Storm Damage in the Garden

Last night we had the most horrendously strong winds, they lasted all night , roared and twisted and were still blowing when I got up this morning. When my sister rang me at 7 am it was calm in Adelaide but it was still blowing strongly here.
When I went out to put some stuff in the recycle bin , I noticed half a tree had been twisted off the main trunk and fallen across our track, onto the bottle brush tree which was flattened as a result.Luckily we were still able to use the other part of the drive to get out.

What to do when our chainsaw would have been too small to cope with this huge limb.
Our share farmer would be too busy at this haymaking time to call on and the Home Assist people don't do chainsawing.
I decided to contact our friend who used to do gardening for us but is now busy building rammed earth houses with a local firm. I thought perhaps he may know of a local or have a friend who would tackle this huge limb.

So I texted him ( oh, the joy of mobile phones...)
and he replied that he was actually off work for a few days, waiting for the next house to be built in a fortnights time. He was willing to come around and cut up the tree; what a relief to have him come around and have a coffee first  with my musical friends who had also just arrived.
He was telling us over coffee how he fishes for sand whiting at Aldinga reef and uses the live bait of tiny crustacians he pumps out of the sand first.

After coffee we left him to it and we went into the studio to play our Teleman and Bach pieces to the background music of the chainsaw....We thought we might tackle a new piece of music next time, we hadn't played together since late September.
He did a great job and as the photos below show, we will have a good start for our next winter fire wood.

It has left a very bare patch in that corner now and I am wondering what to plant now as the Agonis didn't like it there and died and really the bottle brush had been struggling too.
I would love to plant a Holm Oak but they take so long to grow....
Perhaps it may be better to plant the Winpara Gem Grevillia, they do seem to do well here once you get them going.
I have carted three barrow loads of the smaller pieces and stacked them near the fowl yard where they will get plenty of sun and wind to dry them out ready for the winter fires. Only it has hardly dented the number still to be carted....

The poor tree has this great gaping wound now but I hope it will
not worry it too much and it will heal itself.
I noticed the vineyard row next to the fence and the trees are not doing too well. The neighbours did cut a trench and lined it with plastic but I think gumtrees exude a kind of deterrent to discourage other plants from invading their territory.

There is still a bit more to be sawed up but his chainsaw was blunt at this stage and he needed to go home to sharpen it. He will come back tomorrow and do some other garden jobs for us before he goes on a bit of a holiday and then back to work.
We will continue to cart wood for the next few days ....and prune back the roses which have flowered prolifically this season and pull more weeds and strike cuttings .....the list goes on, never a dull moment