Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A Mystery Solved.

The riddle of the mystery object has been solved!

However, in true Uncle Harry style I am going to inflict yet more photos on you all before I reveal our detectives.

If you want me to stop you’ll have to cease telling me you like my piccies!

Well here we go again, following our brief stop at Port Fairy we pushed a further 80km (50 miles) along the coast to Portland.
Just beyond Portland (another 20km) lie Cape Nelson and Cape Bridgewater.

As this was a lightning trip we shot across to both.

At Cape Nelson we stopped for a late morning tea and I (strange as it sounds) took some piccies.

My piccies there focussed on the rather magnificent lighthouse.I liked the shapes and shadows of the doorway and the walls around it.This piccie gives an indication of how the lighthouse perches near the edge of a cliff.
Past Cape Nelson lies Cape Bridgewater.
There are some interesting features there called “The Petrified Forest”.They are in fact an oddity known as “Solution Tubes” which form in prehistoric, vegetation covered sand dunes. When the vegetation is removed the old dunes erode away leaving the tubes.

Behind the "Petrified Forest" you’ve probably spotted a man-made feature on Cape Bridgewater.A wind farm.
Many people hate these. I actually quite like them.
Yes they stand out, but I think they have a kind of majesty.
Also they are a symbol that we are finally beginning to look at alternatives to an economy based on finite fossil fuels, with all the problems they come with.
I also like the fact that one of our most ancient machines is being modified as part of a solution.

Finally we drove down to the Bridgewater Lakes and parked ourselves on a jetty overlooking this lake. For a late lunch.
This piccie shows our setup. Our folding chairs have done many thousands of kilometres with us. The large soft bag is a cooler bag, the small one my camera bag. The red bag is one of Deb’s knitting bags. Her knitting goes almost everywhere with us. Knitting is probably her favourite pastime and it is something for her to do when her loony husband is “Getting just one more photo of that…”Oh, and you might also notice my mystery object on the table.

Which brings me to an announcement

Rayna of Coffee Rings Everywhere nailed it with her guess: “Is that something you use to warm water? You could pack the chimney with hot embers or something?”

Cheers all round! Take a bow Rayna
Rayna you are exactly right, except for the type of fuel.
This item is called an “Ecobilly”
To use it you loosely fill the chimney part (underneath) with eucalyptus leaves. You turn it upright on a piece of bare ground and fill the top chamber with water.
Put on the lid and apply a match.Eucalyptus leaves have such a high oil content that they burn with an intense heat (as unfortunately attested by our bushfires). The heat coupled with the fire being contained in the cone means it will usually boil in 3 minutes.
All from a tiny fire that leaves a small pile of ash.
And here an unflattering pic of me tending said object.Jaydee deserves an honourable mention for her guess: “I was going to guess a coffee maker of some sort - but it's doubtful. It's probably more of a case of me needing another cup.”
You just boil plain water in the billy, but hey you certainly could make coffee with that water (although we usually make the bush staple - tea).

Next: Aboriginal rock shelters

18 comments:

Yvonne Osborne said...

As it is now explained, I totally understand your mystery object. Very clever. And I love your "piccies"! The lighthouse looks very much like home. There are more of those on the Great Lakes than anywhere else on earth. And I like wind farms. I like what they represent. We have some of these in the top of the Thumb. There has been some concern in the past about them interfering with migration patterns but I think we understand that more now and it shouldn't be a problem. I think they are beautiful in their own right. Certainly more so than oil rigs in the ocean.

Jaydee Morgan said...

I wish I could be in any one of those pictures. At the moment, we're under snow with more on the way.

I also like windfarms. They're starting to get popular in some places around here. To drive by and see them is amazing.

Congrats to Rayna for guessing it right - and thanks for the honorable mention. Anything that CAN make coffee is good in my books.

Sarah Ahiers said...

oooh! Cool solution for the mystery item - i kind of want one (but lacking eucalyptus leaves here in chilly Minnesota, it would really serve no purpose.
Also i love the Petrified Forest

Ann said...

What a very organized lunch set up. My crowd would have just dumped everything in a path to the chairs. Oh how I long for organization!

So that is a Billy can. Interesting.

Natasha said...

We are going to keep telling you we love your pictures, if that is going to make you post more of them.

And we have something called a Samovar which they use in Kashmir for making tea- same principle. So I don't take credit for guessing right.

~ Rayna

Anonymous said...

The weather has been miserable in Northern California, and that lighthouse picture is just beautiful. I could daydream of places like that all day-- so beatiful that they can't possibly be real. *sigh* Time to convince the hubby to take me on holiday again.... :)

B. Miller said...

Cool post! I love all these pictures. I live on the East Coast of the United States and there are a lot of lighthouses at my favorite spots! Thanks for sharing!

Anne Gallagher said...

Beautiful pictures! I so wish I could visist. I love the ocean and have never seen it so blue.

Jemi Fraser said...

Wow - there is some really incredible scenery where you are - absolutely gorgeous!

Jenners said...

I would have never guessed that in a million years!

Mel Chesley said...

Awesome pics! I love lighthouses. I got to see a few while in Oregon several years ago visiting my dad. I've a couple lighthouses here in Alaska I get to see on a regular basis.

And hooray! I am now following your blog. :D Thanks for following mine.

Aubrie said...

Those are beautiful pictures. I love lighthouses as well. We have a few nice ones up here on the coast in New England. But that one is breathtaking.

And thanks for all the help with my first page. You were a tremendous help! :)

Heidenkind said...

I love wind farms, too. I've seen people get out of their cars and take pictures of them before.

Al said...

Hi Yvonne,
It’s a very handy mystery object.
I suppose lighthouses look similar world wide. So you have a profusion of lighthouses on the great lakes? I’ll have to get up that way sometime.
The thing about wind farms is suddenly we seem to have “progress” that is actually progressive with very little in the way of downside.

Hi Jaydee,
Snow again? Is that as late in the season as I think it is?
Coffee makes the world go round!
Hi Sarah,
Yep, it really needs the heat of those gum leaves.
The petrified forest is cool isn’t it?

Hi Ann,
Hey we are frequently that disorganised too. But if we are going away for a few days we usually pack what comfort we can into the car.
The Ecobilly is not much like a traditional billy. A “real billy” is more like a plain tin with a wire handle and a lid that you hang over a camp fire.

Hi Rayna,
Ok. I’ll just have to keep going on the piccies then!
Hey don’t down play your victory!
Are Samovars actually called that in Kashmir? My grand parents brought an old brass one from India when they moved here, they never used it other than as a decoration, (and I don’t remember them actually calling it anything).

Hi Christy,
A cold wet spring huh? It is a spot that it is all to easy to daydream about that is for sure.
You deserve a holiday, just book it!

Hi B,
Hey I’m pleased you like the piccies.
Light houses are so often in beautiful places and they just seem to enhance them all the more.

Hi Anne,
I got the name right this time!
It is a gorgeous part of the coast. The ocean there seems to be either deep blue on a sunny day or a green when it is overcast, ever changing. Hey it would be great if you could get down this way sometime.

Hi Jemi,
It is a beautiful part of the world. But we are spoiled in a lot of Oz! Pleased you liked it.

Hi Jenners,
Well it is a piece of gear that you don’t run into every day.

Hi Caledonia Lass,
Welcome to my blog.
Lighthouses are great aren’t they?

Hi Aubrie,
There is some spectacular scenery up in New England (from what I hear). I really want to get up that way one autumn to see the trees change, we don’t have anything like that here.
I enjoyed your page, I’m pleased my suggestions were of some assistance.

Hi Tasha,
Wind farms seem such an odd mix of an ancient technology and very high tech, and they are just so visually impressive. I can’t help but be fascinated.
That is me I stop anywhere it is safe to take piccies of almost anything.

Mary Gray said...

I would guess the eucaplyptus leaves smell wonderful even when burning, but I've never tried it.

I love the distance photo of the light house. I still think you should follow me around all day and make my life look really photogenic and cool.

Lisa said...

I'm with you on the wind farms. In Nebraska we've got wind almost every day of the year and mostly wide open spaces. It makes no sense not to be taking advantage of that.

Al said...

Hi M.,
Really fresh ones smell something like eucalyptus oil. Old ones smell quite pleasant but the smoke is quite acrid.
I took a heap of piccies of the light house and that was about my favourite.
Done, I'll be your own personal photo shoot manager.

Hi Lisa
Wind farms just make so much sense and the new ones will generate power in the lightest breeze.

DJ Kirkby said...

A very clever device and even more gorgeous photos! Keep posting them.