So how good is that? We met the locals in Waratah (Tasmania) in a cafe in and had such a great night.

Ray, Lee, Ruth and I spent February 14 2012 (Valentines Day) being wined and dined with a group of locals. What a great night. The locals became . . . → Read More: Waratah township romances Valentines Visitors]]>

Meeting the locals in Waratah

So how good is that? We met the locals in Waratah (Tasmania) in a cafe in and had such a great night.

Ray, Lee, Ruth and I spent February 14 2012 (Valentines Day) being wined and dined with a group of locals. What a great night. The locals became friendly and told us some stories about the place that we would never have heard otherwise. More than one bottle of wine was consumed over a period of three hours. We heard the story of how the town of Waratah prospered with the rise nd fall of the tin mine. We heard how the closure of the school was a devastating blow to the community, about the way the town had developed since tin mining was no more part of the town’s economy, and about various other features of the town.

Where else could we have had such a special night for Valentines Day?  Next day we visited Sue, one of the locals we met, at her home where she very graciously showed us her garden which was an absolute delight.  Waratah was a very pleasant surprise for us all and was well worth the visit.

Ray, Ruth, me and Lee at the Waratah cafe

It was a cool morning in Picton on 10 December 2011, a little overcast, but with no wind. Garth, Jo and I were there with Ruth to watch her through the experience. In fact Garth also did the sky-dive with her.

Our day started at 5.30 in the morning, getting . . . → Read More: Ruth jumps out of a perfectly good aeroplane]]>

Back on the ground

It was a cool morning in Picton on 10 December 2011, a little overcast, but with no wind. Garth, Jo and I were there with Ruth to watch her through the experience. In fact Garth also did the sky-dive with her.

Our day started at 5.30 in the morning, getting up early in time to head off south from Marsfield in the car by 6.30AM after Garth and Jo had joined us.

We were at Picton Skydive by 7.30AM where the necessary paper work was completed, a brief training session was conducted and Ruth and Garth were kitted up in their sky-dive suit and harness.

By 8.30 it was all over. After a safe return to ground and an exhilarating experience for the intrepid twosome, we had a cup of coffee to wash down the bacon and egg sandwich purchased at the canteen, then headed off back to Sydney.

Ruth comes back to earth

Garth uncouples his chute

Ruth has now joined the exclusive club of skydivers she has known over the years including Garth (for whom today was his second skydive), Jo, Lee, Karyna and a number of others.  I don’t think I’ll be joining the club, although flying a glider can be fun!

Today I helped Garth put together his new website for his business, Synenergywellbeing.  I had to research how this was done in WordPress because it has been some time since I last did this for my own site and I had forgotten.

It took me a while, but eventually I . . . → Read More: Helping Garth create a website]]>

Garth running a marathon

Today I helped Garth put together his new website for his business, Synenergywellbeing.  I had to research how this was done in WordPress because it has been some time since I last did this for my own site and I had forgotten.

It took me a while, but eventually I got it.

Points to note:

1. Download and unzip the WordPress files from the WordPress site on the net.

2. Set up your MySQL database, ensuring all the admin rights have been assigned to the database admin user, as instructed.

3. Change the parameters in the first three lines of code within the wp-admin/config-sample.pmp file on the computer, save it again as config.pmp then upload it to the server (an ftp application is needed for this and I use FireFTP in Firefox.  The server access details are needed of course, available from the internet service provider).

4. In the web browser, go to the location of the setup file and follow the on-screen instructions.

Things must be done in the correct order, no mistakes.

The picture on the left is of Garth running a marathon.  I felt a bit like this myself in doing the website.  But now that it works, I feel like I’ve achieved something worthwhile.

On the left we have Kelly, Adam and Joscelyn. This picture was taken during our long weekend stay over in Adelaide from June 11 to June 14, 2011. It was a great weekend for the Gunn Clan from both Sydney and Adelaide.  The Sydney mob had decided some months earlier that we would fly . . . → Read More: Sydney Gunn Clan invades Adelaide]]>

On the left we have Kelly, Adam and Joscelyn. This picture was taken during our long weekend stay over in Adelaide from June 11 to June 14, 2011. It was a great weekend for the Gunn Clan from both Sydney and Adelaide.  The Sydney mob had decided some months earlier that we would fly down to Adelaide and visit the Adelaide family.  Dad, Kath and Helen with her family had the chance to catch up not only with Ruth and me, but also with Ben, Carina, Grace, Kelly, Adam and of course, the new addition to the family – Joscelyn.  Dad was pretty chuffed with things – it was his first chance to actually see the new 11 week old great-grand-daughter in real life and to hold her in his arms.

Of course the other star attraction was Grace – first born great-grand-daughter and now about 15 months old.  It had been almost exactly a year since Ben and Carina had last visited Adelaide with Grace.  At the time Grace was also roughly 11 weeks old.  The timing was impeccable!

The Sydney contingent all stayed for three nights in a rented three bedroom apartment.  This was a convenient way for us to have found accommodation, and relatively economical too.  In the past my sister Helen has always been able to find a room for us.  On this occasion however, it would have been impossible for her to have housed all of us.

Ben, Grace and Carina

There were two main objectives for a successful weekend that Ruth and I had in mind.  One was to ensure that Dad had ample opportunity to spend time with the family, including those of us from Sydney.  The other objective was for Ruth and me to catch up with some friends who we had not seen for some time.  The Sunday of the weekend was scheduled for a trip to the Barossa Valley  - something we seem to always do when in South Australia.  Dad accompanied Ruth, Kath and me in a car we borrowed from sister Helen.  The others had hired cars of their own.  We had a great day, but it was very tiring for Kelly and Adam  as Joscelyn didn’t travel well in the car.

At left are some pictures taken while we were having lunch at Peter Lehman’s Winery in the Barossa.  I highly recommend this place for a great lunch where one can buy a taster plate of cheese, biscuits, olives, salami etc to have for lunch, accompanied by a bottle of excellent wine bought at the cellar door.  ALl this can be enjoyed inside warm and dry in winter, or, weather permitting, outside in the park-like surrounds which are beautifully kept.

Me, Kath, Ruth, Grace, Ben and Dad

On Monday we called in on some friends who Ruth and I worked with in Sydney about 15 years ago.  We also visited a friend of mine who I have known for almost 40 years.  Phil is a lecturer in accountancy in a university in Adelaide and we spent a very enjoyable afternoon with him and his family. On Tuesday, Ruth and I visited a friend from Sydney who had recently moved to Adelaide.  She had settled into a new apartment situated near Port Adelaide.

Our departure was scheduled for Tuesday around noon and this time arrived all too soon.  This was the day when volcanic ash was spreading from an eruption in South America and was causing havoc with air flight schedules.  Fortunately for Ben, Carina, Grace, Ruth and me our flight was going ahead.  However, the flight for Kelly, Adam and Joscelyn was cancelled.  They had to wait several hours in order to get onto another flight and eventually arrived home at 12.30 AM Wednesday morning.  What an ordeal!

You can see more photos by clicking here

About eighteen months ago Ruth and I went for a ride on the BSA Lightning I have stabled in the garage. I love this old bike, but like all vintage machines, it requires constant maintenence – sometimes more than others. On this occasion, we were about half an hour into our ride when the . . . → Read More: Fixing the BSA]]>

About eighteen months ago Ruth and I went for a ride on the BSA Lightning I have stabled in the garage. I love this old bike, but like all vintage machines, it requires constant maintenence – sometimes more than others. On this occasion, we were about half an hour into our ride when the engine started to develop some alarming rattles. Not good. So we took it home and there it stayed – until recently. Now I have pulled the engine out of the frame and it is in parts stored in cardboard boxes.

Me cleaning the BSA barrels

For those who care to know, it turns out the camshaft was showing significant wear on one of the lobes, and there was evidence that one of the tappets was bent – seized in its housing in all likelihood. I surmised that the cause was due to a failing oil pump, because when I examined the pump it was showing signs of falling apart!
So, several hundred dollars worth of spare parts later, I am now ready to put the whole thing back together. Currently I’m waiting for some spare parts from my supplier – British Spares.

The BSA Cylinder head

Yesterday we arrived in Launceston after nearly two weeks of touring around. We’ve walked up Cradle Mountain, done the Walls of Jerusalem (gasp!) and ridden a pushbike on Maria Island. We’ve looked around Freycinet and (some of) walked over to Wineglass Bay and back. I was the one . . . → Read More: Touring Tasmania]]>

Ruth and me at Herod's Gap

Yesterday we arrived in Launceston after nearly two weeks of touring around. We’ve walked up Cradle Mountain, done the Walls of Jerusalem (gasp!) and ridden a pushbike on Maria Island. We’ve looked around Freycinet and (some of) walked over to Wineglass Bay and back. I was the one that wimped out on that due to having already had my fill of walking with the Jerusalem thing. Lee and Ruth are irrepressible though – if there’s a walk to be done, they do it.

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Coffee in Sheffield

The trip to Launceston from Freycinet was particularly exciting as we were caught in the middle of some record rains in the north eastern region of Tas.  Roads were cut and we were prevented from passing in some places due to a washed out bridge and water over the road.

Me and Mandy in front of her place

While in the Freycinet area we visited my sister Mandy who lives near Swansea.  It had been some months since we last saw each other in Adelaide, so the time spent with each other was very enjoyable.

Eventually we arrived at Launceston where it was still raining, but so much as to threaten road travel.  Our day was spent exploring the Tamar Valley, with the highlight being a visit to Beaconsville, where the museum explained all the events of 2006 when the mining disaster occured there.

Usually I don’t have too much trouble troubleshooting  computer technology, but this is different.  The other day I got the smart idea of upgrading my Windows XP system to Windows 7.  I even went out and bought the media and software to do this.  Well, I’m here to say the . . . → Read More: Windows 7 blues]]>

Stumped by Win 7

Usually I don’t have too much trouble troubleshooting  computer technology, but this is different.  The other day I got the smart idea of upgrading my Windows XP system to Windows 7.  I even went out and bought the media and software to do this.  Well, I’m here to say the journey has not been an easy one.  Apart from the fact I had to spend HOURS transfering backup copies of all my files – pictures, video clips, music etc – I have been completely unable to get Outlook to work for a second user on the system.  The problem is that the installation all goes according to norm, even “Tests” OK in the setup, but come the time when I want to send an email, do you think I can get it to work?  No way.  This is happening at the worst possible moment for Ruth, who needs email to get her job search under way.

On top of that, Windows 7 has some strange ways of dealing with authenticating connections to other devices like my NAS drive for example.  It all works OK on my lappy, but the desktop PC stubbornly refuses to “see” some of the storage locations.  Given time, I guess I’ll be able to sort it out, but in the interim – what a waste of time.  Grrr!