Rural (Roadside) Mail Boxes

Rural properties around the country can be pretty remote and off the beaten track.
The outback stations (ranches) covering millions of acres usually get mail delivery by air.
The less distant may have a central mail collection point. See pic below of mail boxes at Mongarlowe, just over the mountains from us.
Even ones like ours just off a major highway don’t have a mail box at the gate, but rather one at the end of the access road grouped together with others from the valley.
In the past these were known as roadside mail boxes or RMBs. So an address would be, for example, RMB 300, which indicated it was 300km from some designated point. The disadvantage here was every one at a specific destination had the same address, in our case, seven of us.
So most people had their names on the post boxes or delivery person would have to know which one was which.
Also people on very long roads could have large numbers depending on the district borders.
All matters concerning addresses is under the control of the a Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. They have a 180 page manual covering this subject.

Pic: Gail Wild @theveranda.shop

Some time ago our address changed from a RMB to a four digit number plus an Alpha suffix.
The system for determining address numbers in rural and semi-rural areas is based on the distance of the access point from the a specific datum point ie. in our case a major bridge. This distance is measured in metres and then divided by 10 - after which the number is then rounded to the nearest odd number (for points on the left side of the road from the datum point), or nearest even number (for points on the right side of the road).
The suffix differentiates the various properties at the same number. So 1280A Pacific Hwy, Smithville would be the first property on an access road to the right off that main road 12.8km from a specified landmark in the Smithville district.
Sounds a bit complicated but emergency services have this in their data bases so police, fire and ambulance can find people quickly.
Pity almost all GPS car navigator devices don’t. Couriers, service people and sometimes even visitors have trouble finding us.

COVID-19 / Victoria / Worrying Situation

Despite overall Australian infection figures looking ok, things in Victoria have taken a turn for the worst.
Yesterday, after the ninth day in a row of the state logging double digit infections, 33* in the last 24 hrs, the military has been called in to help.
1,000 Australian Defence Force troops are being sent to help with hotel quarantine and provide logistical support for testing. **

There has been a surge in the number of Victorians being tested, which has led to delays and in some cases, testing sites being swamped. The ADF is there to make things move a little smoother.
Meanwhile here in New South Wales there were 10 new cases (1 local, 9 returned overseas travellers who are in quarantine).
Despite warnings not to accept travellers from Victorian hotspots and to avoid heading to Melbourne, the NSW premier is keeping the border open.
For now.

This only confirms our decision to stay in self isolation for the time being as we expect a flood of Victorian tourists in our area, despite being told to stay away, during the upcoming July school holidays.

*Seven of those are in hotel quarantine.
  Nine are from known outbreaks.
  Six are from routine testing.
  Eleven are still under investigation.

** This situation was changed with a revised request for up to 200 specialist medical and support personnel.

Roast Leg of Lamb

When I was a kid, sheep were the main source of cheap meat for families.
Beef was very expensive and chicken was a real treat we got maybe once or twice a year.

Pork was very rare. I seem to remember it had a bad reputation as a source of some disease which name escapes me.

It was often said that Australia was ‘riding on the sheep’s back’.
For much of our history wool has been the basis of the national economy and the country’s major export. The first wool exports from Australia to Britain began in the 1820s and the industry boomed throughout the 19th century and beyond. Despite setbacks such as drought, world wars and depression, wool continued its traditional dominance until the mid-20th century.

Now wool has dropped to #18 on the export list, way behind minerals, coal/natural gas, beef and services like education and tourism.

Sheep meat is categorised according to age. Lamb is less than one year old, hogget is 1 to 2 years old and mutton is older than two years. The latter two have had a bit of a bad rap, said to be tough. But with slow cooking they can produce fall apart roasts and flavoursome stews.
Lamb is the most sought after and naturally the most expensive.
No longer is it cheap meat.
We occasionally have lamb fillets or back straps on special occasions but more often chops or cutlets and slow cooked shanks.
But the best is a leg roast, especially since you can get them deboned, rolled and tied. This makes carving so much easier.

Infused with some fresh rosemary tips and cooked together with potatoes, capsicum, carrots, beetroot and other root veges and served with nice gravy, it’s  a great winter meal.
And cold left over lamb the next day is good too either in a sandwich or by itself with Dijon mustard and a salad.
Gravy used to be made from the pan residues but it tends to be a bit fatty. Commercial instant gravies aren’t too bad and are simple and quick to make.
But make sure you check the ‘best by’ date before using.

Thankfully we had a fresh tin to substitute for this museum piece that had hidden itself at the back of the cupboard.

COVID-19 / Australia / 21st June Update

Australia and the state Victoria have suffered a significant reversal in containing the coronavirus as the number of active cases rises to 427 nationwide after months of steady declines.
A "disturbing trend" had been observed in Victoria over the past 14 days. The state has recorded 70 percent of cases reported nationally. 25 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the past 24 hours alone, up from 13 on Friday, 18 on Thursday and 21 on Wednesday.
This concerning surge in cases has been blamed on families deliberately flouting the rules, including some Victorians who were visiting family members or going to work even after testing positive to the deadly virus.

More than half of the new cases since the end of April had come from family-to-family transmission with some family clusters blowing out to more than a dozen people.
Some of the family clusters were linked to a spate of cases among security guards at quarantine hotels, including the CBD's Stamford Plaza, where lax hygiene has been blamed for a cluster of 10 cases that medical experts expect to spread.
A cluster of 16 cases was also found to be connected to the state government's quarantine operation at Carlton's Rydges on Swanston hotel earlier this month.

Restrictions are now being tightened in Victoria as they are eased everywhere else in Australia.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the state was on the cusp of a second wave of infections if Victorians did not act now.

Meanwhile here in NSW, five new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed bringing the total number of cases to 3149. All five are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

COVID-19 / Australia / 13th June Update

AUSTRALIA 

NEW SOUTH WALES

Figures continue to improve.
Restrictions continue to ease.
A major concern however is the huge number of people congregating for BLM protests in the major cities.
It is a waiting game now to see if that initiates a second wave.
We went to our doctor for flu shots last week. He confirmed that, for us, it’s a good idea to continue self isolation until at least the beginning of July.

Bushfire Damage Demolition

At long last the government contractors delivered equipment to start the demolition of our bushfire damage.
We were, understandably, very low on the priority list with so many homes destroyed but it was nice to see the shed and other damaged structures gone.
Work started early on the Tuesday and finished midday on the Wednesday.
The site was cleared with minimum collateral damage which was great considering the size of the trucks used to haul the debris away.
Thanks to the New South Wales government for footing the bill, Laing O’Rourke for coordinating the project and the local contractors for doing the job.
We went from this:

To this:

Now for the rebuild.

Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend

This weekend is a three day holiday ‘celebrating’ the Queen’s birthday.

Despite being a foreigner living in a foreign country, Queen Elizabeth II is still our head of state. When this will change and we become a republic is anybody’s guess as there are a few more important matters going on at the moment.

But it does bring to mind that when the British arrived back in 1778 to establish a penal colony in what is now Sydney, the lives of Australia’s indigenous population changed forever and for the worse.

It’s estimated 800,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in Australia, representing around 3% of the total population.

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has reignited the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in Australia, especially since it has been National Reconciliation Week.

432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since 1991. 

Most recent data shows that although 3% of the Australian population identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Indigenous adults are 15 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous Australians. Statistics also reveal that Indigenous juveniles are 26 times more likely to be incarcerated, while the fastest-growing prison population in Australia is Indigenous women.

In fact, on a per capita basis, we lock up Indigenous Australians at four times the rate of black Americans.

Many social media users are also drawing comparisons between what happened to George Floyd to the death of 26-year-old Dunghutti man David Dungay in a Sydney prison. Dungay died while being restrained by five prison guards at Long Bay jail in 2015. He said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died. To date, the five guards have not faced any disciplinary action.

So it’s little surprise that, despite COVID-19 social distancing rules, large protests have been planned for this weekend.

Hopefully they are peaceful.

Our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison said last Monday,

“As upsetting and terrible that the murder that took place–and it is shocking, that also just made me cringe–I just think to myself how wonderful a country is Australia. There's no need to import things happening in other countries here to Australia.

Australia is not the United States.”

Talk about head in the sand. 

But what do you expect from a evangelical (Hillsong) conservative leader? Thankfully he hasn’t done the ‘stand in front of a church with bible in hand thing’......as yet!
Update: 6th June 9am.
The Sydney protest has been declared illegal by the State Supreme Court on COVID-19 transmission grounds. 
This means trouble!
Update: 6th June 4 pm.
The NSW Court of Appeal has ruled that a Sydney rally held in support of the Black Lives Matter movement is an authorised public assembly, overturning a NSW Supreme Court decision on Friday which declined to make that declaration. The decision was delivered at about 2.45pm, 15 minutes before the planned start time of the demonstration. Crowds who had gathered for the protest cheered as the news filtered through.

Update: 6th June 6pm
Thousands protest in capital cities and regional towns.
Reports are all were peaceful.

20,000 in Sydney

30,000 in Melbourne
30,000 in Brisbane