The cost of living (in a glass tank)

Well, we're off on holiday on Monday - Fraser Island. This will be the first time that the girls have been there and the first time that Daile has been there since 2000 when she and I went there on foot... which is mistake as it's all sand and the going is tough, not to mention that there's no shops other than Kingfisher Bay (which is very pricey indeed) and a small one about 90km north of it at the end of the navigable (by decent 4WD) part of the island. (North of that, you have to be both experienced and in a group that have winch gear etc).

When Molly and I went there in the Ute a few years ago, we found it to be a fantastic holiday, and aside from pulling some cars out that were stuck in front of us, and mending a Nissan Patrol (the one to have) which had blown a coolant hose, we didn't have any real problems. This will be the first real test of the Pajero that we've had the opportunity to give it. There are some bits around Indian Head that may test it, especially fully loaded, so we're camping about 20k south of that in a proper camp site that has a fence around it to keep the Dingos out. Dingos were a bit of pest to Molly and I on a couple of occasions but with the girls being so physically small, it's considered very wise to camp in a protected area!

Last year when Josh and Molly went with us to Moreton Island, you may remember that I made a roof rack for the trusty old Paj... and since then I've been meaning to make a ladder. I HAD thought that I'd make one that was on the side, but that's actually not a brilliant idea when you're going through tight areas where the truck is pitched over for example and it's surprising how tight you get to things when you're sliding around in sand tracks that are sucking on your wheels. So I've made one that bolts onto the spare wheel on the rear door. It's actually quite a simple one bolt attachment and it means that we can now dispense with putting our step ladder on the top of all our other gear (SO unprofessional looking!) It's close to the rack, but obviously doesn't attach to it or we'd not be able to open the door! Here's a couple of pics that Matilda took today, one in the late arvo and one after it was painted with 'galvanising' paint. (I used this stuff when I rebuilt the boat trailer and it works very well... so I might paint the roof rack with it on top of the black stuff, the next time I take it off the car - hardly ever these days).

Poor old jalopy... we love the Paj - or as they say in Australian Mitsubishi adverts 'Love that Cear!'

On Monday this week, I read about a drawing competition in Sydney that has a very tempting first prize and decided that I really ought to have a go even though the date for submission of the entry forms and pictures of the drawing was Friday, so I'd need to finish on Wednesday. I got it done in time and it's below.

The drawing is charcoal on paper and is 22 inches by 30 inches... just shy of A1 size. There was so much charcoal on the paper that it took me half a can of hairspray to fix it! Lucky that I use the bargain stuff from Coles the supermarket!

A few weeks ago, Matilda and I went out to get some tadpoles. We'd originally found the site when the girls and I had been out on a walk in one of the local woods. We couldn't really get any then because we didn't have a net, and we didn't have any insect repellent, which meant that Phoebe was getting bitten badly. We bought some net from the local haberdashery and made a large net. We found a short handle net that Tild had from some 'explorer' set and fitted it to half a fishing rod, so we had two, and with that, a large jar, and a can of mossie repellent we set off again. Matilda LOVES this kind of thing! We were there for an hour and a half and got about 15 of them. They're REALLY fast! At first we were trying to 'catch' up with them, and not managing to get anywhere near... then we realised that you can chase them into the net with a stick... much better!

When we got home, we looked for something that would do to keep them in and found a vase that Daile had filched away at the back of a cupboard...PERFECT!!

...but before long we realised that the water was overheating... so I put some ice cubes in while we scratched our heads. We also realised that one of them was crawling up the side to get out... so I made a net to cover the top with stuff we bought, and wired up an old motherboard fan to hang over the tank to keep the air circulating. Then we realised that they really needed somewhere to hang out, so we wired up a rock to hang on the side that was half in and half out.

OK so far.

But there's more!

The little frogs that made it onto the rock died for some reason. We thought that perhaps they needed some space to hop about in. So I made this:

and Matilda went out and got a Lilly leaf with a root.... and some other stuff to scatter about.

The cooling fan went on the lid now...

Pretty soon we felt that we needed some plants, because the bits of stuff just dried out and that... so off we went to the local plant place to see what they could sell us cheap...

...and we spent $7 on some crickets for them to eat... that were as big as they were, and kept drowning themselves!

The frogs are 'Brown tree frogs' with a stripe down the side.

...Oh for the simple life!

I sent off my malfunctioning Canon camera to Canon. It's been giving poor quality pictures for a while now, poor focus and resolution (and it's not the lens cos I've tried it on other people's cameras), and the on off switch has broken on the back.

I asked them for a quote to make work like it's supposed to and fix the switch. They quoted $893.63! Then they said they could sell me a new one for $1090! And it cost me $80 including the postage for them to tell me that! You'd think they were short of money...despite the price of their inks! So it'll be 'snaps' for me for a while I'm afraid!

Bugger!