Doing the loop!

Not long ago my brother-in-law Gordon, (Rhonda's brother), lost his wife. She was quite ill but to him her death was still unexpected.


Avid caravan tourers, they had made several treks into the interior of Australia. They had always talked about "doing the loop" - the big trip around Australia which would take them from the Pacific Ocean of the east to the Indian Ocean of the west and then north to the Arafura Sea before heading east again to the Coral Sea and home again. 


After his wife died Gordon kept his promise and "did the loop", crossing that great Nullabor Plain from east to west to Perth where one of his daughters lived - 2,555 klm (the Nullabor crossing takes a leisurely 2-3 days of driving).


(Note: While many photos of his trip were supplied to me by my brother-in-law he was a very lax photographer. I've had to search the web for some images of places he described about his journey to add a pictorial element to this story!)

About half way across the Nullabor. Nundroo is 1,014 west of Adelaide

and Norseman is 726klm East of Perth - Gordon's Photo

Across the Nullabor - Gordon's Photo

The "Gun Barrel Highway" - quite a lot do not stick to the 110kph speed limit. - Gordon's Photo

The 'Road Trains' certainly do not slow down - Gordon's Photo

A fuel hauling 'Road Train' - Wikipaedia

Australia has the largest and heaviest road-legal vehicles in the world, with some configurations topping out at close to 200 tonnes. The majority are between 80 and 120 tonnes.

Stray animals hardly make an impression on those 'Road Train' behemoths -- Gordon's Photo

Norseman WA - You consider yourself to have 'made

 the crossing' when you reach Norseman - Wikipaedia

The whole trip from his home to Perth was 3,742 klm and took five days. he had a mate who went with him as far as Perth.


On the way across they went through Kalgoorlie and had to stop for the BIG HOLE at Kalgoorlie/Boulder.

The Big Hole, Kalgoorlie - - Gordon's Photo

Like ants, huge ore trucks toil up and down the excavation  - Gordon's Photo

 All the mining leases of the Golden Mile were joined (bought up) by Packer or Bond (can't remember) and made into one which allowed for the operation to go open cut. It is almost 500 metres deep at this stage and over 1 kilometre long.


RAAF Vengence (Aerobatic team) formation over "The Big Hole", Kalgoorlie.





At Perth, Gordon's friend left the tour and flew back home. Gordon's daughter, Tracey, joined him for a trip up to Port Hedland - Red Dog country. They stopped at the Shark Bay Marine Park and visited Monkey Mia, where they fed the dolphins.

The daily feeding of bottlenose Dolphins. Monkey Mia Photograph

From Port Hedland Tracey then flew back to Perth while Gordon continued on alone on his journey up to Broome and started eastward again, through Arnhem Land over to Darwin and the Arafura Sea.

Map of Western Australia - Wikipaedia source

Nanydjaka Cape Arnhem Coast - Kakadu Coast - Darwin Tourism Photograph

From Darwin, he wasted no time crossing to the east coast to Mackay, Queensland, where another of his daughters, Wendy, had flown in to join him.

Brampton Islands National Park - BINP Promotional Photograph

A spot of fishing off the Bugatti Reef off the Great Barrier Reef in the Coral Sea.

A group of fellow happy 'fishers' out for a day of fun and fishing.

(Image supplied by Nomad Fishing Charters)

Then it was south to Brisbane.

The Brisbane skyline from Kangaroo Point - Wikipaedia

From Brisbane the journey continued south down into New South Wales and home, 1,157klm, and the round trip of over 13000 klm had been completed in just under five weeks. Besides the casual fellow travellers along the way, Gordon had kept his promise to Leonie to take her on the "Big Adventure" that many Australians plan in their retirement and they had completed the round trip of Australia - what we colloquially refer to as "doing the big loop"!


Back home, the Toyota Kluger was sold last week and the Caravan will be sold today, Saturday. 


Having kept his promise to take Leonie around Australia, the urn containing  Leonie's remains can now be distributed in the town that was her home for nearly forty years!

Do I remember when ....?

Mybabyjohn/Delores wrote Remember when

Well let's consider some of the changes we have witnessed:

We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, frisbees and "the pill". Before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens, pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and long before man walked on the moon.

In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits, or dust balls under the bed, not Volkswagens, or Playboy girls. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins.

We were before house-husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers, and commuter marriages, day-care centres, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, and guys wearing earrings.

For us, time-sharing meant togetherness -- not computers or condominiums, a "chip" meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.

In our time, "Made in Japan" meant junk, pizzas, MacDonalds and instant coffee were unheard of.

We hit the scene when there were 5¢ and 10¢ stores, where you bought things for 5¢ and 10¢.

Ice cream cones sold for a few pence for a single or a bit more for a double. For another few pence you could ride a bus, make a phone call, buy a soft drink, or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Holden for £250 (but who could afford one?)..and gas was 12 pence a gallon for regular.

We could recognize the "make and year" of a car from a distance but mostly they are makes long gone and replaced by a whole host of news, some whose names we have trouble pronouncing. Back them we could sit on the running boards, fenders or the bumpers. The bumpers could really withstand a bump.

You could get a FULL breakfast of coffee, juice, 2 eggs, 2 rashers of bacon or 2 sausages, toast and marmalade for the price of coin that you’d probably not even bother picking up off the footpath today.

In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, coke was a cold drink and pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a lullaby and aids were helpers.

We certainly were not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we surely were before the sex change, we made do with what we had. And we were probably the last generation that thought you needed a husband to have a baby... We got married first, then lived together! How quaint can you be??

It is no wonder the younger generations are so confused and there is such a generation gap today!!

But WE HAVE SURVIVED !!!!  What Better Reason To Celebrate???

Wild storms batter W.A. coast

Authorities say it could take a week to restore power to some homes after widespread storms packing winds of up to 140 kilometres per hour lashed Western Australia's south-west. Crews are working to restore power to more than 110,000 homes after the storms, described by the weather bureau as a "once in a decade" event, hit the region on Sunday.

An area roughly the size of the state of Victoria was affected, with the coastal towns of Mandurah and Rockingham the worst hit.

The Rottnest Express ferry battles a large swell as it heads to Rottnest Island, off 

the coast of Perth, on June 11, 2012, in the wake of the fierce storm that swept

through south-west Western Australia on June 10 photograph  submitted: Guy Bailey

A fallen tree lies across Forrest Grove Road, near Witchcliffe in south-west Western Australia.

(ABC News: Katie Franklin)

Emergency services officers walk through a video store destroyed by a tornado which swept through Perth's northern suburbs. (ABC TV)

A cyclist battles along a flooded bike path next to the Swan River in Perth on June 11, 2012, in the wake of the fierce storm that battered south-west Western Australia on June 10

A tree lies across a car in the Perth suburb of Winthrop after a fierce storm tore through south-west Western Australia on June 10, 2012

Developments in Science and Technology

By now, after having rattled on in Several good reads about one of John Birmingham's trilogies, people will know I love sci-fi and conspiracy theory novels.


I thought, using that trend, I would introduce some Developments in Science and Technology - the real stuff and not imaginery technology.


Two articles caught my attention in today's Sydney Morning Herald: 
1. New Switchblade a lethal weapon: US backpack 'kamikaze drones'

'Kamikaze drone' ... when soldiers identify and lock

on a target, they send a command for the drone to nose-dive

into it and detonate on impact. Photo: AeroVironment

The drones, which US officials hope will help reduce civilian casualties in war zones, pack tiny explosive warheads that can destroy targets with pinpoint accuracy. Seeking to reduce civilian casualties and collateral damage, the Pentagon will soon deploy a new generation of drones the size of model planes, packing tiny explosive warheads that can be delivered with pinpoint accuracy.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/new-switchblade-a--lethal-weapon-us-backpack-kamikaze-drones-20120612-206w3.html#ixzz1xXjpSst3


2. New portable device that can see through walls

New device ... (left to right): Matthew Kitchener, Wenbin Shao, Alex Seng,

Prof Salim Bouzerdoum and Jie Yang have made a radar that can see through walls.

Photo: Melanie Russell

It's the stuff of science fiction - the ability to see through walls and other solid objects, in real-time. But thanks to an enterprising group of University of Wollongong students, that's now possible - cape and tights optional. Alex Seng, Matthew Kitchener, Wenbin Shao, Jie Yang and Yhenxin Feng's work on the aptly-named Compressed Sensing Imager, or CSI, recently gained them a national innovation award.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/new-portable-device-that-can-see-through-walls-20120612-206wu.html#ixzz1xXkjVEok

Several good reads

I have just finished the first book in the trilogy by John Birmingham - Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1. and have started on the second book (Designated Targets: World War 2.2  and Final Impact: World War 2.3 make up the trilogy.)

Imagine if you will, the American Battle fleet under Admiral Spruance is steaming full speed towards Midway to intercept the Japanese fleet intent on over-running the island of Midway after Pearl Harbour. By some (yet to be fully understood) scientific mishap a Multi-National Force (MNF) under US Admiral Phillip Kollhammer (yes, of German-Jewish extraction) is about to invade Indonesia to put down a Muslim International Jihad when they are forced back through time to 1942. 


In their real time Muslim extremists were massacring non-Muslims and European and Asian residents on Indonesia when the mishap/misadventure occurs and the MNF is transported back in time to intersect with the American battle fleet. The MNF flagship is the aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise, a gargantuan vessel by any standards but of ominous proportions in 1942.


It is night time and visibility is difficult. The Americans believe the new arrivals to be Japanese and open fire. The personnel on the MNF are disabled by the time travel experience and are barely able to stand but the MNF's battle computers react to the hostile act and begin to dissemble Admiral Spruance's Pacific Fleet. Casualties are high, particularly for Spruance's conventional naval fleet, after the automatic defences of the MNF come into play. Eventually  Kollhammer recovers sufficiently to order a cease fire of hostilities and Spruance reluctantly agrees after losing more than half his fleet.


OK - so far its straightforward. Now, add in the differing sociometrics of the two forces now loosely aligned as one. Spruance's force consist of white Americans with a hostile racial view towards Asians, Negroes and any persons of European origin, particularly Mex-Tex Spanish. Kollhammer's MNF is made up of units from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ex-Indonesian Navy (little more than 'pirates') French (and one Japanese JDF) ships and has significant representations amongst its members from Russia, Germany and Italy and are equipment with the very latest technology and weaponry including communications, aircraft, helicopters, missiles and cannons.


Add to this a multi-racial American Marine Expeditionary Force commanded by a black American colonel who have been fighting Muslim extremists from Damascus to Dili for the previous two decades (their time) and you have a great setting to complete the first novel as this mixed force, inclusive of the Enterprise, returns to Pearl Harbour which is still reeling from the Japanese sneak attack on December 7 1941 and now has to contend with the partial destruction of its remaining Carrier battle fleet by the MNF 'Arrivals'.


Murder and mayhem!


Admittedly, most of this first book concentrates on the cultural aspects of embedding the 'Arrivals' - later referred to as the "21's" (from 2021) - amongst the "Temp" (contemporary) Americans.


Imagine the welcome they receive as the American High Command, full of all its racial and socio-cultural stereotypes meet this multi-national force in 1942. (The British First Sea Lord wants the RN's vessel, the "Trident", a  Missile Trimaran Cruiser, back home under 'proper English sailors' and its female captain and other female crew members re-assigned to appropriate tasks such as the 'catering services'!)


Slowly, the impact of the 'arrivals' has an impact on history and events begin to unfold in a way that changes the world for ever - and  - the Japanese Navy have got their hands on one of the (Ex-East German) Indonesian destroyers which, although not as modern as those in the rest of  Kollhammer's MNF, has sufficient technology on-board to the re-vitalise Japanese and German war machines.


Book two I've just commenced with the MNF now establishing a 'zoned' base in California and busilly trying to build the means of production to re-equip their depleted supplies (they had a subsequent  major confrontation with the Japanese military forces as they invaded Singapore and Luzon to free tens of thousands of POW's) and fighting to gain acceptance in an America after having killed thousands of their sons in the their initial encounter with Spruance's battle fleet. Resentment runs deep and murderous events occur inclusive of civil riots.


The world is not the same anymore and "The Grandfather" phenomenon of time travel is alive and well and the sexual revolution and equality that came with women's liberation reigns amongst the 'arrivals'.


All three books are downloadable from Amazon onto Kindle.

Fish and Rice Pastry Triangles

FISH AND RICE PASTRY TRIANGLES - a quick and nutritious meal

Notes: 15 minute preperation - Serves 4 - High source of Omega 3

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of cooked brown rice

20gm tin herring fillets in tomato sauce - undrained

½ cup frozen peas

2 spring (green) onions finely chopped

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

1 egg beaten

2 sheets of prepared puff pastry

 METHOD:

Combine all ingredients with ½ the beaten egg

Cut each puff pastry sheet into two triangles

Spoon on mixture and brush edges with remaining egg and fold over to close

On a baking tray lined with baking paper place the folded triangles and brush the surface with remaining egg

Bake in an oven at 200C (Gas Mark 6- 400F ) for 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffed up.

You can use 2 1/2 minute microwaveable brown rice. I like to use a good brand of "herrings in"  

Fosty frogs in the morning

Woke up to Minus 5C with a heavy fog and a thick frost - "Fosty Frogs" as we call them - and took these photos from the back of the house:

Similar forecasted for tonight and tomorrow!