Hi All
Apologies for the longer than intended break from the blog. I've had an insane start to the school term (long days), plus I've been busy writing to meet three deadlines.
So, to catch up:
It poured on the last day in Sydney to the point that I went back to the hotel room and edited "The Isthmus." Overall, it wasn't quite the trip I'd planned, but I probably relaxed more this time.
On my last day in Sydney, I joined the tour of the Haymarket substation - what an incredible engineering achievement. The size of the three-phase cables is amazing - let alone the enormous bulk of the transformers is amazing! Thank you to Transgrid and The Electrical Energy Society of Australia for the informative tour and the chance to go at all!
Before leaving Sydney, I took one more trip on the monorail - how can the NSW Government even THINK of selling off this fantastic tourist attraction? What other city has a monorail travelling through the heart of the CBD??
Back to Adelaide, and in mid-May I travelled south (with my Mum) to visit the southern Fleurieu Peninsula and the real isthmus and promontory. It's always a joy to see this area, and even better when the weather behaves (damn, I wanted a storm).
Apart from that, it's been a month and a half holed up writing - with the occasional escape into the garden to hack out some grungy bushes. May brought a series of very cold (for us) nights, several near zero (Celsius), and it looks like this coming week will bring the same (oh joy).
Last Saturday I joined the Mt Barker Bush Action Team (BAT) to plant a swag of seedlings around the main car park area at the summit. We're a group of local volunteers who've "adopted" the mountain (or has the mountain adopted us?); we remove weeds (and rubbish) and revegetate the area with native indigenous plant species. Next weekend I join the Nairne Green Thumbs group to plant seedlings along Matthew Road - part of the "Trees for Towns" project with Trees for Life. And one thing's for sure: Nairne needs more trees!
And how could I not mention birds? The numbers have been down at the summit (due to the cold?), however the usual rabble seem to be there (thank God): blue wrens (hopping on the mulch as we were shovelling the other side), babblers (today), thornbills (assorted), grey fantails, currawongs, shrike thrush (back at last), yellow-faced honeyeaters, RBFs, silvereyes (at home), spineys, and a black shouldered kite surveying the area from a dead gum. Cool. The RBFs were in my back garden last week - tugging at the native grass seeds (Guess who was stuck to the window? Guess who stuck the plants in last year for the RBFs?)
And the writing: Yes I did meet those deadlines! A satisfying feeling. This weekend is catching up on some of the paperwork I've ignored (i.e. not bills), tomorrow I have a great friend helping me with a photo shoot (for the social media pages - and long overdue). Thanks Lisa!
Next: tidying up two stories for another competition.
And tomorrow - I'll be watching some of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 60 years - Wow!
Happy writing
Bo
x
Apologies for the longer than intended break from the blog. I've had an insane start to the school term (long days), plus I've been busy writing to meet three deadlines.
So, to catch up:
It poured on the last day in Sydney to the point that I went back to the hotel room and edited "The Isthmus." Overall, it wasn't quite the trip I'd planned, but I probably relaxed more this time.
On my last day in Sydney, I joined the tour of the Haymarket substation - what an incredible engineering achievement. The size of the three-phase cables is amazing - let alone the enormous bulk of the transformers is amazing! Thank you to Transgrid and The Electrical Energy Society of Australia for the informative tour and the chance to go at all!
Before leaving Sydney, I took one more trip on the monorail - how can the NSW Government even THINK of selling off this fantastic tourist attraction? What other city has a monorail travelling through the heart of the CBD??
Back to Adelaide, and in mid-May I travelled south (with my Mum) to visit the southern Fleurieu Peninsula and the real isthmus and promontory. It's always a joy to see this area, and even better when the weather behaves (damn, I wanted a storm).
Apart from that, it's been a month and a half holed up writing - with the occasional escape into the garden to hack out some grungy bushes. May brought a series of very cold (for us) nights, several near zero (Celsius), and it looks like this coming week will bring the same (oh joy).
Last Saturday I joined the Mt Barker Bush Action Team (BAT) to plant a swag of seedlings around the main car park area at the summit. We're a group of local volunteers who've "adopted" the mountain (or has the mountain adopted us?); we remove weeds (and rubbish) and revegetate the area with native indigenous plant species. Next weekend I join the Nairne Green Thumbs group to plant seedlings along Matthew Road - part of the "Trees for Towns" project with Trees for Life. And one thing's for sure: Nairne needs more trees!
And how could I not mention birds? The numbers have been down at the summit (due to the cold?), however the usual rabble seem to be there (thank God): blue wrens (hopping on the mulch as we were shovelling the other side), babblers (today), thornbills (assorted), grey fantails, currawongs, shrike thrush (back at last), yellow-faced honeyeaters, RBFs, silvereyes (at home), spineys, and a black shouldered kite surveying the area from a dead gum. Cool. The RBFs were in my back garden last week - tugging at the native grass seeds (Guess who was stuck to the window? Guess who stuck the plants in last year for the RBFs?)
And the writing: Yes I did meet those deadlines! A satisfying feeling. This weekend is catching up on some of the paperwork I've ignored (i.e. not bills), tomorrow I have a great friend helping me with a photo shoot (for the social media pages - and long overdue). Thanks Lisa!
Next: tidying up two stories for another competition.
And tomorrow - I'll be watching some of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 60 years - Wow!
Happy writing
Bo
x
