DAYLIGHT SAVING AND THE SHRINE

Today I learnt another thing that the introduction of daylight saving in 1971 has caused problems with. For readers outside Australia, daylight saving was introduced so as to provide an extra hour of sunlight for people to enjoy in the evening. This phenomenon occurs in the summer months, the clocks being shifted back an hour for 5 months of the year, between October to March. It has been blamed by various dim-witted folk over the years as being the cause of their tomatoes ripening too quickly and their curtains fading prematurely. Dairy farmers have also accused this extra hour of confusing the cows…… $ I am back in the big smoke again; Tal and Rennie are staying at their Gran’s for the next week or two and going back to their old school for the first couple of weeks. So while they all went out for the day, I headed into the City to do a few things. It is great doing touristy things in your home town, and having my day-pack from my previous overseas travelling days made me feel more like a tourist than ever. $ After lunch I checked out a few different galleries and found that one of the main items on my fairly incomprehensive agenda, The National Gallery, is closed on Tuesdays, handy that. For some reason the Shrine of Remembrance seemed like the next place to visit, I saw a photo of it recently, can’t remember where, but I do remember thinking at the time that I should try and get along there some time. Quite a few of the books I have read lately concern the wars, so it seemed like the right thing to do. A nice walk through the parklands beside St. Kilda Road found me wandering up the hill towards this impressive stone building, and I followed the signs for the visitor centre, which was quite a surprise in it’s own right, I never imagined the Shrine having a visitor centre. It wasn’t that impressive but a good thing for school kids or such. $ The First World War finished on the 11th of November (the 11th month) and each year at 11am a ray of sunlight passes through a carefully designed hole in the roof (which took 142 pages of calculations) over the word “LOVE” in the centre of a line of a poem inscribed on the stone plaque in the centre of a special room with a vaulted ceiling. The impressive ceiling has some wonderfully carved stone reliefs, of action from the war, originally sculpted in situ over 2 years by a 20 year old sculptor in 1931. You need to crane your neck to look at them; they have been purposely created out of all perspective so they look correct from the ground. $ I got chatting to one of the attendants who was a font of information while not quite as wet. Every half hour there is a simulated ray of sun from a spotlight mounted in the hole through which the sun comes on this special hour. Robert explained that all was going well for forty years until daylight savings was introduced and suddenly the hour for the “LOVE” was pushed forward to 12pm. Moving the orbit of the sun would prove a bit difficult so now they set up mirrors on the roof to achieve the original concept. So all the dignitaries are present for the sham, smoke and mirrors ceremony, while the public are let in for when the real ray of sunshine takes place, after the removal of the mirrors on the roof. One day I will try and make it there for the 12pm start, that is, so long as I have picked all the ripe tomatoes, milked the cows, and shut the curtains.

PARAGRAPHS

Please excuse the lack of paragraphs in these entries. For some reason all the writing gets grouped together. From now on I am going to put a “$” in where I would like you to draw a mental breath…….

THE GREAT SHARK HUNT

26th January, 4pm, Australia Day. So there we were, 8 guys rocking down the deep sandy track towards Rivernook beach in two 4WD’s, full of gear including a surf board, a full esky, 200 metres of rope with a shark rig attached and various other fishing implements. The plan; catch some decent salmon in the afternoon to put on the big rig and get Matt to paddle the bait out behind the breaking waves for the bronze whalers to find after dark. How much more Australian could you be on Australia Day? We caught the salmon ok, but the problem was Matt getting out there in one piece, carrying a sand bag weight and dragging the 200 metres of rope behind him. The waves were hammering him, throwing him about like a cork, but he is a determined fellow is Matt, although even the most determined must finally accept defeat. After a 15 minute battle with the surging white waves he came back in, dropped of the gear and this time attempted the paddle out without the added weight, which he finally succeeded. The second attempt with the rig went pretty well, Matt getting it about 100 metres out from shore. This time he paddled to the first sand bank and dragged it to himself and then paddled to the next sandbank and repeated the procedure. We should have just covered him in tuna oil first and put the two big hooks through his wetsuit!! The waves were big, the wind coming in strong, bringing with it the occasional shower of rain. We collected a huge amount of driftwood and had us a magnificent bonfire which warmed us up as we kept a check on the battery of surf rods lined up along the beach until close to midnight. The shark rig wasn‘t touched, probably not out far enough, and the conditions were not great. But it was a lot of fun, and if we had of gotten on to one it would have been an experience to remember, a bunch of guys hanging onto a rope and having a tug of war with a big sea creature. We did end up with a few salmon and a couple of snapper though and are already planning our next assault. Stay tuned!!

PLANS

Happy New Year, and what a new year it is turning out to be! Our plans and directions have taken a huge turn, and we are all excited about the challenges ahead. For many reasons we have decided to finish our bus trip, it has been a great experience for us all, but 10 months solidly together is about enough for us. We have made it around the Massive Stone and will catch up with the western side of the country some time in the future, possibly without the kids!! So what’s next?? We always talked about going to live in Scotland for a year or so before the kids were too old, and it was going to possibly be when we had finished the bus trip. So that is what Helen and the children are going to do. I am not quite ready to head over to Scotland just yet and am going to stay for a while, tie up some loose ends and work towards having an exhibition of my work mid year, before heading over and catching up with them all. It is all systems go on the farm here. The lack of rain, and subsequent shortage of feed has forced Matt to buy $35,000 worthy of hay to feed the 150 cows. Each morning, a huge round hay bale is loaded on the back of the ute and the tractor spikes and lifts a couple more and are driven to the cows. Placed on a downward slope, the bale is given a push and unrolls itself over a length of about 30 metres, normally collecting some unsuspecting beast along the way, ending up with a face full of straw and a dazzled expression. While we were feeding the cows this morning there was one standing at the bottom of the field by herself and not with the rest of the hungry, mooing lot. When we were closer we could see a red baloony thing was hanging out her behind. She ran off with the afterbirth swinging from side to side, we followed in the ute until she stopped and gazed at us with eyes full of emotion. She was standing over her dead calf that the flies were busy buzzing over and many questions were being asked by her in her silent stance, it was so sad. Matt reckons she might be carrying twins so we will keep an eye out for another new born tomorrow. The dry conditions up here remind me of a clever poem written by Banjo Patterson many moons ago, it goes something like this; “How can it rain”, the old man said, “with things the way they are” “Youv’e gotta learn off ant and bee and jackass and galah”, And no man never saw it rain, not for fifty years at least, That is of course when the parakeets were flying to the east. Well the weeks went by, the farmer wrote to tell his bank the news, “It’s still as dry as dust out here we’re feeding all the ewes” “The overdraft would sink a ship, but put your mind at rest” “It’s alright now the parakeets are flying to the west”. The Gellibrand River which snakes through the flats at the bottom of the hill is a great place for the kids to swim and canoe. A layer of warm, fresh water covers the colder salt water beneath. We were having a nice swim the other day when it started pouring with well needed rain and it was quite a surreal experience, the large rain drops hammering the surface, looking like it was boiling. I met the local tiger snake in the shed today, Dan told me he had seen one about. I walked past it and only noticed it when I heard some rustling behind me, glancing around to see the last half of its stripy body slithering into an old box. It has made me a bit nervous…… Matt was correct in his thoughts that the cow yesterday was carrying twins as he met and patted her new calf this morning, I am very glad for her. So there are some challenges ahead for all of us and we are looking forward to seeing what happens from here. PS, It poured with rain last night, filled up the water tanks and relieved some hard, dry times.