The Big Day. Laverton Train Station.

Well, 'big day' is probably an understatement as it exceeded all our expectations. But, I shall start from the beginning... this was the big moving day. The truck arrived on time at 8.00am and began backing down our road and into the drive.

It was a tight fit around the gate post.

Rhys, the truck driver got down to this point, hopped out and realized that the drive was too tight. Even if he could go down, he wasn't happy about manoeuvring once he got there. The company had photos of the drive and thought it all looked fine but coming here was another matter...

After some deliberation, Rhys rang his Dad who came with a smaller truck. We thought we could load the sculpture on the small truck and take it up the drive to the semi trailer. This is the crane part of the semi, lifting the sculpture. All that careful fibre glassing in the centre was put to the test here and it held up beautifully.

And now, lowered onto the smaller truck.

The cradle was also tested out and found to be working well. Unfortunately, the sculpture  didn't fit properly on the truck. The over-hang was too large, and the height of the truck base meant that the sculpture would never make it out under the trees. It looked like the whole thing had to be cancelled at this point. It was now midday and no-one was going to come to our aid on a Sunday afternoon, a couple of weeks before Christmas. But after a very persuasive and compelling phone call from Tanya, the project manager, we fortunately pushed on and persevered.

A crane driver who was a friend of Rhys's father, agreed to come out after his work, and so at about 4.00pm, we managed to get the sculpture on the move again. This is Grant and Rhys with his Dad looking on and the ever present dogs.

The crane was a beauty. It had no trouble steering the sculpture around the trees with the help of Rhys, his Dad, Grant and I.

I put a bunch of photos of this bit, because it really was extraordinary seeing it floating down the road.

And finally, out to the main road and onto a huge truck - the third for the day. This one was over-size and required a pilot who was also commandeered at the last minute. Pretty amazing on a Sunday afternoon! This was about 5.00pm.

So, finally, it was loaded and ready to go - about 8 hours later than the planned departure time. The pilot was meeting Rhys out on the main road and would accompany the truck up to Laverton with Grant and I following close behind.

During all this time, a traffic management company had been employed to close the car park and manage traffic. They were expecting us at around midday. This was almost 8.00pm. The crane was also on standby and they were being updated on our progress through the day. They would have been very glad to see this truck rolling down the road towards them.

So the sculpture was picked up once again. This time by an enormous crane.

It had to be laid down on the ground and the slings adjusted so that it could be raised up in the right position for installation.

And there it goes on its final journey. The plastic protective sheeting was coming loose and looked like cobwebs.

Flying in the twilight sky.

And down to its new home outside the station.

It was a precision job to get it down onto the footings. We were hoping that Grant had measured it all up with his usual atttention to detail.

Just 4 bolts for this massive weight to be lowered on to with millimetre accuracy. That's Rhys, the truck driver's head peering below and guiding things with Grant. He went above and beyond to stick with us all day, to see the job through and then to continue helping once we were here. The sculpture fitted down perfectly.

And here it is. In its final home. Grant and I took the wrapping off and re-did the safety fence with a very relieved Tanya, the project manager. There were lots of passer-bys with questions and comments. "What is it?" "What does it mean?" Grant answers that it is abstract. It can be whatever you like. People said propeller, 4 leaf clover, green jelly baby, balloons, huggable blob..A bunch of teenagers stopped and chatted for a while. One said they would like to sit up in the middle, another said they might make a secret door and live in it. We finished up after 10pm. All that needs doing is the paving underneath. We were delighted with how it looked and are just hoping that it is enjoyed by the community.

Opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon and then a very long rest for Grant over Christmas.

Walking sculpture

The sculpture had to be moved out of the tent and across a paddock up to where the truck can load it safely. Grant was faced with doing this virtually by himself. He worked out a system with rails and a winch attached to the tractor.

It must have been amazing to see it emerge into the natural light for the first time.

The rails were coated with oil and had to be levelled all the way along.

I'm not sure how Grant managed this by himself. I arrived home after work at this point and could help him with levelling.

It was extraordinary watching it inching along.

Grant had trouble staying upright by the end of this day.

Nearly there...

And here it is. Just needs wrapping and then picked up by the truck. I thought it looked fantastic in its bush setting. Unfortuately, we can't keep it.

Ta da...

Well, here it is. One shiny, green sculpture. Finished, at last.

The string around it is to aid measuring. There is the small matter of having to transport it to Laverton train station now.

The height and width needs accurate measurment for working out whether it comes under retrictions for travel on the roads.

We need a low loader semi trailer and hopefully can do without a pilot.

The footings are the next step. Grant built this bolt cage which will be buried in concrete for the sculpture to be attached to. So, up to Melbourne...

So this is the site. The train station is behind me and this is the entrance from the road. The concreters jack hammer a hole in the pavement and then dug out over a cubic metre of soil, positioned the bolt cage and then filled it with concrete.

Now comes the tricky bit in the move. The crane truck cannot make it down our drive to the sculpture because of over hanging trees and the narrowness of the corners. That means that the sculpture has to be moved up to a clear area, about 50 metres up the drive. Yesterday, we took down one side of the tent.

The straps are to keep the sculpture steady while it is dragged along steel rails by the tractor. It weighs about 2 tonnes, so unfortunately, the tractor can't lift it. That's todays' task.

It's Green

This was yesterday. Grant put the final top coat on the last pod, so the colour coats are now finished.

All that remains is an anti-graffiti clear coat on the top and it's done!

The remaining steps are to employ a concreter to dig the footings and a pour a concrete base on the site. Then to somehow get the sculpture on to the back of a truck, off this block of land through the trees and then up to Melbourne to install. This will involve a crane plus driver, a truck plus driver and a pilot car because it is over-sized for the roads. All this will happen, hopefully, by the end of the month.

Make paint while the sun shines

Well, here it is. The first of the top coats has begun. After some weeks and several under coats, another complete sanding, followed by a mishap with a collapsing scaffold, the colour is finally being applied.

It is so exciting to see it. The weather has warmed up enough to paint without heating.  A suitable heater was eventually found and ordered from America, but it still hasn't turned up. It won't go to waste though. It will get used for other jobs. Even this one, if the weather turns particularly cold again.

The under coats went on fairly smoothly, but the sanding took a lot of time, as well as cleaning the sculpture for each coat.

Just as Grant was finishing the final under-coat last week, the scaffold collased that he was standing on. Luckily he was only bruised and sore for a few days. The steel just buckled and twisted for no apparent reason. It's something that we will have to follow up on.

It's another warm day today and Grant will get another pod painted. It looks like it will need 3 to 4 coats to have a good coverage.

Getting ready to paint

Well, at long last, here is the new frame built and the first of the tarps to be fitted to make a tent for painting.

Amazingly, Grant built this by himself. He is developing good leg muscles with dozens of trips up and down the ladders each day.

It is turning into a very  large spray booth.

The tricky bit at the end was to work out how to make access for the tractor from both sides while making the frame sturdy enough to stop the tarps flapping.

The solution came in making a sliding panel for a doorway. This is now pretty much done. The area needs to be heated by an electric heater of some sort. So far, there has been no luck in finding a suitable one. The paint needs 8 hours+ of 16 degrees and above to work and the weather is not giving us that just yet.

Down with the scaffold

Well, a bit of time has lapsed since the last blog post. Progress has slowed since the cold has set in. Grant finished the sanding - finally - and has bought the paint. Unfortunately, the paint needs 16 degrees or higher to set properly and we are lucky to get above 13 in the middle of the day at the moment. The only option is to create an enclosed space around the sculpture to heat it. Otherwise, wait until the weather warms up.

Grant needs a good 6 or 8 hours of this temperature to do a coat. It is disappointing to be delayed at this final stage.

Grant decided to take the scaffold down since it is costing a lot in hire each month. He is planning to build another frame around the gantry to either create a tent for heating or else just a shelter for painting later in the season.

Yes, that's me. Freezing cold and in the rain being Miss Safety First. It was a bit scary standing up there dismantling the railing around me. It took half the time to take the scaffold down as putting it up.

It was cool to get these different perspectives on the sculpture. There will be this view at the train station, looking down on it from the railway pedestrian bridge.

Starting at the top, the scaffold is taken apart and thrown to the ground.

Half way there. We stopped because of the rain and finished up the next morning. It is amazing to see it wet and under this much light. Grant has done a fantastic job finishing the surface. It looks flawless to me.