Cherry Lips

Gidday.

I was going to go and do the dishes but I thought I may as well type this up instead. That, and Top Gear is on and it's more fun watching that than washing dishes.

Luckily I can semi multi task. OK who am I kidding, I can't. This is being constructed mainly in ad breaks. Which, being Australian television, there are many. And many of great length.

Well, when I stated a few weeks ago that I thought Australians might be becoming more normal, I think I may have spoken too soon.

It all started out with a perfectly reasonable plan: we intended to purchase a washing machine. We proceeded to travel to the local Harvey Norman, and managed to identify a suitable candidate. After tearing myself away from the home theater projectors on special, we picked a machine, and decided to invest in a $28 power surge protector also, as the power here isn't the best. The nice salesman put it on an open "digital docket" and told us to see the cashier at the front.

So, off to the front desk. After waiting in the queue for 63 days, we finally got to the front. We split the cost down the middle, so we processed two transactions and proceeded to leave the store. Until, after a bit of frantic mental arithmetic, we determined we had been overcharged by $39. I wasn't going to stand for that, so I promptly sat down. No, just kidding. I decided to go back and see the lady at the front desk. So, back to the back of the queue... 48 days later we finally got back to the counter and explained our predicament. Turns out she had charged us for a 3rd surge protector which we didn't actually have nor wanted. The nice lady said she would sort it out, and told me to swipe my card and enter my pin and she would credit it back to my account. Which I duly did. And then realised she had actually charged me yet another $39...

After some apologetic gestures, she then actually did credit my card back the 2 x $39. She handed us the docket to go and pick up our washing machine from the depot, and we left to do precisely that. Except, when we got to the door, we realised the receipt we had been given was for a computer game, not a washing machine.

After a little cursing, we joined the queue for a third attempt. 27 days later, we got back to the front of the line. The lady gave us a bit of a strange look, as if to say "not you again". I then proceeded to explain our predicament. Our friendly cashier then turned as red as a beetroot and rapidly handed us the correct receipt and bid us farewell. After confirming it was indeed the correct piece of paper, and confirming that she hadn't somehow taken yet more money from me, we finally managed to successfully leave the shop.

We then went and collected the washing machine, and took it back home. Which was fairly straight forward, given the fun we had actually buying it.

So, plumbed it all up, gave it a test run... no leaks, all's well. Except, after a few loads, I noticed that the carpet in the adjoining room was wet...
Turns out there was a slow leak from the tap, which although was turned off when not used, allowed enough water through to slowly soak under the bottom of the wall. Brilliant. Ah well, the carpet needed replacing in that room anyway... hopefully the landlords not reading this.

Anyhow, not much else to report... works still going on, still interesting. Another public holiday next week, so another four day week.

I'm off to watch the rest of Top Gear and then do the dishes.

Here's a picture of a locomotive and a crab which our neighbour gave us.

CIAO.

Master of Puppets

Gidday.

Been almost a week since I last wrote anything here, I'm getting a bit slack. However, I am writing something now.

Very interesting week this week, I have been getting a bit more involved in the projects side of the business which is more up my ally. It basically deals with the big repeater systems and installing new towers, microwave systems, etc.

Tom will be pleased to know that I've been driving a landcruiser most of this week, I am looking forward to getting hold of a landrover at some point to keep the balance.

I've been sent on a couple of wild goose chases this week, first one to locate a dozer which turned out to be pretty nearby, only 26 km from where I was sent.

The other one was a remote site I was sent to find, with pretty average signage so I managed to miss the turn off and ended up about 20 km further up the road than I needed to be. Never mind, I got there in the end. This site had some good sized ants, I'll add a pic if I remember. I also met a brown snake... luckily I was inside the truck, and the snake was not.

Spent a couple of days putting up large microwave dishes which was interesting, I'm learning a fair bit about the new gear.

We have had the usual vehicle troubles, running around trying to locate serviceable vehicles is a constant battle. I've grown quite used to driving the landcruiser, it's pretty well worn in, with nearly half a million KM on it. Still runs OK, with a few minor issues.

Not much else to report at this stage, long weekend this weekend so will no doubt have to find something to do for a day or two. Might give me a good chance to build a better rat trap... the pesky pest is still on the loose, running around in the roof. Nothing like a challenge...

Right, in that case, I shall leave you with some pictures.

TTFN

Ocean Club

Gidday.

What do you get when you cross a giraffe with a kangaroo?

It has been a fairly busy week here yet again, I think from this point in we shall assume all weeks as busy unless otherwise notified. A few more days in the workshop fixing radios and other miscellaneous bits and pieces, and a couple more cell tower checks. Funnily enough, they don't call them "cellphones" over here, they tend to laugh at you when you do. They are "mobile phones" over here.

One tower in particular was a good height, I'll stick a couple of images in at the end to show you. You do start to feel your arms by the time you get near the top.

This week overall seems to have gone without too many major hitches, either the Australians are finally getting some sense or else I am just becoming accustomed to their ways and am no longer noticing the things I once would have as being odd. Unfortunately even the voice that reads things in my head is starting to change... words like "advance" and "chance" and "advantage" are now being read in the local lingo instead of kiwi, which is going to be a problem when I come back.

At least I'm not in Sydney, they are 10x worse down there. At least up here now everyone is pretty normal speaking... Although they still reckon my Kiwi accent is pretty strong. Especially on the phone I am frequently asked to spell things out, "Nixon" communications is one that catches them out a bit. Sometimes it is just easier to put on a phony auzzie accent, that seems to work.

The funny thing is now some of the auzzies are actually becoming a little kiwified, for example last weekend we had 3 Kiwis and 2 auzzies out for some drinks and occasionally they would slip and talk with a kiwi accent, we totally laugh at them when that happens. They turn bright red and get really embarrassed, it's hilarious.

One of the guys we hang out with is from Invercargill, and talks as such with the R's. The other day one of the auzzie employees came in and said a sentence exactly like a southlander, we all cracked up and he went away with his tail between his legs, as he completely didn't intend to. I said "Good on ya mate" in the speights ad voice and all us kiwis got a good chuckle. We do have some laughs over here that's for sure.

We have a BBQ tonight with some more Kiwis and a couple of Auzzies, but we will have them out numbered again so that's alright. Should be an interesting evening, they have the Ralph Bikini models in town tonight so I imagine we might go and meet them, it would be rude not to I reckon.

Our new best Friend, (the guy we work with's girlfriend) managed to locate a shop selling watties tomato sauce and purchased us some, we are forever in her debt. That stuff is like heaven, after all the rubbish Australian sauce, watties was the real deal. It was totally as good as I remembered.

Righto, not much else to report really, the year is passing by so quickly it will be Christmas before we know it. Again. Catch you all later on.


Oh yes... broken legs.

TTFN

Zebra

Gidday.

I think Australian winters are somewhat easier going than Kiwi ones. No frosts for a start. Average day temp in middle of winter where we are is still around 20 degrees. Can't complain with that. It is starting to cool down from the stupidly hot heat we have been experiencing, so it is a welcome change. 28 degree highs are better than 38 degree ones.

Well, nothing too major to report, pretty "standard" days, for Australia anyhow.

I ended up doing some on call work on Tuesday, as the guy who was supposed to be doing it was away at the dentist getting a couple of teeth ripped out. Drawing on my wisdom teeth uhh... wisdom, I had to sympathise with him.

One thing did make me laugh... on the site instructions it states "a cherry picker is required for antenna access". I got there, and the site is 10 stories up on top of a hotel. That would need to be one giant cherry tree to warrent them manufacturing a cherry picker to reach that height.

I am having a small battle at the moment, with a rather cunning rat which is residing in our roof space. He made the mistake of showing himself one night when we drove back into the garage, he shot across the floor and gave Ryan a small heart attack, then shot up the wall and into the roof.

I went out the next day and purchased a rat trap, thinking this would be a simple matter. I baited it with peanut butter, thinking that no rat would be able to leave that. A day or two went by, no sign. Then, the next morning, what was in my trap? Well... no peanut butter. I put it down to the fact I had set the trap trigger a little heavy, so I re baited with more peanut butter, and then set the trigger so light that if you even looked at the trap funny it would go off.
A couple of days went by, still no sign, then next day... no peanut butter again. Still the trap sat there, untriggered. I was baffled, could not understand how he has been that careful to get the bait twice and not ended his life.

So, next day, I decided to get more cunning and bait the trap with cheese, as I could then key the cheese to the trap trigger so when he pulled on it it would go off. Next day... nothing. Next day again... no cheese... trap still armed.
I tested the trap with a stick, and it certainly works.

So, back to the drawing board... I might have to see if we have a spare video recorder and camera at work and I'll set that up and spy on the little creature, see how he is managing it. Perhaps he has a trained mouse to steal the food for him, or perhaps a gecko. Next step I may make a captive cage with an infrared beam and a solenoid driven cage door to entrap the blighter.

I shall let you know how I get on...


Right, I better carry on, I'll no doubt think of more to update later on.

CIAO

Layla

Gidday.

Well, I am now back from the mine. What an interesting 3 days let me tell you. Going out there after a 4 day public holiday is not wise, as although we have it off, the mine does not. Thus, the work load piles up. I ended up leaving on Friday with about 2 and a half days worth of jobs still outstanding... sorry to the next bloke.

As it is almost 6 weeks since I was last out there it took me a day or two to find everything again, as in 6 weeks a lot changes out there. They literally move mountains in that time. And roads. Anyhow, that aside, I managed to not get into any arguments with large machinery so that's always a good thing.

Not too many hilarious stories to recount from the last 3 days, plenty of technical stories but that won't interest anyone. We did have a bit of an emergency on one of the days with a grader about to catch fire, when they used the emergency system over the radio we noticed a few other wee issues which resulted in me spending pretty much all of Friday trying to chase my tail. Friday morning was good though, I was tasked to accompany a young environmentalist chick out to check on a solar charging system for one of their blasting monitors. I would have been quite happy for that job to last all day.

Anyhow, here is a link to a video I managed to take of a large truck which forced me off the road on the way home:Click Here.

Unfortunately the video isn't the best angles but however, you get the idea.

Ryan is away on some pipeline job out in the middle of nowhere, so I have the place to myself for the weekend. I have a bit of a list of things to do, so won't be a completely lazy weekend. We had over 45mm of rain last night, in about an hour, the heaviest rain I have ever experience even yet, and we have had some pretty heavy rain. There goes the mowing the front lawn plan...
The lawn has grown to over 6 inches in the last two weeks, the rain and the heat really sets the grass off, it's a full time job just keeping on top of it.

Right, I better go and start knocking jobs off my list, here's a couple of pics. I opened the enviromental telemetery box to find... it was actually run by frogs.

TTFN

Come fly with me

Gidday.

I must be a little slow on the uptake, I only just realised what the date was on my last post. (Cue bugle). No, not that last post.

Had I been quick enough I should have concocted the most amazing tale of craziness just so cuckoo it might have been... Australian. That's the problem I suspect... you would have all believed it and the whole April 1st thing would be lost.

Anyhow.

Interesting weekend, if one can call it that. As I think I may have mentioned in the last update, I had been on a bit of a drive with an incorrect part. Well, next day, after spending all day waiting at home specifically for it to arrive, it did. Arrive. And, it transpired it was, you guessed it, yet again, a completely wrong part. The box was about a third of the expected size, the moment the courier showed up at the door I realised it was never going to work.
So, back on the phone... ordered yet another replacement part...

Low and behold, very next day, who was knocking at my door? No, not 24 robbers, but the courier yet again. With, believe it or not, the correct part! So, off for another 3 hour drive to get to the site. Swapped out the part, rang them up to test it. The informed me being a public holiday they had to page a special person to come in to test it and I would have to wait. Long story shortened significantly, an hour and a half later they decided it was a software fault at their end, not the part, and we could lock up and go home, thank you very much.

Which we did.

---------------

We finally got a quick look at the harbour festival also, think Caroline bay carnival x 2.482 and you should be getting approximately close. Except you need to times all the ticket prices by about 4. It cost me $5 aus for 3 .177 air rifle slugs to fire down what I am convinced was a bent barrel with a crooked sight. I have no idea where those slugs went but I know damn well where they didn't. And it definitely was not near the tin target ducks. Probably a good thing my magnum is locked up at home, or else those ducks may have been in for quite the long distance surprise...

I attended a "safety at heights" course today, if one can call it that. Pretty much take the NZ course, cut the material in half, and you would be getting close. The NZ one was far more interesting and far more in depth. However, now I have that all important piece of plastic in my ever growing plastic ID card collection.

Speaking of plastic cards, I also went for my QLD drivers licence. Cost me $75 for 5 years. They take your NZ drivers licence and basically just convert it straight over, no tests or anything. You have to prove who you are with 3 forms of ID, and also proof of address.

This is where I almost came unstuck... as we have recently moved all my proof of address letters are address to our old address, and I had of course written the new address on the application. The pleasant lady behind the counter informed me that my proof of address was not eligible to be used, as clearly it showed a different address. I was most displeased at the notion of having to reapply, as it 32.6 times worse than waiting in the AA in Timaru. So, I hatched a cunning plan. I asked the lady how much it cost to change your address on your licence if you moved house. She said it was free and instant. I told her to hang on a sec, grabbed a pen, crossed out the "new" address on the application and wrote my old address on. I said "there you go, now the addresses match". She said "Righto fair enough" and processed the application. Once I had my licence in my hand, she did the usual "and is there anything else I can help you with today?". I replied: "Well, as a matter of fact there is... I've recently moved house and need to change my licence address, can you do that?"
"No worries sir, sign here, consider it done".

And so I walked out with the correct address on my licence, from an ID letter that clearly means absolutely nothing. Jumping through hoops is a great past time let me tell you.

Right, I better go and hit the hay, I'm off to Moura for the next couple of days and as it's 2.5 hours drive and I need to be on site ready to go by 7:00, it's about a 3:30 wake up call for me.

CIAO

(Here's a couple more pics to keep the followers entertained, the big barrel is in Bunderburg. Yes, I finally made it to the place where they make my Lemon Lime and Bitters...)

Long Run

Gidday.

Well, I've finally got a few spare minutes to construct a bit of an update for you all. As you probably gathered we have all been fairly busy this week. Plenty of work on, that's for sure.

Being Easter week, there is a harbour festival on here, which is kind of like the Caroline bay carnival at Christmas time in Timaru. I think. Because unfortunately as of yet I haven't managed to get down there yet... possibly will go and have a look tomorrow.

I've been on call this week again, not quite as quiet as last time I'm afraid. The first call was to a site 2.5 hours away, they told me it was a certain model with a certain switch, and all I would have to do is go there and change the switch. I had already done one previously so I thought it sounded plausible. So I drove 2.5 hours to the site, finally managed to locate it, as I had not been down that way before, and I logged on and had a look at the fault. I found that the unit was an earlier model than the one everyone thought, and didn't even have the magical switch. So... on the phone to Melbourne to order a swap out part. Yes, righto, that part will be with you... at 1:15 in the morning sir. Now, you are at the telephone exchange in Melbourne are you not? No indeed I am not... long story short I finally managed to get it through their heads to send it to Gladstone. Obviously the kiwi accent didn't help, as it arrived in the morning addressed to "Nexons"... not quite Nixons.

However, got in the truck, and drove the 250 kms back to the site, swapped out the part, and drove home again. A job like that is pretty much a day over, so that was Tuesday over. Got a call on Tuesday night... to another similar fault, on a site about half an hour further away than the one I had just got back from. This time they told me that I would definitely require spares, so to standby and wait until they arrived the next day.

So, Wednesday arrived, as did the spare part. It looked pretty right so I drove the three hours to the site, logged on, and compared the details on the old and new units... to find that they were completely different frequencies. Great. Back on the phone... oh yup, sorry about that, we will get a new one out to you ASAP.

So, back in the truck, drive the three hours home again. The ETA for the parts is about 3:00 PM tomorrow afternoon, so when they arrive I'll be off down south yet again. It was quite funny really, I've been meaning to get down to Bunderburg ever since I got to Auz, and now I've been through it 3 times in the last 3 days and still haven't had a chance to have a proper look around.

I hear there is a landrover main dealer there...

There is a lot of sugar cane around down in those parts, and banana tree plantations. I might attach some photos if I remember.

So between doing about 1200 KM in the last 3 days and various other repairs, I haven't had much time to catch up on much else. Good for the pay packet I suppose.

So, whilst I will probably be working, I wish everyone a happy Easter. Time is flying by, before we know it it will be Christmas again.

TTFN