Happy Leap Year

I wonder how many people were born today. No birthday party for another four years!  The Collendina renos are continuing. We now have three new blinds as well as blockout curtains across the door.  The new cabinet of drawers was supposed to form part of the desk but is too high so they will become a  storage drawer.  Out on the beach the plovers are spawning again, this time at the very bottom of our access steps.  This was a week ago but already they have moved 500 metres away. More evidence that plovers can't read.

It's curtain's for you

Cabinet Maker

Tiny Plovers now

Why did the plover chicks move away from the sign?  ..... to get to the other side (of the beach).

The Mighty Quinn

With apologies to Manfred Mann.  It has been some years since I was at a baptism. I mean a water and brimstone baptism of babies rather than a thrown in at the deep end baptism (of fire).  There were three attendees for the service and they all seemed happy to be there. The number of Godparents seems to be the  outdo factor. I thought Quinn would win easy with five, however Luke chimed in with ten baptismal godparents.  I think she still gets the nod with the inclusion of a bonefide homicide detective straight from leading the taskforce. Now that is getting the law on your side.

Standing with the Font

Galactica

We just finished the sixth season of the Sci Fi classic Battlestar Galactica and a fracking good yarn it was too. This I would call action science fiction eg space ships, robots and interplanetary travel. This series was the 2004 edition not to be confused with the 1980 version that started it all.  This time around there are multiple humanoid robots that look the same and who can also be reborn via a download process, means you have to be paying attention.  It has taken 5 months to get through all the DVDs. I tried a number of times to watch this show via foxtel but I could never chance upon season 1 episode 1.  This show is good value and many times we just had to watch two episodes in a row.

So say we all!

 

 

BattleStar v BaseStar

 

 



Collendina Clean Out

Yes a Spring Clean has swept through the van taking a huge load of older gear out the door and significantly rearranging the internal shape.  Some of the items include an air conditioner we had forgotten about, one set of double bunks, all the carpet. There were newspapers under there from 1987. It has taken two days for this to work but having moved the shelving we now need something to put the TV on.

This pile was picked over within an hour



Carpet tiles bring smiles

Biddy Biddy Bum

I've watched the show and I am still not sure why there is a "Fiddler on the Roof". Live shows are always worth a look. I don't think I have come away from any show, being particularly disappointed. Thornton is more actress than singer but I guess you have to pay the bills. Warlow is the king of these roles.  I think the Cossack dance stole the show.

Dress Circle

Princess Theatre

Never Never

I had never ever read "We of the Never Never" before.  Jeannie Gunn spent one year at Elsey Station and wrote about it a few years later.  I have been to Mataranka, which sounds like her description of Warlock Ponds, so I wonder if they are the same place.  My favourite would have to be "the Fizzer". This must be Australia's greatest ever navigator.  I have done some rogaines in outback Flinders Ranges as well as in WA but this guy kept criss crossing the bush with his mailbags and never failed to arrive.  Excepting years later when he drowned trying to get the mail through a flooded river.
 "The Maluka" died of dysentery  which meant  "the Missus" had to go back to Melbourne, where there was time to write about it.  I notice that the property is now Elsey National Park.  I Bett Bett that wasn't there in the 1950's when my Grand Mother "fizzed" through.

A Replica homestead is now rebuilt

Laura at Mataranka

"What Ho boys"

The Wire

It took us about three months to get through all 5 seasons of The Wire.  It is shows like this that make you realise watching commercial TV is a waste of time.  Not just for the time spent on adds but the lack of money to make a show worth watching. You feel me!  There is an author Garth Hallberg who wrote "City on Fire" as a longish tale that tries to take back the art of the long story from TV, such as the Wire, which he acknowledges is the masterpiece of the form.  Most def.

Planets Revisited

Got up at 5:00am this morning. Those Taylors have got a lot to answer! The planets are still in a line but stretched out from the horizon to overhead. I have fiddled the exposure time to 4 seconds and got some better shots. The Huddle telescope is on the horizon. The SkyView app labels most things in the night sky, very handy for stargazing.

SkyView App

Venus & Mercury

Sunrise

Dog Rocks

Took a detour on the way to the beach via Dog Rocks.  You could call it Wave Rocks but that has been used before in the Territory.  I vaguely remember going there when I was around 20 yar old. I'll  see if there are any photos. However closer to home these are worth a look and are an interesting formation near the Moorabool River at BatesFord.

Dog Rocks

 

More like a wave

 

Roberts Family Sequel

This is the more recent story of Alice and Herbert (My Grand parents) and their travels and also with sections on each of their children.  I now know I have a few more years of travel given that my grand father could pull a heavy old caravan around Australia while in his mid seventies.  A lot of work has been put into this book by my parents who do feature heavily, as their research into the Roberts tree has caught up with their own story.  I am using it as a source to try to add a caption to each of around seven hundred digitised negatives. As well I have a corresponding photo album which reveals that there must be more negatives somewhere.  With all the travels on numerous trips, I think I have been to most places they visited.

Inside front piece

Perth over 50 yar ago, looks like sleepy hollow

Blood Line

Don't think I have read any of Lynda La Plante before.  This one seemed a bit slow for a whodunit but I guess the emphasis was on the who. The crime is enacted in the first paragraph and then 400 pages of detail to unravel the culprit. I did watch some of her TV show Prime Suspect which was OK so maybe I should try one of her other books.

Guy running on car park ramp
not in the book!

SkyCam

No not the drone, although it might be worth a try.  The planets must have aligned as I have managed to get some shots of the elusive munching Black Cockatoos that have been raining pine cones onto our van roof of late. There are only a few trees left in the park so the birds have been concentrating on our tree.  Back to the planets. They really have aligned this week. I saw four in a row pointing out to the East around 4:00 am. There is a picture below but on the compact camera there are only points of light.

Flying Brick

Hello ...

Astral View

Collendina Report

Part of the wash up after the unfortunate plane crash off our beach last week is now starting to come ashore.  A broken watch, sunglasses and some sort of cowling cover have been observed on the sand. The salvage crane was hovering over the spot today. The biggest stink however was a dead seal. I believe it is a gas filled carcass at the moment as each morning it floats to a different part of the beach on the tide. Very eerie. The wind broke our sun shelter but it has been repaired with a coat hangar. Not sure how long it will last.

wreckage - note seal

Grampians

The large number of negatives taken by my grand parents is steadily being scanned and committed to digital.  Knowing exactly where these travels were taken is a bit of a mystery but some sections are recognisable. There are some good clues when signage of some sort is included in the photo particularly plaques on monuments like in the Never Never. I have found a new batch that looks like the Grampians as that weathered rock seems familiar from my own trips there.

These could be late 1950s

Herb and Alice rock climbers



Who is that?

Nerve test Gordon

 These are 1974

Nerve test



Rare Sun

These are 1988

Short walk for short legs

Rest Stop