You know you are in Tasmania when you turn up to learn how to build a polytunnel on a day where the maximum was six, the drizzle continued all day and yet a dozen people are there to join you. It was an interesting approach and one that may just work in this environment. Basically, we set treated pine sleepers half-depth into the soil, then raised sheets of reinforcing mesh over them to form an arch. Each end is also reo, with a door cut in one end with a timber frame and a window in the other end to create ventilation to avoid mildew. The whole to be clad first in 70% shadecloth (which has the added benefit off protecting the plastic from any sharp ends that form on the surface of the reo), then plastic over that. Of course we didn't get that far today, but the framework is up and all the bits of reo in one sheet are welded to the bits in the next sheet (it's a long one for the school garden) and next week we will frame up the door and window and insert them, before wrapping it up. Might remember to take my camera with me next time... It's a lot more rigid than the ones bent over polypipe so should be better able to withstand the winds around here. I am thinking my own will be about 3 metres to a side. I laid the fire before setting off which meant the wood had dried to fire-readiness using the last of the residual heat from last night, so the animals are all safely tucked up in front of it. I will be joining them shortly.