Up on the plateau in the red soil, halfway between Lismore and the coast. Macadamia country, generous blocks, and some of the more pleasant delivering we do — provided you have looked up at the street trees first.
Alstonville enquiries usually turn out to be about orchard and farm storage across the macadamia country, chemical, fertiliser and harvest equipment storage, machinery and workshop storage on the rural residential blocks, household and renovation storage through the village, and trade storage for builders working the plateau and Wollongbar. We would rather talk it through than take an order off a form. The size is usually the easy part — where it sits and how it gets there is worth five minutes.
About grades — we would rather sell you cargo-worthy that suits the job than as-is that does not, and we will say which is which. Photographs of the specific unit, marks included, on request before delivery.
| Size | Used from | New from | Hire from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10ft Containers | $4,350 | $6,400 | POA |
| 20ft Containers | $2,200 | $3,300 | $27/wk |
| 40ft Containers | $2,600 | $5,500 | POA |
All figures ex GST and quoted as a guide. Condition and availability set the final number. The delivery to Alstonville is priced with the unit rather than billed separately afterwards.
The plateau is nut country and the container demand follows it. Harvest equipment that has to be stored between seasons and kept dry. Fertiliser and spray chemical that has storage rules attached to it. Nets, bins, irrigation fittings and the accumulated gear of an orchard operation.
Chemical is the part worth planning properly. A bunded, ventilated and correctly signed unit is how most orchards here get from awkward to compliant, and it can be relocated if the operation changes. Tell us the classes and the quantities and we will tell you what the unit needs to have.
The straightforward storage jobs are equally common — a 20ft or 40ft near the shed holding everything that does not fit in it, which on a working orchard is a surprisingly large amount.
The red volcanic soil on this plateau drains a great deal better than the alluvial flats down in the valley, and that has a real effect on delivery. After a wet week, a paddock at Alstonville is often still trafficable when the equivalent ground at Coraki or Woodburn is not. It is the reason we can be more relaxed about timing up here.
That is not a blanket assurance. Formed tracks, recent fill and anything that channels runoff still behave the way fill behaves anywhere. But as a rule, the plateau is forgiving ground and it means a 40ft on a proper pad is a reasonable proposition on most rural blocks in this postcode.
Pads still matter. Sleepers or concrete under the four corner castings, set with a slight fall away from the door end so water runs off rather than sits at the threshold.
Two quite different jobs share this postcode. The rural and rural-residential blocks across the plateau are excellent — red volcanic soil that drains far better than the river flats, wide entries, long approaches and plenty of level ground. A 40ft is genuinely feasible on most of them, which is not something we can say about much of our coastal run. The older village streets are the ones to look at twice. Alstonville has kept a lot of mature street planting and there are stretches where the canopy meets over the road, and a tilt-tray needs air above it to get its bed up on the angle. Wollongbar is generally newer and easier. The plateau soil is a genuine advantage after rain — it holds up where the flats do not — but it is still worth telling us if a paddock track has been under water or has been recently formed.
Beyond the local detail, every drop needs the same three things — ground that carries the weight, a straight run to line up on, and clear air above the spot. Photographs answer all three faster than measurements do. Full checklist in getting a container onto your block.
Kyogle · Evans Head · Bangalow · Mullumbimby · Nimbin · Wardell
Ask and we will send pictures of the actual unit heading to Alstonville, marks and all.