Stephen's Blog

More Hutter Work

2011-03-29T18:49:00.001+10:30

Horse collar and wing details

The Adventure Goes On...

2011-03-29T18:37:00.002+10:30

So far (in order of visiting) I have been to:
Japan
Germany
Malaysia
France
United Kingdom
Singapore
The Netherlands
Switzerland
Belgium
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
Iran
Niue
New Zealand
Canada
Austria
Spain
Vietnam
Hong Kong
Taiwan
China

(I've also seen Poland from the German side of the border, but don't count it as visited!)

Another night in the shed

2010-12-03T00:17:00.001+10:30

The dope has arrived today, so we need to get stuck in. Probably have a go at the empenage in the next few weeks then clean up the wings.

Start on the bottom

2010-10-11T16:01:00.002+10:30

Have now turned the fuselage over and continuing to scrape!

Pano shot of H17

2010-08-09T15:56:00.002+09:30

A Panorama shot inside the shed. The port wing in the background has also lost some of its fabric. The new colour scheme will be clear fabric and white dope. The clear dope has a delivery time of 4 months ex USA.

Work Continues

2010-08-09T15:55:00.001+09:30

Horse collar is in need of work. The windscreen is crazed and will be replaced, the instrument panel will be upgraded. I think I will put skylights in the sides to illuminate the panel more too. Don't know if I will replace the red release knob though (old glue bottle cap). It has a certain charm!

Start Stripping the H17

2010-05-22T15:49:00.001+09:30

Getting the Elevator moments.

Now the fabric can start coming off.

Hutter Control Deflections 2

2010-05-06T16:26:00.005+09:30

Set up for the elevator (not zeroed).

Elevator datum used.

With any luck we should see this flying by summer in a new paint scheme and a fresh 20 yearly.

Hutter Control Deflections 1

2010-05-06T16:24:00.004+09:30

Setting up the angle measurement device on the wing to determine control deflections.

Aileron droop under normal conditions (about 1.5 deg.)

A Bit More Hutter

2010-05-01T15:12:00.001+09:30

Found an old T&B that someone had drilled out the mounting holes too big. Will probably put it in the Hutter. I wrote to Winter to see what a new faceplate would cost and they sent me one for free!! "Sehr nett" of Herr Winter.

Now ready to start stripping the poor old thing back.

Hutter - First Good Look 2

2010-04-12T21:32:00.000+09:30

More snaps from the first general inspection night. Even more pictures here...

Hutter - First Good Look 1

2010-04-12T21:30:00.000+09:30

Start the inspection work associated with the Form 2 and 20 yearly. I still haven't paid for the paperwork, but there's several months of work ahead, so not in a rush too much to pay at this stage.
I've got an inspection plan laid out and will probably put together a covering/paint scheme in the near future. Do the control deflections then onto the major structural inspection to find out what is under the skin...

Hutter Sees the Light

2010-03-07T19:17:00.001+10:30

Now with new tyres and freshly registered, we can check the trailer lights and safely tow to the workshop.

The Hutter finally gets out of the hangar and the car is packed with trestles and stands for the work ahead.
The clouds are a bit ominous, so I ask the morning tuggy if he is happy to do the few tows for the afternoon to let me get away before any real rain starts to fall. Which is just as well. An hour or so after I get to the workshop the sky opens up and lets in all down. The poor old girl would have been badly drenched if I had left later. As I leave the workshop, after unloading all the peripheral stuff and checking that everything is secure I took a picture of the standing water. Most there's been since about last November.

Hutter Restoration Project Starts

2010-02-06T14:13:00.000+10:30

Poor Hutter. It hadn't seen the light of day for over 4 years. Even the tyres on the trailer were perished. Time to get the trailer ready to take the Hutter where it can be more easily worked on.
First Job - Register the trailer and get new tyres...

Balls Pyramid

2010-01-06T20:46:00.000+10:30

On our way

Diving in the lagoon

2010-01-05T20:44:00.000+10:30

At Arajilla restaurant. We booked tonight's meal after we couldn't get in for New Years. It seems to be the most expensive and exclusive place on the island. The restaurant seems to be associated strongly with the hotel. That is, the hotel guests get first preference for tables and others come second. Arajilla also seems to have some health spa/massage for guests.Today I went diving with Howea Divers. Unfortuneately the sea was too strong to go outside the reef and I was stuck on two boatloads of beginners. We went to Comet's Hole and I was buddied with a Howea diver called Rachel. She seemed to get all the photo shots first but the water was full of sediment so there weren't any really good pictures to be had. LHI waters, although claimed to be clear, have really been a bit mucky during our stay.The next dive was at Hooks Peef, also known as the Horseshoe.Uschi and I visited both these sites on our snorkelling tour. Rachel had to go and on the second load there was only one leader.A young boy and his father made up the rest of the group and it took a while for them to get down. I waited under the boat for them. After they did their exercises we spent about 15 minutes on the reef then they retired to the boat, leaving me alone in about 2-3m of water. I spent maybe another 20 minutes there and saw a few good fish. Large Parrot Fish, smaller Puffers and Lizard fish on the sand. Then when my air was down to about 70 bar I went back to the boat. I was last one on board. After I got back I found Uschi had been to Sylph's Hole at the high tide and seen 4 (!) turtles. Three smaller ones and a large individual. By this time it was mid afternoon and Uschi and Christl had a snooze. I went up to the museum to see if I could use the internet, but the museum was shut. I went back to the guest house then on to the cemetery near Ned's Beach. I found the grave of Thompson (the first school teacher) and his student wife, buried in the same grave.

Mt Eliza

2010-01-04T20:42:00.000+10:30

4/1/10Today we climbed Mt Eliza, leaving from the Old Settlement Beach. There was the first ridge to climb, then down to the picnic area near North Beach. We had visited this picnic area on our earlier Turtle Tour, much easier to get to by boat. From the Picnic area we climbed the Actual Mt Eliza till we got to a sign saying no further access (about ¾ of the way up) due to breeding time. We spent more than an hour watching the birds and trying to take pictures. Then we headed back. The return, with rests, took 65 minutes. In total we did three climbs of about 140m and three descents of the same and a total track distance about 4.2km. Later in the Afternoon we went to the “Birds of a Different Feather” talk by Phillipps. We talked about aviation things and he said that the Catalina Chronicle by David Vincent is in great demand and would be very valuable to a collector. I have a signed copy of that book.For tea we went to the Milky Way Cafe. Chris could only manage a salad as she hadn't been taking her medicine. She wasn't too happy about that. I had fish and chips, Uschi had a cold platter; prawns, oysters, fish salad etc. We sat outside on the bench tables under umbrellas. Another couple was there who were from Port Lincoln. They didn't know Yonk, even so it is a small world. The lady was born and bought up in Marino.

Mutton Bird Island and Elsewhere

2010-01-03T20:39:00.000+10:30

Arches and Jetty

2010-01-02T20:38:00.000+10:30

(Saturday)
Today I got up early, about 06:30, and went to take some photos of the jetty. At 11:30 Uschi and I went to the “Arches” for a dive. Uschi had already done a refresher and was happy with her performance but she still had mask trouble and a bit of an ear plablem.
Uschi and all the others (except one older lady) surfaced early, an American chap who was on Uschis refresher course was sea sick. The older lady and I stayed down for a little longer and actually got some of the more interesting photos just near the anchor.
When Uschi was doing her refresher course on Thursday, I did some snorkelling around the jetty. I found two writhing groups of catfish. The 2 groups had individuals of comparable sizes but each group was different. One group was made of larger individuals (more mature?) while the other group was smaller individuals. The writhing of the groups was a little creepy. The area under the jetty was pretty bare, although I did see a large sea star. A charter boat came in and I worked my way north from the jetty to the boat ramp. The water was only 300-600mm deep. I saw anothyer Sea Hare. The lagoon bottom in this area is somewhat bare sand, interspersed with patches of grass and coral. There is some marine life but it isn't hugely diverse like the outer reef or Ned's. After getting out at the boatrampI cycled up to Settlement Beach and walked across the mud to Sylph's Hole. It was very low tide. Visibility at Sylph's Hole was very poor, only about 5m or so and the general area of Sylphs has a lot of broken coral. I saw one turtle. I also saw two quite large Lionfish (4-500mm long) but they were in a coral cave/overhang which was difficult to get close into to take a photo.
On my way out again I saw a smaller black lionfish which seemed a bit terrotorial as it sat above a coral bommy.
=-=-=-=-=-=
Tonight we are having tea at the local Chinese restaurant, the “Garden Court” at the Lorhiti Guest House. I had chicken with vermicelli noodles which had a faint ginger tang. Uschi had garlic prawns whilst Christine had sweet and sour pork. This was the restaurant we went to for new years eve banquet (at $70 a head). Prices are quite high on the island, unsurprisingly.The New Year's banquet was mostly fish as most restaurants seem to serve. I tried the beer battered fish, which was OK. In fact it seemed a sweet batter to me with maybe some cinnamon in it. Uschi had about a dozen prawns and was very happy(!). The roast potatoes and potato salads were really excellent. There was also a variety of fruits, cheese and cake which I didn't sample as I was too full.

Transit Hill and Lagoon Kayaking

2010-01-01T20:37:00.001+10:30

(Friday)
Uschi and I got away to a late walking start at abot 11:00.
In the mild heat we headed up to Transit Hill. A comparatively small climb of 130m. It only took us about ½ hour to get up there even though we are both finding the going quite tough due to our fitness levels.
At the top of Transit Hill is a smallish observation platform with a radio mast. We took some photos from there and stayed about another half hour. After that we headed back, checked Christine was OK and then spent 3 hours kayaking on the lagoon. We first went to Blackburn Island where we beached the kayak. The tide was very low and we snorkelled around to the south west of the island. Maybe half way to Comet's Hole. The fish life here was quite good and some plate corals were every bit as good as the ones the snorkel tour had taken us to.
We could have spent more time there but I wanted to get to Sylph's Hole for Uschi. So we headed over paddling quite hard. After about half an hour we were only ¾ of the way there but had to slow down due to the exposed coral from the low tide. We couldn't get to Sylph's in time to do any snorkelling there so we headed back to the hire shop. We took the long way back, around the Far Rocks. In total we must have covered 3-4km paddling.
I then cooked susages, onions and spuds for tea in the electric frying pan at the guest house.

Valley of the Shadows

2009-12-31T19:26:00.000+10:30

Blinky Beach then Snorkelling Tour

2009-12-30T19:25:00.000+10:30

Kims and Neds

2009-12-29T19:21:00.001+10:30

Started the day with the intention of climbing Mt Eliza. We took our bikes to the end of the bitumen and started to walk along the path to the mountain top, starting at Settlement Beach. We passed a family coming down from the Malaga who must have started very early. It was about 08:30 when we met them at our start of the climb up. On our way up Uschi and I found out how unfit we really were. Instead of going to Mt Eliza we changed our plans and went to Kim's Lookout. We were still in two minds about pushing on to Malagar, but we weren't sure it came out near the Settlement Beach area. Consequently we went back the way we came. It took about 1 hour up, with rests and photo stops and about half an hour down.
After getting down we tried to book a couple of places for New Year's Eve, but mostly they were full up. We made some bookings for days other than New Years then went to the boat sheds to see about boating and snorkelling tours. Booked into the dive tour for first thing tomorrow morning and snorkelling in the afternoon. We can take Christine on the snorkelling tour.
After that we went back to the cabin and I made a picnic lunch to take to Ned's Beaach. This time we wheeled Christine there. We all had lunch and later we managed to coax Christine down to the water to feed the fish. She had a surprisingly good time and was trying to poke some of the fish with her walking stick by the end. After we got her back to the shelter shed Uschi and I went in to do some photography. The shallow water was much more silt laden than yesterday and it was also low tideso it was a bit awkward to get over the coral. There was not so much freeboard to float over it and there was a danger of getting cut. We both followed the channel out, the same channel which we followed yesterday, to where the ocean breakers were coming in.The water was very cold there, the Kingfish (abot 1.5m long) from the feeding place near the beach, cruised up and down the channel between the beach and the ocean. Very big fish, looking quite sinister and aggresive in a group of about 5. Much different to their behavious nearer the beach.
When we came back to the cabin we did so clothes washing and hung them up to dry. I downloaded today's photos. After that I took the bike along Anderson Road on the east side of the island to Joy's Shop to get some more groceries for subsequent teas. I made spaghetti tonight using the microwave to boil the pasta. It worked alright but I had bought the ingrediaents thinking there was a cooktop in the room. There wasn't, only the microwave.

First Trip to Ned's Beach

2009-12-28T18:01:00.000+10:30

28/12/09
First snorkelling trip to Ned's Beach, the best beach for fish and coral that we have seen so far.
Saw an octopus, similar in size to the large one we saw in Niue. Also saw a Moray (Lord Howe?), Beche de Mer and many different types of fish. There were spangled emperor, Double Headers, 3 Striped Butterfly Fish, McCulloch's Anemone Fish, Scalyfin, Bluefish and Yellowtail. These were all out from the shore a way and in the channel. In the shallows along the beach front were Sand Mullet and Garfish, along with some of the bigger fish.
The fish get used to being fed by tourists and locals and swarm in the knee deep water. I saw Kingfish that were 1.3 to 1.5m long in a foot or so of water.
Today the water was a bit stirred up in places with sediments and broken off sea grasses.
Last night we also visited Ned's in the dark to try to take some photos by moonlight, with the new lens. But it was far too dark. On the way back to the guest house we saw some Mutton Birds, most between the Kentias in the forest but some even sitting in the middle of the road. They were making a lot of noise in the dark, apparently they are noisy all night.

Off on Holidays (Again)

2009-12-26T17:51:00.000+10:30

Apple Struedel

2009-11-05T22:12:00.002+10:30

Ingredients:
flour, about a cup or a bit more.
oil, a teaspoon or so.
water (must be tepid), roughly half to 2/3 the quantity of flour.
a pinch of salt.

[A word about the measurements] This recipe was given to me by an old Austrian cook. Like many with her background (eg my pasta teacher from a few years ago) she learnt by gauging quantities by eye. This the first recipe I have used which doesn't have strict measurement quantities but it isn't as hard as might be thought. If you want a bigger struedel, start with more flour! Give it a go, you'll be surprised.

Sift the flour and add the salt and oil. Then, mixing all the time, add water until the dough becomes soft but not so sticky that the dough sticks to your hands. It should feel a little tacky, but no dough should pull away from the main ball when you work it. If too much water has made the dough sticky add a bit more flour.
Once the right consistency of dough has been reached, keep working it for another 5 minutes
or more. Then form it into a ball, cover and let stand for at least half an hour.

Make your filling

Cheesecake filling:
600g Quark
200g Philadelphia cream cheese.
2 eggs (all or just the whites for fluffier filling)
Sugar, cinnamon, vanilla to taste.
Mix all to a paste
Sultanas/cranberries/currants for later.

Apple filling:
Peeled and cored apples. Sliced thinly by knife, grater or mandolin.
Sugar
Sultanas (I added cranberries too)
Fried breadcrumbs

Preparing the pastry:
Lay out a large cotton cloth to work on. This is important as we will see later.
Roll out the dough into a rough rectangle. It will be about 5-8mm thick, now the tricky bit. Carefully lifting the dough drape it over the back of your hands (palms facing down) and feed the pasty across the backs of your hands in a circular motion. It sounds a bit weird but the dough stretches itself under its own weight. When the dough gets as thin as you are game to let it lay it back on the cloth and continue to stretch it by pulling the thicker sections. Be careful during all this to avoid tearing or putting holes in it. The pastry should end up thin enough to see the cloth pattern through.
After all this the pastry edges can be trimmed to be roughly rectangular. The offcuts can be used to patch any small holes in the pastry or discarded or laid back in the struedel filling.

Add the filling:
Cheesecake:
Spread the cheesecake mix over the pastry being careful not to tear it. The filling should end up 5-10mm thick. Sprinkle with sultanas.
Apple:
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the pastry. The crumbs absorb some of the juice from apples
and also cushion them slightly so they dont tear the pastry. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the pastry then layer on the sliced apples. Over the pastry the filling should be about 1-2cm thick (your choice).

Rolling the Struedel:
This is where the cloth under the struedel comes into its real use. Start by taking one edge of the pastry and folding it back over the filling. Then, keeping the cloth parallel with that edge of the struedel, lift the cloth in a steady, continuous motion. As you do this the Struedel will roll up onto itself. When completely rolled up the cloth can also be used to lift the struedel into an oiled baking pan.
Place in an oven preheated to 180 C and cook for 20-25 minutes for a small struedel and 30-
40 minutes for a larger (more filled) one.

Waterhouse Art Prize 2009

2009-07-20T23:22:00.001+09:30

Went to the 2009 Waterhouse exhibition tonight.

(Clockwise from top left)
"Totem for the Transient II" by Roh Singh. A spectacular sculpture. Made of acrylic sheets with holes drilled in them to make a 3D image of birds. The small picture does not do it justice (my personal pick).

"Osaka" by Sarah Monteith. A Gyotaku print. Described as Sumi ink on rice paper, using the fish as a the printing medium.

"Little Red" a very intricate scuplture in bronze and wood by Simon Ward. Assembled from a number of pieces of cast bronze and carved redgum. Very difficult to see how it was put together. The body is metal with the wood "wrapped" around it.

"Ice Wall", an oil painting by George Tetlow. Very pleasing in blue tones.

Spätzle

2009-07-06T21:32:00.002+09:30

Ingredients:

3 cups flour,

4 eggs,

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg (optional),

1 1/2 tsp. Salt,

Cold water

Directions:

Stir flour, eggs, salt and 1/2 cup of water. Beat until batter is smooth and no longer sticks to the spoon. Add water as needed. The spaetzle dough can be firm enough to be rolled and cut into slivers or soft enough to be forced through a sieve, colander or spaetzle-maker with large holes.

Boil a pot of salted water. Press the dough through the Spaetzle press and into the boiling water.

===========================

Käsespätzle (Cheese spaetzle): Layer spätzle with shredded Emmenthaler cheese in a greased casserole dish. Bake at 180˚C until the cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes. Top with onions browned in butter, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

The Story of the Easther Brothers (Part 2)

2009-05-02T09:35:00.002+09:30

The main narative regarding the Easther brothers is here.

====ooo00ooo====
From the Quorn Mercury 24th August, 1916

Died on Active Service
The Late SGT. L. R. EASTHER

On Saturday, August 12, the Rev. T. Trestrail received official notice from the Military authorities stating that Sgt. Leonard R. Easther was killed in action at the battle of Katia Oasis, Egypt, between the 4th and 6th of August, the reverend gentleman having the painful duty of breaking the sad news to his mother. The late Sgt. Leonard Ridgeway Easther was the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Easther, of Quorn. Sgt. Easther, who was 27 years of age, was employed for a number of years by the Hon. R. W. Foster at Quorn. He then moved to Maitland, where his genial character won for him a large circle of friends. Subsequently he entered the Railway Department, and was employed at the Adelaide booking office. On the outbreak of war he was among the first to volunteer for active service. Sgt. Easther was an excellent type of Australian manhood, and, being a fine horseman, he joined the 3rd Light Horse Regiment, and left for the front in October, 1914. He was wounded at Galipolli, and was subsequently sick in Egypt, where his regiment was engaged in the above battle, and where he lost his life. Two brothers, Tpr. Charles Easther and Pte. Bryant Easther are now in Egypt and France respectively, serving with the colours, On Sunday evening, the 20th inst. a memorial service was conducted by the Rev. T. Trestrail, in the Town Hall for the late Sgt. Easther, and a large attendance was present at the service. A most popular speech was delivered by the Rev. T. Trestrail, which moved several of the congregation to tears. An anthem was rendered by the Methodist Choir, and at the conclusion of the meeting the congregation stood, whilst the organist played the "Dead March".

Gugelhopf

2009-04-16T23:00:00.004+09:30

Ingredients

1 Package Yeast; Dry Active
1 Cup Milk; Scalded Then Cooled
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Butter Or Margarine
5 Eggs; Large
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Lemon Rind (rind of 1 lemon)
3/4 Cup Raisins
1/3 Cup Almonds; Ground
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
4 Cups Flour; Unbleached, Unsifted

Preparation Method

Sprinkle yeast into milk to dissolve.

In a large bowl beat sugar and butter
until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.
[Picture 1]

Stir in vanilla, lemon rind, raisins, and almonds. Mix salt and flour. Add milk and flour mixtures, alternately, ending with the flour mixture. [Picture 2]

Grease a gugelhopf mould. (more commonly known as a bundt, tube or turban pan in Australia). [This was the first time I have used a cast iron cake mould and they are oiled and then dusted with flour.]

Pour batter into pan.
[Picture 3]

Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. Bake in preheated 190C (375F) Oven for 40 minutes or until browned and done. [Picture 4]

More Kayaking

2009-04-13T09:56:00.000+09:30

Easter Monday we went to Noarlunga and hired two sit on type kayaks for a trial to see how they fared. Not as good as the enclosed kayaks in the Port River

Kayaking on a Sunday

2009-04-07T20:38:00.001+09:30

The Santiago in the ship's graveyard.

Up the creek with a paddle.

More paddles.

The Adventure Continues (some more)

2009-03-26T22:48:00.002+10:30

So far (in order of visiting) I have been to:
Japan
Germany
Malaysia
France
United Kingdom
Singapore
The Netherlands
Switzerland
Belgium
Thailand
United Arab Emirates
Iran
Niue
New Zealand
Canada
Austria
Spain

(I've also seen Poland from the German side of the border, but don't count it as visited!)

Still in the medium future:
South America (more specific when we get closer!)

The Story of Timothy Cornelius Keneally

2009-03-24T23:12:00.001+10:30

Timothy was born in Gordon and worked the family farm when he enlisted on 16 March 1916. He had a brother John who enlisted as a driver and survived the war, returning to Australia in May 1919. Timothy had at least one other brother, but his father had died earlier. His mother was ill in Adelaide for many years.

Almost four months later on 12 July he embarked on the “Seeang Bee” at Outer Harbour and a little less than two months after that he disembarked in Plymouth.
The day after disembarkation, 10 September he was taken on strength by the 12th Training Battalion.
During his period in training, Timothy was admitted to Fargo Hospital with bronchitis in September. Four days after Christmas 1916 he found himself in Codford Hospital for almost a fortnight. He was discharged and shortly afterwards was re-admitted, spending another 26 days in hospital during January/February 1917 then another fortnight there in February/March.
After these multiple periods of hospitalisation Timothy finally embarked from Folkestone for France on 22 May 1917. He spent 17 days at Etaples before being taken on strength by 48 Battalion in mid June.
There is no further direct records of Timothy until he is noted as wounded and missing on 12 October, 1917.
No further information regarding Timothy was heard of by early 1918 and in February a court of enquiry found that Timothy had been killed.

-----ooOOoo------
Keneally was in my platoon. He was fair, about 30 years old, came from S. Australia. We went over at Passchendale on October 12th at about 5.30 a.m. I did not see him again but 2 days later I was told by Pte Arthur Williamson, who was in the same L/G team and Keneally, that he had been with Keneally when he got wounded. A sniper bullet entered his left ear and came out at the bottom of his spine. They were in a shell hole and Williamson had to leave him there after doing what he could for him. We failed to take our objective and Keneally was not seen again although S/Bs were there. Bosches came over that ground later.
Pte H.J.Talbot 4606, St. Johns Hospital, Etaples
21.12.17

[Henry Talbot was in hospital with an inflamed knee. A few days later he was transfered to England where he spent the next 9 months in a training camp, before returning to France just before the Armistice. He survived the war.]
[S/B, stretcher bearer]
-----ooOOoo------
Wounded and Missing 12.10.1917
Was in D. Coy, 16th Pltn, Lewis Gun Section, came from S. Australia. I saw him wounded by a sniper. The bullet went in the back of the ear and came out the small of the back. It happened during the hop over at Ypres, on Oct 12th. We had to retire owing to Fritz counter attacking, and he was left there, and would be taken prisoner if he lived, which I thinkis doubtful. We “Went over” together, and were just getting into a shell hole when he got knocked.
T Harvey 3112,
11.2.1918

[Ex school teacher Tom Harvey gave his statement on furlough in England after leaving France. He remained in a training role in England till May 1918 before returning to France. He also survived the war.]
-----ooOOoo------
I know that T.C. Keneally (48. D. XVI) was killed in an advanced position, before we had to retire, on October 12th at Passchendale. He was very badly wounded and was lying just outside the shell hole where I was – I think he was hit in the head as far as I remember. He was quite out of our reach, and it was impossible to get to him. He died before we retired and was not found. S/B Robinson (48 A) attended to him and bandaged him up. He has since been taken prisoner). Ground was lost.
5302 Sergt. Tom London, 3rd Southern General Hospital, Oxford.
23/5/18

[Tom was in hospital in England with a gunshot wound which had fractured his shoulder. He would recover and be discharged from hospital two months later. He never returned to France.
Also recorded as Loudon.]

The Story of William Joh(n) Finlay Larwood.

2009-03-24T10:30:00.000+10:30

The enlistment patterns of these 40 men from Quorn follow an interesting pattern. Most of the men enlisted in the first few years of the war. While some other Quorn survivors enlisted later in the war none of the soldiers who eventually died enrolled after late 1916. William, along with John Hawes and Sydney Mills, was one of these later enlistment soldiers.

---ooOoo---
Extract from the 32 Battalion Diary, 30/9/1917
Strength 47 Officers 971 Other Ranks
At 3 am grenadiers and Stokes mortars bombarded Cameron Covert and dispersed enemy. At 5am Cameron Covert again shelled and patrols penetrated to 150 yards but found all clear. A number of enemy dead were seen some distance out. Enemy shelled heavily for 5 minutes at 10am. Sniping was brisk during the day. At 9.30pm the battalion was relieved by the 9th Liecester Regiment and marched back to Dickebush. No casualties occurred during the relief. Lt Johnson wounded. 13 O/R killed, 30 O/R wounded in action.

---ooOoo---
William came from Boolcunda East. Like many of the soldiers from Quorn, he was a farmer. He enlisted in October 1916 and embarked on the Berrima at Adelaide in mid December. During his time in training in Adelaide he was admonished with 2 days loss of pay, as he had absconded from the Mitcham training camp for a short while.
Before arriving in Davenport, England he spent about 16 days in the ships hospital with measles.
On the 18th of February 1917 he marched into Hurdcott for training and left there in early July to go overseas.
He was taken on strength by 32 Battalion on the first day of August and was killed on the last day of September near Polygon Wood.
Tyne Cot cemetery was originally a site of some German bunkers. After being captured, the Australians turned one into a dressing station. The first graves were placed there around the end of 1917. The site changed hands a number of times during the war and afterwards a number of smaller cemeteries and lone graves were “bought in”.
In 1921 William was bought in to Tyne Cot cemetery. His body appears to have been identified by a clothing label still held in the Australian archives.

Erdaepfelkaese

2009-03-19T22:24:00.001+10:30

500 Gram Kartoffeln - Potatos
2 Zwiebel - Onions
125 Gram Sauerrahm - Sour Cream
125 Gram süsse Sahne - Normal (sweet) Cream
Salz - Salt
Pfeffer - Pepper
1 Bunch Schnittlauch - Chives

Peel and boil the potatoes in very small pieces. Peel and chop the onions then mix them with the potatoes. Add salt, pepper, sweet and sour cream gradually and garnish with chives.

Eaten either as a bread spread or side dish

Service Dates

2009-02-17T21:57:00.001+10:30

Comparative service dates for the Quorn soldiers. Black squares indicate month of death. Red squares indicate month of discharge for those soldiers who didn't die in service.

Toledo.

2009-01-09T22:55:00.000+10:30

09:10 Sitting in the "Avant" train, due to leave for Toledo in 10 minutes. The last 2 days have been so busy I have hardly had time to write. As we pull out of the station there is snow. Even more than we saw in Austria, the train display shows an outside air temperature of 1C.When we came out of the hotel this morning the air was cold and the ground wet with a few flakes drifting in the air, but melting when they settled. Now, about an hour later, after coming out of the underground and Atoche, the ground is covered in white and there are serious flurries of snow in the air. We walked the last two days, about 12 hours on Wednesday and 10 on Thursday. Thursday morning I was feeling very drained and we didn't really get going till midday. I think I was dehydrated somewhat.[Now the snowflakes are melting on the train windows leaving little water droplets]

09:40 Lots of HV lines in this part of Spain, we are now approaching Toledo. There is not so much snow.

10:45 We are having a breakfast/lunch in the square near the tourist info office in Toledo. We bought our own bread, cheese and sausage (Salchicha) from Madrid. It is very lightly snowing.

12:20 We are in the Cathedral, I got chatted for headware as I entered. I was wearing my earmuff headband, apparently that counts. Quite an expensive entry fee, no photos are allowed. It seems that some churches in Spain jealously guard their right to allow people to see and record their artworks. Others don't, there is no consistency and no relationship to the quality of the actual site. However, plenty of images are available on the internet.Uschi has just shown me the sculpture behind the altar, Jesus disappearing into the clouds. Only his feet are visible(!) As I write this we are between the Altar enclosure and the Coro (the choristers enclosure). A layout only found in Spanish churches, according to Uschi. The clock over the entrance door is a single handed type. In the chapter house (Sala Capitular) are the portraits of the Toledo archbishops, going back many centuries. Odd to think that these emminent holy men were intimately tied up with the inquisition, expulsion of people around 1500 and latterly the Franco side in the civil war, trying to prevent ordinary people have a say in their own country.

Museum of the Americas

2009-01-08T21:27:00.001+10:30

In the "Cafe & Te" near the Puerta del Sol for the second time, we had breakfast here yesterday too. Unfortuneately then I ordered a choritzo and cheese roll. The choritzo turned out to be bacon like, not sausage like as I imagined it would be. Today I had Spanish Tortilla in a small crunchy roll. This was really much more delicious.

After our breakfast we wandered out to Plaza Major, ate chips and watched the people and the pigeons. We visited the tourist info office in the plaza to work out what to do for the rest of the day. Uschi wanted to go to the Museum of the Americas. Much of the day had already slipped past when we got to the correct Metro station, but we left on the wrong side of the road and couldn't get across the highway when we finally got to the museum. So we had to back track all the way to the Metro station again and walk along the same road but on the other side.Time was running out and we only had less than 2 hours before closing. Lots of interesting ceramic-ware and gold. I just got to the mummies and real gold exhibits in the last room when the guards came and kicked me out!After we left the Museum of the Americas we looked at a tower restaurant, but it had been closed for a couple of years.

In the evening we went to another museum, Museo Arqueológico Nacional, the National Archaeological Museum. We saw the Lady of Elche and a few other things but the museum was undergooing renovations and a large part of it was closed. We stayed there till it closed at 20:00 and walked back in the direction of the Puerta del Sol looking for a good place to have tea. We didn't find anything we could all agree on until we got back to "Las Bravas", so we had tea there a second night running.After that we went to "Corte Ingles" where I had a look at the sporting goods (pretty ordinary department store stuff) and Uschi looked at the shoes. About 21:45 we got back to the hotel very tired and slept quickly. Even with the shutters open the noise of the city didn't disturb us.

Prado and Sophia

2009-01-07T23:33:00.001+10:30

7/1/09Finally got to go to the Prado, liked these:
Durer - Self Portrait 1498
Moro - Mary Tudor 1554
van Hemessen - The Surgeon 1550-55
van Reymerswaele - St Jerome 1547
De Lucca - Hermaphrodite - 1652 Bronze

Later in the evening we went to Reina Sophia.

Afterwards we walked from the "el Galleria del Arte Moderno Reina Sophia" to "Las Bravas" to get a Potata Bravas which we had been longing for all day. Uschi ordered a calamari sandwich which was huge. I had a Tortilla Bravas, just the normal tortilla in a bravas sauce. I also ordered "Pincho marujo", spicy meat on skewers which I shared with Christine. The special potatas bravas, which we went there for, the waitress forgot to serve us! We had to go back and get it for desert. Even after all that food and in 2C temperatures Uschi still wanted an icecream.
[Uschi in Reina Sophia inside the light from an exhibition]

First Day in Spain

2009-01-06T17:19:00.000+10:30

6/1/0913:00 at the Cafeteria del Prado, Paseo del Prado 16.

At the cafe across the road from the Prado. Today is "El Día de los Reyes". Day of the Kings, Epiphany I think. Because of the holiday the Prado is only open till 14:00 and we decided it wasn't long enough for us to see enough. So Prado tomorrow.

The cafe is a Tapas bar and we tried a few things between us. A quarter of a tortilla, a thick potato and onion omelette eaten cold, not like the flat flour things in the shops in Australia.There was also a fried fish shaped pastry thing and gluey potatoes (empinada). The main dish was 6 meat balls in yellow sauce, "albondigas". Uschi wants to have more of the food on display but is struggling to decide what. Partly due to being a bit ill, maybe because we stayed up till after 01:00 this morning after arriving. She seems to want everything to go perfectly and gets a little high strung when it doesn't.

Now she just forced me to eat "al meja" (clams in a yellow sauce). They looked a lot like cockles. While not as horrible as I imagined they would be, three was enough for me. The sauce (without the clams) on bread was OK though.To finish off we had "Three Kings" cake in honour of the day. It is a yeast bun like a South Australian "torpedo" but with a lemon glaze.We walked through the Retiro Gardens after we had been past the second hand book stalls.

143 steps up the Mausoleum Bell Tower.

2009-01-05T20:12:00.001+10:30

16:00 in the Graz airport, waiting for our plane to Spain. Today we got up at the Ibis and went for breakfast (which they charges us for and 3 hot drinks, which we never had).

Then went into Graz Hauptplatz on the trams again. We first went to Glockenspiel Platz and watched the clock play its three tunes at 11:00. After that we went to the Dom and the nearby mausoleum of Frederick 2nd. After that we went back to the Trachten shop that Ursula saw last night.

Uschi bought herself a coat but took some time to talk herself into it. She also bought some nice green boots earlier in the morning. We jumped back onto a tram near the Kunsthaus and headed back to the hotel by 13:30 and thence a taxi to the airport. We taxiied out at 16:16 and touched down in Munich at 17:09.

We had to get out of the plane here and were intercepted by the "mobility services" who took Christine's wheelchair out of the cargo and told us to use it in the airport. We walked around and looked at the shops for the best part of an hour. Same as all airports.At around 19:10 we got on an A321 helped by a large lady (out of breath from running, I think) from "Mobility Services".

She took Christine's chair to put back in the baggage (we hope).19:30, just waiting for the last few connecting passengers to arrive. Push back at 19:33.

Graz Again

2009-01-04T22:48:00.001+10:30

Graz Kunst Museem
We returned to Graz again with the intention of staying for a couple of days and then we'll be off to Spain. The weather is clearer, if not warmer, than last time we were here.

[Photo in the Kunsthaus Graz]

18:00 in the Palais-Hotel Erzherzog Johann (in the cafe)
It has been a long day. We left the art museum around 17:15 and were told there was an annex building "just behind the sports store" (across the river). We looked for more than half an hour but couldn't find it and went into this cafe.

Uschi and Christine have ordered fruit tea But I didn't really want any. Christine also ordered Knoedel und Ei. Uschi has asked for Kalbs Brust Gulasch (mit Servietenknoedel). I picked the house special chicken with mustard and salad. After tea we went for a little further walk and Uschi saw a Trachten shop near the Kunsthaus.

It was getting cold so we went back to the hotel around 20:30 and all got ready for bed. I was fairly tired but still dragged myself out at 22:00 for some pictures of the Bahnhoff clock.

Froehnleiten

2009-01-03T15:48:00.001+10:30

Today we decided to head for the old market town of Froehnleiten. This town has a market tradition dating back to about 1280 AD. We walked around the town and along the river bank. We visited the obligatory church and visited the Pest Saule. Like Kapfenburg yeaterday the town was very quiet.

St Illgen and Kapfenberg

2009-01-02T21:17:00.002+10:30

We went to St Illgen and the Aflenz war memorial.

We lit candles for both of Christine's brothers. Both brothers were named Francis. The first one died in 1918 due to the flu epidemic and the second one was a pilot killed on the Russian front.

Now in the centre of the old town of Kapfenberg. It isn't very much compared to some of the others old towns in Europe. We are in Cafe Europa ready for a little food before exploring the area and maybe later going to the more modern centre. We all had a goulash soup. The Menu is limited, the cafe is a bit of a greasy spoon. The soup was OK, but I tried an extra serve of lasagne, which was really a bit too much to have.

The old town was actually deserted [see the picture for a mid-day view!] but we walked around it for a bit. Most of the shops shut for about 3 hours in the middle of the day. We then went to the C&C (?) shopping centre, which was busier than the old town, but not a great inspiration.

After that we went back to Bruck to look at some green boots Uschi had taken a liking to. Unfortunately there were none in her size, so she got the shoe name to chase up later. We then went for a gentle walk around before returning to Thoerl.

16:15
More visitors have arrived. Louis and ? to visit Christine. The house is in a bit of a turmoil as one of Franziska's friends arrived simultaneously. I expect the conversation will go on for 3 hours or so. Uschi wants me to go out and buy some more fireworks. Mitzi made a big fuss when I helped her cut some firewood.
====ooOOoo====

Some images that have stuck with me from the last few days:
-Washing the car with hot water at the Thoerl service station. The ice and salt, which is caked on from travelling the highways, washes off very easily but the hot water freezes within a minute or so. The dirty icy car becomes a clean icy car!
- Getting softdrink out of the shop fridge, it's warmer than most other things. All the fridge does at this temperature is keep the dust off.
- The evening temperatures are down between -5 and -10. Now 0C is the default “warm”

New Years Day

2009-01-01T11:08:00.002+10:30

We got up and went across to the church of Aflenz.
This was Uschi's baptismal church. We spent nearly one and a half hours there, including a sneaky climb up the bell tower.

Then we went back to the Hotel for a snooze. Due to a lack of sleep the previous evening we actually slept more than 2 hours and the afternoon light was nearly gone.

Uschi and I then went to the ruin on the hill. It is now locked up and people can't enter it like Uschi did in years gone by.

A mild disappointment.

Sylvester in Aflenz.

2008-12-31T23:02:00.003+10:30

The band is wearing the blue socks indicating an historic attachment to Erzherzog Johann

The fireworks and explosions started early in the dark evening. I went outside at about 21:00 and could hear explosive volleys all down the valley. By midnight when we fired off our rockets, there was a crescendo of activity so that I could photograph the effects without knowing who was firing them off. On the way home the road was littered with spent rocket sticks. In the daylight I found 6 sticks in Mitzi's backyard. I don't think any of these were ours. Where ours went, I have no idea

Graz

2008-12-31T11:51:00.000+10:30

31/12
08:45
Passing through Kapfenberg on Silvestertag(!) on our way to Graz. It was -8C at the hotel and -11C at Mitzi's place this morning.
The sun is just coming up in Kapfenberg - everything is cold and misty. The trees on the hill are covered in frost and smoke hangs in the air. Now we have gone through a road tunnel and are on the sunlit side of the hills. No frost here and the world has changed to colour from black and white.
09:25
Just passed a cream coloured mini with a crumpled nose against the right hand crash barrier on a sweeping corner. Uschi and all the cars following had to swing out to miss it. Probably they hit ice when cutting the corner.
As we get closer to Graz (15km to go) the weather has gone misty and cool. It was sunny and comparatively warm since we left Kapfenberg.
11:00 Cafe Edegger in Hofgasse.
Christine worked in Graz from age 16 to 19. I had an EsterhasseSchnite while Uschi and Christine had Cheesecake Struedel.

Christine near her old kitchens

2008-12-30T20:00:00.000+10:30

Telling us about when she worked in the kitchens.

Local and Neuberg

2008-12-30T19:55:00.000+10:30

30/12
Today we were going to go to Graz, but we slept in as Uschi and I were fatigued from the trip and niggling ailments. We never got to Mitzi's place until 10:00 when we had meant to get there at 08:30.
As the day was gone we decided to just do a local. We went to the ruin on the hill, but didn't climb up to it. It was about -6C and slightly breezy. Noticably chilling to the body and the most uncomfortable I have been on the trip so far. For a short time the cold is not a problem but after a little while a persons extremities begin to sting a little.
The three of us walked around the area below the ruin and we worked our way to the site of the Pengg works which used to be the old railway station.
Near here, where there is now a nail factory, was the site of Christines old kitchen, where she worked for Pengg for 13 years.
Auheim Villa is nearby and is the Pengg family home. One of the existing associated buildings seems to be used as a storage building and maybe has the heating furnace for the Auheim/gallery complex. This particular building was where Christine lived for most of the time she worked in the kitchen for Penggs.
She noted a number of times that when she started work at 08:00 she only had to be up about 5 minutes beforehand. This seems to have been the happiest time of her life.
Because Christine couldn't climb to the ruin, we decided to put it off for another time.
We went and had lunch at the cafe near the goat statue of Aflenz, then went to Neuberg to see the munster.
On the way we found our way blocked by many cars and buses, which upset Uschi. The area around there was thickly covered in snow. We got to Neuberg and spent some time in the munster. Unfortuneately the Kreuzgang was closed. We then decided to go to the old town of Kapfenberg and set the Tomtom for a direct route. After travelling only a short distance we stumbled on the Hundertwasserhaus. Uschi had been desperate to see it, but couldn't exactly remember where it was. We took some pictures in the late afternoon light.
Shortly after this we found the route blocked by a police car. An accident ahead. The policeman said the detour would add about half an hour to the trip. Into the Rax area, but it actually added more than an hour and it was dark by the time we got to Kapfenberg. It would have been quicker to retrace our path through Thoerl.
So we didn't look at the old town, we just grabbed some food (and fireworks) from the Spar supermarket and went back to Mitzis. Mitzi was inordinately pleased as I organised a simple tea of eggs, cheese, turkey and brown bread for us and the kids.

28/12 Mariazell

2008-12-28T20:06:00.000+10:30

09:45 Have just stopped at Seewiesen for some pictures at 1250m and -8.5C.
Brandhof appeared closed as we went passed.
When we got to Mariazell the air was about -5C and we couldn't get a park. Uschi took the car to find a parking spot with the plan of coming back and finding Christine and me near the church. However, after waiting a while I found it too cold and I parked Christine in a coffee shop.
Uschi eventually turned up and we all had Almdudler, coffee and cake. Then we went over to the church.
The schatzkammer was closed so we couldn't view the contents. Uschi bought some things for her friend Theresa. We went to the candle grotto [Kurzengrotte] but it wasn't too exciting. We wandered down the street to the cable car but it was really too expensive to justify going up.
At 13:15 we had dinner at the Hotel of 3 Rabbits [Drei Hasen]. I had a goulash with parsley potatoes, which was quite nice.
Coming home before the sun set we visited Aflenz cemetery and found the (now) unmarked plot of Christine's father. We lit a candle there too. After that we went back to Mitzi's in the dark, where we four talked about past things, including war stories for about 2 hours. Herbert and Franziska had absconded to Schladming(sp?) to go skiing. The 2 kids, Stephan from Voitsberg and one of Julia's friends were there under the watchful eye of Mitzi.
We came back to the hotel but at 20:00 it was too early for bed. Uschi and I went to the hotel front bar for beers and diary writing.
Uschi thought I had come down to dinner in my socks. Now she can't stop laughing, with relief I imagine.

Lazy day in Aflenz

2008-12-27T22:09:00.000+10:30

27/12Having a much lighter breakfast this morning. Only some cheese and Erdaepfelkaese

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

The snow is gently falling and the flakes are about 3-5mm diameter. I have just come in from shifting the car. We parked it outside the shop last night as all the hotel parks were full. I went into the shop to buy a coke (0.99E) and the clothes I was wearing stung from the cold. I only walked about 50m from the hotel to the shop. All the cars are covered in soft flakes.

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

(written the next day)
Uschi and I spent a long time walking around the shops in Aflenz. We spent a long time in the sports clothing shop. I nearly bought a 130E coat but the only one in my size was damaged. I may go back and buy the next size up. We went past the bakery but didn't go in due to too much food over the last few days. We spent quite a long time in the shoe shop (surprise). I bought some apres ski boots and Uschi
bought some attractive brown boots. The lady from the shoe shop sprayed some waterproofing on them and it turned out that she knew Mitzi as she was one of her students. The community is very small and many people know each other. We finished up by walking down the road to the Apotheke where Uschi bought some Renis and I bought some throat pastilles.

Around 13:00 we went to pick up Christine to take her to the Thoerl cemetery where her mother and brother are buried. After sitting for a while and lighting a candle, Uschi and Christine walked around the cemetery with Uschi reading off the names on the headstones. Christine seemed to know about 50% of the people and was able to remember them as the postman, driver, cook etc. In some ways it is strange that the entire 1930s community of this small area only exists in the memory of a few old people. We drove out to Schwaben bartel after cleaning the car. The road was icy and the light fading, so it wasn't a very inspiring trip. When we got back to Mitzi's place we found Gretel and Franz were already waiting for us. They had heard on the grapevine that Christine was back in town and they came round, on spec, to see her. They spent about 3 hours talking to Christine and kept evryone from having tea(!). In the end they offered us a lend of a tripod and Franz made two trips back home to get it. The first time because he couldn't find it in his shed. I must say at the end of the trip they forced us to keep the tripod, which was very kind of them.After they had gone home Franziska made us all a bread and meat tea, but I was really too weary and full to enjoy eating very much. Went back to the hotel and fell straight to sleep.

My Name Day and Voitsberg

2008-12-26T23:34:00.000+10:30

Uschi was a little sick last night which she put down to eating too much. After returning from Max and Giesl's place last night we sat around in Mitzi's kitchen. The H's were playing board games when we turned up. Franziska tried to force more food into us, but we argued her down to a soup only. I was falling asleep where I was sitting in the kitchen. Uschi and I went back to the hotel at about 20:30 and I fell straight to sleep.

As I was sitting here this morning the church bells pealed, for early mass, I suppose. The town is now
covered in a light frosting of snow. The weather forecast for Graz for the next few days is about -5C
and clear, so it should be good sightseeing weather, if somewhat cold. It was -3C here yesterday evening.

Journey to Voitsberg

Uschi and I drove to Voitsberg to see Renate and family. We have to drive past Graz in the longest road
tunnel I have ever been in. Over 10km long.Renate's place is the first floor of an old building with huge, high ceilings. The upper floor is used by others. We had lunch with the family and then in the afternoon we went to look at the local sights.

The park with the fountain of Moses was under snow, with the fountain itself wrapped in plastic. We walked around the snowy park and then went to the Hundertwasser Church. Uschi was very keen to visit that.
Later we went to Piber to see the horses at the Lipizzaner horse stud.

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T22:02:00.000+10:30

I woke up this morning at about 07:00. It was still dark but I could see the clouds scudding up the valley. As Uschi and I walked out of the room to breakfast we could see there had been a very light fall of snow. It looked like rain but fell a lot slower. The mix is more rain and less snow now but there is still a white frosting on the buildings outside. We are just across the road from Uschi's baptismal church. Apart from the normal cheeses and meats on the breakfast buffet there is bacon and omelette available. There is also a champagne available with the juices. [A truck with a snow shovel for clearing the roads has just gone past]

The trip up yesterday was fairly easy with the Tomtom showing the way. We got straight up to Thoerl. There was a little rain on the way but not much. We went through a couple of longish tunnels, about 2-3 km. When the Tomtom lost the GPS signal the music stopped too! Last night we had our evening meal with the Fs at Mitzi's house in Thoerl. The Hs were also there. After tea the presents were handed out - great good impressions from Uschi's cards and the song book of Christine went around several hands. Mitzi said it was better than gold.

17:00 in the home of Giesl and MaxUchi and I took Christine and Mitzi to visit them. I think it was a prearranged visit. The old couple had a huge dish of biscuits on the table when we arrived and plied us with herbal tea. Max spiked it with cherry rum which made the room seem hugely hot and gave me a headache. After encouraging us to eat the biscuit mountain they then bought out a cake to have with coffee. Max also poured everyone an Almdudler at the same time as we got the tea. My headache was getting pretty bad so I headed outside for half an hour. When I got back I was just in time to join in with a meat platter. These meat platters seem to be the in thing for special occasions in this part of Austria. Only Uschi and I, and to a lesser extent Mitzi, ate from the platter. We are all too full from eating for the last two days.

Lunchtime we had a big meal of meat pieces, probably turkey, cooked in a white sauce. Also served was a soft noodle (Austrian, I think) with a green sauce. There was a side salad of lettuce with pumpkin seed oil (Kürbiskernöl). A very Styrian salad.

Kaisergruft

2008-12-23T15:30:00.001+10:30

At the Schonbrun Cafe. It has been perishing cold. At least for me. We all had "Forestberry Cocktail" tea. I had a "Habsburger" (very humourous, a cheap gimick for a hamburger). Christine had goulash soup and Uschi had a nice chocolate mousse. Christine berated me (twice and probably rightly) for having chips.

This morning we went to the crypt to see all the dead Habsburgs. It is under the Capuchin church, also known as the Kapuzinergruft.
We also stopped into Lobmeyrs. Uschi was looking at a lovely pair of green antique glasses. On impulse I purchased 2 fine glasses.

After Uschi pays for the meal we intend to go up to the Gloriette. We are the only guests along the side of the cafe, the "Winter Garden". We conned the staff into letting us sit in this area due to Christines limited mobility, even though it is meant to be closed. They didn't really want us there as "it wasn't heated" although it was better than outside and the main restaurant was stifling anyway.

While we were sitting there, seemingly hordes of people came to sit in the side section.

1530 at the GlorietteWe all shared a "Sisi Gugelhoepf", I had an "Almdudler" lemonade which was quite nice. Uschi had a white wine Gluehwein and Christine had a red one. I had a sip of them both and I think the red one was better. On the way up to the Gloriette we met another group with a wheelchair. They had a small boy who was evidently recovering from some fearsome burns with some of his fingers gone. Uschi spoke to them for a while about South Australia, and surprisingly I could understand the conversation reasonably
well. I gave the boy a clip on koala.

The sun is now setting and the light is shining through the rear windows of the Gloriette highlighting the decoration on the ornate architraves.

Hotel Sacher and Albertina

2008-12-22T15:30:00.000+10:30

It is 1000 and we are in the Cafe Sacher. The decor is extravagant, red plush on the bench seats and fabric panels on the walls. The fabric panels have corded margins. There are mirrors and oil paintings of people prominent in the Sacher story. The menus are supported on little racks, similar to those for newspapers found in some hotel and library reading rooms. The menus also have a potted history of the cafe and hotel. The hotel has been in operation since 1830. As it is the famous cafe Sacher I had "Original Sachertorte". Uschi had apple strudel and Christine had a topfen strudel. With tea and coffee the morning tea came to about 25 Euro.

After the cafe we went to the Albertina. A lot of paintings by many artists were there. Amongst others I saw:

Degas; Two dancers around 1905. This was a pastel done by Degas as his eyesight was deteriorating in latter years.
Monet; The flood of the Seine at Vethueil
Seurat; Locomotive
Renoir; Portrait of a young girl (Elizabeth Maitre)
Klimt; Liegenderand about 4 Picassos.

These were mostly from the Batliner private collection.After that we visited the state rooms. The walls had fabric panel covering like the Hotel Sacher, but much grander. The same fabric was used for the curtains and upholstery too.

The gallery was good but like the modern art galley in Tehran, some of the best were away in storage. Uschi was particularly miffed as she had been looking forward to seeing Durer's rabbit for ages and only a facsimile was on display (and the praying hands too).

Historisches Museen

2008-12-21T13:00:00.002+10:30

In the Historisches Museen Cafe (Cafe Nautilus). Uschi had an apple strudel flavoured tea with Gulaschsuppe, Christine had Terra Tulsi Multivitamin tea with Sacherwurstel. These are long, thin (300x10mm) sausages. They are served with senf, tomato sauce and freshly ground horse radish. I had potato soup, "Weine Erdaepfelsuppe". We have been in the museum about 2 hours and have only been around the 2nd floor and vivarium near the entrance. We walked here from the Pension via the Hofburg and the National Library. The Library was closed today so we couldn't go in. The Silver Museum at the Hofberg was about 18 Euros per person, so we didn't go in there either. On the walk to the Hofberg I bought a small container of potato from a Nord See fast food restaurant. It was quite a delicious snack in the cold morning air.
Uschi wasn't too well this morning as she had a bit of a lingering sore throat. We got up very early, still on Dubai time, and had breakfast at 0615. After that we went back to bed for a rest. After getting out and on the move, Uschi felt a lot happier.

In Transit

2008-12-20T21:31:00.000+10:30

The Dubai airport has some of the biggest lifts I have seen. Due to Uschis mum, we were parked in the "special handling" area. Many people were asleep in the airport. This is the first airport I have seen with chairs for transit passengers that are a bit like lazy boys. Quite possible to sleep comparatively comfortably in. We left Dubai at 10:08 local time. The flight took us over Iraq, just inside the Iran/Iraq border. We followed the Tigris and passed near to Baghdad.

Touch down in Vienna was 5 and 3/4 hours after take off. The trip to the hotel was under a dreary grey sky even though it was the middle of the day, a bit different to Dubai. After resting in the Hotel for a little while we headed out for an initial look (for me) at Vienna. Cold, dark and lots of Christkindlmarkts. No snow yet, which is a little disappointing. I got my first look at Stephansdom and we went to the Post Office where I bought a post card for Pam and Jack. While we travelled about Christine hadn't dressed properly for the cold.

I was experimenting with a beanie and scarf which made the cold much more acceptable. In the end I gave the scarf to Christine as she forgot her gloves and her hands were very cold. We went back to the pension at about 21:00 and Uschi was a little disappointed as it was somewhat early and we didn't see everything straight away, but we had been up and on the go for more than 18 hours.

Dubai Souks and Boat Trip

2008-12-19T21:23:00.000+10:30

As today was Friday there was not much open in the morning. The ubiquitous malls being the only things.

We went to City Central, which was a moderate sized one. Then we went back to the hotel for a rest and everyone slept about 1-2 hours. At 1600 the old town souks were supposed to open so at 1530 we took a taxi to that area. Amazing number of people milling on the shore near the water taxis. The taxis would come in bunches of 4 to 6 sometimes. We walked up the old souk which was so packed there really was no room for the wheel chair. Uschi and I both purchased pashminars. I also bought the rest of the bits for my head dress. I had already got a head dress band from the Emirates mall.

After watching the water taxis for a while we caught the "water bus" a more modern vehicle which Christine didn't need such skill to embark on. We just jumped on but had no tickets! The attendant took our money and ran to get some tickets for us. The water bus took us far along the Dubai creek to disembark near the Dubai local government buildings. We walked along the riverside for a while looking at the dhows then caught a land taxi (!) for the gold souk. The taxi pulled up in the middle of the road to collect us. At the lights about one block on the driver of the car behind got out and had a rant session with our driver. While it wasn't best parking etiquette I didn't think it was that bad.

We walked around the gold souk and even had a go at buying a small bracelet, but when I showed somereal interest the price suddenly went from 100 Dirhams/gram to 120! I had already seen 97 as the dayprice and the seller started to spin a line about "old" gold or maybe something from India. I declinedhis offer.

The three of us then wandered around the souk and found the main covered way. After about 1/2 an hour we had to leave to get back to the hotel so the evening cruise could pick us up.

They said about 1930, but turned up around 1915 . We got in a people mover with about 7 others, all males and apparently from the subcontinent. The people mover bought us back almost to the Gold Souk in Diera and we got on board the boat.

About half past eight there was a great cloud of black smoke which enveloped the boat as they started the engine. All the lights flickered out then back on again. The boat sailed up river to the Floating Bridge and then out to the mouth of the river about a 14km round trip I think, which took a little over 2 hours.

Tour of Dubai and another (!) mall

2008-12-18T17:45:00.000+10:30

In the back of the Landcruiser for the tour "Bur Dubai", we drove past the computer souk and the street of banks. Past the back of a number of foriegn embassies and then we stop by the creek. The tour dropped us off at the museum, which we had to rush through due to lack of time. This was a pity as the museum seemed pretty interesting and I would have spent a bit longer there if I could have.

There is another couple on the tour too. They are Charles and Celia from Newcastle (UK).

The driver points out a lot of 4 and 5 star hotels, as if that is the main attraction of Dubai (maybe it is!). Through the Al Shindahga tunnel past the gold souk and on our way to Diera.

We stop near the Sails hotel for a photo opportunity.

The tour also stopped at an upmarket sales centre with very interesting, and expensive, goods. None of us tourists want to buy anything. The tour ended with the driver dropping us off at the Dubai Mall. Apparently this is a bigger mall than the Emirates which we visited yesterday.

We had lunch there including a hugely slow (15+ minutes) Koobideh sandwich at Pars Express. Hardly express.

We spent about 2 hours in the aquarium and then we wandered into the middle of the mall. An area called "the gold souk". Uschi and I tried to capture pictures of the changing colours on the ceiling. We had a little drink at a cafe called "The Cafe" in the centre of the mall.

The drink was a "sparkling date drink" which was an 80/20 apple date drink.

Off for a tour

2008-12-18T11:25:00.000+10:30

Reflections on a bus.

Us in the 4WD

Dubai Mall

2008-12-18T11:00:00.000+10:30

Yesterday after the Dubai mall gold souk we went to look at the skating rink. Christine was enthralled by the ice. Then we went looking for lifts as I wanted to find the "Hamleys" shop. The information people kept sending us to far away lifts. By the time we found one we were on the other side of the mall. We tried to go up into the book shop from the "Fashion Atrium" via the lift, however when we got
to the bookshop we found there was still construction going on so the bookshop was blocked off and we couldn't get in that way!

The Fashion Atrium itself was not really in use as many of the shops were still under construction. We finally got to the bookshop, then after spending 45 minutes browsing in the shop we were disappointed as their phone lines were down and they wouldn't accept credit cards.

At the end of the night we headed out to the nearest indicated taxi rank only to find it wasn't in use and we had to go completely across the mall (again) to the only operating taxi rank. Luckily the queue wasn't very long. The attendants did send us to the front of the line eventually when we were only about 3 places away anyway. At the Mall of the Emirates the day before they waved us straight to the front due to Christine's wheelchair as soon as they saw us.

Although reputedly bigger than the Mall of the Emirates, poor service, lack of open shops and hidden lifts made the Dubai Mall less pleasant than the Mall of the Emirates.

Emirates Mall and Snow

2008-12-17T19:00:00.000+10:30

After the stop by the Mosque this afternoon we caught a taxi for 35 Dirhams and came straight to the mall.

Now we are in the "Karam Beirut" Lebanese restaurant at the Mall of the Emirates. We have spent a pleasant enough hour or two wandering around the mall. All three of us bought gloves from the Ski Dubai shop, in preparation for cold weather in Europe.

Christine was very excited to see the artificial snow when we first entered the mall. The photo on the left shows a view of the snow from a down stairs restaurant, the Lebanese restaurant is on the first floor.

The Lebanese restaurant was picked as it has main windows facing onto the ski slope and had a much better view of the "snow". The restaurant was empty when we arrived but they were a bit reluctant to seat usdue to all the tables being booked for later. The Maitre'd seated us on the proviso that we would be less than one hour, ie be gone by 20:00. I ordered minced meat in pita called Arayess.

Uschi had eggplant kebab and Christine had chicken livers.

A Mix of Cultures

2008-12-17T15:20:00.000+10:30

Sitting outside the Starbucks at Japengo Cafe on Al Jameira Road. Uschi has ordered some cold drinks for us. We are across the road from the Jumeira Grand Mosque with the call to prayer coming from the minarets.

This is the only mosque in Dubai that is open to non muslims.

We have just walked from our hotel, the Rydges. There is lots of building and road work which made wheel chair access very difficult. On the way we went through the Al Ghazel (Gazelle?) Shopping Mall and had a coffee for Uschi and her mum with a lemonade for me. We also shared a very nice Jaffa mousse.

The weather is fairly pleasant and cloudy. The sun is a little hot when it comes out, There was a very strong wind and rain squall around 12ish which we could see from the hotel.

We arrived this morning at 0730. The plane waws a little late landing at about 0610 but then we had to catch a bus and travel for ages to the terminal building. Emirates are using a new terminal building all their own. We all had a big breakfast when we got to the hotel and then all had showers and a few hours sleep.

Sitting here at the cafe Uschi and Christine have lemonades (I was the trend setter there) but I have gone for a Coke Zero this time. It has arabic lettering and advertising for the new James Bond film on it.

A strange mix of cultures.

Airports Again

2008-12-16T22:19:00.000+10:30

Bangkok's new(ish) airport

Jewel Rice (Morasa Polow)

2008-12-05T22:54:00.005+10:30

Ingredients
- 400g Long grain rice
- 50g Barberries (black currrants or cranberries can be used instead, but barberries are the feature of this Persian dish, so it defeats the "Persian-ness" of the recipe. If black currants are used, no sugar is required)
- 50g Sultanas (raisins can be substituted)
- 50g Blanched almonds
- 50g Pistachio kernels
- 25g Hazelnut kernels
- 50g Walnut kernels
- 1 cup Fresh orange peel (mixed peel is OK as a substitute)
- 100g Butter or ghee
- 1 Tbspn Sugar
- Salt

Preparation
Rice
Rinse the rice to remove the surface powder and starch. If the rice isn't cleaned it will become sticky. Optionally soak it in warm water for 2 hours as well, then drain the water.

Berries
Wash barberries and sultanas with cold water and drain. Fry separately in oil or ghee over medium heat for a few minutes. Add some sugar to the barberries during frying.

Nuts
Wash the nuts with cold water, soak for about 15 minutes and drain. The pistachios and the walnuts should be soaked separately if you don't wish their colour to stain the other nuts. Slice or crush the nuts until the pieces are about the same size as the sultanas. Fry all the nuts for a few minutes, careful not to burn or discolour them.

Orange Peel
Thinly slice the orange peels. Boil for a few minutes, drain and repeat. Soak in cold water for an hour, drain, and repeat. Finally boil for a few minutes with a few spoons of sugar to remove the peel bitterness, and drain (dried mixed peel can be used instead of orange peel and this preparation avoided).

Method
Pour about 6 cups of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add the rice and a spoonful of salt and continue boiling until the rice slightly softens, but is not completely cooked. This will take about 5 minutes. Pour the rice into a colander and wash it with slightly warm water. Set aside a cup (or a little bit more) of rice by itself. With the remainder, mix in the orange peel.

Pour a few spoonfuls of cooking oil or melted ghee into a pot and add the plain rice to the bottom to make a layer. This bottom layer prevents the orange peel buring during cooking. Pile the remainder of the rice with the orange peel on top. Form it into a cone or pyramid and poke some holes down through it to allow steam to pass up through the rice pile. Put about 50g of butter/ghee on top of the rice. Cover the pot and cook over low heat for about half an hour. If cooking time is increased, the bottom layer of rice becomes crispy (called ta-dig). If too much steam condenses under the pot lid it will drip down and make the rice soggy. Wrapping a cloth or teatowel around the lid will soak up the steam condensate.

When it is ready to serve, mix all the nuts, sultanas and half the barberries through the rice. The remainder of the barberries should be sprinkled over the top of the mix.

Tater Tot Hot Dish

2008-12-05T22:36:00.002+10:30

Ingredients

- 400g Minced Beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2x420g cans of Campbell's cream soup - Any combination of mushroom, celery and/or chicken will work. I like one can of Cream of Chicken and one Cream of Celery. I don't like corn so never use it.
- 1/2 soup can of milk or water - if required to thin the soup
Various vegetables - I use a couple of carrots, two or three sticks of celery and a good handfull of fresh beans. Tinned vegetables would work instead of fresh. Corn would work if you wanted it.
- 1 kg pack Potato Gems - In the US these are known as “Tator Tots”. In fact, hash browns or even frozen chips would probably also work, but I haven't tried them.
- Cheddar cheese, grated

Baking pan or casserole dish - I use a large Pyex 2.8 litre rectangular dish, that's 9x13 in the old money or 15 cups.

Method

In a largish frying pan, brown the minced meat and onions. Into the pan put the soups, the milk/water, and the vegetables. Stir and cook until warmish/hot.
Cover the bottom of the baking pan with the potato things, pour the casserole mixture over them, and cover liberally with the grated cheese.
Bake at 180C (350F) for 45 minutes.
Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.

Christmas Biccies

2008-11-28T18:23:00.003+10:30

Recipe Here

The Story of William King

2008-10-23T17:49:00.006+10:30

William was not a native Australian born, rather he was an immigrant from the UK. He was born in Hampshire and was married to Victoria Blanche King when He enlisted. As a carpenter by trade, William found a useful role in the Pioneers. William enlisted at Quorn on 13th of April 1916 and joined the 4th reinforcements for the 5th Pioneer Battalion in early June. In mid August he embarked on the Itrea from Outer Harbour.

The Pioneer Battalions performed an intermediate function between the infantry, who chiefly fought and the Engineering companies, who constructed significant earthworks, bridges etc. The pioneers formed fighting units which also could carry out moderate infrastructure building tasks.

At the end of October William disembarked, as did many, at Plymouth and spent time with the Pioneer Training Battalion around Parkhouse and Perham Downs. In late March of 1917 he left for France via Folkestone and on 26th May William was taken on strength in the field.

For the next nine months William was with the Pioneers in France. No special mention of any occurrences appears in his record.
In February William is allowed a fortnight's leave which he spends in the UK.
Another seven and a half months passes with William in France until he is admitted to hospital with a septic thumb. As noted with other soldiers, in the days before antibiotics, infections could and did prove far more serious than we treat them today. William was admitted to the 8th Field Ambulance on the 31st of October 1918. After three days in the Field Ambulance, William is transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Abbeville. A month passes and William is transferred again to Graylingwell War Hospital in Chichester. During this month the war has ended.

He left for England from Le Havre aboard the Jan Breydel. But by now he seems to be on the mend as the Greylingwell Hospital only consider his thumb as slightly infected.
After six further days William is discharged to furlough on the 20th December. With the war over and his thumb better, William must have been very relieved. Not only that but he gets his furlough extended to the 6th January while he is in London. But when he is due to return on the 6th, William doesn't appear and is listed AWL by the military authorities.

During his leave, William came down with an illness and was admitted to the Military Hospital at Horsham two days before his Furlough was officially ended, which explained his non return to his designated unit. After a further fortnight William was admitted to the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Brighton and his condition has now been diagnosed as Malaria. In early March William was transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, still at Brighton. His unit was slated for return to Australia on that same day, but William is unable to join them. In fact it won't be for another two months that William is able to get aboard the Karoola at Southampton for his return to Australia. On the 6th May 1919 William leaves the Auxiliary Hospital, directly for the ship. Unfortunately, whatever the problem was has not been fully resolved. One month at sea and William is noted as dangerously ill.

He did return to Australia and reached Adelaide on the 21st of June. One month later William died of “Pyemia Exhaustion” at the Australian General Hospital in Keswick with his wife Victoria present.

William is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide.

The Story of Wilhelm Kluge

2008-10-23T17:22:00.005+10:30

Statement made by No.1653 Pte J.T.C. Haworth 27 Bn.

On the 10th of June, at 10.p.m. we went over on our sector between Morlancourt and Sailly-La-Lec. The missing man left our trench with me and when we had gone a few yards he went down and I did not see him move again. Our wounded were picked up by our stretcher bearers, but the missing man was not found.
The following days the ground was often under heavy fire from the German guns. I did not pass over the same ground again and beyond this statement I am not able to give any further information.

-----ooOOoo------

Wilhelm enlisted in January 1915. At the time he was 23 years old and working as a station hand near port Augusta. He trained in Australia for four months, was taken on strength with 27 battalion and embarked for overseas on HMAT Geelong on the very last day of May. No records for Wilhelm exist for the period from embarkation to January of 1916. Like other soldiers it is likely that Wilhelm served at Gallipoli.

From January he was taken on strength with 27 Battalion at Tel el Kabir and in March he was transferred to the 7th brigade MCG in Ismalia. Wilhelm spent most of March in the 1st General Hospital there being treated for VD. He returned to C company of 27 Battalion, then in June he left Egypt aboard HMT Aragon to arrive in Plymouth on 23rd. For the next 6 weeks Wilhelm was in training around Larkhill and Rollestone in the UK until the 17th of August found him in Etaples. He fought with the 27th Battalion for the next two months until sucumbing to trenchg feet put him back in hospital in Rouen in November. Wilhelm was discharged after almost a month in hospital but he seemed to be attached to the base depot until 28th February, 1917.
This is where Wilhelm's story becomes more tragic. After serving at Gallipoli and several months active service on the western front, Wilhelm deserted in early March. However, he was back with his unit only 4 days later and in another 4 days, on the 12th April, he was court martialled and sentenced to ten years penal servitude. Wilhelm now found himself in Rouen prison.
It is unusual to find sentences of this severity, a number of the other Quorn soldiers absconded at various times, but their sentences were always much lighter, being a few days of FP2 or barrack detention. It is not known what characteristics of Wilhelm,s escapade or external circumstances lead to him being treated so severely.

A month after beginning his ten year sentence Wilhelm had it commuted to two years.
After almost a year in prison, on the 18 May 1918, Wilhelm's sentence was suspended on the basis that he rejoin his unit, which he did on the 21st.

Twenty days later Wilhelm would once again disappear. This time it was not by choice. The investigation at the time sought witnesses, but it was evident that Wilhelm had in fact been killed in action.

Subsequently Wilhelm's body was rediscovered and bought in to the Beacon British Cemetery at Sailly Laurette.

Ginger Beer Catastrophe!

2008-10-12T07:00:00.001+10:30

While I was away one of my ginger beer bottles exploded! They were stored in the laundry sink for just such an eventuality, Yesterday another one went off with a mighty bang. It threw another full bottle completeyl out of the sink.

Ginger beer, a new explosive.

Canada Miscellaneous Musings

2008-09-30T18:37:00.001+09:30

Monday 22

First day of the conference was really hard. I still have jet lag and I sat from 0900 till 1800 in the conference room and was sleepy/tired the whole time. I fell asleep for a few minutes too many times to keep count of and each time I woke up I felt OK for about 20 minutes or so, then my eyes started to close again. It was very hard going. And the speaker was so slow on the topics, it didn't help. Luckily, the first day covered setting up the computers (which I already did in Australia) and some introductory topics, which I already understood fairly well. After 1800, I staggered up to my room and dozed off for another hour. I had set my alarm so I wouldn't sleep too long, so I can try to synchronise myself with Canada time. But it still isn't working, it is 0400 here now and I feel quite awake. :-(

== == == ==

Tuesday 23

I woke up again at 0300 but feel OK for now. Helen's boyfriend arrived last night and lost his wallet on the bus from the airport. I think they were chasing around after it last night. They got the wallet and cards etc back, but seems they are $200 in cash lighter. After that I think they probably got out of it lightly.

Now it is lunch time. They are feeding us too much, I'll probably fall asleep cos of the food. I will have to go for a walk tonight. I think I will try to visit the souterrain. Museums are open late tomorrow night, so I'll visit at least one.

== == == ==

Wednesday 24

It is now 11:00pm and I am off to bed. My time shift is better, I only fell asleep once in the seminar today. At 16:30 I went out to walk around the town to get myself sleepy and force me to stay asleep. Did about 5 hours walking tonight (add that to 6 hours Saturday, 4 hours on Sunday but none Monday as I was too tired).

It is afternoon break time...

I might go to the art museum tonight. Last night I got 6 hours sleep, the most I have had in one go since last Thursday. I was talking to 2 of the other Australians (there are six here in total, including Helen and me) both of them were having trouble sleeping too and one of them said he was taking sleeping pills! It's much more of a problem than I was originally thinking. Most of the participants are Americans with a couple of Canadians thrown in too, but there are two South Africans and two Malaysians as well. Tonight there is a company arranged game of “Walleyball” which is supposed to be like volleyball played in a squash court. Not me playing, though :-)

== == == ==

Thursday 25

Yesterday I did go to the art gallery, I saw an Andy Warhol exhibit. Thursday I was far to tired to go out. I slept for about 3 hours after the course finished and were still too lethargic to do much. However, by 2300 I was a bit hungry so I went for a walk along St-Denis street to see what was open. I was a little surprised as a fair number of restaurants were open, even at this late hour. I finally sat down in a little Italian restaurant which had a front which was open to the street. Apparently the original owner came to Montreal in the 50's and tried to set up a sidewalk restaurant, but the council kept fining him. The arrangement of the restaurant seems to be a compromise between the footpath and being enclosed. I had a nice pizza there and was a bit bemused as no less than 5 fire engines tried to get down this narrow section of street. I don't know why they turned up, probably a false alarm.

== == == ==

Friday 26

The course finished in the early afternoon.

I only went to the Economusee du Fier Monde, a few streets away. This is a very local museum, which concentrates on local information (for local people?). It has a permanent exhibition relating to the history of the area and a temporary one which covers contemporary events. Unfortuneately when I visited, there was no temporary exhibition. The building was made out of the old “Generaux Bains”, the swimming pool. The pool still exists and forms a central open theatre for the museum.

After that I was still very tired, a current theme of this trip. I went back to the hotel and slept for four hours in the early evening again. When I woke up it was raining, so my weekend plans might have to change somewhat. I went out at midnight to the latin quarter (again) to get a yiros. I have been eating too much, so I have to cut back.

I tried to get in contact with a number of couch surfing hosts in both Montreal and Quebec. There are not so many in the older age groups, they are mostly 20 somethings. I tried 6 contacts, ( 2 men, 2 women and 2 couples). None could put me up for any nights, but one (Daniele) offered something. She said she had a chap staying with her and we could all go for a walk around her neighbourhood on Saturday or Sunday.

== == == ==

Saturday 27

I'm still suffering from odd sleeping patterns. I tried to get in touch with couch surfer Daniele, but she didn't answer the phone, so I went out to try to arrange for a short tour to Quebec. My original thought was to just book into a hotel and do the walk around thing. Sadly the weather looked like it was going to rain for the rest of the week due to the hurricane. I decided it might be less wet to arrange a bus tour, so I went down to the local information centre near Dorchester Square. There has a very long line and slow line so I went to have breakfast in Dunn's Diner. After I had a cheese omelette there I went back to the tourist info place to speak to the bus tour people. This didn't go so well as the tour I actually wanted to go on ended for the season last Wednesday. I tried to get some information about the other tours, but they told me all the Monday tours were cancelled due to lack of interest and to come back Monday to see if the Wednesday tours were going ahead. Simple to say, I wasn't going to hang around for a “possible” tour in 4 days time. I went over to the general information area and spoke to a nice lady called Alma who showered me with brochures (my Mrs Bucket “Holiday Brosshures” :-) . She booked me into a room in Quebec in the old part of town. I had a quick look at the Cathedrale Marie-Reine du Monde and then went to the central railway station to check out their timetables. With not much else to do I then wandered through the subterranean town to the McCord Museum of Canadian History. It is a small museum focussing on Canadian history. They did have a temporary display on the ground floor about womens fashion (it wasn't as naughty as the advertising makes out). If it isn't raining too much tomorrow I might go to the market or the Mont Royal Park. I spent a couple of hours at the McCord and then caught the Metro back to the hotel, for another afternoon sleep. I rang up Daniele and found that she and her guest, John, had already visited the Jean Talon Market, but they were half planning on a walk to Mont Royal the next day. I got Daniele's address and had a quick check on Google Earth to see what would be the best way there from a nearby Metro station.

== == == ==

Sunday 28

I caught the Metro to Rosemount station and jumped off to walk to Daniele's place. I wandered around in the general direction of her apartment. The area here is, unsurprisingly, more residential than areas I had been to earlier. It was extremely deserted I thought, even for 10:00 on a Sunday morning. There are numerous shops along the main thoroughfares and typical three storey buildings on all the side streets. Overall it looks to be an interesting area. When I got to Daniele's place, she and John were almost ready and shortly after we went out on our trek. First we went up to Mont Royal. A fairly steep climb for my old legs. Not withstanding the walking I have been doing, the mountain was a little bit of a struggle. The weather has been cool and overcast, but fairly humid. I was a bit sweaty by the time I was finished. After icecream at the volunteer's shop to the west of the park we headed back through the cemetery. At the bottom of the cemetery we came out into a more upmarket residential area, full of new BMW's and four wheel drives. By a circuitous route through some parks and along Rue St-Viatuer back to Daniele's place. By this time John had to pack and leave for his next destination. I helped him carry his pack to the bus stop and then said a final farewell to Daniele. Back on the Metro for the hotel and a final afternoon snooze.

Daniele lives in Montreal and works as an english/french translator, mostly for banks I gather. She is a french speaker from birth. It was her house that I visited. It seems she had a boyfriend/husband who died some while ago. John was couch surfing there, he is an American, I asked him where he was from and I think he (and his family) had moved around a fair bit. He had lived in some Southern US states, including Florida, but now lived in one of the states just across the border (maybe Wisconsin?). He was travelling and making a film. I got the impression he was “working” for his brother and he was travelling for some other reason, but doing the filming as extra as the opportunity arose. He had already filmed other locations up the US east coast. Panthererouse is the couch surfing username that Daniele uses. I didn't put any names on there for anonymnity. The big mushroom on the tree was in the cemetery, there were lots of them, on the trees and on the ground. The cup and balls are a feature of the local restaurant. Daniele took us there to show us them. I am still not sure what their relevance was, other than a restaurant gimmick.

== == == ==

Monday 29

I am almost ready to check out of the hotel (as I write). I went down to the foyer a half hour ago but it was really busy (Monday morning check out). I have had an interesting weekend, not too busy, but I was pretty tired from the jet lag and week before.

I took the bus to Quebec this afternoon and am now in a hotel for 2 nights in the old part of Quebec. Very touristy and expensive. I had a 2 hour walk this evening, and had tea in an Italian restaurant, it was very nice and had many waiters and even an accordian player but my cranberry juice and spag bol with chicken cost ca$35 (with tips) about Aud$45. Then I went back to the hotel. I saw a big flock of geese flying over honking, that was good, then I fell asleep at 8pm and slept for 6 hours, which is one of my better nights sleep. It is about 0300 now. Wednesday 1

Now I have just walked in to the Vieux Quebec Hotel.

It is 10:00 and drizzling. I had to back pack from my other hotel, which wasn't far away, to here.

Last night I was fairly tired so I laid down at about 19:00. I was thinking of getting up and going for a night time walk but it was getting very windy. The wind howled outside, and I heard all the passenger ships in the quay (less than a km away) blast their horns. But the weather was really off putting and I didn't have the spirit to get up.

In fact when the sun came up this morning my window was completely misted over (inside the hotel). Although the room wasn't cold, the glass itself was cold as ice and heaps of moisture had condensed on it. I got up for a 6 am walk and started to another part of Quebec which I hadn't been to, but not only was it cold and windy, that's when the rain started spitting down, so I retired to the hotel after being out only 15 minutes or so.

I visited the Ursuline museum yesterday. They don't allow photos to be taken, otherwise I could have shot off a few for you. They also had a reliquary, but not of Ursula, of one of her companions, I think. There was the back part of the skull and 6 small bones. Rib fragments and fingers.

And then on Wednesday night I lectured a class at O'Sullivan College (!)

Seriously.

Well it wasn't a lecture as such. Another couch surfer (Richard) who I contacted last week, asked me if I wouldn't mind having an informal chat with his ESL (French=>English) class. I said OK, but when I turned up his boss (Pablo) had decided that he would include his advanced English class with Richard's intermediate class and I got to stand out the front and talk about Australia and things in general to engage the students. I thought I might not like it too much as I don't normally enjoy standing out in front of groups, but this wasn't too bad after all!

Mont Royal

2008-09-29T15:39:00.002+09:30

The view from Mont Royal.

Continuing Blog of Montreal Architecture

2008-09-28T14:21:00.001+09:30

Montreal Saturday Wanders

2008-09-27T09:21:00.000+09:30

The Ecomuseum

2008-09-25T20:49:00.001+09:30

The Ecomuseum taken at night with a very long exposure.

Animals of Montreal

2008-09-25T20:44:00.001+09:30

I also saw a racoon, but he was far too fast for me to take a picture of.

Montreal at night 2

2008-09-25T20:43:00.001+09:30

Montreal CBD from across the river

Bent Buildings

2008-09-23T18:26:00.000+09:30

Some of the bent buildings of Montreal.

Bonsecours

2008-09-21T14:33:00.000+09:30

The Bonsecours Market contains a number of upmarket galleries and shops dealing in jewellery, art and craft on the middle level. There are also numerous restaurants on the lower level. When I was there one of the upstairs rooms appeared to be holding a fashion show.

Notre Dame 2

2008-09-21T12:10:00.000+09:30

Notre Dame 1

2008-09-21T12:05:00.000+09:30

Since Thursday night...

2008-09-21T06:35:00.000+09:30

Since Thursday night...

I seem to have been mostly running for planes because there wasn't
enough check in time and then the planes have been late.

I got about 4 hours sleep then I got up and went to the
airport. I was there at 0500 for the 0600 flight which wasn't really
enough. After about ½ hour in the line the PA announced all the
passengers in the check in line who had to catch my flight should
immediately go to the front of the line. Everyone(!) in the line moved
up to the baggage counters.

Then the plane backed out of the parking bay, but couldn't take off cos
the plane in front of us broke down... then got to Sydney with about 1.5
hours to transfer. It took about 30 minutes to get to the Air Canada
check in desk where they gave me my boarding pass which said boarding
would be at 0910. It was 0900 when I got that! Then run for the security
(my bags were checked at Adelaide) to be held up for explosives
screening (they seem to pick me out about 30% of the time) while I
fretted about the time. As it was, the boarding pass must have been
wrong as the plane didn't begin to board till about 0940. And then we
sat on the ground for another 20+ minutes.

Anyway, it wasn't all horrors. The plane was a newish 777 which was
clean and had a fairly good entertainment system. I watched 4 movies all
the way through and 2 part way. One was an interesting old 1945
Agatha Christie, “And Then There Were None” which seemed like a good
movie but we ran out of time and had to land. The flight was 14 hours
and I got 2 naps of about 15 minutes.

One of the meals was really nice (maybe I was hungry). It was a beef and
cheese roll, but it had vegetable sticks, carrots, cucumber and
something else and a tomato dip called Kasundi. The dip was really excellent.

We got to Vancouver and landed at about 0700 their time. On the way in
there in the last hour or so it was just flat cloud with a few mountain
peaks, just poking through. I don't really know where this would have
been, because if we came straight in to Vancouver from the west, we
should have passed over hardly any land at all.

I had a window seat but I didn't really see anything for almost all of
the trip. It surprised me I saw a few islands, which I think was the
eastern extremity of New Guinea. We must have flown up the east
coast, but I couldn't tell as I was on the right hand side of the plane.

I got out of the plane and collected my bags (about 5th to last off the
carousel) and walked out. It was pretty deserted, most of my plane load
had gone through just before. Even though it was Friday, none of the
airport shops etc had opened. A customs lady standing apparently in the
middle of nowhere asked for my arrival declaration after I had just come
through immigration. She read it and marked it with green highlighter.
She told me to go over to a particular line, which also was deserted and
I walked through some doors expecting to go through quarantine and bag
checks, but I was out into the airport exit area (still deserted)! Helen
(who bought her boyfriend along) came in on a 1030 arrival flight and
said the customs process was exactly the same for them too, although she
said it took them 2 hours to get out of the airport, which included 1
hour on the ground in the plane waiting for a gate to clear so they
could park.

Once I was at the airport I rang the hotel and found that they had a
spare room and I could book in, so I caught the shuttle bus, booked in,
had a shower (lovely), tried the free internet, found I couldn't send
email or web mail and then went to bed a bit after 0900.

After about 3 hours sleep (making a total of about 8 in 2 days) I caught
a taxi to the main part of Vancouver. I spent about 90 minutes at the
aquarium. They have white Beluga whales, with a calf. I tried to take
some pictures but they didn't turn out too well.

I walked around the seawall about 3-4km and then into the
city. The art gallery was closed when I got there but went into “Sears”.
I went to a shopping centre called “Pacific Centre” and had tea in the
food court there. A “salad” shop where you pick out your salad from
the salad bar and buy it by the kg. Just like I do at the work canteen,
but about ½ price to what ETSA canteen costs. I actually didn't get
any salad. I bought their special, which was a bowl of soup and an
egg sandwich.

The weather was overcast and cool. All in all I walked about 6 hours.

I am still semi Adelaide time. That evening I went to bed at 2200 and
woke up at 0200 (Vancouver Saturday morning) and read.

I caught the plane for Montreal Saturday morning (it is 0600 Sunday
morning here in Montreal as I type). We left the hotel at 0700 for an
0830 flight. The airport is only a few km from the hotel, so I wasn't
worried too much. But what a mad house. Completely different to my
arrival. I won't describe it all, but it seems that Vancouver has only
just introduced (in the last few days) electronic check in. But they do
it in such a disorderly way. I had to ask an Airport Lady how to use the
check in machines. Similar to the Adelaide ones, but you print (and put
on) your own baggage tags. Then you line up to get your tag scanned,
then you line up again to drop your bag, then you line up again to go
through security. This plane was a bit more crummy and it was buy your
own meal too(!). But I was so tired I fell asleep for probably an hour
or so altogether, in little naps. It was a four hour flight and we
gained 3 hours flying across Canada so arrived at Montreal in the
afternoon at 1630. Helen, who was on the same flight, but sitting down
the back, has left her boyfriend in Vancouver. I think he was going to
do some sight seeing there. They arrived later than me and it sounds
like they only spent about 1 hour or so in Vancouver sightseeing on
Friday. Helen got three seats to herself, but I got stuck with a big fat
Canadian bloke who overflowed into my seat (yuk!). And he was a drinker
and I could smell the aldehyde coming off him (double yuk!).

After checking in to the Montreal hotel (Double Tree),
this one is a bit swish.

I went for a walk along Rue Ontario (I think, I still might not have my
bearings yet) and then a little walk in the Quartier Latin. Check it out
on Google earth on your laptop. It is a really interesting place. French
speaking for the most part, although people will speak to you in English
once you have started, all the signs seem to be in French only and the
default spoken language is French. There are lots of restaurants and
arty shops along the Rue Ontario and the Latin Quarter didn't seem much
different. I walked for another 2 hours or so before I got my tea, chips
and a chicken burger at “Frite Alors!”.

I have worked out where the nearest Metro station is (not far) and I
think I will explore a further part of the city tonight. I have found a
Persian restaurant on the internet, near a Metro station about 5 km away.

It's now 0625 Sunday morning (I woke up again in the early hours and
it's taken me about 60 minutes to write this. I am a slow typer.)

Montreal at night

2008-09-20T21:59:00.002+09:30

Across the road from the hotel I am staying at is this unusual building. I went out for a long walk along Rue St-Denis to find some tea.

Vancouver Architecture

2008-09-19T18:10:00.000+09:30

Some quick shots. From top to bottom, The Vancouver rowing club building.
Reflections of one tower in another.
A building called the Qube. Fully supported at the bottom by the central core with no glass curtain walls on the lower floors. Looks very unusual.

Vancouver things in the air

2008-09-19T16:15:00.000+09:30

A skein of geese over the river and a floatplane (DHC-3 Turbine Otter) taking off. The floatplane area is packed, lots of tourists, there seemed to be a takeoff about every 10-15 minutes. There were also some nice radial powered DHC-2 Beavers.

Spent the afternoon at the Vancouver Aquarium

2008-09-19T14:04:00.000+09:30

I spent some time at the Vancouver Aquarium in the afternoon. The pictures are :
Pipe eels
Caiman
A Beluga whale.
-----------
The Aquarium has a number of outdoor pools for their larger mammals which include, not only the Beluga, but a number of smaller dolphin types.

Nearly There

2008-09-19T06:50:00.000+09:30

Half hour or so outside of Vancouver, the cloud cover is flat as far as I can see with just the tiny tips of the mountains peeking through.

Stormy Sunday

2008-09-01T19:06:00.000+09:30

The waves at Port Noarlunga were strong and the spray was higher than the jetty.

A Cold Night in Adelaide

2008-08-26T21:19:00.000+09:30

Twilight Scene at Hallett Cove

2008-08-16T15:21:00.001+09:30

Ginger Beer...

2008-08-10T16:43:00.001+09:30

...a dangerous substance!

I started making some ginger beer a few weeks ago. The red cap bottle is from my first batch which has been maturing since then.

I remembered common stories of explosive beer bottles when I was a child and I noticed that the home brew companies supply PET bottles now. So when I delved into ginger beer again (I tried it about 10 years ago, but the plant never worked) I thought old soft drink bottles would be the way to go.

And they are. The screw cap means that the pressure build up can be let off slowly. For an idea of how much pressure has built up, you can see the bottle in the picture has swollen smooth. Even the (red) cap has bowed out.

I tried a wire top glass bottle (you know, the sort with the overcentre mechanism). But I was getting a bit worried about the glass standing up to the pressure. I opened it over the bath and it went off with a bang. It blew the wire completely off the neck of the bottle and emptied the ginger beer, except for a cm or so in the bottom, virtually instantly.

The taste isn't too bad though!

The Story of Herman Theodore Klingberg

2008-07-30T22:45:00.001+09:30

Herman was from Arden Vale near Quorn, was a single man and a farmer. He had tried to enlist earlier but been rejected due to his eyesight. Not long after his 23rd birthday, Herman tried again and enlisted in Adelaide. It was 26th August 1916 and within a month he was part of the Artillery Reinforcements. Herman spent a short time in hospital at Mitcham and then in November he found himself in Maribyrnong as part of the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, 12th Reinforcements. His rank was gunner.
Two days before Christmas 1916 he boarded the RMS Orontes in Melbourne with 17 other South Australians in his reinforcement group and sailed for Europe. On this trip he spent two weeks sick with Parotitis, an inflammation of the salivary glands.
On the 17th February 1917 Herman disembarked in Plymouth and the next day arrived in Number 3 Camp, Parkhouse.
Health problems seemed to dog Herman as he spent the first half of March in the Tidworth Military Hospital.
From the end of March to mid June he continued to train with the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery, until on 19th June he left Southampton for France. The next day he marched in to the AGDB at Rouelles and a few days later he marched out to the 2nd Division Artillery.
From the beginning of July to mid October, Herman was part of the field artillery, until on the 16th October he was gassed. He spent the rest of the year in the 83rd General Hospital in Bolougne, leaving for the Number 3 rest camp three days after Christmas, 1917.
1918 began with Herman returning to the 2nd Divisional Artillery on the 9th of January. Records are sparse for this year, but we know that Herman spent 18 days leave in the UK during March. The next record we have is to note that he was killed on the 3rd of September, 1918. Herman was buried in the Roisel Community Cemetery, but this may have been a reinterring from an initial grave in the field.

Fred

2008-07-25T10:43:00.000+09:30

A wild dog on an airfield

Salsa Dancing

2008-07-18T21:48:00.000+09:30

Salsa dancing at the Arkaba.

Port Adelaide Egret

2008-07-12T09:50:00.001+09:30

An egret at Port Adelaide. I was there to take some pictures of the ship's graveyard.

Sean is in Paris.

2008-06-23T12:27:00.001+09:30

Sean has started a Paris travel blog as he and Bea galivant around.

Link for his site is now added to the top right of my home page.

Quorn Mercury 19 August 1915

2008-06-21T14:03:00.003+09:30

Extract from the Quorn Mercury, 19 August 1915

---o---O---o---

Answering The Call

Mr. Lloyd Taylor, who left here last week for Adelaide to enlist, has been accepted, and now is in camp. Fresh recruits to volunteer this week are – Messrs. E. O’Malley, of the draftsmen and engineers’ office; C. R. Trathen, teller at the Quorn branch of the National Bank; G. Hooper, son of Mr. J. B. Hooper, at one time a well known auctioneer of Quorn; and W. J. Hanna, employed on the railway staff at Hawker.

The Story of George William Hooper Pt 2

2008-06-21T13:45:00.001+09:30

State death records show that George died at the young age of 23. He died at the Port Augusta Hospital on 29th April 1920.

The Story of Edward George Deinhoff Pt 2

2008-06-21T13:42:00.002+09:30

State death records show that Edward died at the Port Augusta Hospital on 14th September 1922. He was aged 36.