Day 212 Nabiac Saturday 5th January 2012

Hi Folks,

Another good solar power day on the farm with not a cloud in the sky. Temperature in the low 30's.

Today I worked on the water spraying trailer. It was dominated by weeds, half full of manky water and a bit rusty. However after a small amount of maintenance it started easily and I was able to drag it out in the paddock with the ute and water some trees about 600 litres worth. The area is drying off rapidly with the higher temperatures and lack of rain stressing the smaller plantings. There is also the need to have the trailer ready to tackle any small fires that may occur in the current conditions. I emphasise the word "small". The watering took me all day. Tomorrow it is just a matter of refilling the tank so it is ready to go.

Tanker trailer

Holds a 1000 litres

I also had a short lesson on driving the quad bike since the distances to be travelled here can be taxing when there are tools and supplies to be carried. A good example this afternoon with a blocked jet on the trailer sprayer. I had to whiz back and get tools to clean it saving quite a few minutes.

Big boyz toyz

Meanwhile back at the ranch Susan was busy, making signs, making biscuits, washing, collecting lemon balm, food shopping amongst a few other jobs. She has persuaded Andrew to put our helpx jobs on a spreadsheet so they can be marked with start/finish and comments. I have my list on  a torn out notebook page.

Biskitz (well the dough in the freezer anyway)

I am uploading this on a trial setup of what i think could work here to extend the wireless network range to the guest cabins. It uses another router as a relay. Turning off the farm router here yesterday (and thank goodness I asked Andrew if it was ok) caused a bit of a hiccup in that the internet could not be accessed today. Eventually Andrew after a couple of hours and after speaking to Dlink support determined an incorrect setting and it was all good. He took my advice to back the configuration up in case the power ever goes off again.

There is always plenty to do on the farm! Having said that Susan is off up the road tomorrow to help with a house pack.

Finally we have been following the destruction in Tasmania due to the fires. Particularly as it is along a road and towns we passed through and stopped in many times on our 9 months at Nubeena. Apparently there are 2000 refugees in the Nubeena Community Centre. There is really nowhere to run when you are on the bottom of a peninsula except into the sea. Fingers crossed that the situation improves rapidly and our friends (and everyone else) stay safe.

night folks

Simon