At Last

It isn't a job for cold wintry weather, but at long last we have emptied and cleaned the pond!! The sludge, roots and weed were so entrenched, that it was like thick green soup.
First we took out all the plants...no mean feat, as the roots were so massive that some of them took the two of us to lift them. Then up to the back, and all were severely cut back and repotted.
We faced a dilemma as to how to empty out the water, but, with Jim's know-how to the rescue, he rigged up an apparatus to syphon it out. When it was as low as the pump would work we were left with a dark brown thick sludge.

 So there was nothing for it but to sweep and bucket out the rest.

The plants removed before emptying.

The brown sludge at the bottom

Scooping out the wattle flowers

This was a pretty back-breaking job, but finally it was as clean as we could make it. Then the plants and the pump were placed back in, and it was filled. This was the easy part, except when I went into the pond to place the plants properly, I found a leak in my welly!!  Of course, sod's law stipulated that while it was filling with fresh water, the wind got up, and promptly blew the little yellow wattle flowers (by the million) into the water!!
However, a big, back-breaking job is done...for a while, and we will just have to remember to scoop out the leaves regularly.
The 3 fish...yes, we found 3 in the murk, were reinstated this morning, but I fear for their safety with the Kookaburras about. We have put in a few hiding places, so we shall see.
That's one more job done round the place, and hopefully this will last for a few years. So today is a day off, while we recuperate!