Save the Murray Darling!

I need your help on this one, there are 2 petitions that I'd like you to sign 'cause I think its a really important cause.
One is through Getup! and the other at rivermurray.com.
They are both quick and easy and don't ask for much information.



When I went to visit Biggsy and the crew for some TI training up in Cunnamulla there had been some pretty massive rainfall and the river was flowing strong! This amount of water is actually really uncommon and hardly any of it will make it out to sea.

It was quite amazing and also quite humbling to discover that this flow up in Queensland becomes the Darling and joins with the Murray that starts in the Snowy Mountains.

The Murray-Darling Basin covers one seventh of the whole of Australia and meets the ocean at Lake Alexandria which is South of Adelaide and just downriver the town of Murray Bridge. It seems like all the land to the West of the Great Dividing Range in 4 states feeds in. There is a good map here.

Well the problem is that water can be really scarce in Australia and there is a huge strain on supplies. Lack of water in the river system brings death and permanent damage to large ecosystems. Seemingly there are political challenges whereby state governments and other organisations have conflicting interests. If you have 5 minutes to spare and can join me in supporting a worthwhile cause I'd be most grateful.

Dunstan

Ladder.JPG

Ladder 4.JPG
Originally uploaded by sense of movement

OK so there is a problem with some of the cables above Huaihai Lu, a busy 5 lane road in downtown Shanghai. So what do you do? Bring out a hydraulic hoist truck, right?

Well wrong actually. In Shanghai this type of job gets the prompt attention of 4 blokes with a standard issue ladder! Unbelievable but true and here are the photos to show how. One guy stood upstream and waved the traffic across into a lane and the others held the base of the ladder. Once they had extended the upper part they leaned it against the cable in question and after a brief discussion along the lines of:

LadderHolder 1: "Hey c'mon Bill, up you go!"
NervousGuy: "How come I have to climb again?"
LadderHolder 2: "Quit whinging and get on with it before the astonished-looking Laowei (whitey) takes too many photos."
NervousGuy: "Aw man, it sucks being the new guy."

NervousGuy then made his way up to the cable, in that unsteady manner well known to those of you who have climbed a bendy, wobbly ladders. At this point the traffic-directing guy gestured that I shouldn't take any (more) photos. Not one to argue, I put my camera away as asked.

On reflecion I guess that there is probably no shortage of people seeking work as ladder holders in China and I'm sure it pays well. To give this team their due, it did seem like a quick and efficient way of getting the job done.

... although the guy at the top looked more unsteady than convinced.

It was hard to see what they were actually trying to do. Hopefully not cutting the cable the ladder was leaning against!

Check out my flickr set for the full sequence...

Back in Sydney

I'm at home in North Narrabeen after an outstanding trip and it feels great to be home. I've been doing a lot of traveling with work during the last year but this trip was mainly about taking some 'time off' and catching up with my friend Beth and my Aunt Christine and her family spanning 3 generations! That said, I did have the fortune to visit the TI Studio in New Paltz and enjoyed some great lake swimming and racing with Terry Laughlin.


View Larger Map

I flew in and out of JFK (New York) with China Eastern and extended the transit in Shanghai to a week long stopover. Hence I spent the last week of July in China and the month of August in the United States.


View Larger Map

I'm still working on the google maps for each country so you can see the places I visited. I've also put some photos on my Flickr site and will post some more as I edit them.

Check back soon or use my RSS feed to stay on the pules!

Dunstan