What a fabulous Weekend

A week or so ago Ian and Amber from SACBRA - I really hate acronyms that don't at least hint at what they stand for - particularly when I can't remember anything past St Andrews Community... which of itself is quite a meaningful objective. Before I get too far off track the Celebrating St Andrews event needed a bit of setting up help and I volunteered to provide, labour, landrover and lots of smart remarks about whatever took my fancy including the loss of an item of intimate apparel which were found to be missing after a night of horrendous winds and considerable damage to tents and campervans.

Thursday evening did not augur well for the weekend. It began raining late in the afternoon and continued for many hours. It wasn't particularly heavy at least for the first hour or two during which with the aid of a quantity of diesel and petrol I was able to get a campfire started and well ablaze before Peter turned up for a bbq which we had been planning to share with a couple of other horticultural chaps whose names shall remain like themselves not present. We wandered about the place showing Pete what had survived and what I planned to do with the dam paddock - an English park with deciduous trees and swathes of exotic and native colour. The house paddock, a mostly native garden with rock pools and stream inspired by Gordon Ford and the chap at this year's garden show who made billabongs look deceptively simple and whose name will not spring to mind. And finally the top paddock which is to be a nursery of trees both native and exotic. a lifetime's work - just as well I've got another one.

Despite the blustery showers, behatted, jacketed and in excellent humour we made disparaging comments about our colleagues inability to help empty a bottle of Pepperjack while we stood warming and smoking ourselves - what is it with bloody smoke! - in front of an excellent bed of glowing coals and and flaming logs of Chilean Poplar.

Our hardy, hairy bushmen interlude over, we retired before saturation to the caravan where Peter prepared an excellent salad while I nuked a couple of potatoes before dropping them on to the back of the barbequeue grill and danced between raindrops a fantasy I've maintained since childhood as I cooked our meat to pink perfection, opened another bottle. Dan's WE3 Cab merlot - not Pepperjack but not bad either.

The dinner and conversation were most enjoyable but eventually the rain and our world changing ideas came to an end and Peter drove off into the night and a couple of weeks of well earned break from lecturing at NMIT.

Celebrating St Andrews

The posters had been around for weeks but I hadn't really taken a great deal of notice and wasn't particularly engaged until asked if I could help set-up. I have a deal of respect for people who are prepared to add to the normal chaos of their daily lives by volunteering to work towards rebuilding communities which have been significantly fire effected. It's a generally thankless task and I had chosen to not get involved beyond the odd helping hand.

It was a bit of a surprise to discover that the event was to be held only about a kilometre away and had a whole range of activities and events for the whole community. I spent a fair bit of the day on Friday helping various of the organising comittee's members get stuff done. The weather is fantastic. They are a great bunch of people, most of whom I have not previously met, although we all live within about 10k from each other and have lived in the area for many years. Their enthusiasm and fears about success and failure are plainly visible as we work to get set-up. They've put so much effort in, I really wanted it to be a success. By the end of the day we are all pretty stuffed and I leave hoping that the night will be quiet for those staying on site.

The night is very windy but not as bad as it has been over the last few weeks and the morning is cool and cloudy. I skip breakfast having had an enormous dinner including two completely unnecessary serves of icecream the previous evening, and head off down Nink's road to the event site. The wind has done quite a bit of damage but spirits unlike some the tents are not damaged.

A bunch more work - I was only going to spend an hour but it turned into two or three and I went home desperate for some sleep. Ros & I had a quick lunch, checked the program and decided to get there about 4:30 ish. Sleep came in minutes not a snore to be heard by either of us!

Showered, dressed and prepared for whatever the weather could throw at us we drove down Ninks road where I caused a bit of drama by stopping to take a couple photographs. The road is only just wide enough for two vehicles and I'd reduced it to a single lane for about 4 minutes and of course there were cars wanting to travel in both directions. Nothing will stop a determined photographer!

We arrived and began the meet and greet which lasted until we left, very close to midnight. It was a wonderful evening. Old and new friends, met and mingled, ate and drank, listened to short speeches and danced and listened to a variety of live music which went almost continuously all night. There were hundreds of conversations, a few tears, much laughing and jokes none of which have been remembered or will be recorded here. As I spent much of the evening enjoying myself by taking photographs I've decided to let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

The link to the pictures which are available for viewing or downloading on Picasa is http://picasaweb.google.com/Nossida/SACBRACelebration?feat=email#

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did taking them.

With the Celebration of St Andrews, the SACBRA committee have done a fabulous job in beginning the creation of a new feeling of community.

SAD or BAD!?

If I lived in the Northern hemisphere I might have recently been suffering from SAD (Seasonally Affective Disorder). However I think it might more likely be something like Bushfire Angst Daily or Building A Dream or who knows?

Truth is I'm not quite sure where I've been. Rob Gordon would suggest that I'm in the "Cortisone Phase" of a post traumatic experience but again I'm not so sure.

I know I've lost a house and a bunch of stuff that I'll probably never replace and a cat that I might, but at no point in any of the time since Feb 6 have I felt particularly traumatised. In fact I've mostly felt nothing in particular. Of course in daily life, I've been angry, upset, frustrated and happy and relaxed and also just blank. Having been diagnosed previously with depression and still on medication for same, I have sometimes thought that it's like being depressed but with a purpose ie all the same symptoms but with energy or focus which prevents one from just sitting. I've pretty much decided that it would be useful to talk to someone as I suspect that it's a long embedded ability(?) and desire to survive by "managing" or controlling my emotional and physical wellbeing and environment.

Perhaps none of or all of the above as well as a degree of frustration that at the age of 60 once regarded as nearly venerable and a time for reflection and relaxation one has been prematurely reborn with a new beginning, life and a new bloody mortgage.

My head has been pondering the preceding for most of the last month as well as taking on a new role at IBM which has demanded a very steep learning curve and a recognition that there have been a number of outstanding actions that I haven't been able to get to grips with like responding to mails, actually putting drafting pen to paper for a couple of garden designs including my own and updating the blog. I've mostly just been rolling along making sure that I eat and drink and generally remembering to take my be nice pills.

I'm not going to attempt to fill in the blanks since August. It would if possible, take too long and anyway a bit of a mystery is probably no bad thing.

That said, here's a few things that have or haven't happened yet. The dead pine trees are still dead and despite 100Kph winds and my fervent wishes, refuse to fall over. They are obviously not taking any notice of the council's arborist who has declared them dangerous.

I finally had the ailing "Big Dog" Fergal given a quiet send off at the local vet. Poor old bugger couldn't even scratch himself and that's no life for a poor bloody dog.

We've moved the caravan to enable the building of a barn. My builder Mick has given me a whole bunch of trusses and roofing iron from a house he's demolishing. Its a great gift and will significantly reduce the cost of a barn.

We've survived foul winds and a bit of rain. The dam is now overflowing for which I am grateful, but I hate to see it flowing across the bottom road.

We've had a new gas heated shower unit delivered. Ros is very happy.

I've ordered a 110,000 litre from Pioneer for delivery in mid-October.

Council has approved the house plans and yesterday we signed the contract with Mick & EdgeBuild his company. He reckons it will take about six months so we will probably be in the house in April 2010. Ros is very pleased. She's starting back at work tomorrow at the Austin one day a week. I am very pleased with both of these events.

Sunday - Not Bloody but very wet and Windy

The Week just gone

It has been blowing and raining, sometimes simultaneously, although most often at 20 minute intervals for most of the week. Still I'm not complaining, the dam is very nearly full to overflowing and I suspect that by the end of today it will be.

On Wednesday evening was just heading out in the LR to attend a lecture by Rob Gordon on managing post bushfire, when our builder Michael phoned to say rather apologetically that he'd costed the project and despite having stayed up to the wee hours couldn't get it below $430k.

I took a deep breath because I'd been hoping that it would be more like $350k which was within reach of the likely funds available. We agreed to meet on Friday morning when he would go through the numbers with me and make some suggestions about possible changes.

I'd been planning to go sailing with Ian on Friday but this needed to be addressed.

Taking my life in my hands I drove up the road to Kinglake and towards Whitlesea through fog the like of which I haven't experienced since I was riding my motorcycle from Woollongong to Campbelltown after a night shifts in the University computer centre and had to ride along the white line on the edge of the road so I could tell where I was going. That was in the mid-seventies so it's been a while and I was very glad to have four wheels beneath me and the white line on the edge of the road. Instead of the 31 minutes that google maps told it would take it was about 50 and I arrived just before the scheduled starting time of 7:00 pm.

Rob is a very easy to listen to speaker with a great deal of empathy and a self-deprecating sense of humour. It was an excellent session highlighting that most people had probably moved from the adrenalin fuelled immediate response phase to the cortisol driven problem resolution phase, where most energy is focussed on getting things done. A sense of humour is mostly absent and anger and frustration often just below the surface, and you are a bit fed up with people telling you how lucky you were to have survived! Hmm - he's been looking inside my head.

The solution - recognise that this stuff takes time, take support from your community and time out for yourself.

So on Friday after talking with Michael and giving him the go ahead to finalise the quote I went sailing with my mate Ian. A great afternoon.

Saturday the 6oth

It's been blowing a gale - literally. Weather Bureau warnings for 100+kph winds for yesterday afternoon and beyond, materialised a little earlier than expected and threatened to blow what little hair I have left on my head to Bass Strait. It was actually a perfect day to be planting my Lomandra confertifolia spp. ruginosia ("seascape"). I haven't got anywhere near enough but even my 9 or 10 plants are displaying their eponymous and characteristic rolling waves, particularly with the wind at the strength it is. I'd put a picture in here but it's pouring with rain and there's no way to keep the camera dry.

As we had been invited to Shona's 60th, Ros had arranged for a hot shower at Cathy and David's. A wonderful experience, I haven't shampoo'd my hair and beard for weeks. Not quite enough water in our little camp shower and even when it's sunny, I'm too much of a wus to use cold water.

Shona and Ros used to work together at the Epworth hospital for about 10 years and we've been in loose contact with her and husband Geoff since Ros left. It was a 3:00 pm start which I initially thought a bit odd but it turned out to be a very good idea, particularly as I was able to start the afternoon with a glass of (bugger the French) - Champagne. People came and went throughout the day and we eventually left at about 10:00pm after having talked and eaten and

eaten and talked with a host of people, most of whom where relatives from NZ, great bunch of people or like Ros, former and current nursing colleagues. It was a very pleasant experience and we even got to sit on the chairs and around the table that Shona & Geoff have donated to us. Not forgetting of course a couple of chests of drawers from daughter Penelope's boyfriend, ( I think Mike).

As we drove home, it became obvious that the wind had not abated, with many dead branches strewn across the road and I wondered aloud whether or not the tent would still be standing. It was but only just. The temporary walls erected by Jan were even more temporary having ripped and blown out in several places. So I again lowered it to half mast and re-tensioned all the guy ropes before falling into bed with the rain hammering on the caravan roof. Almost forgot, our new friends Tony and Barbara had called around while we were out, with details of the shed suppliers they were using and had carefully tucked it into the space for the external light switch near the caravan door.

Was a bit late to call last night so after we eventually rolled out of our cocoon this morning and Ros went shopping for breakfast, I called to say thanks and was invited around for a coffee and to have a look at the shed components which had arrived yesterday.

So that's where I'm off to next. - Cheers.

Oh Where Oh Where has my little brain gone..

August 10/2009

It's 23:20 and I've spent most of the evening catching up on filing, sorting out my tax stuff and not submiting my overdue BAS because I have no idea where my ATO digital certificate has gone. They obviously sent it to me because I have the password. Nothing for it but to ask them for a new one tomorrow. It's stuff like this that drives me nuts. I've got a filing cabinet and by the end of the week it will have my stuff in it - hopefully organised so I can find what I've filed and avoid some of this frustration.

My filing cabinet and my desk and drawing table are in the marquee which for the last 3 weeks has been lowered so that I can't get into it easily and neither can the wind. As I think I've mentioned previously we've had some ferocious winds of late and I had little desire to find the thing a a tangled and mangled mess so down it came to half mast or a bit less.

I bought some additional tent guys and pegs 2 weeks ago and this morning after two days of calm (excellent weather for burning piles of branches), in a light drizzle I re-erected it. Of course it wasn't raining when I started but that's Winter for you. Just wish some of the water was getting into the tank. The dam is nearly running a banker so we'll have plenty of garden water through summer and beyond.

The question which seems to be on everyone's lips (not sure about that apostrophe) is, "When are you going to start building ?". Don't have an exact date but it will probably be a week or so after we sign the contract. Last Monday Mick the builder & went to meet with the relevant Council officers to discuss some issues they had with the site plan. It was a pretty cordial meeting and we all left satisfied with the outcome and it only took about 20 minutes. The final plans went in on Friday and I expect to hear from Michael in a day or so.

On Friday evening Ros & I went to share a bowl of soup with Barb and Tony a local couple who survived the fires with their house intact after several hours of strenuous firefighting - they also had a plan and followed it! Didn't save the shed and the forty years of tools and memories that it contained but they did a bloody good job of saving the house. The soup and company were great and after a drink or three and several hours of conversation we drove home to be greeted by the snap crackle and pop of the grass as we crunched our way down the glistening white paddock from the drive.

I've been looking at tanks and barns and bricks and more than a few other things on the net and on Saturday morning after the 100 day breakfast, decided to take Ros to see an Austral brick display in Thomastown. Bit of a disappointment and a drama to say the least. None of them really looked like the one's I'd seen online and the people in the office were less than bloody helpful - didn't even offer to let me look online via their screens, just wanted to tell me what I'd done wrong in logging onto their website. They did at least give us a brochure.

I'd been hoping to see a couple of the bricks I'd found online but couldn't and wasn't able to remember their names so that I could show Ros and she'd say "Great" and that would be the bricks done with. The helpfulness of the staff had made me really grumpy and as Ros was "overwhelmed" by the choice we left but not before agreeing on a couple of possible options.

The 100 day breakfast was a celebration put on by our local CFA as an opportunity for people to get together and have a bit of breakfast and share experiences. We met many people including Jan long time friend, who subsequently came up to the farm for dinner and told me about the big round bales that Ian Chivers from Australian Native Seeds had for sale. They are used to cultivate native grasses and still have many seeds in them as well as ready made mulch. I mailed Ian and confirmed their availability as well as ensuring that I could get the Griffin cultivar of microlaena stipoides, which I came across during an assignment for my horticulture course last year. Only problem is that the bales are near Wangaratta which is several hours drive from here. Have to see how many large bales I can get in a tandem trailer or whether Alan from the Stock and Station Agency in town will pick them up for a reasonable rate in his truck.

Planted a few more Grevillea Gaudi Chaudi, Correas and Limoneum (statice) as well as some of the myoporum (groundcover) and a couple of Eremophila (emu bush) which were looking a bit dry and probably won't survive.

And finally for today - more generosity from the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victora. They are an amalgamation of the two unions who used to represent volunteer firefighters and "..were approached by a number of our sister interstate volunteer firefighter organisations who were keen to provide financial assistance to volunteer firefighters and their families specifically, rather than contribute to the state fund." .... "Contributions to the fund have been received from volunteer brigades in all Australian states, as well as from other organisations and individuals...", including the Herald Sun newspaper raised $471,000, ..." from sale of a photograph showing a CFA volunteer giving a distressed koala a drink of water in the Gippsland fires.".

I received a letter from them on Saturday which contained a very generous cheque that will go a long way towards getting the barn built.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed, you have no idea how much this support means.

Comunication is a wonderful thing!

Um .......

While I was forgetting to write things over the recent past, I had a visit from Tony Johnston, his wife and a couple of young Swiss travellers one of whom Simone was doing a school project on the bushfires. Tony works for ABC Northern Rivers at Lismore in NSW and they had been travelling around the fire affected area and dropped into say hello.

Tony subsequently phoned to ask if I would do a radio interview on his morning program. I agreed and the result is contained in Tony's blog in which he writes movingly about their experience in Victoria . It can which can be found at
http://blogs.abc.net.au/nsw/2009/07/the-victorian-bushfires-new-hope.html#more

I've discovered that I say um a lot more than I was aware of but once again it was a special feeling, being able to say thank you to so many people I will never know who have and are contributing to our recovery.

Power and Glory!
What does this man

and this box have to do with this ??

Well - he's Brendan Freeman the local electrician who didn't have a spare moment but found time to install our meter box, sort out SP-Ausnet and make our camp at 2335 feel like the pot of gold!

You have no idea how wonderful it is to be able to sit up in bed and watch TV that isn't going to stop in the middle of the last episode of Foyle's War because the genny's run out of fuel or to have to get up in the nearly sub-zero temperature, struggle to put your boots on and then wander down through the mud and damp weeds, to avoid falling base over apex on the clay and finally switch off the generator before doing it all in reverse to get back freezing to bed.

Thanks Brendan

Just when you thought it was ...
I'm really a bit shattered at the moment - spent several hours this afternoon re-formatting and updating a spreadsheet for work and then somehow managed to delete the bloody thing. It's the second time I've done it recently and its hard enough trying to focus on the detail without stuffing the bloody thing up.

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow 21/07/09

22/07/09
"They" say that tomorrow never comes - well perhaps it's true but here I am again some three weeks later. Apologies to anyone who has been disappointed with my lack of continuity - I'm afraid that I've not been terribly focused or conscientious over the last few weeks. It has been easier to put it off until tomorrow than find the time to honour what is at least an implicit commitment. If one starts a blog then one is obliged to blog or tell one's readers that its no happening any more. Truth is - sometimes it just isn't happening - I get caught up in living or surviving and blogging takes a lower priority.

I think I'm back mostly - and to continue - on Wednesday after lunch we drove up to Ngapla to stay with brother Dig and his wife Lynn. Dig was responsible for preparing dinner as Lynn who works nights supervising a bottling line in the Barossa was still sleeping. After dinner a quick conversation and she was off to work leaving Ros watching tv and the tennis while Dig and I had a few Bundy & cokes and talked about house plans bureaucracy and the nature of humans before hitting the sack. I think his most useful observation regarding our house plans was, "If you like the design just build the bloody thing!"

Dig was well gone to his job in Clare by the time we surfaced, just in time for Lynn to get home. Another brief but pleasant chat before we let the poor girl go off to bed but not before she had most generously given us a dozen bottles of excellent red (Sorry Jim) and two ports of similar quality, to sustain us against the cold Victorian nights.

A meandering trip to the bakery in Eudunda and then a quick return to John and Norma in Kapunda where I had the opportunity to have a look at John's dobsonian telescope. Unfortunately the weather had not been suitable for viewing at night so it may be some time before I see it in action. LR packed, a final lunch and hugs and kisses all round we headed off to visit Ian and his wife who's name has completely escaped my memory.

The wilds of Adelaide only got us a little confused before we eventually arrived and enjoyed coffee and more food than I knew what to do with. Eventually completely sated, we staggered out to the LR and drove south to Morphett Vale and dinner with Strachan and Karol before retiring some time in the morning having eaten to capacity and drained the remains of a bottle of Jack Daniels which had been looking for a good occasion to be emptied for nearly 10 years. considerable number of years.

We got to April 4 and had a most enjoyable 60th with Greg, Sylvia, family and friends.




Originally we had planned to go back to Morphett Vale but by 03:00 it was no longer an option and after a final generous wee dram, bed beckoned.

Next morning after a cleansing coffee, a hot breakfast and some hysteria over Stavros Flatley (check it out on google - I guarantee you'll enjoy it!) we downloaded the pictures from the party and chatted about building the new house, a possible Grampians meeting in August and a bunch of other stuff that has disappeared into the ooze of my brain.

Reluctantly after hugs kisses and a bit of cheek, we left and headed off to North Adelaide to meet Strachan, Karol and Hayley for lunch. Is it any wonder I'm beginning to have trouble seeing my feet! Lunch was excellent and the rest of the day has also largely disappeared except the certain knowledge that we returned to Morphett Vale. I think a sleep was involved somewhere before Strachan and I packed a few useful tools like a router, angle grinder, sander and sundry bits and pieces that he kindly donated to my somewhat depleted tool kit. I was also fortunate to be given a fishing rod to encourage a bit of leisure taking. 2010 is looking good!

Monday morning and it was time to leave a warm bed, eat yet more breakfast, do the final packing and leave Strachan & Karol to a couple of well deserved days off.

The newly "up-chipped" LR which I think now stands for Lightning Rocket behaved very well on the trip back and we made good time much to the obvious pleasure of Angus the dog who was ecstatic to see his good friend Meggy - nearly wagged his tail off.
Since our return and this is really a summary to bring this blog up to date, we have bought some new fittings for the caravan damaged by the severe winds while we were away. Endured another weekend of howling bloody winds and rain which damaged the awning fittings quite extensively, necessitating the purchase of yet more fittings. In the mean time we have rolled up the awning and will repair it when the wind abates in summer or I pluck up enough courage on a calm day to repair it.

Ros & I met with our builder Michael and have agreed the concept plans with a few minor modifications. I've drawn up a site plan for the Council which has all the things we are likely to want to add to the property including a new barn, new tanks, a new access road, new dam, greenhouses, hydroponic greenhouses, a new sewerage treatment system and nearly forgot a new house.

Michael thinks he will be able to start in about 4-5 weeks. I'm actually quite excited at the prospect.

Other good news is that Bronwyn our Global Care Angel has organised a deck to keep our picnic table off the ground. This was installed by a team of volunteers from South Australia - Many Thanks people.

One of our friends, an older lady called Dell who has not been in good health herself has been making dinner for us on Friday's. I don't generally have a lot of time for Christians but the activities of Global Care and Dell represent the very best of Christianity. I thank them all.

A neighbour Graham with a bobcat let me borrow it to move a load of roadbase up onto the flat. I repaid him by running it out of diesel. Fortunately after a bit of a ring around I worked out how to bleed it. Thanks Sean! All I need to do now is get enough fill to make a road so I can get up to the flat without needing to use low range locked diffs on the LR when its wet.

And finally both Phoebe and Angus are a year older - they are now 4 and 6

Some Have a Gap Year - We had a Gap Week and a bit

A Little History - 7/7/09
Back in 1962 I met a young chap recently arrived from Liverpool and a member of the 1st Alberton Scout Troop. He and a bunch of his mates were camping at Scott's Bottom - I think at Gumeracha in SA. I had been invited to attend by one of their senior members Bob Evans, who was working in Woomera and had been participating in scout meetings of 1st Woomera. To cut a long story short Greg Keegan and I have been best mates ever since.

Last week, Ian Lawrence another of our scouting mates, Greg & I all turned 60. Due to a complete inability to get anything organised in time, I had a quiet and most enjoyable dinner at Mercers in Eltham, on the 25th with Ros Cait,Ben and Ema (Nicco was doing an exam) to celebrate the occasion. We decided we'd have a big celebration in 2010.

Ian's party was on Sat 27 and Greg's on July 4 so we decided to travel to Adelaide on the Friday and stay with my brother Strachan and his partner Karol at Morphett vale and go to Ian's party on Sat, stay with friends at Kapunda, catch up with another brother Digby and his wife Lynn at Ngapla, party on at Greg and Sylvia's and return home on Monday July 6.

We had a few things to bring back so decided to take the LR on a road trip and see how we all coped. Also decided to take Angus the dog as he had demonstrated that travelling in the rear section of the cab was much to his liking. It was an uneventful trip and despite my hip/back/muscles/numb foot etc., reasonably comfortable.

Got up on Saturday morning and after breakfast headed out to the LR to find the front rhs tyre as flat as a pancake. Ros who was already sitting in the cab was removed post haste as I called the RACV .

To my surprise the RACV operator said she couldn't help me but after a pause which was just long enough for me to have almost decided to give her an earful about Total Care and reciprocal arrangements..... she said, " ....but I can call someone who can!". I reckon she's been waiting to use that one for years. She put me through to the RAA operator who said that a service vehicle would be there within the hour. To my surprise he turned up in less than ten minutes and we quickly discovered a common interest in LRs. While he changed the tire we talked about varius marques and he asked if I'd "Chipped it up yet?".

Apparently when the motor was first built in England it didn't comply with EU pollution control standards so LR not wishing for reasons of cost to fit a catalytic converter, detuned it and were able to sell it in Europe. In Australia, all new cars are fitted with cataltytic converters so some bright spark realised that the engine managment system could be re-programmed to improve performance to the original specs. The RAA guy gave me the name and address of Triumph Rover Spares in Lonsdale and reckoned that they'd be able to tell whether or not my model could be upgraded and would also be able to do it.

The good news is that they were only 15 mins away. The better news is that they could do it on the following Monday. The best news is that while Ros was sitting in the cab, it occurred to her that as they are probably the biggest LR wreckers in Australia, it would be worth asking if they had any rear seats and as luck would have it they did. So on Monday morning while they were putting in the new chip in the engine management system, I wandered around the yard inspecting every Defender they had. I chose the best set and about $900, I had a complete set of seats, a vehicle that felt like it was supercharged and the promise that they would see if they could find and put together a set of rear seat belts before we had to return. True to their word we left Adelaide a week later with a complete set of belts and bolts. Very pleasing indeed!

Sat 27th
Began well as above and apart from a little navigational difficulty in finding how to get to the Leicester pub and discovering there was a singular lack of parking at the venue, Ian's 60th celebration was a very successul event. I took a roll or so's equivalent in digital pictures and a grand night was had by all.



On Monday we tracked up to Kapunda to stay with Norma & John. Back down to Westlakes for lunch with Greg, his wife Sylvia and sister Stephanie. Nearly forgot grandson "Jack" Jackson Keegan who of course stole the show. Should probably mention in passing that at this stage, I don't think we'd seen the sun since leaving Vic and some of the worst winds and temperatures in a long time. The company at least was very warming.

That's it for tonight ... more tomorrow - got to go and turn the genny off.