parkers inlet

May 24, 2013 2 Comments

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a mini otway adventure

It would be clear to all regular visitors that I have fallen so far behind in my blogging that I am currently writing my gardening posts to coincide with the seasons in the Northern hemisphere, so just for a breath of fresh air I’m actually posting photos I took last weekend rather than 6 months ago.

A great ocean walk was a welcome escape from the city.

Despite a few autumn rain showers the air didn’t have that inland chill. Although our housemate, Jess, may not have agreed. Shod in inappropriate footwear, she was lead first into a bog, masquerading as a delightful field of bobbing rushes and then through a tidal creek. She was not as lucky as me to get a piggyback across. Slow to mastered the art of outrage tempered with well timed puppy dog eyes, she made it across in time for a gentle outpouring of wintry rain. A chance for Dylan, ever the adventurer, to try out his new lightweight camping umbrella (apparently all the cool hikers have one).

In the end we were driven to shelter for a sojourn of hot tea on a camping stove and a chance for Jess to dry her hems. Did I mention that she is suffering from bursitis in her foot? The walking pole became her new best friend, and her spirits seemed to soar with ever tribulation that befell her. I think that the white chocolate berry macadamia delight she had smuggled in Dylan’s backpack as well as the stunning location didn’t hurt either.

Some rock scrambling ensued between high tide wave sets that led us to towering dunes. Slower to scramble up the crumbling mounds Jess and I found ourselves alone at the top, Dylan had vanished. We screamed and whislted into the wind as dusk settled around us. Resigned to our fate of night in the scrub he reappeared from the besach below us having completed the loop and returned to congratulate himself. Luckily he brought a rainbow with him or he would have been in real big trouble.

Travel

THE MYSTERY OF THE SMOKING COMPUTER

August 17, 2012 No Comments

This King Parrot may look sweet, but he harbours a dirty, thieving secret, and it’s not his addiction to eating cashew nuts by the claw full.

Before I tell you about the pilfering little fiendies pictured above, let me share a far more bizarre mystery with you. A story, that I hope will excuse my disappearance from the blogosphere the past few months.

Ha! It’s not as dramatic or interesting as I’ve made out, but you can’t blame a girl from creating some suspense right?

Early on a rainy morning in May I found myself in the middle of a real life riddle that bore a funny, although FAR less morbid semblance to that old brain teaser about the man hanging from the ceiling with only a puddle of water beneath him. But in my story the only thing that died had a disc drive…

I was working at home and sleep dazzled, I slumped upstairs. Pushing passed the washing hanging on the line, light was just creeping onto the desk so I didn’t bother with the lamp. Before running downstairs to answer the kettles call I powered on the PC and it purred to life.

Downstairs, tea in hand, I began smelling a nasty chemical burning smell, I ran upward and was hit in the face with smoke, I sprang to pull the plug.

Prying open the computer, I winced, the graphics card was no more – melted and charred beyond recognition. What the hell caused that? The floor under the carcass was wet!

Could the roof have leaked in the rain? It seemed unlikely at the apex of the roof, and there was no water on the desk beside it. Could someone have done a dodgy and spilt a glass of water off the desk through the vent in the top? No glass…did someone conceal the evidence? Suspect profiles began swirling in my head, but, the best I could do was wait until Computer Doctor Dylan returned home to check the crime scene.

We cleared the desk of books, pens, lamp and papers so we could lift the computer off the floor for a closer look. Then we noticed a small wet patch near the corner desk, a perfectly round patch, and floating in it were weird crystals! But still it didn’t twig. Dylan to my horror tasted it…

the water was salty!

We looked inside the computer and saw little salty drops splashed throughout. Well it definitely wasn’t rain water…what could it be? It wasn’t until we were explaining it to our house mate that the mystery was solved. Suddenly her face fell.

“Did you say the water was salty? Umm…is my salt lamp still up there?” Salt lamp? Then we realised that the crystal shaped lamp upstairs was not plastic, it was a giant lump of salt! Sheepishly she noted that it seemed to strangely attract water (just what you want in an electrical device!).

The wet washing, crystals, circular patch on the desk above the computer, it all came together. The water must have dripped over the desk edge into the computer vent. Damn, goodbye insurance money. But if a computer is going to go out, it might as well be out in style like death by salt lamp. Hopefully my photos are still intact somewhere in that salty old motherboard.

Time will tell.

Oh and the parrot mystery? That was a bit more straight forward. Dylan’s mum’s tomatoes had been systematically decimated by some unknown beastie. Well this cheeky little guy was caught red feathered hoeing into the last of the winter tomatoes! He could only be distracted from his gastronomical adventures by cashew nuts…and blundstone boots?!?

King parrot eating tomatoes at Grey River

Travel

AN OBSESSION IS AWAKENED

April 4, 2012 1 Comment

Descending down to Kennett River, the Otways

As I sat daydreaming on a fallen log, dangling legs over rushing water, hours passed and the warm light faded and cooled. Little did I know that somewhere upstream those same rippling waters were casting a spell on my boyfriend and from that day onwards he would be a fly fisherman.

Recipes, Travel

THREE MIDDLE AGED MEN IN A PINK DINGHY

April 1, 2012 No Comments

Beach party, New Year's Eve, Wongarra Beach

We didn’t expect to ring in the New Year wondering whether three men in a pink dinghy were going to drown in a spontaneous burst of drunken cray-fishing. Luckily they didn’t, their children’s toy boat good humoured enough to keep afloat it heavy load, a held breath away from being inundated by each tiny wave.

Picnics on the beach next to strangers in fading light soon lead to lively conversations with a beer in the hand. Full bellied contentment, squint eyed games of beach cricket and frisbee lit by fireworks with Gracie dogs collar held tight.