The new year found Susanna and I still in Austria.
We had gone to Salzburg to catch up with Willie and Roswita and see in the New Year there. Salzburg had 30cm of snow at a time when a lot of people are away. It was also interesting to see the aftermath of all those fireworks along the river . . . very much the day after. Mind you, away from the river, in the sunshine, it was all quite glorious.
I then came down with a raging fever for a few days. We also caught up with Hans (who is the tall Dutchman who came to our wedding from Thailand) and his Vietnamese wife and 8 year old boy. Apart from 10 minutes at the Viennese Airport 6 months earlier, I had not seen him since our wedding.
Volker, Anke and one year old Mitja flew down for a few days. Mitja behaves more or less. Volker says the baby has made a bigger change in their lives that expected. No kidding. I think they are still suffering from a lack of sleep. Note that all they brought for the 3 of them, was the pram and a 45L backpack. It worked out, they even made it back with the honey. Time was spent on a number of very long walks including the poignant makeshift memorial outside the French embassy for Charlie Herbdo.
We go to Gastein to try for some skiing but only get in a day of downhill - my first experience of Moguls - as corrugations develop on gravel roads, so do Moguls on snow runs - from the very top of Sports Gastein which is not a little intimidating for this evergreen novice.
Suz doing cross country skiing at Angertal Gastein - where we soon get overtaken by a large noisy class of Swedes.
Our third tranche of visitors are Peter and Martina who stay a night just before I return to Perth.
In March, I take Dad and Tom and his mum to the Electrikana event at the RAC circuit. As they had Tesla S, a BMW i3, a Zero motorcycle, I had to go as I had promised I would last time if they had this kind of turnout.
Again, we rode the Freeway ride in March. Starting earlier than ever, we once again caught up with Martina and Peter at Sculpture by the Sea in Cottesloe. I flew to Melbourne for the Wind Energy Forum, staying with Tom. And Chris and Mags who take me to the Dandenongs for a Sunday outing. Though lousy with tourist traffic, the trees are as magnificent as ever. Two months later, I return for the first Solar and Storage conference, staying again with Tom.
In early May, Richard from climbing turns up. He is now working in Saudi Arabia and we make plans for some cycling in Europe.
In June, we make an expedition out the back of Chidlow. The Australian Wildlife Conservatory have fenced off a modest chunk of bush called the Karakamia Sanctuary. On the guided walk at dusk we get to see numerous Quenda, Woylie, Tammar wallabies and brush tail possums.
I also participate in my second quiz night fundraiser for the year (decade ?). My nephew Louis had organised it to raise funds for Tasmanian Devils, still having a hard time from poisoning of their forests.
I fly to Vienna mid August to join Suz for 4 weeks. Having just driven up from Mt Barker in the middle of winter two days earlier, it was a bit of shock to stand out in the bright sunlight of 37 degree winds upon exit of the plane in Vienna. We catch up with Hans and his older boys, a swim in the Danube canal and a show ride featuring a vertical freefall drop of 90m +. The ride does this twice, it is terrifying. Mags and Chris stop by for a couple of nights in Vienna and then drive onto Salzburg to meet up with us, again. We had dinner at the local brewery where there was a wedding and lots of very loud traditional costumes and music. Too early the next morning, we take the bikes on the train to Munich to meet Richard and ride back with him, see website below.
Chris and Mags turn up in Vienna
A few days after getting back from Salzburg, we ride to Budapest, see website below;
For my last weekend, Volker, Anke and Mitja fly down to join us. On Saturday morning, in the old town, we catch a small boat which takes us to the forest of the Wiener Nationpark and a guided tour.
Mitja and Anke.
Skorpion, our final boat trip.
Sunday was a walk to a cafe on the edge of the woods for breakfast.
On the way back, we came across an ambulance. She had misjudged a kerb and came off very badly breaking a collar bone. He had to get two mountain bikes back home. I was able to help some of the way - it was a lovely downhill.
In the Viennese University Quarter, Volker and Suz and mobile phones.
We caught the tram into town and wandered around. In the old town, the fire brigade are celebrating some ancient anniversary by giving people joy rides in the baskets up the ladders of the fire trucks.
When I grow up, I want to be a . . . ?
I leave the following day and Australia changes PM again.
The day after I get back, this little fella turns up in the back yard but fails to reappear a few days later.
In spring, both Galahs and 28s breed again in the bird boxes. We actually see one of the two pink and grey youngsters fledge.
Squawk!
The bees continue honey production and again, we take honey out twice. A dead gearbox in the extractor in the middle of extracting honey ensures much effort is made to avoid that ever happening again. Angry bees are, well, angry bees.
In November, we had a table at the Big Greens Comedy Gala Fundraiser at the Fremantle Town Hall which turned out to be surprisingly fun.
Picnic time for Teddy bears? In mid December we get a swarm of bees in the bird box requiring much effort to get them out.
Also in mid December, my sister Rebecca and the rest of her family fly in from the UK for a couple of weeks. A particular highlight was seeing the latest Star Wars with both families and Dad a few days later.
On Christmas day, I take dad to Bridget's for lunch with the entire tribe.
Cheers!
I finish my Christmas with dinner at Toc and Tamatha's. Bec and Bridge had booked a couple of villas down there. I give dad and Louis a lift down which I manage to combine with a trip to Margaret River.
Looking for stingrays at sunset on the tiny jetty out the front of the villas.
A now rare event; myself, my sisters, mum and dad, together in one spot.
Cycling
The old bikes prove useful, still.
A friend of a friend of Suz's turns up. He is working on automating the massive ore trains up in the Kimberleys. He also rides a lot back home in Italy so I lent him the old road bike and we manage a few rides together include a Kalamunda to Mundaring return. Using it for commuting, he has managed to clocked up another 1000km. And Stefan returns for a few more months in 2016.
I take Peter Auer down to Dwellingup for his first ride on a real mountain bike. Another time sees Graham join me down at Dwellingup. It is twice as far as Kalamunda but a much nicer trail. Paul Knight turns up for a week in September, so we ride the Kalamunda Circuit. He really enjoys it but was in no state for further socialising afterwards, cancelling subsequent engagements on the drive home.
Big bushfires in Northcliffe meant the Karri Cup was off. However, the local bike shop owner in Collie set up his own race to raise funds for the Northcliffe community at a local winery. It was a really good track, but with the heat and the sand, I pulled out after lunch and it is the only race I ride this year.
In early Januray, Andie stays overnight for a very early start to a spin round the river on the old road bike. It gets above 40 in Fremantle and is the day before the Reeves return to the UK. We make it ok, stopping for breakfast at Beaches in Cottesloe. An excellent goodbye for an Englishman returning to winter.
SkyFarming
Solar; We first attempted to get solar on the roofs of the offices of the Shire of Plantagenet nearly 8 years ago. As of October, the Shire now sports 30kW on the office roof and 6kW on the depot roof. Given the current prices of both PV and electricity, the decision to go ahead was hardly difficult. Frankly, I fail to understand why more people do not get PV installed on their homes and businesses. If it is practical, it is very cost effective. I drive down with Chris to replace a dodgy inverter for the Offices and finish the panels on the Depot roof.
I spent a bit of time with SEN, I finally managed to get the website sorted and both a 'capture banner' and 'technical' banner printed. A lot has happened in renewable energy, even in WA over the past 5 to 10 years. I also got an article published in Renew based on a SEN talk but the website page has more pictures, see link below, based on a comparison between the Mt Barker and Denmark windfarms.
For the solar project at the windfarm site, we only managed to get better details for equipment as Synergy is proving very hard to get to the table. As the purchaser of the electricity from Mt Barker Windfarm, they have final say on what can be done and they are still not talking to us.
I made a number of trips to Margaret River, thrice to talk to landowners near Witchcliffe and despite the modest size of the properties in the area, now think we have a site across four properties. It will be sometime before we will have sufficient commitment to put in a mast but we can at least start planning enquires. We also attended a presentation there by a PhD student from Curtain (ex fossil fuel but he got most things right . . . ) who is studying renewable energy options for the Augusta Margaret River area. It was very top down, SkyFarming is looking at from the other direction - eg, what can actually be done and where.
Rethink the Perth Link
This is an extremely short but extremely expensive bit of freeway that is meant to solve our transport problems that have come from shifting containers by road (instead of using the existing railway!!). We have been involved in a number of protests; on site (Bibra Lake), at Parliament House (onya Colin) and at the Fremantle Parade.
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Links
skyfarming.com.au/BigwindLittleSolar/index.htm
A few weeks late and longer than perhaps it should be,
all the best for 2016
AndrewFremantle
18/01/2016