MAN CAVE: A dedicated area of a house, such as a basement, workshop or garage, where a man can be alone or socialise with his friends. www.mancavesite.org. 

A man's work is never done, especially if he has a shed in which to wile away the hours.

There is perhaps no better man cave than a toolshed, a place where men can retreat for some alone time, to indulge in a hobby, or read, or indulge their creative instincts.

Man caves can be places to relax, indulge a kooky interest, or a place for traditionally male pursuits.

Maybe there's a foosball or snooker table, copious amounts of beer, or maybe it's the garage, where you use your mechanical genius to fix up your car or bike, or practise your music with your mates.

There could be dart boards, movie screens, collections of comics, coins, Star Wars characters or miniature motors.

There might be lounges to watch the footy, a barbecue and a pantry stocked with chips and burgers.

John Young is a retiree and on the committee for the Association of Independent Retirees, and he is very active, spending many a happy hour tinkering in and around his traditional man shed at his home in Trinity Park.

Garden furniture, nuts and bolts, piles of wood, pool equipment; there's a melee of blokey material, but it's all neat and tidy, with a place for everything and everything in its place.

"I do repairs and maintenance around the house and I help in the garden a lot," John says.

There's a pole to clear palm fronds from the pool, pool filters, pool shade cloth, electrical fittings, electrical drills, garden power tools, handsaws, chainsaws, whipper snippers, pruning equipment, spades, sledgehammers, an axe, rakes, brooms, outdoor grass blowers and all manner of nuts, bolts and screwdrivers.

"I love to go to Bunnings," John says, which is clear from his shed that looks like a microcosm of the hardware store.

John is from Melbourne and has lived in Cairns for 20 years, and says he would never go back because he doesn't like the cold.

Right up there on his never list is downsizing from his house to an apartment because if he did, he would lose his beloved shed.

"I spend an average of one hour every day in the shed, and sometimes I might spend a whole morning, for four hours or so," he says.

"While my wife is baking or cooking, I'll come out and tidy up.

"I might use it as a way of getting solitary time, instead of sitting down and reading a newspaper."

John listens to his radio in his shed while he works and is a regular Mr Fix-It.

He makes repairs to garden runners, fixes burst water pipes, and pressure cleans his fences, cleans the gutters from fallout from the palm trees and cleans his pool.

"I look after the pool maintenance myself," he says.

>>Do you have an interesting shed or a cool man cave? Give us a peek inside your world. If so, phone 4052 6922 or email denise.carter@news.com.au.

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