Learn something new everyday?

Tip:  Here is a secret!  But it's time to blast this one wide open!!  Tell your friends!  Next time you're at a party randomly introduce yourself to someone and tell them... When removing a sump plug from a car to drain its oil the correct tool to use is a hex socket of the right size...

IE a ring spanner is no good...  After using all manner of implements yesterday and finally going down in the cold night in the hope the bolt had contracted and still failing- i learnt this this morning from the very Prince of mechanics himself: Rebore (yes that's really what people call him)!  Anyway now let's see if i can make it work today with the right tool...

Time of posting is 9am; 30th May...

Guess what!? Actually in Darwin for longer than 2 days!!!

Yes you heard right!  I am actually having a whole week without travelling more than 50kms!  I can hardly believe it myself.  I actually planned for this (believe it or not) : Thought after 6 straight weeks of teaching after a pretty full on Adelaide Fringe before that and a hard working "holiday" in the desert at xmas, a break would not only be good; but required.  All i have to do now is line up a good solid massage.

 

Will change the oil in my dear old Corolla and have taken out Andy's plugs and disconnected his battery (he is OS); only to be told just after that he will be back in two weeks!  DOH!!  Oh well could have been worse; i could have organised for it to be on Besser blocks (was doing that later this week)...  I might even (finally) put on my car seat covers and fluffy steering wheel cover!!

 

Exciting news in Darwin!!  New original music venue will open on Friday!!  Happy Yess ( i think that's it's name) will fill the original music cavity that has existed since the Darwin Workers club closed down in around about 1999.  Please someone correct me on that date if it's wrong...  Very exciting!  I am going to see what i can do to make the lighting in there look cool.

 

Hopefully i will see some of you in Darwin this week; have a marvellous week! xo

Adelaide to Melbourne to Darwin to Nhumbulwar!

Well what a bonus indeed!!

 

I happened to score a week's work in Nhumbulwar the very week the Education Minister came out and opened the new cyclone shelter!!  Of course this meant a performance by some HOT new local bands and the town's favourite sons and one of my very favourite bands; Yilila!!  www.yilila.com  Not to mention some almost non-stop traditional dancing.  As i sit typing this i am almost overcome by the scent of burnt sausages and steaks that has penetrated my skin and hair (i helped cook for the after gig feast).  It was worth it to enjoy the band and to help out in a great day.  looking forward to chilling out with Grant and the boys this evening.

 

Re last post; can;t believe it the end of the post was cutoff somehow it left out Dave, Clair and Ruby! Andrew and Alex..  it was a bit like that moment in the Holy Grail; "The castle of Arrrrrrrgggggh"...

 

So yes; quick weekend in Adelaide; Noel showed me the glorious cottage he was minding in Crafers.  The Adelaide Hills!  May they never cease to astonish with their beauty!  Also saw the play _Beautiful Words_ at Higher Ground.  What a great use of the space  and subtle but effective lighting by Sue Grey-Gardner.  Tim Morgan and Gabriel Partington really stood out for me: suprising Gabe did not rate a mention in http://www.dbmagazine.com.au/385/tr-BeautifulWords.shtml  .   Tim had some pretty juicy character to work with and heavy subject matter.  Gabe who had less to work with ran with it with 100% faith which was to his credit.  Seeing the show on closing night may have led some of the performers to seem  a little tired to me and perhaps this is why the two newcomers shone (more energy)!?  I warmed to Dennis Olsen who did not seem to know which accent he wanted to use at the start of the play and Craig Behenna who was a consistently good supporting player throughout.

 

From Saturday i will actually be in Darwin for a few days. I can hardly believe it!

 

+18  hours approx  to what it says below...

An hour in Melbourne!

Well well i am on my way back to Darwin!  It has been a jolly fine time in Radelaide and once more as leave these wonderful people behind i wonder why i am not living here...

 

Quite randomly i received a message from Lawrence about a guy on a tram wearing daggy clothes who everyone seemed to ignore and avoid; (you do get odd people on trams in melbourne sometimes); but Lawrence felt that this was just a daggily dressed guy, "was not a bum, but just dressed badly".  Hey!!  That could have been me!  Ekk onbe minuite left on this net cafe in melboutrne airport and my typing has gone to shit....  Damn!  So ARGH not enough time to talk about adelaide really; not in any depth just tiome to maybe quickly say thanks!  These people are awesome and rock my WORLD!  Thank you Noel, Mel Rob, Sue, Pip (miised u; arrghj out of time!! Zoe, Gabe, Z's mum,

Woops; Lost Transmission!

Well imagine my discombolulation when i realised that i managed to lose my last update somewhere in an email between me and this BLOG!  :(

 

 Bugger i had typed quite a bit about my next few days.  Ramingining to Darwin to Adelaide to Darwin to Nhumbulwar!

 

Nevermind.  I guess i will have to keep it to reporting about the excitment of adelaide instead; after the fact...

 

Anyone in Adelaide tomorrow come to the Tin Cat at noon!  There will be great merriment!

 

I'm heading down to see "Beautiful Words" at Higher Ground on Rundle Street.  It has had good reviews i've heard so i'm looking forward to it!  Wonder how long this one will take to appear on the blog...

Breakfast at Pellegrino's!

Well what a terrible thing!!  I neglected to mention my wonderful breakfast at Pellegrino's on Saturday morning!

 

This was supposed to be a bigger than Ben Hur affair; but the earliness of the call for an eight o'clock breakfast before the Mill Zheng course scared off some!  It ended up being a delightful little affair with gorgeous duo Laura and Nilanthe!!  Just sitting there beside the shiny blonde goddess and the Sri Lankan princess with a super model nose was enough to put a smile on my dial 5 miles wide. But those who know these two wonderful beings know that there is so much more to them than what charms the unsuspecting eyes!

 

Absolutely wonderful to hang out and especially in the no-nonsense atmosphere of Pellegrino's where the staff often save valuable time by doing away with niceties...  Not that i have anything against polite waitstaff; it's just good to have a change and get good service without embellishment sometimes!

 

Speaking of which i found a definition for the word i used to describe Laura when she picked me up from the airport (ebullient) and yes my instincts were pretty spot on!  I admit one should generally make sure one knows what a word means before using it to describe someone eg. tumescent.

 

Ebullient: adj. Zestfully enthusiastic. Boiling or seeming to boil; bubbling. and: showing excitement; overflowing with enthusiasm.

 

Admittedly this was a pretty good word for all three of us that morning of our reunion at Pellegrino's!!

 

Sunday night was dinner of Lamprais at Lawrence and Tanyas' place.  YUM!  Those of you in or passing through Melbourne go see the wonderful people at Curry and Chips and eat or take home frozen a Lamprais!  Their number is listed and they are right next to Syndal Station in Melbourne.  Great to spend some time with L and T; two Darwinites living the Melbourne dream.

 

Bugger me!

and then it goes and posts immediately after i email! must have been going slow the other day; i think they were doing maintenance! woo!

Gapuwiyak to Melbourne to Ramingining!

Gapuwiyak to Melbourne to Ramingining! Early May.

After much lack of success with posting images on this site i have given up for a short time.  However i will keep the words flowing...  Worked out that posting by email works but the delay is about 2.5 days! :(

Since the first few posts on here i have been working out bush for  a while in lovely Gapuwiyak.  It was a little scary facing the prospect of being trapped there for a cyclone but there were some great people there to spend a cyclone with.  Georgina and her son Arthur and Nola and  I were preparing to shelter together should it actually hit.  It didn't but the very closeness of this natural phenomena was enough to inspire dinner parties and monopoly!

Sad time for me in Gapuwiyak (indeed for everyone there) as the funeral of the principal's eldest son was taking place (name cannot be printed here for cultural reasons).  The circumstances of his passing were violent and unknown and it was pretty upsetting.  I did not attend any of the funeral services; mostly as i felt quite affected and was afraid that i would appear insincere if i carried on too much too publicly.  I did not know the guy but when i thought about the circumstances leading to the funeral i was quite moved.  Anyway i did my own stuff and wished for the consolation of his family.

From Gapuwiyak i went to Darwin for a few hours (via Nhulunbuy) and then to Melbourne for the last day of Bill Zheng's 90 day mentoring programme.  Fantastic as always and  had some  great meals with Myf and Gehan as well as Rajik and Juliet from the course.  Our favourite place turned out to be Sung's which was just off Elizabeth St about 150m from the Vic Markets.  Fantastic desserts and good Yum Cha!!  Great service too.  The one thing from the course i woudl like to share here and now is that sometimes you won't get a good YES for a business deal unless you have a whole lot of "no" s  The size of the yes often increases based on how many no's!!

In about 6 hours i fly to Maningrida to connect for Ramingining.  I'll see as i land the cyclone damage to the town and its surrounding bush.  ramingining was not affected as far as i know.  No one was injured in maningrida but there was much damage.  Anyway  i must pack etcetera.  Have a fabulous week! xo Nim

update via email

So apparently i can update this thing via email!  How very exciting!  I should be fast asleep before work, but it's all too exciting!

Tally ho!

First post!

Well as i have long prided myself on being a nerd i thought it really about time that i had my own blog!

How often or if i am actually going to update it remains to be seen but i guess it's a good way to keep people posted on what i am actually up to rather than sending chain emails!

Of course it's all dave's fault...

http://www.davesplanet.org/blog/2006/05/welcome-to-earth-tulley.html

He's been a blogger for a while ...

Also there's the posterity thing. If i actually right stuff up and post it here people will understand something about where i presently am!

Have a lovely May!