Lots of reasons are given for that statement , from the serious to the sensationally scabrous. It does not apply so much to city dwellers , more for those in the country towns , though the garage often makes a good substitute for the shed. The trouble with that idea is that far too often the junk builds up to such a degree that it is hard to fit the car in there , let alone find a place to work in it .

Working on something is of course the general excuse given for needing a shed . Often , however , it can be regarded as nothing more than a place for solitude and contemplation , free from domestic commitments . It could be that it can substitute also for the allotment so beloved of vegetable gardeners.

No such reasons applied at Dondingalong . There were twenty five acres to expand into , had I wished to do so . There was the small orchard up in the northern corner where I planted all my trees , and now and then ventured into experimenting with some exotic vegetable that would , I hoped , flourish in the time between when I returned to Sydney and then some time later came back north . Nothing that needed any constant attention was the rule there.

Neither did I have the bad habit that so many farmers seem to have , that of leaving large numbers of derelict agricultural machines out to rust over the years . Thankfully I had no need of such things as ploughs ,harrows and tractors. But I did inherit my father's car when he was no longer able to drive it , and for quite a while before it passed down the family to my son's children , it needed a place to stay . Dondingalong was ideal , because I could have it as my local transport while the wife used the other car in Sydney .

There was also the question of storing those extra goods and chattels that one accumulates , things that not even the removal from Wagga to Sydney had allowed me to get rid of . There was no room for them at Coogee.

Finally there were those machines necessary for the maintenance of the block itself . The motor mower was about the biggest of its kind that I was able to get hold of , without going into the ride-on style -- a nice thought , but since I was up there for exercise it was simply a case of push the monster through the lush grass in the area just above and below the house , letting it windrow the cut stuff before it was used for mulch . There was also the brushcutter , a fearsome machine that had saw blade attachments of various kinds , as well as the whipper snipper head. That ripped its way through a lot of lantana , opening up useful tracks across the block .

For quite some time , before I built a small shed down from the house , I needed a place to store dry firewood for the slow combustion heater we had installed in the house , and there were bulky tools like block splitters , mattocks , electric saws and so on.

So , it was once more Ray the builder who was called on , and he found a good bargain for us from a supplier of agricultural sheds-- substituting one for a big double garage. A patch of levelled ground was cut out of the slope , a concrete slab laid , and a metal shed with a huge double rising door built .

One thing that I had always wanted , a substantial workbench , was built into the back left corner . It was invaluable and even served the purpose of making space for the fermenter in my brewing , where I was able to tap the contents straight into the prepared bottles , then use the capper on the same level.

The support rafters of the un-ceilinged shed were ideal for storing agricultural and plastic water pipes , or long pieces of scrap timber for which I was sure I would find a future use . Off my own bat I was able to build long shelves along the sides of the shed , shelves that held boxes of spare books , different kinds of sprays and so on.

Later still we had a small room built as a security area in the back right of the garage . Always conscious of the needs for water , I built a stand and had a thousand-gallon tank attached to the side . Specially lined , it held the purest of rain water.

The turning circle for the cars was an extension of the area cut out of the slope , and provided , just beyond it , a second slope where I was able to plant a vine called Monstera Deliciosa , which lived up to both parts of its name . Next to it on the slope I set some pineapples , a few of which when ripe I was able to rescue from the kangaroos and the possums On the left hand side there was room for some cymbidium orchids which flourished into full seasanal beauties.

All in all , a satisfactory venture , and after experiencing the convenience of it , I can now be thankful that we have here in Sydney a big double garage , not holding as much as did the one at Dondingalong , but then , I no longer own big mowers . And if I ever need it , I can spend time like any Aussie bloke , in something approximating a shed.