Day 207 Nabiac Monday December 31st 2012

Hi Folks,

Happy New Year!!

We spent today mainly cleaning up after the honey extraction yesterday. I spent some time with Anna this morning adding boxes to the hives and squashing beetles. Susan worked on the beeswax while I gurnied the centrifuge and the floor. Susan did a bit of labelling.

Honey!

We tripped into town this afternoon because we could. I bought beer, Tooheys something or other the one with the reindeer on the front. Verdict later. We had a great swim in the pool this afternoon it was lovely and warm a consequence of the solar heating and a long clear sunny day.

Old people bathing

Billabong at the bottom of the property rumoured to contain platypus

Everyone was out at tea time so we actually cooked in the camper kitchen eating on dusk with wine. Anyway that's it have to go watch the Doctor Who Xmas special downloaded overnight at great personal expense! ($2 of data)

I now have beer again

Tea on dusk

Best wishes for the new year !

cheers Simon

Day 206 Nabiac Sunday 30th December 2012

Hi folks,

A day of learning for us today. After a sunny start the day gave way to clouds.

After pottering for a while we swung into our task of the day which was honey gathering.

We suited up into our protective clothing which made us teletubby lookalikes. Anna was our instructor and showed us how to smoke the hives, remove the boxes, take out the frames. sweep off the bees and put the racks back in the box to keep bees out. We also had to identify and squash the small hive beetle  which does nasty things to the honey.

The frames were then taken up to the shed for the extraction process. Many hands were on deck including house guests and their children. The wax capping was cut from the front of the honeycomb to allow the honey to be centrifuged out. Susan was also scraping the caps with a metal comb to clean up any non cut caps. The beeswax is used as a base for skin medications.

I was running the centrifuge for the whole day. Generally around three minutes in each direction since the cells have a membrane across the centre to give one cell on each side. The honey was then screened and decanted into the appropriate containers. Total for the day about 157kg. It was a long day but it didn't matter because we were doing something new and interesting. I accepted 1.5kg of honey of a special type known as Jelly Bush honey.  I can't speak for Susan but I sampled a lot of honey today! A very enjoyable day!

T1 &T2

The smoker filled with pine needles

Removing the racks

When there are a large number of bees on the rack a tap on the ground gives you a pile of bees, which walk back into the hive

Moving a rack

Moving the boxes

Colin, a guest, removing the wax capping with knife

Closer up

Susan with the metal comb

Centrifuging out the honey. It looks faster than it is due to the video camera technology or lack of it.

Honey comb after centrifuging

Close of of the hexagon cells made by the bees from wax

Our reward 1.5kg of Jelly Bush honey

night folks

Simon

Day 205 Nabiac Saturday December 29th 2012

Hi folks,

As our bellies settle down so we start to settle in here.

After breakfast Susan cooked quiches, stripped and made beds (shades of Nubeena), cobwebbed and did some external painting of unit. I put an SMA plug on a LAN aerial cable, did a fair bit of painting of a unit and tidied up an ancient centrifugal honey extractor with a Gerni and a screw driver. It is a large unit and the plan is to use it tomorrow as there is about 100kg of honey to be recovered from the hives which should be interesting. might get to learn how to do it.

It is very pleasant working here. We are now going to prepare our breakfast in the camper as it is more convenient especially as I have set the coffee machine up in the adjacent caravan. The new solar controller seems to be working fine although due to demand and cloud yesterday and this morning I set the battery charger up on the car to run the fridge.

Having a coffee on the deck at dusk

Night folks,

cheers Simon

Day 204 Nabiac Friday 28th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Our first working day at Honeycomb Valley farm.

Susan had an uncomfortable night but managed to make it through to morning without any use of the bucket. I am improving and tonight feel almost recovered. Hopefully for both for us it will be a 24 hour wog.

Susan busied her self removing spider webs, chipping out weeds and cleaning under the veranda  I screwed up a wireless LAN antenna outside, wired the plug and ran the cable across the veranda and down through the ceiling into the office. Unfortunately I couldn't connect the other end as the plug was for a different sized cable. I spend some time with Andrew our host working out the plug options. Without going into it deeply it was easy for me to get confused when you have plugs that have male/female centre conductors and male/female outer threads for joining.

The other job of the day for me was emptying the roof bag so the sun could beat down on it and dry it off properly after the other day. When clouds rolled up this afternoon I hastily repacked it. After tea Susan retired to the camper to take it easy while i took a stroll around part of the farm. The pictures are from that stroll.

Tomorrows job weather permitting is to repaint the outside of one of the cabins in the 4 hour gap between guest occupation. Should be fun! Looks like a great 4 weeks coming up.

Small solar oven

Solar Thermos/water heater

That's a big solar oven!

That's where the food is cooked

Cloud on  sunset

Panorama at dusk

Night folks

Simon

Day 203 Nabiac Thursday 27th December 2012

Hi Folks,

The travellers have packed up and travelled back northwards about 100km to Nabiac and are at their next location. The pack was slightly hampered by the dampness of the tent but no more than half an hour. It still took just under 3 hours to pack up. We had people arrive at 8 who bagsed our spot and chatted quite happily while we packed.

A possible lunch with Scott and Lou at Tea Gardens was cancelled due to more people succumbing to the stomach bug. I was feeling slow this morning but I am gradually improving. Unfortunately Susan is now sitting up on the bed with a bucket at the ready.

We went back to Tea Gardens so we could get caught in the traffic jam on the Pacific Highway caused by road works at Bulahdelah. Actually we went so Susan could take some pictures of the mosaics on the bbq. Unfortunately I think she forgot. The traffic jam stretched back around 25km I think. Once through the single lane restriction traffic moved well. Had we headed north from camp we would have joined the highway at Bulahdelah and maybe missed it all. No matter it is water under the bridge.

That's a car park

We found our new hosts Andrew and Annie on their 100 acre farm and have just about settled in. If we hadn't spent so long talking after tea we would have had more of our stuff put away. The weather is dry and sunny and the tent looks quite smart for a change. I hope to catch up on some maintenance items seeing as we are here for a month. I have already started sealing some scuff marks in the PVC floor with All Clear. The nearest retail centre is Taree roughly 40km up the road, which seems to have the required retailers to meet my needs.

night folks

cheers Simon

Day 202 Myall Lakes Wednesday 26th December 2012

Hi Folks,
Pretty crappy day weather wise. Plus I have a crook guts necessitating rushing off to the long drops from time to time. The weather was grey with persistent drizzle most of the day. Late yesterday I found that we had water in the roof bag caused by the velcro overlap seam being horizontal rather than vertical. I poured the worst of the water out last night and today mopped up the rest and emptied the contents of the bag drying bits and pieces as I went and replacing them late in the day.

Rather than walking in the drizzle we drove into Tea Gardens and had a look around stopping to buy a coffee before returning to camp. We spent much of the afternoon listening to our talking book, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo". We have nearly finished it.

Dingo with bread crusts

Other than that not a great deal to report. The idiots in the next camp were feeding a dingo which is punishable by an on the spot fine. Not overly smart if you have a baby sleeping with you in a tent.

Anyway not feeling overly flash so night folks

cheers Simon

Day 201 Myall Lakes NP Tuesday 25th December 2012

Dear all,

Merry Xmas!! This blog is being typed after 6 hours of solid rain. The rain has been steady rather than the down pour we had yesterday which flooded the ground and make the PVC floor float. Hence we have been sitting inside this evening doodling away on our computers.

We arose under cloudy skies and made ourselves presentable for today's festivities. We drove the 100km down the road to Nelson Bay to the home of Susan's sisters mother in law for Xmas lunch. It was good to see Scott and Lou (Susan's sister) and their children again. Lunch was excellent and it was a nice day out which made up a bit for not being home to enjoy it with our own offspring.

On the way we passed through the town of Tea Garden which was larger than it looked on the map. There is a largish bridge over the Myall River which feeds water in and out of the lakes which are known for the quantities of prawns they produce.

The rain has now stopped and we are hoping for sunshine tomorrow so we can take in a couple of walks, recharge the camper battery after 8 hours of combined laptop use tonight and dry any damp items. The canvas has stood up remarkably well to the down pour with a few minuscule leaks. The position of these is duly noted albeit only in my head an I will apply more waterproofing when the sun is shining. I also need to seal a few abrasions on the PVC floor mainly where the ladder rubs as water seeps through these slowly when the ground floods underneath. I have just checked the area up on the sleeping platform and it is absolutely dry, which is pleasing as I spent a fair bit of time re-coating and sealing the stitching through the PVC.

night folks

Simon

Day 200 Myall Lakes National Park Monday 24th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Taadaah!! day 200. We are in the Mungo Brush camp ground. This looks to be nice spot. We said our good byes to the guys at Bello this morning and departed via the food shop around 11 or so. We travelled southwards passing through Nambucca Heads, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree before turning off at Bulahdelah and hence to here.

We had a ferry crossing which was $10 for about 60 metres of water. We are set up in the park which is apparently a bit on the empty side according to the old hands. One of the more expensive NP camps. $7 for the car per day and $20 for the 2 of us per night.

Ferry crossing Myall Lakes

We set up and had tea and now there are some might cracks of thunder as the storms and rain roll in. Looks like I will get damp shutting up the shop tonight.

Lunch tomorrow will be at Port Stephens about 100 km down the road with Susan's sister and her in laws.

Night folks

Simon

Day 199 Bellingen Sunday 23rd December 2012

Hi Folks,

After a leisurely breakfast we proceeded on with our tasks. I managed to apply three coats of paint in two colours to the little deck while Susan cleaned more windows, poisoned weeds and pruned a star jasmine.

Deck and steps

After lunch we headed down to Bundagen to catch up with Shunny and retrieve our tea bags. Her place has really improved since we left. Let me rephrase that. More excellent progress has been made. We had a cup of tea with her and Robert a helpexer from the UK who has been there before. Robert has done 160 visits in 4 years incuding 62 communities and had some interesting observations which we will take on board. We also met a friend of Shunnys from the Blue Mountains who expressed interest in having us to do an unofficial HelpX. Details were exchanged!

Our last evening meal here tonight. We will miss the food when we leave tomorrow. The plan tomorrow is to head south to a free camp / National Park about 80kms north of Port Stephens where we will have lunch on Xmas day. The only other item of note is I have the impression that the starter motor on the Pajero is fading. Apparently the NRMA has an on road exchange fitting service which is a reassuring backstop if the worst happens. Otherwise repairs will take place in a timely cost effective fashion.

night night

Simon

Day 198 Bellingen Saturday 22nd December 2012

Hi folks,

Today Susan, cleaned the windows and weeded. I replaced some decking boards on a little deck out the back and started repainting them. A nice little refreshing of decking skills not that I had many to start with.

I spent some time fiddling with my broken solar controller sourcing some replacement parts. I'll change about $15 worth of components and see if that improves it.

We had some excellent tortillas for tea followed up with sticky date pudding. An evening of tv watching and computing. Nothing out of the ordinary but a good day. The humidity is building again so another rain deluge would be good. After the painting is finished since we are leaving on Monday morning early.

I took some pictures of the oriole today having a bird bath. A pity my SD card was in the computer not the camera. I'll try and do better tomorrow!

night folks

Simon

Day 197 Bellingen Friday 21st December 2012

Evening folks,
A slightly cooler and less buggy evening tonight. It actually cooled off a bit overnight and was quite pleasant in the Yurt when we awoke. After a leisurely breakfast we started pottering, Susan deseedheading (is that a word) some grass and me chopping up a fallen acacia with my chainsaw. I was almost finished when the cutting became much slower. After resharpening my chain and comparing it to the new looks like it is worn out. Susan went on to some sweeping, poisoning weeds with round up and doing something with some rotten timber on the back step. I went back to my favourite, lantana cutting and swabbing, regrowth in areas I previously worked in. A change of technique and I was dabbing them with round up. To complete the story I was then pulling them up out of the ground. I have a few areas to go back to tomorrow where there is some regrowth of previous cut and swabs I have done.

This is an Orioles nest. I tried for a picture of the bird but none were up to my mediocre standard. Try again tomorrow

After showers and a quick lunch we headed to Coffs Harbour since Ii had discovered the solar shop I previously visited had a controller I wanted in stock. They had 4pm as a winter closing time on their web page so I rang to check. After the usual battle with Optus not working I elicited a "The boss will probably close at 3 today", presumably because they were on a break until Jan 2nd. We arrived at 5 past 3 and the door was locked. Strike 3 for them. I dropped Susan off at the big shopping centre so she could visit Supre and then journeyed to find Jaycar for a browse. Our other mission was Bunnings which for some reason couldn't be found on our wonderful GPS which said the nearest one was 91km away at Kempsey. With directions from Jaycar we found Bunnings where the plaque on the door declared it was opened in '91 so it isn't exactly too new for the mapping! Susan had success purchasing the wood stain for the boys. We returned home although I diverted into Bellingen to purchased discount chocolate from the IGA plus more insect repellent.

We had a large band for tea tonight with the three guys who live here, Judy and Jude who are visiting plus Libby and Gary and their son Tom. Home made burgers which were delicious.

Half an hour to go until midnight and no sign of the world ending yet. The only "disastrous " things that occurred today were the latch springing off the fridge, easily replaced and the little fridge thermometer reading crazily high indicative of a broken wore, probably repairable. Si i guess the world will spin on for a few more years yet.

Just had a lovely short shower of rain to cool things off nicely for sleeping.

night folks

Simon

Day 196 Bellingen Thursday 20th December 2012

Hi Folks,

A long day in the sub tropical heat.

Susan arose at 530 to finish her patch of weeding in the rainforest to be. I was prodded out of bed at 630. Thus began the packing and cleaning which finally saw us depart at 1030. Have I mentioned that when they harvest macadamias they wait for the nuts in their shells to fall off the trees and then pick them off the ground. The place next door uses a special sweeper.

Susan's clearing

Blurry Emerald Pigeon

We drove through Lismore and on to our appointment for a House Inspection at Copmanhurst. After a burger lunch we travelled with the agent to the property. The property is a 100 acre multiple occupancy title. The house we looked at was on 3 acres. There are 8 properties at three acres each with the rest of the land divided between natural bush and community use. The house was quite impressive especially when the price 0f $225,000 was factored in. It was a well constructed pole design with a lot of well thought out features. It also had air conditioning essential with today’s high humidity. Something for us to think about, actually many things to think about. We travelled on to Grafton where we partook of hot beverages at Golden Arches.  We motored down the highway through Coffs Harbour and on to our destination  to stay with the boys at Bellingen for a couple of days. They also have other visitors so it was a full house for a home made pizza tea. 

The evening passed quickly and consequently this is a late night blog that will not be pubished till we go back to the house and internet. I can connect with both wireless broadband providers but not well enough for fast surfing. We finally collected our mail parcel from home. I am looking forward to using my bowel cancer test kit!

We are staying down in the yurt which is  a cosy little cabin with air conditioning.

Night folks

Simon

Day 195 Dunoon Wednesday 19th December 2012

Hi Folks,

A slightly cooler morning after last nights rain. My calculation based on looking at the buckets is we had between 10 and 20 mm.

We drove up to Mount Nardi a distance of about 30km. The last bit of road was covered with the leaf debris from last nights rain. At the top of the hill there were the two transmission towers we can see from here. After studying the notice board we decided to take a short walk down the trail to Mount Matheson. The trail travels through Gondwana rain forest which is why the area is world heritage listed. The walk was inviting and I felt we might end up doing the full loop until i took the first picture. I looked down and leeches were swarming up my socks onto my bare legs. I advised Susan and she had them to so we beat a hasty retreat back to the carpark pulling them off as we went. Fortunately we were the only visitors so we were able to partially undress and check ourselves out. Satisfied we were clean we headed to Nimbin where we called in at the Rainbow Power Company and then drove on to Lismore for some fuel. A pleasant surprise when the Everyday Rewards card yield a 15 cents/litre discount a nice $10 saving.

Leech forest path

Love that hole

Yes that is a fair sized pot hole

We returned to Dunoon pausing to take pictures of some of the road art. It is the work of a Nimbin resident who highlights where road repairs are required by painting patterns and highlights on the roadway. The state of the minor roads up here is pretty appalling in places as evidenced by the pictures.

Mother and child on the property tonight

We went down to Jallys place on the property for drinks nibbles and pizza with her and her friend Kathy. A pleasant evening. Back here typing the blog we are infested with tiny flying ants that don't seem to be repelled by aerogard. As I type they are infesting the screen. Time to get inside the screens of the swag.

night folks

Simon

Day 194 Dunoon Tuesday 18th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Sitting here under the veranda with thundery rain falling fairly heavily. A merciful release from today's swelter.

After our usual morning chores we toodled up the road to Nightcap National Park and Minyon Falls. We parked in the picnic ground from which it is a short walk out onto the viewing platform. The drop is spectacular 100 metres straight down. Unfortunately the dry conditions meant there was not a skerrick of water flowing over. After taking in the view which included what I think was a peregrine falcon that obligingly perched on a distant cliff and flew off while I was getting my camera out we drove down to the area known as Minyon Grass from which the walking trail leads 2km down into the base of the falls. There was barely any breeze and high humidity. Before leaving on the walk we bit some knobs of cheese off a block from the fridge and had some chocolate. The walk down was very pleasant starting in the drier eucalypt forest and graduating into the temperate rain forest. There were 4 or 5 other groups encountered as we walked.
Looking up from the base of the falls was quite spectacular. A great pity there was no water as it would have been refreshingly cool. We returned up the hill to the car. We were absolutely dripping with sweat. The sweatiest I ever remember being. We drove back to Dunoon for a late lunch.

Minyon Falls minus water

Looking up!

Clinging precariously to a vine

Bottom of the falls

The rest of the afternoon was spent on packing chores rearranging our clothes and medicine/toiletries storage. It was then on to the watering as dusk fell. Me filling the buckets and the cans with Susan running around the hills applying the required dosages. The humidity and the clouds still building.

Termites and strangler fig at work

Bottom of the Falls

The lightning and thunder heralded the arrival of rain about an hour later. I think we can safely say we won't have to worry about watering before we leave.

Tomorrow morning depending on the weather I would like to drive to Mount Nardi/ Mount Matheson the peaks we can see from the balcony.

Its 11pm and the thunder, lightning and rain is still doing its thing. Some poor sod is going to have to venture out to turn the inverter off in a minute.

Night Folks

Cheers Simon

Day 193 Dunoon Monday 17th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Not a day filled with great achievements.

The weather was stinking hot. Lismore maximum was 35 with 44% humidity at midday. Susan has had enough of her scalp condition, a dermatitis that she has been self treating and that has me affectionately calling her lamington head. She made a doctors appointment for 12 and got out at 1. Result, confirmation of her self diagnosis and a script for some medicine which as soon as I saw it said '"we have that in the medicine box", which we did. The doctor also suggested a short hair cut which I take to mean a number 2 as it is easier to apply the lotion. Would be an interesting look.

We had lunch in a mall in town. Opposite which was a barber shop so for $15 I am all neatened up again. Susan did the beard trim this morning (mine not hers). The rest of the afternoon was ho hum. Medicare to claim some of her money back and then the saga of trying to get two keys cut to replace those damaged some weeks back. Finally at the third shop, the master locksmith I had them. I visited a few other shops looking at solar controllers etc but to no avail. Hopefully further south will be more productive.

We returned home to the watering the plants plus I chain sawed some wood up and polished one of the saucepans. There has been a wind change so the temperature is down to 25 and the humidity up to 90% so a bit more pleasant. Looks like it will be cooler tomorrow so we finally get to do some sight seeing. After which it can rain a lot so we don't have to water.

night folks

Simon

Day 192 Dunoon Sunday 16th December 2012

Evening folks,

I had a change of plan from yesterday, since we goofed off on the net this morning and it turned out sunny and hot,  too hot to walk in the middle of the day. We decided to pack up the camper which was probably harder than walking. I didn't want to get caught when the rain comes this week. Except tonight of course the forecast has changed and the rain is doubtful. The worst part was scrubbing all the dead grass stuck under the PVC floor. Took a couple of washes but most of the mouldy smell is gone. It is all done with a fair bit of sorting and some more to do.

The swag is set up on the balcony. Susan is currently inside safe from all the insects that want to terrorise her watching a movie. We are powering the computers from the camper battery and just using the house ones to run the net and a light.

Emerald pigeon photographed this morning

The new camper location, solar panels set up for the morning rays

The swag on the balcony, cover thrown back for maximum comfort!

It was a full day with a big bout of watering before dusk. Susan did it by herself yesterday. Today I filled all the watering containers while she emptied them We are all set up to leave and can enjoy are last few days knowing we are mostly packed. We will play tomorrow by ear in light of what the weather brings.

Night folks

Cheers Simon

Day 191 Dunoon Saturday 15th December 2012

Evening folks,

A sunny day and we headed into Lismore to buy food for the next few days. We also visited a few other shops. One of interest was Uncle Peters Books. I had to decamp quickly before i became engrossed and started reaching into my pocket. Returning to base we busied ourselves with chores. Susan took on the washing and did some craft work while I resolved to finish the window screens. This hit a bit of a snag in that I was about 60 cm short of material. I tossed a coin and decided to make the biggest screen in terms of area. I am getting a bit more skilled at it but still find the aluminium mesh hard to work with. Putting the screen up was an interesting experience with the old wooden ladder and the bottom of the window being 4 -5 metres off the ground. Anyway it is up and apart from a bit of chain sawing my helpxing is completed and I can relax. Susan has taken on the watering which is done by cans and is extensive. She can pray for rain after the camper is packed away.

Tomorrow we travel to Nightcap National Park for some sightseeing. As mentioned previously this is the range we see when we look north from our camper. Depending on how the day runs we may pack the camper up tomorrow afternoon. Showers are forecast from Monday onwards but the rain here can be patchy so you might have blue skies or clouds and 50 mm.

Anyway that's it. We had some nice scotch fillets for tea along with some James Squire Pale Ale for me. Another mild evening 940 and around 19 I reckon.

Night folks

Cheers Simon

Day 190 Dunoon Friday 14th December 2012

Hi Folks,

We have turned a corner weather wise for the very near future. A day that had no rain and ever decreasing cloud until now at 11pm the sky is quite clear and full of stars. Nothing like a night under canvas. Pity we are not in the swag as we can throw the cover back and look at the heavens without being carried off by the mosquitoes.

Today I painted the roof of Ishtar the gypsy caravan practising the age old ritual of putting the paint on as thick as possible. Susan in the meantime was making a valiant effort to clear all the rainforest area a project she has been working on since early days here. I carted the Crofton weed and lantana away and threw it on the huge pile in the barney grass. In the end she didn't make it but it was still a mighty effort considering no powered tools were used at all..
When the girls arrived back they brought more fly screen supplies, which enabled me to finish one screen. Although our HelpX is finished we will be doing some watering and I will finish and install the three other screens at my leisure. We will pack the camper on the first sunny day after tomorrow which may be Sunday and sleep under a roof in the swag to avoid getting caught in the wet. Plus it make take a little while to dry the bottom of the camper.

The pool is starting to look clearer and Jally bought some alum tabs today. It would be nice to have it clear when we leave so I can wear the pool guru mantle.

Unusually we said our goodbyes the night before as the girls are off to the airport at 5am so we won't see them in the morning .
We are looking forward to a few days of relaxation. Starting with a trip to town tomorrow to buy supplies. Susan wants to visit some other shops as well. I am not sure which ones but she probably wants to check on what generator to get me for Xmas!

Susan at the machine a few days back. Note the special sewing fluid in the glass.

It was a little bit precarious

and a long way up from this angle

Night folks

Simon

Day 189 Dunoon Thursday 13th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Once again some very heavy showers overnight but we were snug in the camper. Although Susan could hear a bat on the tailgate apparently.

Today after pool checking I made up a couple more flyscreen frames until the material was exhausted. Once again just about mm perfect and put them up without the mesh in them as Bunnings had run out of the retaining spline.
Susan spent the day bashing about in the rainforest.

After "work" I reproofed the corner of the tent I patched yesterday and repaired the fly door with All Clear and I must say it looks ok. I also resoldered all the joints in my solar controller which made absolutely no difference so I have a sinking feeling about it. On a brighter note I managed to extract a record 14 and a bit amps from the solar panels briefly today with the old controller when the sun came out after a rain shower. Solar panels lose efficiency when they get hotter which means the ones in Antarctica work very well, when it is not eternal night of course. Once the panels warmed up they dropped back to 13 amps still not to be sneezed at..

Susan's picture from last night which missed the publishing deadline

Tea at the pub, note lolly bag next to wine glass

Santa with one of his RFS elves (He arrived on the RFS truck)

We went out for tea tonight to The Channon. There were a couple of ladies performing Xmas carols and popular music. Santa Claus paid a visit and I received a lolly bag unlike Susan who obviously hasn't been as good as me. We had a nice meal and a couple of drinks before returning here for sleep. Our hosts leave tomorrow. We will be staying on for another week to holiday and water the new plantings.

night folks

cheers Simon

Day 188 Dunoon Wednesday 12th December 2012

Hi Folks,

Some early morning rain while we were still in bed but a sunny day of mildish temperatures and few showers some quite heavy. The major showers that did fall were later in the day to inconvenience me when I was fiddling with my projects outside. A small amount of progress with my you beaut solar controller. Just when I was wanting to test it of course big dark clouds rolled up to block the sun. However with the sun shining both batteries were fully charged by midday using the old "clunker" charger.  Rather than buy "super" expensive chargers I think it is probably of more value to be able to move your panels around to catch the rays. Better to spend extra money on long low loss leads as often camping spots are shady. For times when the sun doesn't shine for a week then you either run the car and use minimal power or buy a decent generator. A thought that has been in my mind of recent days. Saves a lot of running around on cloudy days.

Tonight Susan has noticed the screen is pulling away from the zip in the camper doorway. I shall use the all clear on it tomorrow. It won't look pretty but it should be effective. Trouble is it will mean the zip will not be able to be resown into new fly screen and will have to be replaced. Probably due for it anyway as it gets a lot of use and is under a bit of pressure when the camper is set up on non level ground which is quite often.

I have fixed our leaking seam. Although in several heavy showers tonight a couple of drops came in so a splash with canvas proofer tomorrow will be in order.

In better news my mods to the water delivery system the other day seem to have actually fixed all the leaks. I used Selleys Allclear on the barbed fittings and it looks to have done the trick. It is now possible to forget the pump is turned on as it only gives infrequent very short cycles to maintain pressure.

Anyway that's the maintenance report. Oh the Grafton weather radar has broken down and will be for the next couple of days. Always a source of handy information. Well an early warning system at least. Some more useless information for you.

Looks like we managed to get through the day tick free! I do have three nice sized lumps as souvenirs of recent days though. We were also assailed by a fair number of small flies which is unusual for us in these latitudes probably a result of the wetter weather.

The fly screens i knocked up the other day on the upstairs windows

The smaller trunk to the left of the large one on the foreground  just over the boundary fence is the largest lantana trunk I have ever seen. Not that I have seen that many.

 

The clouds at dusk

Anyway that's it. Sorry it can't be more exciting.

Night folks

Cheers Simon