Lake St Clair

It was February 1996 when four of us got together for a walk in the central area of Tasmania around Lake St Clair.  I have continued my reworking of photos from previous bush walks.  This one seems to have been mostly wet, no surprises there even though Feb is the driest hottest month.

Beach Two

Two days in a row down at the beach must mean Summer is coming.  It was deserted too except for one guy who walked past and a few distant people at the Dell.  The breeze ruffled but not too bad.  I found yet another golf ball. The golfers here do most of their best work on the 19th hole.  Something new was the toasted sandwiches for lunch and still warm as well.  The rubbish collection was larger with a four pack of exercise punch, whatever that is and a Macca's milk shake.

Toasties

RockStar Energy Punch?

Pilchards to you

We had our first umbrella beach session for the summer.  I still have a few stitches in so they said I should not try the swimming as the wound is on the point of the shoulder. So we played water tennis instead which really gave my shoulder a work out anyway, not to mention the 25 push ups I do each morning, so maybe I could have done the swim anyway. We also tried a session of water jogging which gets you going as well.  After all that we needed a drink, lucky we happened to bring four travellers with us which had been in the freezer for an hour. The tennis score was a reasonable 65 without a miss. Not bad for a first up effort.  During our water play we found a plastic bag that had come off a boat. It declared a sustainable Port Phillip Bay for pilchards!

fishy fingers

Dell Order

Every few years I put in an order for a Dell laptop via the internet. In fact Debbie's machine is six years old but she hesitated 3 years ago when windows 10 came out.  This time around she wanted as light weight as possible. When you cut down on weight they throw things out.  We also need a new docking station and the Thunderbolt standard did not exist a few years back. We need cable converters to get the old cables to plug the monitors into the new docking station. We were on Latitude series machines for years but I have put in the order for an XPS machine this time. I have doubled the on board RAM to 16Gb always the number one spec to get right. I notice the hard drives are all solid state these days eg no moving parts.  Windows has to be the Pro version otherwise it will not see our other network devices.  I also notice the laptop does not have an RJ45 connector so no direct network cable port anymore. Total reliance on wireless comms. However the dock has one so it can still be hardwired at home.  It's always a leap when you work out your order via email, transfer the money up front and then wait a week while they build it.

then you have to get it working

Asher on the Tools

Did the drive again and made it in time to wander down to the local "once  upon a time" Judo Hall, except it had been set up as a young children's market and the prices were cheap.  Outfits for $1 not to mention plenty of toys including Asher's new workbench. No gender render around this place. After some chicken in a roll, we went to the Ascot Lot for an afternoon tea send off for Molly and Daniel heading to Canada. 

$1 sale

Apprentice

Cuddly cousins

Meteorology

We are getting some neighbours over this afternoon for a bit of a chinwag and a look at some of our Switzerland bike riding. I took a short video of some of today's weather. Hopefully they will time their walk in between the stuff shown below.  We have even put the heating on.

Never Boring Weather

Scarred for life

I have lost count of the scars I have.  Today's must have been at least No 245.  Yet another Skin irritation that had to be removed.  It is 12 months since the "Hole in the Head" incident, so after this annual check up I should be glad it is not another job for the surgeon. In this case the local doc did the excision and I have 5 stitches in my shoulder and no swimming for the next 10 days.  The last skin doc we had left to upgrade to a fully qualified Dermatologist so in the mean time these guys are on the job.

The cold shoulder - Can you pick the problem?

Ride and Swim

I've had my exercise for one day with a ride and a swim before lunch.  A North breeze was bringing some heat today so I went off for a short ride at 9:30am. It would only have been around 15km for the ride.  The swim was my usual 400 metres. I find the snorkel essential as there is no issue with the breathing but also unhindered sight is good.  However not using the flippers makes it much harder.  I did spy yet another golf ball. There can't be many left now.  Back on shore I did not last long as some nipping bugs had been brought on the breeze.

Paddlers

high view

Beaching

I am sitting at my desk and can hear seadoos and music from seadoos thru the windows. It must be a beach day and with the Geelong Cup making it a Public Holiday it is an early start to the car park out front.  I went over for a swim with the snorkel mask which meant a non stop swim for the four hundred metres so my arms were a bit out of practise. There was a big ray just sitting on the bottom that I swam past. It didn't move at all despite my thrashing around. We started off with a fog bank this morning and large ships were letting us know.

Rolling Fog

Arm River

I scanned photos of a walk we did late last century. The scanning was early this century and it was the walk that was last century. The digital output was not good. The mechanism then was to pull the photos thru a slot to do the scan. They came out with furrows across them. My current flatbed would do a better job so I did the whole lot again.  Some have been printed with the latest technology of the time in a panoramic style.  They still look pretty good.

For a change there are a lot more photos in this series however due to blog limitations I have a cut down set here. There are over 100 photos I have made into a separate film.

Oxbow

An oxbow is a bend in a river and a lake formed in the old channel is an Oxbow Lake.  I did many rogaines in and around Tallarook and along the Goulburn Valley. Not to forget the pumping station MWC put in further up stream. We were following an old channel yesterday until we got to an electric fence. In the rogaine days no electric fence would stop you.  The Goulburn River is a meandering one with many old deviations. I can remember a few times getting caught up in those twists and turns.

There was water in the top bow when this was taken

A look at Tallarook

So the train was two trains, swapping at Broadmeadows to the country Seymour train service but getting off at that old haunt Tallarook. There was pub entertainment here before we started the ride as one of the locals was a 10% owner of Miss Leonidas which we watched on TV winning the Caulfield Cup.  The ride was along a section of the rail trail that we had not ridden before. We went as far as Trawool stopping at the Clyde Cottage B&B. Those sneaky Clancy's even managed to deliver some supplies to the house the day before.  The house is over 100 yar old and creaked like it.  We played 500 with an old record player  chirping away. In the morning we could not find the Goulburn River but it was close by. On the ride back we found a good swimming location but pressed on as coffee was being served at "Hock the Ruby". 

Clyde

Goulburn old river course

rail trail

swimming hole

Mystery train

I am putting up a quick entry about today's Mystery train now just in case its a ghost train with no power later today.  The packing of overnight gear into a small day pack suitable for travelling with a bicycle is tricky. Not that we haven't packed small for similar trips previously, although we did have pack racks available then.  I have still put in the swimmers even though a rain shower just went past. We might be riding to the beach or to a spa tub or to a mountain creek. Who knows.

I've put in the Myki cards

Stabilisation

I did some playing around with software 'video stabilisation' today. The current video camera I have been using is way more stable than the previous one, due to its lighter weight. EG media cards now being used rather than the heavier hard drive built into the last camera.  Even though the video is more acceptable I tried the stabilisation on a walking section of film.  These comparison samples have one clip set to maximum antishake.  I think there is an improvement. A lot of time would be needed to go back and treat previous films. The best results would no doubt come from the older less stable video cameras. I did redo the entire Piz Nair film from our recent walk in Switzerland, identifying areas for stabilisation. This exercise took over two hours.

                                                                      Original

                                                                    Stabilised

Drysdale Medical

Had a medical checkup at Drysdale Village today including a skin check.  All the vital signs are still vital but the skin check never seems to be completely clear.  I'll just put some dry ice spray on this one and a bit more over on that one.  "OK this one is a bit more interesting it will need cutting out and a few stitches, so we'll need another appointment".   They are better out than in.  Then he goes "good quads, it's an excellent thing to take muscle mass into older age groups. Studies have shown that muscle mass in older generations allows for greater cognitive function". OK muscles can help you think better I don't think I have heard of that one before

Queen Vic

Whenever Queen Vic appears on a stamp I need to pay attention. Straight away you know it is 19th century. The stamps below that I found today are both from 1883 so not as old as they could have been considering her first stamps were 1840. Nevertheless the 2/6 one comes in at $284 not bad for the 1 cent I paid. The other one that is so faded that I doubt it would reach its catalog value of  $575.

Faded Queen Vic

Excellent condition Queen Vic

Asher plays it cool

Had more Asher time today and more Laura time on the detour to Japan.  Asher is showing the scars from her run in with the cat. The Cat in the Hat strikes back. I bought a new camera today some of the results of which are below. All in all the Pacoe Pub is becoming a second home and I do recommend the jam doughnuts.

The Big A

having a ball

doughnuts all round

Full Immersion

I need to note today's date as I went for a proper swim down at our beach today.  So mid way thru October. I should try for an earlier date next year. The conditions were ideal no wind and 23° although the tide being out meant I was over 100 metres away from the shore. I did find another golf ball out there but I would say I have cleaned most of them out by now.  There was not much rubbish around, I only found a small bag, a bottle top and a straw.

Ah the serenity

Veggie Patch II

Last year's growth would be considered a success on anybody's scale maybe too much success.  It is anticipated that the jungle this year will be reduced. The number of plants is being halved and the layout changed and the structures there in, reshaped to hold it all.  Lettuces are around the corner and a gap is being left against the back wall/fence section.  I can see hundreds of potential olives forming but no apricots. Perhaps that happens in year three.

Less means more

A triangular brace

Asher is the One

Hooray for some birthday cheer.  The Loft was a roomy space in an old stables and with 60 of us running around up there all the space was needed. Too bad the new lift was not open yet so the stairs was the only way up.  That did not stop any octogenarians from partying. Laura was a sneaky surprise party goer particularly with the other visit already teed up.  A good day out and with a lot of floor action.

Almost touching

Kids on the floor

more kids on the floor

The most floor action

Back to Back

I have heard of back to back flags and back to back cruises but not back to back funerals. Both the subject of nasty brain cancers, both held at the local golf course. The drive to this one was shorter and freeways all the way.  The kangaroos were just starting to move in so that was the queue to head back. Wendy made a good eulogy working thru facets from A to Z. Very unique.

Broadford golf course

30kmh - this is becoming my personal machine.

Three Little Pigs

Took a drive today to Gisbourne for a funeral. Before that I had an appointment with the dentist but there was still time to do the two hour drive, get some lunch at the Three Piggies and make it to the funeral by 2:30pm.  The Bacchus Marsh road from Geelong is having an upgrade and there are long stretches of 40kmh only. The three piggies also had some book shelves so I paid them $4 for a book.  The town is quite lively, not really any closed shops or tumbleweeds blowing around.  This is the first funeral I have seen without any real service. Stories were used to illustrate a life cut short.

These colours were outside our front door this morning

3 Little Pigs

As we were heading off around 6:00pm Quinn goes "Have a nice day!"

Egg Plant

The nesting bird battle continues.  Those pigeon poopers have flattened the anti bird spikes and placed nesting material all over them. Then an egg appeared and the wall fern became home to a pigeon pair. This all happened in the space of a day.  So this morning the egg and nest have been dismantled and the spikes are upstanding once again.  We will be out of town for two days so hopefully they take the hint.

Barmah Forest

I have been joining photos into films again. This one is from around 1983. The guy whose car we used is Ken Pottenger. I did the BMLC course with him back then. I think there were four of us including Debbie and Carol O'rourke. We stopped to get someone's bogged car out as the week before was very wet but the actual walk was sunny thru out. The walking was flat with many native flowers and a few bugs along the way. The Murray river had ideal camp sites but watch out for those ancient red gums shedding boughs.

Sock Fairy

I have heard of the Tooth fairy. I also have a bin fairy that moves my bins close to the gate before I actually get outside to bring them in. However I received something from the Sock Fairy via the mail today.  This Fairy lives in Dallas Texas so these socks have been well traveled already.

On being abducted by clowns

I opened one of the games that came yesterday.  It is not a board game but rather a game of objects. I think it is really designed for comedians.  Such as the scenario I was dealt above.  You have a few seconds to scan all the chits that are laid out. I took money, a digital watch and a donut.  These three objects are meant to help you survive. So my reasoning was that the clowns might take the money to let me go. If not the digital watch can track me via the GPS and while I'm waiting I can eat the donut. Simples!  The judge gives you a score and you move on to the next survival round.

The judge can use the whistle to end the object search. I think I might lose the whistle.

Asher gets Dolled Up

These birthdays seem to go on and on lately. Half the issue is trying to get co-ordinated. Asher was asleep during the initial unveiling of the top secret project. But now that the Doll is out of the bag I can place a photo here. As well there was a big group at the Pacoe Pub where we made ourselves to home, with presents, cake and wrapping paper. I scored a couple of games, one featuring GOT so these will get a good go over summer.

A true antique at 113 yar old including Grandma's 6 months of painstaking restoration

the high chair end

Paper Dive

I have reached the bottom of the most recent stamp allotment. There is more in there than stamps. Such as a money order for $100 from a New York bank. Two Stamp booklets on consignment from England both untouched. Drawings from someone's sister who thought maybe it was a good idea to put her designs in the same box.  The contents of the box (7000 stamps) have been washed and are currently being pressed to get the kinks out. Now comes the long part determining what has interest and value.  In any event the price has worked out to be under 1c per stamp so the money has been well spent.

Sent around the world on trust. Pick what you want and return the rest with the money.
Maybe they bought the whole book maybe not.

On the back it states a "Michele design"

Seinfeld never cashed his cheques either

FyansFord

Took the car for its first service and brought the bike along to occupy the time. At first it was a 1hr job then a 2hr job and after 1hr of riding I got the call that it was ready. I headed along the Barwon up stream. The first familiarity came with the World Championship road race. We rode this section of the river to get to the Bridge at Queen's Park.  I kept going and came to the Fyansford confluence with the Moorabool River. This was where the bike ride ended and the canoe section started in those epic races we did from Ballarat to Barwon Heads.  I kept going to a weir near the old Fyansford paper Mill. They call this Buckley Falls. The old Mill buildings seems to be an art commune these days.

Falls

Old Mill