Pretty warm here again today, funnily enough. Wind is starting to pick up, cyclone is about 500 KM off the coast currently. Look's like it is gunna strike a fair bit north of us now, so that's probably a good thing. Unfortunately the affected zone is still well within our callout area, and I am still the one who drew the short straw and is on call. However, it will be an interesting experience.
We are flat out like a lizard drinking at the moment, there is plenty of work on. I did a 12 hour day yesterday, starting at 5:30 in the morning. Went for a walk up Mt Larcom to repair a repeater up there. It's about 2000 feet, took about 2.5 hours up and 1.5 down. Would have probably knocked half an hour off each time if we weren't carrying so much gear. Including a large skeleton to get in, as no one could remember which type of key/lock was used when they put it in. (By skeleton key, read: Large bolt cutters.) Good snake terrain, but luckily I didn't encounter any. They say a thousand snakes see you for every one that you see, so after that trip I would say I'm getting closer to seeing one.
Saw a few werid bugs up there, a bright blue insect was probably the most exotic. Plenty of brightly coloured butterflies, and the odd large spider. A little smaller than the size of your hand. The webs are a bit of a pain, they are pretty thick. If you walk into one you pretty much stop in your tracks, it's just like being clotheslined.
These are crafty spiders, they stand with two legs together in pairs, so to look at they only appear to have four legs. You might easily mistake one for a small dog instead, for if you were counting the legs you would not for a minute suspect it was a spider. Until he runs at you using all 8 legs, then it becomes pretty obvious.
Finally made it back to work, to carry on with the other jobs which I had on my list of things to do, including fixing a modem and a satellite telephone system.
Got back to work again, and found out we needed to stabilise a mast on a hill, as a guy wire had broken and with the cyclone coming we thought it prudent to tie it down. Got to the mast, and discovered it had no pole steps, and no ladder. Great. I ended up managing to get to the top using a mixture of shinnying up and making a bit of a rope ladder and throwing the end of the rope over one of the cross arms. The Auzzie's think us NZ'rs are mad, nothing is impossible to a Kiwi. We tend to just get the job done, where as the Auzzies moan about it and give up more often than not. Got a difficult job to do? Send the Kiwis! There's three of us, one pom, one South African, and 2 auzzies, so we outnumber all of them now.
Just don't mention the cricket.
So, it is good to finally have a day in which we can catch up on the little things still waiting to be done after moving in. This is the first weekend we have had here to more or less relax, which is handy.
As I may or may not have mentioned, we have a large duck pond out the back of our place. People come by to feed the ducks, etc. I had a bit of a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. I purchased a cheap remote control boat today, and I have managed to locate a large yellow rubber duck, wearing a shower cap.
I intend to "modify" the boat/duck, to end up with a motorised duck. Wearing a shower cap. Which I intend to hide in the reeds on the side of the lake. Until an unsuspecting granny comes by with her grandkids to feed the ducks. Upon which time I shall craftily maneuver my motorised duck (wearing a shower cap) out from the reeds, and proceed to chase the real ducks with it and eat the bread.
It might be a few weeks before I have it constructed at this rate, but I'll keep you posted. Should make for some light entertainment anyhow.
Right, here's some pics to keep everyone happy, and I shall endeavour to construct another update when I get a chance. Things are pretty busy here currently.
Tallyho!
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