2013 will be remembered as the year I finally achieved two goals I had been chasing for over a decade, and the passing of Susanna's father.
Ever since I found out about the 210km Around the Bay in a Day bike ride when I was working for Stanwell in Melbourne in 2001, I have wanted to do it and finally, this year and with Susanna, I did. And after installing a monitoring mast on site in Denmark mid 2003, we finally got the Denmark windfarm spinning.
The first two months of the new year involved almost weekly trips to Denmark and back to get the com link, the earthing, the energizing of the switchroom and the switching controls sorted. However, by the time of the official opening day, 17th of March, each wind turbine had reached full allowable output, 800kW (the 2 x 800kW are derated to 1.44MW to fit on the end of a long, weak powerline). All I had to do on the day, was removed some old construction signs from the gate and enjoy the party.
Trips down south then reduced considerably but there was always some reason; some outstanding electrical signalling, loose wire issue (according to WP) Bouverie – we finally got the panels installed in April though wired correctly only some time later – meeting with the Denmark Board of directors, checking concrete foundations for warranty refunds, the Denmark AGM. We also installed some pyranometers at Mt Barker to measure the sunshine as we are looking at installing a MW of Photovoltaic panels behind the switchroom there.
April saw my friend from London, Paul, turn up for a short while and a night out at Cirque de Soleil (booked a whole year earlier, I mean, who does that?).
May in Europe
After getting the Denmark windfarm operational, we spent a month in Europe. As I had borrowed no less than 5 bikes the last time I was there in May, I bought a new bike, a KTM hybrid, capable of touring, cobble stones, tram lines and light enough for the hills.
A 45km round trip through and around Vienna . . . .
Suz on the Donau Island - there is a very long, thin island in between the banks of the Danau for flood control, also used for recreation. Everything was so green..
Riding through the forest surrounding the West of Vienna, by this time the sun had actually come out. .
Within a week of being there, Suz’s father passed away. He was very thin and weak and it was as if he was waiting for Suz to be there. While not unexpected it was still a bit of shock.
Volker and Anke came over when we went to Salzburg and we had borrowed a couple of bikes for them and actually did a fair amount of cycling despite the rain. It was very easy to potter up the side of the river Salz.
The following week was spent sorting out the paperwork and the funeral. We kept plans to go to Berlin to see Volker and Anke the following weekend. And despite the cold and the wet, we had a really good time. A lot of kilometres on borrowed bikes with most of the major tourist items ticked off; the Brandenburg Gate, bits of the old Berlin wall (everywhere), the German Parliament and even a view from the very high, former East German TV tower.
Suz and Anke at the Alexander Platz.
Suz, Volker and Anke on Alexander Strasse, former East Germany.
We even participated in a mass bike ride, meeting times and places below;
The weather was cold and wet;
I can very much understand how people can live full and productive lives without the car in a way it is difficult to see in metropolitan Australia.
And it really had been raining alot with significant flooding all throughout southern central Europe. Back in Vienna, our last outing on the bikes was check how height the water got in the Danube with expensive and extensive flood prevention measures proving their worth.
In July, Maritza from Norway stay for a few days before travelling onto Adelaide. We caught up with Jenny (from the CTA) and Phil over dinner. Suz left for Austria again on the last day. I got stuck into some mountain biking to get ready for the Dwellingup 100 race, held on the 7th of September. Of course, the Federal Election is called and I, instead, spend the day handing out HTV cards but it is all over by 5pm. Australia voted in a new government which looks like it never got over being stung by a wasp or bitten by a lizard or whatever nasty blow mother nature dished out during childhood, because the winding back of hard fought gains for the environment began immediately. Also beginning immediately, it would appear, are the regrets of the electorate, as no other federal government has had such a short honeymoon period.
School reunion
I went to a 30 year school renunion on the 22nd of September. What a headspin, it is very scary how many memories I have lost, so much living since then. And some of these guys were such nice people - of all the private schools in Perth , Wesley is the one focused on 'character', rather than, perhaps, making money? When did all the memories go? Were they ever really there any way? Still, it was good to catch up, people do not change, they just become more so.
Around the Bay in Day Ride
Around July, I began to get serious about a new bike for the Around the Bay in a Day. My old road bike was 10 years old, had 34,000km on the clock and with Denmark in the ground, I indulged in a beautiful new red and white Trek Madone 5.2 road bike. With the very nice wheels transferred from the old bike, I had run out of excuses. We began ever longer rides, adding more distance. There were runs out to Mandurah, catching the train back. Then out and back. Then to Kalamunda via the Roe Highway cycleway and back via Mundaring Weir and Guildford and along the cycleway into town from there. Unfortunately, it was a very wet and windy September but were nevertheless well prepared for the big day.
October was particularly busy as Volker and Anke were coming over to get married (well, initially, for the wedding of other friends but . . .) and we were going to Melbourne for a week. They stayed for a few days before hiring a van to go to Kalgoorlie and Esperance.
Suz and Volker at Kings Park
We stayed in Melbourne with an old friend, Tom, formerly of Mt Barker. We rode around Melbourne, up and down the bay a bit and even caught the train out to the Dandenongs, very hilly, warm and very windy. Caching up with Mags and Chris was like we had never been apart.
Suz and Mags at sunny St Kilda
We also had a lovely Indian meal with Tom and two Greens friends of his, one of whom is a windfarm developer, so lots of offloading about grid operators.
For details of the ride, itself, see bottom of page.
Suz left Melbourne for China and Austria while Tom and I flew back here with the bikes. And we will skip the details of how I nearly failed at 1am in the morning to find the golf I parked at a different parking lot to where the bus dropped me off. . . . The following day was Anke's and Volker's wedding. It was a lovely quiet affair on the sandy banks of the Swan opposite Blackwall Reach, with reception back at number 7.
The following day I took Tom down to Mt Barker and Denmark to show him the windfarms and also to visit his old farm.
Tom at T3 in a field of barley at Mt Barker.
For November, I got back on the mountain bike to get ready for the 6hr at Northcliffe and the 12hr overnight Dawn to Dusk race 3 weeks later. By this time, I had made contact with our neighbour, another Andrew, at number 1 who had just bought a lovely new Giant Trance with 27.5" wheels. It is great to be able to share the riding and the driving and we managed ok times on the day. We also started watching Borgen, a kind of Danish Westwing, now awaiting series 3.
December
We finally got hold of an extractor and emptied the two top boxes of honey from our hive. It is a lot of honey and we ran out of jars.
The final trip down to Mt Barker and Denmark was for the Denmark AGM (2012 and 2013), data collection from the pyranometers at Mt Barker and to clean up some of the mess from Bouverie. And to give Bouverie landowner, Tony, a jar of Samson Street honey. He is a generous wine maker . . . .
Removing star pickets is done by wrapping metal chains around the picket and using a tractor for the muscle. As the landowner had a bad back, I operated the machinery. First time in the saddle for a while . . .
. . . Andrew on a tractor at 18 months and Andrew on a tractor a few weeks ago.
Links;
Opening day of the Denmark Community Windfarm, http://www.skyfarming.com.au/dkconstruction/openday/OpenDay.htm
Around the bay in a day ride report, ABDride.htm
All the best for 2014!
Andrew Woodroffe
28/12/2012
