Another wintry day in Kingston...we have had so very few wet, windy days this year - it is not a normal season by any means.
The South East is usually traversed by endless water (and man-made drains) at this time of year, and we are usually in a very reliable rainfall region. But not 2006.
Coastal rain has been very light and infrequent and our sandy soil is bone dry.
Unfortunately the frosts and often low daytime temperatures have made the countryside very dry. Not barren, just dry. here have been a number of days where the temperature has seemed more like autumn, and we are only in July! There's a long way to go.
Our average annual rainfall is close to 25 inches, but to date we are well below half that! Just goes to show how desperate we will be, come summer if something doesn't change soon.
Fortunately we have good underground water but we can't rely on that indefinitely either. The supplies are diminishing with the lack of rain around the nation.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Adding Links
I have tried and tried to add some links to my blog, but to no avail.
Have followed all the Help menu clues and gone through it several times, yes I did republish, but still the links don't appear on my sidebar.
And since doing it I can't view my blog as easily as I used to be able to! I assure you I have done nothing else to affect anything!!!!!
Obviously the technology is beating me at the moment.
BUT.....I will persist and try again later, when it's all had time to sink into my neanderthal brain!!!!!
Have followed all the Help menu clues and gone through it several times, yes I did republish, but still the links don't appear on my sidebar.
And since doing it I can't view my blog as easily as I used to be able to! I assure you I have done nothing else to affect anything!!!!!
Obviously the technology is beating me at the moment.
BUT.....I will persist and try again later, when it's all had time to sink into my neanderthal brain!!!!!
The Change
Noone wants (or seems to want) to talk about "the change" that occurs at around fifty.
Germaine Greer's account (which I am ploughing through at the moment) of just this phenomena makes it obvious I am not alone!
At fifty plus, are we all "washed up", children having flown the coup, husband on the verge of retirement and slowing down? (That's not a derogatory statement or question requiring an answer, it's a fact). Mind you, we're all slowing down!
So many before us and so many to come will experience the same thing - melancholy at times, loneliness at others, a new-found freedom tinged with a sense of loss.
It is a period of re-adjustment, after a hectic twenty or more years where there was hardly a minute to stop and smell the roses, where life revolved around family, and in particular children. Gone are the weekends full of sport and child-related activities - trips here, there and everywhere - always on the go. Committees, working bees etc etc.
Now that time has ended and we grapple with our emotions. So much conversation previously revolved around children and their affairs.
Being only part time - and very part time at that - in the workforce, there is little job satisfaction. Rick tells me to study and become more qualified but I'm not sure that's the answer.
I have the qualifications and the experience, but there just aren't the jobs around, especially in the country. Other than teaching, the only real jobs on offer in the vicinity are shop attendants or vineyard workers and I don't think I'd find either all that challenging.
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the challenge of my one day a week at Salt Creek with the students. It certainly isn't the money that keeps me going back. Oh, the money is good for one day, but I would do at least one and a half day's preparation before even setting off in the car. With petrol at almost $1.50 per litre, it's hardly economical to travel 93kms, leaving at 7am and arriving home around 6pm. (I am reimbursed for less than half the travelling).
It would be good to get more involved with the community but then when a day's teaching does come up I would have to let people down. At the same time I don't sit around waiting for the phone to ring! Relief teaching, like any casual position, has its advantages, but also its disadvantages.
But they do say that women who have job satisfaction don't suffer the symptoms of "the change". It certainly is a change, but it is a massive almost unwelcome change in pace, complicated and affected by many and varied factors.
I am still involved with the school from the point of view of voluntary work - organising Community School Week in second term ( have been involved with that for around 15 years now) and seem to have retained the "position" of KESAB organiser. Jessie and I instigated the school Roadwatch area, which covers about 5km roadside from the school northwards along the highway. Now that Jessie has left I struggle to get a class form school 4 times a year to clean up the area.
Yesterday (as I do annually) I organised a group to plant 270 native coastal trees along the Maria Creek - the students , assisted by several community members, had a fantastic time and learnt a bit about tree planting at the same time. That was part of National Tree Planting Day.
Fortunately it rained a little last night. Not much but it was better than nothing.
The area is very exposed but once established the trees grow quite well, even if they do suffer "the Kingston lean"! It is open to harsh south easterly winds, salt spray and poor sandy soils.
Enough for now.
Germaine Greer's account (which I am ploughing through at the moment) of just this phenomena makes it obvious I am not alone!
At fifty plus, are we all "washed up", children having flown the coup, husband on the verge of retirement and slowing down? (That's not a derogatory statement or question requiring an answer, it's a fact). Mind you, we're all slowing down!
So many before us and so many to come will experience the same thing - melancholy at times, loneliness at others, a new-found freedom tinged with a sense of loss.
It is a period of re-adjustment, after a hectic twenty or more years where there was hardly a minute to stop and smell the roses, where life revolved around family, and in particular children. Gone are the weekends full of sport and child-related activities - trips here, there and everywhere - always on the go. Committees, working bees etc etc.
Now that time has ended and we grapple with our emotions. So much conversation previously revolved around children and their affairs.
Being only part time - and very part time at that - in the workforce, there is little job satisfaction. Rick tells me to study and become more qualified but I'm not sure that's the answer.
I have the qualifications and the experience, but there just aren't the jobs around, especially in the country. Other than teaching, the only real jobs on offer in the vicinity are shop attendants or vineyard workers and I don't think I'd find either all that challenging.
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the challenge of my one day a week at Salt Creek with the students. It certainly isn't the money that keeps me going back. Oh, the money is good for one day, but I would do at least one and a half day's preparation before even setting off in the car. With petrol at almost $1.50 per litre, it's hardly economical to travel 93kms, leaving at 7am and arriving home around 6pm. (I am reimbursed for less than half the travelling).
It would be good to get more involved with the community but then when a day's teaching does come up I would have to let people down. At the same time I don't sit around waiting for the phone to ring! Relief teaching, like any casual position, has its advantages, but also its disadvantages.
But they do say that women who have job satisfaction don't suffer the symptoms of "the change". It certainly is a change, but it is a massive almost unwelcome change in pace, complicated and affected by many and varied factors.
I am still involved with the school from the point of view of voluntary work - organising Community School Week in second term ( have been involved with that for around 15 years now) and seem to have retained the "position" of KESAB organiser. Jessie and I instigated the school Roadwatch area, which covers about 5km roadside from the school northwards along the highway. Now that Jessie has left I struggle to get a class form school 4 times a year to clean up the area.
Yesterday (as I do annually) I organised a group to plant 270 native coastal trees along the Maria Creek - the students , assisted by several community members, had a fantastic time and learnt a bit about tree planting at the same time. That was part of National Tree Planting Day.
Fortunately it rained a little last night. Not much but it was better than nothing.
The area is very exposed but once established the trees grow quite well, even if they do suffer "the Kingston lean"! It is open to harsh south easterly winds, salt spray and poor sandy soils.
Enough for now.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Naracoorte Caves
Naracoorte Caves - 100kms east of Kingston - on the World Heritage list. Magnificent caves.
Look up: http://www.naracoortecaves.sa.gov.au/parks/naracoorte/caves/alexandra.html You'll be surprised at the variety and beauty. I should be a tourist guide, shouldn't I?
Mt Gambier
Blue Lake Mt Gambier - remnants of a volcanic era - the lake is incredibly blue during the summer months.
Mt Gambier is about 150kms south of Kingston.
Kingston Lighthouse
The Cape Jaffa lighthouse has been brought ashore and re-assembled in the town as a reminder of the past.
Several families once lived in the lighthouse (when it was out to sea), returning to shore about every 3 months! Imagine living out on a reef facing those treacherous storms from the Southern Ocean.
Living on the coast is certainly an experience when it comes to wind!
Kingston icon
Larry the lobster invites people to Kingston. He is actually quite ugly but seems to attract almost every toursit to take a photo in front of him. This is not such a good photo, unfortunately.
Simeon's Baptism
It was a pity we couldn't make it to Simeon's baptism in Adelaide, having just returned home and about to leave to go away again; but we were there in spirit. Rikki, Kristin, Joshua and Simeon. A lovely family.
Camera woes
The sad tale of our camera - yes this is all we can see!!! No views, no way to get into our stored photos, nothing. This photo is from the internet - someone else has posted, suffering the same fate.
Canon replied to my email - they say there is nothing they can do and that it is not a generalised problem! They say there are many things on the internet and that they are not accountable basically.
Camera woes
If anyone has any information or experience with Canon, we would love to hear from you...from a website we have discovered that a number of people are experiencing major problems with their digital cameras malfunctioning.
An E18 message appears, the lens opens then shuts with a grinding noise, NO pictures or views can be seen, changing the batteries doesn't solve anything and there seems we can do nothing but complain amongst ourselves. Any clues?????
Canon refuses to acknowledge that it is their problem, despite a lawsuit being taken out in North America - all complainants have apparently had similar problems we are experiencing. Instead, they claim that ALL these people have mishandled their cameras, some only one week old!!!
In an email replying to our complaint we were told that it would cost $330 to fix! We might as well buy a new camera - or go back to our old reliable (heavy and cumbersome) camera.
If you're; interested, which you're probably not, the website is situated at: www.e18error.com/experiences
Very sad state of affairs.
An E18 message appears, the lens opens then shuts with a grinding noise, NO pictures or views can be seen, changing the batteries doesn't solve anything and there seems we can do nothing but complain amongst ourselves. Any clues?????
Canon refuses to acknowledge that it is their problem, despite a lawsuit being taken out in North America - all complainants have apparently had similar problems we are experiencing. Instead, they claim that ALL these people have mishandled their cameras, some only one week old!!!
In an email replying to our complaint we were told that it would cost $330 to fix! We might as well buy a new camera - or go back to our old reliable (heavy and cumbersome) camera.
If you're; interested, which you're probably not, the website is situated at: www.e18error.com/experiences
Very sad state of affairs.
Logan's Beach whale watching
The whales are truly magnificent.
Whilst we only saw one mother and her calf this time, we do recall seeing about half a dozen here about 4 years ago.
Port Fairy
In Southern Ocean winter months, Warrnambool is visited by southern right whales, travelling from the cold Antarctica to breed. The sight of the gentle giants is one you will never forget.
Port Fairy
We do love lighthouses - they have a certain charm about them.
Griffiths Island is easily accessible on one of the many walking tracks in and around Port Fairy. We walked around the island twice!
So many ships came to grief along this coast in the colonial days.
Port Fairy
Photos borrowed from a lighthouse website, due to the fact that our digital camera has a major problem that seems to have afflicted thousands of Canon cameras worldwide over the past couple of years.
Of course Canon doesn't wish to acknowledge the fact that they have a fault and most of us find our warranties have recently expired, but I'm going to give it a shot.
It was disappointing not to have our own photos but the internet is a wonderful ally in such circumstances.
Port Fairy
This is the beginning of the Great Ocean Road.
The granite boulders around here are evident in the buildings, which have withstood the passing of time - especially the two huge churches built in the nineteenth century. They are great engineering feats for their time.
Port Fairy
There are so many historic buildings in Pt Fairy.
The Caledonian Hotel makes a good cappuccino - and it is the oldest continually licensed hotel in Australia - established in 1844.
Port Fairy
We went to Port Fairy for a couple of days last week - it is a lovely quiet spot in winter, but I know the population is huge in summer when all the tourists arrive. Unfortunately the motel we stayed in left a bit to be desired, but it was just good to relax.
We enjoyed walking around the town and the islnad - fantastic walking tracks everywhere.
This is the beautiful Moyne River which flows into the sea at Port Fairy.
Tourism is the largest industry these days - the Victorians do tourism very well.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Saturday, July 15, 2006
University of Adelaide
Jessie attends the University of Adelaide's North Terrace campus:
www.adelaide.edu.au
which was also my alma mater (many years ago - I think I graduated in 1975).
It is conveniently situated in the heart of the city, a 25 minute walk for Jessie (or a 10 minute bus ride) from the unit.
She is studying a double degree - Bachelor of Laws/ Bachelor of Arts (six and a half years), but is considering changing the latter to a Degree of Languages next year and possibly studying in Europe for a year.
www.adelaide.edu.au
which was also my alma mater (many years ago - I think I graduated in 1975).
It is conveniently situated in the heart of the city, a 25 minute walk for Jessie (or a 10 minute bus ride) from the unit.
She is studying a double degree - Bachelor of Laws/ Bachelor of Arts (six and a half years), but is considering changing the latter to a Degree of Languages next year and possibly studying in Europe for a year.
University of South Australia
The address of the University of South Australia, which Kerran attends is
www.unisa.edu.au
This is a relatively new university - made up of the "old" Wattle Park Teachers College (now Magill campus, where Kerran will need to go for the Education component of his course), City East (previously Institute of Technology, on North Terrace, adjacent Adelaide University and the Royal Adelaide Hospital), City West (also on North Tce, closer to West Tce) and Mawson Lakes (formerly Salisbury Teachers College - now apparently a fantastic campus, where he'll do much of the physical part of the course this semester - will need to travel there by bus and train, some distance out of the city).
In the first semester he has been solely at City East, so it was a good 20 minute walk (or 10 minute bus ride) for him each day.
He is doing the highly sought after new double degree course Human Movement/Education - a four year course. Only admitted 50 students this year.
Thought it may be interesting to look at for those of you who are not from South Australia.
www.unisa.edu.au
This is a relatively new university - made up of the "old" Wattle Park Teachers College (now Magill campus, where Kerran will need to go for the Education component of his course), City East (previously Institute of Technology, on North Terrace, adjacent Adelaide University and the Royal Adelaide Hospital), City West (also on North Tce, closer to West Tce) and Mawson Lakes (formerly Salisbury Teachers College - now apparently a fantastic campus, where he'll do much of the physical part of the course this semester - will need to travel there by bus and train, some distance out of the city).
In the first semester he has been solely at City East, so it was a good 20 minute walk (or 10 minute bus ride) for him each day.
He is doing the highly sought after new double degree course Human Movement/Education - a four year course. Only admitted 50 students this year.
Thought it may be interesting to look at for those of you who are not from South Australia.
Walkerville footy results
To view results/venues of games Kerran plays in:
http://www.saafl.asn.au (South Australian Amateur Football League)
He is in Division 3, playing for Walkerville.
http://www.saafl.asn.au (South Australian Amateur Football League)
He is in Division 3, playing for Walkerville.
School holidays
Since it's school holidays for a couple of weeks we decided to spend a few days in Adelaide. Mostly medical appointments (and haircuts) that have had to wait for just this opportunity! Too much time spent in waiting rooms as a result.
Rick and I arrived just in time to watch Kerran play football at Salisbury against a very physical Salisbury side - I locked myself in the car at one stage - the riff-raff were out in force! Kerran was concussed during the game (which they won) , so couldn't work that night and wasn't very well the following day either. Despite the injury he managed to kick a goal and a couple of points - at least he had an excuse for not kicking straight. He's fine now - there's no footy this week, so he has time to recuperate. Then he needed his ears syringed during the week - he can hear now!
Rick had his nose cautersied - after suffering chronic blood noses (they were lasting up to 2 hours at a time, several times a day) for way too long - exacerbated by the blood thinners he needs to take for his heart problem.
I needed a colonoscopy to check the status of my Crohn's - it seems there is some inflammation around the "join" from a previous resection of my bowel. Boring. Especially the pre-med - I always gag on the stuff - it's just vile. Four litres of a mixture I'm sure is made from soap and salt mixed together in equal portions! Took me 7 hours to get it down the day prior to the procedure.
Rick had had an appointment at the dentist in Kingston on Friday, but I "stole" it from him - have had toothache even after having a tooth filled a few weeks ago - the dentist didn't hold out much hope for the tooth anyway, so......to cut a long story short, I had the offending tooth extracted half an hour after we arrived back in Kingston! Ouch!!!! Now I need a bridge and a crown to "fix" the teeth around it. Our private health insurance company will surely love us this year.
Despite all this, we did manage to go on a lovely bushwalk with good friends of our's on Tuesday - from Mount Lofty to Bridgewater (approx 8km) in the Adelaide Hills. It's part of the 1200 km Heysen Trail - look it up at www.heysentrail.asn.au
Where are the photos? you may well ask. Raelene and John don't have a camera - their's was overcome by a leaking water bottle in a backpack some time ago! And - well, we forgot to check the batteries in our's before leaving home!!!!
Nevertheless it was a fantastic day, taking in a variety of vegetation and thankfully mostly downhill. Unfortunately the view from Mt Lofty over the city was obscured by dense fog -it was a cold day but there was plenty of good conversation and laughs.
It rained for the hour or so we were inside a delightful cafe in Stirling having lunch and coffee, following which we looked over the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, which are incredibly interesting, even mid-winter, having recovered wonderfully well from the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires which were so devastating to our State. There's even a Wollami Pine there - a recent addition after its discovery in an isolated valley in NSW - a living fossil it's being called. We have very good intentions to do a lot more of the Heysen Trail in future. Kerran joined us and hopes to utilise public transport to access some sections of it at some stage in the future.
In between we continued with the maintenance jobs at the unit. It must sound as though the place was derelict. Not true. It has been tenanted for a number of years and obviously each of the owners have negelcted to do all those little things that need doing. Now we just have the bathroom, toilet and laundry to "do". Big job. Not sure when that will happen. Probably when we save some more money! We think the place is looking good and really feels homely now.
We hope to go to Port Fairy for a couple of days next week - just to relax. The weather forecast isn't terribly good but it's a beautiful town on the Victorian coast, so we might just sleep and read. Promise to re-charge the camera this time. Plenty of time to visit the coffee and antique shops.
Just out of interest we have only recorded 6mm of rain in Kingston this week - despite the forecast promising much more. It is very dry in so many parts of Australia, so we are actually better off than many.
Rick and I arrived just in time to watch Kerran play football at Salisbury against a very physical Salisbury side - I locked myself in the car at one stage - the riff-raff were out in force! Kerran was concussed during the game (which they won) , so couldn't work that night and wasn't very well the following day either. Despite the injury he managed to kick a goal and a couple of points - at least he had an excuse for not kicking straight. He's fine now - there's no footy this week, so he has time to recuperate. Then he needed his ears syringed during the week - he can hear now!
Rick had his nose cautersied - after suffering chronic blood noses (they were lasting up to 2 hours at a time, several times a day) for way too long - exacerbated by the blood thinners he needs to take for his heart problem.
I needed a colonoscopy to check the status of my Crohn's - it seems there is some inflammation around the "join" from a previous resection of my bowel. Boring. Especially the pre-med - I always gag on the stuff - it's just vile. Four litres of a mixture I'm sure is made from soap and salt mixed together in equal portions! Took me 7 hours to get it down the day prior to the procedure.
Rick had had an appointment at the dentist in Kingston on Friday, but I "stole" it from him - have had toothache even after having a tooth filled a few weeks ago - the dentist didn't hold out much hope for the tooth anyway, so......to cut a long story short, I had the offending tooth extracted half an hour after we arrived back in Kingston! Ouch!!!! Now I need a bridge and a crown to "fix" the teeth around it. Our private health insurance company will surely love us this year.
Despite all this, we did manage to go on a lovely bushwalk with good friends of our's on Tuesday - from Mount Lofty to Bridgewater (approx 8km) in the Adelaide Hills. It's part of the 1200 km Heysen Trail - look it up at www.heysentrail.asn.au
Where are the photos? you may well ask. Raelene and John don't have a camera - their's was overcome by a leaking water bottle in a backpack some time ago! And - well, we forgot to check the batteries in our's before leaving home!!!!
Nevertheless it was a fantastic day, taking in a variety of vegetation and thankfully mostly downhill. Unfortunately the view from Mt Lofty over the city was obscured by dense fog -it was a cold day but there was plenty of good conversation and laughs.
It rained for the hour or so we were inside a delightful cafe in Stirling having lunch and coffee, following which we looked over the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens, which are incredibly interesting, even mid-winter, having recovered wonderfully well from the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires which were so devastating to our State. There's even a Wollami Pine there - a recent addition after its discovery in an isolated valley in NSW - a living fossil it's being called. We have very good intentions to do a lot more of the Heysen Trail in future. Kerran joined us and hopes to utilise public transport to access some sections of it at some stage in the future.
In between we continued with the maintenance jobs at the unit. It must sound as though the place was derelict. Not true. It has been tenanted for a number of years and obviously each of the owners have negelcted to do all those little things that need doing. Now we just have the bathroom, toilet and laundry to "do". Big job. Not sure when that will happen. Probably when we save some more money! We think the place is looking good and really feels homely now.
We hope to go to Port Fairy for a couple of days next week - just to relax. The weather forecast isn't terribly good but it's a beautiful town on the Victorian coast, so we might just sleep and read. Promise to re-charge the camera this time. Plenty of time to visit the coffee and antique shops.
Just out of interest we have only recorded 6mm of rain in Kingston this week - despite the forecast promising much more. It is very dry in so many parts of Australia, so we are actually better off than many.
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