Maxed Out?

Max arrived 8 days ago to attend Beck's graduation (see earlier posts) and remained with us for the remainder of the week. That was great fun as we took him umpteen times to parks, work, my hairdresser, travel agents, clothes shops, the credit union, and finally the rock shop. My hairdresser, George, has established a rapport with Max and the latter demands George cut his hair once during each visit. Max is a budding geologist and he loves combing through boxes of 'rock's at the Rock Shop. This time he bought (with his own money) some nifty items including Pyrite with flecks of gold, a beautiful rock from a meteorite (i.e. extra-terrestrial), and some black crystals of quartz used I believe in depth-charges!

After a furious five days, we drove the 850km to Canberra - a journey of some 10 hours including all the pit stops for food drink and fuel. We had 3 days in Canberra covering ANZAC day, which has been turned into a kind of secular religion complete with pilgrimages (to Gallipoli and the Kokoda trail), incantations, rituals, and rhetoric presided over by a variety of people in all kinds of drag. Don't get me wrong: the military sacrifices being remembered are worthy of contemplation and reflection. The honouring of old soldiers and their support teams is likewise highly desirable. However, the whole event is going over the top - excuse the pun. It is, in my view, no longer a private affair but a celebration of national unctuousness. Some may disagree with me and I'd be happy to receive their comments.

Naturally, the focus of attention during our three days in Canberra was Max! He went to innumerable parks, a bike ride, shopping centres, Questacon (the home of science for kids), and the Royal Mint (pictured) where he punched himself a commemorative dollar coin and I gave him a proof 50c coin remembering the 40th anniversary of landing on the moon. He now has electric racing cars at home and raced him several times around the circuit, though it was difficult the speed low enough to prevent the cars becoming airborne. Max loves parks most of all, and especially the fortress (pictured) close to Lake Gininderra (pictured) at the heart of the suburb of Belconnen where he lives. He manages to find unintended uses for each item of play equipment (also pictured) and his favourite yesterday was the flying fox. Beck pushed down-hill fast so that he rebounded at the end and retraced 2/3rds of the route uphill swinging wildly - great fun.

AS

Dumaresq Dam

We are hosting Max for a few days while his parents have headed off to their jobs in Canberra, and we took him to one of Armidale's nicer recreational destinations, Dumaresq Dam, for a picnic and a bit of exercise. The dam was originally the town's water supply, but those days are long past and it's a destination for boating, swimming, walking, fishing and so on.

Max has two bikes, one in Canberra and one based here which he rarely gets a chance to ride. So, today was a good occasion to put it in the car boot and for him to race around tracks at the side of the dam and terrorise flocks of geese, ducks and other water fowl. However, this activity wasn't without hazard to the rider as the tracks were gravel and Max came off on two occasions with the loss of a little blood! He's only just beginning to understand that breaking or turning sharply on gravel is a recipe for coming off the bike. Still, it was a lovely Autumn day and even quite hot when the sun came out, so a good time was had by all. By the way, Max is wearing a T-shirt I bought him whilst in Tombstone, Arizona 6 years ago. It only fits him now,so it must have been a mistake of mine at the time.

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Beck's Graduation

Rebecca graduated yesterday with her second UNE degree, a Master of Environmental Management. Her
partner, Rob, and his parents were there along with Dot and me and, of course Max. It was difficult to keep Max amused during the 90 minute ceremony, especially during the various speeches. After Beck received her testamur from the Chancellor, that task fell to me as he played with another bored 6 year old walking on rocks.


The pictures show Rebecca hugging a tree - an appropriate activity for her degree, holding her testamur, and the family portrait.

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Graduation 1

The University of New England holds its graduation ceremonies in very beautiful surroundings - not in some great hall, but in the open air in the grounds of the old homestead at the centre of the campus. Called Booloominbah, or Bool for short, this stately home was built on the proceeds of wool at the end of the 19th century. It now houses administration among stained glass windows, oak staircases, and other fittings.

The ceremony itself takes place on the sloping lawns behind the house which provide a natural tiered amphitheatre and the academics and speakers in the official party are housed on a dais specially erected for the ceremony each year. They in turn are perched atop a steep hill which falls behind them towards Armidale. The photos shown the platform and the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor in their robes and were taken at one of the four ceremonies conducted over the last two weeks.

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An Unusual Enterprise

The regional economics literature explains that hi-tech industrial clusters are nurtured by large urban agglomerations with their focus on research and development, skilled workforces, and easy access to materials and markets. This recipe works in a lot of case, but rural Australia throws up a lot of exceptions to the general rule. I visited one such site yesterday with the bus party -see my previous post. Who would have expected to find a leading technology business surrounded by fields at the edge of the major city of Deepwater, population 200. This little township is located 140 km north of Armidale and 320 km from Brisbane.

A large local farming family, the Tretheweys, has set up factories manufacturing some very swish equipment with global markets and ties with companies in China and the US. They produce stock handling equipment, balers to compress waste materials (metals, card-board, plastics), and electronic equipment for use in the electricity industry. The inter-linked companies include Ti-Autobaler and Starlogixs, with the latter producing specially designed integrated circuits and then incorporating them in specialist equipment also produced locally. And you've guessed correctly that the Tretheweys hail - several generations ago - from Cornwall.

The pictures show some of the production facilities, their pastoral setting, and their products.

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Bus Driver for a Day

I hold, under NSW law, a light-rigid license for driving vehicles and a colleague of mine who wanted to run a field class for his students asked me if I'd like to drive the bus for a day-trip to Guyra and Deepwater. That license enables me to drive 22 seater vehicles and, since I invented the course he was teaching some 34 years ago and it's still my area of research interest - rural development - I agreed to perform the task.


Guyra (population <2000) lies 26 km north of Armidale and is very high by Australian standards at about 1400m. It's main industry is agriculture and after years of hard knocks on the back of a declining (but very prosperous) farm population and the decay of rural processing industries the economy is now bouncing back big-time. The trigger was its selection as the best site in Australia for tomato production by this country's largest horticultural produce operators, the Costa family. I will not go into the reasons why one would want to grow tomatoes at 1400m asl at one of the coldest towns in Australia, except to say that Guyra has a lot of sunshine, heaps of reliable water, and it's much easier to heat up a glass-house than cool it in hot weather.

The farm started only 6 years ago with 5 ha of glass, rapidly doubled that size and then doubled it again by last year. So, now there are 20 ha (50 acres) of glass-houses and that may en route to 30. This is reputedly the largest such facility in the southern hemisphere. Moreover, the current facility employs 250 people - a huge bonus for a place with just 2000people. The farm produces truss tomatoes - 5 tomatoes on each - for distribution to Australia's major supermarkets across the whole of the eastern sea-board (all 3000km in length). These are the best tomatoes for flavour and quality and fetch a considerable price premium.

The pictures show some of the hi-tech glass-houses and the bus party.

The Joys of Cycling

I brought my current bike in late 2006, so it's a little over three years old. Used mainly for journey's to work and recreation, it sometimes travels quite a long distance during a typical week. I have my hand-held GPS mounted on the handle-bars and it's useful for working out distance travelled, time taken, average speed (excluding stops) and the rise and fall of any route. The bike is also possibly a life-saver as it keeps me fit, especially with all the hills around Armidale.



Take today, for example, when my 17.6 km (11 miles) took about 50 minutes, or an average of 21 kph (13.2 mph). That's not too bad for someone going on 65 riding a hilly course. That to my weekly total to about 82 km (or a little over 50 miles. Hey! I've just cycled the equivalent to the distance from London to Brighton.

I own a Giant, a brand common in Australia, but selected a model without drop handle-bar as I'm not really into racing. That said, I'm rarely over-taken and mostly ride faster than others. Believe me, there's quite a buzz in speeding past some 20 yo taking it easy. The thing's got 27 gears, which is useful for the steep sections - especially as I'm usually propelling 90 kg around, 80 kg for me and 10+ kg for my backpack with its computer, books and papers. However, the machine is no use for shopping.

Cycling in Armidale is a pleasant task, despite the hills. There's a network of bike tracks, lots of great views, little pollution, and infrequent rain (though heavy when it comes). Most of the town's roads are quite wide which minimises risk from aggressive drivers. Car parking is becoming a nightmare at the university, so I feel quite imperious when I get there and elevate me and my bike to the top floor where it's parked in my office. After a stint there I carry the thing down flights of stairs - its got a very light frame and hop on immediately I get outside.

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Apsley Falls

Yesterday, we took a short (?) trip to visit the Apsley Falls about 80km from Armidale near the town of Walcha (population < 2000). It was a brilliantly sunny and warm day for this time of year - about 24 degrees C even though it's the start of April. Imagine that temperature in Britain in October!

The falls are very beautiful, as the pictures show, and fortunately the river's strong flow ensured a spectacular display. There are two falls, the first dropping 65 metres (213 ft) and the second drops a further 58 metres (190 ft) metres to the bottom of the gorge. So, the total is 270 m (or over 400 ft). They are part of the Oxley-Wild Rivers National Park, which lies SE of Armidale and covers a humongous area. At the maximum extent, it's 70km east-west and about 80km north-south, but parts are non-contiguous. It contains large numbers of spectacular falls, some the highest in Australia, and lots of walking tracks and specially constructed look-outs to admire the extensive views.

Back to the falls. They were discovered by John Oxley, who had been appointed Surveyor-General of NSW in 1812. Oxley was one of the country's greatest explorers and clearly believed that his title did not tie him to a desk! The date of discovery was 13 September 1818 and he first named them the Bathurst Falls after his previous expedition to the Lachlan valley starting at Bathurst in the NSW Central West in 1817. He thought it one of the most magnificent waterfalls he'd seen.

By the way, I think there is a link between Apsely Falls and Apsley House in London, but I haven't managed to trace it. Oxley was exploring at roughly the same time the Duke of Wellington was successful on the battle-field, but the link could be indirect. Ah! I think I've found it: Colonial Secretary Lord Bathurst (after whom Bathurst was named) owned Apsley House, which sold to one Arthur Wellesley!

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