Monday, July 31, 2006

En uges ferie - South Mole Island, Whitsundays

Groundhogday og stress: mandag - onsdag
Vi tog afsted mod Hamilton island mandag. Alt gik som planlagt indtil vi skulle lande. Pga. dårlig vejr var det ikke muligt at lande. Istedet måtte vi flyve til Mackay på fastlandet. Her fik vi at vide, at vi blev nødt til at flyve tilbage til Brisbane #%&*%##!!! Så første dag gik derfor med en dag i lufthavnen og ombord et fly. Næste dag forsøgte vi så igen. Denne gang med success men ikke uden stress. Påvej til lufthaven stoppede toget. Et tog skulle passere så vi måtte vente. Uden yderligere oplysninger ventede vi mere end 30 min inden toget atter kørte. Imellemtiden havde Jasper ringet til flyselskabet, for at sikre, at vi kunne nå vores fly. Det kunne vi og når heldigvis vores check-in tid.

Da vi ankommer til Hamilton Island går der ingen båd til South Mole Island. Vi må vente et par timer på den næste, ikke noget man har lyst til, når det har taget over 24 timer så langt. Men okay vi får da set lidt af Hamilton. Vi ankommer til South Mole sen eftermiddag efter 45 min på havet.

Næste dag er det dejligt vejr, det blæser, men solen skinner. En skøn dag lige til jeg finder ud af, at min pung er væk. Vi erindre, at jeg sidst havde den på båden. Vi spørger i receptionen, om de har fundet den, men det har de ikke. De ringer il bådekontoret, men de har den hellere ikke. Vi ringer til min mor som spærre kortet. Senere kommer båden ind og jeg beslutter mig for at spørge personalet på båden. Da jeg kommer derud er der flydt med mennesker på båden. Jeg bemærker dog især en mand på dækket, der står og ser bagud væk fra kysten mere eller mindre samme sted som vi sad da vi sejlede over dagen forinden. Det undre mig og jeg går hen for at se mig omkring der hvor han står. Bagved gelænderet ligger min pung!!. Enormt heldigt, da den lige så godt kunne været faldet over bord.

Blæst og skyer: torsdag - lørdag
De følgende dage var vejret meget varieret, vi havde meget blæst og det var delvis overskyet. På en lille klippeø, er der ikke meget at lave, så vi slappede af med ungerne, spillet yatzi, fodrede fisk, fugle osv.

Der var en børnepasning på stedet. Tobias ville gerne derhen også selvom der ikke var andre børn. Stoffer prøvede vi også at aflevere. Han er meget genert for tiden, så han var lidt betuttet. Men han var ikke ked af det da vi overlod ham til pædagoen og så hjalp det at Tobias var der. Derfor afleverede vi ham et par timer, så vi kunne gå en tur. Bevoksning på øen var spændende og anderledes og udsigten spetaculær fra toppen.

Højdepunktet - Great Barrier Reef : søndag.
kl. 8.30 forlod vi øen og skulle så samle folk op på et par andre øer, inden vi satte kursen med revet. På vejen var vi heldige at se en humpback hval. Ved 11.30 tiden ankom vi til revet som ligger på åbent hav uden land i sigte. Umiddelbart var der ikke meget at se, så vi var spændte på hvad der gemte sig under havets overflade. Det var en kæmpe oplevelse, der var mange fisk, men de gigantiske koraller var det mest imponererede. Vi skiftedes til at snorkle indtil kl 15, hvor båden sejlede os tilbage igen.

Tobias ville vi også have med derud. I andet forsøg lykkedes det Jasper at få ham overtalt til at kigge under vandet og så gik det ellers derud af. Det første Tobias bemærkede (lidt skuffet) efter snorkelturen var, at der ikke var nogle hajer :-).

På trods af at det blæser derude, så er havet forholdsvis roligt. Det er inddæmmet af det ydre koralrev, som ligger som et barriere for det åbne hav. Great Barrier reef er et ”must”, hvis man er i Australien og på disse kanter.










Sidste dage og hjemme igen:
mandag - tirsdag
De to sidste dag gik med afsplapning i rimeligt vejr. Ferien blev ikke helt som ventet. Vejret var ikke med os og vi startede med at have alt imod os, men vi nød at være afsted med ungerne og hinanden, væk fra hverdagen med madlavning, rengøring, tøjvask, indkøb osv.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Water Recycling

Yesterday residents of Toowoomba (an inland south-east Queensland city not far from where we live) voted no (62%) to a referendum on recycled water, i.e. the treating of sewage (your own shi...) for drinking water. This is an interesting development as Toowoomba is widely regarded as the litmus test of water re-use in Australia.

Contrary to Europe, droughts are inevitable in Australia due to it’s location under a subtropical belt of high pressure. This high pressure belt results in low rainfall that is also very inconsistent. In addition, phenomena such as global climate change and El Niño can exacerbate the problem. Currently large regions across Australia, particularly the east coast and central Australia, are experiencing severe drought conditions. Many of these areas are enduring and the most onerous conditions on record. South-east Queensland where we live is no exception. We are experiencing (level 3) water restrictions due to historically low dam levels and a very bleak outlook for the future water supply. The combined capacity of the dams has now fallen below 30% and is expected to fall even further. To put further strain on water supplies south-east Queensland is also Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan region and is predicted to continue to grow strongly from its 2006 population of 2.8 million to a 2026 population of 3.7 million. The need to consider alternative water supply options is therefore very acute.

I personally believe recycling is inevitable and important for securing the water supply in this region. Although recycling needs to be justified on economic, social and environmental grounds and compared with other options like desalination, the prospect of running out of water in any region is scary and one that should be avoided at any cost. However, the notion of recycling and hence the thought of drinking your own efluent is not without controversy and poses significant community challenges.

Clearly, the ability to inform the community plays an important role. The need for transparent, reliable information to be made available to the community for it to form its own opinion (rather than experts saying how safe and reliable the supply would be) is paramount. This was also the basis for a successful community participation programme implemented in Singapore – one of the few countries to pump treated recycled water directly back into the water supply system.

It will be interesting to follow the debate. Support for recycled water schemes has achieved significant political support and it is unlikely that its implementation will be curtailed by this one referendum. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has in the media said regardless of the referendum outcome, other south-east Queensland communities would likely have to vote on the same issue in the future. "What happens in Toowoomba will have an influence on the time line for which south-east Queensland votes on this," Mr Beattie said. Also, he commented, if the vote was negative "then we will have to go out and explain the truth about recycling".

Does this ring any familiar bells with Danes? If you don’t get the answer you want first time around simply try again ("no" to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and subsequently "yes" to Edinburgh in 1993).

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Learning to read without books

The other day I was recommended a free website for children called Starfall where children can learn to read. To begin with children do the ABC's then move on to the books and games in a sequential order. It uses pictures and small animations to link letters, sounds and words in both verbal and written form and also incorporates other elements such as counting and the calendar. All very cleverly done.

The about section provides an overview of Starfalls history. The website was started by the Polis-Schutz family seemingly with a passion about making the world a better place, and to have the opportunity to use the Internet to help children learn to read.

In terms of experience with Tobias and the potential educational value it is still early days. He has only tried it a few times so far. However, observing him use the website is very encouraging. He already knows his ABC’s (in Danish and English), but is struggling with the sounds which is the key to pronouncing words. Here I think the website will prove its worth – at least initially. It will be interesting to follow his developments. Will keep you posted on how he goes.