Christmas In The Veggie Patch

The lettuce have decided to get in to the festive spirit and have dressed themselves up as Christmas trees.

The Sunday before last at around 4:30pm we had a thunderstorm with hail. Our veggie patch started to look like a winter wonderland. The hail was the size of golf balls. In four suburbs local to us they enjoyed hail up to cricket ball size. Needless to say there was a lot of damage to roofs and cars etc, about $150 millions worth. These suburbs were declared natural disaster areas by the state government. We were lucky this time.

As you say Suzy this is a rather solitary neck of the woods, good to know a bell rings your end with new posts. Will post some pics from time to time as odd and unusual things crop up. Trust all is well your end, we are all fine and looking forward to the break.

All the best from Bob xx

Somethings bugging us

We have recently had another visitor. Yues did not, straight away, twig as to what is was, when it moved she freaked out. Well, he/she took more than a passing interest in a wooden bench seat on our back verandah. All I can say without offending the sensibilities of you, dear reader, is that this critter spent a lot of time rooting around that bench. I have a feeling that before not too long we will be blessed with a few wooden stools.

Whatever happens after this liaison, I am sure that any offspring will be like a chip of the old block. After a few days this critter took off most probably to see another branch of the family.

I am sure it was an enjoyable stay, 3 days 2 nights, slept like a log.

I could be barking up the wrong tree, but do stick insects have an interest in family trees?

Any pithy comments regarding this post are most welcome.

STOP PRESS: This morning a baby stick insect found in laundry, it's got bark just like it's mums.

I am out of here, had a couple more home brew beers than is recommended, can send you barking mad, end up with a couple of wood screws loose.

Ta ta Bob

A friend flew in

Last week we had a little friend fly in to stay with us for acouple of days.

Kookaburras are our favourite bird, becoming a little rare in suburbia these days, they have a great laugh. Bit like the old clown at Blackpool, outside the Fun House, if anyone can remember that far back.Well here is Kookie (As Yues calls him) got clearance from Bankstown Tower and ready for an upwind departure to the west, hope we see him again soon.

Cute little beggar aint he, please all say "Orr".

For you Suzy, when Helen was little, I made her a pin hole camera from a tissue box. She called it her cameramma box and enjoyed looking at the world upside down. I tried to explain to her that is how things looked in Pommyland. Enjoy your photographic course, you are doing great already. My first efforts was with a Kodak Brownie, 110 film and time exposure when needed!

Till next time, Best Wishes to all.

Liquid sunshine for APEC holiday

Well it has been a cold wet and windy week for us. The photo was taken late saturday arvo from our back verandah. Sydney has been host to a number of world leaders for the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. Friday was declared a public holiday as the CBD was in complete lock down. In downtown Sydney around 5km of security fencing has been erected.

I started to watch George Dubbya give a live opening address on lunchtime TV but changed channels as I was so embarrassed to listen further. For starters it's APEC not a OPEC Forum and we are Ozzies and not Austrian. Doe's his mom still tie his shoe laces? I wonder.

The saturday before I heard an a rather loud aircraft flying over, unusual engine noise. Looking up there was a Tiger Moth chugging along making slow progress to Bankstown Airport. Then there was heard a loud jet noise. Looking over my shoulder I saw a couple of F/A-18 jet fighters cruising low and slow. Doing a bit of practice for an APEC showdown. Was an interesting contrast from ancient to modern.

Off now to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it's just down the street.

Come fly with me? Your joking!

First off our Best Wishes to Tina Paul and Kate on moving in to their new home. I am sure you will find it a lot more enjoyable than living in a flat. All that spare space you have will soon disappear, stuff expands to fill the void. Your garden looks lovely.

The picture shows Snoopy planning a flight around Sydney. If you can read the map we live in the middle of the triangle of Blacktown, Prospect Reservoir and Westmead Hospital. Look down from the top centre of the map to find these landmarks. All the small planes going in to Bankstown Airport from the north fly over our house to Prospect Reservoir. That is around 99.999% of the time, one nearly ended up in the water a while back. Helen is still trying to do a solo navigation flight but has been prevented by the bad weather we have had over the last couple of months.

Had some very warm weather a couple of weeks ago but now it's cold and wet again. Last weekend we received the normal August rainfall in 24 hours. Warragamba Dam is now starting to fill up again, but the drought is still not over as yet.

Bye for now and best wishes to all.

New House

I can't believe we've been here a month today! Although we seem to have settled in - at the same time there still seems to be a lot of tidying up to do. I hope we don't fill the space that we now have as everyone tells me we will. It's so nice having a home for lots of things that used to just clutter the place up.

Kate took to the new place like a duck to water - you'd think she'd always lived here. I think the garden sealed it for her - I've never had so much exercise running up and down the bloomin' thing. Talking of exercise I've lost count of the number of time I go up and down a day - used to be just once or twice (or sometimes never) a day.

I nearly killed Paul off the other morning by getting up 10 minutes early so I could put my washing out before I went to work - I never even used to hang it outside when we lived at the flat as it was too much hassle! I've also mowed the lawn three times in as many weeks, it used to have to get to the stage that we might loose kate if we didn't cut it before I'd get the mower out.

All in all a successful move so far - here's hoping we don't change our minds!

A trip into town Ch. 4

We are now back on Parramatta Road heading west having just left the city. This a typical street scene, you can just see the awnings which are over most of the shopping strips giving protection from sun and rain. On the right can also be seen the lacy wrought iron work to the balconies. I heard that a much of this wrought iron came over from the UK in the early days as ship's ballast.

We are now in Petersham just outside of the city. Every suburb has a pub named after it. Don't think anyone would be seen dead in this dive. But, upon reflection, this is quite possible.

Having travelled the full length of Parramatta Road, you've guessed it, we are now at Parramatta and have taken a right hand turn on to Church Street, known as Auto Alley. All the car yards are here new and used. The ultimate in bad taste with balloons, bunting, flags and banners everywhere. The photo does not do it justice. In fact the whole length of Parramatta Road is a spasmodic Auto Alley. It is like a very long bottom end of Deansgate as I new it, er, like over forty years ago.

Hope you enjoyed the views of Sydney, they give an idea of what our older suburbs look like.

Bye for now

A trip into town Ch.3

We have left Helen's office and are at the intersection with the QVB, Sydney Town Hall and the famous Woolies corner. For as long as anyone can remember if you are to meet someone in town you say "See you on Woolies corner."

Here is the city of Sydney Town Hall across the road from Woolies and the QVB.

The traffic lights are on red so we took this a photo op for HM Queen Victoria to have a her pic taken with Helen. Helen's horsey look is due to the precision German lens in my el-cheapo Aldi Kamera. Maybe not out of place in presence of royalty!

Now let us see how this post gets screwed up with the random layout genie behind this blogger programme. What you see is maybe or maybe not what you get, preview speaks with forked tongue. Cheers for now.

A trip into town Ch. 2

We are now going down George Street and here we see an old bank building that has been converted into a pub. Don't know what it's like, never been in the place but the three wise monkies look cute.

We have now arrived at Town Hall on the left and back a bit and looking at the entrance of the Queen Victoria Building. This is a magnificent building and was twenty years ago doomed for demolision. A property developer called Ipoh from Malaysia saved the day by refurbishing it. It is now a rather upmarket shopping centre.

Helen's office overlooks the QVB and here is a shot of the main dome over the atrium, as you can see it is all very ornate. How anyone in their right mind could have ever thought of destroying this building?

This is another shot taken from Helen's office looking at Sydney Tower in Australia Square. Last week there was a question asked by a listener to a local radio station. "Why is Circular Quay rectangular and Australia Square circular?" A very good question indeed!

Will post a few more pics of our return trip back into civilisation as we know it in the western suburbs.

Thanks to the Blog Fairy who fixes up my blogs when I make a blue. A blue is an error or mistake in Oz. Toorooloo.

A trip into town

Helen and myself took a trip into Sydney where she works. Her firm had a number of computers that they were getting rid of. Well ow't fer now't ere couldn't refuse the offer could he. So we ended up with a couple of HP Compaq Pentium 4's.

Helen drove in and I decided to take the camera along to show you some pics of Sydney Town. I made the pics 640x480 pixels so i'm not sure how they will appear.

This is a shot of the clock towers and onion domes on what was Grace Bros Department Store and date back to the early 1900's. The building is now a shopping centre, the facade being heritage protected. The domes were a bit of a novelty as were lit up at night by that new fangled electric stuff. Grace Bros was famous for their extensive window displays. Hence the Oz expression that a person has got more front than Grace Bros.

A typical Oz pub the Abercrombie Hotel on Broadway just before the CBD. These pubs are fully tiled inside and out, the cleaners job was easy, just hose the joint out. We have just travelled east down Parramatta Road which is the main drag into town. In the early days of settlement it was a bullock track and in bad weather it could take a couple of days to travel to Parramatta.

This is the gateway into town George Street is straight ahead and takes you down to the harbour and Pitt Street branches to the right. A lot of solicitors, accountants and financial types have their offices down this street. Many of them have hobby farms which they use to minimise income tax by describing themselves as primary producers. Yet another famous expression, "He's a bloody Pitt Street farmer."

Now we are at the start of George Street near Central Station as you can see this is the grotty end of town. For years Sydney City Council have been promising to fix it up but it never happens. Looks like the pics came out OK but I'm still having a devil of a job positioning photos and getting the text right without big gaps.

Will post some more pics of Sydney later, Bye for now.

Percy Flippin Thrower

Hi all, first post and all that, but I thought I would have a go, and wanted to share with you my recent green fingeredness.

Last year someone gave me a chilli plant and I got a chilli off it and then it died, but it started something and now I even have a little greenhouse. This years crop so far has consisted of quite a few (and might I add, very flavoursome) mushrooms, and a couple of courgettes. My chilli and pepper plants are coming along and I can't count my tomatoes as I keep losing where I am up to.

I have added some pictures (or intend to if I can work out how to do it!) Watch this space!

Di

It's very quiet here

Not sure, but I just thought I heard a sparrow fart.

The Drought is Broken - Almost

After all that rain the garden is going to need some attention. Weeds having been popping up everywhere. Our dam levels are at around 50% but we are going to keep the water restrictions for some time.

Enjoyed your pics of the Med Suzy, made a pleasant sunny change to the grey old days we have had fr the last couple of weeks. There is certainly ancient history every where you go in Europe. Nothing old here our history only goes back just over 200 years. The only ancient things are the aboriginal rock paintings found in caves and the like, they can go back thousands of years.

Here is the mango tree and a fine speciman it is how it survives this far south is surprising. We had a quite heavy morning frosts a couple of weeks back. There were heavy falls of snow up in the Blue Mountains which are about an hours drive west from us.

Looks like the MangoCam is not a goer, the camera crew have chickened out. They are scared stiff of the Brown's next door, who are getting a bit agitated about all the camera stuff, think they are being a perved on. The bloke who wrote that song "Mrs Brown you have a lovely daughter" seriously needed his eyes tested. It was one of the Beetles I think.

Was hoping to enlist Warren but the brown snake and blue tongued lizard experience knocked the stuffing out of him. He is convinced that there are tarantula spiders up the tree. A good guess, but they more than likely what are called huntsman spider, size of a saucer and perefectly harmless. They have a funny habit of hanging around over doorheads, scares the pup out of you it does.

Here are few more shots of the mango tree, it's laugh getting the fruit down. Yues gets this long stick and keeps giving them a prod till they fall. She then ducks for cover they splat on her head. I don't like them, reckon they taste like swampwater. Till next time, bye for now.

Sailing round the Med

Just a little note to say Ive updated my blog (link to the left) with photos and some text about our trip round the Med if anyone wants a nosey.

Here are the final pics from my trip to South America. I thought these two showed the very great contrast in the country. Venezuela is quite a dangerous place: Armed robbery is very common and there is a lot of strong political tension. It was very difficult to get money out of banks and the capital Caracas is a dirty, scary city.

In contrast the countryside is completely magical. This is a picture of the hightest waterfall in the world, Salto Angel. To get there I travelled in a Cessna for over an hour, then for 6 hours up river in a motorised canoe, then an hour's walk. It was very impressive. Another trip I took was along the Rio Caura into the jungle and some isolated villages.

The other photo is of Caracas, the view from my hotel room. Although it does have a bad reputation and it is quite tense in the towns, I did like Venezuela a lot.

Cartagena de Indias

Cartagena, in Colombia, was the first city I visited on the Northern Caribbean coast of the South American continent and, after 5 months in the Andes, it was so different to anywhere else I had been. It is very hot and the sea is incredibly blue. The people are different, being the most amazing mix of African, European, West and East Indian. The music and spanish language here are also very different. It is a much more laid back place, people spend most of the time outside and the siestas are much longer. It is a very pretty city, with old colonial buildings and tons of bougainvilia flowers along narrow cobbled streets. I stayed in a beautiful posada owned by a woman whose English father opened it years ago. There I had the most wonderful breakfasts, which lasted me all day, served on Portmeirion pottery!

I visited some beautiful places in Colombia and was only there for 10 days. It would definitely be worth another visit!

Christmas Past

It was around 9:30am, Yues had just put the turkey in the oven and reckoned it was time to have a wee dram. Next thing you know there was this great altercation taking place on the breakfast bar. Christmas can be the worst time for family get togethers. How these two came an item I do not know. They are poles apart!

Middle of the world

Well I had to do it, didn't I? The compulsory Equator picture with one foot in each hemisphere. This was in a small town in Ecuador, through which the Equator passes. There is an obelisk a couple of streets away which marks where they used to think the equator was, but found out later that it was in the wrong place. The Inca weren't far off either; there is a large rock on top of a hill nearby where they calculated the Equator to be. This blue and yellow line can be seen in a few places in Ecuador and also crosses highways, so you usually know which hemisphere you are in, and therefore also whether you are in winter or summer and which way round your water is going to go down the plughole!

Strawberry pig

Did anyone ever see a strawberry shaped like a pig???

Machu Pictures

Hello again. Is anyone reading the blog at all?

Here is a picture from the next country I visited in South America, Peru. Machu Picchu is very famous of course, and I took rather a lot of photos, as you can imagine, but this is one of the best and is slightly different to the classic view you often see of the site.

Machu Picchu was built as a kind of country palace retreat for one of the Inca, the rulers of a great empire that ruled much of the western part of South America up to the 16th century. It is built high on a mountain with near vertical sides and was constructed with stone from the top of the mountain itself. The road leading up to the site is very winding and steep.

When I got there it was almost impossible to see anything, as the cloud was very low and it was raining. After a couple of hours though it began to clear and I spent another couple of hours just sitting round and looking at the excellent view.

It is of course a very busy place, with over 1,000 tourists a day (about the same number of people as would have lived there). The city was abandoned just before the Spanish conquest (the Spanish never found it) and was overgrown until archaeologists cleared and began to restore it in 1911.

BananaCam - Worst fears confirmed

Just over a week ago we received extensive heavy rainfall across the state. This was great for the farmers, some had not seen significant rain for nearly ten years. That was the good news now for the bad news. The driving rain and gales force winds wiped out the poor little purple pod. The BananaCam crew have decided not to post images of the pod's last days as they are far too disturbing for our readers.

The crew heard on the grapevine that there was a well established plant behind the chook shed but they would have to be quick if they wanted to see this plant. It seems the whole area was scheduled for clear felling.

Careful planning is required before entering a Western Sydney suburban rain forest. This inhospitable habitat is infested with brown snakes and blue tongued lizards. The crew were in total agreement that Warren accompany them. In fact it was mission critical that he did so. You may recall that Warren was the fairy on our Christmas tree for a couple of years. Warren is quite a remarkable bear. He is a team player with a can-do attitude displaying highly developed problem solving skills and is well equipped for a multitasking environment. Warren was tasked on this mission to be the snake and lizard detector. This role is not unlike that undertaken by a canary down a Welsh coal mine.

With the Barbarians at the gates our intrepid BananaCam crew penetrated the dense rain forest to bring you the images shown here. Here we have a Luvelly Bunch of Bananas, sing along if you must.

Here we are down at the pod end, you can just see a few little ones developing. Shortly after the BananaCam mission was completed the whole area was raised to the ground, total devastation.

We have sent condolences to B1 and B2 at Bananas in Pyjamas who we understand are grief stricken and under sedation.

The hero of this mission was Warren. We wanted to show his picture here but he is a shy and retiring bear, not one to blow his own trumpet. Don,t think he can actually, you need lungs for starters. We shall try and talk him in to having an interview with us soon.

Well there we are the end of an era, the chooks have gone, bananas gone and even the grapevine. Now is there any interest in a MangoCam?

Pinch of salt

This is the world's largest salf flat and is situated in southern Bolivia. I took the picture when I was there last October. Reaching the salt flats from Chile, involved climbing over the Altiplano at almost 5,200 metres and into this desolate area of Bolivia. The salt field is what remains of an ancient lake. It stretches for almost 5,000 square miles and is estimated to contain over 10 billion tons of salt. Some of this salt is mined. I visited a village where the people dig the salt from the ground, grind it and bag it up. They get just one US dollar per kilo. They also build with the salt. There are a couple of buildings on the plain which are built entirely from blocks of salt. The surroundings are very surreal, as the mountains around the salt flat and the islands within it appear to float on the horizon. You can drive for miles across before you can see the island you are heading for. People who drive across really have to know the flats, as people often get lost and stranded out here. In the picture, you can see two little black dots. These were two Germans who were motorbiking through South America.

Cambelltown Steam & Machinery Museum

Last Sunday Yues insisted that we take a trip out to the CSMM which was holding a Field Day. It's located about an hours drive southwest of Sydney. Directions for getting there from our place: Go to Pendle Hill and take the Cumberland Highway passing through Guildford, Fairfield, Smithfield to Liverpool and then the Hume Highway to Campbelltown. Try that route on your maps!!!

I reckon Yues made me take her out to this place so she could meet up with her old flame Fred Flinstone. He his carved out an old gum tree, seems well preserved, no sign of white ants, bit like myself.

It was a great autumn day, this can be the best time of the year for us. Cool to cold nights and warm sunny days. The only problem was taking photos, due to the sun being so low this time of year causing deep dark shadows.

Much of the machinery is quite ancient and a lot was imported from the UK. Manchester is well represented, saw a huge diesel engine made by Crossley's in Openshaw. I used to see the engines being assembled at their factory when on my way to Openshaw Technical College. Did six years of days and nights at that place with no early release for good behaviour. Where did it get me? Transportation to Botany Bay for the rest of me natural.

Here is a shot of the old traction engine at the coal bunker. To me it gives a good impression of what the bush looks like when partially cleared for farmimg. Many of guys driving the machines wore period costume, these blokes had bowler hats and west cot's.

Not good news from the BananaCam crew they are holding a wake, news is a little sketchy at the moment but there is rumour of massive deforestation having taken place in the area. Will keep you informed as news comes to hand.

Mountains of granite

This picture was taken in the Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile, about 1,500 miles from the capital, Santiago. It is a beautiful area, with glaciers, massive granite towers and beautiful lakes. This is the central group of mountains, called the Cordillera del Paine and the picture was taken from the campsite where I stayed in the park. When I got to the park the weather was bad and all the peaks were covered. The following two days, however, were beautiful and clear and I was lucky to be able to see all the peaks. The main peaks you can see in this range are called the Cuernos (Horns) and behind them are the famous Torres (Towers).

I did a couple of lovely walks in this area, which enabled me to get closer to the mountain peaks and I got some fantastic views. Years ago I had a calendar full of photos of these mountains and never realised they were actually so accessible.

BananaCam Update 4 May 2007

Well it has been a week of fast paced action at BananaCam, the crew are looking forward to a hard earned rest over the weekend. Earlier in the week we had a cool change and there was some concern for the little ones.

Here is a look at the plant, the quads are just below the bunch of bananas, think the term is a hand. Well, if I was in that big bunch I would be a bit worried, Helen's boyfriend is a vegetarian!

Here are the quads they seem to be getting along fine, putting on weight nicely.

As you can see there has been heaps going on down at the pod end, you might just say it has been going bananas.

Walkden Gardens

We have seen lots of laburnum arches, and very beautiful they are. So we decided to look for a wisteria arch. I put it in a search and the first entry came up as Walkden Gardens in Sale!

I wondered why we had not heard of the place until I looked at the history of the garden and found that the area was not given to the local council until 1983 - almost 25 years after I had left the grammar schhol next door. The photo does not really do the arch the justice it deserves; all you locals should go to see it quickly before the flowers fade. Most of the work seems to be done by volunteers and lots of events are held there during the year. There are several small gardens including a new Japanese garden. There is also a dovecote that was rescued when the work was being done on the M60. It was taken to pieces bit by bit and relocated.

While we were in the area, we went along to Fairywell Road to see if the house had changed much, and what a surprise. We went down the back first and saw a building almost as wide as the garden. At first we thought it may be a new garage, but it wasn't [and because there were workers there, we could not investigate further]

When we went to the front, there was another surprise. The garden has gone! In its place there is grave and flags, with a car parked on it. It would be good to see what has gone on inside too, but no chance of that.

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather. We are off to Scotland next week, so hope it holds.

Queen Mary 2 Sydney Harbour

This shot shows the QM2 going around Fort Denison before berthing at the navy's Garden Island dockyard. The Opera House is behind her but can't be seen due to her size. About now it was getting a bit like the fairground dodgems with all the small boats milling around and this huge ship trying to do a U-turn.

This is a nice shot of the city skyline on the right is Fort Denison which dates back to the early days of settlement. Originally it was an outcrop of rocks which was levelled off to build a prison. The locals called it Pinchgut on account of the meagre food rations. Later on a cannon tower was constructed. It is a Martello Tower, it seems the cannons were installed and then the tower was built, it's the only way to do it. It came as a surprise for me to learn that Fort Denison and the gun emplacements along the harbour were designed to fend off a possible Russian invasion.

Here is the fire tug that escorted the QM2 in to the harbour. This shot shows her heading back home for the crew to have breakfast, was a bit of a early start that day. Not sure if you can read the tugs name? She is the "Ted Noffs" named after the late pastor of the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross.

Ted was a great guy, did much work in for those who had dropped out of society, this did not go down too well with the establishment of the time. Ted married Yues and myself back in '73 and also held the naming ceremony for our Helen. This is the last of Sydney Harbour from me, by now it must seem more familiar to you than Morecambe Bay!!!