A big thanks to Micha and Kerry, your patients and ability to relate to us was valuable, and I know we all really appreciated the effort you both had put in to assisting us throughout the week.