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G4EBT > DESERT 03.10.03 18:48l 76 Lines 2922 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 491642G4EBT
Read: DB0FHN GUEST
Subj: Re: "Lost in the desert"
Path: DB0FHN<DB0RGB<DB0MRW<DB0FOR<DB0SIF<DB0EA<DB0RES<ON0AR<WB0TAX<ZL2TZE<
GB7FCR
Sent: 031003/1643Z @:GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU #:18209 [Blackpool] FBB-7.03a $:491642G4
From: G4EBT@GB7FCR.#16.GBR.EU
To : DESERT@WW
Terry, VK5ATN wrote:-
> However, the point of the story is very valid. Whatever the unlikely
> circumstances which led to the situation of the story, the conclusions
> are totally valid and correct. Stay with the vehicle or aircraft. Even
> if the rudder control thingy is operated by hand :)
G'day possums!
I should have consulted our aeronautical expert, Hugh, G3XSE, as to
the control devices, but I never let the facts get in the way of a
good story:-)
Anyway, it was a really really old VK, in a really really old 'plane.
It wasn't one of those shop-bought "plug 'n play" jobbies - oh no, it
was home-brew. Being an ingenious sort of chap, the builder used what
items were to hand so the controls might not have functioned in the
usual manner. Well in the end, they didn't function at all, hence the
predicament!
Notwithstanding the flawed and quirky bits of the tale, I wonder how
people fared with the ranking of the items as compared to the survival
experts,
(if anybody gave it a spin, that is?).
Sailing dangerously close to the wind in raising the "desert topic"
again, but with my "sensible head on", once more I urge VK's to keep a
look out for the splendid unmissable ABC wildlife series "Down-Under",
which is presently being shown on BBC TV on Friday nights. It must surely
come
your way soon.
The series has so far shown the desert areas, the surrounding seas, and
tonight goes into the quintessential Aussie territory of the Bush. There,
some 700 varieties of eucalyptus trees grow to more than 100 Metres high,
providing homes to koalas, numbats, gliders, possums galore, and monster
bats. The filming is superb, even though the commentary is a bit flat and
doesn't really do justice to it - but rather that than Steve Irwin!
Apart from the fact that the film crew were fortuitously at Lake Eyre when
the 1 in 30 year rainfall came, the most striking contrast for me has been
the way in which some animals and creatures fend from themselves from the
minute they're born, whereas others are dependant on their parents for a
considerable period of time.
For example, the "thorny devil" lizard (one of more than 200 varieties
unique to Aus), hatches out of its egg alone - no bigger than a thumb
when it's born half a metre below the ground, then burrows up through
the sand to be greeted by searing heat. From the moment it sees daylight,
it's eating its first meal of ants. Conversely, kangaroos have one "Joey"
"at foot", one in their pouch, and one on the way gestating.
Don't go looking for them in a 'plane though - anything might happen!
Zen for computers:
A crash reduces
your expensive computer
To a simple stone.
73 - David, G4EBT @ GB7FCR
Eddystone User Group Member
G-QRP Club Member No: 1339
QTH: Cottingham, East Yorkshire.
david@crofters89.freeserve.co.uk
Message timed: 15:02 on 2003-Oct-03
(Registered).
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