Category Archives: 12 of 12

12 of 12, Firefighting, Geocaching, Home Life, Scouts

March 2011 – “12 of 12”

March 12, 2011 Scott

Doesn’t time fly – here it is again another 12th of the month.

Having had a Japanese Student (Yukari from Morioka), the happenings in Japan over the last 24 hours were of interest. Yukari was heading home to Japan today and with the Airports in Tokyo closed, it was unsure whether she would get home. We have had no contact with her parents since the Earthquake but this is more than likely because of no phones at the moment.

By midday, it was confirmed that Narita Airport in Tokyo had reopened so we bid farewell to Yukari and wished her and her family well.

This weekend being the Adelaide Cup Long Weekend, is also the Family Camp for the Blackwood Scout Group at Roonka. It is a great weekend away but I am also on call so Jenny took the kids while I stayed home with the dog (Molly) and budgie (Henry). Molly was hoping to go away as well and waited at the door expectantly while the car was packed.

Jenny’s travels up to the campsite were tracked with our Spot Messenger – unfortunately there is no phone coverage up at Roonka so I cant get here to turn it off now ……

With regard to on-call, I have been to 4 calls so far, so staying home has not been quiet although I have a lot of paperwork still to complete before next weeks, Clipsal 500 Motor Race.

There was a package waiting for me at the Post Office from overseas – it was my new pathtags to take with me on the Reno trip in 2 weeks.

Today is one of two Geocaching 12 of 12’s for the year, so I headed out this afternoon to grab a few caches:

GC25Y1W – Dead End

GC2N9A7 – Sitting A-Round

GC2MZ68 – Back to School: Craigburn

GC2MZ6D – Glen’s Dale

GC2NHWN – Reserve

GC2KW79 – Lovely Valley

GC2KJZE – Rocky Flagstaff

$Molly says \"Can I go too\"$

$GC2MZ6D - Glen\'s Dale$

$Keeping an eye on Jenny\'s Travels$

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12 of 12, Geocaching, Home Life, Motorsport

12 of 12 for February 2011 …

February 12, 2011 Scott

It is always interesting to see what the day will bring on the 12th of each month and today was another very different and varied day.

It started out with a visit to Lions Bargain Centre to drop off a couple of old stoves we had accumulated over the years. The Bargain Centre is where Lions Club members have provided the Blackwood community with the opportunity to “dispose” of their unwanted saleable goods which have been turned into cash and in turn donated back to many worthwhile local recipients.

Only problem was when I had loaded up the stoves and started to head off, one of the new tyres on the Fire Camry was flat. The tyre was not even a day old yet …. so out with the compressor and dropped off the stoves. Like lost things that are dropped off, you don’t even get them off the trailer and someone has bought them. It is a busy spot on a Saturday morning.

I busied myself with helping out the Australian Government by being a Tax Commissioner. In other words I started on the quarterly BAS statement where I work out what tax I have collected on behalf of the Government and send them a cheque. One day I should send them an invoice for the time it takes to collect the tax on their behalf.

It was then time to make my way out to Speedway City for volunteer duty on the Fire & Rescue Crew. Of course I grabbed a couple of caches on the way out and home as well.

It was a quiet night with small fields for most races until the novelty Ramp Jump Race where old cars with basically a roll cage head round the track going over 4 ramps while trying to stay upright and not catch fire. It is really a Demolition Derby with jumps. Even though we didn’t have any fires, there was plenty of rollovers and fuel spills.

The most spectacular part of the night was the sunset with red clouds away towards the east and orange clouds on the horizon to the west.

Until next month – I am on call on the 12th March so anything is possible …..

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12 of 12, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work Life

January 2011 – 12 of 12

January 13, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

What was going to be a normal day at work after having a couple of weeks off on vacation on the West Coast, it certainly didn’t finish off that way.

First thing this morning started with a pager test as it is the first day of my 7 days on call as Safety Officer for the Metropolitan Fire Service. A quick check of the lights and siren on the Camry then through the car wash to rinse off a couple of weeks of grime from sitting in the driveway.

There were a couple of packages at the Post Office to pick up. They came from the US. One was a box of travel bugs from Reno and the other was an Every Trail T-shirt. I got the T-shirt for tagging photos on the Every Trail website a few weeks ago.

Getting into work and it was a little hard as the builders next door had blocked our back driveway to put the sign up on the new Police HQ building.

I was asked to trial a few speed apps for the iPhone but there doesn’t seem to be any decent ones around.

Spent the day doing the paperwork it takes to run a Fire Service, before heading home for the day.

Wednesday night is “Night Owls” Lawn Bowls at the Blackwood Bowling Club. I was heading up to the Club when I got my first callout for the night – to a Shop Fire at Gawler (58 kms away). I was turned back quickly and went back to the Bowling Club.

I was about to take my first bowl when the pager went again – this time for a Hospital Fire at Victor Harbor (88 kms away).

I thought I would have got turned back on this call but I was requested to attend the scene and report back to the On-Call Commander and the Deputy Chief.

After attending the fire at Victor, I managed a few geocache finds on the way home.

Again, another very different 12 of 12.

$TB\'s from Reno$

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12 of 12, Family Life, Geocaching, Home Life, House Renovations

December 12 of 12 – nearly forgot …

December 12, 2010 Scott 1 Comment

If it hadn’t been for a tweat from Mundoo, I would have forgotten that today was the 12th of the month.

Today was a cruisy sort of day. Had to drop off Bradley at a friends house at Flagstaff Hill. This gave me a chance to grab a couple of caches and at the same time hide a Gnome from the GeGnome Project. The GeGnome Project is a Geocaching Australia caching game where 217 garden gnomes have been hidden around Australia and for the months of December and January get moved around by geocachers.

One of the Gnomes (Firesafe Hoe) I have hidden has travelled so far from Port Lincoln to Melbourne to Los Angeles to Memphis so is leading the ladder for distance. I hope he makes it back to Australia.

I have been out of action walking wise for a couple of weeks now due to a bad case of gout. Yes I have heard it all – getting old, drinking too much, etc., etc. It may be the old bit but not the drinking bit as I have been on call most of the last two weeks.

Today was the first day I have felt like walking so I decided to go for a walk in the Sturt Gorge Recreation Park to grab a cache – Marri Track.

Back home and the deck is now finished around the pool so I had the pool fence to go back up. I was ably supervised by our dog, Molly, although I think she was more interested in the birds and other dogs making noise around the neighbourhood.

Yesterday I attended a Pathtag Swap Meet which meant that I had about 50 pathtags to log today as well.

BBQ with family friends for tea, then once it got dark, time for our Xmas lights to spring to life. We then dropped Bradley off at his friends for a sleepover and took the girls Xmas Light spotting. The most impressive ones were behind the BP at O’Halloran Hill.

So ends the 12 of 12 for December. 🙂

$Lights at O\'Halloran Hill$

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12 of 12, Family Life, Scott at Work, Scouts, Work Life

November 12 of 12 …

November 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Another month down and another 12 of 12. This month a bit of work and a bit of play.

I woke up this morning at the State Training Centre at Brukunga as I was taking part in the first Senior Officer Bushfire / Emergency Management Forum. This involved the Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs of the Emergency Services (MFS / CFS / SES) and the Police Commissioner and Assistant Commissioners of SAPOL. The high level forum discussed the Victorian Royal Commission for the 2009 Bushfires and came up with some resolution on how South Australia will tackle bushfires in the fire season to come.

The forum concluded at lunchtime and it was time to head back down to work for a few more hours before heading out with the family and 500 other scouts to the Distinctive Home Dome to watch the Adelaide 36er’s take on the NZ Breakers in basketball. The Scouts had a promotion on tonight including a half time show with abseiling, tent pitching and sand buggies. The tickets for the game were free as part of the promotion.

The game was an exciting one with the 36er’s being down by points early in the game before levelling in the 3rd quarter but ending up losing by 3 points. Not bad considering the NZ Breakers are leading the NBL competition at the moment.

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12 of 12, Geocaching

October 2010 – 12 of 12 ….

October 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After having 10 days off to travel across to the West Coast, up the Googs Track, then up to the Northern Territory Border, across to Finke and then down the Oodnadatta Track to the Flinders (4200 km) it was hard to have to go back to work today.

Today wasn’t going to be anything special but it took a lot longer today to get to work with the Freeway shut down due to a truck crash and a water main burst on Fullarton Road shutting down most roads into the City.

After clearing out the backlog of emails, I was asked to attend some eProcurement training at Westpac House. At least the walk got me out of the office.

Took some photos of the two building projects. The car park to the north is now complete and the Police HQ behind the Fire Station is still heading upward.

Even though I am the keeper of the On-Call Roster, I still have to do my bit and this week coming is my time. This means being on-call 24/7 for a week and attending any 2nd Alarm incidents in the Metropolitan area (80km x 25km). Grabbed my turnout gear from the dry cleaning locker and I am now ready to go.

Tomorrow I am off to Port Lincoln to do some groundwork for an Operational Exercise to be held in November, so of course I checked to see where all the caches are in case I get some downtime during the day.

Then back home with still traffic chaos due to the Freeway still shut down due to the truck accident – there was a fatality so it may be shut for a while.

Finished up with Molly as always waiting patiently for any scraps that may “fall” from the table during tea.

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12 of 12, Family Life, Holidays, Skiing

September 12 of 12 – off to the snow ….

September 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Our day started off in Swan Hill after spending the night at Hill Top Resort on the annual pilgrimage to Falls Creek. First stop was Lake Boga to grab a cache at the Cannie Ridge Pump. This is the first time that we have seen Lake Boga with water in it for a long time. I would say with the floodings from last weekend and heavy rain would have something to do with it.

After grabbing a few of the Geocaching Australia Burke and Wills geocaches, it was time for stop at Echuca. We joined the masses down at Paddlesteamer Park or what is left of it to watch the River Murray flow past. Most of the park is now under water and the Paddlesteamers are firmly tethered to the bank. They are not in operation at the moment as the current is too strong. It would be a quick trip downstream and you probably wouldn’t get back again.

After lunch at Beechworth Bakery and a few caches in Echuca including the difficult Port of Call, we kept following the Murray Valley Highway to Shepparton. There is still a lot of water around after last weeks floods from the Goulburn River and a lot of debris against fences but no roads cut.

The trip continued through Benalla to the Hume Freeway then off onto the Snow Road through Millawa, Myrtleford, Happy Valley to Mt Beauty. We couldn’t see any snow on the way up but there was a lot of cloud covering the mountains.

We even had 2 sets of traffic lights on the drive up but that was due to the roadworks to fix up the road after last weeks landslides. We finally saw some snow about 3kms from the Resort Entry 🙂

It was then time to empty the car, fill up the Oversnow and settler in to our home for the next week – Schuss Ski Lodge.

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12 of 12, Firefighting, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work, Work Life

12 of 12 August 2010 – Breathing Apparatus ……

August 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

The day didn’t start well with a couple of Geocaching Events I was planning being knocked back for approval. After doing a little research and a letter to the Ump, I hope that he will reconsider the Events and have them listed.

Today was my annual Breathing Apparatus Re-accreditation. It involves some theory, then some drills in the Training Tower where the house prop and cage prop are darkened, filled with smoke and “heavy” dummies, we suit up in our Fire-fighting PPE, Breathing Apparatus, take in hoselines and drag out all the dummies.

Even though today was cool and drizzly, it was still warm enough to work up a sweat.

The day finished on a high though with a FTF on a cache at Upper Sturt on the way home, GC2D8VT – Beagles Boyfriend 🙂

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12 of 12, Family Life, Geocaching, Holidays

12 of 12 July 2010 …

July 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Having returned last night from the Birdsville Track, I thought today would be an average day just cleaning up. How things change.

The day started with a phone call from my brother. He was having IT issues at his office after the storm that came through Blackwood on Saturday morning. His modem had fried and the network wasn’t working like it should. A new modem and a few tweaks to the network and he was up and running.

Next was a trip to Adelaide for the regular Geocaching Pub Lunch at the Marble Bar. A lot of the regulars including some others that had returned from the Birdsville Track wetting the appetite of more 4WDers wanting to make the trek. There were also a few new faces today.

Around to the car wash to wash off the Birdsville Track mud and coffee, then back up to Blackwood to collect today’s pathtags from the post-box. Across the road from the post office was Hello Chinese Massage – why not!

Home with a clean 4WD, hang up the wet tents (we had some rain on the Birdsville Track which made the going fun) and then Molly the Dog went barking mad. It seems she found a couple of “friends” up in the spa rafters. See the last photo.

With the mud now off, it was time to check out the damage – final count – one new tyre, cracked windscreen and broken muffler. 🙁

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12 of 12, Family Life, Geocaching

Jolly Jamestown Jaunt June Long Weekend 12 of 12 …..

June 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

For the past 8 years, cachers of South Australia have travelled to a country town for a 3 day Geocaching fun event. This year it was time for the Jolly Jamestown Jaunt on June LWE 2010. This is our second June event having had fun in the mud last year for the Heart of Yorke Maitland event.

Saturday of the event was also the 12th of the month so time for the “12 of 12”. Today was spent going around the town precinct finding 26 locations for the quiz as well as going further afield to hide an event cache.

Each team hides one temporary cache for the weekend with Sunday spent finding all the temporary caches. The further the walk from a roadway, the greater the points for the find.

We also spent the day doing the local permanent caches grabbing 2 FTF’s on some newly published caches. Our temporary cache will become a permanent following the event – GC2A864 – Official GPS Mail Only II. Our cache overlooks the Hallett Wind Farm.

On returning back to the Showgrounds base, we were provided with a spectacular double rainbow to the east. Time for a shower and get ready for the event Dinner – GC29403 – Jolly Jamestown Junket Geocaching Dinner – even though no junket was consumed during the dinner. Another great event within the event with 120 sitting down at the local Commercial Hotel for the meal. The placemat was made up of avatars from the many cachers present including ours.

Back to the showgrounds for some more merriment before some sleep in preparation for the Sunday Find Day.

Cache find for the day:

GC2A2RA – Could it be a Maze? – FTF

GC2A1FK – Jolly aMAZEing Jamestown – FTF

GC29J5B – Wheres the Station?

GC21538 – Reginald’s Story

GC29J4H – Stop, Wait, Go

GC21533 – Reginald’s School

GC298RJ – The New Forest

GC1ZHC8 – Bundaleer: Sounds of the Forest