Guess whos back!!
Ok so as of recent times i haven't really been updating this site, at all! Well typical really but for that should now be at an end. I will attempt to cover what about 2months of whats been happening and where i'm at now in a few short sentenses:
back from australia, was amazing
Mum and dad have moved (thanks for the help chris, no no wait if ***** is ill and you have a bad nights, thats ok NOT)
Amelia and I have moved into our new place in Leyton
Started back at uni, in the 3rd year and now know what i will be doing for my dis
Typical lots of stuff still to do, including an assignment for friday
Wow i think i done well, the plan is to post more stuff as soon as i get organised. Things to look forward to is Project 365, BT wiring, Australia report, pics and much more
take care people!
Alice Springs
Hello all
well i currently in Alice Springs which is in the Northern Territory. We flew out on friday morning and picked up a rental and booked in, and from then on it has been non-stop
we have three nights in Alice, on our first day we booked into motel, then headed out to a place called Simpsons gap, which was very funky, lots of walking and lots of photos but was really nice. Its about 60km out of town, to the east. Alice is real flat but surround my lots of mountains (sorry about the lack of usual detail but time is money and this is on the go!
After that we then drove round town to get our bearing which was nice and then climbed anzac hill in town. After a long day we decided to crash out, but before we did we booked oursleves on a hot air balloon flight for sunday.
Saturday morning we headed out to the Alice Springs Desert Park where we spend a long period of the day, watched a live bird show, had a bunch of guides talk to us about snakes, aborginal history and survival, plant life and watched a long film (so i'm not really selling it, but it was a park it went around the various deseret climates which are found in central australia, was alot of fun, yes i am a geek!)
then that afternooon more walking and we headed over to stanleys chasm, which is an awesome chasm through a mountain, its vey indiana jones esq, but less sand, more rocks and more hills to walk up. Some friends recommended we headed out here and i did enjoy it! We both did i should say! Once again we took lots of pic but haven't been able to post any up (sorry they will follow!)
saturday evening we headed out to a local resturant (the name i forget) but both amelia and I tried Kangaroo steaks, the tour guide from the park recommended that if you ever have kangaroo to eat it meduim, as anything more is like chrewing on boots! But have to say it was cooked really well, and we both like it!
So today (sunday morning) we both had an early start 5:15am we were pciked up from outside our accomidation and we drove out about 30mins out of town and have an hours flight in a hot air balloon followed by breakfast! And i have to say that it was AWESOME. First thing it was bittetrly cold (about 2oC) and sun rise was around 7ish, which we were in the balloon for! The weather was perfect, clear skies and only not too heavy winds. Wasn;t sure what to expect but was so very gentle and peace ful (expect for when they used the burners but you soon got use to it!) they were big 8 person + pilot balloons, and to see sun rise and just all the wildlife out in the bush at 2000ft was a great experience I do recommend it!
After that we headed into to town and walked round the market and shops 'doing the tourist shopping!'
not sure what our plan is tonight but we are off to uluru in the morning as we only have 2 nights there we planing on starting early and hopefully on the road by 6am!
we have a dinner under the stars booked, amelia wants to walk the base. And i would like to climb the rock (if we allowed) also may take a ride on a camel but i hear they spit......
sorry this is a bit rushed but the cash is running out, hopefully when back in Sydney have a chance to post in more detail plus pics!!
take care and love to all!
--
Jon Garner: Human Kinetics with great gluets
Glenaroo
So after a nice relaxing extra night in Lake Amelia
and I headed up to stay the night with my Clinical educator and i have to say it was such an awesome experience. First of all Cindy and the Family were such wonderful hosts, and amelia and I really enjoyed ourselves.
To set the picture Cindy lives with her husband and three kids on a property which is about 7000 arces, which they use to grow crop and cattle.
Well on the first night I watched Gordon (Cindys husband) and Gordons mum and dad drafting out the weeners, which is seperating out young sheep now big enough to be on their own.
That evening some friends came round we had a birthday party for another birthday on the friday (one of cindys kids), had a lovely country dinner followed by a few drinks and a fire out under the stars, great company.
The next morning we got up and Gordon took me out and i helped out round the farm, we strained some fences after removing some gates. Then had to feed some sheep which the second pic is showing.
Then the lambs which were drafted needed moving into a paddock only about 400metres away, and i helped do it while on a four wheeler (top picture) with much help from a couple sheep dogs Gordon, Cindy and amelia. And although i was rubbish at it was a good laugh very enjoyable. Sheep are very scatty animals and never go where you want them too
When i do get over here next and its harvast time you may just find me up on Glenaroo....
Amelia and I then took the quad bike for a bit of a ride for about 25km in and around the property exploring, was serious fun. After about 30sec driving i stopped turned round to amelia and told her i want one!
It would of been great to stay longer but we were on a tight schedule and had to be on our way. This last picture her is to show the types of roads we have been travelling on. And this is in good condition as it was being redone, but some were crazy with big pots holes, as the further west you go into 'the bush' the less sealed roads (tarmac) roads there are!
All in all was a great time, although farming is a tough and difficult industry to work it, we both had a blast! I think i can do this country life....... the people next door lived about 35mins down the road, nice!
End of PLACEMENT
first of all this photo was from my birthday with the two birthday boys (tom and myself) but back to business....
So 151hrs later all I can say is my first prac of year three: just done it!
And the good news is I passed! This placement is marked just as a pass or fail with comments from my educators and in the end I complete 116hr in Bathurst in 4 weeks dead, with 5 visits out to Lake Cargelligo with 35hrs = START OF THE TRAVELLING!
Both of the placements were muscloskeletal but in completely different setting. The first in Bathurst was a private practice. The other was based in a multi-purpose health centre (hospital v.small) out in a town of about 2000.
And I have to say that this has been an amazing experience for me, both with knowledge of physiotherapy intervention and the logistics of healthcare in a rural setting. To give you an idea I was talking to a neurologist who was based in Orange (yes that’s the name of a town). And although there is a similar number of neurologists compared to England (about 1 to every 150000 people) geographically he covers an area large than England!
Now all that is left is a bloody reflective essay, and on top of that from what I understand Paul Armstrong marks all coursework in the third year and he is a difficult marker (as to be expected with the third year but we do this reflective work because they (UEL) want to push learning through reflection and feedback which is all fair game. The only problem is after we had work in the process of getting feedback is a bit like trying to get blood from a stone….) anyway enough UEL I’m on holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!
The plan is…………..
July 31
Last day in Bathurst on placement. Travel to lake
August 1
Last day in lake, last day of placement
then spend extra night in lake and have a wonder round, next stay with my clinical educator on her property "glenaroo". Then head over to warren for a few nights, this is the town where amelia grew up. Spend a few days there then head back to Bathurst, via West Plains Zoo which is in Dubbo.
After that spend a few days in bathurst, maybe pop over to mudgee, then head to sydney to catch a flight to alice springs. We have three nights in alice and then drive up to Uluru (formally ayers rock) have two nights there then flight back to sydney.
Spend next 5-6 days in sydney doing the tourist thing then head back to bathurst. After that we'll have about 10days left not sure if we have anything on but sure it will be busy!
So that’s the plan for the next few weeks will post as I can……. Remember the exploding trucks people!
Garner Day
Ok so I know I haven’t been posting much and that’s my bad! So I’m typing this up in a word document and when I can post it either via email or what ever.
But over the weekend was my birthday, from days gone by at camp it was declared this day (the 30th July) Garner Day, where fun and celebration should be had by all!
Just wanted to wish my ‘other half’ (chris my baby twin brother) a happy birthday too! But wait the birthday greeting don’t finish there! By design its also Amelias brother Tom’s birthday too so all that is left to say is happy birthday to all!
Over the weekend we had a few people over and had a big lunch accompanied by some adult beverages, was a real nice day and I must thank Amelia, Lyn, Tom, The Smalls, the Sterlo’s + steve, and anyone I missed out. Thank-u for the gifts they were awesome and had a great day!
A few adult beverages later I managed to fall asleep on the couch. That night the Wallabies were taking on the All-Blacks so we headed down to the pub to watch the game which was a lot fun.
On the Sunday (my birthday) it was a quiet affair with Beck coming round for Brunch, then I worked all day on a presentation I was giving on the Monday.
But all-in was a great weekend hope your all well and don’t forget to keep an eye out for exploding trucks!
Be good…………..
Murrim Bridge
So I've just arrived back from Lake (Cargellico), the
4 and a bit hour drive away from where I am staying in Bathurst and just wanted to post my very unique and interesting experience. After the usual morning exercise class (cardiac & pulmonary rehab) I joined two nurses from the mental health team and went out to a local Aborginal settlement called Murrim Bridge.
A bit of back ground about the settlement, it was created many many moons ago by the 'white man' who rounded up local indigenous people and forced them to live together and told them that anything they required would be provided. The problem is that the abdorinals used to wonder over large distances (dependent upon season) and now forced to live with, in the case of Murrim Bridge with other tribes that were from hostile tribes.
Ok so i don't have the knowledge, or time (very tired at the moment) to attempt to explain the history aborginal people, but basically thiscommunity which is incredibly small (roughly 500 people) has (like all Aborginal communitise) chronic drink, drunk abuse problems, as well as chronic problems with sexual assult and teenage births. Although every other society in the world has the same problems this particular community is struggling. This can be seen in the horific fact that the average lifespan of an Aborginal person is well below (more than 10years!) compared to a white Australian.
I think what i need to do is really sleep on this as today has been an extremly interesting day which i must reflect on before i can really decided how I feel.
Ok too deep lets pull this back up to my level, I was asked if I wanted a boil egg the other day for breakfast, my response was 'you can't beat a boiled egg!'
The picture above is take on the drive out from Lake heading back home. NSW is in the mist of draught which started about 5 years ago, and over the weekend the rains returned! In parts of the state the average rainful for July fell within two days. This caused all the grass to become vividly green and with the dark red soil and sky a lovely blue thought was really amazing. Lyn descirbed this as a typical Australia shot.
Well its late, have a full day and I'm heading off to Sydney tomorrow night to pick up some girls (i love you amelia)
enjoy!
Pictures
as promised here are some photos my bad, when i tried uploading them it just wasn't working then i never got round to it. So this picture is of the three sisters, 'they' (clever people who enjoy studying rocks) believe that these three formations were part of an 8 formation orginally, bloody errosion! Water freezes, it expands I sure we all remember our geography lessions!
This photo was taken by Graham after we came over a gorge thingy (very specfic!) The jasmine valley just seems to go on for ever! Could you imagen being an early settler trying to cross this?
Now this one is for JP, it was taken at the base of the railway, you can see at the bottom of the photo where the tracks start, the go straight up the side of the mountain, and through a tunnel which naturally occurs further up. But the tunnel didn't start until about after the large tree is if you follow the tracks straight up. Even now i think what the hell, esp. after reading about the Gondalas at Ben Nevis!
So its late and i need to get up, finish some painting, take the beauty out for a spin, bit of book work then another post, until later on this evening.........
Katoomba
So last week, over breakfast with Penny, Graham and Lyn they decided that we should all take a trip into the mountains to a place call Katoomba to see the three sisters. Its only about a hours drive from Bathurst.
Sorry to sound like a bit of a history lesson but it makes it much easier to understand:
Historically the Blue Mountains were once thought of as the barrier to freedom, as although many early settlers attempted to cross them, they were for many years impassable, which was reinforced by the belief that China was on the other side. But later Europeans crossed the mountains and soon after a road was built to the other side. Although there are various Aboriginal markings few Aborigines were found in the Blue Mountains, thought to have been wiped out by disease. The mountains themselves reach a height of 1100m, and have been given their name due to the blue haze that hovered above the mountains produced by the oil from the plentiful Eucalyptus trees.
The importance of Katoomba lies with a rock formation that is called the three sisters. Aboriginal legend has it that they were three beautiful young women who had fallen in love with three men from an Aboriginal tribe from the foothills. Tribal lore prohibited the union, and a battle ensued. A witchdoctor turned the women to stone so they wouldn’t be harmed, but he was killed and no one could undo the spell.
Walking around and seeing the sisters were very impressive. What I think was far more astounding was the Jasmine Valley which runs behind it, it was just incredible, and seemed to go on as far as the eye could see! But to me what was surprising is the fact that the valley was actually a rain forest, I suppose I associate it more with warmer weather, but that’s more my ignorance I suppose. Standing by one of many look out post, there was a path down to the three sisters, which really didn’t appeal to Lyn and Penny, so they wondered off to one of the many local art galleries while the boys walked down to the sisters. Man it was incredible! The first part of the path down to the sisters was a relatively easy walk, (anything down is easy) with nice wide paths and gentle decline. Once at the sisters, we took some photos from an observation point which was really nice. But then we noticed that there was more path going down the side of the mountain, so we thought what the hell! Now that I’m back sitting in Bathurst with my feet up on the sofa typing this I can look back and smile but it was incredibly challenging.
I think that the Australian attitude is one of well it may be steep but sod it we’ll nail in some nearly vertical steps into the mountain, hand then over a sheer drop and you’ll be able to wall down it. Plus a few steps bore into the mountain and bobs your uncle. This photo was taken about half way down with Graham and Sam checking out some of the views! Not too long after this was taken we decided to head back, and being the grown ups we are (that Graham is, he suggested a race) well after nearly 3 respiratory failures and what felt like a half marathon we made it back up to the top (we won’t say who the winner was, but it wasn’t an Australian!)
Walking around a world heritage site you would expect some sort of added tourist attraction and Katoomba is no different! There is a Skyway, Cableway, Walkabout and Railway. Which thanks to a large family and a big looking 13year old (yours truly), we bought a family ticket plus one adult for all four.
First we headed over the Skyway which is basically a large cable cart across a big chasm, for those into statistics it was a 720m journey 270m above ravines which had thick rainforest below with a really pretty waterfall. It took only about 10mins but it was well worth it as you get an awesome 360 degree view of the three sisters, Katoomba falls, mount solitary and the seemly endless Jamison valley. On the other side we had a short walk around, which was well worth the effort, as although you get amazing views by the first look out point, the further you go round you can see more of the valley and then more of the three sisters.
We then headed off down into the valley to go on a ‘walk-about’ (pun intended). When purchasing the ticket the nice lady suggested we headed down the cable cart, and then back up the railway, and this is exactly what we did. Entering the cable cart if felt like we needed a set of skies, as it was a big old gondola and reminded me very much of one you enter when heading up to the piest. The ‘Sceniscende’ is the steepest aerial cable car in Australia, which we took down on a 545m ride into the valley. After an initial mild decline, it just seemed to fall away, and I know people who aren’t good with heights (like mum!) this, and in fact of the rides would not been for them. But was good fun! At the bottom we had a relatively short walk around, through the rainforest which was awesome, and very nicely done. We managed to see all where the land was mined for coal between 1878 and 1900, finally being close in 1945. Randomly they had an iron donkey, so what the hell, what do you think, could I make a cowboy one day?
But any who I mentioned that coal was mined and that is clear evident when looking around the valley and there are many things that remain as a result. One of them is how we returned from the valley. It was via scenic railway which is it's the steepest railway in the world and originally part of the Katoomba mining tramways. At one point it reaches a maximum gradient of 52 degrees! In total we assended 178m along a 415m track at a speed of 4m/s. And Lyn has just said she felt every single meter of that! Getting into the car you got an inkling as to how steep it is because the seats are nearly horizontal. It started off quite slowly but then as you start to go up and it just gets steeper and steeper. When we hit the steepest part I was bracing with my knees and at a point were I was think wow this is insane! What I should of mention is that there were no seat belts, a cage roof which went around the right hand side and roof, and a thin plastic chain, that’s it! It was insane, I could not believe and when at the 52degrees part of the track I think everyone was holding onto something!!!
But never the less we survived that and made it back up! An amazing day and a really big thank-you goes out to Lyn, Penny, Graham, and Sam.
Well I hope that you are all well, not sure if I’m going to watch the final, still a bit bitter about our exit and it’s on at five in the morning. I’m at work for nine, only for four hours but then I have a long old drive out to Lake.
Right pirates of the Caribbean is on, and we watched Pirates two on Thursday which was very enjoyable, don’t think I can wait until the third one is out next year! Definitely think that it was much better than superman returns although that was also very enjoyable.
