Port Wakefield – Page 2

Nearly back to Normal.

06/10/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Some of the blame game and the complaints have started already with truck drivers unhappy with the closure of Port Wakefield. Also the Port Wakefield service stations have lost a lot of

money this long weekend. Anyway, one of the complaints is that the authorities were too hasty in closing down access to Port Wakefield despite the fact that the water continues to rise. The weather cleared and there has been an aerial inspection of the damage to the power pylons. In this area alone there were six pylons bent and twisted like children’s toys and overall there were 23 destroyed or damaged pylons in the system. And just to make life interesting – another storm is bearing down on us and should be here by late Monday / Tuesday with an estimated 100mm of rain – Oh Joy!! However, the bulk of the main storm has now moved into Victoria and New South Wales. On the subject of these two States, South Australia is very, very thankful for the teams of Emergency Workers that have crossed the Border to help us out, assist in the clean-up and give our emergency crews some much needed rest. Considering there are state wide floods in both Victoria and New South Wales, the help is more than appreciated. There is to be an investigation into the State-wide blackout and why 1.7 million people were left without power – some for 25 hours and some still waiting for the restoration of full power – Arrium, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln and Roxby Downs for instance. Arrium is just holding things together with limited power. The way things are going in South Australia these days I think we will soon be singing the Depression Song:

Once I built a railroad and made it run

Made it race against time

Once I built a railroad, now it’s done

Brother, can you spare a dime

When Chienne died last year and it was decided that I would get another dog, I made it clear that I wanted a mature dog, not a puppy. I said about 5 or 6 years old would be good. I looked at this Diego (Now Benji) and he at five – going on six , seemed to fit the bill so I travelled to Mount Gambier to have a final look at him and bring him home. Now I know I have gone through this before but bear with me – there is a point. I adopted him and brought him home and Annabell decided that she should give him his name and chose, Benji. We decided that he should have a birthday, and since we had no idea (no papers-on way) when he was born the date of his adoption was chosen as his Birthday. Last Tuesday, the day before the storm, his final papers came from Victoria and I learned that he was born on the First Day of May 2013. In other words, he was a puppy, really. Not what I wanted at all. But although I didn’t really know the difference, my Vet never corrected me or said anything that would lead me to believe me I was wrong and that he was much younger than I believed. However, the rescue group is a small scale operation and funding is what they can raise, so they wouldn’t have the resources to do any investigation and probably accepted what they had been told. What is for sure is that if his real age had been known, yes, it is very possible I would have passed him over and looked for something else, but the universe has a way of arranging these things and I stopped, looked and having looked long enough, I knew he was for me. I did buy him a Birthday Present for tomorrow so I will still wrap it up and give it to him.

There was a very rare occurrence here during the week. A set of smaller fingers got onto my computer – which I had foolishly left open – and wrote comments on several places. Then, having been found out attempted to delete everything as she had been shown in school. I have no idea where she went or what she did, but I will wait and see if there is any fallout and correct and apologies where I can – if I can.

Sun is shining, birds are singing, trees are in blossom – it’s spring!! And – it be 33c in our little corner of the universe. Blue skies for the remainder of the week :o) This time next week – on the way to Adelaide – will probably rain!!

Stormy Weather Continues.

01/10/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Friday 30^th September

Yesterday was an odd day in that I was able to post things and get most of the mail through. Today it is a different story. Today there is no mail, no internet and no telephone. I think the clean-up has started today in some areas. We still have 22 major electricity pylons down so that being so I suppose that we should be considered fortunate that we have power for lighting and heating. The Broadband network and the mobile (Cell) phone network are both down. At the moment I am using MS Word and will transfer this to WordPress when the system becomes available again.

The storm may have eased in this area but it still continues in Adelaide and the South East . We have TV and I just saw on the news that a man believed that warnings didn’t apply to him and he tried to drive through flood waters – and yes, he had to be rescued . I think the amazing thing about all of this is the fact there has been no serious injuries or loss of life.

Port Pirie was saved in that the wind eased and the town was saved from flooding although just down the road in Port Broughton, they were not so fortunate and there was a lot of flooding in that little township. I also hear that the Barossa and the Clare areas are flooded. There is serious flooding in many parts of Adelaide – houses and properties inundated.

Optus went down on Wednesday and has still not come back on again. Telstra is on and off and on again, then off. I just wish they would make up their minds. At the moment, it’s off again so no internet and no telephone calls, either mobile (cell) or landline.

All afternoon the clouds have been dark and it has gotten progressively colder as the afternoon wore on. It’s just coming up to 5pm and it has now been raining for the best part of half an hour. It just refuses to give up. Even as little 20-25 mm will be enough, given all that has gone before, to send many small rivers and creeks into flood. There is concern about the flooding of the Port Wakefield river. Normally this is a creek that has very little water in it, but given this volume of rain it can quickly become fairly aggressive as it gathers water from the surrounding catchment areas. If this happens it can flood quite quickly and cut off the main highway at one end of the town. (It’s happened!!)

In Port Augusta there was a fair amount of structural and environmental damage and the Joy Baluch Bridge – the main bridge across the Gulf was closed because of its height and the danger of the high winds. There is another crossing further up the gulf but it is a serious detour to Yorkeys Crossing and round the top of the gulf and back to the main highway.

At the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula, the city of Port Lincoln is still without electricity – or any power. Most of the food has gone and there are now concerns about potable water and there is also concern regarding the sewage systems. A modern Australian city and food relief packages are being flown in – like a third world country in crisis – bread, some package food, baby formula, milk, water etc.

The Smelter at Port Pirie took a hit and will be out of action for repairs for about two weeks. Arrium also took a hit and was forced to close down, at a cost of about six million a day. Andrew, my son, was called out to the mines at Middleback and he and a team were working frantically to avert a mining “catastrophe” (his words) – although what that was I have no idea – he did not

elaborate.

The clean-up and restoration will take weeks, if not months and there will be the usual “Blame Game” My own view is I don’t care about the politicians and their point scoring off each other, but I believe there should be an investigation into why these pylons came down as they did. Trees in the area were unaffected yet these steel pylons, 22 of them, were bent in half as if they were child’s toys and not major carriers of high voltage electrical power lines. I would also like to know, whether it’s good or bad, who supplied the steel for these things. But I think that might be something that we never get to know, but a state-wide failure that put 1.7 million people in darkness is something we should get to know.

Latest: As of 7am this morning the main highway north at Port Wakefield has been closed due to the flooding of the Wakefield River. There are major diversions in place through Two Wells and Virginia for cars, buses and light trucks. Heavy trucks are stuck.

Here, There and Home

26/08/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

MustafaAdelaide;

The Lower Flinders from, Port Wakefield Road

The drive down from home was uneventful and quite pleasant until I reached the Tin Man. I still had the best part of half a tank of fuel but I wanted coffee as well as fuel. Fortunately I went into the service station before I did anything or I would have really been in strife. Their computer system was down

and they could only take cash for fuel and food and I didn’t have more than $10 on me. It is over 150k to Port Wakefield but I felt I had enough fuel to get there. Besides there were a couple of fuel stations between the Tin Man and Pt. Wakefield if I should feel it was not going too well. As it happened, I had more than enough to make the distance so I was able to fill up with food and fuel.

Up until then the drive was pleasant enough but after Wakefield the rain started, a few light to medium showers with a couple of heavy showers in between. Nothing too difficult but it made for an interesting drive to Bolivar. I did some wandering around Adelaide and visited several camera shops looking for an item that I discovered in the very first stop ( Camera House ) is no longer made by Sony and thus no longer in stock. My old Sony camera will probably be put out to grass because the memory card is falling apart and I cannot find a replacement. Probably find something on line – ebay – but I feel when you have to do that and get something sent from China, it’s time to move on. Of course I have my Canon Canon but that’s too big to just shove into my laptop bag and wander around with, so I need a camera to replace the Sony. I did have a look at a couple of Nikon models in Adelaide and I will have a think about

them. I could, of course, stay with Canon, but I want an alternative and Nikon will probably fill that bill. Adelaide in between showers was not my favourite place to be over the weekend and I was glad to get out to Para Hills, attend the meeting, and then head home. I was home for two days and

then drove back down to Adelaide for another meeting – and these should be the last until November. This was the West Terrace Committee Meeting, which only occurs twice a year and unfortunately it occurred when it did.

Home: (Finally)

In the last ten days I have been away for five of them and to say My Man is not happy is something of an understatement. From the time I arrived home yesterday right up until this morning he has hardly ever left my side. At the moment he is not in his bed but underneath the desk at my feet. Perhaps he thinks I am going to take off and leave him again. We did go out for a walk last night so that kind of settled him down a bit. I think he might have some sort of separation anxiety but not knowing his background we can never really be sure. He was five years old when I adopted him last year so what happened to him in these years is unknown. We still have no idea what will happen regards the WaWa in October, and we have heard nothing from Sooah. I feel in a bit of a bind because in all conscience we cannot just get rid of her. Apart from being wrong it would be unconscionably cruel just to dump her somewhere, either with someone or with the RSPCA for Adoption. When Mustafa, our vet returns from Turkey (his mother has been ill) I’l have a good talk with him and see if we can come up with a solution. I haven’t really did anything because it was only until October, but I think that’s a bit of a dream now. The Arrium problems and the State Unemployment problems make it unlikely that they will be back in October – or, indeed, any time soon.

Adelaide and a Dinosaur

25/07/201625/07/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Adelaide Arcade with the fountain in front.

Just after 1:30 pm Andrew picked me up and we headed off to Adelaide. We drove directly to Port Wakefield before we stopped for coffee and something to eat. From there we drove to Adelaide – Andrew to his hotel, me to mine. Fortunately both were in South Terrace – The Chifley and the Sage – Andrew in the Chifley. Why not in the same hotel, or even sharing a room? Well this was not a planned trip – Andrew was going down for a meeting so I bummed a lift from him and I just booked to stay where I normally do in Adelaide, whereas Andrew’s room was booked by his company. In the morning I made my way into town – had scones (and butter) and coffee at the Coffee Club in David Jones. Refreshed I went up the road to the Apple Shop to find out what was wrong with my laptop. Here I need to bore you further with an explanation. My Apple MacBook Pro is working fine – it’s great – no problems– however (there’s always a “however”isn’t there?) although it is working very well, it will not upgrade. I am running an operating system that is at least three upgrades behind what I should be running and I am starting to find that some things I download will not operate because the OS is out of date. Why wont it update? Well, that’s what I was seeking an answer to. I didn’t get one – well I got one of sorts. After going through it the tech admitted he had seem nothing like it. Everything is there but it will not upgrade and we don’t know why. They believe that the best solution is to wipe it clean and start with a fresh install then upgrade that to the current OS. That I could not do because I do not have a recent backup, so we are back home again and I will do a backup before I go back down.

Andrew finished his meeting and I met up with him again. We went off to Bunnings and we both did some shopping there and I checked out some of the things I would like for the garden – which I need a trailer for. Leaving Bunnings we headed for home again stopping at Port Wakefield for fuel and food. We arrived home at about 9:40 – a long and tiring day. I may do the backup this weekend and perhaps take a run down during the week and have the clean and install the new operating system. All I have to do then is put the backup back into the computer. Actually I might get

the Tech to do that for me – probably cost, but worth it. In Adelaide we came across “The Pet Barn” a big pet accessories shop. Well, yes, I did buy some new toys for BJ, one of which was a Dinosaur. Since I gave him the Dinosaur he has hardly let it go and he takes it up on my bed with him. I managed to get it on its own for a bit and took a photograph. His duck was a bit grubby so I gave it a wash. Came out quite well and the squeaker still works.

Although I’ve been in Adelaide the weather up here has been calm and warm – today is a mild 24c and whilst the warmer weather is welcome, it wont last and we’ll be back to cold and wind again soon. However, I did take advantage of the warmer weather to get some work done and this morning I hope to hook up the trailer and get down for a load of Granite Chips and make a start on the back.

The WaWa continues to go for Benji and the spray bottle is no longer having any effect; Yesterday was not a good day. The WaWa never shut up the entire day. Spent much of the day outside or driving – always with Benji with me – even if I was going to the hardware store, I took him with me. Keeping him with me and stopping the WaWa from nipping at his back legs has become a constant battle and although I do not wish away time, October can’t come soon enough. Sooah insists she will be back then – I hope so, I really hope so. I have to have something in place before November when I head off back to Mount Gambier and be away for four and a half days and I wouldn’t be at ease worrying about him.

Travels And Breakdowns

16/05/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

I was going to quote Robert Burns again about the best laid plans and such like, but decided not to. You probably know it anyway. My plan was to drive to Adelaide, stay two nights in Adelaide then drive to Mount Gambier, visit the sailing ship The Lady Nelson, then out to the Umpherston Sink Hole Gardens, then the Englebrecht Caves. Busy day planned, but none of that happened. Left home on Wednesday morning and drove to the Tin Man and the stop for fuel and food. From there I drove to Lochiel. The reason for Lochiel was simply that I had been up since 5:00 to take Benji for his walk before driving off at 7am, so by Lochiel I was a tad weary and wanted some air (rain) and some coffee . Got back to the car and it wouldn’t start. I had brought the charger with me so after a bit I was able to get the car started and continue on my way. A short while later, at Port Wakefield I had a similar problem. By this time I was getting a bit concerned and began to notice things, like the way the car surged when I put on the lights. I decided not to go shopping as I had planned but drive directly to the hotel. Driving through the city of Adelaide was a nightmare for me and I was scared that the car would suddenly stop at one of the many sets of traffic lights. Booked into the hotel then came back out to get my cases. I called Annabell to let her know what was happening and that the battery had really cut out and I could not get the car open – pressed button – boot would not open – pressed button – car door would not open, so I could not even get to the charger. Was talking about things when Annabell cut through my rant with the words “have you tried using the key?” You can imagine how disappointed I was when the ground below my feet did not open up and swallow me to hide my embarrassment nor protect me from the hysterical laughter that could be clearly heard coming from my phone. You can bet your very last penny that she wont let me forget this in a hurry.

In the mid afternoon I walked into town and did some shopping. The evening was fairly quiet and I spent much of it watching a movie. Thursday I left the car and took the train and bus to Norwood – most of the storm damage had been cleared. I spent a few hours there, had lunch and made my way back to the city center. Friday and the car refused to start so I was forced to call out the RAA again. The mechanic examined the battery and that was good and the alternator seemed to be good, but something was draining the battery and we had no idea what. I did have a battery charger with me and decided that if the need arose I would use that, but driving through the center of Adelaide was again scary and I feared at every set of traffic lights. I was glad to reach Gepps Cross, which is the northern boundary of the city and leave the traffic lights behind. Fortunately I had enough fuel to get back to Port Wakefield where I knew there was a good garage if I needed it. I expect there are good garages in Adelaide but I have no idea where. All that surrounded me were FFOs – Fuel and Food Outlets. I used the charger at Lochiel and Port Wakefield on the way down but I did something wrong in Adelaide and drained it, hence the RAA call. I telephoned Annabell to let her know that I was coming

Showers creeping over the Adelaide Hills

home. She suggested that Benji would be pleased because he had been sulking and hiding for the last two and a half days – poor thing. I was disappointed because there were things I wanted to do on the way to Mount Gambier and in Mount Gambier itself but I felt if I was going to break down it was better to break down on the way home than to break down on the South Eastern Freeway. As it happened the car drove quite well and I was able to stop for a little while in Port Augusta. Tomorrow I will take the car to the garage and book it in for a complete service and find out what the power draining problem is. – Hopefully it’s something simple.

The Drive to Melbourne Part 1

25/02/2016 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Day 1

We left home – John, Andrew & Me – on Friday morning and drove to Adelaide, stopping at Port Wakefield for fuel and food. I had expected we would share the driving so I assumed there would be a changover at Wakefield, but no, Andrew decided to stay as driver. From Wakefield we drove through Adelaide then on to our next stop at Tailem Bend – then Keith, through Naracootre, Penola and finally to our overnight

stop at the Commodore Hotel in Mount Gambier, arriving there at 6pm. After getting the rooms sorted out, we decided to go for a walk through town and get something to eat. We could have eaten at the hotel but we needed a walk to compensate for the driving and sitting. As it turned out we found a nice Pizza Place that seemed to be quite busy. That’s usually an indication that the food is good, we went in there. It was good so we stayed a while to

wind-down and have a few drinks. I did come across something interesting in Mount Gambier – at least 50+. A very old Post Box. Have not seen one of them since childhood.

Day 2

The primary object of the trip was, of course, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Melbourne, but the secondary object was to travel the length of the Great Ocean Road. That being the case we drove from Mount Gambier, crossing into Victoria and then down to Port Fairy. Most of this area is forest country so really not a lot to see, although I still maintain that like the Road to Mount Gambier, I would not be surprised to see Gandalf, or at least a Hobbit. We had a stop for cool drinks in Port Fairy. Back inland again to Warrnambool and our first real drive along beside the Ocean started again at Peterborough – to the Bay of Martyrs – Bay of Islands These were interesting and provide a great indication of just how fragile the coast is in this area. I think the rock faces are mainly

Limestone – soft and washed away over a short space of time. I understand that the road had to be

realigned a couple of times because the coast had collapsed. From the Bay of Islands we drove to Port Campbell where we stayed for lunch and a walk around the town. Our next stop was The Twelve Apostles National Park. This really floored me. I have never seen so many Chinese/ Asian people in the one place – there were hundreds of them and buses of them arriving every few minutes. There were so many people that it was difficult to get near the edge to take photographs. The top of the walkway as you can see is just people. Personally I think this is a bit on the dangerous side in that if someone fell, they are dead – no discussion of that because by the time help arrived the person will have either drowned of been battered to death against the rock face. – always assuming they survived the fall in the first place. There were two helicopters operating and they were going non-stop. As one landed one took off and the queue was something else.

This walkway out to the end was just wall-to wall people.

Traveling and Hospitals

21/03/2015 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

On Wednesday morning I pick up son John and head off to Adelaide. After my meeting on Wednesday, we’ll head over to the Fringe Festival, then back to the hotel for rest. For twenty-four hours before the tests at St. Andrew’s I am not allowed anything containing caffeine – which is a bit of a low blow in my view. However, at least we can have coffee on Friday morning before we set off back home. John will be with me at St. Andrew’s although I have warned him to bring books and his iPad. He is needed there as a next of kin in case of any problems that might arise – although this is fairly rare.

On the way down to Adelaide I took a number of photographs of the the Lochiel Hotel – or rather, what’s left of it after the fire. Lochiel is a small township in the mid north of the State. It has been the watering hole for generations of people from the bullock drivers carting wool to the southern ports to generations of travelers from horse drawn coaches to the modern coaches. However, the development of Port Wakefield some 33 klms away really was the end of the pub expect for the locals and the occasional traveler. The old Hotel was 150 years old and it had only recently celebrated its 150th birthday.

The first round of tests at the hospital lasted from 9:15 – 11:45 which included drugs to introduce heart stress and monitor the results – antidote – rest then a scan that was supposed to take 10 minutes (that’s what they told me) and took a great deal longer – and lying on my back with my arms above my head was not fun after a while but I couldn’t move so I just had to put up with the discomfort. After that I was set free until 2:45 and then undergo another injection and a further scan and finally at 4:15 I was finished. Results – I have no idea, and wont know until the reports are sent to my Cardiologist.

At the moment John and I are back in the hotel and in a little while we will be heading into town. A few things from the supermarket then off to the Fringe Festival – we have

been doing a lot of walking, leaving the car at the hotel and walking everywhere. – Good exercise. The Fringe was good but I was a bit taken aback with the prices. I mean a glass of wine and a bottle of Beer for John cost $16;50 – which is about $18US We did go for a ride on the Ferris Wheel, which reasonable at $8. We had a Turkish meal at the Fringe and it was about 10pm when we got back to the Hotel. John suggested we have something to eat that we don’t generally get at home, so we settled on Turkish a kind of

flat bread and filling cooked on a sort of barbecue plate. It was quite nice, which is more than I can say for the drinks at another bar – which I have already mentioned. Al in all it was a good night and I’m glad we took the time to go.

The drive home on Friday was quiet and uneventful and after I dropped John off at his house I came home and took herself shopping. Things are quiet and will remain so until the 25th when I go for the Cardioversion where they charge me with a couple of jolts of electricity, which they hope will force the heart back into a normal pattern. The final test wont be until April after there’s been some time for things to settle down.

At the end May I head off to Naracoourt – some 795 klms from here – about 1000 miles round trip. John has indicated that if he can get the time off he would like to come with me – which is very good. Neither of us have been over in that part of the State. I realise it’s some months away yet but it is a small area and I have already booked accommodation and if John does come with me – easy enough to adjust.

No roses here.

31/05/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Have no idea what the meeting is about on Monday afternoon, but I do know ( by email) that the venue has been changed and instead of using two venues – North Adelaide and

Norwood the entire Assembly will be held in only one venue – Norwood. Just as well the hotel I picked was at a halfway point between the two, although if I knew it would be all Norwood, I would have picked something a bit closer, like the Royal Coach Inn at Kent Town. Still at least I will be well out of the way which feeds my Anti-Social tendencies :o) I was doing some work out back and decided it would be a good idea to caress the thumb of my left hand. I thought about this and a hammerhead seemed like a good idea at the time. Actually I didn’t do it any damage and really, I only “caressed ” it but with some diabetics even the slightest knock is enough to cause bruising. Sadly I am one and although the bruise may look painful, it’s not. Did spend last night finishing off the packing now all I have to decide is what toys I am taking and what power cords I need :o)

The Desert Pea with the Desert Rose in the background

A lady blogger I follow ( a gardener) has recently moved house and she did a post on the history of the house and the area . The house was built in 1885 and the history of the area was interesting. I have no such tales to tell. This place has only been standing since the late 1970s. I did say, I think, that the previous owner didn’t like gardening and everything is all concrete and gravel with only a limited amount of earth to play around with and even that is limited again because we have the feeling that he may have sterilized the soil before he put bark in the area. I have removed the bark and cleaned the area up, but it has very limited growth. I put fertilizer and blood and bone without success I wanted a rose garden there and spent a small fortune on roses and without exception every one of them died. A friend has given me Frangapini cuttings and I will try them, but I am not hopeful. My successes are still the Desert Pea and the Desert Rose and I am really very pleased with the masses of flowers and buds. It’s interesting; I have loved these flowers since I came to Australia and have tried several times to grow the Desert Pea but without success, so I gave up. Last year I gave it another try and was rewarded with masses of blooms and the same again this year.

It rained a tad whilst I was in Adelaide so that, at least, saved Herself from trying to go around and watering the plants. The drive down to Adelaide was uneventful but on Monday evening it was so dark and the rain so heavy I took a taxi to Norwood rather than drive. A very interesting week which threw up some interesting problems one of which has reached crisis proportions, which will have serious implications for all of us. My only hope is that when the dust settles after a meeting on 14th June, we will be able to live with the solution. Personally —- I’m not hopeful!

Fortunately the day I did leave Adelaide was a lovely day. No rain, no cloud, just sunshine all the way. To make matters even better, it was a lovely drive home. I had intended to stop in

at the Arid Lands Garden but since I had bought a few plants during my stay in Adelaide I just went home. I didn’t even stop at the Tin Man this trip, although I did have a ” pit stop” at Port Wakefield. It was good to be back home again and after greetings by Herself, I sat down on the floor with the dogs.

I keep saying that because of the gravel and concrete I only have a limited amount of space to plant things. However, I am in the process of removing some of the gravel so perhaps this might change. When we first moved here I accepted the concrete and stuff and decided pot plants were the way to go but although I bought good potting mixture I now have a plethora of unused empty pots – the occupants died long ago.

Highways, by-ways and Mother Nature

10/04/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Apart from a Football Match (Australian Rules) I have now discovered another reason for staying out of the City – International OZ-Comi-Con is being held at the Showgrounds. This is annoying because I wanted to go to that this year. My son went last year and bought me a Warehouse 13 T Shirt and had photographs taken with Richard Dean Anderson. However, I have to be at a conference on Saturday morning and be back in time for a Barbecue. However, with these two events, the place will be packed and although I do have to do one thing in town, I might not be able to if I can’t get parked. I will probably drive into town, judge things and either try to park or drive back out again. I might get away with it on Friday morning but certainly not Saturday, although I wont be in town on Saturday anyway. I’ll be navigating the South Road. Joy! I was asked to go to Karrulta Park on Friday which works out good for me. I can pick up the ANZAC Highway which runs into West Terrace and puts me on the side of the road that I wanted to be in. Well ok, Adelaide is not the world biggest metropolis, but coming into West Terrace from any other end means cutting across 10 lanes of traffic to get where I want to be – South Terrace, North Terrace, ANZAC Highway and Sir Donald Bradman Drive all converge in West Terrace. From there I can head up to Salisbury. This is also a busy place, but far enough away from Adelaide to miss the crowds.

I do not really get irritated with many things but one of the things that does irritate me is the way comments (awaiting moderation) just vanish into cyberspace. This happens on a couple of sites so I’m not really sure if I should continue with these sites, or just go. Of course, this could be a roundabout way of telling me to go anyway :o)

The drive to Adelaide was uneventful – thankfully. A lovely day and a good drive down. I I did turn off the by-pass onto

the South Road and I have to say that I am impressed. No detours and the elevated roadway was all but completed – just some cosmetic finishing touches. A super road – but then it’s cost enough so it should be. Well, that’s that section finished, now the fight starts about where the government is going to borrow the money to start work on the next section. My one criticism is that because of the cosmetic work being undertaken, traffic on the new 8 lane (4×4) roadway was restricted to 60kph – less stress, no detours, but not all that faster in getting to Kurralta Park. I did manage to get the last photograph for my report at West Terrace before heading off to Salisbury. After the conference on Saturday I decided to make a detour that would see me back on the South Road and the

new highway again. This was amazing because the South Road Highway now blends into the Salisbury Highway, which then joins the Port Wakefield Road and a direct run home on Highway 1. Bonus… I was home in plenty of time to feed the dogs and get us over to my son’s place for the Barbecue.

Since I came back from Adelaide it’s been raining almost constantly. It’s been good in that my 22,500 ltr water is overflowing as is the 1350 ltr. water tank. The small tank I use for watering plants – when they actually survive that is- which is not very often. The Hibiscus and the other bushes I planted have all died so we are slowly coming to the conclusion that the previous owners, who had a thing for concrete and gravel, may well have made sure that nothing will grow on the little area of soil they left. What I am thinking about is weed matting and woodchips and give up this one-sided, unequal struggle. Mother nature is bigger than me :o)

Medical Tests and another Road Trip

02/02/2014 by edgar62, posted in House, Garden and Dogs

Australia’s National Highway 1 was created in 1955 and is the longest National Highway in the world. It circumnavigates Australia, linking all the mainland Capital Cities together. It is some 14,500 klms. long, the nearest being the Trans-Siberian Highway followed by the Trans-Canada Highway. We are not part of the National Highway Grid. We join the Highway 60 klms Northeast of here and then travel along its route to Adelaide. I said once that I would like to drive the National Highway, going where I felt like going and stopping where we felt we had driven long enough for a day. Sadly that never happened and with the state of herself’s health, it probably never will.

The garden has not quite been abandoned and I still have to go out every few days to sweep up 6 million tons of leaves – well, ok, perhaps not quite that amount it just feel like it at times. There is no point in planting anything at this time because the ground is much too warm and besides, I think it’s much too hot to be spending hours out in the sun. All I am really doing is sweeping up and keeping up the watering as much as I can. I have already lost a number of plants, including the Hibiscus, despite watering and mulching.

20140201_133847 — The girls at the Barbecue

The RFDS simulator was set up in the Reserve from 9am – 4pm and we were fairly busy. However, I had to leave about 1pm to take herself to the hospital for tests. Likewise with Friday, busy, but I was with herself at the hospital – this time for a stress test – which was a failure. Not that she failed the stress test, but that she could not walk at even the slow speed that they wanted her to do on the treadmill. The test was abandoned. But we did go for chest x-rays. Saturday and I spent all day in the Woolworth Carpark with the simulator and a barbecue. Both areas were very busy and it being a hot day, Woolworth were good to us providing cool drinks and chilled watermelon.

Today the unit is down at the foreshore but I believe that due to the extreme heat it was closed down fairly early. Tomorrow ( Monday) it goes back to Adelaide. Four days and we were very luck to have it out of Adelaide for one day,let alone four. It is fully equipped and is a training unit for medical personnel new to the RFDS.

On Monday (Tomorrow) I take herself back to the doctor and see what happens next. In essence, nothing much can happen until the Specialist gives his report, but we’ll see what transpires tomorrow. On Friday morning I set off for Adelaide and will be away until late Saturday. I will have to keep an eye on the weather because I really don’t want to be driving 400 klms in a 43c heat. True the AC is pretty good, but that’s not really the point. It puts a fair strain on the engine. However, I will take an extra container of Coolant and a container of water, and if it is hot – no long sections – frequent stops. Of course I generally have two stops anyway, The Tin Man and Port Wakefield. From Port Wakefield into Adelaide it’s four land motorway all the way. But that’s good Adelaide only spends money on roads that benefit Adelaide – country roads generally get ignored. Oh well, election in five weeks.

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