The Crocodile is BACK

As noted a few times the local newspaper is renowned for the outlandish front page........normally crocodiles, sometimes fishing and the odd "way out there" story of all sorts. The emu starred a few weeks back, for a short few days.


BUT.............crocodiles are back, and they are large. The same croc was seen some months ago in the same place at Fogg Dam Nature Reserve just south of Darwin. After that it seems to have been absent for a while.


This time it was sunning on the earthen dam wall. Seen last week, same spot and it is BIG. At least four metres. That is a serious sized crocodile.


A front page story again............same crocodile!


Quite a few years when living near Fogg Dam I used to exercise the dog by throwing sticks into the dam for the dog to chase. Was definitely very safe then with no crocodiles around much. NOT the thing to do now.


Parks and Wildlife are warning people not to walk across the dam wall at this time. Understandably. But is is a great walk, with plenty of native flora and fauna to see...............but you do not want to meet a croc, in or out of the water.



Image taken by Brian Hannand March 2009 at Fogg Dam

Fannie Bay Swim 2009

The Fannie Bay Swim 2009

Saturday morning was cold……….official temperature in Darwin was a cool minimum of 14.9C, and a dry cool wind.

But the day warmed up to around 30C by early afternoon.

It was very cool waiting in waist deep water in front of Pee Wee’s Restaurant at East Point for the start of the Fannie Bay to Trailer Boat Club Swim [commonly known as the Fannie Bay Swim Classic] and even cooler once we got under way with the usual argy-bargy at the start.

There was a strong on shore sea breeze which made it rough and choppy and very difficult for those breathing to the right – directly into the sea water chop! Everyone made a mad scramble to swim for the first buoy with a fair amount of kicking legs and shoving of arms, then settling down to try to manage a good steady pace and concentrate on technique. The chop interfered with that and most swimmers when discussing it afterwards seemed content with ploughing on and just trying to keep a good pace.

The buoys are quite large but with a strong NW breeze and an incoming tide there is a tendency to swing left so one needs a regular correction to stay on line.

The winner overall was a young woman – Rachel Maclean in a time of just under 29 minutes, a good minute in front of the first male. She has good form – is from Darwin, and a member of the training team for the Australian open water contingent for the next Olympics, so the win was not unexpected. Kyle Gear was second and the first male to finish.

Yes, I finished, and quite a good time for the conditions – 48.11 minutes, which is nearly 6 minutes better than last year, with many swimmers finishing behind me. Not quite as sharp as I was aiming for but I had a few “off course” issues which cost a bit of time. But being much quicker than last year, in quite tough conditions was really great. And I managed to win my age group too, although again, not quite as quick as the female age group winner - Gerda Williams – but I reckon that as she holds a few world swim distance and backstroke records for her Masters Swim Age Group, I should be reasonably content.

It was a great event, a good afternoon.

There was a good turnout of swimmers ranging in ages from the sub 20 year olds and an especially large group in the 30s and 40s, through to the 60s.

Distance swimming, or bike riding, or running does require a commitment to doing some serious training. It does not happen, at least with any vigour or speed, without that commitment. And it is great to see so many enjoying themselves on a very pleasant dry season afternoon.

I also must acknowledge my strapper for carting me and the gear around……….thanks Roni!

Tomorrow is the Big Swim

The training has been done, entries are in, and a good nights sleep is wanted.

Tomorrow is the Big Swim - the annual cross Darwin Harbour event. The entry indicates that you need to be aware that crocodiles and sharks, marine stingers and similar creatures are out to get you......and you cannot wear flotation wet suits.

Oh well.........most things have some risk, even getting out of bed.

It is likely to be cold to night [15C predicted] and there has been a strong afternoon sea breeze over the past few days - that will make it a bit cooler and probably very choppy. Or should that be just rough.........makes for a much harder swim.

It is COLD - (relatively speaking)

We have a COLD snap..............temperature dropped to 17C last night, and 16C expected tonight. Even colder a few kilometres away from the coast - with one area already this evening at 1030pm below 13C, with 9C or less expected. The maximum today was around 27C., which for Darwin is distinctly cool.....but very pleasant if you are a local.

The air is dry and the near full moon is very bright and clear, as it has been for the past few nights.

Many locals were out in light jumpers this morning...........and heading off for a warming coffee. There will be more sweaters used tomorrow morning, I am sure.

I even decided late this afternoon that it was too cool for swimming training today! So it has to be COOL, for me to miss my swim fix.

How Time Flies

WOW...........three weeks and no blogging!!!

I have many excuses - been away, work is busy, too much focus on swimming training, visitors staying in the house, doing other more interesting things............pretty much all of the above.

BUT.........I have a new blog post. Hi folks!!!

And today was the first real dry season morning. Temperature actually was down to below 20C, and a few more mornings to come in the next few days that will be similar. A strong dry SE wind blowing and very typically ......the dry season! Good one!

Emu Replaces the Crocodile

The crocodile is a regular contributor to the NT News. If not the front page, then page 2, 3,4,5,6, etc.

Whether it is size, some one has been attacked or killed, or a famous personality has been in the big submerged cage at one of the local crocodile tourist facilities.

But the croc has ben gazumped! Pure and simple. The headline says it all!

Enjoy the headlines from last Saturday.

It is Legit - Swimming Keeps You Alive

As an avid swimmer who suffers withdrawal symptoms if more than a day passes without swimming, it is good to know you might actually be doing the right thing.

Afterall, you need to do crosswords, play scrabble learn something new or similar activities to keep the brain functioning [ how topical - In Australia today a lot of talk about oldies with Alzheimers Disease - and more coming to a place near you too!] but exercise is also useful to keep the body functioning - whether old or young.

I attach some recent pronouncements about the role of swimming to keep you fit AND alive.......yes, it lowers mortality rates!

So all you folks.......get with it. However, I do find it still difficult to do the crossword in the newspaper while I am swimming.
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A NEW study shows that swimming cuts men’s risk of dying by about 50% compared to runners, walkers and sedentary peers.

The University of South Carolina study led by Dr Steven Blair evaluated comprehensive physical exams and behavioural surveys from thousands of people who were enrolled in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal study (ACLS) over the last 32 years.

The results were presented in the 2008 World Aquatic Health Conference in Colorado Springs, USA, last month and have been published in the International Journal of Aquatic Education and Research.“Swimmers had the lowest death rate,” explains Dr Blair.

He also adds that the study takes into account the age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension, other medical factors and family history.“This is the first report that examined mortality rates among swimmers in comparison with other types of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle.

We conclude that men who swim for exercise have better survival rates than their sedentary peers,” summarises Dr Blair.

The ACLS includes extensive medical and physical activity data on more than 40,000 men aged 29 to 90. “These lower rates in swimmers compared with walkers and sedentary men might well be expected,” comments Dr Blair, “but it is surprising that we also observed lower mortality in swimmers than in runners,” he adds. “Therefore swimming appears to be a healthful alternative to other types of physical activity.”The study population was limited to white, well educated middle to upper class men.

While this limits the general cover of the study, it should not affect the study’s internal validity, advises Blair. He explains that, “there is no compelling reason to assume that the benefits of swimming would be different for women or for men from other socio-economic groups.

In an earlier study in this same population we found that both women and men had similar benefits from swimming in terms of fitness and other health indicators.”Dr Blair concludes that “Swimming provides a healthful alternative to traditional modes of exercise for improving cardiorespiratory fitness and health for the general population, as well as for patients suffering from chronic diseases.
Swimming may be a good alternative exercise for individuals who cannot participate in running or other forms of physical activity.”

NOW.......all you runners note that, and remember what happened to Jim Fixx!!!

An Errant Thought

In these somewhat turbulent and troubled times it might be prudent to consider the following:

Quote of the week:

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart?
- Author Unknown

Free Speech Should be Revered

The ability to speak freely is a treasured right in democratic society. Not the right to slander, nor denigrate but the right to have something to say, and that includes the issues around freedom to publish and print, to draw cartoons and so on. Remember the adage.......a picture is worth a thousand words, or is it that "a cartoon is worth a thousand words".

It has been tested almightily over recent times with the publication of less than positive images of religious figures. And over the years there have been many less than flattering images and drawings of religious leaders of Australians and in Australia.

More recently Bill Leak has had a few cartoons published that mock the Australian Prime Minister. Most Aussies I know think them very satirical, and have a good laugh. Just like they have done with images and cartoons of previous Prime Ministers - Howard, Hawke, Keating, Whitlam, Fraser and others back over the past 50 years or so. And many other cartoonists have also had a go at satirising these same public figures.

Cartoonists do society a great service...........development of the ability to not take one's self TOO seriously, independent of your apparent status in life. Cartoonists have lampooned the "pillars of society" for several hundred years in many English language newspapers and magazines - some of the latter especially famous for satirical political cartoons.

An editorial in the Australian newspaper on 4 April summed it up very eloquently. It is reproduced below and worth reading. Bill Leak's recent cartoons about Kevin Rudd are VERY satirical; just enjoy him taking the mickey out of him........from whatever side of politics!

Laughing with Leak
April 04, 2009
Article from: The Australian

We need people who poke fun at the powerful and po-faced.

Last week, Bill Leak's editorial cartoon in The Weekend Australian offended some readers. To compound the offence, here it is again. This is not done to dismiss critics' concerns. We accept that Leak's work often upsets people. We understand some were affronted in 2003 by his celebrated cartoon of then Labor leader Simon Crean making a very important point to the media, while the press pack found fornicating dogs much more interesting. And we recognise a range of readers were appalled by his 2006 cartoon of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a dominant dog sporting carnally with a West Papuan in canine form.

But Leak should continue to draw it as he sees it. Great cartoonists express the issues of an age.

Thomas Nast helped break Tammany Hall's control of New York politics in the 1870s with his savage caricatures of Boss Tweed. Livingston Hopkins cartoons featuring "the little boy from Manly" in The Bulletin summed up Australian politics in the federation years. And when cartoonists are stopped by the state, it is a sure sign of strife for everybody who believes in open political argument.

As Christopher Allen points out in Review this weekend, while political cartooning prospered in regency England, in revolutionary France the tribunes of the people did not encourage criticism. The caustic commentary supplied by politically engaged artists in Weimar Germany similarly stopped as soon as the Nazis came to power.

But while Leak will not be arrested, no matter how many politicians he upsets, he is certainly subject to the censorious tut-tutting of people who believe that people like them are off limits for lampooning. For years, Leak made fun of the follies and foibles of John Howard, to laughter and applause from the cultural establishment - writers and broadcasters from the ABC and Fairfax newspapers - plus their fellow travellers in the blogosphere. But now that Leak is laughing at Kevin Rudd, today's darling of the Left, all of a sudden his cartoons are in bad taste.

This is the same censorious style adopted by people who applauded the persecution of Salman Rushdie after the publication of The Satanic Verses.

It holds that publishing anything that offends other cultures is impermissible, that laughing at people the opinion-makers approve of is out of order. Fairfax journalist David Marr's selective support for art that offends is an excellent example of this. Marr defends photographer Bill Henson for his controversial images of naked children but attacked a Leak cartoon in The Australian that made fun of Henson, saying "it is astonishing that a national newspaper would print such a thing".

Perhaps people outraged by last week's cartoon took offence because they assume their own political opinions and community standards are synonymous. But whatever critics think, Leak's comment on the Prime Minister's desire to demonstrate his fundamental friendship with US President Barack Obama was fair and amusing comment. He should keep it up.

Australia need larrikins who laugh at the powerful - and the po-faced.

Alexander Pope explained why in the 1730s: "Hence satire rose, that just the medium hit, / And heals with morals what it hurts with wit."

Life Thoughts

Sometimes you read an article that really gels with your own experiences, or evokes some significant thoughts....on any one of a myriad of subjects.

Recently Greg Sheridan wrote an article for the Review Section of the Weekend Australian. It covered his experiences with a range of older colleagues, who helped and mentored him, while a student as well as in his "formative" years as journalist. He is a very respected senior journalist these days, commonly covering politics and international affairs for The Australian newspaper.

The link is http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25333293-5013460,00.html and it is worth reading not only for the information about some of his key contacts while a young journalist, but for some key messages.......the role of personal contacts and their influences, often without realising it.

The last two short paragraphs are worth noting -

"What Big Bob and Little Bob had in common was a generosity with young people, a willingness to take them seriously. I've forgotten almost everything they said to me about foreign policy or economics, but the odd lapidary phrase stays forever.

So take care when you speak with younger people. Against all your expectations, they may very well be listening quite hard." [ excerpt from his article]

In this time when often young people are ignored or "written off", they may be listening to YOU.....so offer sage advice, particularly in the workplace, if you want a great workplace culture to thrive. It is the leaders that make that happen, and like it or not, leaders are often a little older, and a little wiser, something that younger people may just need. Not maybe right now.......but as a thought and action forming option to consider.

Yee Ha - I get to swim!

Today was an important day...............my first swim for 2 weeks, following the skin cancer cut out off the arm. I did enjoy a serious hit out in the pool for a couple of kms, but am now a bit short on speed, after a two week lay off.

BUT......methinks it will be short lived. I had an important phone call today......the small innocous mark on my upper chest, just below the midpoint of the left clavicle is a nasty squamous cell carcinoma, and I need to go back to have more interaction at the "Casuarina Charcuterie".

They need to be sure that all bits are removed, so there will be a serious incision to remove the other bits close to the edges......tomorrow, shortly after the stitches are removed from the first round of incisions!

Hopefully, the time out of the water will only be a few days this time.

Skin Care 2

It is 2 weeks nearly since "the big slice" on my arm. Finally coming good. It took a while, and the Easter weekend was a very quiet one, unable to do a lot.

Have been exercise restricted for 2 weeks and getting a bit toey!

Stitches come out on Tuesday.

Skin Care Pays Off

Men are not renowned for taking a lot of care with their skin. Whether as teenagers or older it does not seem to happen, especially in Australia. We are too macho.......or stupid. My local doctor used to say "if you are fair skinned and blue eyed - you are a skin cancer suspect"...........he is pretty spot on I think. Yet here we see so many young people very red skinned after most weekends - too much sun, too little protection.

I have recently had another skin cancer removed........from the right forearm, a condition commonly and cynically called "driver's arm syndrome". Yes, simply caused mainly through hanging the right arm on the door sill while driving. Maybe not so likely today, with a lot vehicles air-conditioned, especially in hot areas of Australia.

But, I, like many, who have done many hundreds of thousands of kilometres driving in those times where all airconditioning was through an open window, had an arm on the window sill. About 35 years of doing that is now causing a few problems.

I have had quite a few minor skin cancers removed before, on the same arm, and a few years ago used a therapy with a cream to pick up a lot of incipient damaged pre cancerous cells, including the top of the knuckles [ holding the steering wheel]. This one was larger and needed quite a few stitches to close it after the relatively minor surgery with a local anaesthetic. And the wound has been a bit sore too, since.

But there is good news too..........even though I have spent a lot of time surfing and swimming, sailing and other outdoor sports, I have little skin damage on the face and back, legs etc. Maybe it is those areas that received more sun block cream too.

My mother always insisted we use the old fashioned white or pink zinc cream as younger kids, keep out of the midday sun [ that was easy - surf is better early am anyway before the wind is strong] and as an adult sunblock creams have been used - usually 30+. So that has paid off so far. But the poor old right arm has suffered. Probably missed out on treatment!

With this surgery being done last Wednesday, it has meant a very quiet Easter.

Kick Ass your i - Pod

GM organisms can do great things. Reported today is a new technology that is reported to really boost lithium ion battery power, extend the battery life and, well, do great things for this class of battery now in almost all small devices - phones, computers, i-Pods, MP3 players, cameras etc.

It sounds great. Watch this space!
--------------------------------

A tiny virus has been trained to build a more efficient and powerful lithium battery, say US researchers. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) modified two genes in a virus called M13, which caused it to build a shell made out of a compound called iron phosphate.

These shells attached to a carbon nanotube to create a powerful and tiny electrode.

The virus boosted battery could provide more power for MP3 players or cellular telephones, and are far more environmentally friendly than current battery technologies, says MIT materials scientist Angela Belcher, who led the research, which appears today in the journal Science. "It has some of the same capacity and energy power performance as the best commercially available state-of-the-art batteries," says Belcher. "We could run an iPod on it for about three times as long as current iPod batteries. If we really scale it, it would be used in a car," she says.

But Belcher admits that such scaling is some time away.

She says the technology is inherently green because it involves a live virus. "We are having organisms make the materials for us," says Belcher. "We are confined to temperatures and solvents - water - that organisms can live in. It's a clean technology. We can't do anything that kills our organisms."

The viruses used in the battery are a common bacteriophage, which infect bacteria, but are harmless to humans

Battery booster - Current lithium batteries are powerful and light, but they do not release their electrons very quickly. Belcher's team genetically engineered the viruses to grow shells of amorphous iron phosphate. The material is generally not a good conductor, but makes a useful battery material when patterned at the nanoscale - a microscopic molecular scale.

The virus-made material increases the cathode's conductivity inside the battery, making it more powerful without adding too much weight. "My students hate it when I say we sit back and let them (the viruses) do the work. We put a lot of work in too," says Belcher. "But once you have the right genetic sequence and have the right proteins then you just put them in solution with water and ions and they template the battery in the same way an abalone templates a shell. They build little shells around themselves."

The team is already working on a second-generation battery using materials with higher voltage and electrical capacity, such as manganese phosphate and nickel phosphate, says Belcher.

Rudd and Obama

Australia is a modest player on the world stage - we are small in population, large in area and some people think we punch above our weight, on the world stage. Is there a larger world stage than visiting the US President? Maybe not.

The Prime Minister has been in the US this week - NY and Washington, and meeting all the right people, and getting plenrty of media coverage in Australia, even a mention by the US President at his press conferences.

However, many Australians think that there is a somewhat syncopantic relationship with the US......what they want, Australia, as the dutiful lap dog, does. Or maybe better illustrated in the cartoon that appeared today in the Weekend Australian. Cartoonist is Bill Leak, who can be a bit in your face at times, and definitely has an irreverent streak.



This is!

For others who may not know, the Prime minister's wife [ coming through the door] also runs a very successful multimillion dollar recruitment agency with offices in a number of countries.

Wolfram Alpha - Google Has A REAL Rival

Do you use Google? The real answer is probably who does not!

BUT.............what about real answers, not just a list of places that might have the answer?

Rumour hath it that this will be coming to a place near you VERY SOON. I have only seen reviews, and wow........if it does what it is supposed to do, it will be stunning.

Read an in depth review:

http://www.twine.com/item/122mz8lz9-4c/wolfram-alpha-is-coming-and-it-could-be-as-important-as-google

Facebook NOT

I am not a Facebook devotee, not even someone who likes it or believes it useful.

Others agree...........

This article is a profound anti Facebook rant, and a lot of people seem to agree. Log off Facebook and live.

This is the link:

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/256implp.asp

It is well written and worth a read. What do you think?

Container Deposit Legislation for the NT

It is like a bolt of lightning..........The Northern Territory Government announced today a container deposit scheme, to be similar to that in South Australia.

The press release in part says:

The Chief Minister Paul Henderson today announced the Northern Territory will introduce a cash for containers scheme to reduce litter and boost recycling efforts. “Cash for containers will make the Territory cleaner and greener – it will reduce litter by rewarding people who do the right thing,” Mr Henderson said. “This Government has always supported a national approach to legislation providing cash for containers but I’ve been disappointed with the slow progress. I’m not prepared to wait further.

“I’m taking the lead and hope other states will follow.

“My Government has made the commitment in principle to adopt cash for containers legislation by 2011 provided it is financially viable, legally sound and can deliver in both urban and remote centres. “That’s why I have set up a reference group to further explore those three criteria, and report back to Government in July.”

The Environment Minister Alison Anderson will chair the reference group, which will include Fannie Bay MLA Michael Gunner and the Independent Member for Nelson Gerry Wood. Ms Anderson said the NT’s scheme will be modelled on South Australia’s container deposit legislation where cans, bottles and cartons attract a 10c refund.

“The results in South Australia clearly show cash for containers is a success. In other states beverage containers typically contribute up to 40% - 50% of litter by volume – in South Australia they contribute less than 20% by volume,” she said. “I don’t pretend the scheme is going to fix all our litter problems but it’s very effective for what it targets.

“It gets litter off the streets and money into the pockets of people who do the right thing. It gives kids and community groups a chance to raise funds and we can show a clean green image to visitors who come to share our unique environment and lifestyle.”

The Independent Member for Nelson Gerry Wood said he is simply rapt that after nearly 20 years of trying, a Northern Territory Government has finally bitten the bullet and announced a program that will do great things for the Territory environment and the community.

This is quite amazing............and seems to go against the efforts of a number of strident industry lobby groups who have resisted such a move for many many years.

Sure it is still a year or more away - in 2011 - but that is time to develop the legislation and show others we can do the right thing! [ as the old Keep Australia Beautiful slogan goes]

Are Sports Shoes Good for You? It is Fiction, not Fact!

Any sports person on two feet has their favorite sports shoe brand and even model. With the odd tear or three when a model changes and is no longer available, and a new type of shoe has to be examined. I have done it myself. Should you worry?

Some recent research in Australia shows that there is NO evidence that sport shoes work to improve performance or to prevent injury.

This is like a red rag to a bull................or is it?

The article below came from the ABC web site, and definitely makes interesting reading. What do you think?

Sports shoe claims still untested: scientists

Shoe sham? Scientists say more research is need into the benefits of hi-tech running shoes. (ABC news)

Scientists say there is no evidence to support the widespread belief that running shoes with sophisticated cushioning or heel supports prevent injury.

Researcher Craig Richards from the University of Newcastle says his team searched almost 60 years of articles relating to running, shoes and injury prevention, and found no published tests on whether hi-tech shoes have a real world benefit. "We searched all the articles we could identify in the major databases since 1950," Dr Richards told ABC Radio's PM program. "None of them have actually been control trials and most of them are just reiterating expert opinion or referring to studies which have been performed in a laboratory which don't actually have any real world meaning. "The bottom line is that these shoes have been experimental for the last 20 years and [are] still experimental."

Dr Richards admits some will argue with his findings.

"To health professionals, to runners to shoe retailers and to the sort of shoes that manufacturers have been producing this is absolutely heretical," he said. "This is why it is such an interesting finding and one which really needs to be pursued by some careful scientific research now, to establish whether these shoes are good for you, whether they do nothing for you or whether they are actually harmful for you."

President of the Australasian Podiatry Council Brenden Brown says that does not mean consumers should necessarily jump off the treadmill and throw away their shoes. "I think that it's quite easy to say to say that there are no studies out there suggesting that these shoes in fact work, but there are many products that we use in medicine, health and everyday life [and] there aren't studies to back up their use," he said.

Ben Ly, who manages a fitness centre in inner Sydney, says high quality performance footwear does make a difference to training. "If you look at the Olympics that were in you know, the 70s and the 60s when they were running in pure flat based shoes on tartan [sic], a lot of people were probably getting more stress fractures than ever before," he said. "There was no orthotics, there was no inbuilt arch. "Flat feet is a growing problem. A lot of people are getting pronation in the ankle which relates to knee pain which relates to knee injury, which relates to the hip to the back. It all relates to everything, it all starts at your feet."

Liz Brett, a sports and recreation manager and former Australian Olympic volleyballer, also recommends people spend money on shoes to reduce the risk of injury. "I do chat to people who come to the UTS fitness centre occasionally and particularly those who aren't wearing proper running shoes who are on the treadmill, I'll often go up and ask them if they've considered purchasing a pair of running shoes," she said. "You can hear it, you can hear the slapping when you're on the treadmills and you think, it's just an injury waiting to happen."

But she admits she hopes she has not fallen victim to a marketing con job. "Bloody hope not. I've spent too much money over the years on [shoes] to be conned," she said. "While there may not be enough information out there or enough research on this particular topic, I do think it's fair to say that there really are good shoes that improve not necessarily improve performance but certainly reduce the risk of injury."
-----------------------------------

Do you think you have been conned?

Murder and Mayhem

While not a pleasant subject, Rapid Creek - our suburb has been among the infamous and topical today.

It seems that two people argued last evening and a man apparently hit a woman over the head with a nulla-nulla [ big wooden stick] which seems to have caused her death. At least that is how the media is reporting the incident.

We were past the area - just about 150m from our house twice this morning in the car, relatively early, at about 0800hrs and again around 0900hrs, with nothing seen. Then a few hours later the area was roped off, and police everywhere. It may be they were just treating the area as the crime scene, and doing some more forensic work.

The area is in scrub near Rapid Creek itself, an area commonly used by people for card games and drinking, hiding in the scrub areas where the Police are unable to easily see people. We have some local laws prohibiting drinking in public within 2 kilometres of licenced premises [ this is about 1km or a tad more].

Silent Killer Lurks in Tropical Soils

Not only do we have to contend with large killer crocodiles, man eating sharks, deadly King Brown snakes, let alone drunken drivers on the roads, there is a new and more deadly killer in our midst.

Chances of recovery.........less than 50%, although they are getting a bit better as medical staff learn how to deal with the disease and treat the symptoms. That is in Darwin......where there is some knowledge. In Thailand, the estimated death toll annually is over 1000.

The nasty is .............melioidosis. And you can catch it while GARDENING.

This is absolutely true http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25112442-23289,00.html gives more details. As does http://abovecapricorn.blogspot.com/ .

In Darwin it used to be called Nightcliff Gardeners Disease, but that is a bit unfair. Just because many residences in Nightcliff have active gardeners, and are more exposed to the disease.

At last there seems to be developing a better understanding of the etiology of the disease, with significant work being done at the Darwin locally based Menzies School of Health Research. I have had a few discussions with staff there regarding knowledge of the disease among medical staff in Thailand, where I have worked and was a bit more apprehensive than normal as I knew I would be wandering around in rice paddies.

It seems to occur in many tropical and subtropical regions and countries. The warning now here is to use gloves while gardening and to wear covered shoes. This can be difficult in a culture where being bare footed is vey common. I have certainly been bare footed in many rice paddies and flooded pasture areas in the NT during my work. When the water is 300 - 400mm deep it hardly seems sensible to be wearing boots.

It Rained Today

It just goes to show you cannot trust the weather to behave when you need it to do so.

It rained this morning.........just at the time most people were on their way to work. But no, not just some rain. Yesterday was dry, and the ominous signs of the monsoon moving offshore were quite obvious. Were we to have some more dry days? There had been 26 days in a row with rain, Sunday was dry. Maybe a few dry days would be good.

But this morning it rained, very seriously! About 40mm [ more in some areas around Darwin] in about 20 -25 minutes, equivalent to about 100mm in an hour intensity. That is serious rain!

Traffic quickly switched to "wet mode" - headlights on, a bit more care, lots of splashing water off the road and a slightly slower pace. And people were caught out big time, with quite a few drenched bodies seen.........had gone out without the mandatory umbrella!

And now, 40 minutes later the clouds are rising, and blue sky is slowly appearing across the southern sky as the storm clouds disappear to the north, offshore.

But it will be wet underfoot for some time still as the ground slowly moves the water overland or absorbs it.

Modern Houses in Darwin

The modern current type of design for houses in Darwin seems to have forgotten many of the guiding principles of design for the region. And a black or charcoal grey roof is not a smart idea in this climate!

They tend to be heavy in construction- brick or block and on a concrete slab on the ground; with poor flow through ventilation; often with poor insulation, particularly in the roof space; poor orientation so that the prevailing SE or N /NW breezes are missed; small windows, often that cannot be opened adequately so that the effective opening is less than 50% of the glass areas, and often too with little or no outdoor roofed space that could be utilised for outdoor living. Higher costs partly drives some of these - eg outdoor areas, and often these do get added later.

However, with this type of design - probably more appropriate for a temperate climate - you are needing to seriously consider airconditioning, to make the house habitable.

Yes, there are some other considerations now. People say that household security is improved with this current design. I am unconvinced, as adequate security can be built into for example louvred windows with full openings by using cross bars that are unobtrusive, and anyway, residents often add serious heavy security screens anyway on the outside.......more costs.

Some of the houses can be attractive inside, but I wonder if this is just pandering to newcomers to the region who "expect" houses just like Melbourne, Sydney or Perth. This climate demands a different type of house design.

There are some excellent architects locally in north Australia - with their design offerings seen from Brisbane north and through to Darwin. Suitable aesthetics, good design and well suited to handle both the wet and dry sectors of the local weather. These do not necessarily exclude airconditioning, but rather use it to moderate conditions eg at night in the bedrooms or to supplement in the hot weather in November and December, or for an office. With modern inverter air con systems operating costs are modest if used in conjunction with well designed buildings, and obviously not needed in the dry season.

The other type of "southern" house still needs airconditioning in the cooler dry season weather, as they do not use the cooler dry season breezes well, due to poor cross flow.

Apart from solar HWS, which are very common on new and even older houses, there is little use of solar PV systems, except in Alice Springs, where there is support from the Solar Cities Program. One local Darwin house estimates that their PV system still produces about 75% of output in the wet season compared to dry season output which is higher. So it is feasible. But few seem to care.

There has been little use of water management systems, although many do run their washing machine in to the back garden [ not always legal though].

Superior design can be effective, and cost effective, but it seems that many do not seem to understand what it really means to have a house design that is well suited to the climate.

Our own house is a post Cyclone Tracy built house in a time when it was difficult to really do what was best design wise as the pressure to build was intense. However, cross flow air, solar HWS, fans in bathrooms, light colurs, tiled floors reduced thermal load on external walls and roof, high grade insulation in the E and W walls, well oriented to catch the breeze and similar had to part of the design and there is little we would change now.

We do have air conditioning in the bedrooms, but it is used predominantly at night.

Victorian Fires - Just Pray

We are a long way from the bushfires in Victoria, with weather totally different. Parts of Victoria had maximum temperatures around 47C [117F] over the past few days, the highest EVER recorded. We are actually likely to be having local floods today across many parts of the Northern Territory, as well as in north Queensland and the NW of Western Australia.

The bushfires in Victoria are just awful, even by Australian standards where summer bushfires are a regular issue in much of the southern states, each summer. I cannot even hope to emulate the material on so many of the commercial media web pages, with images often contributed by those most affected, or at least by those who got out.

See - http://www.abc.net.au/ or http://www.news.com.au/ as two major media outlets with vivid stories and photos; if not obvious, search on Victorian bushfires.

As of Monday morning there have been over 100 deaths, about 800 houses totally destroyed and countless other lives and houses devastated. It seems obvious that these figures will rise significantly as authorities reach areas previously cut off. Think of the army of volunteers as fire authority staff, Red Cross assistants and so on who are there helping, and the countless stories of those who were lucky to survive. They do have a bit of deprecating humour, typically Australian............but they will suffer, when the tragedy hits the brain. It might be hours, days or weeks, but realisation will come. I speak as a cyclone victim and survivor and can feel for them.

They need some help............think of them and offer a silent prayer.

And wonder about the idiots or the deranged who may have actually lit the fires in some cases - it seems the authorities are serious about high level prosecutions - manslaughter or similar in a number of situations.

The Kingfisher

It is a wet, monsoonal, squally shower sort of day......very typical of monsoonal weather. There is a cyclone brewing up in the Indian Ocean, floods in Queensland, and terrible, terrible bushfires in Victoria. Typically an Australian summer!

We have had a visit to the yard from a kingfisher today. A very pretty bird, and there must be quite a few around the area, for I have seen a number of them recently along the Rapid Creek cycle path, in the trees and on the ground. Our family has always recognised a semi-resident king fisher......which has been christened "Kerry", but this one is smaller and maybe a first time visitor to the yard.

We have a large resident population of birds in the garden, including a lot of honeyeaters of various types, even with a few local cats, including our own at times. My view is that the local houses with pools, water features in the garden and similar facilities actually encourage birds, in comparison to the unwatered areas that would be there with the former native vegetation. It also helps that we are about 100m from a permanent creek.

Exercise Junkie

I am coming out............yes, I am a bit of an exercise junkie. I really enjoy my afternoon swim training. And I am getting a bit serious.

There is the joy of chasing the black line and the graceful feeling of water sliding past your body, especially if travelling a bit fast doing freestyle, and really developing a rythmic side movement of the body as you twist from side to side, swimming down your arm. No one can get you unless they come to the end of the pool. NO......music [ although that is optional these days], mobile and regular phones, e-mails, noise, and at least where I train, not too many people in a lane.

There are some serious open water swims coming up here from about June, including the Pee Wees to the Trailer Boat Club swim - about 2.4km open water across Darwin Harbour. Are there sharks? Well, the common answer here is that, no there are no sharks.......the crocodiles ate them. But seriously, they check the area and with a few hundred swimmers entered, there is a fair bit of protection around.

These types of open water swim are becoming very popular around Australia with many now in SE Australia in the summer time. Just don the budgie smugglers and away you go. [ Budgie Smugglers aka Speedos, swimmers, togs, cozzies, racers, nylons, lycras; those skimpy ones worn by Olympic swimmers in previous Games - except that many are, like me of a different, older, more mature generation......and women too!]

Back to the training.......it is finally starting to make a difference. I have put in some hard metres in the pool , some tough interval swim sessions and at the gym on weights and strength training, and training times and interval periods are coming down. Everyone has good sessions and definitely not so good training sessions, for all sorts of reasons; with work for many being a seriously interfering factor in training.

No luxury of being a full time athlete, although these days, surprisingly, many mature age competitors [retired] are able to train.....and they do.....virtually full time. Most, though, do work or run a business, and putting in the training can be an effort. BUT.....getting organised does help!

It is still many weeks to go to June, but recent results are heartening. I won my age group last year; I would like to do well again this year.

Plane Crash in Darwin

Not as spectacular as the recent large passenger aircraft crash in New York but still a big event locally in Darwin.

Shortly after take off around 0830 today, a pilot had to make an emergency landing on a coastal beach near East Point, Darwin. Just after takeoff, the plane lost power and then was ditched very successfully just off the beach.

All 6 passengers and pilot are uninjured, and they walked ashore from shallow water just off the beach. Most believe the pilot did a fantastic job........missed the residential areas. At least here the flight path off the main runway does go to the west over vacant land and then over the water, so he has had to get the plane around and back to the beach to land.

We have large tidal ranges here in Darwin and the light aircraft is now being drowned by the incoming tide.

This is definitely the story of the day locally.

Coolest Capital City Today [well, nearly]

Quite a change for Darwin.......almost the coldest Australian State capital city today, with Brisbane just a part degree C tad cooler.

Rubbish you say.........Darwin is a hot place! It is, but all the southern cities are in what has been described as the heat of the century, with many places recording temperatures above 45C, Adelaide a maximum the other day of 45.7C, the same in Melbourne today, and still more days to come of very hot weather. Most of this week has been very hot, with temperatures on every day above 40C, across all of southern Australia. Even Hobart in cool Tasmania has had hot weather. This period has broken high temperature records going back about a hundred years or so.




Darwin has had relatively cool and mild days of around 29 -30C with monsoonal showers, and occasional sunny periods, with a modest west to north west strong breeze........typical monsoonal weather, and nights around 23-24C. Nights have been the killer in southern cities this week with minimum temperatures in some places of 33C......that is a hot night, and usually breeze less.

The hot weather in the south has caused havoc with electricity supplies [and of course air conditioners], train lines have buckled, asphalt on the road is melting, and those poor people cannot cope.

Poor things.........come to the tropics and see how you like the build up period in October and November. Wimps!

The New Residence

It has been raining consistently in our region now for over two months. And keeping dry in wet weather is always a priority.


So when the opportunity came to acquire an all weather dog house, the purchase was made. No fans or air conditioners, but a truly tropical dog house with one open end and open weave shade cloth on the other........plus a special edge flap to keep the rain off the sarlon shade cloth. Just a flow through ventilation system. The canvas is very waterproof.


Dear dog was at first somewhat mystified at this strange contraption, but a short period on the chain adjacent to the new residence and in she went. It is actually just a waterproof canvas cover, bolted to the existing sarlon shade cloth dog bed, a bed she already used a lot anyway.


I am not convinced that with the windy storms we get here that it will actually be a dry bed, but hey.......it is better than getting a decent drenching!

Gas to Go

Darwin is slowly but surely becoming an export gas hub. Seriously large export gas, and a few export oil projects are now either completed or being planned for Darwin.

Currently operating is the Conoco Phillips plant which exports gas to Japan. Coming soon - well, in a year or two, but planned to commence construction next year [2010] is the Inpex plant that will process gas being piped about 800kms. As well, a newish project in the Bonaparte Gulf is almost finished. This will supply gas to Darwin for electricity generation.

The vessels used for export are huge gas supertankers. Awesome. The following photos were taken this week, luckily, as the flight left Darwin, it was full tide and the ship was steaming down the harbour. Darwin city above the wing.

Enjoy the photos!