Water, water everywhere. Well, not actually...

THIS week, I've made a promise to myself. To have a weekend with no social gatherings, parties or booze.

Now although I may falter on the latter, the former two are - hopefully - easily achievable targets.
Since Christmas, and even before that, we've had dates marked on the calendar for get togethers and the like. It's a very social sort of country, this Australia place, but while we're out mingling, all the domesticities that come with running a household are put on the back barbecue burner.

My liver is not a particular fan of the fact that we've decided to settle in the heart of the winery region nor is our bank balance. We have a grog warehouse just down the road and a winery on every corner and it's all too easy to while away the evening in the hammock sipping on a chilled Chardy each night.

But it's not getting any work done round here. We've fallen that far behind with the chores that we've hired a gardener. Given the choice of domestic help, I'd have opted for a cleaner but seeing as though the garden is bigger than the house that stands on it, a man with the mower it was.

So every other week, our man rocks up to kill the weeds, sculpt the "Neighbour-Be-Gone" trees and trim the grass, if you can call it that. The heat from the past month or two has frazzled any sort of green stuff we had in the back yard and now, it's just a tatty parcel of land that's crying out to be filled by the installation of a pool.

We'll probably get the necessary planning permission just in time for winter so our timing isn't all that great, but I'm banking on bagging a bargain in the hope that there's a winter sale on all things wet and summery.

We've never bought a pool before and I'm not sure whether to go for a kidney, Roman, lap or Tahitan variety. And when it's in, there lies the problem of filling it. Never before have we had to watch our water so much. Having been slapped with a Grade 3a water restriction this summer means that an excessive amount of water usage has to be declared. And it's not just a case of filling it with a crafty go on the hosepipe either.

For around $3,000, a tanker delivers the liquid gold and in some cases, more than one is needed, depending on the size of pool it has to fill so I'm not looking forward to THAT bill.

But for now, we're taking advantage of the free pool just down the road ... it's as big as you want it to be and it's great to take a dip when the heat of the day has subsided. It's called the Port Phillip Bay and we love it!