Category: Australia

Australia · summer

Eight Powerless Hours

Joanne6 Comments


Picture this…sitting quietly, alone, at the computer. Sweltering hot Saturday afternoon, about 4:30 p.m. Getting in earlier with your blog post than you have all week.

WHAM!!! The power cuts out, followed immediately by a series of intermittent crackling sounds, out on the street.

Computer’s down and work’s not saved.

Walking up the driveway to the road, I noticed, as I have constantly over the last few days, that it is cooler outdoors than inside at the moment.

There wasn’t a single soul in site. And the whole area seemed eerily silent.

About ten minutes later a friend of my daughters, a volunteer fireman, contacted her to let us know that a power pole had fallen over, just up the road and around the corner from our house.

The crackling sounds I had heard must have been the power arcing after the pole fell.

Emma and I took ourselves outside, braving the heat and the steep walk up the hill, to investigate the situation. Never without her iphone, the above photo is compliments of Emma.

As you can see, the pole covered the entry to a street, which just happens to be the only access to our own secluded pocket of houses in the village.

The power pole had been threatening to fall for some time, slanting over gradually further each day, although not regarded as a priority repair job by the local electricity company.

Umm…not a priority, we asked? A man could fit his fist into the centre of the pole, which had been eaten away by termites!

Within feet of this power pole children play, cars are parked, dogs are walked. The hill is a favourite exercise walking routine for a number of locals. The local public school is located just across the road!

Miracles do happen ~ no one was hurt.

At around 5:30 p.m. we were told to expect the power to be cut for at least two to three hours.

By nightfall, with bar-be-que cranked up and a salad prepared by candle light, we were told perhaps it would be another couple of hours.

The night air seemed to become hotter and more dense. Perhaps it was my imagination working overtime, knowing that the electric fans were still! When my family chimed in with complaints, I felt assured that it wasn’t just me complaining. The night felt so hot that I imagined a knife could have cut through the air!

Further investigation at around 10:30 p.m. showed that at least they were getting somewhere. A new pole was in place and the power lines were being reconnected.

Maybe there would be hope for today’s blog post after all, I thought. They just have to connect us back up before midnight….

After dosing off for about an hour on my favourite comfy lounge chair, I took myself off to bed at around 12:30 a.m. this morning.

Wouldn’t you know it, maybe two minutes after my head hit the pillow the power came back on!

Oh well, I couldn’t perform a miracle without electricity and add a post yesterday, although it has supplied me with an unexpected story to share today! 🙂

Australia

Foam Fairies

Joanne2 Comments

Once where the wave breaks,

Where I love to play,

The little white Foam Fairies

Came dancing in the spray,

Little wild Foam Fairies

Leaping in the air;

Sea-green their eyes were,

Kelpy-brown their hair.

~ Annie R. Renoul.

Australia · floods · friends

The Courage of My Friend

Joanne7 Comments

“Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.” ~ Mary Anne Radmacher

As we bid farewell to the month of January I am reminded that the theme at NaBloPoMo all of this month has been “Friends”, therefore I believe it is only fitting that my final post for the month should include an amazing article, written by one of my online friends, Káren Wallace, at the Calm Space.

January this year was always destined to be a huge month in Káren’s life, with family birthday celebrations, Káren and her husband’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and the looming excitement of the family moving into their newly built home.

What they hadn’t planned on was the turmoil their lives would be thrown into, along with hundreds of other families, during the January floods in Queensland, Australia.

Once Káren’s electricity, telephone and internet connections were restored, she wasted no time at all in sharing her “adventure” with her readers.

I already knew Káren to be a true woman of substance, of integrity, strength, wisdom and grace. But it was in her article published late last week on “Courage” that Káren revealed another side to her personality.

Here we find the vulnerable and very real lady, who has endured, along with her family, the heartache and pain brought about by the harsh realities of the Australian climate.

In speaking of courage, Káren tells us that she is “daring to be real and vulnerable and show my real self to the world.”

And that, she does.

But perhaps Káren shows us a very large smattering of psychic intuition in writing this article also. You would think, for all the world, that she had written the article “The Courage to be Me, The Courage to be Real” after picking herself up and brushing herself off after the recent floods.

In actual fact, Káren wrote the article last October, during the month of the theme “courage” at the Calm Space. And for some reason, she didn’t publish it back then.

The timing wasn’t right. It was too early for these words to be revealed to the world. This article needed to be published now, in the aftermath of the floods.

I do hope you will read and enjoy “The Courage to be Me, The Courage to be Real” and join me in sending my friend Káren, along with all the other Queenslanders who suffered in some way during the January floods, calm thoughts of strength and love.

“May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!”

~ Irish Blessing

Photo credit.

Australia · birthdays · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Youthful History

Joanne4 Comments
Captain James Cook

With Australia being such a young country and myself such an avid fan of any subject which remotely comes under the heading of “history”, it can be rather disappointing at times that my home country is rather lacking in the history department.

It is comforting to know that we do have a limited written history, however young, much of which has been carried out on my very own doorstep.

As I cannot relate to you the history of Australia’s Medieval Days, (they didn’t exist!) the seventeen hundred’s will have to suffice.

Let me take you back in time to the month of May, in 1770.

Captain James Cook and the crew of his ship, the “Endeavour”, sailed north along the eastern coast of Australia.

After reaching the most easterly point of Australia’s landmass, which Cook named “Cape Byron”, the ship continued north to a point where they struck dangerous reefs, some three nautical miles off the coast.

The prominent mountain sighted by Cook, just a few miles inland from the sea, he named “Mount Warning” as it seemed to be a distinguishing landmark to warn sailors of the hazards in the ocean nearby.

Cook named the land along the coastline near these reefs “Point Danger”, which is said to be the site where the Captain Cook Memorial Lighthouse is situated, on the border of New South Wales and Queensland.


In his writings in the ships log, on May 16, 1770, Cook noted a small island just off the coast, which was later named “Cook Island”, in his honour.

In this photo, you can see the mouth of the Tweed River, right next to Duranbah Beach (D-bar to the locals).

In the distance is the small island sighted by Cook and named for him.

As you can see, this zoomed in photo of Cook Island is rather poor quality, although it does show the rocky and deserted land of the island.

Cook Island

It would be almost another eighteen years before Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in the colony of New South Wales, on January 26, 1788, with eleven ships containing convicts, the so called criminals who were expected to forge out a new life in this barren land.

Yesterday, as Australians celebrated the birthday of our country, we could only lay claim to being 223 years old!

We may be a baby country in comparison to most of the world, but I do believe our history is well worth preserving.

Australia

As Australian as…Vegemite!

Joanne3 Comments

Vegemite

January 26, 2011 ~ Australia Day in the Land Down Under.

Australia, I believe, is known for a wide variety of what you could call typically Australian icons.

Our Aussie icons would include such things as the beach, surf, golden sand, football, meat pies, kangaroos, koalas (not koala bears…koalas are not bears!), Holden cars, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman…and Vegemite!

Yes, the humble jar of Vegemite is a true Australian icon!

I’m not here today to explain the history of vegemite, tell you who owns the company that produces Vegemite or to describe the colours in the label on the jar. (They are predominantly yellow and red, by the way).

Today, I merely want to set the record straight.

Yes, I’ve watched in horror as a group of young American girls shrieked their repulsion to the world, on a YouTube video, over the taste of our beloved treasure.

No, let me correct myself….I started to watch and after getting the gist of the video, I stopped watching.

The world has been ill-informed!

Firstly, no, Vegemite does not taste like Marmite. Marmite has a taste of its own, just as Vegemite has its own distinct flavour. The similarities end after “strong”, “black” and “goopey”.

Vegemite was not designed to be plastered in a one inch thick layer onto a piece of bread or toast! I’d shriek in horror myself, if forced to eat it like that!

Let me explain. Firstly, take a piece of your favourite, freshly-baked-that-morning slice of bread. Any bread will do; white, wholemeal, multi-grain, sour dough, rye….take your pick. But fresh is always best.

You can toast your bread, or not. I prefer fresh, squishy bread. There’s nothing quite like it!

Place a thin layer of butter over your bread/toast. It’s all personal preference, but I do like that layer of butter first. Vegemite without the butter is just a tad dry, but that’s just my opinion.

Next, place a thin….I said thin….did everyone get that bit? Just a thin layer of Vegemite is all that you need! Don’t chuck on half the jar, then complain it’s too strong! Would you add a whole jar of hot chilli powder to you Chilli Con Carne dish? No, you wouldn’t; because chilli is strong. And so is Vegemite!

I know of some people who love to eat peanut butter by the spoonful, straight from the jar. The same with Nutella, very yummy, eaten alone, straight from the jar. Perhaps unhealthy, but definitely delicious. (Hmm…Do they sell Nutella overseas?)

Do not, I repeat, do not eat Vegemite by the spoonful, straight from the jar! It will leave you gasping for breath!

For all of my overseas friends, if you are ever given the opportunity to sample a taste of our wonderful, much loved, little Aussie treat, please grasp the opportunity with both hands!

But please, take my advice, use Vegemite sparingly!

Vegemite and cheese sandwiches are rather scrumptious also. The Vegemite people, in their infinite wisdom, decided to combine the two ingredients, coming up with a product called “Cheeseymite”, or some such thing as that.

It was a complete flop. I’m not even sure if you can buy it any longer, because I’m not looking, and neither are too many other people, from what I hear.

The above is all the opinion of “myself”, a life-long, die-hard Vegemite lover. I will concede that Vegemite may well be an acquired taste. And, if you are born Australian and raised on Vegemite, somehow it seems very un-Australian to say you don’t like the stuff!

The main point of my defensiveness of my life-long love is just to say this ~ If you ever have the opportunity to taste Vegemite, at least give it the honour of eating it the right way!

A jar of Vegemite, when consumed correctly, lasts a looonnnng time!

Happy Australia Day! 😀