Back in Sydney!!! - by Gary

Five years ago this is where the family sailing adventure really began.  Been a lot of water pass under the keel since then; the kids have kept close count – 41 countries.  And still so much to see!

A map of our travels.

Zeke and Nina, arriving in Sydney Harbour aboard Kallisto five years ago.

Zeke and Nina arriving in Sydney Harbour aboard Mojombo yesterday!

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Visiting Friends – by Gary

What's this???

Do you know what the above is? Can you guess?  Set in a low sandstone wall, it's a horse hitching wall out front of an Ipswich church.  Cool huh?  Recently we spent several very pleasant days in Ipswich visiting friends and, amongst other things, discovering that this small city of 160 odd thousand people boasts some really interesting historic architecture.

The real highlight of the town's built heritage are the 'Queenslanders', that unique form of vernacular architecture, responding so beautifully to climate.  Raised high on stumps these houses escape the radiant heat of the ground, capture breezes and, with their low thermal mass, cool off quickly at night.  Wide shady verandahs and high pitched, vented roofs help keep the interior cool.  The verandahs of course also provide wonderful outdoor living opportunities – even during an afternoon tropical downpour.  Utilising the State's formerly abundant timbers, and cheap galvanised iron rooves, they could be built inexpensively.

Mein host Brian took us on a guided tour, explaining some of the 'nuts and bolts' of the style. He showed us how at the simplest end of the 'Queenslander 'spectrum there is your basic workers cottage.  It's a small square house, built on stumps,  with a high pitched roof and modest sun control over the windows.  In its very simplest form front steps lead directly to the front door.  Brian then went on to show us how this simple form can be amplified to find a solution appropriate to all tastes and circumstances.

Here is a workers cottage, but a flash one, it's fitted with a front verandah.  As you can see the verandah has been closed in at some stage to provide extra internal volume.

Painted and restored the workers cottage can be a charming place to live.

If you'd got more money you could ask the builder to add some further complexity, a wrap around verandah, a gable end over the entry, some more decorative elements.

With even more money you could 'bigger' the whole thing, integrating the verandah under a single pitched roof and add more decorative elements.  The bit on the back is most likely a later addition.

Still more money?  Put the house on a bigger block, get the builder to add more detailing to the verandah and roof line over the entry statement.  Perhaps splurge on some bay windows.

Filthy rich?  Get the big block, depart entirely from the basic square, add wings, bays, french doors and lots of detailing.

Verandahs – ultra cool and stylish or down to earth slobby, wonderful either way.

Throw in a bit of landscaping and what more could you possibly want?

Brian's explanation of the Queenslander, for me really captures the essence of its beauty.  The form allows for such a wide range of personal expression depending upon your taste and financial circumstances, yet creates towns and neighbourhoods with extraordinary cohesiveness, so conspicuously absent in contemporary Australian suburbs.  But I guess you have to like painting.

Our architectural guided tour took in some other notable works.  I'm a sucker for a bit of built humour.

But how about this?  Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect, landscape architect cum town planner is well known for giving us Canberra, less well known for his Sydney suburb of Castlecraig and a whole slew of private houses, but perhaps even less well known for his industrial architecture – the hand of the master is so evident in this Ipswich incinerator plant.

On the right, in order after Zeke are our wonderful Ipswich hosts, Majella, Brian, Jean, Tasman and Yogi the dog.  Thanks for a great time guys.

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Hey we're famous! - by Gary

While in Apia, Samoa we were approached by the editor of an online travel magazine aimed at families.
"Could I do a story on you guys?" she asked.

"Us!!!??"   Being perhaps our one and only chance at fame, however tiny and fleeting, of course we lunged at it.  Our interview is now a feature in their November issue.

If you are interested, a link to the November issue is RIGHT HERE.  The home page for Awesome Family Adventures is here.  Above is the promo that I think the magazine put up on its facebook page.

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Bundaberg Floods – by Gary

Some of you may recall my entry on the severe Bundaberg floods of 2010.  These floods inconveniently curtailed my Christmas visit to Adelaide, forcing me to hurriedly return to Kallisto to look after her.  Remarkably, just 2 years later Bundaberg experienced even worse floods when Cyclone Oswald brought torrential rain to southern Queensland, causing the Burnett River to again burst its banks.  

Returning once again to Bundaberg, this time in Mojombo, and cruising the Burnett from mouth to town centre, a distance of some 10km, we were shocked to see the amount of damage so indelibly visited upon the banks by these two events.  Great swathes of vegetation have been laid waste, severe erosion can be seen in places and a considerable amount of property damage is still evident.  What really captured our attention was a set of markers attached to a building, indicating just how much worse the 2013 flood was.

The 2013 flood level was about 1.5 metres higher than in 2010 – when you spread that out across the entire flood plain that's an astonishing amount of additional water!!!!

The 2013 flood was the worst in recorded history, it was 7.34 metres above the high tide level, and as I said, came just three years after the bad floods of 2010.  Global warming strikes again???  I was intrigued, so did a little rummage through the internet on the topic.  And came up with a fascinating find - a graph of peak flood levels since the beginning of records (not that long ago) prepared by our very own Met Bureau (they wouldn't lie would they!?).

Marvelous what you can find on the web!!

As the graph shows, the Burnett floods reasonably regularly, and ok, the 2013 flood was a record – but not by all that much.  Considering how much development now crowds the banks I wouldn't have thought a modest increase was hardly a cause for surprise  But here is the real surprise, a major flood occurred in 1890, followed by another major flood just three years later in 1893!  Hows that for a coincidence.  And get this, the 1893 floods were actually two floods, spaced just two weeks apart!

One thing I still wonder about though is whether the environmental damage to the river was similar in those earlier floods, or whether perhaps the bank ecology is now more fragile.  I suspect it is.

Damage to mangroves is astonishing in places.  Regrowth is occurring, but basically from scratch.

Bank erosion is severe in places.

Some of the cane fields look a might smaller.

So much of the bank vegetation has simply died or been swept away!

Asset damage in the the 2013 floods must have been severe.  For instance the Midtown Marina complex, which prior to the 2010 flood was quite extensive, has not recovered – it has simply ceased to exist.

Going up the river to Bundaberg in Kallisto prior to the 2010 flood we were charmed by the natural beauty of the scenery.  It seems recapturing that experience may take some time!

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Landscape Analysis, Southern New Caledonia – by Gary

First light on our approach to Noumea found us gliding slowly through Canal Woodin, the narrow passage between the southern end of the big island of New Caledonia and the much smaller Ile Ouen.  Steep hills, thin vegetation, many bare eroding gullies, the exposed soil and rock glowing orange – we were threading a remarkable landscape, reminiscent of the hills round Queenstown, Tasmania.  Natural or man-made?  This was our point of debate as we sailed through.

The red lines and dots show our route around the southern end of the big island of New Caledonia en route to Noumea.

One of the more striking aspects of this landscape - no people!  Almost no direct sign of the activities of humans, apart from glimpses towards the head of Baie Du Prony of large scale mining activity.  And no sign of grazers; sheep, cattle, goats – so no culprits there. We knew New Caledonia to be highly mineralised; iron, copper and most particularly nickel, a key ingredient of stainless steel are all found here.  The mine we could vaguely discern in the poor light and distance was a huge new nickel ore extraction, concentration and export facility.  Could old mining and prospecting activity have created this landscape?  Could fire, that key tool of the old prospectors be causal?  Or perhaps it was just natural?.  Soil development was obviously highest at the bottom of slopes where vegetation was thickest, tallest and most luxuriant.  Higher up the thin soils are most obviously capable of supporting only light, windswept heathy looking vegetation that likely dries out quickly between rainfalls.  Could lightening strikes and subsequent hot fires have stripped vegetation and seedbeds, with erosion quickly following?

The soils were obviously deepest at the base of slopes, with pockets of luxurient growth, featuring the distinctive pines of New Caledonia (Araucaria columnaris).

A high speed ferry distracted us from our morning cogitations – we clocked it at 36.2kn on the AIS as it screamed past.

But back to our puzzle...  its not difficult to imagine fire being a major factor in the development of this landscape.

Up slope, lacking vegetation, erosion of the loosely consolidated substratum would be rapid.

We sought answers on arrival in Noumea, heading for the local library (itself a wonderful piece of history).  Piecing together our bits of French, English and more than a few hand waving gesticulations we were shuffled past a phalanx of shoulder shrugging librarians – those answers were looking elusive!  But miraculously we were rescued – a fellow standing in line behind us over-heard us and stepped in to help.  A miner by profession and a 'Caldosh', that is, a descendent of the original French settlers, Jacques' depth of knowledge of his island's history, landscape evolution and current practices was impressive.

In search of information, we headed for the local public library.  Itself a fascinating piece of history, this building commenced life as the New Caledonia Pavillion in the 1900 Paris 'Exposition Universelle', and was dismantled and relocated to Noumea afterwards.

As Jacques pointed out, the library site boasts a collection of  large, old trees, including on the left, a fine Kauri (same as grow in NZ).  It was the Kauri, along with many other prized forest trees, that apparently grew prolifically around the southern end of the island.  Jacques indicated that the first settlers, 150 to 200 years ago, rapidly harvested the trees for construction lumber.  As we speculated, fire, high rainfall and erosion did the rest.

Meanwhile most of the southern part of the island has been declared a national park and is quietly repairing itself.  It is in fact much, much greener than when I first saw it 30 years ago.

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Where Old Fishing Boats Come to Die – by Gary

Like Australia, Fiji sells off the farm to maintain its day-to-day economy.  The nations offshore fishing rights appear to be largely in the hands of others, with a huge Asian fishing fleet working out of Suva.  I guess they come to this spacious, well equipped harbour for a bit of maintenance, fuel, provisions, ice and water, R&R and maybe to await tuna migrations??  Whatever the case there are large numbers of these boats 'hanging out' with minimal on-board activity, tied up alongside or lying to moorings in huge rafts.

I'm guessing the fishing is less than lucrative.  Maintenance standards look low.  Some boats appear near derelict.  Others are quite obviously totally so, stripped of deck equipment like nets, buoys, lights, radio whips and windows.  Some have burnt, several have sunk!  Nobody seems to be minding much.  Gotta be good for the fish too!

Rafted up five and ten deep alongside wharves

Lying to moorings rafted up in the middle of the bay.

Undertaking a bit of needed maintenance.

Although maintenance standards appear to be pretty average, some look near derelict.

Others obviously are derelict, stripped of valuable deck equipment.

Some are burnt ...

...others sunk.

It's quite a sight.

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A Step Back In Time - by Zeke

Hello everybody. The other day we briefly visited Levuka the former capital of Fiji where good old mother England controlled Fiji from. The town is full of old very beautiful colonial buildings that line the water front. For several hours we wandered around town amazed at the buildings experiencing the unreal feeling of going back in time.

Westpac

Levuka was founded by traders and settlers in 1820. At the height of the towns growth when it was still the capital the population reached 800 people. Levuka holds many of Fiji's first's such as the first: bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government. The town was an important commercial port and business center for Fiji for over 60 years. However Levuka is no longer the capital. It was moved to Suva because of concerns that the town could not grow owing to the 600 meter cliffs hemming it in.

With the assistance of a tuckers ice cream(proudly made in Fiji) we walked around town

Left over from when the English ruled over half the world(a good part of it any way) are churches, old administration buildings, schools, shops and lots more. Many of the houses and shops along the main street have been recently restored to as near as can be guessed to what they looked like originally. It is an interesting mix of old colonial buildings and palm trees.

A department store in town

A fruit and vegetable stall

The school

The Masons Hall, arsonist burnt it in 2005

The town church

The town hall

This fly wheel,boiler and other components siting behind the diesel generating plant in town I think were part of Levukas first power scheme, the first power scheme in Fiji.

Thank you for reading this blog on Levuka which I hope you found interesting. I enjoyed my visit to Levuka had a great time eating ice cream and looking old buildings.

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