Regional Living Australia Blog

Kimberley Heritage Cattle Drive

2011-10-17T14:26:00.000+11:00

In Swimming, Kununurra, I mentioned that eldest was visiting Kunnunurra for the first time. Then in today's Australian Lyndall Crisp had an interesting piece, Three days in the saddle, on her experiences on the Home Valley Station Heritage Cattle Dive. Home Valley is a major Aboriginal owned station in the Kimberley's.

I had intended to write a full companion piece setting Lyndall's experiences in a broader context. Sadly, I cannot download the supporting visual material that I require.

I have submitted a request to Home Valley Station to access that material. In the meantime, do read Lyndall's piece. The video she includes is good, but you need to let it run a little before getting onto the cattle drive itself.

Sarah discovers the Northern Rivers

2011-10-11T17:54:00.001+11:00

Good to see that Sarah Whyte is no longer in the dark about the Byron hinterland's charms. Bit sad, though, to think that Lismore should now be counted as hinterland for the much smaller Byron Bay!

Carping aside, Sarah's story gives a reasonable picture of some of the attractions of the New England/NSW Northern Rivers region.

I also noticed that a new blog has just appeared, Taste Northern Rivers, that promises to explore some of the food of the area. I look forward to reading more.

Welcome visitor 20,000

2011-08-20T12:29:00.001+10:00

Visitor 20,000 came from Sydney via Google searching on blogs about growing old australia. This brought them to Getting old in Regional Australia. Another topic that I should update!

Welcome visitor 20,000.

Abrams tank, Queensland outback

2011-08-17T12:25:00.000+10:00

I hadn't intended to return to Gordon Smith's 2011 outback tour so soon, but I was struck by this photo.

Who would expect to meet a modern tank in the Queensland outback? Actually, I suspect that there is a real story here. But that's a matter for another post!

Swimming, Kununurra

2011-08-12T12:15:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned earlier in the month, eldest has been to Kununarra in the Kimberley's in Western Australia to visit boyfriend.

I had wondered what her reactions would be.

While she was born in Armidale, she has been living in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and in some ways has become a metro girl.

She really enjoyed herself.

I will do a proper interview later, but for the moment I just wanted to include this water scene.

Brolgas, Bladensburg National Park, Queensland

2011-08-07T11:55:00.000+10:00

Back on 21 July I mentioned Gordon Smith's outback adventure. He has continued his photo tour since.

This photo shows brolgas at Bladensburg National Park. This is around 16 km (10 miles) from Winton in inland Queensland.

Do have a browse of all his outback tour 2011 photos. I think that you will find it rewarding.

Practicing law in regional Australia: Don Olney

2011-08-03T13:59:00.000+10:00

I wrote my first post on this blog about regional legal practice, Practising Law in Regional Australia, back in October 2006.

One point that I have made that I need to return to is that the returns from professional practice in regional Australia all depend upon your needs. I was reminded of this by the obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald of Dubbo solicitor Don Olney. I quote from the first few paragraphs of Malcolm Brown's story.

Don Olney, born at the end of World War II, was a brilliant student at Normanhurst Boys High School, where he studied under the benign dictatorship of legendary headmaster Tom Pearson and had energy to burn.

He was admitted as a solicitor of the NSW Supreme Court in 1969 and there was no stopping him. He had already met the love of his life, secretary Rhonda Howells, during his daily train trips from Hornsby to the city and had married her in 1967 while still a student.

Completing his articles with the legal firm Baldich, McPherson and Walsh, he found himself a fully fledged lawyer, virile, with a beautiful wife and the world at his feet. But where was he to go?

He went bush, a reverse of the trend of young professionals who prefer the comfort and convenience of the metropolis. During his long and successful career in Dubbo, in central western NSW, he showed just what a young professional could do in a regional area.

I leave you to read the rest. It's just that the story illustrates my point.

Regional Living Australia reader interests July 11

2011-08-01T21:33:00.001+10:00

Back in 2007 I wrote a short series of posts on the Kimberley region. Eldest left this morning for Kununurra to visit her boyfriend who is a pilot with Alligator Airways, so I am going to be able to get a direct update. In the meantime, we have reached month's end.

At the end of each month I look at the most popular posts on this blog to get a feel for reader interests. The most popular posts on this blog in July were:

Moree - live the lifestyle 81 page views
What food did the Aborigines eat in New England? 28 page views
Experiencing regional difference within Australia 24 page views
Sydney barrister tree-changes to Glen Innes 21 page views
Studying in Regional Australia - Central Queensland University 20 page views
Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney 17 page views
Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Wagga Wagga case study 16 page views
Gordon Smith's outback adventure 16 page views
Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange NSW 15 page views

Country real estate still offers best returns

2011-07-29T16:39:00.001+10:00

Yesterday in NSW rental yields by LGA - June quarter 2011, I provided some data on rental yields in NSW. Today, the Sydney Morning Herald carried a story suggesting that Australian house prices continued to decline.

In any in investment house, the final return depends upon the combination of rental yield with capital gain. The higher the rental yield, the lower the capital gain required, the more secure the investment. In those days when I was buying investment houses I did okay because i bought in the country with a starting high gross rental yield by metro standards.

If you look at the rental yields for NSW in yesterday's post, you can see how low Sydney yields are even with recent rent rises. That is one reason why house prices themselves are in trouble.

If you look at country yields, you ace that country yields are higher. The best country returns have passed; in many areas, prices are up. You should have bought two years ago. Still, in comparison with Sydney gross yields remain better, capital gain prospects at least as good.

It remains true: go country if you want to make money.

NSW rental yields by LGA - June quarter 2011

2011-07-28T14:49:00.000+10:00

I have remarked before about the way in which investment in regional real estate can provide good returns relative to the city alternative.

The Sydney Morning Herald had an interesting story, Country towns lead the way on rent increases. The following graphic shows increases in rentals for selected NSW LGAs for for houses for the June quarter 2011. The column that I was especially interested in was the one on the far right showing gross rental yields. You can see the range, with highest yields generally to be found in regional areas.

Equivalent figures for units can be found here.

Gordon Smith's outback adventure

2011-07-21T10:21:00.000+10:00

It may sound dumb, but for someone who lived for so long in Armidale I rarely ventured north into inland Queensland. Our focus tended to be east and south, partly because the coast was a place for holidays, partly because state boundaries dictated that so much official business had to be carried out in Sydney.

My father was different. After he retired, he packed Mum into the car with his camera and went exploring. At first his focus was on New England, but then extended to inland Queensland.

There is some fantastic country there. I mention this because Gordon Smith whose lookANDsee photo blog is one of my all time favourites has taken his car and camera and headed west and north from Armidale on one of his regular outback tours. Just at the moment he is in the Carnarvon National Park.

The caption on this photo reads:

This view seems to come from the land that time forgot. Can’t you almost spot the dinosaurs about to push out from between the trees?

You can see what Gordon means.

There are some wonderful photos. If you want to follow Gordon's trip, click on Outback 2011.

Demand for lamb rockets

2011-07-19T21:11:00.000+10:00

I don't know about you, but I have almost given up buying lamb. A leg is just so expensive now.

Interesting story in the Country Leader (sadly not on-line) about the changing nature of the sheep industry. The combination of drought and low wool prices has led to a dramatic fall in sheep numbers from 130 million in 1994/95 to around 67.7 million today. This is a one hundred year low.

Now both wool and sheep meat prices are up, producers face a real dilemma in terms of keeping sheep for breeding and wool or to sell their lambs for the meat trade.

Global demand for lamb continues to increase. In the circumstances, I fear that lamb is going to continue to be a luxury so far as most of us are concerned.

Sydney barrister tree-changes to Glen Innes

2011-07-15T11:32:00.001+10:00

I see from the Armidale Express that senior Sydney silk Chris Leahy has decided to tree change to Glen Innes.

For those who don't know Glen Innes, it is a historic town on the New England Tablelands with a population of about 6,000.

Chris had worked as a barrister for more than thirty years, ten as a senior counsel, and then he and wife Margaret decided that it was time for a change.

The change means that Chis will be working as a solicitor rather than barrister, but it gives them a chance to find a new life style without Sydney pressures. I quote from Peter Barrett's story:

Mr Leahy ... has ‘absolutely no plans for retirement’.

Indeed, he is looking forward to the challenging but interesting wider range of work in a country practice than he has been used to as a barrister.

The couple will eventually buy a property in Glen Innes but are currently leasing - a lovely old home 3km out of town on about 10 acres’.

While only in the town for two weeks, the Leahys are enthusiastic about what they have seen and are happy with the move.

“It’s the little things we have found pleasing,” Mr Leahy said.

“People are incredibly welcoming, and things like driving to work - no traffic, no traffic lights, it takes just minutes to get a park.

“And we have the impression that the important facilities are well covered, we’re pretty well looked after.”

I have commented before on this blog about the way in which Regional Australia offers professionals of all types new opportunities.

Art Deco Albury

2011-07-13T11:04:00.000+10:00

One of the things that I love about regional Australia are the variations in architecture. This photo shows the art deco T&G building in Albury.

Of course you will find this in the metro centres. You will find everything there with some concentrations, but the variations tend to be a little less obvious.

A year or so back, we stayed in Albury on our way through to Christmas at Mt Hotham. I was quite struck by Albury's art deco style.

I was reminded of this by a number of posts on the Australian blog Art Deco Buildings. The posts were in order:

Albury is starting to make a real feature of its art deco style. I think that's a very good thing.

Moree - live the lifestyle

2011-07-11T10:30:00.001+10:00

I have often remarked about the variety of regional life styles. As this YouTube video says, Moree may not be Paris, but it has its own unique style!

For those who don't know Moree, it is situated in northwest New England 640 kilometers from Sydney and 480 kilometers from Brisbane. Moree has an enthusiastic supportive friendly caring community with a great lifestyle and many great sporting opportunities.

The black alluvial soils of the Gwydir Valley are some of the richest in the southern hemisphere. Moree Plains Shire is the most productive agricultural shire in Australia. Major agricultural industries are cotton, beef cattle, pecan-nuts, olives, wheat, sheep wool, cereal crops.

Moree is famous for its Hot Mineral Baths which originated in 1895. The baths were discovered accidentally when searching for irrigation water. These mercurial waters are from bores sunk into our amazing great Artesian Basin. 300,000 visitors of all ages visit annually. Many believe in the healing powers of the Artesian mineral waters. There are two large hot pools with temperatures ranging from 39 to 41 degrees, A 50 meter 6 lane Olympic Pool, a Junior Pool and a Toddlers pool.

Enjoy.

A frangourou in the New England countryside

2011-04-27T16:37:00.001+10:00

Thus blog has been sadly neglected. It's not that I have lost my passion for the promotion of life outside Australia's metropolitan centres, more that the pressures of other writing and daily life intervened. This post marks the start of renewed posting.

French born Sophie Masson grew up in Sydney and now lives on a small block outside the university city of Armidale. Sophie is a very successful Australian writer. Her new blog A la mode frangourou, subtitled a French Australian look at food, is an almost lyrical account of food and one version of regional living.

The photo shows her homegrown eggs. They look nice, don't they?

Blog Performance October 2010

2010-11-03T20:40:00.001+11:00

The graphic shows visits (yellow) and page views (yellow plus red) to this blog over the year to the end of October.

Traffic, while now low, has stayed at a steady level because of search engine traffic.

The most visited pages over the last month have been:

What food did the Aborigines eat in New England? 32 page views
Reason for the pause in posting 18 page views
Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney 16 page views
Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Wagga Wagga case study 13 page views
Charles Darwin University offer $2.3 million in scholarships boost elite engineering course 12 page views
Brunette Downs Picnic Races 11 page views
West Australia's Pilbara region - introduction 10 page views
Australian Wool Fashion Awards - a few photos from 2007 10 page views
Old Aussie Food Recipes 9 page views
Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange NSW 9 page views

Brunette Downs Picnic Races

2010-06-23T10:48:00.001+10:00

Back in January 2008 I carried a story, In Praise of Picnic Races. It will be clear from the story just how much I loved going to the Picnic Races.

Now Bob Gosford has posted a rather wonderful story, Hats off at the Brunette Downs races and rodeo. I quote the start of the post.

Brunette Downs is a huge cattle station – at 1,221 million hectares there can be no doubt of that – in the heart of the Northern Territory’s Barkly Tableland and this past weekend I’ve been at the 100th annual ABC Amateur Race Club meeting.

You can’t get much more remote than Brunette Downs – it is 850 km from my home in Alice Springs, 1000 or so km from Darwin and 450 km from Mt Isa in western Queensland. By comparison Tennant Creek – the nearest town of any size – is a short stroll away at 350km.

I won't quote the whole post, but it's worth a read.

New England's bumper wine crop

2010-05-03T15:43:00.001+10:00

The New England wine region - essentially the New England Tablelands and its western slopes - is one of Australia's oldest wine growing areas but also its newest in terms of formal recognition.

In my post on New England Wine Regions - Hunter Valley I spoke of the role played by George Wyndham in establishing the Hunter Valley wine industry. I also mentioned that in 1831 he brought the 100,000 acre property "Bukkulla" near Inverell on the edge of the Northern Tablelands and there established another vineyard. Other settlers also planted vineyards and made their own wine.

By 1870 George had 10ha of vines bearing fruit which contributed to the total 11,000 gallons of Wyndham Estate wines being produced. By 1905, wine production from the Inverell area of New England was 227,000 litres from seven or eight larger vineyards and a number of smaller vineyards.

Between 1870 & 1920 wines from the area won many awards at wine shows in Sydney, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Chicago & France. A prominent English wine judge of the time wrote of the Bukkulla wines, “(They) have a character and quality above the average of most wine-producing countries. The lowest quality is better than a large proportion of the ordinary wines of Europe, while the best would not suffer in comparison to the finest known growths”.

Thereafter wine production went into decline, really re-emerging over the last ten years.

Now I see from the Armidale Express that it has had a bumper grape crop. I can't give you a link because this story is not on line.

The excellent grape quality is expected to translate into very good wines. Sadly, you won't be able to buy them in your local bottle shop because sales via cellar door or to local outlets take up most of production. If you want to try the wine, you will need to visit or contact wineries direct.

The complexity of Regional Australia

2010-04-16T15:15:00.001+10:00

I really love the complexity of Regional Australia. You can't see it from the air or along the main freeways: everything blurs into a sameness. You have to get to get off the highways and simply wander.

I mention this only because the Broke area in the Hunter Valley has just had a little Italy Festival among the local wineries. Now I know the area reasonably well, although it is a little time since I visited. Because my memory was imperfect, I spent a pleasant half hour on Google maps just refreshing myself as to how the area fitted together.

Google maps really is an invaluable aid. In both my historical research and in my broader writing, I constantly find myself wanting to sort out local detail.

Mind you, Google maps is far from perfect. A good atlas or relief map is absolutely necessary in some cases if you are to understand the patterns of life and the geography that underlies them.

Each valley in Regional Australia has its own story. Sometimes those stories have been lost because rural depopulation has removed local people and visible signs. Then you have to dig. At other times, locals have fought to retain their heritage and to explain it to outsiders.

In all cases, the sometimes subtle variations in the natural environment provide constant variety.

You cannot understand these from a car. When travelling, I stop. Sometimes I just stand and look around. At other times I walk around to see what I can see. Sometimes I find nothing to see. At other times, I find unexpected pleasures - a view, a rock structure, particular grass types, some secret of primary production.

I accept that I am naturally curious, willing in most cases to forgo the need to get from point A to point B in the fastest possible time. yet the unexpected pleasure that I have got from stops and meanders is quite remarkable. Why don't you try it sometime.

Murray-Darling Basin Authority's sustainable limits study

2010-03-10T08:27:00.001+11:00

Browsing round for background material on a post on my personal blog, Floods, Lake Eyre and yachting, reminded me about the current Murray-Darling Basin Authority Sustainable Diversion Limits study. A dry title, but one whose purpose is defined in this way:

A central element of the Basin Plan is to set environmentally sustainable limits on the amount of water that can be taken from the Basin’s water resources. These are known as sustainable diversion limits (SDLs). SDLs will limit the amount of surface water and groundwater that can be taken from the Basin and will replace the current cap system.

Last year the Authority released an issues paper for comment; 155 submissions were received in response. You can find the issues paper and public submissions here.

I mention this because the outcomes from the process with its strong environmental focus are likely to have significant and differential economic and social effects across the vast basin affecting, among other things, jobs and land and real estate prices. For that reason, those who currently live in the Basin or who might want to move or invest there really need to monitor the process.

I haven't got my own mind around the issues yet. I will try to do so for a later post.

Lord Howe Island

2010-02-15T22:14:00.001+11:00

Another photo from Gordon Smith's archives, this one of Lord Howe Island.

A world heritage site, Lord Howe Island is formally part of NSW, but lies 600 km to the east from the mainland.

This is a very beautiful place indeed. Visitor information can be found here.

Crossing the Simpson Desert

2010-02-06T12:44:00.001+11:00

In winter 1985, Gordon Smith and five others set out in three vehicles to cross the Simpson Desert west to east. They were following the French Line, a track made by oil exploration companies in the 1970’s.

This is actually quite a remarkable shot because it brings out the sheer difficulty of the terrain.

Each year visitors die in the Australian outback because of their failure to take simple precautions - the right vehicle in the right condition, letting people know what you are doing, having reserves of food and especially water.

I often use Gordon's photos on this blog because they are simply so good. Have a browse.

Jobs growth

2010-02-02T15:19:00.001+11:00

The global economic downturn had variable effects across Regional Australia. In general, the impact was less than in metro areas, although some centres dependant on particular projects were hit. Many regional centres also came out of downturn earlier.

I mention this because I see from the Singleton Argus that labour shortages have reappeared in this Hunter Valley mining and agricultural centre. Hat tip to Wollombi Valley for the story.

Life on New England's North Coast

2009-12-12T07:53:00.001+11:00

Lynne's story is a personal review of a series of blog posts about one slice of life on the north coast of NSW. I have included the link here because it provides a snap shot of regional life. This may not be for you, but then it may be.

Experiencing regional difference within Australia

2009-11-08T20:40:00.001+11:00

Writing of Grafton, Lynne wrote:

I should like to travel more and see more places, more towns. There are subtle differences between towns and communities and I like this town- and would like to see others.

The photo shows performers at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival. I have to say that these are very pretty girls!

Lynne is right about the subtle differences across Regional Australia. I do love them.

Derek Bullock's Camp Oven Cooking in Australia

2009-11-07T05:54:00.001+11:00

Many modern Australians have forgotten how to cook outdoors. I was therefore pleased to discover that Derek Bullock's Camp Oven Cooking in Australia was keeping the old art of the camp oven alive.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 6 a new start!

2009-08-01T10:22:00.001+10:00

Back in March 2008 I began a new series, Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 1 introduction. This series got sidetracked because living in Sydney as I am at present I lost my garden because the family wanted to move to a bigger house.

Knowing that we were moving I lost heart. Then, when we moved, we ended in one of those current Sydney small block places. You know the type, all crowded together with a tiny garden patch that has been manicured - paving and all - into what we might call an outdoor living space. Quite nice in summer, but cold in winter, this was the final kiss of death. I did plant a few herbs, but most died.

We have now moved to a new house. I have a garden again, we know we are here for eighteen months, so I can do something. Having moved Tuesday, I am starting my lazy person's approach this morning, just to illustrate what I mean. I will report as I go along. I am also taking some photos as I go, although it may be a little while before I load them.

Introductory post in series. Previous post. Next post.

Job opportunities in Regional Australia - July 09

2009-07-12T10:32:00.001+10:00

During the week the Law Council of Australia released a report on shortages of legal professionals in Regional Australia. At a time when big city firms are retrenching, 43% of those surveyed in Regional Australia say that they have insufficient lawyers to meet client demands.

This is not an isolated example. A recent survey of businesses in a substantial NSW regional centre found that something like half the businesses surveyed had job vacancies that they could not fill. Again, this holds at a time when unemployment in major metro centres is on the rise.

Not all regional communities have vacant jobs. Some especially dependant on mining have recently seen lay-offs. However, for those facing an uncertain metro job market, now is not a bad time to consider a move to Regional and especially inland, Australia.

What food did the Aborigines eat in New England?

2009-04-13T20:08:00.003+10:00

Keith asked in a comment on Australian Regional Food - Bush Tucker and the Australian Aborigines:

I would love to learn more about bush foods in the New England area, especially around here in Armidale. Most of the wild food information covers Queensland and the Territory, where there appears to be far more bush foods available.

I really don't know. More precisely, I know some of the birds and animals they ate, but not the vegetable material. Something else that I must find out!

The nuts and bolts of preparing a local or regional development strategy - a new series

2009-03-25T20:04:00.001+11:00

From time to time I get asked about the best way of preparing a local or regional development development strategy.

Most of these strategies, and especially Government funded ones, fail. They generate a report but no action. The reasons Government funded ones especially fail is that the terms of the grant usually focus on the report, whereas effective planning is all about process.

Peter Drucker, the management guru who did so much to define strategic planning, described it as the futurity of current decisions. By this, he meant simply that planning was effective to the degree that it influenced what we did now, taking the future into account.

Over the next few posts I propose to provide a nuts and bolts guide to the whole process, drawing from my previous writing and experience.

Reason for the pause in posting

2009-03-23T19:42:00.000+11:00

It is a very long time since I last posted. I have not lost interest. It's just that I have been busy and also working out how best to use my various blogs.

Not really a good excuse I know, but its true. Watch this space.

The importance of rocket

2008-10-11T11:23:00.000+11:00

Photo: Rocket growing

Anybody who reads this blog on a regular basis will know that I love gardening. Yet I sometimes struggle to keep the garden going.

The reason for this is simple.

Like all of us, and especially those who live in metro areas as I do just at present, time is short. So my family likes me gardening, but only if I pick and present the results to them. That's fine, but i am busy too. So my vegetables die away.

This morning eldest, who is on a bit of a health kick, asked if we had rocket in the garden. I said no. We always used too, but I gave up because I was really the only one who picked and and ate the salad vegetables.

Now eldest daughter has offered to buy the seeds and seedlings if I will plant them. Boy, do I feel chuffed. I only need the smallest encouragement to launch back in.

Opportunities for the professions in Regional Australia - Introduction

2008-10-08T15:00:00.000+11:00

Back in October 2006, I put up Practising Law in Regional Australia dealing with the opportunities open to those who wanted to practice law in Regional Australia. At the time, there were opportunities because so many new lawyers were opting to stay in the metro areas.

Two years later the position is just the same. Now the Law Society has put forward proposals to try to redress the situation by, for example, forgiving HECS debt. Legal Eagle alerted me to this in her post Bush lawyers. This includes a link through to the original newspaper story.

The reasons for the current shortage of lawyers in regional Australia as well as other professionals are quite complex, combining structural and cultural reasons. Discussions on the reasons, and I am no exception, generally focus on the nature of the problem. In doing so, we ignore a simple fact, the opportunities open to those who are prepared to move.

Given this, I thought that it was time that I revisited the opportunity side in a series of posts, setting out the reasons why the Regional Australia option is worth considering. I will add later posts to the end of this one as they are completed.

Will Owen's blog - an education in Australian Aboriginal art

2008-10-06T18:25:00.003+11:00

Photo: Darby Jampijinpa Ross, "Ngapapkurlangu (Rainwater Dreaming)," 1989.

From time to time on this blog I have featured photos of Australian indigenous art from Will Owen's Aboriginal Art & Culture: an American eye.

I first really became aware of current indigenous art back in the 1970s when I used to browse through a small gallery in the Canberra suburb of Manuka. I was interested because Australian pre-history formed a key part of my honours degree at the University of New England.

Will has a particular focus on remote area art. His blog is a key resource for all those wishing to access this part of the Australian regional experience.

Australian rainfall projections - October to December 2008

2008-10-05T17:57:00.000+11:00

The attached map from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology shows the rainfall outlook for the period October to December 2008.

With the exception of the south east corner, the projections are for above average rainfall across the continent.

Need for a new approach to regional development in Australia

2008-10-03T17:33:00.000+10:00

I try to avoid overt campaigning or political comment on this blog because it risks detracting from the blog's primary purpose, the promotion of the joy and variety of life outside the metros. However, I now feel obliged to make an exception to this rule.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics population projections suggest a continued drift to the metros. At 30 June 2007, 64% of Australians lived in a capital city. By 2056 this proportion is projected to increase to 67%.

I think that this is absurd. We have many areas of Australia that can not only absorb new people, but need them.

The metro drift has deep historical roots. The process has always been reinforcing. To those that have shall be given.

We need to break this cycle. Yet our capacity to do so seems always limited, condemned to a bitsy, ad hoc approach.

Just at present the current global economic crisis has led to calls for new infrastructure spending, something that I support. However, there is a very real risk that this increased spend will end up dominated by metro needs.

This holds even where spend itself is outside metro areas. An example is coastal highways linking metro centres.

Most people who visit this blog come because they have particular information needs. This means that the number of repeat visitors (the type of people who usually comment) is small. Still, I would be very interested in ideas as to what might be done to turn things round.

I would be especially interested in ideas at local or regional level. What do you need to improve your local situation?

Charles Darwin University offer $2.3 million in scholarships boost elite engineering course

2008-10-01T21:06:00.002+10:00

Scholarships valued at more than $100,000 each are on offer to build the infrastructure of the Northern Territory.

A new Bachelor of Engineering Co-operative degree program has been created by Charles Darwin University (CDU) to link with local and national industry, combining paid work with study. The Northern Territory Government Department of Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) is providing $2.3 million to fund up to 20 scholarship places on the new course. The scholarships are valued at up to $117,156 each, with recipients receiving a stipend of $15,000 for each full year of the four and a half year degree course. The remainder of the scholarship award – almost $50,000 for each student – is in the form of paid work placements with the DPI.

Chief Executive Officer of the DPI, Richard Hancock said students would gain practical knowledge and work experience on a range of infrastructure projects to build the Territory.

“These work experience placements will provide students with on-the-job skills and experience, and opportunities to develop close working relationships with professional engineers,” Mr Hancock said.

The scholarship program also will allow students to participate in relevant work placements in both the private and public sectors. CDU’s Head of School of Engineering and Information Technology, Professor Friso De Boer said the quality and structure of the Co-op degree would provide benefits to the NT by supplying more job-ready engineers to the workforce, while the scholarship program would attract and retain the best and the brightest in the Territory.

No application is required. Eligibility for the Co-op degree and DPI scholarships will be assessed on academic merit, with a minimum TER score of 85 for high-school leavers. Eligible candidates will be contacted directly.

Visit the CDU Scholarships website for further information.

China and Regional Australia 4 - attracting Chinese tourists 3: providing the right information

2008-09-30T13:46:00.005+10:00

Photo: Lonely Planet Guide to Shanghai.

Frankly, most Australian regional areas are absolutely hopeless when it comes to selling their own story. This is a pity, for when it comes to both official material and the conventional guide books, most regional areas get squeezed into a few sentences. How can you sell on this basis?

Then if you look at local material, this is also pretty hopeless, a series of disconnected pieces of paper generally focused on attractions in the main regional center. I get so frustrated at this. It is hard to get the story across that we can do better.

To illustrate what I mean, take the mainstream conventional guide book. If we were to apply this to, say, Armidale, we would have the following structure.

The first few pages might deal with general history and geography, the last pages with travellers tips.

The middle section might be broken into two part. The first might deal with Armidale, the second with the surrounds. Both would incorporate maps and photos. All sections would contain references to the area's unique culture.

Hang on, I can hear you say, unique culture? What is unique about Armidale?

Well, to the overseas visitor all of Australia is unique. Further, each area has its own very specific features. We need to point to both.

Once an English language version has been completed, then turn it into Chinese. That way, your visitors have something that will bring their trip back, an aid to memory.

There is a special problem here because many current publications are littered with ads. I can understand this. Most local tourism authorities are short of funds and look for anything that might help defray costs. Yet in most cases the ads both twist content and detract from reader enjoyment. You really need ad free if you are to get best results.

Back to the entry post in this series

China and Regional Australia 3 - attracting Chinese tourists 2: telling a story

2008-09-28T12:04:00.010+10:00

This is part of a Chinese mega store in Shanghai. Click on the image to get a full feel. While the overall footprint is smaller than one of our big malls, the size and crush of people is overwhelming.

If you are going to attract Chinese tourists, any tourists for that matter, you have to be able to tell a story. Many of our regional areas are very bad at this.

Proud of you parks and civic facilities? Forget it. This won't sell. Proud of your shopping centre and the fact that you have good coffee? Forget it. This won't sell.

Each regional area has different features. Each has its own history, its own life style You have to focus on this.

To illustrate what I mean by taking an area that I know especially well.

If I had a Chinese tour party in Armidale, I would focus one day on mining.

On a day trip, I would start by telling them a little of the history of mining in the area, focusing on the hazards and romance including the role played by the Chinese, the old (California) and new (Australia) gold mountains.

Our first stop would be Uralla where I would take them to the museum with its Chinese Joss House, then to Thunderbolt's statue and grave. Plenty of time for photos. Then on to Inverell with its sapphires. After trying fossicking, there would be time to look at and buy sapphires.

From Inverell to Tingha with its Chinese store museum. Tin, the Chinese presence, the old Chinese store that is now a museum. Then back to Armidale.

This is quite a long day trip with plenty of relevant material.

On a second day I would show the romance of wool. This would focus on the establishment of a new order in a strange land, of wealth and privilege, of the way wool helped form elements of the Australian character.

I would start with Booloominbah, the big White town house that now forms the core of the University of New England. I would follow this with a country tour, including a visit to a working sheep property. Lots of animals. And I would again make certain that there were things to buy, plenty of wool products. On the trip, I would (among other things) explain Waltzing Matilda, teaching our guests to sing the song.

This is only a bare sketch, but it illustrates my point.

In terms of other things that our visitors might do, there is of course a tour of the city and its immediate attractions. Then, too, they might need some choice.

This depends in part on what is on in town. If the markets are on, that is one option. Racing would be a second. Beyond that, things are available like a gorge tour, a helicopter flight, a winery visit, a horse ride.

In all this, there is the need to treat the visitors as guests. A welcome by the mayor, the local Chinese community or the University, learning Australian cooking, meeting Australians in their own homes, the list of possibilities is quite extensive.

In all this, we need to remember my opening point, the need to tell a story.

Back to the entry post in this series.

China and Regional Australia 2 - attracting Chinese tourists 1: what do we have to sell?

2008-09-26T14:19:00.009+10:00

Photo: Shanghai crowd scene

As I walked through Shanghai, I ached to get some of them back to visit Regional Australia. China is still a poor country measured by average standard of living. However, I would guess that the middle class has now passed 130 million, many of whom can afford to travel.

Our present travel promotion generally has a city bias, or focuses on things that we think are distinct. We do not think of what might be distinct in the minds of our potential visitors.

China is incredibly crowded to those of us used to even big regional centres. Further, the Chinese are used to and even love the crowds. Here a Chinese work friend said that when she first came to Sydney, she missed the crowds and the noise. To her, Sydney was a small city.

The love of crowds does not mean that we cannot attract Chinese visitors to Regional Australia. In fact, the opposite is true. We have the capacity to offer them a unique experience. We may not attract them all, but even half of one per cent is 750,000 extra visitors per annum.

But what does Regional Australia have to offer compared to the metro centres or the big coastal resort areas? Here I can only offer my own experiences in conversation.

The Chinese appear fascinated by our animals, especially koalas and kangaroos. So this is one part of the experience.

Then, too, the Chinese appear fascinated by our primary production. Wool, sheep dogs, properties with size measured in hundreds if not thousands of hectares. This can be romance territory. Even being able to pat a hen!

Given the current problems with contaminated milk in China, our clean food is another attraction.

Then we have life style in a broad sense. Just about everything in Regional Australia is different in life style terms.

In all this, the key point is to focus on and emphasise the differences with China.

Back to the entry post in this series.

The importance of the block buster

2008-09-23T13:47:00.003+10:00

This photo by Gordon Smith shows a week's supply of wood used in the lounge room heater. It also shows a blockbuster.

A blockbuster is a an axe with a specially heavy head used to break up blocks of wood.

The key to using a blockbuster is to let the weight of the head do the job for you. Hit the block in the right spot and it will split easily.

China and Regional Australia 1 - introduction

2008-09-22T17:33:00.008+10:00

I have been in China, making it difficult to post. I found the trip very interesting not just because of the exposure to China itself, but also because of the way it generated new ideas relevant to my various interests. Yes, China is very different from Regional Australia, but there are also surprising shared interests as well as things that we can learn.

For that reason, I thought that I might do a short series of posts while things are still fresh in my memory. I will use this post as an entry page, adding posts at the bottom as I write them.

Posts in the China and Regional Australia series

Regional Living Australia - most popular posts 2

2008-09-14T06:54:00.001+10:00

This post continues my series on the most popular posts on this blog. This helps me get a feel for what people like. Howver, my present free stats package will only allow me to look at the most recent 100 visits. To help me overcome this, I decided to start a new most popular posts series reporting every two to three weeks. Over time, this should give me a better feel for things that really appeal.

The most popular posts in the last 100 visits have been:

Australian Wool Fashion Awards - a few photos from 2007 continued to be the most popular post.
Regional Australia - Migration Matters came in at number 2. Here I must apologise to people who have emailed me queries. Other pressures have left me well behind in my email traffic.
John Brack - an Australian Regional Artist (third equal) was fourth equal in the last list.
Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney (third equal) was also fourth equal in the last list.
Judith Wright's The Hawthorn Hedge - Regional Australia writers (third equal) was a new addition. I have written a number of posts on Judith Wright across my blogs; this post includes a link to the entry page for the whole series.
Wine Industry Outlook - January 2008 (third equal) was also a new addition.
Is Australia the world's driest continent? (third equal) was fourth equal in the last list.
Australia's Indigenous Heritage - Big Sky Country (fourth equal) was also a new addition, although this post has featured before.
Tree Change, Sea Change Stories (fourth equal) was a new addition. I must alter this post because it gives a link to a site that no longer serves its original purpose.
The blog archive for May 2007 was also fourth equal. There were nine posts that May, so I do not know exactly which stories people were looking at.
West Australia's Pilbara region - introduction (fourth equal) was included in the last list.

Tree change - how do I know that I will fit in?

2008-09-08T07:31:00.002+10:00

One of the most common worries that people have when considering a shift from the metros is simply the question of whether or not they will fit in in their new environment. This is a very real issue.

Last week I was talking to someone who had made the shift then returned to the city after three years in a large regional centre. The move should have worked. His skills were much in demand. However, he was also single, gay and had lived in one part the city all his life. He returned because he missed home and also felt that he did not quite fit in in his new environment.

The question of fit is partly a matter of family or personal need and of personal interests. However, the degree of fit between you and the culture of the new community is also important.

Each area within Regional Australia has its own character and culture determined by its history and geography. This character and culture can vary quite dramatically between areas. Smaller communities also make for higher degrees of personal interaction and visibility- people simply know more about each other than is common in metro areas.

As a general rule of thumb, people who identify with and participate in their new community generally find that the community identifies with them. However, issues of fit can still arise.

The only way of identifying potential problems is to spend some time in the community as a visitor. Read the local newspaper first, most regional papers now have an on-line presence, to get a feel for the community. Then on your visit or visits take the time to check the community out.

Obviously you will want to check out facilities and amenities linked to your interests and needs. But also spend some time listening and dropping in. Just ask questions, get people talking. Listen to conversations in pubs and cafes. If after this you feel comfortable with the community, you can be pretty sure that they will feel comfortable with you.

Postscript

Pam kindly added this comment.

thought this was a good post Jim. We lived interstate for a time but moved back because we missed old friends, cycling mates, and suprisingly family, because it was one of the reasons we thought a bit of distance might be good. Proved otherwise which made us laugh. It is true that abscence makes the heart grow fonder. Also there is quite a bit of wariness on both sides, of people you don't know and don't know you, so establishing new friendships takes tentative time.Missing very old friendships was the deciding factor in moving back to familiar territory.

I think that Pam's comment captures some of the elements in the tree change process that I was talking about.

Musings on Australian food and wine

2008-09-05T22:09:00.000+10:00

I am a real food and wine jag at the moment. We (Australians) are really very lucky in the range of food and wine that we have available to us.

My current obsession started with a function a Sydney University's International House. I reported on this in a post on my personal blog -What would you serve as Australian food? They key point in the post was the failure of Australians to recognise their own Australian food styles. I followed this with two further posts - More ramblings on Australian food and In Praise of Australian food.

I am not a foodie in the conventional sense of the word. Like most of us, I am just too busy and also do not have the money to indulge myself in this way. Generally I eat to live, not live to eat. But I do think that I am missing out in not deliberately exploring some of the food we have available.

Perhaps that's not quite fair. I do try different things, and I certainly try to follow food in Regional Australia. Yet I still seem to get stuck in cooking and eating the things that I always eat, or drink for that matter.

So I have set myself a target. Over the next month or so I am going to try as many different Australian products as I can. Further, I am going to to write down my impressions. Now there is no way that I can eat or drink my way through them all, but it is a start.

Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange revisited

2008-09-02T21:51:00.000+10:00

In December 2006 I carried a post on the growth of Orange in NSW as a food and wine centre -Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange NSW . I was reminded of this because I met someone at a function who was selling the Orange story. So I thought that I should mention the earlier post again!

Regional Australia - how much does food cost

2008-08-31T21:27:00.000+10:00

One of the issues that comes up from time to time is just how much food costs in different parts of Regional Australia. I make this point because food costs vary from area to area depending in part on transport costs. So people who are thinking of leaving the metros know that rents will be cheaper, but also want to know how much more they might have to pay for groceries.

The Australian Government's Grocerychoice site is a useful source here because it provides information on food prices by region.

The first thing that you have to do is to key in your post code or town. Alternatively, you can click on the map. This then gives you prices for baskets of groceries. You can use this to compare food prices between areas.

The site is not perfect, providing information at a broad regional level. However, it is still a useful guide.

Release of Baz Luhrmann's Australia nears

2008-08-28T20:04:00.000+10:00

We are coming up to the release of Baz Luhrmann's Australia.I must say that I am looking forward to it.

"Australia" is Baz Luhrmann's first feature film since the 2001 musical success Moulin Rouge!

The film centres on an English aristocrat in the 1930s, played by Nicole Kidman, who comes to northern Australia to sell a cattle property the size of Belgium. After an epic journey across the country with a rough-hewn drover, Hugh Jackman, they are caught in the bombing of Darwin during World War II.

Filming began late April 2007, concluding on December 19th 2007. The film is presently slated for a November 26 2008 release.

For those who are interested, the film's web site has lots of great stills.

Regional Living Australia - most popular posts 1

2008-08-25T19:35:00.000+10:00

From time to time I report on the most popular posts on this blog. This helps me get a feel for what people like. Unfortunately, my present free stats package will only allow me to look at the most recent 100 visits.

To help me overcome this, I have decided to start a new most popular posts series reporting every two to three weeks. Over time, this should give me a better feel for things that really appeal.

The most popular posts in the last 100 visits have been:

Australian Wool Fashion Awards - a few photos from 2007. This reminds me that I should do an update. In the meantime, you will find the award site here.
Regional Australia Food & Wine - Orange NSW
West Australia's Pilbara region - introduction
John Brack - an Australian Regional Artist (fourth equal)
Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney (fourth equal)
Cloncurry Qld - a new type of solar power (fourth equal)
Is Australia the world's driest continent? (fourth equal)

Barratt Galleries - Alstonville

2008-08-21T19:10:00.000+10:00

One of the trends that is adding so much to the depth of life in Regional Australia is the progressive movement of creative people from the metros seeking new life styles who the join with local creative people.

Barratt Galleries is a contemporary art space located in the historic town of Alstonville in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. The region is renowned for the diversity of its local art producers, from the crafts to the contemporary.

Whilst artist/Director Julie Barratt will be showing works from national and international artists, Barratt Galleries is dedicated to showcasing the excellence and diversity of the work of regionally based artists.

Although the gallery has a focus on limited edition prints, works on paper and artists’ books however the solo exhibition space may exhibit works across all media.

Julie Barratt, as a producer of artist books herself, has an affinity for the medium, and seeks interest from producers and collectors of artist books for collection, acquisition, representation and exhibition.

Contact Details

Barratt Galleries is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am – 4pm. All enquiries should be directed to Julie on 6628 0297 or 0427211882

Email : INFO@BARRATTGALLERIES.COM.AU

Address: 5 Bugden Avenue, Alstonville

Climate change and Australia's coastal vulnerabilities

2008-08-17T11:35:00.000+10:00

Like many Australians, I get a little confused with all the discussions about climate change. Again like many Australians, I wonder what it means in general and for me in particular. I also wonder in the discussion what is normal climatic variability, what climate is due to climate change.

In all this, I was struck by a recent suggestion (I cannot find the link) that 270,000 houses in NSW alone were at risk because of projected rises in sea levels.

Australians love of the coast is well known. But is the numbers and time horizons are right, a lot more Australians should now be thinking about the possibility of moving inland. Yes, some inland areas have their own problems with drought. But there are a lot of inland areas that in fact have enough water and reasonable facilities.

Adopting a medium term time horizon, if current prognositications are in any way right, these areas could well experience significant growth as people relocate.

Nostalgia for the sights, sounds and smells of the Australian country

2008-08-13T21:00:00.000+10:00

Photo: Hele-hiking in the New England gorges.

In my last post, Have Australians lost their sense of country?, I bemoaned the fact as I saw it that so many metro Australians were losing their sense of country. Thinking about it, perhaps I should say more accurately, losing their familiarity with country.

If so, how would I describe the sights, sounds and smells of the Australian country that people have now lost? Here there is a difficulty because Australia is a very diverse country, so that the sights, sounds and smells actually vary from place to place. However, I can at least indicate some that are important to me, many from childhood when our sense of place is especially formed.

Early morning at our Aunt and Uncle's place. The cow has been brought in for milking. There is the steady squirt splash, squirt splash, squirt splash as the milk squirts into the metal bucket. There are good health reasons for our treated milk. However, the taste of fresh creamy milk is very different from the bottled variety.

Still early morning, same place. We are in the orchard. While the sun is bright and the day will be hot, the night chill is still in the air. We pick the cold crisp apples from the tree and eat them, the juice running down our faces.

Fruit and fruit trees feature in many memories.

There were the trees in our garden and those around. We knew every tree within a ten minute bike ride. There were big old apricots suitable for climbing as well as fruit supply, there was the big mulberry tree in a backyard just down the road, there were plum trees, apple trees and many vine fruits.

We might not eat fruit when given it, but we sure ate a lot of fruit that we collected ourselves, green or otherwise!

Bikes were central to our lives. I was in primary school before I learned to ride one, envious of friends who already had them. We could walk or run long distances and did, but a bike gave much greater freedom. They could also be a challenge for the mechanically incompetent like me. Still, I did learn to put the chain back on and to repair the inevitable punctures.

The hot smell of dust floating in the air in little particles, or kicked up by bike tires. A familiar pleasant smell in small quantities, but sometimes a choking nuisance when thrown up by cars.

I learned to drive on dirt roads and still like them. Speed up if there are corrugations, slow down if there are potholes, but what do you do if there are both?

The ritual of Sunday drives and of family picnics, mostly within a thirty kilometer radius from home. We knew every road, all the swimming spots, every change in the country side.

Armidale lies in the centre of the New England Tablelands. To the east, the water flows down through the gorges to the coast. Just to the west is the divide. From there, the water flows west towards the Darling.

Drive a little west from Armidale, and the country suddenly changes - becomes drier, the vegetation and colours are different. Drive a little east, and the rolling Tablelands are suddenly broken by huge gorges. This is now all national parks country. We picnicked at the various falls and lookouts, explored the mining remains at Hillgrove, clambered down hillsides and valleys.

Turn south and you find the Arding lanes, Uralla and the old mining centre of Rocky River. This was much more English country side, tailored by the European settlers to fit with memories of home.

Once I learned to drive and could borrow the family car, I used to take my university friends out to explore, to show them the changing countryside.

New England was sheep country, fine wool merinos. I still love the feel of wool - thick jumpers, fine wool suits, scarves.

Sheep clothed us and fed us - steak was expensive, lamb and mutton plentiful and cheap. Graziers butchered their own animals for home consumption, something I watched but cannot say I really enjoyed. Often the butchered animals were quite old: people became expert in various ways of cooking mutton.

Sheep strike me as very dumb animals. Trying to move along a flock of skittish lambs can be a challenge! A good sheep dog was highly valued.

We loved wool sheds. They have a very particular smell developed over years. As kids we played in them. Later they were often the venue for parties, with fires burning in 44 gallon drums outside to keep some of the night cold away.

Shearing time was always interesting. Then the sheds came alive with sheep and shearers. The shearers quarters were generally galvanised iron huts - I stayed in a lot of them on camps or while working on archaeological digs, in so doing acquiring a liking for rum toddies as a way of keeping the cold at bay!

Memories.

Have Australians lost their sense of country?

2008-08-09T20:20:00.000+10:00

This rather wonderful photo by Gordon Smith looking down from Halls Peak is part of what I think of as my personal country.

Scenes like this are imprinted on my memory. However, talking around I get the feeling that metro Australians at least have lost their sense of country.

I do not mean by this that they have lost their sense of their own urban area. Rather, that they no longer know the Australian countryside in the way I do and did.

A year or so back I went to a school function in Sydney. Part of the function was the presentation by different groups of their perception of the outback. To one group, Sydney's Blue Mountains was part of the outback. I blinked.

For the benefit of international readers, the traditional definition of the outback is inland areas far from extensive settlement. Back of Bourke in NSW terms.

The country I grew up in was not outback. The country sounds, feels and images were not outback, far from it. Now it is apparently classified by at least some metro dwellers as outback.

We have always been an urban community. Arguably, Australia was the world's first urban community measured by the proportion of the population living in major urban centres. Still, fifty years ago most Australians had some country connection.

This is no longer true. I find it hard to understand, but it's true that there are Australians who have never experienced the country other than views seen from a car while driving from point A to point B.

I am a townie. I grew up in an urban, indeed academic, community within the country. But I was still imprinted by the sights, sounds and smells of the countryside. As a consequence, my oral and visual language is different from that used by many metro Australians.

I find it sad that so many will never experience the things that I knew.

Pigs will fly - a community development blog

2008-08-06T13:35:00.000+10:00

My thanks to the Australian Blog Index for drawing my attention to Pigs will fly, a community development blog and network. This strikes me as a very useful blog for all those interested in regional and community development.

Australian regional tourism - Grafton's failure to maximise visitor experience

2008-08-04T12:16:00.001+10:00

In Australian regional tourism - maximising the visitor experience I spoke of the importance of focusing on the visitor experience in building local or regional tourism.

I was sitting beside someone from Grafton at a recent dinner. As it happened, I had just written a post talking about Grafton, Diary of a travelling trainer - day two: Grafton, Sydney. We started talking about the city's history, about its place as a major river port. He had no idea.

Now this links to my point.

As I said in my post on Grafton, the tourism material on Grafton fails to properly draw out the city's riverine and maritime shipping history. This is quite recent: North Coast Steam Navigation Company services finally stopped in 1954. Yet there is little mention of this history. I know the history, yet I had to ask to find out where the steamers docked.

Would people be interested in this history? Yes, they would.

Australian regional tourism - maximising the visitor experience

2008-08-01T11:18:00.001+10:00

Recently I have been running a series of training workshops. As part of this, I have spent a fair bit of time in regional centres.

The first thing I do upon arrival at my motel is to look at the local tourism material. What does it tell me about the place? What might I like to see or do?

Frankly, some of the stuff remains very ordinary. For some reason, many of Australia's regional areas remain fixated on the simple attractions (what to see)/events (what's on) classification. Many also are still obsessed with the need to prove that they are as good as somewhere else. Far too few focus on maximising the visitor experience.

The central problem with the attraction/event focus lies in its inward looking, passive focus. You create a descriptive list, relying on that to attract a visitor with a given interest. By contrast, the visitor experience focus looks at what visitors want, how you might deepen and richen their experience.

Two things are central to the visitor experience approach.

The first is to understand what you have. The events/attractions list is a start here, but only a start. Now look at everything in the district or region to try to think what might interest the visitor, not just the more obvious things. Build a list.

The second is to think about things that you might do to add to visitor enjoyment. This may be things like clean toilets. More often, it should be things like more information, something that will tell the visitor a story, give them a context.

One key thing to remember is that the visitor experience approach does not require a grand new strategy. You can start small and build.

Fossicking, New England sapphires and the love of discovery

2008-07-27T12:18:00.000+10:00

Photo: Australian sapphires

Some Australians like digging round in the dirt, some don't. For those that do, Australia still offers many opportunities just to find that magic nugget or gem stone.

I mention this because the folks from Big Sky Country have put together some material on fossicking in New England, one of Australia's major gem areas.

For details see Fossicking in New England.

Regional Living Australia - visitor interests

2008-07-22T21:40:00.001+10:00

Every so often I do a quick check on visitor interests measured by entry pages to this blog.

The leading entry point is Australia's Regional Differences - Melbourne vs Sydney. This post, one of a short series, is (I think) a good post.

On equal first came Australian Wool Fashion Awards - a few photos from 2007. This was followed by John Brack - an Australian Regional Artist.

Then came three posts on equal ranking - Regional Australia - Migration Matters ; Guyra, New England - the birds of Bradley Street; and then the archive for May 2007.

This was followed by a further three equally ranked posts - Getting the Best out of Regional Living - Wagga Wagga case study; Tree Change & the Job Search Process - the story of Katrina and Tom continues; Cloncurry Qld - a new type of solar power.

In all, a fairly varied mix!

In praise of Rex's country feel

2008-07-19T20:10:00.000+10:00

I grew up in the country, townie not land. I really like the country feel - I define this simply as a sense of community.

Recently I have flown on Rex a number of times. I have really enjoyed the service.

One experience captured this. I came into Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport. The same girl was on duty who had been on two weeks before.

We had chatted briefly then. Now she remembered me. That is what I call country service.

Visiting Canberra - driving around, lunch, dinner, Sunday at the National Gallery

2008-07-17T19:02:00.001+10:00

Photo: National Gallery, Picture Parade, Asia-Pacific Photos 1840s-1940s.

Loaded with our Murrambateman Ravensworth sangioves, bread, imported cheese plus Ligurian olives, we left Manuka for a drive round the areas of Canberra that we had both known.

As reported in Canberra's changing life style - past and present, I was struck with what I saw as the deterioration in some of the older suburbs. I know that water restrictions have had an impact, but it was more than that. But many of the suburbs we knew so well have become drab and untidy. Still, we did enjoy our drive.

About 3 pm we returned to our hotel room for a picnic - the Ravensworth sangiovese, fresh bread, Barossa fine foods salami, Ligurian olives, Roy de Valles semi hard cheese at $88.11 per kilo, Gorgonzola Piccante at $57.50 per kilo. This was a very expensive picnic, but it was fun.

A sleep, and we were ready to go out for dinner in Kingston. We had wanted to go to La Rustica but this was full. Instead, we got into Figaro on a cancellation.

This proved a good choice. Our waiter was friendly and helpful, able to comment on both food and wine. So we settled down with a bottle of Danzanti Pinot Grigio 2006 from the Venezia region while we made our choices. We chose this wine because youngest was in fact in Venice, but it was rather nice.

I do not have all the notes on our food, I will have to remedy this if I am going to do more posts like this one, but I would put the food at 8 out of 10, the service 10 out of 10.

Home to watch the Tour de France.

Morning and breakfast in the hotel. This was pretty ordinary. Too few Australian hotels can do a decent breakfast, although I admit I have high standards here. Then to the National Gallery.

I love Australia's National Gallery. It's not as big, monumental, as some of the European Galleries. Living in Canberra I was a member and often went there over lunchtime just to wander around.

Now the trees have grown changing the external feel, but internally it's still remarkably compact. We worked our way round, although I would really have liked multiple visits.

After coffee we got on the road, and so to Sydney. It had been a fun trip.

Back to the introductory post in the series.

Visiting Canberra - wandering round Manuka

2008-07-15T18:01:00.001+10:00

Breakfast over, Dee and I went for a wander round Manuka just to see what had changed.

I am not a shopping person. I am not a shopping person. My wife and daughters are. Give them a shop and they will enter, even if they cannot afford to buy anything! Still, in this case I went along because I wanted to look at the shops myself.

One advantage that Manuka has over Sydney shopping centres is that the shops are in a self-contained space. This makes it very easy to browse.

We started at the Sheridan shop. I really liked this one because it had so many towels and sheets in one place. I was not in a buying mood, but I do like bright colours. From here we went to the various clothes' shops.

To me, Carla Zampatti is Carla Zampatti, just a name. Still, I was struck here and in other shops with the winter range. Like Melbourne, Canberra's winter climate means that there are clothes that you will not find in Sydney. This I liked.

Still, as a mere male the prices amazed me. Those who have known Manuka from the past will know that Millers of Manuka has been there for a very long while.

Millers used to be a middle of the range store. Not any more. It was sale time, so I looked at some of the labels. There was, for example, a nice Kenzo jacket. This had been discounted so that it was an absolute steal at a price of a just $1,630! I could see why so many of the people in Manuka seemed to be well and expensively dressed.

In all this, my favourite store was the Wine & Cheese Providores.

The wine can be found in the lower level store. I simply cannot afford some of the wines there, but it was nice looking. I was especially interested in the local wines, and here upon recommendation we bought a bottle of Murrambateman Ravensworth sangiovese for $22. I had not tried this grape before, but the wine was highly recommended.

Then we went outside and up the stairs to the cheese section. This is also a cafe. There we bought some bread, imported cheese plus Ligurian olives to go with our our sangiovese for lunch.

Entry post in this series here.

Visiting Canberra - breakfast at Manuka

2008-07-13T11:31:00.000+10:00

Because I was using a conventional camera, I still do not have my photos of Manuka back. But I cannot wait for them. So my story of our Canberra visit continues. You will find the introductory post here, including a full post list in this series.

Saturday morning I awoke much refreshed after one of the best sleeps I had had for a long while. We decided to go to Manuka for for breakfast.

In Visiting Canberra - history I set out a little of Canberra's history.

In Canberra's first period, Manuka and Kingston were the city's shopping centres. When I first came to live in Canberra, Manuka became my centre. Here I had my post office box, my bank.

In some ways, Manuka does not exist. There is no suburb called Manuka. It is just the shopping centre in Griffith. Yet Manuka has always had a presence independent of its formal existence. Today it has become Canberra's style centre.

As we drove out from the hotel to go to Manuka, there was a bad sound from the engine. We got over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. Then, just outside the Treasury building, a dreadful rattle developed. We pushed the car into the Treasury parking lot and called the NRMA.

As we waited, I looked around. I worked in Treasury for thirteen years. I knew this parking lot like the back of my hand.

In Saturday Morning Musings - Australia's old Parliament House I spoke of the area around old Parliament House. Standing with my back to the Treasury building looking round, the scene was very much the same. Finally, the NRMA man arrived, fixed the car, and we got going again.

At first sight, Manuka was both familiar and different. Thetis Court had been roofed in, but The Lawns still seemed the same.

Cafe society, a feature of modern Australia that I greatly like, had clearly arrived in Manuka. In fact, Manuka appears to be Canberra's breakfast capital. Everywhere you looked there were cafes with the ubiquitous outdoor tables and heaters.

We stopped at Zucchero's in The Lawns. This was a mistake.

Big English style breakfasts are very popular, certainly I like them, but they have to be well done. Too many modern establishments cannot do them properly. An overdone fried egg on top of mushrooms and poorly cooked tomatoes with a some limp strips of bacon is not a proper English breakfast. My own efforts are far better than Zucchero's best.

As we ate, I looked around and took notes on the scene and its people. Again there was the same slight sense of dislocation - things were the same, but still different.

Canberra's ethnic mix is different to Sydney, closer to Melbourne.

The strong Asian feel that you get in Sydney was missing. This was a European crowd, but one that reflected the first round of ethnic mixing from the mass migration program after the Second World War. Migrants involved in the building of the Snowy Mountains Scheme or in the construction of Canberra itself settled in Canberra.

At the table next to us, two older European men chatted in Spanish while drinking their coffee. Next to them a man with a somewhat shaggy white beard in a military style outfit - double breasted coat with many buttons, a cap - sat talking to himself while drinking his coffee.

At the risk of upsetting Sydneysiders, the passing parade was far better dressed than you would find in Sydney.

When I commented on this to Denise, she pointed out that Canberra was cold. Sydney is casual, in Canberra you have to wear jumpers and jackets. This led to greater colour and variety in outfits. While Dee was right, I also felt that the Manuka crowd was simply more expensively dressed than you would find in most parts of Sydney.

I will report on the reasons for this in my next post in the series.

Visiting Canberra - arrival

2008-07-12T20:35:00.001+10:00

Getting away from Sydney for a weekend is always hard. In this case, we did not start until 6pm. And then there was the traffic. Coming out of Sydney it was almost bumper to bumper. The red rear lights stretched in an almost solid stream for miles.

Part of the traffic was certainly snow traffic. During the snow season thousands of cars and buses leave Sydney for the snow fields. Part, too, was dues to Sydney siders escaping from World Youth Day.

The modern road to Canberra is far faster - around three and a half hours drive time - but also much more boring. Just sit there and stick on the 110 kilometer hours speed limit for much of the journey.

The first real excitement came as we descended onto the shores of Lake George, now dry. This meant that we were almost there.

My wife and I have often been to Canberra in recent years. However, this was the first time that we had come by road and at night. I suppose the thing that struck us most as we drove over the hill and saw the Canberra lights for the first time was the sheer size of the place. The lights just stretched.

We both knew Canberra well, so did not bother with maps. Yet as we came in, we realised that we were not sure how to get to our hotel, the old Hotel Ainslie. We need not have worried. Sheer instinct guided us!

We finally arrived a bit after 9.30. So we had dinner there - Thai - and planned the next day.

Visiting Canberra - history

2008-07-11T05:24:00.001+10:00

Photo: Opening of Australia's new Parliament House, May 1927. The pictures and historical material in this post are drawn from the Wikipedia article on the history of Canberra.

For the benefit of international readers, when the Australian colonies came together to form the new Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney meant that neither city could become capital of the new Federation.

Eventually, a compromise was reached: Melbourne would be the capital on a temporary basis while a new capital was built somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne. Section 125 of the new Constitution specified that the capital must be placed in a Commonwealth territory within New South Wales, but at least 100 miles from Sydney.

After an extensive search, a site was chosen in 1908 in the foothills of the Australian Alps some 300 kilometres south east of Sydney. In 1910, the NSW Government formally ceded the area to the Commonwealth of Australia to form the Australian Capital Territory. The following year after an international competition, the American architect Walter Burley Griffin was selected to design the new capital city.

Various names were considered for the new city. Finally, at midday on March 12, 1913, the city to be was was officially given the name Canberra by Lady Denman the wife of the then Governor-General, at a ceremony on Kurrajong Hill (now known as Capital Hill) and building officially commenced.

Neither ministers nor public servants were keen to leave the comfort of Melbourne for the isolation of the new bush capital. While a new Parliament House was opened in May 1927, development of the city remained slow and sporadic, coming to an effective halt during the depression.

Development continued during the war, then accelerated rapidly in the late 1950s and 1960s as the headquarters of various agencies shifted to Canberra. The effect of this can be seen in Canberra's population timeline.

Both my wife and I worked in Canberra. When I first joined the Commonwealth Public Service, the city's population was around 70,000. By the time we left Canberra, it had grown to 250,000. Today it is over 300,000. If the satellite cities and settlements that have grown across the border in NSW such as Queanbeyan and Yass are added in, the population of greater Canberra is now over 400,000.

This growth has had profound effects on the surrounding regions, drawing them into Canberra's growing sphere of economic and social influence.

While we had visited Canberra many times since our departure, this trip we were going as tourists to look at the changes that had taken place through the prism set by our past experiences.

Postscript

For two somewhat nostalgic views of Canberra's past see:

For the opening post in this series see here.

Visiting Canberra - Introduction

2008-07-10T20:04:00.005+10:00

Next weekend my wife and I are going to Canberra for a break. We both lived there for many years, so we are really looking forward to it.

We are going to stay at what used to be the Hotel Ainslie, now Olims Canberra Hotel.

I had to laugh when I saw the Olims' site. The Hotel Canberra is the Hotel Canberra. Olims tries to present their site as though it is the Hotel Canberra. It is not!

I will report on the trip as we go.

For posts in this series see:

Climate change and real estate prices in Regional Australia

2008-07-07T21:37:00.000+10:00

Thinking about climate change the other day, I wondered what it might mean for real estate prices.

Normally this type of question falls in the what-if category. But as the evidence mounts, we do need to think about questions like this. So here is a test for you!

What part of NSW has above average rainfall, is high enough to avoid problems with mosquito born diseases, and has good infrastructure?

Problems with petrol - and their implications for Regional Australia

2008-07-04T21:15:00.000+10:00

In all the discussion about rising petrol prices, rising food prices and climate change, no one appears to have really focused on just what all this means for life in Regional Australia.

Take a simple example.

Much public policy has focused on centralised service delivery, as has commercial activity such as supermarkets. All this assumes that people can travel. But what happens if, as an example, petrol prices reach the point that long distance travel to shop or receive medical care at a centralised location is no longer possible?

My personal view is that local delivery will, once again, become important. If so, this will lead to profound changes in regional dynamics, recreating the smaller service centres.

Explanation for a pause in blogging

2008-07-01T21:12:00.000+10:00

I just got further and further behind on this blog. I had part completed posts, and then face a choice. Try to catch up, or draw a line.

I hate leaving several months without a post, but there comes a time when one has to start again!

In memory of our old fuel stove

2008-04-25T12:29:00.000+10:00

I was trying to cook a roast chook, hen for the benefit of those not used to Australian slang. Our oven is small, it has a grill that hangs down at the top, so that it is very hard to fit two baking trays in the oven.

This cast my mind back in a fit of nostalgia to 202 Marsh Street, the house in which I grew up. That had a stove, a real fuel stove of the type that used to go 24 hours a day.

The oven itself was not huge, just a little bigger than the one I have now. However, it was the combination of features that made the old-fashioned stove so great.

Just below the oven was a warming oven. This allowed me to transfer dishes from the main oven just to keep warm or to slow cook if I increased the heat.

The hot plate was huge, running the length of the stove. Hot at one end, cooler at the other, this allowed me to cook multiple dishes moving them along to cooler spots as required. So once the gravy was done, for example, I could move it to the other end to keep warm.

Yes, there were some difficulties. For example, a fuel stove does not heat quickly in the way that a gas or electric stove might, so you have to manage this. But still, once you had mastered this, the ease of cooking was great.

The lost art of the Australian picnic

2008-04-22T20:41:00.001+10:00

Photo from taste.com.au

Growing up, picnics were still a central feature of Australian life. There were organised events such as sunday school picnics, school picnics or picnic races. But far more common was the simple domestic picnic.

These were in part excursion, getting out to a nearby picnic spot. But they were also a central feature of travel, with families stopping by the side of the road to have a cup of tea or coffee and something to eat.

Then, almost overnight, they seemed to vanish, replaced by fast food or BBQs. Don't get me wrong, I like a good BBQ, but the picnic has the advantage that you can eat in many more places.

Picnics still exist, but they have become much more ornate occasions. Again don't get me wrong. I do not object to a range of specially prepared food. However, there is a lot to be said for simplicity.

I think that the key thing about a picnic is that it can take so many forms.

When travelling on a tight budget in Europe, we used to picnic in our hotel room at lunchtime, combining bread, cheese and things such as olives and salami, washed down with a rough red.

Travelling in Australia, I fear that we have fallen into the habit of stopping at those monster road side stops that now dot the express ways. This is a real error. It quite destroys the pleasure that can be obtained from a more relaxed stop in a pleasant place.

Yes, the monster road stops are useful when travelling quickly from point A to point B, although even then there is something to be said for stopping by the road to picnic. But there is really no excuse when touring.

One of the real pleasures of Regional Australia is that there are just so many nooks and crannies that come alive when you stop and look. A second pleasure is that there is now such a variety of food that you can bring with you or buy on the way to try.

This is one case where I need to reform myself!

Postscript

In a nice comment, Barbara Martin recorded her own nostalgia about picnics of the past. Barbara's own blog is a gentle view of Canadian life.

White Mountain Banksia in Flower

2008-04-17T17:10:00.001+10:00

Just for a short break from my lazy gardener series, this photo taken by Gordon Smith shows the White Mountain Banksia ( Banksia integrifolia subsp. monticola) in flower near Armidale in Australia's New England.

Growing up in this area I came to love the European feel of the landscape created by the European's love of plants from home. This creates the colours of autumn. But I also came to love the often subtle shades of the natural Australian landscape.

Mind you, there is nothing subtle about some of the bright reds and ochres of the Australian outback. However, most colour changes are more subtle.

I have never seen the two loves as inconsistent. We all change the world we live in. Australia's indigenous peoples did this, just as we do today.

There can be a difficult balancing act between preservation and change. However, I have little sympathy for some metro enthusiasts who want to lock Regional Australia up in an apparently unchanging stasis as their personal preserve.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 5: digging your first plot

2008-04-12T10:18:00.001+10:00

Now that you have purchased your first herb seedlings, it is time to prepare your first plot. Now here we come to some firm rules.

Remember, this is the lazy person's guide to gardening. Not for you the vast expanse of prepared beds. You are time poor and want the pleasure and results with minimum effort. Overgrown is in fact good, because that way the soil is resting.

Now here is something that I should have mentioned in my last post but forgot. Hey, no-one's perfect! While buying some herb seedlings, you really should have bought the following:

Some lucerne hay, although even sugar cane or some other form of mulch is good.
Along with some chook manure, dynamic lifter or equivalent. Plus some blood and bone.

I am assuming that you have some old newspaper around. If not, you should have been collecting that too.

Okay, now wander outside to look at the garden.

Work out the absolute minimum size of bed you need to plant the seedlings you already have. Now double it. You need the second half for next week end's plantings.

Weed this part of the bed, putting the weeds on the compost heap. This should take you fifteen to twenty minutes. Put the chook poo or dynamic lifter plus blood and bone on the bed. Plenty is good. Please don't breath the stuff, it's not good for you. Now water.

All the conventional gardening books say water properly. For the lazy gardener like me, that's rubbish.

It is true that if you water for a short while, the wet soil forms a thin skin on top. Try it sometime, you will see what I mean.

In my case I water till the top layer is wet, wait until the water has sunk in, then water again. Once that has sunk in I then turn the soil over. This redistributes the top damp soil plus chook poo etc into the soil. I then put another layer of blood and bone plus chook poo onto the top of the bed and water again in the same way and dig in. If necessary, I water once more, this time without any additions. Two, perhaps three times, and the soil is both moist and fertilised. All very time and water efficient.

All seedling packs say water even if the soil is moist. This is one instruction I follow. I dig little holes, use a watering can to water, wait until the water has sunk down, then put the seedling in in the centre of a little hollow. Then, once planted, I water just around the plantings very gently with the watering can.

Once this has sunk in, I water the whole cultivated area again using a light spray with a hand-held hose. This time I do try to water properly because I want to soil moist before mulching.

Now we come to one of the real keys for the lazy person's approach to gardening, the role of mulch. Mulch is God's gift to the lazy gardener. I rip up paper or cardboard, it really does not matter want paper products you use, and put it down round the plants. Then put your mulch on top of the paper and water again just to bed the mulch down. This stops it blowing away in the wind.

You now have a planted, mulched area plus a second area of soil. You leave this until the next weekend to allow seeds to germinate. In the meantime, you can water the planted area very easily with a watering can as required, carefully watering in the holes left in the mulch. It only takes a few minutes, with the mulch keeping the general soil moist.

In the next post we can extend our planting.

Introductory post in series. Previous post. Next post.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 4: the importance of a good herb garden

2008-04-07T13:47:00.001+10:00

Rosemary in flower.

Now that you have you compost at least underway, it's time to make your first serious decision, the location of your herb garden. So wander out into the back yard with a beer or a wine, if that takes your fancy.

Herbs are one of God's gifts to cooking, adding to the flavour of our meals. No matter how overgrown my main garden may become, the herb garden seems to survive.

I always have my main two herbs - rosemary and oregano - on hand.

Rosemary, the queen of spices, is central to my cooking. It goes well with so many things, especially meats. It also has a nice smell when crushed. Unlike most common herbs, rosemary is a bush, so you need a little space. Not a lot mind you, if you are like me and use it a lot! Once established it just grows, so it is there whenever you need it.

I also use oregano all the time. The Wikipedia entry on oregano understates its uses. I prefer Greek to Italian oregano, it has a different taste, and I use it in a number of meals. Among other things, when chopped up and added to lemon juice, it makes a very nice marinade for chicken dishes.

Other regular herbs in my garden include sage, basil, thyme, coriander and mint.

The herbs you want will depend upon your own cooking requirements. So sit down outside with your beer or wine and draw up a list. Sometimes one of those cooking compendiums helps since you can browse all the dishes connected with a particular herb.

Please do not get too side-tracked, though. I need you to do a few things.

You have already worked out the general design of your garden. Now you need to look at the herb part. This needs to be close to the kitchen since you will be using it all the time. It also helps if there is some light nearby, since this is one part of the garden you may want to access at night.

Now you have a choice. You have identified your new herb garden. Many people proceed to bed preparation. The really lazy gardener like me does not because I need to be motivated. Instead, I head to the nursery and buy my my first few herbs. With watering, these will survive in shade for a while. Now I have to no choice but to proceed!

In my next post I will look at the lazy person's guide to bed preparation.

Introductory post in series. Previous post. Next post.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 3: the importance of a good compost heap

2008-04-03T19:58:00.001+11:00

I cannot over-emphasise the importance of a good compost heap. For a lazy gardener like me, there is nothing so satisfying as the thought that you are growing some good compost even if the rest of the garden does not have a single plant!

Remember this is the lazy man's guide to gardening. I do nothing posh with the compost at all!

Rule one. Do not allow your wife to force you to buy one of those plastic compost bins. They look neat, but do not work.

Rule two. Mowing or weeding should not be regarded as a chore, but as harvesting to get material for your compost. This is quite a different perspective.

Now look at the garden. A good overgrown spot with space on one side is great. Overgrown is good because you can fight the weeds with your heap. Space is good because you need to be able to turn the heap.

You should have a waste container in the kitchen for all your scraps. This is one source of raw material for the compost. You need more.

I have tried to compost most things, including paper. Paper is not good. Beside you need it for other purposes. Meat scraps attract maggots. So you want all forms of vegetable material.

Start by searching round for leaves, grass or weed to form an initial heap. This needs to be big enough so that you can poke a hole in it and pour in the kitchen material, then cover it over. Add to the pile as you go along.

Rule three. A compost heap shrinks to around one third of its size as material breaks down. I make the point only because you need to get the heap to a fair size before you go to the next stage. So keep adding material to it.

Before going on to rule four, you need to be aware of the difference between aerobic and anaerobic reactions. Aerobic requires oxygen and gives you that sweet compost smell. Anaerobic takes place in the absence of oxygen and gives you that sour smell.

Rule four. To get that sweet smell, you need to turn the compost to bring in air. That is why you need space, to turn the compost to the next place in the bed.

This brings me to rules five and six.

Rule five. Add something like dynamic lifter at periodic intervals because this aids the breakdown. It can also be helpful to add a little lime because kitchen scraps tend to get a little acidic. Think of the influence of the balsamic vinegar on all your salads!

Rule six. Add a little water from time to time. This helps the reaction.

Each time you add new material to your compost, that is stuff that has to break down. At a certain size, freeze your compost and start a new one.

After a little while with this process, you will have a never ending supply of compost for your garden beds.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 2: planning the garden

2008-03-25T06:06:00.001+11:00

Any new project should start with a plan.

Step one is to do some research. The easiest way of doing this is to buy a simple book on gardening. You need one with one of those charts that tell you when to plant things. There is a little point in putting something in if the growing season is wrong!

If you are feeling especially energetic, many regional areas have a local gardening club. These can be a valuable source of advice and inspiration, giving you information about things such as soil conditions.

Step two is to plan the garden. Most gardening books will talk about the need for detailed plans. Personally, I find a chair and a beer a great help here. The chair to sit on, the beer to drink while I study the back yard and sketch out an initial rough plan.

Now the point about the plan is not to make it too detailed. Remember, you are the lazy man (or person!). A rough guide will do just fine. And do have a beer after you have done all this work.

Introductory post. Next post.

Regional living - the lazy person's approach to gardening 1 introduction

2008-03-20T21:16:00.003+11:00

A while ago in Australian Regional Food - Looking Back 2: The Home Garden I described with a degree of nostalgia the old style home garden. With international food prices rising to record levels, I thought it time to return to this topic.

I fear the old style home garden is no longer really possible in most metro areas. We live in flats or build huge houses on small blocks, with little room for home agriculture. It's not just space. Hear the neighbours complain if you keep chooks!

Yet this life style is still possible in most parts of Regional Australia. Of course there is a time cost. Yet the effort really pays back in terms of health, fresh food and lower food costs.

How long does it all take? Well, that depends on what you want to achieve. If you simply want to add your own fresh food to your diet, a couple of hours a week will do. For that, you can have a constant supply of fresh herbs and greens, with some tomatoes and other specials. I could not do without my own rosemary, oregano, mint, sage and marjoram. And that is just a start.

If you have more time, you can expand. Mind you, expand past a certain point and you need to start preserving or selling the surplus. Then you have fresh food the whole year round.

Over the next few posts I will outline the lazy person's approach to the home garden.

Posts in this series

West Australia's Pilbara region - introduction

2008-03-17T14:47:00.000+11:00

The map shows WA's Pilbara region as defined by the state government.

According to Wikipedia, the Pilbara region covers an area of 507,896 km² (including offshore islands). It has a population of just under 40,000 people, most of whom live in the western third of the region.

Most Pilbara residents live in the region's towns, which include Port Hedland, Karratha, Wickham, Newman and Marble Bar. A substantial number of people also work in the region on a fly-in/fly-out basis.

The region has inland ranges - the dominant being the Hamersley Range which has a considerable number of mining towns, and natural attractions in the form of gorges. The region contains some of the world's oldest surface rocks, including the ancient fossilised remains known as stromatolites and rocks such as granites that are more than three billion years old. A detailed geological history and description is given in the Pilbara Craton article.

The climate of the Pilbara is semi-arid and arid, with high temperatures and low rainfall. During the summer months, maximum temperatures exceed 32°C (90°F) almost every day, and temperatures in excess of 45°C (113°F) are not uncommon. The Pilbara town of Marble Bar is claimed by some to be the world's hottest place, having once recorded 161 consecutive days in which the maximum temperature reached or exceeded 37.8°C (100°F).

Flooding is a major hazard in the Pilbara with periods of torrential rainfall between November and May. Like most of the north coast of Australia the coastal areas of the Pilbara experience frequent tropical cyclones. Due to the relatively low population density in the Pilbara region cyclones rarely cause large scale destruction or loss of life.

The Pilbara's economy is dominated by mining and petroleum industries. Most of Australia's iron ore is mined in the Pilbara, with mines mostly centred around Tom Price and Newman. The iron ore industry employs 9000 people from the Pilbara area. The Pilbara also has one of the world's major manganese mines, Woodie Woodie, situated 400 kilometres southeast of Port Hedland.

Australian Wool Fashion Awards - a few photos from 2007

2008-03-13T19:33:00.003+11:00

Photo: 2007 Wool Fashion Awards Supreme-Award-&-1st--Collection

The 2008 Australian Wool Fashion Awards were held in Armidale (New England) in early March.

Growing up I loved wool. I loved the smell in the wool-sheds. I loved wool pull-overs, the feel of wool.

Not surprisingly, I still love wool! Armidale has always been a fine wool centre. While living there I really enjoyed the various activities centred around wool.

Photo: 2007 Wool Fashion Awards 1st-Mens-Wear.

Today it has become harder to buy decent wool clothing. Suits, for example, are nearly all blends.

I do not fully understand why wool should have fallen out of fashion in the way it has. It remains a magnificent natural fibre.

The Australian Wool Fashion Awards are a continuing attempt to redress the balance.

Photo: 2007 Wool Fashion awards 1st-2A-School,-1st-Secondary

Sponsored by Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) the Awards are designed to showcase the use of Merino wool by national and international fashion designers and students.

The competition’s main aim is to educate and encourage young designers in the wonderful qualities of wool.

Secondary school students through to tertiary fashion students are enticed to use the many versatile wool and wool blend fabrics to create their entries.

The rewards include significant cash prizes, gifts of work experience with leading Australian fashion designers and Scholarships to study at recognised Fashion Institutes. Many entrants have gone onto careers in fashion.

The Awards are not just for the young, entrants of all ages vie for the prizes and prestige of a win in the competition that many say is the hardest to win.

Just one more photo.

Another first -Tropical-Honeymoon.

Review begins of Zinafex Agreement

2008-03-10T13:01:00.000+11:00

ABC News reported that a review has begun into the landmark Agreement between Aborigines, the Zinifex mining company and the Queensland Government.

Zinifex's Century Mine operates under a unique tripartite agreement between Zinifex, the Queensland Government and local Native Title groups. The Gulf Communities Agreement (GCA) was negotiated under the Right to Negotiate provisions of the Native Title Act (1993) and was signed in February 1997.

The Native Title groups from the Gulf of Carpentaria involved in the agreement are the Waanyi, Mingginda, Gkuthaarn and Kukatj groups. The Agreement aimed at ensuring compensation, jobs and training opportunities for native title groups. Details of the Agreement can be found here and here.

David Hanlon from the review team says he will be visiting gulf communities to seek feedback on whether the agreement is working to help the region, in the state's far north, achieve economic self-sufficiency.

"I think it's really important for people to have their say on something that impacts on them," he said.

"In really crude terms, employment probably generates in the lower gulf somewhere about $9 or $10 million in revenue.

"When the mine shuts down, that's $9 or $10 million in revenue that goes."

Housing Stress In Australia - the regional alternative

2008-03-08T18:34:00.000+11:00

The National Housing Conference was held in Sydney on Thursday and Friday 21 and 22 February leading to major media coverage on housing stress in Australia. Housing stress is defined as rent or mortgage payments exceeding 30% of gross income.

According to a report (research paper 11) released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, high house prices means that the number of Australians renting will increase from 1.8 million in 2006 to 3.3 million by 1045. During this period the number of Australians suffering rental stress is projected to increase by 77%.

Since the conference, the problem of affordable housing has become a national crisis.

I can understand the problem.

In the December quarter 1998, the median weekly rent for a three bedroom house in the Sydney statistical division was $240. On the basis that rents are 30% of gross income, you needed a family income of $800 per week to rent that house.

In the December quarter 2007, the equivalent median rent had risen to $350. Now you need family income of $1,166 per week to rent the same dwelling.

Rents vary greatly across Sydney. In much of Sydney you in fact need to pay a minimum of $500 per week, often a fair bit more, to rent a three bedroom house. On $500, you need a weekly income of $1,700 to avoid rental stress.

If you want to own your own home or, alternatively, avoid rental stress, you do have a choice. You can try the regional alternative.

Rents are not always lower in Regional Australia. There are pressure areas such as mining growth points where rents are higher than the metro equivalents. But in most cases both house prices and rents will be lower, often much lower, so you do not need the same income just to survive.

It really comes back to what you want from life.

Death of David Asimus - wool industry and regional development leader

2008-03-05T06:13:00.001+11:00

Photo: David James Asimus

I began this post a little while ago, but was sidetracked.

The death of David Asimus at the age of 75 marks the end of an era. The post that follows is largely drawn from Malcolm Brown's obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Back in July 2006 in Why Wool? I talked about the importance of the wool industry to Australia's history.

While the modern wool industry is much diminished in importance, Australia's early economic development depended very heavily on the growth and success of the industry. Today it remains a substantial part of the Australian economy, a much larger part of Australian history.

David Asimus was one of the pioneers of the modern wool industry, as well as a leader in regional education, something I often write about on this blog.

A big man, 195.5 centimetres tall, he was born at Tumut from German stock who settled on the land in southern New South Wales. He attended Barker College (Sydney) and Sydney University, graduating in economics in 1953.

After a period farming, he became a Nuffield agricultural fellow in 1958, studying for 12 months in Britain. Back home, he returned to farming, but broader interests had been aroused, leading him to become active in industry matters.

The wool industry had boomed during the Second World War because of the demand for clothing and uniforms. In the period immediately following the War wool reached a pound a pound. Even small scale graziers made substantial profits.

This boom was followed by a long period of decline as wool came under competition from the new synthetic textiles. The industry responded by increasing productivity and by restructuring. Despite this, by 1970 it was at a low ebb.

In 1970, the Australian Government created the Australian Wool Commission to arrest the decline. Its first chairman was Sir William Vines, who appointed Asimus in 1972.

Vines later said of Asimus: "He had a practical background on the land as well as an economics degree, which helped him come to grips with the whole situation."

In 1973 the Commission became the Australian Wool Corporation, and in 1976 Asimus was appointed deputy chairman and, in 1979, chairman. He oversaw the early days of the wool price reserve scheme.

In the early 1980s, Asimus and family moved to a property near Wagga Wagga. But his time there was limited. His appointments, particularly as secretariat chairman, took him all over the world, dealing with the complexities of fashion, world markets, foreign policy. His positive approach to marketing, seeking to increase the trade to China and the United States, raised eyebrows and hopes in the troubled industry.

Asimus himself said of this time: "It is the very best job in the world, really. Where else in one week can you talk to fashion designers in Paris and Milan, an industrialist in New York, a top retailer in London and come back, head out to Bourke and talk to woolgrowers?"

His stamina was extraordinary. Under him, the wool corporation focused on quality, tailoring the product to the customer's needs, and spent heavily on promotion and market development.

Perhaps all those things on his mind proved distracting. Asimus could be absent-minded. More than once he extended dinner invitations to people, forgot to tell his wife, and then forgot about the invitations himself. The invitees would turn up, would always get a good meal, and Asimus would offer special wine.

When he retired from chairmanship of the wool corporation and the International Wool Secretariat in 1988, the number of Australian sheep had risen from 134 million at the start of his term to 163 million, wool production had reached an all-time record of 925 million kilograms and the value of the country's wool exports had tripled.

In 1989, by then having been made an honorary doctor of science by the University of New South Wales, he was appointed foundation chancellor of Charles Sturt University. He said the development of tertiary education in the regions was one of his proudest achievements.

He was a director of the Australian Trade Commission, member of the Australia-Japan Foundation and the Australia-Japan Consultation Committee, member of the government taskforce on liner shipping and the advisory council member of the CSIRO. His other directorships included board positions with BHP, the Industrial Bank of Japan, Wesfarmers, Rural Press and Delta Electricity. In 1997, he was made an honorary doctor of agricultural economics by the University of Sydney, and in 2002, Charles Sturt University made him a doctor of the university.

David Asimus is survived by his wife, Jane, his daughter, Heidi Sutherland, and five grandchildren. His son, Alexander, predeceased him.

Australian rainfall Projections March to May 2008

2008-03-03T20:36:00.000+11:00

Map: Bureau of Metereology rainfall projections February to April 2008.

Continuing my climate series, the Bureau of Metereology has released its latest rolling three month projections on the probablities of rain across Australia.

According to the Bureau. the projections show a mixed autumn rainfall outlook: a wetter than normal season is favoured in northern Queensland and in parts of NSW and SA, while below-normal falls are more likely in parts of Victoria and Tasmania.

The pattern of seasonal rainfall odds across Australia is a result of cooler than average waters across the equatorial Pacific in association with La Niña, and continuing higher than average temperatures in the central to southeastern Indian Ocean.

The chances of exceeding the median rainfall over March to May are between 60 and 70% over most of north Queensland, and between 60 and 65% in a band extending from central SA to the far west of NSW (see map). So for every ten years with ocean patterns like the current, about six or seven autumns are expected to be wetter than average in these parts of the country, while about three or four are drier.

In contrast, areas in northern and central Tasmania together with parts of Victoria's coastal fringe have a 35 to 40% chance of exceeding the autumn median. This means that a drier than normal autumn is a 60 to 65% chance in these regions.

Over the rest of the country, the chances of exceeding the three-month median rainfall are between 40 and 60%. So the chances of being wetter than normal are about the same as the chances of being drier

The ABC's New Regional Web Sites

2008-03-01T22:26:00.002+11:00

With little fanfare, the ABC has launched new regional web sites. To find them, go to ABC, then click on radio and the town of your choice.

The thing that I really like about the sites is that you can search by clicking on tags. This allows you to browse stories that you might never otherwise have found. There is some great stuff there from my viewpoint.

Armidale welcomes its international students

2008-02-28T07:21:00.002+11:00

Photo: Sayaka Nunotani from Osaka with UNE VC Professor Alan Pettigrew (left) and Armidale Mayor Peter Ducat.

More than 100 students, newly arrived at the University of New England from 21 overseas countries, received a civic welcome to Armidale in the Town Hall on Friday 22 February 2008.

They represented a total of 222 new overseas students at UNE this year – about double last year's number.

The Mayor, Councillor Peter Ducat, said it was "a great honour" for him to be welcoming the students in a Town Hall decked with the flags of so many countries. "And it's a great honour for Armidale that you've chosen our city as a place to study," he continued.

Councillor Ducat welcomed each of the UNE students – as well as several overseas students at Armidale schools – in person. "The people of Armidale enjoy the cultural experiences you bring," he told them. "We want to participate in your cultures, and we encourage you to participate in ours."

He invited them to continue their relationship with Armidale after completing their current study programs by returning for further study or on business.

The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, urged the students to enjoy their Armidale experience and to consider the possibility of subsequent degree courses at the University. He remarked on the increasing numbers of overseas students coming to Armidale.

The largest national group at the welcome, comprising more than 40 students, was that from China, while the second largest (20 students) was from Japan. Among the largest of the other groups were those from Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.

Sayaka Nunotani (pictured here), a second-year UNE student from Osaka in Japan, thanked the City and the University on behalf of all the international students. Ms Nunotani said she had arrived at UNE's English Language Centre in 2006 and, having completed the English language course, was now in the second year of a Bachelor of Business degree program.

"Coming to Armidale has changed my life," she said, "and I feel very lucky that I made the choice to come here. On behalf of us all, I thank the people of Armidale who have accepted and welcomed us into their community."

She told the newly-arrived students that Armidale – with its University – was a place of "fresh air and clear skies", surrounded by a rich natural environment, and inhabited by friendly people.

A short break

2008-02-26T05:03:00.001+11:00

I have been taking some time off posting for R&R. I plan to resume posting at the end of the month.

Understanding Australia's regional differences - introduction

2008-01-27T14:44:00.000+11:00

One thing I have noticed in examining the search engine listings that bring people to this site is the continuing interest in regional difference in Australia. I thought, therefore, that I might provide some clues to help visitors understand the differences.

The starting point is geography. Geography - landforms, soils, climate - affects every aspect of life. To start with a broad example.

In a coastal tropical region you are likely to find cyclone advice pinned to your door. You will find that you should not swim in the sea during parts of the year because of the presence of dangerous stingers. You may find warnings about crocodiles. You will find the architecture different - more open room, fans.

Compare this with arid Australia. There you will find warnings about driving without water, about what to do if you break down, about the need to let people know what your plans are so that you can be found if lost.

This type of broad difference cascades down into a variety of differences at regional and sub-regional level. Each area has its own pattern of life dictated by the seasons and by varying economic activity.

Then, too, each area has its own history and ethnic mix, again affected by geography. The look and feel of the streetscape varies, not just in terms of architecture but in the people themselves.

To get a feel for this, look first at the posts on New England, a major regional area centred on the New England Tablelands and the adjoining river valleys spreading to the east and west of the tablelands. This is a large area with its own diversity.

Photo: Hailstorm, Armidale, New England.

Now compare this with the posts on the Kimberley region, a major region on the other side of the continent. You could in fact be in a different country!

Photo: You never know who you'll meet on the Gibb River road. The Kimberleys. Photo by Vanessa Mill s

To some degree, these regional differences are concealed by the presence of English as a core common language, although more than a hundred languages are spoken in Australia. They are also concealed by common institutions and a shared if sometimes divergent history. Yet they remain very real, if sometimes unseen.

In my next post in this series I will look at ways to identify and understand regional difference.

Australia rainfall projections - February to April 2008

2008-01-24T05:33:00.000+11:00

Map: Bureau of Metereology rainfall projections February to April 2008.

The Bureau of Metereology has released its latest three month projections on the probablities of rain across Australia. The BOM does so on a rolling monthly basis.

Since the the December projections the proportion of the country likely to receive above average rain has shrunk to the south west of West Australia.

For the rest of the country the rainfall probabilities are 50/50, with equal probablities of above or below average rain. I shall be watching the next projections due to be released at end February with interest to to see if the slight worsening of the outlook has continued.

In Praise of Picnic Races

2008-01-20T11:24:00.000+11:00

Photo: Picnic Races, Dederang, Victoria

I love country race meetings. I especially love picnic races.

For the benefit of international readers, whereas conventional races generally involve professionally trained, grain fed horses, picnic races come from farming and grazing communities, generally involve grass fed animals, and are first and foremost social as well as racing occasions.

How to describe the flavour? Well, I used to be a member of the Armidale Picnic Race Club and for a number of years brought a group of friends up from Canberra to attend.

The day began with the Calcutta in which horses were essentially raffled off. This created a prize pool which was distributed at the end of the day.

Then to the race course for a chicken and champagne lunch followed by the races. The atmosphere here was strictly social. Most of us had no idea as to the quality of the horses beyond any previous results on the picnic races circuit, so we had to find out as best we could.

Late afternoon and we all adjoined for drinks before dressing for the Picnic Races Ball. In all, great fun.

For a period picnic races went into decline. Numbers in local farming and grazing communities had diminished, while those left simply did not have the cash to afford the costs of horses. Now the position appears to have stabilised, with increasing numbers of visitors coming from the city to enjoy the show.

Some people used to be reluctant to attend picnic races because they were seen, with some truth, as the preserve of the social elites. This is no longer true. My experience has been that all clubs welcome visitors.

While Victoria has its own web site, information about specific meets elsewhere can be a little hard to come by. However, a simple Google search will bring up most meets.

Annual Australia Climate Statement 2007

2008-01-15T21:35:00.000+11:00

Earlier in January, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology released its annual climate statement. This particular map shows 2007 rainfall compared with historical averages.

Back in November I recorded that the drought was slowly easing. You can see from the map the big sweep where 2007 rainfall was average to well above average. Conversely, the proportion of the country experiencing well below average rainfall has shrunk.

Bingara and the Lure of Gold

2008-01-13T20:36:00.000+11:00

After a closure of six years, the Three Creeks Gold Mine at Bingara in northwestern New England is now open again to tourists.

Operator of the business, Paul Myer, has owned the lease on the crown land for 20 years. He has just returned from a six-year stint as a mines exploration officer to re-open his tourist attraction.

For a fee, people are invited to pan for gold from the rich red dirt taken from Lady Morgan’s Reef. This particular area has been mined since the 1800s.

“In 1887, there were 30,000 men on this field,” explains Paul.

“Below us is a caved in tunnel from that era. We don’t have to wander far to find old collection bottles or tools that were used at the time.”

Paul guarantees that every visitor who pans will find some gold. He provides instruction on panning for fine gold, which is prevalent in the area. Quartz crystals are also dominant here.

“Everyone is allowed to keep whatever they find. Of course if they find a big nugget, I just get out a hacksaw and we cut it in half!” he jokes.

Paul has also developed, produced and patented a device called a Panner’s Mate, which basically makes panning easier and more efficient. Visitors are welcome to try the Panner’s Mate out, under Paul’s supervision.

The set up at Three Creeks enables people to sit down in comfort to pan for gold or garnets, and spend as long as they like at the mine.

Paul and his partner Joy have set up an extensive display of gold, gems, crystals and rock minerals, mining artifacts and other historic items. There are also plenty of samples for sale.

Should you wish to stay overnight, there are four unpowered van sites and tent sites. There is also an onsite powered caravan available that sleeps up to eight people. A community kitchen is accessible for all visitors, as well as an open fireplace for those late night conversations!

Three Creeks Gold Mine is 25kms from Bingara on the Upper Bingara Road. The fee for people wishing to pan for gold, garnets or crystals is $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under. For anyone wishing just to visit the mine the fee is $15 for adults and $10 for children.

Visitors should remember to bring their own food, drink, sunscreen, hat and sensible shoes.

For more information or bookings please phone Paul Myer on 02 6783 2224.

For further information on Bingara phone Bingara Visitor Information Centre 02 6724 0066

Maclean's problems with flying foxes

2008-01-11T11:29:00.000+11:00

Photo: Piper, Clarence River, Maclean.

Fascinating short piece in the Grafton Daily Examiner (10 January 2008) on Maclean's problems with its flying foxes.

For those who do not know Maclean, it is a town of 3,254 people on the Clarence River in the Northern Rivers district of New England/New South Wales.

More normally know for fish and its Scottish Festival, Maclean has a problem with its flying foxes. They keep on roosting in the wrong spot!

The town fathers have tried to move the colony, but they persist in trying to do their own thing. Pesky varmints!

Wine Industry Outlook - January 2008

2008-01-06T10:20:00.000+11:00

Photo: Grape Vines, Margaret River, WA

Regional Australia has benefited enormously from the growth of the Australian wine industry. Driven over time by people such as Len Evans, the expanding wine industry has created direct and indirect jobs while enriching local life.

As an industry, wine making has proved especially attractive to city professionals attracted by the combination of tax benefits with the romance attached to the sector. This, together with commercial plantings, has driven enormous expansion.

The Australian wine industry has always been marked by a history of glut and then boom. Back in the late 1960s, for example, the Australian Government was paying grape growers to pull vines out.

Most recently, we have had boom followed by a huge wine glut in 2006 into 2007 as major plantings came to full fruit. Great for people like me who love wine, but hard on producers. How quickly things change.

In 2007, the drought in Southern Australia reduced yield because of its effects on bud formation. Then came the irrigation cut-backs in the Murray-Darling Basin. By September last year, the Federal Government's Wine and Brandy Corporation was forecasting a grape harvest as low as 800,000 tonnes as compared to the average of 1.9 million tonnes. This was disaster territory.

Things have improved with subsequent rains, with the harvest now projected at 1.2 million tonnes. Better, but the Australian industry will still need to import bulk wine from overseas to fill orders.

This is not the only problem faced by the industry.

The rising value of the Australian dollar is squeezing export margins, making imports cheaper. The previous spread of New Zealand wines through Australian bottle shops is now being followed by wines from a variety of countries.

Wine grape growers who might have expected to benefit from significant increases in grape prices are not getting the benefits they expected from reduced supply because of growing concentration in the wine industry.

The Australian wine industry is really a story of two industries.

At the big end of town, there has been increasing concentration. The number of listed wine makers has shrunk from 13 at the end of 1998 to 6 today. These bigger entities have the capacity to squeeze grape producers on one side, to contend to some degree with the buying power of supermarkets on the other.

Then there are the thousands of smaller boutique wine producers. Generally unable to access supermarket shelves, these have to rely on other sales and distribution methods including cellar door, other local sales and mail order. A number of moved into related tourism activities.

Wine remains an emotionally attractive option for many city professionals. However, they need a very clear business idea together with the capacity to ride through fluctuations if they are to succeed.

Aboriginal art - relevant blogs

2008-01-03T22:00:00.000+11:00

Photo: Will Owen Pansy Napangardi (at Ngurratjuta, Alice Springs)

Back in August 07, I carried an introductory post on Aboriginal art referring to Will Owen's Aboriginal Art & Culture: an American eye as a valuable entry point.

Aboriginal art, especially Top End art, has become very popular in Australia and internationally in part because of its designs and use of colour. This captures some of the essence of this part of Australia.

Will's blog, itself a valuable source of information, recently carried some links to other relevant blogs.

Edwina Circuitt's Thriving in the Desert deals especially with the Warakurna Artists Aboriginal Corporation in Western Australia and related topics. The blog's sidebar gas a series of very useful links.

Dianna Mary has been posting on Remote Life since the beginning of 2007 on day to day life as art centre manager in Central Australia.

Durrmu Arts, written by Harriet Fesq out of the newly reconstituted art centre serving the Peppimenarti community is newer, making its debut in September 2007.

Remotely Convinced is the latest entry into the art centre blogosphere that Will is aware of. He notes that Sara Twigg-Patterson recently left Tjala Arts in Amata, South Australia, to take on the daunting task of building a functioning art centre in Papunya.

Blog Traffic Report December 2007

2008-01-02T21:00:00.000+11:00

Looking back at the country of origin of visitors to this blog, I see that Australia still dominates with 54% of visitors, followed by the US 0n 12%, the UK on 7%, Canada 5% and then New Zealand and South Africa each on 3%. Then come a dozen or so countries with smaller numbers.

Looking at the overall stats, the number of visits in December was, by a small margin, a new record.

Looking at the most popular entry pages after the front page, I suppose the thing that stands out over the recent period is the number of pages involved. Eighteen pages had two or more entry visits.

The most popular entry page after the front page was Tree Change and the Job Search Process - the story of Katrina and Tom continues.

After this came no less than eight posts with equal ranking:

In all, a very mixed lot!

Happy New Year

2007-12-30T06:11:00.000+11:00

As 2007 draws to a close, a happy new year to all. May it bring renewed peace and happiness to us all.

There were, I think, 105 posts on this blog during the year. Over 2008, I am looking forward to exploring further the remarkable variety and texture of life across the vast expanses of Regional Australia.

Australian rainfall projections - January to March 2008

2007-12-18T13:51:00.000+11:00

Graphic: Bureau of Meteorology rainfall projections, January to March 2008

Back on 26 November I provided details of the BoM rainfall forecasts for the period December to February 2008. The forecasts suggested that the drought that had gripped parts of southern Australia was likely to continue to ease. Since then, much of southern Australia has received significant rain.

The Bureau has now released its projections for the January to March period. The biggest change is an increased chance of below average rains in a big north-south strip through the centre of the country.

The area in WA with the highest probability of above average rain has moved south. In the east, the belt of higher projected rainfall continues to be centred on southern Queensland and Northern NSW.

A Great Source of Information about Australia - The Australian Government's Culture and Recreation Portal

2007-12-13T10:34:00.000+11:00

I have been meaning to mention this site for a little while.

The Australian Government maintains a site called Culture and Recreational Portal that is, I think, a superb site for information about Australia, including Regional Australia. I use it all the time, often getting distracted and just browsing.

Do have a look.

Is Australia the world's driest continent?

2007-12-11T06:28:00.000+11:00

My father, who as a Kiwi, used to tease Australians sometimes that one third of Australia was desert, one third semi arid, and the other third not much use anyway! Certainly Australia is a dry continent, but is it the driest?

Looking at The Weather Doctor, I see that Antarctica is the driest continent, but it is not inhabited outside research teams and support.

If we look just at South America, we can eliminate Europe and South America from the possibilities although South America has the driest area on Earth, outside the polar continent, located in Chile. North America could have a strong argument in the northern regions, but the southern areas such as Central America are quite wet. That leaves the A continents: Australia, Africa and Asia.

Looking at the climate classification maps, Australia seems to have the highest percentage of dry climates. But the Sahara is larger in area than all of Australia. And the dry interior of Asia along with the Middle East and dry areas of China and India give Asia large dry regions.

Still, if we look at overall patterns, The Encyclopedia of Climatology gives the following facts about Australia:

50% of land receives less than 300 mm/year of precipitation
80% receives less than 600 mm/yr
Over 75%, the potential evaporation is greater than 2500 mm/yr
In central Australia the evaporation potential is around 4500 mm/yr, 20 times the actual annual rainfall.

This leads The Weather Doctor to conclude that Australia can fairly claim to be the world's driest inhabited continent in an overall sense.

Australia's Best Restaurants 2007 - Australia's regional restaurants rank high

2007-12-08T19:05:00.000+11:00

Peter Wade, Head on a Stick No 12, Grafton Regional Gallery

My thanks to the Australian Regional Food Guide for drawing my attention to the Life Style Channel's national I love food awards. This covered all parts of Australia including the metros.

The national winner was Georgies Café Restaurant at New England's Grafton Regional Gallery, 158 Fitzroy St, Grafton, NSW 2460, Ph: (02) 6642 6996. Food modern Australian.

The ACT's El Torogoz (Mexican/Latin American) came in at number 5. Contact details Palmerston La, Manuka, ACT 2603, Ph: (02) 6260 7077.

This was followed at number 6 by the Ambrosia Café and Bar (modern Australian). Contact details Shop 13, 84 Bemersyde Drive,Berwick, VIC 3806, Ph: (03) 9702 0044.

The Siam Terrace Thai Restaurant came in at number 12. Contact details 9 Alison Rd, Wyong, NSW 2259. Ph: (02) 4351 4555.

Then at 15 came the The Tasmanian Chocolate Studio (Bistro/Cafe). Contact details 1 - 3 Cuisine Lane, Launceston, TAS 725. Ph: (03) 6334 7878.