About 12 months ago I decided to make a concerted effort to clean up the drain on the front/side of my block.  I mowed and whipper-snipped and cut down dead trees and everything was moving along well.  Then I decided that I would have a big bonfire and get rid of all the dead wood that I had acquired from cutting down about 6 dead trees.  Because that's what you do. 

I called the local fire warden and he told me a few things that seems to completely contradict what was on the local and state websites about fire sizes and time frames to comply to in which you have to alert your neighbors in writing and such.  What the heck? 

So he wasn't happy with me building a big bon fire to burn off all the dead wood.  But he, for whatever reason, (and I have some strong opinions on the matter, let me tell you) did not have a problem with a smaller, camp fire level, fire.  So, in a fit of what turned out to be inspiration, I moved the cheapo ebay-sourced fire pit that I had out the back down into the drain that I had recently  whipper-snipped and lit it up.  

 

Best damn thing that has happened to me in years.  Now BRM and I (and, on occasion one or two of the other guys from work) have a fire a week, toss back a few beers and do some mid-week contemplation of our places in the universe.  And all because the local fire warden was a bit of a bozo.

 

I'll share a few more pics when I'm a bit more sober (Yay!... or possibly not, I will get to it though). 

 

Is that a missile going off in the background?

9 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

Is that a missile going off in the background?

I assumed it was a jet, but I didn't go to the effort of trying to confirm its identity so I guess anything is possible.

The wood is gathered and chopped.

 

And the wood is burned.  

 

So it turns into CO2 and gets absorbed by plants and turned into wood again... which we can burn.

 

It's called recycling.

WD Jeff, you're joining the club I'm in. Members stuck in big cities can't do this but outside of those locations most people can if they're interested enough or have enough detritus from the surrounding trees/bush.

 

This is the lazy fire, usually on a Friday arvo

 

 

The serious fire down at the fire pit

 

Best way to get rid on the stuff that drops from our gum trees and rainforest trees.

 

 

 

And here's an SNA member enjoying the fire, you know where you just stare at it and be silent... Which was quite an achievement let me tell you.😆

15 minutes ago, Luc said:

WD Jeff, you're joining the club I'm in. Members stuck in big cities can't do this but outside of those locations most people can if they're interested enough or have enough detritus from the surrounding trees/bush.

 

This is the lazy fire, usually on a Friday arvo

 

 

The serious fire down at the fire pit

 

Best way to get rid on the stuff that drops from our gum trees and rainforest trees.

 

 

 

And here's an SNA member enjoying the fire, you know where you just stare at it and be silent... Which was quite an achievement let me tell you.😆

Crikey, he get's about 🤗, was out west a few months ago ✌️

23 minutes ago, Luc said:

WD Jeff, you're joining the club I'm in. Members stuck in big cities can't do this but outside of those locations most people can if they're interested enough or have enough detritus from the surrounding trees/bush.

 

This is the lazy fire, usually on a Friday arvo

 

 

The serious fire down at the fire pit

 

Best way to get rid on the stuff that drops from our gum trees and rainforest trees.

 

 

 

And here's an SNA member enjoying the fire, you know where you just stare at it and be silent... Which was quite an achievement let me tell you.😆

Hey Lee, I was wondering how long it would take your beer-and-fire radar to pick up on this thread.

 

That brazier of yours looks awesome, way more upmarket than my now-I'm-thinking-it-looks-a-bit-average fire pit.  However the steel on the fire pit is getting a bit thin lately (possibly from overuse, possibly not) and I'm thinking of an upgrade come Christmas.  That style looks like it could be a serious contender for my next purchase.  Very nice!

 

My burning and drinking place looks a bit more "rural" than yours, but I sort of like it that way.  It really makes it feel like you are "out in the bush" and therefore all of your problems are far, far away.  The fact that it is only 20 meters from my front door is a big bonus I'll grant you that, but I'd happily walk a couple hundred meters to get that level of mental disconnect from modern society.  (Any further away and it'd have to have it's own fridge, of course.)

 

Burn on my friend, burn on.  Light that wood and drink that beer.

Out in the Wild West. Sadly we are not allowed to burn after October 31. Sometimes not even allowed to light a BBQ in summer 😔 

I tell myself l should move East...

Great post. Loving the pictures. 

K

 

28 minutes ago, needlerunner said:

Out in the Wild West. Sadly we are not allowed to burn after October 31. Sometimes not even allowed to light a BBQ in summer 😔 

I tell myself l should move East...

Great post. Loving the pictures. 

K

 

No fires?  Not even on the beach?

OK, one more mid-week evening of beer appreciation has been completed.  Well done to all involved!

 

 

Ozemandious the Echidna was not present this evening but retains an open invitation to join whenever he is free. 

 

 

Buster the Kangaroo was also not present, and he was missed.  He is often busy with his herd but when he can spare the time it's pretty cool to have a marsupial standing off to one side supervising proceedings and making sure they go to plan.

 

A surprise attendance was Harold the Kookaburra.  He's a local but he hasn't been by for a while now.  Even since that whole "faking injury for attention" incident.

 

The long and the short of it was this.  There I was whipper-snipping away, shredding plant fibers left, right and center in my effort to tame the guinea grass in the drain when this Kookaburra (later to be identified as Harold) walks up in front of me.  Yes, that's right, walks!  He gives me this happy-dopey look as if to say "Whatya doing Humey?"

And I answer with a look that clearly conveys my feelings on the matter.  "Look mate, I can't continue to maul greenery without turning you into a puff of feathers and pair of wing-dings if you don't go and get out of the freaking way."  It took a little time (and several facial expressions) to get my meaning across but he finally jumped up on a branch that I had yet to grab and haul over to the wood pile and stood and watched.  So, not really knowing what else to do, I kept on going.  about 20 minutes later I ran out of fuel for the whipper-snipper and headed back to the shed for a refill.  On the way I saw that later-to-be-named-Harold was still standing on the branch watching me.  This seemed odd, since birds can fly and all, so I had a bit of a closer look and saw that one of his wings was held well below the other one.  OK, now I thought I understood.  So back up to the house I went and looked up wildlife carers.  I made a couple of calls and was told that I could deliver a Kookaburra to them but they would not come and grab him.  So, I found an old T-shirt and went back down to the branch that the sneaky bugger who was soon to named Harold was sitting on.  And I was just in time to see him fly off.  He was playing me.  Putting it on in the hope of a free feed.  So while I can't stop him from dropping by, since he's something of a freeloader, he isn't entirely welcome.

 

Some of the delicious beverages that were sacrificed on the alter of the greater good earlier in the week.

 

And the feature beers.  I decided on a course of action a few weeks ago.  I would buy some fancy, imported beer and that way we could have a "feature beer" each evening which would be supported by the usual beers in the same way that a feature artist is supported in concert by other, slightly less famous artists.  I have to say that the idea has been a roaring success.  I bought six of each of the 5 beers above and I would thoroughly recommend every single one of them.  Congratulations and appreciations to all four breweries involved.

 

And now it's time to eat, rehydrate, and prepare for the rest of the week. 

 

Happy Wednesday Everybody!

 

The winds of change were blowing down the drain last week.  The old fire pit had to be retired, it had some serious rust issues that were not treatable by conventional means and so it had to be replaced.  

 

Thus a new fire pit was assembled upon the bones of the old.  (quite literally, actually)

 

Then it was ceremonially lit.

 

And once the proceedings for the night were fully underway, Dennis decided we had time for a quick photobomb.

 

I did manage to get a pic before he leapt into the shot, about 2 seconds earlier, but the fire was all wonky due to a gust of wind so this is the one I'm using.

 

The old fire pit may be gone but the fire and beer in the drain remain.

Living in the country, I have a range of outdoor fire pits, but have converted now to the Solo Stove.

 

Not cheap, but seriously portable and they reburn the exit smoke to so you have a pretty smoke free pit to sit around.

Highly recommended, but do be careful as the flames can get up if you load it too well and they are hard to see with no smoke.

aldi fire pit here... cheap and cr@p and rusts easily but hey it does the job.. when we need fire up.. i put a fire grate inside just to hold a log properly otherwise it was about $49.95 or something  

 

when it goes fully to rust we will replace it 🙂 

 

 

even kept going in the intermittent rain last winter  

 

also great amusement for daughter and friends with smoking or charing marshmallows and sausages  

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, betty boop said:

aldi fire pit here... cheap and cr@p and rusts easily but hey it does the job.. when we need fire up.. i put a fire grate inside just to hold a log properly otherwise it was about $49.95 or something  

 

when it goes fully to rust we will replace it 🙂 

 

 

even kept going in the intermittent rain last winter  

 

also great amusement for daughter and friends with smoking or charing marshmallows and sausages  

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not about the price, it's about the level of satisfaction that the price brings with it.  You can get a lot of enjoyment out of a cheap fire pit.

4 minutes ago, Cafad said:

It's not about the price, it's about the level of satisfaction that the price brings with it.  You can get a lot of enjoyment out of a cheap fire pit.

yep ours is scaringly  some 6 years old  too ! ...rusting away gracefully and hanging in there   not going anywhere .. have to be careful where i park it for the rust stains  

Edited April 23, 2025Apr 23 by betty boop

On 28/03/2025 at 10:32 AM, Cafad said:

The winds of change were blowing down the drain last week.  The old fire pit had to be retired, it had some serious rust issues that were not treatable by conventional means and so it had to be replaced.  

 

Thus a new fire pit was assembled upon the bones of the old.  (quite literally, actually)

 

Then it was ceremonially lit.

 

And once the proceedings for the night were fully underway, Dennis decided we had time for a quick photobomb.

 

I did manage to get a pic before he leapt into the shot, about 2 seconds earlier, but the fire was all wonky due to a gust of wind so this is the one I'm using.

 

The old fire pit may be gone but the fire and beer in the drain remain.

 

i think i had that model or similar. even did a bit of cooking on it but it was trickier than it appeared i found. tried heat beads tho they chewed the metal up. it got a second life stacked with pot plants! 

 

now i have a stainless steel "smokeless" unit. it got fired up over the week end for the first time this season. but they do love to eat thru the fuel.  

8 hours ago, wasabijim said:

 

i think i had that model or similar. even did a bit of cooking on it but it was trickier than it appeared i found. tried heat beads tho they chewed the metal up. it got a second life stacked with pot plants! 

 

now i have a stainless steel "smokeless" unit. it got fired up over the week end for the first time this season. but they do love to eat thru the fuel.  

Yeah, I always thought that actually cooking something on it would not be easy.  But then I never really intended to cook on it, that's what the BBQ is for.

The weather was good last night, so the decision to light the fire was really made for me.

 

It worked out well.  Drank some premium beer (Japanese this time).  Made a new friend.

 

We decided to call him "Cranberry" for no real reason.

He hung around for a bit, did a bit of a dance and then flew off (yes, flew!) into a tree and was subsequentially attacked by a bunch of apostle birds.  They made a bit of a racket for a bit, but calmed down after he left.

 

Caught up with Ozzy again too.

 

He was also making a bit of noise, but far less than those apostle birds.

 

And last but not least, one more picture of fire.  Because it looks so damn pretty it's just asking for its picture to be taken.

 

Happy mid-week fire-pitting everybody!

 

Another year, daughter’s birthday again. Top of her list, I want that fire pit in the backyard ! 
 

I obliged

 

 

was a huge hit ! That el cheapo aldi fire pit now 8 years old ! Gosh ! is still going ! Few logs drying out in prep with wet weather been having ..

Smores ! 
 

 

marshmellows

 

 

Was definitely a focal attraction, winters day but folks stayed out there because of it I think …

 

 

something about fire pits !!

Edited August 6, 2025Aug 6 by betty boop

9 hours ago, betty boop said:

something about fire pits !!

 

 

Absolutely!

It's getting towards the middle of the week.  Must be time for some fire... and beer.

 

Fire?  Check.

 

 

 

Beer.   Check.  German lager this time.

 

 

 

 

Australian native avian supervision?  Check.

Harold is back.

And about time too, I was wondering where he had got to.

 

Sorry, gotten too.  Stupid 5th beer, it's making me blur my swods.

 

Happy mid-week fire and beer everybody!  🍻

 

 

Edited August 26, 2025Aug 26 by Cafad
More pictures, less words.

Loving this thread @Cafad and other contributors.

 

I'm a habitual fire-pitter. Huge proponent of the top-down approach to lighting a fire (and I'll happily lecture anyone within earshot about why it's the best and most efficient way to achieve a virtually smoke-free fire  ).

 

I also have a big stash of 500ml hand sanitiser bottles which are out of date but still plenty potent. It is the PERFECT liquid firelighter - dispense around half a bottle, apply flame, and you're away! 

 

 

"Top down method"!?

 

I have never heard of this.  It does seem to make sense that it would lead to less smoke but since I use leaves and twigs and leftover butchers paper to light my fires I'm not sure just how effective it would be.

 

I should say, I'm not against using accelerant to light fires but as my day job is big on the chemistry side of things using some "chemical assistance" just feels a bit too close to bringing my work home with me so I'm happier sticking with leaves and paper.  

 

I just stocked up (Heavily stocked up I might add!) on the German Lager so I think I can afford to perform some investigatory fire lighting and see if this new-fangled method will work up here in Qld as well as it does in NSW.

 

I shall give this a try and report back.

It's Wednesday.   You know what that means.

 

 

The weather is warming up but that's OK because the esky still obeys the laws of thermodynamics.  Happy Hump Day everybody!

 

 

 

Nothing beats a fire at night after a day of prospecting.

Cooking a nice meal on the fire and having a few drinks and a good yarn among friends.

It's like therapy only better and does not cost the earth.