Honesty Is The Best Policy!

Monday 7th February, 2011

Last Friday afternoon after having a coffee with Tony we headed back to work to go and meet Katie.  As we were crossing King William Street near the intersection of Currie Street Tony bent down to pick something up.  It appeared to be a purse/wallet, but when he opened it, it was an IPhone.

When he got back to the office he turned it on but it required a passcode to be able to access it.  We decided to take it home with us just in case someone rang it and we would then be able to get a number so that we could get in contact with the owner.

After we got home from the pool on Friday night Tony checked the phone and it had 3 missed calls on it.  Not being familiar with the IPhone, we couldn't get the phone numbers that had rung.  Each time we tried to retrieve them it kept asking for a passcode.  We plugged it into the computer as it had a connection the same as the IPod touch.  We got a message up that said it still needed the passcode before we could have any access.

So all weekend we kept hoping that someone would ring it so that we could get a phone number.  Unfortunately no-one did.  When we dropped Katie off Sunday night, her mum has an IPhone, so we asked her about it.  She was able to show us where the sim card was so Tony was able to get that out.  We found that the carrier was Vodafone and he got the sim card number.

This morning he rang Vodafone asking them to contact the owner and to get the owner to ring him to arrange for them to come and collect it.  In no time at all the owner rang him.

As it turned out the phone belonged to a young Chinese girl who was SO, SO happy to get her phone back. He thought that she may be an overseas student who is studying here.  She gave Tony a $50 reward.  Tony was reluctant to accept it but she insisted saying that it was a Chinese custom to give a gift to the person who returned something that had been lost.

Yeah, the temptation was there to keep it.  Who wouldn't want an IPhone for free?  Thankfully that temptation was only there for a fleeting moment as I would like to think if I lost my phone or something that the person who found it would return it to me.  As Tony said when he rang me, "It gave me such a good feeling when I saw that smile on her face as I gave her the phone".

Also, I believe in Karma!!

***Have just heard that Kahra's stepmum has passed away.  She had a massive stroke 10 days ago and over the weekend the family decided to remove the tubes that were keeping her alive.  The doctors believed that as she had no brain activity she would not recover from the stroke.

Sending our love and hugs at this very sad time to the family.

From the Lens.......similar IPhone to what we found

Fruits Of The Season

Sunday 6th February, 2011

Australia is still in the grip of natural disasters.  Victoria has had their fair share of flooding in parts of that state, the latest being up around Mildura caused by heavy rain from the remnants of Cyclone Yasi. 

Over the weekend it has been Western Australia's turn.  Not from flooding but from fire.  Reports have been saying that more than 40 homes have been destroyed from bushfires that are raging around Perth and this total could go much higher.  They have been having high temperatures and very strong winds which have hampered their fire fighting efforts.  When will all this end???

We are already seeing the effects from the floods in Queensland in regards to the price of bananas.  Last Thursday we could buy them for $1.99/kilo, Friday the price had gone up to $4.99/kilo.  I am sure these bananas weren't shipped from Queensland overnight Thursday.  Just another case of the big supermarkets screwing the customer once again.

Went up to Robyn and Bob's to return their esky and blanket and came home with some yummy nectarines, peaches and plums.  That's what I love about this time of the year....all the fruit that I love to eat are in season.  Nothing beats the fruit that is grown in your own backyard.

Seeing we have such a small backyard we cannot have the larger fruit trees but we have tried growing miniature peaches, nectarines and apples in pots.  We have had success with the nectarines and apples but the peaches are too floury to eat.  I think it may be the variety of peach.   

From the Lens.........Bob's garden is a fruit bowl

Four Seasons In One Day

Saturday 5th February, 2011

Last night we enjoyed a night at the pool.  Katie jumped off the diving board again and they opened up the higher platform diving board.   She wanted to have a jump off that one too. 

I was a little apprehensive at first but then I relented.  I got Tony to jump first just in case Katie needed some help in the water, but when it came time for her to jump she was too scared.  I think the height of the board scared her, but she said it was because the other kids were standing behind her.

Today we thought we might go up to Monarto and check out those bikes that Bob told us about.  We couldn't find them.  There was a Moto-X track but that was closed.  The kart track seemed to be for those who had their own go-karts.

Katie didn't want to go to the zoo and as it is an area where my great great grandparents settled when they emigrated from Prussia back in the 1850's, we decided to go and have a look at the cemetry.  We eventually found it.  We found the grave of my great grandparents.  We thought we would go and find the original farm but got ourselves lost.  We had been there before, but decided it was maybe better to do it when Tony and I were by ourselves.

Headed off to Murray Bridge and the playground.  Firstly I had to go and visit the Bunyip.  When Katie was younger she was afraid of him and would run away when he slowly surfaced from the depths of his 'pond'.

It was a weird day weather wise, I think we experienced all four seasons in one day.  When we left Adelaide it was warm and late in the afternoon it came up extremely windy and got cold and when we left Murray Bridge to go onto Mannum it started to rain. 

Oh boy! crossing the river at Mannum on the ferry was like being on the ocean.  The river was really choppy and we were rocking from side to side.  The waves on the river , I reckon, were at least a foot high, hehehe.  Katie was unfazed by it.  She and Tony were out of the car enjoying the ride.  We rode the ferry four times, back and forth.  On our last crossing the waves had subsided a bit.

Went back to Murray Bridge for dinner, Katie chose Chinese, which we all enjoyed.   Got back home around 9.45pm.

From the Lens........one of the ferries on the choppy Murray River

Rushing Around

Friday 4th February, 2011

OMG I am so running late today.  This will be a very short post as I have got an appointment for my nails, then I have to go and pick Katie up and seeing it is hot and muggy I think we will go to the pool after we get Katie.

We are having the humidity and cloud from the remnants of Cyclone Yasi.  So far Adelaide has been spared the rain but up in the far north and mid north of the state they have received some substantial falls of rain.  It's all good for the farmers.

The two people feared missing from the cyclone have been accounted for.  One took his boat out to sea and rode out the storm and the other one has apparently contacted the authorities.  Good news!!

Gotta run

From the Lens........

Mother Nature At Her Worst

Thursday 3rd February, 2011

How lucky are the people of Cairns?  Cyclone Yasi crossed the coast at around 12.30 am Queensland time and decided to bypass Cairns and head further south.  Unfortunately the towns of Mission Beach, Tully and Cardwell bore the full force of the cyclone.  

Apparently Cardwell has been wiped out.  There is a lot of damage in Tully and Mission Beach and some in Innisfail.  Cairns saw a few trees uprooted, some building damage but nothing like they were expecting.  Even a baby (girl) was born in one of the evacuation centres.

The best news of all was that there were no serious injuries or deaths reported this morning.  Tonight on the radio they are now reporting that 2 people are missing at Innisfail and as they have found they cannot get into Cardwell (only by helicopter), they are hoping that there will be no grisly finds there. 

When you see some of the damage you wonder how on earth anyone survived if they were sheltering in the houses.  A lot of the crops have been wiped out.  Bananas and sugar cane will now be scarce, they say we could be paying up to $13/kilo for bananas.

I know when we went through Cyclone Tracy, initially we stayed put in our house.  Once the roof peeled back like a sardine can and our linen press doors flew open and all the sheets and towels were sucked out I panicked and we left the house.  We got into the car but only got out of our drive and onto the road when the car stalled due to the amount of water.

During the eye of the cyclone another car came along, he was trying to get his wife to the hospital as she had cut her foot, and we clambered into his car.  It was already full with kids and adults but we squeezed in.

In the morning when everything had calmed down and we realised what we had been through, we went back to our house.  We were thankful that we had made the decision to leave as we had no walls and no floorboards upstairs, and half a brick wall downstairs.  I shudder now to think of what would have happened to us if we had stayed in the house.

What was left of our house back in 1974

From that mess there wasn't too much that was salvageable.  Clothes that we found were covered in mud, Tony's glasses were found intact, but not his contact lenses.  We had packed a small suitcase with our important papers and photos, but when we left the house we didn't take it with us.  That case was nowhere to be seen.

From the Lens.........different time, different place, but still the same amount of damage

The main street in Tully

A residential street in Tully

                                              photos courtesy of news.com.au

Now It's North Queenslands Turn

Wednesday 2nd February, 2011

Another warm one today....34C.  This afternoon I had a hair appointment to have a colour put in.  Just before I was due to leave, Tori and her friend Courtney called in.  It was another "too hot for school" day for them.  They had morning classes and were dismissed at midday.

What is wrong with the schools today?   When I went to school we had no airconditioned classrooms and there was no such thing as getting off early because it was too hot.  I remember some of our summers being hotter than what we have today.

Now it is time for North Queensland to be on alert.  Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, is due to cross the coast somewhere near Cairns at around midnight.  They are expecting winds in excess of 250kph and up to 1000mm of rain.  This is the first time such a powerful cyclone has happened since 1899.

In 1974 while living in Darwin we experienced Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy was not as powerful as Yasi is expected to be, but it was a very destructive cyclone.  Memories of that cyclone are still quite vivid in my mind and I have a feel for what the people of North Queensland are going through.  At least the people of Cairns and surrounding areas have had time to prepare themselves, whereas in Darwin we were told that Cyclone Tracy would miss us and all we should expect was some wind and rain.

All Australians have the people up there in our thoughts, prayers and hearts and we pray that there is minimal damage and no loss of life.

From the Lens.......... comparison of Australia's recent worst Cyclones

It's Slightly Cooler

Tuesday 1st February, 2011

The weather is somewhat cooler today.  It was a very warm night but a slight cool change came in this morning.  The temperature still got into the 30's though.

Tori called in after school.  She said it has been so hot at school.  They were supposed to have new air conditioning installed but up to when school started it hadn't been done.  Most of the kids were leaving school early.  She is in Senior School this year (Year 11).  

The bank refused Jodi and Troy the loan for the property at Lewiston.  To get it they will have to sell the house that they are in.  Troy wants to stay where they are so at the moment they are undecided as to what they are going to do.

From the Lens......... a good place to be when it's hot