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kippers7, Wednesday, 4. April 2007, 05:25
Rumbling Tum
Drinking pure lemon juice may make your teeth feel as though they are wearing little furry socks, but it is the best thing for settling rebellious insides. Another remedy for diarrhoea is hot chocolate (made with water, not milk) while the French suggest - naturellement - a cup of warmed red wine.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 2. April 2007, 07:29
Giddiness
If you feel debilitated on a very hot day, do as the wasp-waisted maidens of the Victorian era did. Reach for lavender smelling salts to ward off 'the vapours'. Sitting down and putting your head between your knees will also help control the nausea which results from a nasty shock.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 2. April 2007, 07:25
Fresh breath
Our favourite Indian restaurant serves fennel seeds as after-dinner breath sweeteners. Other herbs which freshen and mildly disinfect breath without upsetting the natural balance of bacteria in the mouth are rosemary and caraway. Most effective of all is parsley. Chewing a few leaves or rinsing your mouth with parsley tea is far more effective than any peppermint lollies. And for those who love the taste of garlic, but not the smell, one way of eliminating 'garlic breath' is to eat a few orange segments after the meal.

To make a spicy mouthwash, soak nutmeg and peppercorns in red wine for two weeks straining before use. Chopped ginger root may be included, too. Used warm, this version in the recipe will also soothe swollen tonsils or a sore throat or for those who suffer from bucolic!
 


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kippers7, Monday, 2. April 2007, 07:17
The Power of One
Out of breath, out of water, half crazy with fear, the aborigine man stumbled across the wasteland of the Australian desert, baking under the heat of the midday sun. Although weak from exhaustion and days of scrambling in unbearable heat, the man rarely paused in his panicky flight. When he did stop, it was to search the horizon behind him for a sign of his hunter. No matter how far or how fast he ran, he found he was never out of sight of a distant, lone figure walking relentlessly in his direction.

That solitary person was a Kurdaicha, a voodoo magic killer hired by an aborigine witch doctor to deliver a death curse to his intended victim. The killer carried no weapons except for a specially prepared curse bone in the pouch that hung from his waist. The hex bone had been carefully crafted by a Nangarri, an aborigine witch doctor, to deliver the curse imbedded in it to the victim for who it was intended.

It was only a matter of time before the Kurdaicha got close enough to unleash the curse. The voodoo-magic hunter was a man of great patience. He would take all the time necessary, weeks, months or even years to track down his victim and unleash the hex. There are few places where a man could hide from the hunter who carries the curse.

Among the aborigines of Australia, for example, the most powerful and most feared man is the Nangarri, the local witch doctor.

Black magic is not restricted to the remote areas of like the Australian desert. It is practice in cities and towns throughout the world. Like all special skills and powers, the powers of the Nangarri of the aborigines are still reserved for the chosen few who understand their secrets.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 2. April 2007, 06:56
Happily Ever After
The fate of Cinderella offers hope to all of us who have occasionally felt that life is passing us by. Still, when you think about it, a kitchenmaid is better placed in the beauty stakes than your average princess, anyway. She has access to oatmeal, honey, lemon juice, garlic ... and if any wicked queen upsets her, she can soothe her eyes with cold tea, or use a poultice of mashed potato to combat puffiness.
 


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kippers7, Tuesday, 12. December 2006, 06:10
Family Images 2006

Great Grandma with Great Grandson Devon

Terry, Mum & Barbs

Michael, Kim, Barbs & Tessa

Matt, Jacqui, Hamish & Devon

Geoff, Matt & Devon

Hamish

Matt & Jacqui

Barbs & Tessa


Michael, Tessa, Matt & Geoff
 


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kippers7, Wednesday, 16. August 2006, 09:09
A cloudy evening in Melbourne

Dusk over Albert Park Lake

The city alight

Darkness approaches
 


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kippers7, Tuesday, 15. August 2006, 04:44
A wintery drive down the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road winds along the edge of the open sea for several hundred kilometres and each turn reveals another sight more majestic than the last. The road passes through the imposing Otway Ranges - a virtual wilderness of temperate rainforest, with extensive stands of aged tall timbers and tree ferns, crystal clear waterfalls.

The most famous feature of this wild coastline is the ancient series of rock formations rising beside the cliffs known as the Twelve Apostles. These are the tough remnants of a weathered and sea beaten coastline and stand silent watch over this treacherous stretch.


Known as the Shipwreck Coast, there are said to be the hulks of many a pioneering ship lost while trying to make its way to the relative safety of Port Phillip Bay.

Loch Ard Gorge is named after one such unfortunate vessel and a short climb down the cliff into this gorge brings into dramatic focus the reality of the dangers the early settlers faced.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 14. August 2006, 07:09
A Winter's Day in the High Country


The sunrise burns with a golden shimmer through the bright hard dawn. Mist clings to the land. Light from the rising sun, hazy and weak, shimmers across the crystalline fields .

The day becomes bright and sunny, the skies clear, blue and depthless. Opening the window to let in the fresh winter air I hear a bird's soft warble wafting through the trees.

The temperature has risen to almost 16C and the day feels warm against my skin as I pull weeds from the soft damp earth. Sunshine streams down on my face and the smell of newly mown grass rises on a sudden breeze.

Patches of light glisten between the leaves of the gum tree, a tangle of bare stretched limbs web across the blue sky, casting odd shadows on a wintery gray-green grass. It has been a time of sleep and in the warm winter sunshine one can feel the the new season of spring waiting patiently for rebirth.

The sun drops marking the passing of early afternoon. Clouds fill the edges of the eastern sky beyond the tops of the gum trees, drifting over the lower hills and vales and rolling towards Mount Buller. I feel the cold. The sun has slipped all the way below the horizon and the darkness hangs in the sky like an approaching shroud.

The stars appear, low and large trembling. Cold darkness, as a golden moon hangs low in the sky. The cold is hard and brittle against the skin. As the moon rises silver, its light illuminates the stretched limbs of the trees, giving them a silvery sheen. All about the darkness is hushed and still. The night is bitter cold, the damp warmth of the sunny day crystallised into a fine crust that covers the landscape in a frozen sheen which crunches like tiny bells under my feet.
 


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kippers7, Tuesday, 8. August 2006, 01:03
Melbourne Alive on a winter's day
No modern city stands still. Gradually, each develops places, buildings and landscapes that express their time. Not many years ago, a grand plan for the Southern bank of the Yarra River rose from the ground which is today called Southgate, Southgate has now become a vital part of city life. Locals flock here to eat, stroll, watch others, browse in shops, or just pass the time until the curtain rises at the Arts Centre next door. It's always busy; there's always something going on and it keeps going until the smaller hours. It's become a favoured meeting place and tthere are dozens of places to eat. It is a place for good food and good restaurants.



(Melbourne viewed from Southgate)
 


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kippers7, Thursday, 16. March 2006, 00:17
The magic of Melbourne

The Melbourne Cricket Ground enveloped in blue

MELBOURNE turned on the magic last night as the Commonwealth Games exploded into life with airborne koalas, a flying tram, ballerinas, bikers and a duck. Eighty thousand revellers at the MCG saw a $40 million sound and light show.

The flying tram

Hundreds of thousands flocked to the city and the banks of the Yarra to see the final spectacular leg of the Queen's Baton Relay.

At the MCG, the Queen declared the Games open, Delta Goodrem sang an anthem for the athletes, opera legend Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sang Happy Birthday to Her Majesty and a cast of thousands soared, sang and danced through a magnificent theatrical show.

Two hundred thousand lining the banks -- 50-deep in parts -- immersed themselves in the magic. Keeping with the fishy theme, they packed in like sardines from St Kilda Rd to Swan.



One of the Commonwealth Games fish on the Yarra

Families camped on the grassy banks from around midday, eager not to miss a minute or a sight.
So huge was the crowd, 2km of vantage points was hardly enough. Dinghies patrolled the reeds, security guards the banks to keep over-eager spectators from a Yarra drenching.

Face-painted children, teenagers draped in flags and older folk on camp chairs squeezed on to the Yarra banks.

Huge screens dangled from a crane halfway along, but most eyes were locked on the river as 72 giant creatures burst into life.

Metal scales and what looked like dull patches of mesh sparkled like jewels, lit from the inside. Lights played as water spurted up from the fish and cascaded back down.

The kilometre of the Yarra became a river of fire as orange and red lights bathed eels, dolphins, prawns and sharks.









Then, suddenly blue, it became a river of ice stretching from the city's centre to its sporting heart.
Last night the biggest show in Melbourne's history was more than just free -- it was priceless.


Ron Barassi carries the Queen's Baton walking on water across the Yarra River
 


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kippers7, Tuesday, 7. March 2006, 01:30
An unwanted visitor
There was I perched on the loo when I looked up into the mirror and just above my head sat an enormous spider - I mean it was at least two hand spans and to my mind it must have found some steroids somewhere to get to that size! I jumped off loo screaming, pants around my ankles still doing you know what! Terry came running and nearly killed himself laughing when he saw me struggling with said wet pants, etc trying to exit bathroom in a hurry. He fetched a glass, a rather large glass, in fact a wide mouth coke glass and managed to get said spider into glass but instead of waiting for me to hand him a piece of card to cover the glass he decides to jiggle said spider to the bottom. Said spider was having none of that and climbed up glass, Terry starts grunting and hopping madly around with said spider still clinging to glass. Terry drops glass and spider into loo (which I might add I didn't get a chance to flush!), as said spider climbs onto his hand Terry spends next 10 minutes fishing said broken glass out of loo (still not flushed) with bbq tongs (which have ended up in the bin!) Spider meanwhile tries to climb up loo and tongs. Terry eventually picks spider up with tongs and deposits said spider into bag and then puts spider and bag into bin. Spider not being outdone decides that a bag and bin is no place for a self respecting spider and commences to escape bag and bin and starts running all over bathroom with Terry in hot pursuit (meanwhile I'm making quick exit from bedroom swearing never to return unless he catches the beast!) Terry catches said big spider again with tongs, carefully takes him outside, and deposits him at bottom of garden. Said spider scampers off. Peace is restored, rest of glass from bottom of loo retrieved, loo flushed, bathroom floor washed and pants in washing machine - peace again reigns in white household. I now check bathroom wall for spiders before sitting on loo! Nothing like a peaceful evening eh!

As an aside, our next door neighbour mentioned that she had seen an enormous spider in her garden - wonder if it was our friend on steroids. Hope he decides tomake his new home next door!
 


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kippers7, Wednesday, 1. March 2006, 01:26
Snakes, spiders and the rest!
(Or how to avoid summer's big bite - The story below was written by Kerry Cue on 21dec05 - just had to share it with you!)

WE Aussies are tough, but not in a wrestling-crocodiles-and-opening-beer-bottles-with-our-teeth kind of way.

We are tough because every summer we leave our suburban bunkers and venture into the great utdoors.
We might not venture far -- no further than, say, the cement-block barbie in the back yard.

But, still, we risk our lives as Australia boasts some of the most venomous and irritating biting beasties in the world.

And many live in our own back yards.

As if we Aussies didn't have enough worries already with our venomous snakes, spiders, fish, octopi and jellyfish.

Now we can add lizards to the list. Yes, lizards.

This year scientists at the Australian Venom Research Unit discovered many Aussie lizards have snake-like venom.

It may not be enough to kill you, but a lizard bite could certainly upset the rhythm of tossing the salad.

So you need some up-dated first-aid advice. You know, about snakebite.

The Red Cross recommends applying a pressure bandage, immobilising the limb and keeping the patient calm as you wait for the ambulance.

I'm not sure how you keep a patient calm with a 2m tiger snake hanging off their ankle.

Drop a copperhead in the middle of a yoga class and see how calm they remain.

However, the good news is that you don't have to kill the snake. It can be identified by its venom. There is also no need for tourniquets strangling a mate's vital bits and no more sucking venom out of a mate's dirty foot.

Most spider bites in Australia are not fatal unless, of course, you are driving a car or you are the member of my family who needs capsicum spray sedation at the mere sight of a daddy long legs.

The Red Cross recommends serious funnel-web type spider bites get the snakebite treatment. Lesser bites just need a pack of frozen peas and optimism like: "Nah, it wasn't a redback, mate. It was a sort of . . . ah . . . dunno."

But, don't panic. We now have the technology to ID arachnids.

This year British pub worker Matthew Stevens, 23, took a picture with his camera phone of the 13cm Brazilian wandering spider that bit him at work.

Matthew collapsed and was taken to hospital. The hospital faxed the pic to the Bristol Zoo and the anti-venom was delivered.

But can I offer two suggestions? If you do take a photo of the spider with your camera phone, tell the victim it is for medical purposes, not just to message your mates.

Then there is the european wasp, an aggressive buzzing, stinging beastie against which average Aussies are defenceless, not being able to defend themselves with a beer in one hand and a wilting paper plate in the other.

Wasps are attracted to sweet and fatty substances and to a wasp you look like a large well-dressed doughnut.

Bees on the other hand are attracted to hair spray, bright colours and perfume, so this summer sit some distance from your gaudily dressed and ageing aunt.

Apart from severe allergic, dial 000, reactions, the Red Cross recommends carefully removing the bee stinger and treating both bee and wasp stings with an icepack.

Mozzie, sandfly and ant bites are all acidic, so you can wash them with a weak solution of ammonia or carb soda.

If bitten by all three, just trim your fingernails and try not to think about it.

As for lizards, my 1969 St John Ambulance manual insists they can be detached by applying "a lighted match or cigarette to the mouth".

Theirs not yours, of course, but collecting 12 cigarette burns while detaching one lizard seems dumb.

I imagine simply jumping around like King Kong on speed would effectively detach a lizard. Then try frozen peas.

So, when you head into the outdoors this summer avoid bright clothes, perfume and eating sweet or fatty foods.

Use repellent. Watch out for creeping, crawling things. And try to relax and enjoy yourself.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 27. February 2006, 03:33
After rain, the land is renewed
In the morning, the land is refreshed, renewed and almost alive as the clouds hover and lift and hover again over the valley … and when the sun appears the land becomes golden.

The warm sun bakes the earth. The land is pungent and scented and it almost breathes with the heat of the rich earth and the intoxicating scents of the grasses lying beneath the sun. I can almost feel the approach of rain, a fresh humidity in the air. The earth reveals itself in all its hidden sounds: the green leaves of the gum trees rustle tremulously under the wind; a coalescent, muffled soughing comes from the nearby forest

A Cockatoo’s screech mingles weirdly with the joyous singing of the magpie. I listen to the artless laughter of a kookaburra, and to the creak of a tree branch and the rustle of the eucalypt-scrented wind. Almost touching the earth with their double-pointed tails, swallows weave patterns in the air, and far, far off in the sky two eagles sail majestically. Wild ducks forage nearby and a drake calls hoarsely to his mate; far, far off, a cuckoo indistinctly and mournfully counts out its unspent years as small birds forage and chitter in the tree limbs above my head.

This land is filled with a marvellous and myriad-voiced sonority, of elemental life, of scents and perfumes …
 


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kippers7, Monday, 27. February 2006, 02:45
Finally, rain
Leaden-grey clouds hang in the sky. Two sunbeams stream momentarily through a rift, then the sky is enveloped with clouds and the wind turns colder.
Pallid day-lightening flickers over the ground. A roll of thunder shakes the hanging cloud mass and lashings of rain begin to fall. The wind sends it running in dancing waves over the dry ground, over the roses wilting in the heat, over the dry grass. The rain revives the dusty leaves, and the dry grass gleams and the roses lift their heads again and their cloying scent rises to seep through the garden. The thirsty earth steams as it drinks drunkingly. A dove grey mist hangs over the ground.

Bowed down with rain, the grass is bent to the earth. Frogs croak happily from the dam and nearby a magpie chorals exuberantly and a kookaburra, winging up, calls laughingly in answer.

 


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kippers7, Thursday, 23. February 2006, 07:03
Night Falls across the High Country

Night falls. Beyond the valley, beyond the green and gold gulf of forest, the stars glow in the bluish depths of the heaven. The sky is enveloped in gold, then pink. The sunset burns and sinks beneath the hills turning the mountains beyond purple. The hump of the moon emerges from the spreading horns of the gum trees. The shadows deepen against the land. It is so quiet, hardly a sound, just the grass whispering in the light breeze.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 20. February 2006, 01:54
Sunset

A redolent sunset slips through the trees and falls beneath the earth. The sight fills me with wonder as I sit poised with camera in hand. There is something inspiring in nature as the poets proclaim.
 


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kippers7, Monday, 20. February 2006, 01:31
Australian Summer

Before me, wrapped in a tender blue haze, the range of hills lay majestically silent. The sun streams down from the zenith beyond a thread of opal clouds. A heavy, oppressive aroma arises from the gum trees an grass. The countryside is dry - there is no green except for the trees and vineyard below. The valley below is yellow and in places the soil is being sucked up in the air in little dust devils. All, around, as far as the eye can see, is dry, illimitable space, quivering streams of haze, and on the horizon the magically intangibly azure Mount Buller, the summit clean of its attendent tugboat clouds and its flanks plae in the sunlight.

 


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kippers7, Thursday, 16. February 2006, 03:39
Dry, Dry countryside and the risk of fire
It's very dry now in the north east of Victoria. The green paddocks have turned yellow. The land is eucalpt scented. Cockatoos cry high and wild, their screams seemingly flung on the searing northerly wind which is like a burning furnace . No clouds cover the sky as the cockatoos rise up in their slow winged flight to circle and scream.




The dry countryside

Sunset over the Delatite Valley

The dry paddocks cause grave anxiety and we scan the distant horizon for signs of fire. Australia has always had bush fires. Some of the terrible fires might not seem so appalling if they burn where there is no human habitation, if there are no people caught in the path of the flames, no gardens, that have been lovingly tended for years, destroyed. There will always be the tragedy of kangaroos with burnt paws, hind legs and tails, and of possums and Koalas burnt in trees.

The savegy of the fires in the last fifty years may have many causes. Possibly the dense pastures caused by the spreading of superphophate make the fires hotter, Possibly the Aboringies' slow fires kept areas of less inflammable bush, here, there, everwhere, and those areas stopped fires from becoming general. Possibly there has been often a combination of severe drought and careless burning off or a slasher hitting a stone and causing a spark (as in the case of the recent Yea fire), or the cycle of years where forked lightning and the dry thunderstorms combine with severe drought.

The extremely good organisation of country fire-brigades all though the closer-settled country has stopped many fires getting out of control, but one cannot but be beware that a vast general conflagration could occur, such as Black Friday, and Ash Wednesday, even with all the possible care being taken.

If you live in the country, surrounded by paddocks and State Forest you are aware of the inherent risk and dangers.
 


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kippers7, Thursday, 9. February 2006, 23:16
A moment in time

The air was magically still, although the lead-coloured overhead clouds were ragged from the storm. Over the hills the cloud had thinned away to long streamers of apricot and pale violet, tinged on the underside with jade. The trunks of the gum trees were washed with delicate shades of lavender and faded rose pink, and the long grass rippled with a long streak of molten gold. I drew in a breath. The sun just rested on the horizon. It was a perfect orb of brilliant falme-orange, except for the faintest flattening at its lowest margin.

Entranced, it was a moment for myself. The unearthly beauty stuck a shaft into my heart.
 


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kippers7, Thursday, 9. February 2006, 07:15
A trip to Sydney
Sydney is a city imbued by the sea. It is a city as free and democratic as its sunshine and sea; well into its second century it is proud of its heritage of historical links with the earliest days of settlement.

There are certain aspects of Sydney, which will shine through all the centuries. Her fretted harbour, though it runs back only thirty kilometers from the sea to Parramatta, has a meandering shoreline ten times as long with scores of sequestered coves and beaches as lovely as the golden afternoons that so often lie upon it.

From thousands of homes, flats and offices in Sydney you may see sunlight reveling on the harbour water for most days and in the evenings, reflected lights twinkle and beckon.

Ferries constantly crisscross the harbour, ferrying tourists and locals alike. There are many Sydney-siders whom the morning and evening tranquility of the ferry crossings is as necessary as breakfast and supper.

Sydney is eclectic with its modern international architecture – the glass houses on stilts, the big rectangular buildings with a general unifying texture of glass and stone that reflect the pattern of light and shade, buildings that are outward viewing as well as upward looking.

The heavy steel arch of the harbour bridge, spanning the harbour, the Sydney Opera House with its soaring white sails so supremely beautiful in the sunlight, the bright Luna park face, the historical buildings that cluster around the harbour.

In the many parks and gardens, stairways have been cut through the brown or reddish sandstone to connect differences in level, which occur unexpectedly. Every step is a lookout. I particularly like the sudden gap of Moore Stairs looking down to the ferry boats of Circular Quay.

Darling harbour with its many restaurants and cafes is a place to sit to either drink a cold beer or sip a glass of wine or drink a cup of coffee and watch the world pass by. Take the monorail and ride above the rooftops of the stunning metropolis and over an arm of the glorious bay - past convention centers, soviet subs and impatient sharks. Sydney is a City to explore on foot, or by boat or by car. It is a City of hidden secrets and amazing views. It is a City that will continue to grow and change but the harbour will always be its constant.










 


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kippers7, Monday, 31. October 2005, 01:15
Images of Melbourne







 


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kippers7, Friday, 7. October 2005, 04:15
Spring in the High Country
In Spring, the smell of the eucalypts, the smell of smoke in the evenings ... the beautiful early morning sunrises - so much a part of Australia. We've had some fine Spring weather and lovely sunshine in between showers of rain. The snow still occasionally splatters in the mountains and we still awake to cold frosty mornings. But each day the sun rides higher in the sky and its rays become warmer. Spring mists lay over the Delatite Valley in the early mornings. At dawn we might see the mountains and then the mist will rise and cover us. Black cockatoos cry eerily in the mist. Kookaburra's cackle and magpies warble - the beauty of Spring's sounds.

Rain falls and falls. The water rushes over the paddocks and finds its way into the ancient creek bed. The creek floods and spreads and shafts of sunlight fall through the heavy cloud, illuminating the creek and sheets of water. Our paddocks have become soft and wet underfoot.

Beautiful cloudy days come and go with cumulous clouds in the west, both white and blue black and the east is suffused with gold between layers of cloud. Light flows through those bars of cloud and send crepuscular rays across the sky. Rainbows form and reform. Ever changing lines and patterns, great hollows of dark blue sky, the valley below constantly changes.
 


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kippers7, Wednesday, 17. August 2005, 04:59
A touch of Spring
The miraculous flaring gold of the wattles have lit the hills with a golden light as Spring approaches. Snow on the mountains gleams in the sunlight with Spring's glorious promise.

Days of dense grey mist, impenetrable and soaking fade away as the sun rides higher in the sky. The clouds clear and one can see the wide arc of the snow covered mountains.

In the early mornings, mist lies thick in the valley below and it becomes a mysterious inland sea lapping at one's feet. The snow mountains sail above it: the dark world of fog is below.

The first invisible haze of green over the willows appears. The red-brown buds begin to burst open to show a faint fold of green leaf. There is a sudden lightening of the spirts. The days of sun and light, of colours in flowers and in birds, and days of a vast choir of bird song at dawn are returning. - the green haze is the rebirth of the land.

Now as long bright days appear and the sun begins to ride higher, in the far distance a banner of white snow flares across the horizon and on moonlight nights the snow-covered mountains become silvered ghosts.

The first touch of Spring is like a gift of strength, a well of hope as the wattles burst into golden bloom, and the memory, of the imprisoned scent of wattles becomes a reality. The fragrence is in the air, drifting down to the house at night and winter begins to turn the corner into Spring ...
 


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kippers7, Wednesday, 17. August 2005, 04:58
Snow flakes drift down ...
A tense, waiting silence enfolds the land. Then one white flake swirled and twisted down ... two ... three ... More and more were drifting, like upturned rose petals floating down. Our Tolmie garden was surrounded by flake-filled air. I looked up at the moving white snow in the grey sky, felt the benediction of the feather-light cold touch on cheeks and eyelids. Snow flakes had laid their touch in blessing upon my upturned face whilst I stood alone in the silence of the garden.

Steadily the snow began to coat the leaves of the gum trees. Yellow petals of early flowering daffodils showed above cups of snow. Out of the timeless, paceless silence and the snow-thick air, came the mournful cry of the currawong. My footsteps cut tracks along the driveway between the woodshed and the house.

The snow stopped falling by mid-day and the temperature rose. Then a bitter, cold wind sprang up from the South. The sky became clearer, brittle, cold blue. By evening, though clouds still lay over the ranges, the wind had blown the sky clear above us. A band of cloud lay down over the far range, stained deep, cold red by the sunset. Darkness closed down on the white hills and valley and by morning the snow was a barely imaginable dream.
 


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