FNQ

I'm writing this in an internet cafe in the main street of Herberton - FNQ.

FNQ was the abbreviation used by my wife to address her mail home forty years ago, when as a young student teacher she was living in Brisbane.

This part of the world has an irresistible pull for both of us. In her case because she was brought up here - together with her ten siblings, in mine because I'm also a child of North Queensland, and I lived most of my early live north of the tropic.

Our journey north in June was once a family ritual. In part - to escape the winter in the south-east corner - in part to link up with family again. My wife calls it her annual "sister hit". She has, after all, six sisters.

It hasn't disappointed. Driving north and feeling the ever-intensifying sunshine through the windscreen - smelling the cane fields - the bagasse - and tuning in to the NQ accent (the interrogative "hey" at the end of each sentence) - all these things are a tonic for the soul.

Meeting up with some old cronies in Townsville and cleaning up a threesome of good reds was also enjoyable. This meeting culminated in a job offer. It will be interesting to see whether it holds now that we've all sobered up.

Unfortunately, we'll just be getting accustomed to the laid-back sanity that holds in this part of the world, and we'll have to head south again.

Maybe our dream of a northern retreat isn't such a bad idea. We wouldn't need much - a block and a shed initially. We could live up here from May until October.

So What Else is New?

Sometimes it pays to simply sit and observe.

Given what’s been going on in Federal Parliament during the last week or so, this is such a time.

One side of the house has been accusing the other of impropriety - specifically that the Prime Minister and the Treasurer were attempting to assist a constituent in financial difficulty. The extent of this seems to be that there were some phone calls and emails (at least one bogus) drawing the attention of one official or another to his plight.

The other side (the government) has accused the opposition of using information leaked from a mole in Treasury to embarrass them.

I’m confused.

Since when has either of both of these actions been anything more than commonplace and par for the course in federal parliament? Maybe I’ve missed some significant revival of basic ethics in political life. Maybe suddenly both sides have been seized with a severe attack of morality flu – a bit like swine flu, but not quite as contagious.

Give me strength….

In the meantime, issues such as the plight of carers, the state of superannuation funds, rural poverty, and the Murray Darling basin seem suddenly to be on the media back-burner. At least it hasn’t drowned out coverage of the State of Origin.

It does point out some home truths. The media generally behave like a pack of school children watching a brawl, ego and power are all that matters and truth is a misunderstood concept.

The community can basically go to buggery.

Who Cares?

This is a book with clout.

It's not an exciting read, by any stretch, but this volume should be required reading for any Australian who wants to understand the daily realities faced by the approximately 2.6 million carers in this country.

It was loaned to me by the mother of two highly dependent teenage girls. This woman was telling me about her recent holiday - the first one she's had in more than ten years. Because she lives in a provincial town, respite care for her daughters is very hard to come by. She often has to save it up and book it months in advance, only to find it is withdrawn at the last minute because of an emergency situation where (for example) another sole carer becomes suddenly ill, which bumps her back to the end of the queue.

It's a hell of a way to live.

I encounter literally scores of these situations in my travels in the South-west, and there is a backlog of suffering around this issue that the general community treats with stoic disregard.

The book itself is a report on the inquiry into better support for carers conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Housing, Community and Youth.
The committee was chaired by Annette Ellis, and its members were Judi Moylan, Tony Abbott, Louise Markus, Jodie Campbell, Julie Collins, Sophie Mirabella (from 10/11/08) Scott Morrison (from 25/9/08), Sussan Ley MP(until 10/11/08), Brett Raguse, Kirsten Livermore and Chris Trevor.

What this means is the committee crossed party lines, and for me this adds credibility to the report.

Published in April this year it lists thousands of narratives about situations involving carers, taken as extracts from 1305 submissions from all over the country. Public hearings were also held in all state capitals.

To me, apart from the 50 recommendations coming out of the report, the kicker is on page 147. It refers to an appeal by Ms Liz Kelly, mother of a child with severe disabilities. She urged the committee to support the submission for a National Disability Insurance Scheme that came from the 2020 Summit.

Despite the derision directed at this summit by the cynics, this was one initiative coming out of it, which, if seen through, will be transformational.
Update: Grendel has sent the link.

Pacific Politics

I don't pretend to know much about Fiji.

I've never been there (my wife has - and still tells stories about big blokes wearing grass skirts - she was impressed) and never had any desire to visit. A few of my mates had their honeymoons there (plural mates - not honeymoons) back when it was fashionable.

The strange and scary political history of this place is something to behold, and of course they play pretty good Rugby. I often wonder why Fijian troops weren't in Vietnam. The Kiwis of Polynesian extraction in the NZ contingent attached to various Australian infantry battalions were very good soldiers. They were good brawlers too, but that's another story.

Having said that, I find the current state of politics in Fiji morbidly fascinating.

In case any of you out there in blogland share this fascination, go to this blog.

It's an example of the power of blogging when democracy goes out the window through censorship.

I'll also add a permanent link on this. I hope you find it as riveting as I have.

Lift and Separation

As self-funded (semi-) retirees, outside what we own in the way of real estate, the MX5 is probably our best investment, given what the GFC is dong to our shares and Super.

It is important, therefore, to keep it as pristine as possible.

It seems highly susceptible to stone chips. Maybe the paintwork is at fault, or perhaps the exposed paintwork on the front of the car is lower than the average, and simply closer to where the flying stones are generated. The recent on-and-off heavy rain doesn't help. It softens the road foundations, and the B-doubles do the rest. What used to be a stretches of solid bitumen is now pock-marked with potholes and loose stones. This is particularly the case along the Warrego.

With this in mind, I've bought a starnge and wonderful device called a Carbra. Made of heavy grade vinyl, and tailored to the NB version of the MX5, it attaches to the front of the car with velcro and little metal hooks. It is a tight fit, and the instructions demanded that I put it in direct sunshine for an hour or two so that the vinyl might soften. Sunny days have been conspicuous by their absence recently, so I had to tussle with unsoft vinyl. All this did was increase the frequency and intensity of profanity, and it did fit (eventually).

It does the job, and doesn't flap or flutter, but takes a bit of time to fit. It's also not a good idea (if you have the choice) to use it in wet weather, as it would take a lot of drying out, I imagine.

Getting hold of one of these is part of our preparation for the great trek North in July. We must be crazy - having two other vehicles much more suited to long road journeys than an open-topped roadster, but I've always yearned to do such a journey in minimalist fashion.

I guess I'll just have to get it out of my system.

By the way - in connection with bras, I always thought "lift" and "separation" were aerodynamic terms. My wife has set me straight - it's never too late to learn.

Fools and Fuels

My trip this week was St George, Thallon and Dirranbandi, so there was plenty of time to think, particularly on the 380km return journey.

I was driving a diesel, so after putting up with the stink of distillate after filling up from a high-flow bowser, I began to consider the relative merits of various fuels.

Starting with Diesel, it’s a lot cheaper than it used to be, and I understand is ultimately much more efficient than petrol. Modern diesel vehicles are pretty much on a par with petrol driven machinery when it comes to noise and smoothness. They also have heaps of torque, and are pleasant to drive, especially on long journeys. Fuel is usually easily sourced, even if you need to have a good cleanup after refuelling (especially in the bush) and are best dressed in overalls during the exercise.

Our fleet manager doesn’t like diesels but only for the somewhat bizarre reason that she’s sick of dozy drivers filling them with unleaded and driving away….very expensive.

I’d consider diesel on current prices, but they won’t last long. Once distillate begins to cost 15% above unleaded the benefits of improved efficiency disappear.

Most of us are familiar with cars running on unleaded, so I won’t go into any detail, except to say that modern small cars can be very efficient, and unleaded (particularly the ethanol blends) can be very cheap if you shop around.

Marburg Loop

Our most recent MX5 run was to a winery at Marburg via Cunningham’s Gap, Rosevale and Rosewood.

It was a brilliant day, just before a massive change of weather which saw the South-East receive a record May rainfall. We assembled at Toowoomba, and headed down the New England towards Allora.





There were six cars in the convoy, which grew to ten as we got together with non Darling Downs members (Mexicans).The run across from the Warwick turnoff to morning tea at Cunningham’s gap was scenically spectacular.

The country looked green and lush, and the sight of Glengallon homestead off to the left reminded us of the history of the area – just as spectacular.Morning tea was taken to the background of the characteristic calls of Whipbirds (Psophodes olivaceus) in a well-hidden little park. These noisy, but shy birds were in abundance, even though they remained well out of sight.

We then headed north to Rosevale, Maryvale and Rosewood along secondary and very enjoyable roads. This reminded most of us why we do this – nothing beats the sounds, sights and smells of travelling in a convoy of MX5s through the beautiful countryside – truly a tonic for the soul.
Lunch was at Warrego Winery. There was a great choice of tipple, even though the drivers had to abstain.

Just up the road was Woodlands, a venue used for a local festival which featured a display of veteran cars. We were enjoyed lunch in the shade of the Jacarandas, whilst watching a procession of these vehicles trundling past. A few of us visited the festival, to find a few displays and cars still in situ. The opportunity to photograph both the older machinery presented itself, and there were some interesting results.

Thanks are due to the organisers, both local and Mexicans. I’m looking forward to the next one.