He's Nearly Four Now

Posted at 20:54, Tue 7 April 2009 in Benign entries happy happy joy joy

The continuing adventures of Gryphonn and Phoenix.In this episode...

...and here's Jack. Jack turns 4 on the 8th of July. I only know that because it is someone's birthday as well.

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A Small Diversion

Posted at 20:36, Tue 7 April 2009 in Benign entries happy happy joy joy

In some small effort to divert my thoughts away from our current dilemna, I thought I'd play with a recent photo I've taken. I rarely get behind the lens nowadays for a plethora of reasons (excuses?). However, on the rare occasion that I do, I try to do something slightly different.

This is one:


This is Midnight Special

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BIG Shooting Stars

Posted at 12:16, Fri 6 March 2009 in Benign entries happy happy joy joy

The continuing adventures of Gryphonn and Phoenix.In this episode...

I forgot to mention back on the post where we satyed out at The Caves, but an amazing thing happened...

In the middle of the night, Phoenix and I were taking photos of night bugs and The Southern Cross (Crux for you astronomy geeks). Anyway, I was walking back from Jimmy to P, looking at the ground and suddenly the ground lit up. I thought P had taken a photo of me, but the ground stayed lit. I looked at her and she was looking at her photos. So I looked up (this was about two seconds after the flash I guess). There, streaking above me was the brightest 'shooting star' that I have ever seen. It had a trail behind it that covered a third of the sky and then proceeded to split into three pieces. It completely blew me away! The whole event probably lasted for about five seconds or so.

I did some research afterwards and discovered that events like this are not commonly seen, and that it is possible that some fragments may have made earth fall. It's certainly made me more aware of the night sky. I now spend an hour or so after sunset and sometimes longer, watching satellite flares (best just after sunset looking east so that the sun reflects off their surfaces better), and watching for meteors. We have been lucky enough to see quite a few on nights with little or no moonlight. However, I'd say a lot of them are human space junk entering the atmosphere.

Anyway, just touching base and saying hi.

Lil' Sis. I am sending some forms etc re the plates around the 17th.

Nori. Email me please.

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A short trip to Brisbane

Posted at 10:07, Mon 2 March 2009 in Benign entries happy happy joy joy

The continuing adventures of Gryphonn and Phoenix.In this episode...

Considering the fact that we don't know when or where we will will be at times, it's a little hard to make plans to go anywhere. Last week we did a flying visit to Brisbane to visit V on her 21st Birthday. We just got home on the money and fuel we had. We've had to dispose of a few of our worldly possessions in order to cover fuel etc. We were only 15km from a dear aunty, but couldn't divert due to the tight budget that we were on. We've also decided to send, rather than deliver some of my Dad and Mum's stuff to my sister in Blackwater, I'm going to have to post them for now. The main reason being that we may not be staying where we are for too much longer and I don't want to risk these precious items getting rain damaged (the storage area leaks). It will also be hard for us to cart them all over the country when we do get moving.

We're going to attach the roof rack to the top of the trailer that our rellies donated to us (once we get it roadworthy and registered). That will give us room to put our house (did I tell you that we live in Jimmy?) and bits and pieces in and leave room for the two dogs in the back. It was a bit squeezy for them when we travelled last.

Anyway, this is just a short entry as we are in town at the moment with good 'net access. When we head North again, we will visit family (we'll do that next time we hit Brisbane too). However, I won't/can't promise when that will be. Life for us is not planned. It will go the way the flow tells us to go. We spent too much time trying to 'do the right thing' by others while delaying what we wanted to do over the past five years (or 20 years depending on how you look at it). That's not happening anymore. If I'd done what I wanted to do 5 years ago, I'd be living in a hut on a miners lease somewhere near Portland Roads now, just fishing and growing a few vegies to keep myself in food.

There is not much to be said for having a lot of nice material things around you. They're just 'things'. When you die, they have even less importance and become commodities. Our car is our home. What we need can be carried in it and a trailer. Anything else is dead-weight.

How will we earn our money? We'll follow the fruit trails, take some photos, get a bit of work here and there. If we get stuck, well, we'll work something out.

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In which we try to catch up

Posted at 13:06, Tue 17 February 2009 in Benign entries happy happy joy joy

The continuing adventures of Gryphonn and Phoenix.In this episode...

22-01-09

Happy Birthday to You
Happy birthday to You
Happy Birthday Dear Grommet
Happy birthday to You!

My youngest, as opposed to *our* youngest when we talk in the context of us as a seven children family, turned 12 today.

I bought the Duke Nukem Forever Official Automatic Plasma/Death Ray Shotgun on EBay.
I have completed the Secret Ninja Father IRC based training camp.

I am a Geek father to be Ph33r3D!

*****

This morning at about 6:30, it was overcast. By 8, the rain started in scuds, then increased with some heavy falls. Dammit! We needed to load the trailer...

...so we hung around Cammoo for a few more hours in the vain hope that the sun might break through. It just didn't want to play the game though, so we headed off into town...and it was pissing down. We discovered that while the tyres on Jimmy the Snake might be great in sand, mud or on dry tarmac, they're pretty hopeless on a slippery highway that's awash from a torrential downpour.
We poked along nice and steady and managed to arrive safely at my ex'es place where our gear was stored.

It was still raining, so I backed the trailer under the house to get out of the rain and get closer to our 'stuff'. We packed most of our essentials into the trailer, leaving all our now impractical electrical items behind. Two TV'S, a video recorder, two DVD players (one an unopened Christmas present), plus an assortment of other odds and ends. Fortunately we'd bought a cheap blue tarp from a 'Two Dollar' shop and my daughter loaned us another, stronger silver one. We laid the stronger one in the bottom of the trailer, allowing some overlap around the lip of the trailer walls. We loaded all our boxes and plastic boxes containing most of the last of our worldly possessions. It was a far cry from three years ago, when we only just squeezed our 'stuff' into a six metre by three metre by three metre storage shed. Once loaded, we draped the cheap blue tarp over the top of the load and tucked it down between the trailer and the silver 'liner' tarp.
Then I employed my Truck Drivin' Man skills and tied it all down. Finally, we used two of those spaghetti type elastic cargo nets to make sure it was all hunky dory. We expected it to get wet though. The rain was still coming down steadily and a quick check on the BOM site showed rain patches on both the inland and coastal routes.
By about five, we were ready to leave and decided to run down the coast. Partly because it appeared drier on the radar, and partly because the road was better for the now loaded trailer. In truth, it would have been lucky to have 200 kios on board, but better safe than sorry with only one spare. Some of the inland run is still one lane tar with regular raod trains on the route.
We headed out with the rain just starting to ease.

When we got to Mt larcom the fuel was only a dollar fifteen a litre. Phoenix suggested we stop, but I thought fuel might be cheaper at the crossroads, or even Apple Tree Creek. I should have listened to her. Everywhere else was at least 1.189 up to 1.249. I ended up topping up $15 at the Calliope Crossroads Choice servo ($1.19L), $15 at Shell Mirriam Vale (1.18), then topped up $15 again at the Gin Gin servo. I think I wasted more fuel pulling up and driving out than I did trying to get cheaper fuel! We ended up paying about 1.18 at Apple Tree Creek when we threw the last $60 fuel money in.

Before Gin Gin, we pulled up at a small rest stop named ***NAME HERE***. It has a toilet block, plus a number of covered picnic seats and the obligatory 'Driver Reviver' canteen (closed).
 For those who don't know.  'Driver Reviver' is a scheme developed by community groups such as Rotary, in conjunction with State police to help fight fatigue related car accidents throughout Australia. Fatigue is a major cause of fatalities in Australia, due to the long distances of often times bland country that our highways cross.  
 In many public rest stops, or parks in small towns, you'll see anything from a demountable cabin to a purpose builyt concrete building with a covered seating area. These stops, at certain times of the year, particularly in peak holiday seasons offer FREE Coffee, Tea and biscuits to travellers stopping for a rest break. The general recommendation is to stop for a break every couple of hours. As a result, Driver Reviver stops have sprung up on most major tourist routes, and many back roads throughout Queensland and other Australian States. These stops are all run by volunteers, with the coffee and tea donated by companies such as Nescafe and Bushells. Donations are accepted to assist in improvements to the facilities and for charity.  I have some strong views in relation to fatigue, and I think that the 'Driver Reviver' scheme is a brilliant idea and should be used by all holiday making drivers.

Far too many people spend an average of 45 minutes a day or less behind the wheel of their cars when living in the city. Then, come holiday time, they expect to be able to drive 600km plus in one hit and wonder why they fall off the bloody road, or worse, drift into the path of oncoming traffic. 'Micro-sleeps' are very short durations where a fatigued driver essentially passes out behind the wheel of their car. They may last less than a second. But that is enough time to drift one way or the other and the reaction of drivers who awake from a micro-sleep can be unpredictable.

When I was driving 'specials' for a transport company in Rockhampton some years ago, I would regularly drive for up to 22 hours straight, with maybe an hours rest somewhere in that time. However, if I felt in the slightest way 'doughy' or felt any sign of fatigue, I'd pull over and 'power nap' behind the wheel for 15 minutes or so. I *never* took any drug to keep myself awake (if you discount Coke ... the liquid kind and copious amounts of coffee at any civilised stop). My body clock was attuned to long periods of no sleep. To the point where I could get by happily on four hours sleep a day. I was also studying an IT degree externally through CQU and often spent 18 plus hours in front of a computer when not driving a CAT gearbox from Blackwater to Woollongong, or a water pump from Rockhampton to Century Zinc mine in the Gulf country. I know fatigue and have witnessed its end results. 

Anyway, we had a full tank when we left Apple tree creek, just north of Childers. Most will know the name for the infamous backpacker hostel fire tragedy. I have always known Childers for the road that comes winding in from the north...100k's, 80k's, 60k's, 50k's, 40k's. Then it's a slow crawl through town, especially at peak fruit picking season. There are people and cars EVERYWHERE. Tonight, we were turning right at the Shell servo on the north side of town to head to Biggenden, then through to Goomeri, Murgon, Wondai and down the Chinchilla road to 'home'.
As we headed West, lightning flashed on the horizon. The trip had been relatively dry until now...

23-01-09

Well, we managed to miss most of the rain. Along the way toward home we stopped and helped a cobber who'd flattened a tyre in his ute and was trying rather unsuccessfully to get it jacked up in the soft ground in the dark. Probably because he had at least a tonne of scrap on the back (he was a scrap metal dealer.."been doing this since I was 12 years old"). Each time he tried to jack the car up, it'd slip on him. I grabbed a block of wood and supported the vehicle as best as possible and we changed the wheel as quickly as we could, then said a goodbye and headed off again. I reckon if we hadn't have stopped, someone else would have found him pinned under the car come daylight.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and we got back to 'home' in the early hours of the morning.

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