14th Jan 2013
Finally a reprieve from the high
temperatures we have been experiencing lately. This morning it reached the low
30’s and then a front came through from the south bringing strong winds and
overcast skies but unfortunately no rain. However the temperature dropped to a
very pleasant 27C and this is forecast to be with us for a couple of days
before it creeps back up to at least 35C again. At least it’s not like some of
the inland areas where temps have almost reached 50C and that’s too damn hot for
anyone.
Our daughter Lisa has just returned from
two weeks holiday with friends in the rural town of Orange mid NSW country. Even
though Orange is up on a plateau and cold as hell in winter she experienced
days of 47C and extremely dry. Then again the whole country seems to be tinder
dry this year and with the extremely high temps and strong winds it is no
wonder a large portion of Australia is on fire. You have got to feel for the
rural fire fighters majority of whom are volunteers, they have been fighting
these fires for long days and it seems to be going on forever and in many cases
their own properties and livelihoods have been destroyed. So many properties
have been lost and a lot of livestock as well, it is amazing there hasn’t been
substantial loss of life.
I don’t think Nancy and I will be going too
far in the caravan until it all settles down.
The pair of us have just successfully
completed a two-day first aid course and this is how it came about. Prior to
Xmas Lisa accepted a job that entailed working with children again and this
necessitated having to refresh her first aid certificate (an annual requirement
when working with kids apparently). So she booked and paid to attend a two-day
course with St. John Ambulance. In the meantime she was pressured to take on a
senior position with another organisation that was dealing with adults and not
children directly and consequently wasn’t required to do the 1st aid
refresher. Instead of getting a refund she decided to book and pay for another
candidate and presented them to us at Xmas as one of our presents, a strange
present indeed but a bloody good idea. We had both been talking about what a
good idea it would be to do a first aid course before embarking on our big trip
but like a lot of things it wouldn’t have progressed past talking. So after a
daunting start and two long days we both passed all of our assessments and the
written final exam with flying colours. We found it quite interesting and were
amazed at how ideas and applications have completely changed over time. If
nothing else is achieved at least Nancy knows an easy method of rolling me onto
my side when I’m sleeping on my back and snoring (and of course she never does according
to her).
15th Jan 2013
The temperature today has been quite
pleasant, although still windy it hasn’t been blowing quite as hard as other
days but enough to reduce the humidity and with a reasonable amount of cloud
cover it felt quite pleasant and we almost had some rain. I watched it, a white
misty front sneaking up through the Bay so tantalising close that it started to
spit but nothing more. Even the Met Radar only shows scuds forming as moist air
passed over the southern part of North Stradbroke Island, so by the time it has
drifted up the Bay to our locality most of it has basically dissipated.
The house next door has sold after a very,
very long time on the market the owners moved out yesterday and said the new
owners were talking of moving in Wednesday. Apparently they are younger people
with a couple of young children (not ankle biter’s) so Lisa is pleased to know
she won’t have geriatrics for neighbours while we are away. (I guess we are in
that category).
16th Jan 2013
We had a sprinkle of rain last night after
several hours of trying there was finally enough to wet the windows so the dust
could stick and make them all a mess but not enough to make passing cars put
their windscreen wipers on.
I was awake early and heard Lisa leave the
house at 0430, she has re-commenced her running training and runs most mornings
early. On Wednesdays she normally meets up with a small group of keen runners
made up mainly of men ranging from 50 – 70 years of age and finds it quite a
challenge to keep up with them. This morning they ran 9kls over the hilly
streets of Manly and Wynnum.
I dozed until sometime after five and as
the air felt cooler and the wind had dropped I decided to go for a bike ride.
Being the first ride for 2013 I took it relatively easy but enough to work up a
reasonable sweat and also kept the distance down a bit to start with (16+ kls),
be interesting to see if the urge continues.
Looks as if it is going to be hot again
today, our reprieve didn’t last long I wouldn’t mind swapping with our friend
in London for a spell, they had snow a couple of days ago.
