Summer.

The first weekend of Summer.

You know when its summer time in Australia when .........



... The Jacarandas are past their prime.

... Jim Maxwell and Kerry O'Keefe are the sound of summer on radio, commentating on the cricket.

... We also start to hear the distinctive sound of 'Elvis'.

Elvis is the nickname of an Erickson S-64 Air-Crane Helitanker (N179AC) which has gained fame in Australia as a valuable tool in bushfire control. The helicopter, which can hold 9,500 litres of water or foam mix, has been leased from the USA for each fire season since 2001-2002.



There is a crew of five and that snorkel can draw up its full load in less than a minute.



He spent most of last week running trials and getting to know where the current water sources are for reloading, dams, creeks and even local swimming pools. Here he is checking out the river.

I hope he doesn't get used much!!

Summer Time.

It must be getting close to the start of summer and Christmas when the Jacarandas are in bloom.

We were beginning to worry as they are late to flower this year.


Wonderful blue flowers.



The slightest breeze and we also have a blue carpet in the garden.









Another sign of approaching summer in the garden is my all time favourite, with their wonderful perfume, are the Gardenias.

Bits and Pieces

Distrust continued..... Its very hard to take a photo of this area that is being developed as I cant get higher than this. Its all going well, according to the developers, who have no idea how it will impact on North Richmond, and following resent meetings, they obviously don't care.



The township of North Richmond is already suffering from overload. All the services are stretched to their limit, the main area of concern is traffic. The town itself has 1830 homes all dependent on their cars. Add to this transport to and from the outlying areas, service deliveries to retail outlets in the township, through traffic heading over the mountains and we have a major problem with a two lane river bridge. On top of all these problems, council and developers have decided that we need another 2000 homes thus more than doubling the residential capacity of the town and adding further to its problems. Most of the people involved in this debacle don't even live in the area and have no first hand experience of the problems, or what can happen if we ever have a major flood again. Its been about 15 years since the bridge was closed due to flooding and people have a short memory to the chaos that occurs when the second route through the mountains is closed for a few days. Admittedly its been a few years since the last flood but rest assured it will happen again and then watch the fur fly!




A few photos of the garden which is doing well following some rain.



Walking Lillies.


Grevillia 'Moonlight'



Grevillia 'Little John'



Grevillia 'Peaches and cream'






This Bougainvillea has done really well this year after being hit hard by the frost.

Costco Sydney

While traveling in UK and USA, we have come across a few Costco stores which were impressive. Our Seattle based part of the family have always been big supporters and employees of Costco. When we heard that Costco was finally coming 'down under', we were ready for big things.

They opened first, with a big fanfare and much publicity, in Melbourne. When the company arrived in Sydney we joined up on line but it was a few months after the opening that we went to the store located in one of Sydney's outer suburbs, Auburn. To cut a long story short, we were disappointed. There is no on-line information as to what products are available or details of any specials. This store seemed to focus mainly on food with very few clothing items. Also tools and cameras were in short supply.

Considering that our trip there is about 1.5 hours each way, we felt that we were better off buying local to home. We get most of our fresh vegetables from the local farm shop and everything else from local stores that are very competitive.

I'm sure we will go again but not for quite a while.

One good thing did come to light and that was the alcohol department. Prices generally were marginally cheaper but the big bonus was that I could buy my favourite wine in 1.5 litre bottles for only a couple of dollars more than a local 750mls bottle.





The down side though is that they are corked, not screw caps, which makes it difficult to reseal.

We have heard that the Canberra store, which opened at the same time as the Sydney branch, is very good.

A record

This really must be some sort of record, three blogs in one evening. I should try for the Guinness Book of Records.

It might have something to do with a programme on TV that Di wants to watch and I don't.

Alex is showing a very keen interest in photography and for a six year old does very well. He had to make a speech at school on what he wanted to be when he grows up and he said that he wanted to be a photographer like his Mom.



Early one morning outside our backdoor, on one of his regular weekend stop overs, still in his very colourful pyjamas and dressing gown.



Taking pics of my favourite flowers. Now what were they called?



He is using my camera while I try out one of his mothers cameras.



The look of total concentration!

Spring is sprung.

Spring is well and truly sprung. We seem to have reverted to winter with very cold days and lots of rain. We don't mind the rain as the land really needs it but I am very quickly getting through my store of fire logs that I was hoping would see us ready for next winter. Might have to get the chainsaw out of storage.









The Wisteria has been great this year, until the rain and high winds destroyed most of the flowers. I don't know what our fruit crop will be like next year as the same high winds and rain also destroyed most of the fruit blossom.



These are one of my favourites. I really should find out and remember what they are called. They are one of the very early flowers in the garden and the bees love them.

Heavy rain also highlighted the fact that the high winds had deposited loads of leaves in the rain gutters. All this debris was washed into the drains and all the storm water drains were backing up. I REALLY do like digging holes to access drains and poking rods down them!!

Distrust.

They say you should never trust a second hand car dealer, a real estate agent or a politician. I suppose this entry comes under the heading of local politicians.

We have a lot of problems in North Richmond with over development, so much so that all services are congested, especially our road system. The only way into town is via one of only two main roads giving access to the west of the state from the Sydney basin. The 'fly in the ointment' is that our road also has to cross a two lane river bridge. Development of the area has been allowed to continue virtually unchecked and now there is so much traffic passing through at peak times that either side of North Richmond bridge becomes a car park.

Hawkesbury City Council made a decision to stop any future development to the west of the bridge until the problems with roads and other services were fixed. Along comes a developer with lots of money who wants to build a retirement village and 2000 new homes on land which is prime dairy paddocks and the historic home of Yoemans Key Line System.

Now the mayor and council have done a back flip and this huge development has the go ahead!! Never trust a Politician.









Cutting in the access road.

Watch this space.

Springtime

Whoopee!! Its Spring at last and there is evidence of it everywhere. Lots of trees have new buds ready to burst and there is pale pink cherry blossom and wisteria in abundance.



Even our collection of teddy bears had their spring clean bath.

We have had the warmest and wettest winter for many years but comparing the next photos you can see that we have had our share of frosts.

A night out in Sydney.

Last night, Di was having a night out at the Opera House to see Randy Newman and as I wasn't keen, I drove her into the city and decided to take some night photos. We parked in our usual place in The Rocks and enjoyed a nice walk along Circular Quay and around to the Opera House.



The forecourt was pretty deserted but I still found a few ghost appearances when I checked the photos back home. The Benelong Restaurant is on the left with entrance to the Concert Hall on the right.



The city side of the Opera House. The Concert Hall is on the left and the Opera Hall on the right.



Looking back towards the city.



The upper level of the Benelong Restaurant. Di has always wanted to eat here but we would need to take out a bank loan first.



The lucky diners.



Lovely light and shadow, angles and shapes.



The 'Old Coat Hanger".






The moon making an appearance.



The Opera House sails on the Harbour side.




Patrons enjoying a glass of champagne during an Intermission of La Boheme in the Opera Hall.



Towards Circular Quay.



The Opera Bar on the Opera House foreshore having its usual busy Saturday night. Lots of people having a good time, eating, drinking and dancing to great music in the open air, despite it being a very cool Winters night.






A new type of outdoor heater that I hadn't seen before. The flame was contained within a glass cylinder.



The white sails of the Opera House appear stark when compared to those in my last blog! Its still a fantastic looking building.



Circular Quay just before heading back to meet up with Di outside Door 7.

These photographs were taken using one of Beckys many cameras. Its the same model Cannon that Elin and Jim have and I was very impressed with the quality of their photographs, taken when they were out here. Becky very kindly suggested that I try hers out, which is what I have been doing but still find it takes some getting used to, although I think I am starting to get the hang of it. I discovered a few things to remember for future use, in particular when taking night photos. This camera doesn't have a connection for a cable release and so some camera movement was found in some of the photos. In hind sight I should have used the in built 2 second self timer. This camera is much heavier than my own and despite having a sturdy tripod the effects of shutter movement, wind and vibration all had an effect. Its amazing to think that the Opera House could be vibrating, maybe not the Opera House itself but definitely parts of the suspended foreshore around it.