Merry Christmas from Australia

             Compliments of the season to all my readers

A Summer Storm

When we saw the radar map we knew we were in for a bit of ‘fun’.

And down it came.

Extended video here.

So that’s another 70mm of rain here over the last 24 hours.

Where are you El Niño?

No, we’re still not complaining.
The Cairns area in north eastern tropical Australia was just recently impacted by cyclone Jasper.

Some places had +1.3m of rain over 7 days. That’s over 50inches.
The flooding has been devastating.

COVID-19 / Our Experience

Both of us had avoided Covid for nearly four years despite two overseas trips in the last two.
We had taken the necessary precautions during and post pandemic and our vaccinations, six, were up to date.
I had come home from the USA in early November with some sort of flu thing.
Regular Covid tests during this period were all negative. I had passed this virus onto the co driver and were both coming out the other end of that not feeling too bad.
So it was a bit of a surprise in early December to suddenly not be feeling well again.
A very sore throat made us suspicious that this was something new.

And Covid RAT tests proved positive.

Where we picked this up who knows.
We don’t go out in public much.
Anyway we were both feeling pretty awful presenting with most of the typical symptoms.

A call to our local medical clinic organised prescriptions, after tele consultations, for the Pfizer antivirals *Paxlovid™ which were duly picked up from our local pharmacy within hours of our initial call.
Here’s where we are glad the Australian socialised medicine scheme kicked into action.
Original cost for the tablets according to the pharmacy details on the package was $A1114.
Our cost $A0.

I had experienced the cost of medical treatment recently in the USA where I needed antibiotics for cellulitis of the foot. Not the best diagnosis for a diabetic.
There was no doubt the service was exceptional but that hour at the local hospital ER cost the equivalent of 30 GP visits here.
Thank goodness for Travel Insurance.
Anyway, we are coming out of the covid phase which was quite unpleasant for the initial few days.
The ongoing problems are sudden onset of fatigue and loss of taste and smell.

How long this will last is anyone’s guess.

Everyone’s experience with that seems to be different.

*How does Paxlovid work in the body?
It's used to treat early COVID-19 infection and help to prevent more severe symptoms. Paxlovid is a combination of 2 medicines called nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. Nirmatrelvir stops the virus from growing and spreading, and ritonavir helps nirmatrelvir from being broken down in your body long enough to do its job.

Our Drought is Over / For Now

Very little rain from April caused dams to begin drying up and our water tanks to empty.

Thankfully being away in the USA for six weeks had helped our situation a little.

But by the last weeks of November we had put ourselves on strict rationing and were making tentative enquires about getting a water delivery if we had to start using our domestic water supply for the cattle.

Even more concerning was that the bush around us had really dried out, especially the understorey, and, with a hotter than normal summer (El Niño) predicted, bushfires were going to be a possibility.

But all that changed on Wednesday.

225mm (9inches) rain fell in just over 24 hours.

Our tanks filled,

Our dams filled.

Our creek flooded.

So we are good to go now until at least January.

More rain is predicted over the next few days.

It’s very soggy and there was a little fence damage but who cares!

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 7 / Homeward Bound

After six weeks away it was time to head home.

Flight transfers and a couple of hour’s layover each in Denver and San Francisco.

Change of terminal in Denver from one of the furthest B gates to one of the furthest A gates but, hey, we were walk fit by this stage.

Both flights to SFO from Sioux Falls were packed.

I had checked the United App and was surprised to see our flight from SFO to Sydney was virtually empty.

Must be a glitch I thought. That flight is normally pretty full.

What I didn’t realise was there was a flight three hours earlier.

Indeed our flight on a 777-300ER had only around 100 passengers and most of them were ‘upfront’

Our economy section had 10 passengers.

As a result we could stretch out on the four middle seats and sleep a lot of the way during the 14 hour Pacific Ocean crossing.

In between times I watched four movies and read a little.

It was the most comfortable economy flight ever.

How United would economically maintain this scheduling is anyone’s guess.

Maybe it’s freight based.

We arrived in Sydney 45 minutes early.

The pic above is us actually landing. It’s a screen shot from the Sydney Airport Live website.

Immigration is all automated for citizens and ETA holders now and is quick. 

Baggage took a while but it all arrived safely.

We have AirTags in our bags to keep track but United’s tracking system on their App is pretty good as well.

I declared some pistachio nuts I had brought in and all our bags had to go through X-ray at quarantine.

Why? I don’t know but we had plenty of time.

Then we caught three trains back to Nowra where our lovely neighbour was waiting on the platform with coffee and muffins.

It was a bit of a hairy drive south with torrential rain a lot of the way.

Unfortunately that petered out the nearer we got to home.

We are still in drought conditions here. Very little rain while we were away.

Jet lag took over for 4 to 5 days but nothing we couldn’t handle. Going to bed at 7pm and waking up at 2-3 am is the name of the game.

So that was our 2023 trip.

Tentative plans are to do it all again in 2025.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 6 / The Black Hills of SD

From Brookings, the I90 west across SD to the Black Hills is a speed track.

There are other more relaxing but, time wise, longer routes eg. State Highway 14 through Huron, the state capital Pierre meeting up with the interstate at Wall for the final leg into Rapid City.

The scenery, basically prairie, is the same.

We had tried this last year but were thwarted by bad weather and diverted to the interstate directly south of the capital.

This time the 14 was enveloped in fog the whole way to Pierre and we saw nothing but the taillights of the cars/trucks in front of us.

Thankfully the capital is home to one of the best steakhouses, The Cattleman’s Club, and again it didn’t disappoint.

Next morning the weather forecast didn’t look good so we (again!) abandoned our Route 14 trip and headed for the interstate.

All was fine for a while, then the temperature dropped to -8°C and our surroundings turned white.

Ice!

And the road became a skating rink. We were down to speed of under 60kmh on a road with a speed limit of 130kmh.

There were county trucks already dumping salt and gravel but on the passing lane only and there were jackknifed transports in the ditches both sides of the road.

Video here.

Was a sweaty back drive to Wall and a relief to have a break, gas up and consume a buffalo burger at Wall Drug.

Then it was another slow careful drive through an icy landscape to our family accommodation at Edelweiss Mountain via Rapid City.

That evening it snowed.

After two days relaxing there we moved onto to Custer via Hill City.

Family had ‘borrowed’ a friend’s nice cabin just out of town and we took the opportunity of exploring the town, visiting Custer State Park (absolutely stunning) and the Mammoth Site (extremely interesting) at Hot Springs.

Tatanka is the Lakota word for bison 

The animal is essential part of their culture.

My YouTube video here.

Being there out of season avoided the crowds but we faced closed businesses and restaurants. Thinking back, this didn’t affect us a whole lot.

Then after a few days it was back along the I90 and across the Missouri in perfect weather to the Sioux Falls area.

A great week away.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 5 / Colorado / Days 3-6

Day 3

It’s a short drive from Montrose back along Route 50 to the Black Canyon of Gunnison River.

I had done a little research and thought I knew what to expect, but what we saw there was jaw dropping.

The pic below is the initial view of the canyon from the first car park.

It was a preview of what we were going to experience over the next three hours.

We walked the 1.5km path along the edge of the canyon to the Visitors Centre and back.

Then we drove to the various outlooks.

We came across a few deer on the road but they were quick to make their escape.

 

The Black Canyon is so named because its steepness makes it difficult for sunlight to penetrate into its depths, some parts getting only 30 minutes a day. As a result, the canyon is often shrouded in shadow, causing the rocky walls to appear black. At its narrowest point the canyon is only 12 m wide at the river.

At the section where the canyon’s walls are the steepest, it is 16km long with depths ranging from 525 to 740m.

My Canyon YouTube video 

Then back to Montrose for a late lunch at Colorado Boy for good panini, salad and craft beer.

Then it was a drive to Grand Junction. Here is where the Gunnison and Colorado rivers meet.   

We made a small detour to the Two Rivers Winery where we tasted a selection of their products. A couple were quite acceptable.

Dinner that night was fancy tacos and craft beer at Tacoparty downtown.

Day 4

What to do today?

We only had a 1.5 hour drive to our next destination, Glenwood Springs.

A 2 hour drive to the west in Utah was The Arches National Park.

But we had done a lot of driving so far and an extra 4 hours added on today didn’t appeal.

A quick look at the Grand Junction tourist brochures indicated the Colorado National Monument just out of town maybe worth a visit. 

Reviews were mixed however.

It was only a 45 minute circuit so we took the ‘plunge”.

 

Three hours later we emerged from the park a little gobsmacked.

It was one of the most wonderful places we had seen.

And wild life too, a photogenic mountain sheep who was happy to pose but a shy coyote didn’t wait to be photographed.

My Colorado National Monument YouTube video is here.

Then it was a drive through an ever changing landscape following the Colorado River to Glenwood Springs for a relaxing couple of hours of soaking at the Iron Mountain Hot Springs.

Then probably the best meal of the trip at the CO Ranch House.

Grilled mountain trout and asparagus washed down with a bottle of Sancerre.

Day 5 

Our last full day was a drive, three hours, to our Denver airport hotel.

The I70 from Glenwood Springs traverses a number of canyons, high mountain passes and tunnels and is very busy with cars travelling seemingly bumper to bumper at high speed and trucks struggling up steep inclines.

We passed through the ski resorts of Vail, Copper Mountain and Beaver Creek.

The Eisenhower Tunnel, with a maximum elevation of 3401m and a length of 2.7km is a very impressive engineering accomplishment.

For the uninitiated, this drive was a bit stressful but we made it unscathed, physically. Mentally may have been a different matter.

To ease ‘the pain’ we stopped for a very good BBQ lunch at Smokin’ Yards in Idaho Springs and had enough leftovers for dinner in our DEN hotel after their well attended happy hour.

It was a deserved good night’s sleep at one of the Airport Hiltons.

Day 6

Up reasonably early for a typical hotel breakfast, a short drive to return the rental, shuttle to Denver airport, check in, a relatively long wait to get through security.

I’ve been to Denver airport a lot of times over the last 25 years but always stayed airside, never been landside.

Actually leaving the airport was a first.

It’s a huge operation with the main Jeppesen Terminal connected to three concourses by trains. Total number of gates is around 160 which service 25 airlines.

I am more used to Terminal B from which United Airlines arrive and depart. But they have expanded into Terminal A as well so you have to be on the ball looking at the departure boards when catching or connecting flights.

So from there the daughter flew back to NYC, me back to Sioux Falls.

A great trip all round.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 4 / Colorado / Days 1-2

Day 1

I flew the one and a bit hours from Sioux Falls to Denver and met up with the daughter who had flown in from New York City.

After a very efficient organisation of a rental car, a Nissan Murano, we took the short drive to Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods.

This park is popular for hiking, rock climbing, biking, and horseback riding.

It attracts more than 2 million visitors a year.

The outstanding geologic features of the park are the ancient sedimentary beds of deep-red, pink and white sandstones, conglomerates and limestone that were deposited horizontally, but have now been tilted vertically and faulted into "fins" by the immense mountain building forces caused by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains and the Pikes Peak massif.

The following Pleistocene Ice Age resulted in erosion and glaciation of the rock, creating the present formations. 

After driving the circuit, we walked and climbed for a couple hours through this amazing landscape.

Here is my YouTube video.

Later that afternoon we found our comfortable suburban Airbnb easily. 

Dinner at Shuga’s Restaurant and Bar was excellent despite a particularly grumpy server and my CC not working. 

A later call to my bank in Australia established that a block had been put on it due to a suspicious transaction ie. Brookings Health System 🙄.

They promised to unblock it within the hour.

Day 2

Next morning, after a good coffee in town, we were in line at the gate at the 9am opening time for the drive up to Pikes Peak, height 4,302m (14,115ft).

The drive started off fairly easily but as we progressed the road got steeper, narrower and extremely winding. 

The switchbacks had no safety railings and the drop offs were a little confronting.

It became obvious as we climbed that we were not at all height acclimatised.

At 6000ft Denver/Colorado Springs had not been a problem.

But for us above 8000ft altitude sickness became a reality.

It presented itself as a woozy head and some difficulty walking in a straight line.

Despite that, we managed to eat one of their famous donuts which were pretty yummy and walk (stagger?) the circuit of the summit in below freezing temperatures.

You can see five states from the top on a clear day and that is what we got.

My YouTube video.

Then we had to really gird our loins for a safe trip back down.

Concentration plus a low speed was the name of the game.

We were supposed to engage low gear all the way to the mid point but the Nissan’s low gear was not as low as some and we had to apply the brakes more than we should have.

At the mid point ranger station our brake temperature test was 500°F, way above the required 300°F, so we were sent to the ‘naughty’ car park for 30 minutes too let things cool down before completing the descent.

We were not the only ones there.

My YouTube descent video.

Then it was a long but beautiful drive to Montrose with the scenery changing dramatically each hour from expansive plains with snowy mountain backdrops to steep pine covered mountain passes and lakes and rivers surrounded by bare mesas and buttes.

Another CC refusal at a gas station along the way😡. 

Another call to my bank later that evening finally sorted out the situation. Really annoying when you advise your bank of your travel plans before leaving home.

Always have a stash of cash is the lesson learnt.

Another nice suburban Airbnb in Montrose and dinner around the corner at the Horse Fly Brewing Company was excellent.

Next day would be the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 3 / Outside Sioux Falls Activities

Elkton, SD

Staying with family in a nice rural environment.

Lots of corn/bean harvest activity going on around us.

Lake Hendricks, SD/MN

Lovely lakeside family accommodation and a USA small town feel just across the border.

We had a fun family reunion here.

Granite Falls, MN

Lisa and I (not winners) visited the Prairie’s Edge Casino with Crystal (big winner).

Nice facility.

Lots of slots and reasonable food at cheap prices. 

Try the chilli dog!

Choice of smoking and non smoking gambling rooms which is a big plus. So many casinos are tobacco smoke polluted.

Lowville, MN

Family farm corn harvest.

 My YouTube video of harvest here.

Brookings, SD.

Great university town (SDSU) with lots of restaurants, bars, cafes and boutique shopping.

Unfortunately I had to visit the ER at the Brookings Health System.

I was extremely well and efficiently looked after. 

The cost however was the complete opposite to our socialised medicine system in Australia.

Thank goodness for travel insurance. 

Never go overseas, especially to the USA, without it.

Dell Rapids, SD.

High School football (NFL) game.

My short YouTube video here.

Places to eat/drink in Brookings, Lake Hendricks and Elkton.

Great coffee and atmosphere at Kool Beans, Brookings.

Good coffee at Cottonwood Bistro, Brookings.

BBQ pulled pork sandwiches at Backyard BBQ, Brookings.

Best ham and cheese omelette at Irene’s Cafe, Lake Hendricks.

Prime rib at Knotty Pine Supper Club, Elkton.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 2 / Sioux Falls Activities

The Sculpture Walk

The 2023 exhibition is the 20th.

The sculptures are placed throughout downtown Sioux Falls and other high traffic areas of the city.

Art is really brought to the people.

Have always loved this and again, it’s worth the hour’s walk 

My Youtube video here

The Arc of Dreams

One of my favourite places to visit.

More details in this previous post.

My YouTube video here 

Falls Park

Always worth a wander and a few pictures.
Not a lot of water flow this time.
More details in this previous post.
My YouTube video is here

Sioux Falls Quilt Show

The biggest quilt show in South Dakota held every two years.
Here’s a small sample of the 300 plus quilts on display.

And sister Kay was vending there.

Check out her website

Recommended Places to Eat.

Phillips Ave Diner. Back to a full post Covid menu.

Try the House Reuben sandwich or the Spicy G burger.

M.B Hackett Deli for an innovative lunch menu.

Our 2023 USA Visit / Part 1 / Getting There

Late September departure.

Instead of leaving the car at the airport, we decided to take the train from Nowra (Bomaderry).

A neighbour kindly drove us an hour north to the station.

A very pleasant and relaxing rail trip with two train changes finally had us right under the international terminal and our hotel for the night.

Check in the next morning was fast as was emigration and security which was in great contrast to the extended time it took in 2022.

The 14 hour flight on United to LAX was relatively comfortable and uneventful.

A spare seat beside me was a bonus.

   

I was through USA immigration in about an hour, the co driver, as an American citizen, a lot less.

Apart from a sniffer dog, no real customs presence.

After dropping our bags off at the transfer point it was a longish walk from Tom Bradley Terminal to T7 where we were soon, after another quick security check, having a nice breakfast overlooking airport apron activity.

Then an onward flight to Denver for an early supper and, of course, our first Caribou coffee of the trip. 

Then another flight to our final destination Sioux Falls. 

Total travel time approximately 24 hours.

Next morning it was time to ease into our USA adventure.

The Voice Referendum / Result

The referendum was discussed here.

http://onthegrapevine.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-voice-upcoming-australian.html

Extremely disappointing result.

I have no words.

Fencing a Dry Creek Bed

The ‘dry’ is with us.

Just 25mm rain over the last 5 months.

As a result our creek has dried up with just a few pools remaining.

When the creek is running, the cattle have no interest in trying to get along it to ‘greener pastures ‘ next door.

However fences that were put in the creek bed during the last dry have been washed away or damaged by subsequent flood. 

So now they can just walk through if they want. 

And seeing feed is still short here they are always on the lookout. The neighbour’s pasture is ‘improved’ and always looks nice and green.
And he only has horse fences ie. plain not barbed wire along his boundary with the highway so letting them wander a risk we can’t take.
There were three spots that needed doing.
Two were still muddy, the third still had knee high water in a pool.
So over three days, starting early morning to avoid the heat (+30℃ days), got that work done.

The co driver was there supervising in case I got stuck (highly unlikely) or slipped down the bank and fell in (highly likely).
The northern one was relatively easy. No steep entry. Just muddy.

The middle one had the advantage of a lot of flood debris still tangled up in the old creek bed fence forming a nice thick sturdy barrier so all that was needed was some wire tightening and a few additional posts. Relatively steep entry/exit but not too muddy.

In the southern one, the old creek bed fence had completely disappeared. 

Very steep entry and VERY slippery. 

And the pool was over boot height plus the mud was of the boot sucking variety.

But I got that done with virtually no drama, just wet muddy clothing and water logged 

So that plus other standard fence maintenance is all done.

Our eastern boundary is as secure as possible.

Ulladulla Wildflower Reserve

I have lived in the area now for over 30 years and never been to the Ulladulla Wildflower Reserve.

It lies to the west of the town on the edge of ever increasing spread of suburbia.

The co driver thought it would be good for a walk there.

There are a number of walking tracks so we took the longest loop.

Being early spring that season’s wildflowers were just starting to appear.

Luckily there were some prime examples of the Waratah, a brilliant red cone shaped bloom which is the state flower and also the name and emblem of our hapless state rugby team.

It was a beautiful warm windless morning.

The path was well signed and easy to follow. 

Occasionally there was a comfortable bench to take a break.

A short video of our walk can be seen on this YouTube link.

Unfortunately we didn’t see much wild life apart from some crimson rosellas but did hear some scurrying as we approached. 

Goannas? 

And there was plenty of bird song.

Unfortunately the reserve was a victim of the 2019/20 bushfires but regrowth, particularly the understorey has been substantial over the last two and half years. Only evidence left of the fires are the blackened trunks of the trees, some of which are quite large and obviously very old.

A highly recommended easy walk in the area.

It took us an hour to do the loop before we headed back into town for our morning coffee at Craft.

Australia / Very Hot Dry Summer Predicted

Climate experts are predicting a long and hot Australian summer with increased risk of drought and heatwaves despite the lack of an El Nino declaration from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)
The prediction follows record-breaking 2023 winter weather, during which the national mean temperature was 1.53 degrees above the average temperature from 1961 to 1996.

The BoM has only issued an El Nino alert, indicating a 70 per cent chance the weather system will form, but is waiting to see if the right atmospheric conditions eventuate before formally declaring the event is under way.
The bureau has become an outlier among global weather agencies by declining to declare an El Nino event.
The other agencies made their El Nino declarations based on the unusually high sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, which drive hotter weather on land.
The northern hemisphere sweltered through record-breaking heatwaves this year and there were severe bushfires in Europe and North America.
The World Meteorological Organisation declared July the hottest month on record globally, driven by soaring temperatures in the water between Japan and Canada in the North Pacific, as well as the North Atlantic.
Bushfire danger area predictions for Australia are immense and concerning.

We are not on this map due to being burnt out in 2019/20 but substantial rain in 2022 has caused considerable regrowth in our surrounding forests, particularly the under storey.
We are certainly not complacent and will have our evacuation plan and kits ready.

The Voice / Upcoming Australian Constitutional Referendum Explained

Australia’s Indigenous people have faced a long and painful history of colonisation and dispossession. The country’s First Nations people often experience the worst outcomes in health, employment, social and emotional wellbeing and incarceration rates – with efforts to close the gap between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the country consistently failing over decades.
The country will vote in a referendum on whether to establish a “voice” through the nation’s constitution. Supporters of the measure say it will help to improve the lives of First Nations peoples.
A ‘yes’ vote in the referendum would recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the constitution and create an Indigenous body to advise government and the wider parliament on issues and policies affecting Indigenous people.

Australia’s Labor government and other prominent Indigenous groups are leading the campaign to establish the advisory body.
The federal opposition Liberal party is opposed to establishing the body, arguing it would not alleviate protracted issues facing First Nations communities, while claiming it would divide the nation. Some Indigenous people and groups oppose the voice, instead pushing for a treaty to set out the terms of their relationship with the Australian government, as well as stronger actions on critical issues.

The referendum requires a double majority to pass, meaning a majority of voters nationally must approve it, as well as at least four of the country’s six states.
Supporters want the advisory body within the constitution so it cannot be abolished at the whims of changing governments, as has happened with other advisory groups.
The referendum is to take place on 14th October, 2023.

Sarah Collard-Guardian Australia

Sydney Shootings

There have been an inordinate number of shootings in Sydney lately.
Not mass shootings but more like targeted assassinations.
Almost up to one a day, in public, in busy areas.
The latest was one of more than a dozen gangland murders since late 2020.
Got a lot of people thinking, given the strict gun laws in this country, how Sydney, a major Australian city, compares with those in the rest of the world.
Of course TV news projects these latest rounds of shootings as the city’s descent into lawlessness.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reply a Sydney Morning Herald article produced the graph below.

Update: 28th July: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/27/sydney-shootings-gang-war-greenacre

1000 Blog Posts!

It’s taken almost 20 years to get there but here we are.

1000 posts!

This blog was originally set up mainly to keep distant family and friends up to date with our day to day lives. 

It was also a personal diary (journal) of our trips around Australia and the world.

Compared to the vast majority of blogs, visitor numbers with a total of just over 265,000 so far, are minuscule.

Comments have not even cracked 200!

The stats show the wine oriented subjects were the most popular. 

One, Fish, Milk, Eggs and Nuts in Wine, was on top of a Google search list on that subject for many years and is still right up there, #3 at the moment.

The 19/20 bushfires created a fair bit of interest as did Australia’s ‘battle’ with Covid-19.

The audience demographic is interesting.

Vast majority have come from the USA followed, disturbingly, by Russia.

Hackers?

Thankfully my ‘local’ audience came in third.

The question is now should I continue the blog.

Our lives have quietened down substantially and the wine growing has ended which has reduced the frequency of posts considerably.

But I guess the odd one now and again is not too much of a chore.

Thanks to those who have taken an interest in our lives. 

Decaffeinated Coffee

The co driver is into decaffeinated coffee, mainly the afternoon one.
I’m not.

Got me to wondering how coffee is actually decaffeinated.

There appears to be two processes.

One is called the sugar cane process where the coffee is steamed for 30 minutes which opens the pores of the beans allowing full caffeine removal.

The beans are then soaked in a solution of water and ethyl acetate (EA).

The EA bonds to the chlorogenic acids within the coffee and the caffeine begins to migrate away from the beans. 

The last of the caffeine is removed after 8 hours.

Low pressure steam removes all traces of EA.

Coming from an industrial chemical background I wondered about the ethyl acetate.

I generally know it as a solvent for use in paint, adhesives etc and is manufactured large scale generally by the esterification of ethanol (alcohol) and acetic acid ie. The Fischer Method.

A bit of research established that the EA used in decaffeination comes from alcohol created by the fermentation of molasses derived from sugar cane which is then mixed with acetic acid.

I was also aware of this alcohol/acetic acid reaction from wine making where a certain amount of EA, especially in young white wine, creates a ‘sweetness’. However excess EA in wine is a fault.

The second process is called the Swiss Water Process.

This involves hydrating the raw coffee then continuously circulating Green Coffee Extract (GCE) around the coffee for 8-10 hours which causes the caffeine to migrate to the GCE.

The coffee 99.9% caffeine free is then dried, polished and packed.

This process ensures that if the raw coffee had organic certification prior, it will retain that certification post process.

A Wind Storm Day.

The weather bureau had predicted it and issued a severe weather warning the afternoon before.

It started to blow around midnight and got progressively worse as the day wore on reaching a peak around midday and into the early afternoon.

Gusts from the west/northwest reached 80-100km/hr in some places on the south coast.

We had a few gusts that rattled our windows.

It wasn’t a day to go outside.

Eventually a big gust brought down a dead bushfire affected tree onto our relatively new shed.

Thankfully it was the attached woodshed roof that took most of the force.

The wind eventually subsided late afternoon.

We were surprised there were no blackouts.

Next morning I went on a complete boundary walk.

Lots of timber (branches and small trees) down but none over fences.

You can be lucky!

Then I got to work removing the tree from the shed which proved fairly easy.

A good amount of firewood there. 

Just needs to be cut up.

The debris will go to a burn pile.

Just another day of living rural.