Some hospitable terrain to be logging....not a bad Spotted Gum this one, took a bit of getting to with the 380 though

And where am I....

My brother falling a 4 cubic meter Spotted Gum out in the long grass....

Another dawn start, its really quite a lovely part of the day....it's a shame most people miss it

And here is me lads first use of a real chainsaw...sadly it was the old mans husky not a stihl but I guess i can live with it (didn't have plugs for him so I had to put my fingers in his ears) he was too busy watching the sawdust pour out on his feet to be too worried about too much else but he knew what he was doing and got the hang of the throttle in just a few cuts.

well its a shame this particular Gum-topped Iron Bark is as hollow as a drain pipe or he would have made a nice bit of log...but he stays as a seed tree now and then maby when i come back through the area in 25 years he'll have germinated a few good solid iron barks for me to harvest.....that's me o66 leaning on the tree by the way.

Well the 380c is up and running again apart from a leaky welsh plug all is well, and its back to work for the beast and time to make back the coin it cost for its little holiday :)

Well we had a minor with the 380 today...oil cooler in radiator wore through to the water part and now we got a cooling system full of oil and a transmission full of water...not good. what u see here is the repair in progress...shoulda' got a pic of the puss coming out when we undid the hoses but i was not in the mood to play around, so after a day flushin the radiator and engine and transmission then refitting an external oil cooler and re-running oil lines to the new cooler, it is time to reflush the engine and tranny in motion(basically fill em up and run em for 1/2 an hour then drop em and chainge filters and refill and go again...then once more at the end of the day and all should be well till the next hiccup

Timberjack 380C

Our primary log recovery machine is a Timberjack 380C grapple skidder(120hp 6 cylinder cummins, 12 tonnes), this particular machine is nicely balanced for the terain we encounter day to day. A wide low stance for stability on the side of a mountain with enough clearance for travel over obsticals, the 380 is comfortable for the operator with a angled seat and steering wheel control, the single arch esco graple is somewhat small for the hardwood operations but if u dont mind going down the mountain with 1 larger log then it does the job effictively and lifting with the single arch is no worries...i can pick up a 5m3 log at the but end and walk away with it no sweat.

the whole hog

As u can see, we do everything involved with logging, felling, snigging and hauling Timberjack skidders, Huff Loaders and Mack trucks, the mack is currently in the process of getting a 19m b-double set up to get arround the transport rules of restricted access.