First things first, Bethy got her driving license!

You don’t have a test here, like you do in the UK, you have to train with a registered driving instructor who then signs you off as being competent at various driving skills. Once you’ve collected the lot then you get your license. However, for your first two years of driving you have to display two “P Plates”. These warn other drivers that you are a newbie, and the police that you have restrictions placed on your driving, NIL blood alcohol for instance. Luckily Bethy still has no desire to drink booze, so she’s ever so popular, even more so since she now has virtually unrestricted use of the mother in law’s car. (More on this later.)

This has also, so far, saved me from hearing the dreaded “Can I borrow the car please Taff” too often. Her father is doing  up one of his old cars for her, so she’ll be truly independent soon. She’s been driving her and her boyfriend everywhere in the mother in law mobile, and has been taking herself off to college each day in it.

Her new paramour, Brandon,  is a fucking Yank of all things, but he’s a nice chap and is gradually coming to accept that his girlfriend has a right headbanger for a step dad. Brandon''s working at CISRO, as an apprentice something or other in the geek field, some sort of programming research, fair play to him. His stepdad is a fellow muso, though one who can actauilly play an instrument, (insert "drummer" joke here.) Here's a track off his band's latest CD.

The downside of life for Bethy at present is that she is, as of me writing this, in the middle of a fortnight plus of exams for her International Baccalaureate course. Her subjects include; World Literature, Japanese, Biology, Psychology, Chemistry, Mathematics, English.  She has 15 exams of 2 – 3 hours each. She seems to be coping without stressing too much, which may or may not be a good thing.

She's organised and booked for her and her mates four days post exam holiday here at the coast, and her final year ball is also been planned. She’s going to be dress shopping for the ball over the weekend, I’m working so well out of it.

We has an election here in Canberra for the Territory Government. Obviously Lee-Anne was bricking it, as her the amount of pleasure she gets out of her job is directly proportional to the way she gets on with the minister she is responsible to, (or that should really read; "responsible for.") We voted early, down at the local school.  Turning up at the electoral venue and being marked off is compulsory here, thus making voting virtually mandatory. You have to mark preferences here rating the contestants from "1"  as in "I luvs him", to as low "37" or "twat", I only voted down to seven, I got bored. There is no limit to how few you mark, you can just mark one if you like. Lee-Anne did the whole 37, as she wanted to mark "37" against a pollie she particularly deplores. As It was a  nail biter, stupidly enough the Greens got hammered, losing three of their four members, but they still ended up holding the balance of power, as the Libs (who here are the Tory/right wing  party) and Labour (lefties,) ended up with exactly the same amount of seats. It looked like Lee-Anne's current minister was going to lose his seat, which would have been a bummer, as Lee-Anne likes him. As it was he scraped in by the narrowest of margins, and she now has him and the Green  cret to keep in line. The Green pollie is Shane Rattenbury, I wonder if he's a relative of my chum Ratty from Wales?

 

Oh god, my registration! Due to changes in the board structure, my professional registration had to be reapplied for from scratch. No probs you may think, I’ve been working here for 10 years, and they must be used to me by now.

Are! They! Bollocks!

Ok, so I attend a lecture by the incoming board members and they lay out what we have to do. It all seems relatively straight forward the way they explain the process. In fact the only complexity was introduced by an old adversary of mine. They asked for questions, she was one of the first with her had up. She gets called, , she starts her question, it goes on, and on, and on, and on. Hours pass, people get up and leave, have babies, or die. She continues asking her question, the people out front look aghast at her, she comes around to the first bit of her question, and looks intent on starting the whole thing from scratch again but with more caveats. The girl at the front stops her with a yell,  and asks, “Do I take it from all that, that all you are actually asking is "will past service be recognised?"" She starts to kick off again with a new variation on her two year long question, but is stopped by a deft; “The answer is yes, next question please.”

I ask if overseas qualifications will be automatically recognised. The answer? “Only if the boards awarding your degree recognised by the Australian professional body as valid.” I see no difficulty in this, my awarding body was one of the highest, if not the highest, body in the UK, and my qualification was validated by the University of Exeter.

So I lob in an application, along with the $480 fee. It gets returned; “Sorry we do not recognise your awarding body, you will have to get your qualification and experience “grand-parented.” I am astounded, I ring up the person Scott, whose name was on the reply I got; “Are you telling me that St Loyes isn’t recognised, and that the University of Exeter isn’t good enough for you?” There is an embarrassed silence, I continue; “St Loyes is one of the most venerated schools for the course in the UK, and the University of Exeter was in existence before Aus was discovered. Not only that but St Loyes was one of the founding bodies of the school for the profession in Sydney University! We taught you how to do the bloody job in the first place!!” I eventually get; “I’m sorry. You’re not the first to make those points, but my hands are tied.”

So I look at the “Grand-parenting” requirements, Jesus Christ there’s yards of them! They include; signed and verified copies of all my qualifications, four case studies based on recent practice, four references including two off senior therapists who have worked with me, a complete breakdown of my employment for the past ten years including certified job descriptions from human resources, a complete CV, four personal documents showing my eligibility to work in Aus, and a certified and verified document recording  what my mother had for breakfast each alternative Thursday since 1954 signed by her GP and a Justice of the peace. I kid you not, I required less fucking documentation to become an Aussie citizen!

So I gathered it all, and sent it off, the postage cost me an arm and a leg. I got it sent back; “Two of your references have not been dated.” I dated them and sent the whole lot back. They sent it back; “The Universities you attended, you haven’t put their address and telephone numbers on them, email addresses would also be useful.” I do all this and send them back.

I get a phone call;

“Ah yes, you forgot to add your University address. “
“I redid that and sent them back, are you looking at the old copies?”
“Oh, yes I am, sorry.”
“What happened to Scott, the guy I was dealing with?”
“He left us.”
“Nervous breakdown was it?”
“I’m not allowed to say, but you are close.”
“Now, your reference wasn’t dated.”
“Yes it was.”
“Oh, yes, it was! I’m looking at the old copy.”

(Repeat in this vein for an hour.)

Eventually they gave in, and for all my troubles and heartache I got a piece of very expensive paper,  and I am now yet again legally entitled to do the job I’ve been doing in Aus for the past ten years, and in total since 1991.

Oh at work today we were “accredited”. This involves lots of middle managers coming around our offices with clipboards and testing us on, guess what? Clinical standards? Methods of therapy? Models of care? Knowledge of the human psyche? Nope. They were ensuring, and again I kid thee not, we had tidy desks, we knew which colour hats the fire wardens wear, that our pictures of our loved ones were suitable and were laminated, that we knew where the manager kept her policy documents file and whether we had sufficient access to recycling bins for confidential materials. I fucked off out of the office to see a punter while this was happening, if one of these oafs had queried me on whether I knew which staff member was responsible for reporting spillages of dangerous material  on the premises I’d have been quite blunt with them, (it’s Rochelle, and we don’t have any about the place in any case.)

Xmas is coming, the Welshman’s getting fat! Got this from the boss the other day.

Hi all, Just for those who are starting to plan Xmas time leave: This is what has been confirmed by HR.
25/12/12 – Public Holiday
26/12/12 – Public Holiday
27/12/12 – Public Holiday
28/12/12 – Public Service Shut Down day
31/12/12 – Public Service Shut Down day
1/1/13 – Public Holiday
Cheers – Eva.

 

Then my new roster came out;

December

22 off / 23 off /  24 Evening / 25 Ph / 26 Ph / 27 Ph / 28 Evening / 29 off / 30 off / 31 Evening / 1 Ph / 2 E / 3 E / 4 Off (My birthday.)

I could put in to have 24/12 and 28/12 off as annual leave , and thus get 11 days straight off, and only lose two leave days. But I'll wait and see what the others in the team want to do first. Though me and Lee-Anne are not planning a Xmas break this year, as Bethy is with her dad.

People don't stop being mad for Xmas, quite the contrary, some get even worse, and so as our team is a 365 day service, I may pick up a reasonable amount of double time over that period. The tight sods will want us to work "on call" on Xmas day and NYE though, you only get paid if you get called out. Which is a pisser to say the least.

So we’re planning on just taking whatever we are mandated to take off, and saving the hols for next year’s trip home to Blighty. I’m hoping to have a full six weeks actually in the UK. Bethy and her lad are coming over at the same time, and we're debating at the mo how much time they should have away from us as a couple, I’m pushing for “Lots”. But the funny thing is that Bethy is so enamoured of our British mates that she wants to see all of them, and it would be silly for us to visit you all on separate occasions, and pay for two sets of digs. I think she loves you all by the way, but I’m part convinced that she wants to take Brandon over with her as there’s no way he’d believe that one man, (me,) could collect such a varied and disparate bunch of weirdoes, loonies, oddballs, and waifs and strays in one lifetime. After college finishes in December, Bethy will be looking at getting a  gap year job in order to save a few bucks for the trip, (Though the bank of mum and Taff is always her preferred option.) We’ll see how she gets on.

 

I’ve been on a ticket buying rampage of late, here’s what we have lined up so far!!

Aust vs West Indies – 3rd Commonwealth Bank Series
Wed 6 Feb 2013 2:20pm
Manuka Oval Section:
BAY111-1 Row: M

 

Alan Davies – Life is Pain
Wed 30 Jan 2013 – Thu 31 Jan 2013 S
Sydney Opera House

 

Event: PM’S XI vs WEST INDIES
Date: Tue 29 Jan 2013 2:20pm
Venue: Manuka Oval
Row: T Seats: 56-58

 

Yes!! Yes!!!! Yes!!!!! Dead Can Dance at Sydney Opera House, my dream gig, and I've got best tickets in the house!!!
(only me going to this one.)Having triumphantly conquered the world over 3 decades, Sydney Opera House is thrilled to present the long awaited homecoming from seminal Australian worldbeat-electronic pioneers, Dead Can Dance. For their first Australian show in over 20 years, long-time fans can expect arrangements from decade’s worth of musical archives including classic albums such as Into The Labyrinth and Spiritchaser. Accompanying this hugely successful 2012 world reunion tour is the band’s first studio release in 16 years, Anastasis, which has recently topped the world-music charts. Tickets are expected to sell quickly.

 

Ross Noble, the demonic scarecrow himself, is back doing what he does best with a new live tour.
Sydney Entertainment Centre Saturday April 20, 2013
Famed for his fiery and fluid free-wheeling style, Noble creates comedy gold from tiny particles of random nonsense. This is your chance to see one of the world's most critically acclaimed stand-ups in a hysterical night with the Mindblender. "Brilliantly inventive, quirky stand-up…see him and marvel" – The Sun "Every night is different and every night is a total joy" – Time Out

 

Meet Ian Rankin, one of the world’s most famous crime fiction writers, in conversation with Colin Steele.
Canberra Times / ANU Literary Event: Meet the Author Series 2012
Book sales and signings will follow the lecture.

 

Now here's an event I would have given my left bollock to attend!

Hi Taff,

Never in the history of getting old has becoming 60 been such fun. It was a tremendous weekend in which everything worked a treat, and I ended up becoming a proper movie star. I even made the National TV News on Channel 4: http://www.channel4.com/news/john-otway … lm-attempt

Some great pictures and video of the premiere can be found here: http://www.otwaythemovie.com and here's a review that I think sums up the event and the movie superbly: This film will undoubtedly be compared with other "rockumentaries" of it's ilk such as Anvil, but it is far more engaging to the audience with the eccentric English singer-songwriter giving a from-the-heart, honest and often hilarious insight in to how he carved a career in the topsy-turvy world of rock and roll.

The film charts all the highs and lows in John Otway's career including a hometown gig in front of tens of thousands adoring fans following a brief moment of chart success which was followed by 25 years producing a string of flops, sell-out gigs at London's Astoria and Royal Albert Hall and how he managed to overcome all odds and achieve what he most desired – a second hit single before letting it all go to his head once again. Anvil's film created a new worldwide following for it's creators, this film could well do the same for the much-loved and respected Otway.

I have some premiere programmes available. If you would like a copy you can order them from this web site: http://www.johnotway.com/prog.htm

  Yes, I bought a program, the closest I'm going to get to having been there, I'm that much a sad git.

Oh we've also been doing the "culture vulture" thing. The latest portrait of Her Madge was on show here. We saw the portrait one Sunday, it's on tour of the Commonwealth, and currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery which is just down the road from us.

 

It's an astounding piece of work, very brooding and melancholy. But it's still beautiful for all that.

We also popped over to the National Galleryand saw the Sydney Long exhibition. Funnily enough, he's mostly known (not that I'd ever heard of him before we went to the exhibition,) for his "Art Nouveau" stuff, I love Art Nouveau in any case, so that was all good.

However his landscapes were bloody awe inspiring, really made me want to get out and do more landscape shots, so I did!

In fact my landscape stuff is getting quite a reputation on a local website, I stick images up there under the nom de camera of "Ben_Dover". (Don't ask why.) Talking of which;

We were walking our ill-allsorted collection of mutts down by the lake, at the Lindsey Prior arboretum one morning,  and watching all the fitties doing their rowing. It makes for a lovely walk, and a very pleasant morning. We stopped off at the new benches which have been installed there. Very nicely done, and they fit in well with the general ambience of the place.

(I do hope however it stops at this, it woudl be a real shame to lose the “semi-wild” parkland aspect down there.)

I had to laugh as each bench as a little plaque on it which reads;

These benches are made from 100% recycled plastic which also contains  plastic waste collected from the ANU.

Well!! Well done ANU for donating your plastic waste, some of which may be in these benches. It’s nice to know there is such munificent and benevolent waste plastic donation going on at our local University.

Honestly!

 

Oh the joys of surrendering my claim to being a true Vegetarian has been wonderful. I’m eating fish, not for every bloody meal as I thought I may, but at least a couple of times a week. The fact that Lee-Anne is such a wonderful cook of most things, but is a dab hand, (‘scuse pun,) and fish is just the icing on the cake. It means that we can share many more “whole” meals together, without having to cook a vege option, and that’s been nice too.

But two of the main advantages are these;

The fish protein! I’m getting  so much better quality protein than the vege protein I was on, that I’m finding it easier to gain and maintain  muscle at last.

Chippies!!!! Going to the chippie is now a cause for joy, not the “wonder if they’ll do a pineapple fritter or something,” misery it used to be.

In fact we’re fast becoming conesewers of Canberra chippies. My favourite is “Naked Fish” near where I work, though “Bernie’s” in the intellectual and cultural wasteland which is Charny, is very good too. Hughes Chipper isn’t too crash hot, and I’ve not a bad word to say about Hawker chippie either. Oh, and if going to chippies has become so much fun, you can just imagine what going to restaurants is like. Aussie restaurants normally have one, if any, vege options, normally risotto.

Of course another great thing about me eating fish again is that  it gives me a whole new world of cooking to get into. My current speciality is fishcakes. But I'm going to have to make them a couple of dozen or more time before I get them spot on. Also a variety of fish curries are high on my agenda for development. It'll be great to try out these dishes on our UK friends when we are back there.

Oh just to show it's not just Lee-Anne who's Queen of Deserts, have a look at this "Three Chocolate Cheesecake" Bethy made for us!

On the subject of food, check this out!  Bethy spotted this one, are they competing or in cahoots?

The Cheesecake Shop sign says they are baked on the premises so presumably the smell penetrates into the Weight Watchers building, while everyone is having a good collective whinge about being fat. I bet some drive back the next day for what they smelt cooking during their meeting. And back next week for a whinge.  The three of us use Club Lime Gym, just around the corner from here. Next door is Ruchi Indian Restaurant. Many a Friday night gym session has been rounded of by a quick nip in next door for a takeaway!

 

I’m still doing the round of doctors to get information for my bike crash claim. I’ve spent the compo money a hundred times over in my mind, a new bike and/or camera, plus our airfares to the UK, seem to be the main things I fantasise about buying. The last quack I saw was, believe it or not, a doctor of psychology. Our lawyer sent me to him to see about the deep psychological trauma the accident had left me with. It was fun sparring with him. I think the fact that I broke down and cried about how emasculated, and fearful for my mortality,  the accident had left me will be worth the price of a decent new lens at least. Hey, I’ve been in the psychological trade for 20 plus years, I know all the tricks in the book, I’ve had some right devious little sods on my caseload, I know exactly how to play the game!

 

Let me tell you about my new best Aussie mate, Colin.

I’ve got back into making Homebrew. The mother in law bought me a kit for a birthday present some years back, I’d never got around to using it, and the wort in it was out of date. But all the equipment was still useable, so why not indulge? The local shop had a somewhat dodgy homebrew tin on sale there, so, like a cheapskate twit,  I went and bought that.  This first batch failed at the first fence, it just didn’t start going at all. Diagnosing “too cold at night”, (we were in the middle of a cold snap at the time, ) I decided that what I needed was a heater ring for my barrel. So I looked up homebrew suppliers in Canberra. There is one, just one. So I toddled along there one day off. The guy running the place, the aforementioned Colin, was, well just imagine the sort of chap who you’d picture running a homebrew shop in Aus, and that’s what Colin looks like.

I told Colin my dilemma, he  replied; “Well I could sell you a heater ring, but they aren’t much good, and they cost $60. Or I could sell you some of this yeast, which is bloody good stuff, and works at the temperature in your room very well indeed! Oh, and it costs $6.” He also gave me a batch of handouts on best practice, and I agreed to come back often. Wow, so you can see why Colin is officially my new best Aussie friend!

That yeast set it bubbling like no one’s business. But unfortunately the brew turned out to be a disaster, it gave me the shits something awful. The rest period between yeasts must have set it off.

So I gamely decided to have another go, and saw Colin for a tin of “Irish Stout” mix. He sorted me out with that, gave me advice on the best way forward, and also sold me some proper malt and yeast for getting it going. I have high hopes for this one. It's fermented well. I went to see Colin as I wanted to buy a pressure barrel, to save all the arsing about with bottling. Colin wasn’t in the shop, a mate was running it. I tried to explain to him that I wanted to buy a pressure barrel, he got all confused at me. In the end I gave up and decided to come back when Colin was in. In the interim, I looked up pressure barrels on the net, and found out that they didn’t sell them in Aus, weird?

So I collected enough beer bottles for my needs, (buy buying and drinking lots of beer, natch,) and went back to see Colin for some syphoning tube. He sold me some of this, and a tap for it to make bottling easier. He then asked me how I intended capping them. I told him I had a hand caper with the kit; “only good for breaking bottles and making a mess”, was his verdict on these. He got a bottle capper down off the shelf, I’d seen them there priced at $65,  I told him I’d “have to get permission off the boss, before buying any more kit”, (this is my standard excuse when I do not want to buy something.) His reply? “Oh take this one home with you and see how it goes. Bring it back after the weekend.”  I protested weakly, I had only been to the shop three times, and he trusted me to bring back his kit. So I took it home and used it, and it was a dream. I took it back on time too. Next time I bottle up some beer, and I’ve got 22 litres of British Bitter starting this weekend, I’m buying one off him. Smart businessman our Colin.

I'm going to "laying down" a few bottles of each batch I make, as beer conditions in the bottle. Any visitors we get will be trying some, (whether they like it or not!)

Not a bad looking pint eh?

We're were  due a 64% of a solar eclipse in Canberra at 8.04 am one morning last week, but ten minutes before that time we had total cloud cover, so we thought we'd see sod all. We got lucky though and saw it!!  The cloud thinned just enough, as I was driving Lee-Anne into work, for us to see the partial eclipse in full. Not only that, but due to the thin cloud we were able to look directly at it, it was a breathtaking sight!

 

Ok, so at present Mary, the mother in law is in China. Just before she left her sister, Wilma, came to visit her. Funnily enough I'd been reading an article on the BBC website, about exercise and dementia,  just prior to her arrival.

Mary and her sister made an interesting comparison in the light of this. Mary is physically active, competing in veterans athletics, and is the holder of several Australian veterans distance throwing records, (hammer, javelin, discus et.) Her sister has always been the more cerebral one, a high flyer in psychology, and has never been one to exercise or be active. This visit the noticeable decline in Wilma's physical and mental abilities was shocking. Mary is, despite all my piss taking out of her, mentally sharp, and enjoys all her faculties and has an active social life which, as well as athletics, includes U3A meetings weekly, jazz club, and other crumbly activities. Despite there being only a 5 year age gap between them, her sister being the older, there is 20 years difference in their abilities and presentation.

I fully intend keeping active, and exercising, all my life. Luckily, I’ve a wife who is similarly inclined.

So Mary's now on a three week trip to China, taking in Beijing, The Wall, The Terracotta army, Yangtze River cruise, etc. That is why we have her car, which has been commandeered by Bethy, and her simpleton mutt to look after.

Mary actually got off to China with little hassle, despite her obviously terror when she finally realised the enormity of what she had committed to. There was one sad tale though, Just before, the day before she left in fact, she found her pet "beak and feather Cockie" (see last month's news,)  dead at the bottom of her garden, with some other  birds pecking at it. She phoned us to let us know it had carked it. Two minutes later we had Wilma on the phone demanding we go and see Mary immediately as she was" in total distress". Wilma made it sound like Mary was suicidal, so we rushed around. She was sad but not unduly so.

One of the things that Lee-Anne very cleverly did before Mary left was to buy her an international sim card for her phone and to teach her to text. We've  had calls from Singapore and Beijing off her, and the texts are flowing thick, very thick, and fast. Unfortunately these are not always comprehensible. Apparently Mary cannot charge her camera out there, and is going to be buying books on the places she visits, this is conveyed this by text;

“My camera has packed it in.  Battery charge 4 3 hrs now can’t turn on.  Will try longer charge.  Doubt I can buy couple days and due for “
"It just wasn’t on charge long buff connected power c works.  Fantastic views u c in books will buy 1. Luv 2 all” special scenery.”

We've ascertained from this, that her intent is to buy scenic books of the places she cannot take snaps of.

She did manage to phone us from a hotel in Yuan Province, while in  a bit of a panic. The reason? She'd forgotten to put a bet on the Melbourne cup, ("The race that Stops a Nation!") and thought she may get her Aussie citizenship revoked due to it. I diligently went to the bookies and put $20 on some nag which she had a tip on. And it predictably came in at two days behind the rest of the field.

We haven't heard from her for a day or so, we're wait for the next instalment.

While we're on the subject of things international, our internet mate Tom got caught up in Hurricane Sandy! (He lives in Long Island.) We were very concerned about him, but he kindly emailed us when he had power back to put our minds at rest!

Taff I'm alive and well. Got power back on sunday about 3pm. Running a generator for the week. Big problem now is getting gas. Thanks for thinking of me. Will check in at plan b when I get a chance. Thanks again Tom 'round the world friends. Makes one feel "special".

We are expecting another storm tomorrow. It's a nor'easter which usually brings heavy rain and about 40-50mph winds. I have the generator filled with gas so we should be ok (fingers crossed). My son moved out in September, but he lost his electricity and still doesn't have it back, so him and his girlfriend are back home. Oh joy?!!?!?!?
Anyway, all for now and thanks for the concern, believe it or not it does help.

Tom

People need to know that the only reason this was not like Katrina was because the local politicians were ready (at least more ready) than the local politicians in N.O. and actually evacuated people and helped those to evacuate who could not. They also were on the ground ASAP after the storm. FEMA is still as screwed up as when "Heck of a job Brownie" was in charge. And IMO the Red Cross is an overbloated agency that wastes much more resources than it provides. If not for fellow citizens helping each other, it would have much worse than it already is/was.

Later
Tom

That put things in perspective rather than them just being "things in the news which happen in foreign places!"

 

Mowing the lawn the other day, the wheels, literally, came off the mower. Not even Pat from across the road could fix it. We ummm'd and aaahh'd about getting it repaired, but then bit the bullet and bought a brand new mower, one of these!!

You know you're getting old when the most exciting event of your month is buying a new lawn mower.

 

When we went whale watching five years ago, I swore I'd go back again every season. I just missed this season. Number of times I've been in the last five years? Nil.

 

Here's the weather summary, for those of you who like that sort of thing;

Canberra Airport recorded 119.5 mm of rainfall during winter, slightly below the historical average of 127.9 mm. Rain was close to normal throughout the winter, with 25 days of rain during the season (average 31). The wettest day was on the 11th of July as a surface trough crossed the state, with 22.4 mm at Canberra Airport and 33 mm at Mt Ginini. Canberra Airport also recorded two days above 15 mm associated with a surface trough in early June, with falls reaching 26.5 mm at Tidbinbilla.

The average maximum temperature at Canberra Airport during winter was 13.2 °C, 0.9 °C above the historical average and the equal 11th warmest on record. Temperatures were above average throughout the season but particularly mild during July, which was the 3rd warmest on record for Canberra. The warm temperatures were associated with generally clear conditions during the season and a lack of cool days.

The coldest day at Canberra Airport during winter was 9.2 °C, on the 24th of August; this is the first winter on record with no days below 9 °C. Only five days during the season failed to reach 10 °C, the equal fewest on record (average 19 days). In comparison, 12 days reached 15 °C, average for winter, with the warmest day reaching 19.4 °C on August 22. The prevailing winds during winter were westerly to northerly, forming 70% of 3pm winds, with 24% of winds from a southerly direction. This is slightly more southerly than normal for winter (15%), contributing to cooler night-time temperatures. There were 14 strong wind days at the airport, with the windiest day on August 10th, with wind gusts reaching 74 km/hr at the airport and 98 km/hr at Mt Ginini.