Author: edgar62

Semi-retired in South Australia. Interests are Music (Andre Rieu, Anna Netrebko) Reading (SciFi / Crime) and History Movies: The Day After Tomorrow, Casablanca, The Man Who Would be King Community: Secretary Support group, Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Towards the Final Curtain V

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
On a good day

The police are at their wits end and are at a loss on what to do next. Hardly a week passes without there  being a death on our roads, drivers taunting police and engaging in police pursuits, which have to be terminated because it’s too dangerous for the police to continue. And if the clown ( not the word I really want to use)  crashes the car and is killed- guess what – it’s the police fault – it was only a car for goodness sake!  And it’s not just males. What made the police and the rest of us, shake collective heads in despair.? Less than five minutes drive from here ( my house)  a driver rolled the car in the scrub,  one passenger was  badly injured and was flown by the RFDS to Adelaide, where he died. The other passenger  suffered “multiple limb injuries” and treated here in hospital as was the driver of the car, who suffered minor injuries. This was NOT the outcome of a police chase.          Ok having taken that in, now take this in – The driver of the car was charged by Major Crime Investigators  with causing death and harm, by Dangerous Driving. There was also a raft of other charges. The Driver of the car was 12 years of age.  The  passenger who died was his 20 year old brother and the other injured person was 11 years of age. In Heaven’s Name – where do we go from here? This is not over – there will be more to come out of this.  The main area for these deaths on the roads is Adelaide and surrounds and it is

Just so tired, daddy. Not able to go walking.

concerning me that I have to drive down there in a couple of weeks and right at the moment I am not greatly enthused. A few days later a teenager walked free from court after a crash that killed his passenger, The driver suffered head injuries and said he doesn’t remember the crash or the fact that he was high on drugs and alcohol when he lost control of the car,  so the  Kindly judge gave him a suspended sentence and he walked free from court. In South Australia you can kill someone, go to court, plead guilty and get 40% deduction of your sentence just for pleading  guilty and saving the state the cost of a trial.

I have had an email yesterday which now tells me that there will be no physical meeting next week. The people cannot come to Adelaide from Queensland so the Conference will be by Zoom- which is yet to be set up, so no doubt I will get all the necessary information in the fullness of time.`My problem is that the NBN is not stable in this area and I keep on dropping out. This is what happened at the RFDS Conference – freeze up, then drop out.

I have been doing some further reading on  the South Australian National and Conservation Parks and discovered that with the exception of parts of the Flinders Ranges National Park, to even have  a dog in your car within the bounds of a National Park can still attract a hefty fine. The reason for the part exemption of the Flinders Ranges National Park, is simply that the main road runs through the middle of the park.  However, here’s an interesting thing – I have said that dogs are banned from National Parks – Service Dogs are not. Interesting.

Snow in the Flinders

On the subject of the Flinders Ranges, the weather, which is cold, wet and miserable was soo  bad these last few days that it was snowing at the Flinders National Park and there are reports that it looked like a ski area. Apparently it has snowed there before but that was about 60 years ago. So, really, it has been cold here the last week or so. Down here it has just been raining almost constant, but a couple of times it has not really been “rain” but a continual wet and cold Scottish Drizzle. Might not be heavy but it’s just as wet.

 

 

Warning – photograph heavy.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
These are Barbary Doves
Australian Wattle Bush

Today Benji and I went wandering  to the Wetlands, the Foreshore and the Ada Ryan Gardens.  I have not been to the gardens in the evening to see the pathways with the new lighting, but it’s on my list. I  have visited the gardens a few times in the last week and  it has been quiet, despite it being school holidays. I did take a few photographs especially of the birds, but trying to get a good photograph through small one inch square holes is not the best. Still I did try. I also look at one of the plants – not really sure what it is but I did like the butterfly. The other yellow bush

I liked the butterfly
Cockatoo

is an Australian Wattle Bush at the Wetlands.  The birds were difficult but not impossible, so I was able to put the camera hard against the cage and photograph through the bars. Not all were successful.

I am pleased to say that the  Kiosk at the Wetlands is going well and most days it is very busy. It  still has only limited seating due to the social distancing,  but there ample seats and benches close at hand and there are seats at the barbecue area which is fairly close.. The council have made an extra entrance into the area so it’s much easy to access now. I have not been round the back of the Wetlands for a little while  which means that I have not been feeding the geese and ducks. The  reason for this is Benji. The back area  is all gravel paths and Benji does not do too well in gravel. Some of the area is a “softer”gravel but where where we have to go is down through the hard stuff, I generally have to carry him. On bitumen, concrete, dirt and grass he’s fine, but not gravel. I did notice that the Black Swans are gone and I have not seen the Pelican for a while so perhaps he/she  has also gone home – wherever that is.  After our walk around the Wetlands we drove down to the Foreshore, but it’s still school holidays and I felt

Some more birds. Not great quality, but ok through steel bars.
Not sure what this is.

there were too many dogs there so I  took him into the Ada Ryan Gardens instead. Same flowers but no butterfly this time. It’s interesting that we are in the middle of winter but the temperature is starting to warm up just a little. For example, yesterday  was a nice 22c – still a bit on the cool side but not bad. Cold once the sun goes down.

In South Australia we have only had 1 case of COVID 19 in the last month. However our borders are closed as the State of Victoria has recorded some 300 new cases, a figure that has been increasing over the last week. New South Wales is not quite as bad but our border there still remains closed. It is now fairly certain that the second wave of cases in Victoria are linked to the two protests and the rally that followed.. I mean Victorians  could not go fishing or play golf as individuals, but the government allowed two major BLM  protests and a rally to take place. In New South Wales, the  police want the BLM protest banned and are going to the Supreme Court to get the authority to stop the protest but they expect that the  Greens and other left radicals will turn up anyway. There will be fines of $2000 for those who do and the police chief has said they could set back the New South Wales economy by 10 years. Our borders remain closed with  a two year prison term for anyone breaking the border restrictions. The reason for the prison is that the fines ($2000)  just don’t seem to deter them.

I did go up to the Gardens later when the lights had come on. I was pleased with the time, but I don’t think I had the settings on the camera quite right and was not very happy with the final outcome. Out of the photographs I took I  was only really happy with one – possibly two.  Still, I suppose it’s better than not being happy with any. The last few mornings have been cold and foggy, so not walking weather.

Gives “up the Garden Path’ a whole new meaning.

 

Towards the Final Curtain U.

by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs
I’m only getting out if there’s food..

The weather for the last few days has been quite mild and at 22c  good for wandering around  the lighthouse and the foreshore.. Most of the restrictions have been lifted so it’s

What ?? Get out of the car on to the cold road??? You Jest!!

good to get out and about . However, it was never really much of a problem up here. The kind of restricted period has given me  a lot of time to play with my cameras and I have bought a macro lens for the Canon and ordered one for the Nikon. As I said before, I  have a lot to learn and whilst I have no one here to teach me ( will be better when the camera club starts up again) but I like to potter around taking photographs of things and places that interest me and, of course, lots of photographs of Benji – who even has his own folder on my computer. It is still very cold in the mornings. On Tuesday morning Benji and I went up to Hummock Hill to photograph the sunrise. It was bitterly cold and my hands were freezing. Like little digits of ice! Anyway, I took  quite a few photographs of the rising sun and the surrounding area, but I just don’t seem able to get the setting right for a sunrise. Photographs club starts back next week, so I will  start to get some information that I can put into practice.  I did buy a new Camera Backpack which I am quite pleased with. With the restrictions in place the President of the Camera Club posted a letter, number or colour on the website each week. This week the letter was “J” and Annabell and I came up with a few ideas. I did go to the Shopping Centre and photograph the Jewellers, but I wasn’t too happy with that – I felt it was “Ordinary” and  I wanted something different. In the end I drove into town and photographed the Court House and posted it under the tile “Justice”. Our court house, unlike Adelaide, is  a reddish brick building, not at all inspiring but  I was quite happy with what it represented.

I was not involved at the RFDS Fundraising this weekend but I did drive down to the Cuttlefish Area to  catch up on what was happening. Both days have been very productive both for the  RFDS and the Cuttlefish Dive

the Point Lighthouse

Organisers. It was very busy and despite having extra supplies, the RFDS  was starting to run out. Fortunately by that time things were slowing down and heading towards the end of the day. Benji and I left the Cuttlefish area and drove round to the far side of the point  and  the Lighthouse. I like the lighthouse – it’s a nice drive and  it’s a  quiet enough area and the lighthouse always makes for a good photograph subject.  I have a one-person tent and I was thinking of upgrading this to a larger tent  which would allow me to go off overnight with Benji and a photo trip. Of course we would always be at the edge of the National Park and actually driving through the Park should not be a problem as long as I  keep him in the car when I get out to take any photographs.  All pretty much in the air at the moment – not really the weather for camping.

I went back out and did another round of sunrise photographing, but still not happy with the results. I’ll most likely delete them again. Well,  if nothing else, the delete function on the camera is getting a good workout. Anyway, it was -1c and bitterly cold so I’m not doing that again – at least, not until it’s a bit warmer. Benji and I have not been going out in the

Ada Ryan Gardens

early morning walking because it has been so cold. We have taken our walk later in the day when it’s a bit warmer. We also go wandering in the Wetlands and the Foreshore.  To add to the cold the last two days have been wet. According to the forecast we will have showers  until Tuesday – so not a lot of walking. The Cuttlefish Diving is on again this weekend for a three day period – Friday, Saturday and Sunday (today being Saturday) and the RFDS are organising the catering for the three days. A very busy three days for the crews involved, For the remainder, I have been to the council and the two hardware stores and no indication as to when they will be ready recommence their weekly barbecues.

I include the Ada Ryan Gardens photograph mainly because the Council with grants have been working out there and have spent a bunch of cash to install new  ground lighting. It looks impressive on the council  page so as soon we as get some dry weather I will go out some evening and take photographs of the gardens under the new lighting.