#but alas. here we are. needing to kms

[cowboykakashi]

[miniaturetalekitten]

Hi there kitten!! We haven't spoke to each other in so long! I just wanted to check up on you and make sure you're doing alright! <33

1.) Oooo hello, what a beauty, you're here!

Congratulations, you did it, I came out of my hibernation!!!! Oohahahahaaaaaa, yes, I'm kidding restlessly, and in fact I am, I love to sleep! :D

I'm very happy to welcome you at such a good hour, and to say something special for today, and maybe every moment of your joy, because these are memories too, I personally will definitely remember it, all these moments and days are accumulated in me, it makes me feel more alive!

I thought I would express it better in my words, there is such a thing, when you very much want to write something beautifully, it is only needs, while I do it for inspiration, for example I used to write small poems, (I can show you one successful verse that is more or less similar to it, the translation will change all the words, because it is originally Russian, alas, dear and lovely Americans, do not worry, I am sure that the meaning will remain, this is more important!)

~As a spirit my soul rests, as a bird carrying upwards is carried away~

~Whose ashes of the past days are left behind,

I'll jump into oblivion by the clouds successfully~

~Not mentioning coming, taking, leading on ice, on smooth wind~

~barely audible ringing in my ears, loudly affects me~

~dark, clumsy, restless sound~

~You'll get yours obediently~

~there is no way back home,

with dignity?~

I myself am definitely aware of the fact that beauty comes from within, whatever you write, it invariably illuminates the sun bunnies for a long time~

(By you :P)

I generally wanted to thank you for doing so many nice things to other people, I was no exception? Km?

I blush a little bit from so much niceness in my direction when someone cancels me, just like that, for no reason, btw, I love people more and more in this app!

I do not want to leave my native Tumblr, and my posts are probably rare rather than frequent, I can not mention that one thing I still have to finish here, since last year I think about it, it is a question in my box, ^^!

1.) Оооо привееет, прелесть то какая, ты тут!

Поздравляю, у тебя получилось, я вышла из спячки своей!!!! Уухахаахааа, да, я прикалываюсь неугомонно, а вопще так и есть, я обожаю спать! :D

Я очень рада попривествовать тебя в столь добрый час, и заявить кое-что особенное на сегодня, а может, и каждый миг твоей радости, ведь это тоже воспоминания, я лично точно буду помнить это, все эти моменты и дни скапливаются у меня, от этого я чувствую себя живее всех живых!

Мне казалось я это лучше выражу в своих словах, такое есть, когда очень сильно хочешь красиво что-то написать, это лишь потребности, при том я это делаю для вдохновения, например писала раньше маленькие стихи, (я могу показать один удачный стих, который более менее похож на него, перевод изменит все слова, потому что он изначально Русский, увы, дорогие и милые Американцы, не печяйтесь, я уверена, что смысл останется, это главнее!)

~Как дух моя душа покоится, как птица ввысь неся уносится~

~Чей пепель прошлых дней оставив за собой,

спарю в небытие у облаков удачно~

~Не упоминая приходя, беря, ведя по льду, по гладкому ветру~

~еле слышимый звон в моих ушах, громко на меня влияет~

~тёмно, коряво, беспокойно прозвучить~

~заполучишь ты своё покорно~

~обратной дороги нет домой,

достойно?~

сама я определённо точно осознаю, что красота исходит изнутри, чтобы ты не написала, это неизменно долго освещяет солнечными зайчиками~

(Тобой :P)

Я в общем, хотела поблагодарить тебя за то, что делаешь другим людям столько приятных вещей, я не стала исключением? Км?

Немного краснею от столько милоты в мою сторону, когда кто-то отменяет меня, просто так отмечяет, без причины, батушки, в этом приложении я всё сильнее и сильнее люблю людей!

Не хочется родной Тамблер покидать, да и посты мои скорее всего редкие, чем частые, не могу упомянуть, что одно дело мне все же пора закончить здесь, ещё с прошлого года думаю над этим, это вопрос в моём ящике!^^

[2theburgs]

Sept 3 Benbecula to North Uist (74.4 km)

We let ourselves sleep in today since it was going to be a shorter ride. I know what you're thinking, 74 km is not much shorter than 86 km...this is true, although, still shorter, the original plan was for a 47 km day. Don't ask me how, but I wrote down the wrong distance plus we added a side detour. Anyway, back to sleeping in, we slept until 8:45 am, finally able to catch up and I felt much more human today...at least at the beginning of the day.

We set out into the wind and rain, and boy was it windy: 42 km/hr, thankfully about half or more of which would be a tail wind, the rest proved to be quite challenging. Being surrounded by the raw beauty of these islands helped distract my brain from my burning legs as I looked out into the vastness. Crashing waves, howling winds, misty mountains and too many sheep and cows to count. Today would be mostly about the journey. Being a Sunday, there was very little open, but oddly the gin distillery was open! We stopped by, and though I dare not taste anything with so few km under the belt, we did pick up a few tiny taster bottles. Rightly named, Downpour distillery was quite an eclectic place with more customers than I would expect on Sunday at 11:30 AM. We got going to stop at a local grocery store, the only one for miles and miles and the only one open on Sunday. We picked up some premade spaghetti, a few eggs for breaky and a beer and a small wine for later.

Our first big stop was at the first set of standing stones we would see. We ended up eating at the little hotel restaurant that lay on the same property. A good cup of coffee and a hot meal and two little dogs who gladly accepted pets and cuddles. We met a few locals who gave us the run of things, what to see and what to skip. We headed out to hike up to the very unsheltered hill where the stones were. Battered by the elements, and contending with puddle hopping we made it up. Really beautiful view despite the spraying misty rain and strong winds. I got out the good camera and snapped some photos while Ken took shelter behind one of these ancient stones. Onward for the next 25 km...sorry 45 km, oops.

More highland cows and stunning landscape to remind us of why we're here. Also helps that the worst traffic we would come across were the rogue sheep meandering on the sides of the road. But. The. Wind. The. Rain. What can you expect on islands off the North coast of Scotland? Embrace it, but heck, I wouldn't want to be traveling in reverse. North Uist became less and less inhabited the further we went. Kilometers would go by with just a small crofting home here and there. Still, something about this place is almost, mystical. It's an odd feeling to have your heart pounding as you're fighting a cross wind up a hill, and yet be oddly at peace and calm. As though there is nothing else in the world in this moment, except this place and this bike.

Another mile, mile and a half, I kept saying to myself. Reminiscing of our friend, Joris telling us this exact phrase as we hiked in Tobermory. We had a good laugh, and in that moment I had wished I had a Joris to blame for the error in distance. Alas, I could only blame myself, but no harm, each km was worth it. Ken of course was an excellent sport, he giggled in his Kenny laugh, saying he was darn glad I planned this trip, because if he had made this error, I would have been mad. Hahahaha! I'm ashamed to say he's probably right. What a guy though, can see me in all my hypocrisy and not rub it in. Just keep spinning. Just keep spinning (thank you Dori).

We did it, 74 km...only slightly more than planned (originally 47 km). Perhaps it was a moment of dislecsia? Ask my brother, I used to write in perfect mirror image. We landed in at our pod (a common accommodation out here, with all you would need in kind of hard walled yurt). Our grocery store premade spaghetti was awesome, and the wine even better.

No rest for these ol' legs. 86 km on deck tomorrow. If you don't hear from me, I opted for a night in a field snuggled up to a highland cow. This may well be my life now. Me and the cows. Go on without me Ken, God speed.

[chasingcrystal]

Hello from Eisriesenwelt in Werfen, Austria! 🇦🇹🧊 Eisriesenwelt is the largest ice cave in the world. It was discovered in 1879 by Anton von Posselt-Czorich. The cave extends 42 km (26 miles) into the mountain, but only the first kilometer (.6 miles) can be visited with a guide. Visitors can visit here with two cable car rides and a bit of a hike. This was my first ice cave I explored! It was a bit grueling hiking in my moto gear to get to the entrance of the ice cave, but also pretty sketch walking in moto boots in the ice cave itself. It’s not for the faint of heart. It’s claustrophobic, one way in, one way out, and we had the use of oil lanterns to see in the dark. The metal stairs and pathway within the ice cave are quite steep and narrow, so you have to have some fitness level and grip strength to get through this. Some parts were so steep, I was afraid I would fall if I didn’t stay focused. Overall it was an amazing experience and I highly recommend this unique guided adventure. A funny incident is when I was the last one to enter in the ice cave and tried to close the door. But there was so much pressure and wind that I wasn’t able to do it. I was using all my body weight and both arms. I felt like the last warrior on Earth trying to close our portal to prevent evil monsters from entering our realm to save our species. Alas the guide came and helped me close the door. My oil lantern went out from the wind and he had to relight me. Even strong moto warriors need help from time to time 😸 That’s something I’ve learned on this expedition: that we all need help sometimes. Be it a listening ear, intentional conversation with eye contact, or help closing the portal to an ice cave. #chasingcrystal #eisriesenwelt #eisriesenweltwerfen #icecave #icecavetour #asianstyle #asianwomen #motorcyclephotography #bikerlife #motorcycles #motorcycletravel #instamoto #bikersofinstagram #womenwhoride #dualsport #honda (at Eisriesenwelt - Werfen) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cja1upIIHB1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[therealvinelle]

What are vampires?

(Yes, I changed the title from “What is venom?” a week after publishing and after a whole set of sorry souls reblogged the post. I’m very sorry, but as I sat down to write the follow-up piece I realized that this meta is about vampires, not venom, and the title is no longer appropriate. My perfectionism got the better of me and I’m sorry.)

There’s been a lot of speculation on that in this fandom, here comes my take. It’ll split into four parts, this being part one where I look at what venom does to the human body. In part two I look at hybrids, part three I speculate on what venom is, part four I treat possible origins and raisons d’être of venom.

So, this first part is mostly me regurgitating facts. We won’t get anywhere if we’re not all agreed on what vampires are.

Also, I get very pseudo-scientific in this meta, but I have no education in biology or medicine so I could be wrong about everything. I tried to use good sources, though, so I can’t be entirely off-base.

With that out of the way, LET’S DO THIS.

To create a vampire, you infect a human with venom. This venom spreads throughout the body, altering every cell. The process is complete when the heart stops beating. If the human was injured at the time of infection, they will be healed, as long as the heart keeps beating.

Let’s go through that.

How does the venom spread?

When Bella was bitten by James, Edward was able to suck the venom out. Several minutes passed from she was bitten until Edward sucked the venom out, yet the burn was only reported to be in her hand. By contrast, anyone who’s ever had pharmaceutical administered intravenously knows that blood travels quickly. If venom travelled like any normal fluid, Bella would have said «My hand is on fire. No wait, my arm! No, wait, my torso! No, wait-» and Edward wouldn’t have been able to suck it out.

Additionally, Bella has that scar left by James. The venom had already altered the cells at the entry point.

To me, this sounds like the venom is like Pac-Man, spreading through the body by altering one cell at a time. It’s the only explanation for why it’s so slow. More on that later, though.

How does it alter the cells, and in turn the human body?

Physically, their skin is made impervious and perfectly even, their teeth are straight, razor sharp and white, their bodies impossibly strong, fast, and precise, their senses heightened to an insane degree yet they feel no pain from most physical injuries. Their digestive system is altered so they can only consume blood, preferably human blood, anything non-blood is regurgitated. They’re much more attractive than they were in life. They’re not reliant on oxygen, and their blood doesn’t circulate. They produce their own venom.

Mentally, their minds function at the capacity necessary to even utilize a body like this. They are able to process their heightened sensory input (for example, it’s the brain that interprets visual input from the eyes. For vampires to be able to see better than humans, both eye and brain have to improve), process though much faster than humans, they forget nothing, and they feel emotion and physical sensation more strongly than humans do.

Let’s go through these alterations one by one.

Skin

Frequently likened to marble, vampire skin is as hard as stone. When Bella becomes a vampire, she’s stunned Edward’s flesh now yields to her touch. Before, if she pressed her finger on him, his skin would not yield. The shapeshifters can kill vampires because their fangs are sharp enough to pierce their skin, without that advantage they couldn’t do it. No ordinary weapon could injure a vampire.

The stone skin is an armor, protecting them.

Teeth

As us humans get older, the enamel in our teeth is worn away, revealing the tooth’s underlying yellow color (the dentin). Vampires can live for thousands of years, yet their teeth remain that perfect blinding white. What changed? I see two possible explanations, one being that vampires still have enamel, and it’s too strong to ever be worn away, or they don’t have it because their teeth have been altered to the point where they don’t need a protective layer anymore, and their composition is something completely different from that of human teeth.

I think it’s the latter, as there are two other major changes reported. Their teeth have changed shape, they are now sharp enough to pierce through human or vampire skin. They’re also venomous (more on that later), able to inject anybody they bite, fellow vampires included, with venom.

There’s also the fact that vampires are changed on a molecular level, but more on that later.

Strength, speed, and precision

Meta I wrote on vampire strength disparity.

Vampires are ridiculously powerful, no upper limit (as in, «Newborn Emmett can carry 500 tonnes») is given, but whatever it is it’s high. Alice might just be the physically weakest vampire in the saga (Jane is physically smaller, but she eats properly. Alice lives on a subpar diet), but to Bella it makes no difference, Alice blows her out of the park anyway. Edward, a malnourished and not too strong vampire, is easily able to pick up entire trees by the roots, and then throw them at a small target.

As for speed, vampires move faster than the human eye can register, which according to this article means they can reach a speed of 38 146 mph! (61 390 km/h for us metric people) (Also, the traveling object used for this calculation was a ball, and the article specifies that it would be different for bigger objects. Alas I’m not going to bother my physicist friend with this, so we’re using the ball number.)

When it comes to precision, vampires exercise perfect muscle control. They’re so graceful their steps can’t be heard by humans,  Edward can famously stroke a soap bubble without popping it, and they’re able to perfectly mimic the handwriting of others (a task anyone who’s ever googled forensic calligraphy will know is next to impossible). Much of this appears to be instinctual, like a downloaded .vampire package. Knowing how to attack prey, where to bite, that all happens on autopilot. So too does running, jumping, walking (funny how their default mode, even Carlisle’s, is to walk too quietly for their designated prey to detect). Snarling, hissing, and growling are also distinctly non-human manners vampire adopt.

Senses

Heightened sight, hearing, and smell is extremely useful. It makes them much more effective hunters. The smell especially is useful here, but really, all their senses are invaluable in this. It’s great for dealing with fellow vampires as well, they can see, hear, and smell their kind coming from a far distance.

There’s an added advantage, though. As I got into here, and here, if a vampire’s memories of their human life is dull and washed out compared to their brilliant new existence, dismissing humans as equally deserving of life becomes that much easier to justify. Heightened emotions serves this same purpose, though considering their longevity I think this is another form of survival, that they’re wired not to grow bored with life (but this is really for a separate meta).

There’s also the fact that their senses have to be tuned up to 11 to fit their other enhanced abilities. There’s no use in super-speed if you can’t see where you’re going.

Vampires’ heightened senses make them more efficient predators, and help them become the bloodthirsty sociopaths we know and love.

Pain receptors, or lack thereof

Vampires feel pain when they are thirsty, when their limbs are torn off, when they are bitten by other vampires (it appears to be the venom that stings), or when subjected to a gift that induces pain (Jane, Kate). They don’t feel pain like humans do, nor do they feel discomfort (they can sit indefinitely in any position, never feeling the need to shift around.

Interestingly, it looks to me like pain serves the same function for them as it does for humans. The brain registers pain to tell us something, a biological error message. Don’t walk on that leg, it’s injured. Get your hand off the hot stove and don’t put it there again. Pain is useful.

Vampires, by contrast, are not going to get injured from someone hitting them. There are no blood vessels that can burst, no soft tissue that can burst nor bones that can break. So, no need for their brains to register that as pain. Humans need to change positions every now and then for the sake of our circulation and so we don’t develop pressure ulcers (and I’m sure there are more reasons), vampires have no circulation and, as mentioned above, their skin is armor. No pressure ulcers.

What they do need pain for, is to let them know to feed. That’s the big one, and in turn the strongest one. The pain of the thirst is unbearable, as it has to be to turn a human who was infected with venom into a killer. It’s survival. Same goes for feeling pain when their limbs are torn off, or their bodies damaged by a bite. Their pain receptors let them know to avoid this next time.

As for Jane and Kate’s gifts, this may not serve a purpose for other vampires, but it serves a purpose for Jane and Kate. It protects them. So, sucks for everyone else, but that’s what gifts do, they give the gift-haver a leg up on others.

Digestive system

Carlisle had spent many years attempting to understand our immortal anatomy; it was a difficult task, based mostly on assumption and observation. Vampire cadavers were not available for study.

His best interpretation of our life systems was that our internal workings must be microscopically porous. Though we could swallow anything, only blood was accepted by our bodies. That blood was absorbed into our muscles and provided fuel. When the fuel was depleted, our thirst intensified to encourage us to replenish our supply. Nothing besides blood seemed to move through us at all. (Midnight Sun, chapter Home)

Ignoring the horrifying fact that the context for this quote is Edward wondering if Bella’s tear could stay in his system forever, this here is extremely interesting and I agree. Partly because I can’t think of anything better, partly because Carlisle is an in-universe medical genius who’s had access to far more data than I have. He can run experiments, I can’t. Even if I came up with a theory I thought was better, if blood absorption through porous tissue is Carlisle’s best theory then there must be evidence in favor of this which I don’t have access to. So, porous tissue it most likely is.

(Also, my «Carlisle totally volunteered for vivisection fun times with Aro in Volterra» theory survives that first paragraph. Vampire cadavers might not be available for study, but live ones absolutely are, you just pick them apart and put them back together after, and bring in Corin and/or Alec so the guinea pig has a good time too. There’s no way that never occurred to Aro. Even if it didn’t, it’s bound to have occurred to someone over the years, and Aro touches a lot of people. And we know he and Carlisle discussed what vampires even were, that they were best friends and all about that science.

We also know that sometimes, your weird science experiments involving dismemberment and tripping on Corin in Volterra, stay in Volterra. The tissue is porous, Edward, DON’T ASK ME HOW I KNOW.)

This has huge implications. What happened to the digestive system they used to have?

It’s still there, but non-operational.

Middle solution: it’s recognizably there, but welded shut. At some point, whatever the vampire ingests hits an untraversable boundary, and from there the blood is absorbed while any other matter remains, undigested (though possibly dissolved by venom) until regurgitated.

The vampire’s inner anatomy is unrecognizable from that of a human. Vampires have no need for livers, bowels, gall bladders, and so on, and so these organs no longer exist, or have even been replaced by other organs (assuming vampires need any, more on that later).

My vote lies with the third option, though both second and third are possible. The first one, not so much, as it means that in theory, they could force something through their system. They can’t.

More, vampires are nothing if not extremely efficient and economical organisms. They don’t need to feel pain from a physical blow, so they don’t. Why carry around these organs they’re not using?

Then there’s what they even need their digestive system to do. Humans need the nutrients in our meals not just as fuel, but as- well, everything. We need the building blocks for our cells. Our bodies are constantly renewing themselves. Vampires, by contrast, don’t appear to do this. There’s no waste of any kind, and their skin doesn’t get flaky. Edward specifically says blood is fuel, and I think that’s a literal interpretation.

Now we’re veering into speculation territory, and this isn’t the place for it just yet as we’re veering into what venom is and does, but I think whatever digestive process vampires have, serves to turn their blood to venom. I don’t think there’s any particular organ for this, I think that’s just because that’s what happens when venom comes into contact with blood. We see it happen when humans are bitten, and I think it’s fair to assume that the same thing happens when venom comes into contact with ingested blood.

This also helps explain why animal blood isn’t equal to human blood. Animals can’t be turned to vampires, it’s blood but venom and animal blood aren’t on the same FM, so to say. So, with no better option, yes venom can make do with animal blood, but it won’t perform as well as it would with human blood. The vampire is now weaker, with the frankly terrifying side effect that their eyes change color. We’re so used to this that we just go «oh, yeah, animal blood means their eyes turn yellow. It’s like a LED light letting you know which diet the vampire is on!» when in any other organism, a chance of color like that is usually the sign of something being wrong. Blue lips, yellow sclera, red urine, all color changes that point to something not being not as it should be.

Now, to go further here would mean getting more into what venom even is, which is best saved for part three. I’ll say this, venom appears to be the only fluid in the vampire body. It’s moistens their eyes (and melts their contacts), pools in their mouth, is injected through their fangs, and the application of venom to a wound makes them heal faster. Venom is the substance they rely on, more so even than blood, their elixir of life. (My speculation on how Edward was able to impregnate Bella is reserved for the hybrid/what is venom metas).

Also, on what vampires carry over from their human bodies, I do think they’re economical enough to not fix what ain’t broken. I think this because the human nervous system is absolutely brilliant, and indeed Bella regains sensation during her transformation where her spine had once been broken and unable to communicate with her brain. Question is, of course, was this because her new vampire body still uses the human nervous system, or did Bella regain sensation because her transformation had gotten to a point where this was no longer the case?

Beauty

The beauty part has gotten some very valid criticism, as beauty is very subjective and venom makes it out to be an objective, empirically measurable unit.

To caveat first, we see in canon that not all vampires are gorgeous. James was an ugly human, and so as a vampire he’s no beauty. Maggie was emaciated and not particularly attractive, so she’s bony and not hot by vampire standards. The Cullens, by contrast, were attractive humans. Human Bella is a hottie, she pulls all the guys without issue. If she were as plain as she thinks she is, she wouldn’t get male attention. Being new is only gonna get her so far. Jasper was turned because Maria thought he was a cutie, and same goes for Emmett with Rosalie.

(There’s also a certain inherent bias - I imagine attractive people have a much higher chance of getting turned than uglies.)

More, understand that vampires don’t look human. They’re flawless, desirable, perfect, yes - but they are very distinctly not human, and humans know as much instinctively:

Like any normal human, suddenly standing just a foot away from a vampire would send adrenaline racing through his veins. Fear would twist in his stomach for just a fraction of a second, and then his rational mind would take over. His brain would force him to ignore all the little discrepancies that marked me as other. His eyes would refocus and he would see nothing more than a teenage boy. I watched him come to that conclusion, that I was just a normal boy. I knew he would be wondering what his body’s strange reaction had been about. (Midnight Sun, chapter 21, page 547)

Vampires are beautiful in the way the Nefertiti bust is beautiful. It’s perfect, otherworldly, timelessly beautiful, but looking at it you know this is a bust and not a living human woman.

With that in mind, I think some of the vampire’s unnatural beauty is… not circumstantial, but happy bonuses to their other qualities. Their perfect skin, for instance, goes a long way towards making them beautiful. Perfectly smooth, a glowing white, no disruptions like blackheads, scarring, or sweat. At one point Bella describes Rosalie as looking airbrushed. Their perfect teeth, impeccable grace, these features also help.

Now, I think when venom makes a human more beautiful, I think the big thing it does is make the features perfectly symmetrical. This by itself is immediately inhuman and unnatural, more computer generated than human, just perfect enough to tick off the uncanny valley box. This would explain the flawlessness Bella keeps describing in vampires. It also explains the disparity in beauty, the features Rosalie had to work with and get symmetrical were lovelier than the ones James had, and why they can look completely different from each other yet share that same kind of uncanny impeccability. It also explains how people of wildly different face types and ethnicities can all be beautiful, the venom won’t erase the features you had but rather refine them into the best they can be.

I do think that refinement, in addition to symmetry, happens. If it didn’t, the change wouldn’t be so radical from human to vampire. More, all vampires are described as having sharp features, Esme stands out for the fact that she retained some of her human softness. So, the venom appears to make features more angular and, well, sharp.

Aro’s description is in favor of my interpretation of vampiric beauty: 

I couldn't decide if his face was beautiful or not. I suppose the features were perfect. But he was as different from the vampires beside him as they were from me. His skin was translucently white, like onionskin, and it looked just as delicate (New Moon, page 234)

His features are flawless, meaning symmetrical. He should be beautiful, so it’s the skin that gives her pause.

There’s also the matter that beauty is observed in the body, not just the form. They all look strong and limber, even the tiniest of vampires. I imagine some of this is simply texture, that vampires are made hard, smooth, and perfect, but we have this from Bella looking in the mirror after waking up a vampire:

She was fluid even in stillness, and her flawless face was pale as the moon against the frame of her dark, heavy hair. Her limbs were smooth and strong, skin glistening subtly, luminous as a pearl. (Breaking Dawn, page 261)

Fluid even in stillness, her limbs smooth and strong. This woman was starving to death when she died. Combined with the fact that Edward, who was a sick 17-year-old, has muscle definition, it seems venom does body sculpting as well. Though it’s worth noting that hydration goes a long way towards muscle definition for humans, so the change in fluid composition in vampires could have something to do with it their limber appearance.

Then there’s the other vampire beauty markers.

Their voices are described quite unusually, with words like wind chimes, bells, or feathers. They’re beautiful, but, like everything else about vampires, inhuman. When Carlisle calls Billy on the phone, Billy immediately recognized the voice as somehow wrong, it’s too clear and sharp.

I mean, I think in part this is because their vocal cords aren’t made of soft human tissue anymore, but most likely stone. No matter what they’re made of, though, it’s no surprise that we’re not getting human voices out of them.

Their scent is appetizing to humans and other vampires alike, and serves a duel purpose. Humans are attracted to them (well, vampires are too), while vampires are able to use it for tracking purposes. It’s tremendously useful for keeping track of your territory, as randos can’t walk in and eat your food and sneak off again without leaving a trail. It’s also good for meeting up with friends, we see Carlisle and Siobhan use it for this purpose in Midnight Sun.

Circulation

The purpose of blood is to carry oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Apparently, this isn’t a need vampires have. All they need is venom. The theory that their tissue is porous adds to this, as it would mean blood travels through their body in a different manner. The porous tissue replaces circulation.

So, no circulation for vampires because they don’t need it.

This meta is now getting ridiculously long, so I’m putting the venom production section in the venom meta.

The transformation

The transformation is complete when the heart stops beating. The former human is now a vampire, and no longer reliant on a heartbeat, nor oxygen. In this they are different from hybrids.

As for the process itself, I think that as the venom spreads, it starts multiplying on its own. This is why it took longer for Carlisle than it did Bella, she was bitten and injected multiple times and on every part of her body while Carlisle was grazed on the arm. Bella had more venom that could work on her, Carlisle did not. These facts support my theory of the slow spread of venom.

I’ve played with the thought of the transformation happening in stages, where the first act is the spread of the venom, which then spreads throughout the body and heals the body to put it at default, the second act is the bodysculpting, and the third act the finishing touches. It doesn’t quite fit with venom transforming as it goes, though, so I’m very hm on that.

A few observations:

Activity level doesn’t appear to help spread the venom. Carlisle exerted himself, and his transformation took far more time than normal (though lying still instead of contorting in agony probably doesn’t help in that regard). Bella laid still as a corpse, and her transformation took far less time than normal. The venom spreads in its own time, regardless of what the blood circulation is up to.

Going by the accounts of the Cullens, while the pain is constant, the transformation hurts increasingly as the venom spreads.

Bella was severely injured, and needed to be healed before she could even feel all the pain. Her broken spine, for instance, meant she couldn’t feel below the waist.

Carlisle said it’s «easier if the blood is weak» (cryptic much?! Not making it easy for me, dude. Though as this was said in the context of Edward explaining that Carlisle would only turn someone already dying, I do think he’s referring to what it’s like for vampires, though, that humans are not so tempting if they’re half dead.)

Healing

Now we’re veering into the venom meta, but: the transformation fixes anything that could impede the vampire’s function. Bella would get nothing done with her post-birth broken body, and so she’s fixed up for her. Alice’s emaciation means she’s thin and less strong than others, it doesn’t physically prevent her from doing anything.

The venom, it appears, heals the human not because it’s being altruistic, nor to make the vampire more appealing to others, but to make the human into an ideal host. BUT MORE ON THAT IN THE VENOM META.

With that, my god we’re done. And this meta is  words in total, an ugly number.

Lastly, I know that putting a read more at the end of a 4k long meta is the worst joke in the world (RIP to you poor souls scrolling past this. My reason for not being a read more kind of gal to be found here)

Nothing yet, I’m afraid.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Ahhhhhh you look so pretty!! Especially with the matching eyeshadow!!

I'm gonna call her Ink, to go with your Quil.

But yes that is beautiful orange!!! I might try it out after my hair dye comes out. But I do not have flaming hair!! Simply very, very bloody!!! Its violently red and I love it

Hello to you too Ink!!

May you continue having a good day <3

-Heathen

Also the name thing is fair enough, mines pretty common. I don't think I'd be able to find you though, even if I was close to your continent. The closest country is 2000 km away, but yes! I understand privacy very much

heathen! hello!

thank you!! I love being pretty!! And the eyeshadow thing is one of the fun little details I get to do with my appearance, so I'm excited someone pointed it out! If I use color that day, I either match it to my hair (now orange) or something on my clothes--that second one is usually a red to match the design on my corpse hoodie.

I pick at my skin pretty badly (its not visible in those pictures except for a few spots like my lip) so I try to leave my skin alone for the most part. But! I can go all out with my eyeliner and the colors I use!! I actually did this thing the other week where I outlined white eyeliner in black and oh boy was that stressful but also a lot of fun. and then it's also easier to wash off when it's just eyeliner!!

but moving on! Quick correction: my partner uses they/them pronouns, but as you didn't know no one is holding that against you. But they seemed to like the Ink idea--I think I was actually saved as Ink and Quil in their phone for a while but I don't know if I still am. They have a habit of collecting names (currently at 50-ish that they rotate through), and Ink is a really cute way to refer to them! They've mentioned before that they like how they're like mysterious figure on my blog. Like they exist here and I've interacted with them but mostly vaguely and none of you really know who they are.

also red hair? that's awesome! I've considered dyeing my hair red before but haven't done it yet! Definitely want to do it at some point in the future though. The really bright/neon colors bring me such joy that it would be a shame not to do red. Though i am enjoying the current orange. "Violently red" is such an excellent phrase; I love it so much. Your bloody red hair sounds incredible. Combined we make the first section of the rainbow! Red and orange! Now we just need...all the other colors

and my partner, Ink in this context, says hi in response! Or rather, "Hi >:)" They specified an evil smiling face next to the hi. I suppose they must maintain that air of superiority and mystery...(I'm making fun of them but lovingly, don't worry).

and we did have a good day!! They came over to carve pumpkins with my family (they had come with us to the green chili farm where we get pumpkins and picked one out with me) and we watched a movie all together. I don't have any pictures on my phone but my parents do and I could get them! I carved a skull (have to stay on brand), my dad carved Totoro, my sister carved the outline of a cat, my mom carved a crescent moon shape, and Ink carved two faces into theirs--one on their side 'cause their pumpkin was deformed and split into two a little (that's why we picked it out!! because it was funky!!)

and for the name thing. I'm a very open person a lot of the time (mostly because I won't shut up /pos) but last name is a little more information than is good to have out there, and I'm not the only one who lives in this house so I'd rather not put the rest of my family at risk on the internet! And of my two last names (i'm hispanic) the one woven on the rug is the one we actually use so even easier to find me. Quil is already an uncommon name, but combined with a hispanic last name in the US? It stands out! Wouldn't in some other countries but alas, I'm also American. also damn. that's pretty far away. i think. I don't think in kilometers hang on. Okay not as bad as I thought but still far. When my family goes to visit my extended family on the other side of the country we'll drive about that far in 24 hours to get there.

[lindoig7]

Thursday-Saturday, 20-22 August

Thursday

It was a wild old night, with the wind rocking the caravan and rattling our awning all night.  It rained consistently almost all night and the rocking of the caravan and the pitter-pattering (and occasional hammering) on the roof made our warm comfy bed the very best and snuggliest place to be.  Even when the awning crashed and banged and woke us up, the rain soon invoked the Sandman and we went straight back to sleep again.

We were awake a little earlier than usual, but enjoyed a lazy half-hour or so snoozing before our cuppa and puzzles in bed.  Of course, by 7:30am, the Council workers were out in the rain, mowing the grass across the rampaging creek immediately behind the van.  The whole area is virtually under water so how they avoided getting bogged is a complete mystery to us.  The need to mow the area is just as mysterious because all they were doing was cutting the tops off the grass well away from the paths.  It wasn’t as if the grass was encroaching on the paths or hiding any varmints that might leap out to devour any of the early morning walkers.

We did some supermarket shopping after breakfast, mainly for a few extra things we need to make some tomato relish and peach chilli chutney.  We are getting low on our fancy home-made condiments so decided to make some more.  But as usual, walking past the fridges at Woolworths is a risk.  I spied a few likely-looking seafood bargains so now we need to find room for even more exotic delicacies!

We didn’t have much rain during the day, despite constant heavy black clouds but it was cold, bleak and windy all day and not at all nice outside.  As a consequence, we spent almost all day inside doing odd jobs, more cryptic crosswords, kenkens, sudokus and other pleasurable time-fillers before we fired up the stove and got back into cooking even more wonderful concoctions.

We made a wonderful pasta dish based on the vongoles and prawns we picked up as bargains in the morning – an elaboration on something we have done a couple of times before – vongoles, prawns, bacon, oil, garlic, parsley, smoked paprika, white wine, lemon, salt and pepper – man, what a feast and we never managed to eat it all so I suspect a seafood omelette is in the immediate offing. Even as bloated as we were, the potential for a meal from the leftovers left our mouths watering!

Friday

There was plenty more heavy rain overnight, and wild, wild winds, but we woke to a weak wintry sun and enjoyed a great hot breakfast.  (There seems to be a lot in my blog about food.  Maybe because we eat extraordinarily well and just want to keep experimenting.  We often (sometimes?) start with a recipe, but once the ‘start’ is dispensed with, the creative possibilities are endless and we try to make the most of any variations our imaginations evoke.)

We checked the weather over breakfast, expecting there to be rain everywhere as per the overnight forecast, but found that the Sale forecast looked surprisingly promising.  We had planned another day of cooking, but in light of the forecast, we abandoned (deferred) that and set sail for Sale.  Heather needed more yarn and some better scissors to we stopped at Spotlight on the way through Traralgon and stocked up there.

We wanted to explore the southern part of the Sale Common Wetland.  We had walked around the middle section a week or two ago, but wanted to explore other parts of this very large wetland.  Easier said than done!  We parked near the Swing Bridge (that isn’t like any swing bridge I have seen before – more like an opening or lift bridge) and set off on the soggiest of soggy tracks. We noted that cars – obviously high clearance 4WDs – had used the track, but had bottomed out and some had become bogged.  Multiple wheel-tracks ran in all directions in an attempt to avoid the worst of the deep ruts, but there is no way anything less than an amphibian would have gone through that day.  The track was even a challenge for walkers.  We had to pick our way through deep puddles and quagmires of mud, often abandoning the track for the waterlogged scrub to pass some of the worst sections.  We walked half a kilometre or so but it was becoming increasingly difficult so we returned to the car and set off for other access routes.  Sale was quite sunny, but still quite cool and very windy, but we returned to the walk we had done a week or two earlier and tried to get into the area from the north after our access from the south had been thwarted. We managed to get about 2.5 kilometres, partly along our previous route, before being confronted by water too deep to cross.  We had already traversed a few shallow puddles, but it was just not feasible to go any further without our water-wings!

My diabetes(???) had given me the shakes before we got back to the car so we ate our lunch there and recovered my sugar balance.  We still wanted to explore the northern area so went up to the much more populous and touristy lakes near the town. One of the lakes is Lake Guyatt and we had walked around that last time but the bigger Lake Guthridge was still to be conquered.  We needed to find a toilet and the signs said there was one 5 minutes away in the Botanic Gardens or 15 minutes away where we had just come from.  We opted for the Gardens – alas, NO TOILETS (of course!). Two kilometres later, we had almost circumnavigated the lake when we came upon the toilets advertised to be 15 minutes from our parking spot!  Have I ever mentioned the obvious attempts by all State and local authorities in Gippsland to confuse the public with fake signage?  I have got to the stage where I simply don’t believe any official signs anywhere in the area.

I had thought that it might be nice to circumnavigate the whole wetland area so we tried to do that, only to find that it was virtually impossible.  I reckon it would take a drive of about 250 Km to do it given that we would have had to drive all the way to the coast, then east to find another way north, then all the way back to Sale.  In our explorations, we found another huge contiguous part of the wetland on the other side of the road – presumably unprotected because it is not marked as such on the Council maps even though the main road is the only thing preventing the entire area being a single wetland.  There are at least 2 rivers and 3 bridges linking the water on both sides of the road so it is virtually impossible to separate the RAMSAR area from the apparently unprotected section.

We found an alternative route back to Rosedale, avoiding a trip back into Sale – and thence home in time for a shower before Happy Hour.  Topped up with fuel at Traralgon again on the way but we were still home again by about 5pm.

I had cooked a turmeric and fish meal on Tuesday/Wednesday – a little unusual given that the fish was marinated in the spices overnight, then only lightly cooked, but with additional veges and herbs added after the heat was removed just prior to serving.  Just add rice.  Very tasty and easy as anything to prepare.

Saturday

The Antarctic Blob is exerting its influence very strongly here today.  Lots of wind and rain overnight, some quite heavy, but consistent all night.  And today has been pretty wild too.  The rain had come and gone, but has been a deluge at times with heaps of hail – literally heaps, with it covering everything and piling up against anything blocking its passage.  It was banked up against the shrubbery outside the van for several hours before it finally melted – 6 degrees maximum here so it was very slow to melt.

It has felt really exciting at times in the van with so much wild weather outside and us safe and warm inside and enjoying the experience.  We cooked our tomato relish in the morning and our peach and chile chutney in the afternoon. We had to do a quick supermarket run to buy some extra spices early in the afternoon and I dropped Heather off and drove around the block a couple of times and picked her up at the door again. This was to avoid her getting too wet in the rain, but the hail absolutely pelted down while I was driving around the block – the racket inside the car was horrendous – exciting, but a little scary too.

We had a fairly unsatisfactory Zoom session in the afternoon – the bandwidth here is a real problem, but at least we spent half an hour or so in contact with some of the kids.

[lindoig4]

Starting our Greenland Expedition

(I have temporarily given up trying to post more photos.  I spent several hours uploading the 3 recent pics in about 100 attempts.  The internet is so dodgy here that I just hope Canada offers better pictorial opportunities.)

August 4

Today was the big changeover day when 30 of the 54 voyagers and a couple of staff were replaced with a fresh complement of crew and passengers.  Heather was still not well enough to get out of bed, but we were booked to go searching for fossils so I got togged up and waited for the car to take us fossilising.  We waited - and waited - and after more than an hour, when we couldn’t even contact the guides to find out where they were, the excursion was cancelled and we walked into town (about 2 km although we were told it was only 5 minutes down the road).  It nearly killed me.  This reflux problem (or whatever it is) made it impossible for me to keep up with the others so I just wandered along, stopping for a rest several times, but I made it - only to be told that our fossil hunt had been rescheduled for 2pm.  The guide said he thought the 9am trip really meant 3.30pm but agreed to start at 2pm instead.

I had quite a few little things I wanted to buy (like toothpaste!) so I set off for the supermarket.  Alas, it is Sunday so nothing opens until 11, or maybe noon, or after lunch or.......  The supermarket opens at 3:30!  I scrounged around the few other places that were open, but came up empty-handed.  (One think I did see in one shop that tickled me was that their extensive range of cuddly polar bears were all stored and displayed in a large fridge!)  I couldn’t find any of the things we wanted so I was forced to squat at the Radisson where a meeting room had been booked for all the Aurora people who were ashore.  They provided a ‘sort of’ lunch for us - a pretty tasteless mayonnaise-drowned wrap that I assume the Radisson is ashamed to serve.

Our guide turned up almost on time to take 5 of the 9 originally-registered fossil hunters on our excursion.  (Two were on the sick-list, one had to drop out to go shopping when the supermarket that sells everything opened, and one had withdrawn to go dog-sledding instead.  They were the lucky ones.)

We had been told that it was a short easy walk from the car to the fossil field for anyone of average fitness.  In fact, it was a challenge for an ultra-fit mountain goat with extensive mountaineering experience.  It was at least 2 km and probably a 500 metre climb over the most treacherous terrain I have seen.  We skirted the glacier along a path (in name only) that was often less than 20 centimetres wide and sloping at nearly 45 degrees to a 40-50 metres slide over precipitous shaly rocks to the ice below.  One of our team had two falls suffering minor scrapes and bruises, but I was in fear for my life at several points.  I suffered no injury, but getting up and down the stairs on board was hard work for my aching thighs for a few days.  It took us just over an hour to get there so we only had 15-20 minutes cracking rocks looking for treasures before we had to trek back to the car to board the ship at 4:45.  I had about given up looking for fossils when I had one final whack at a rock and discovered a fossilised twig - of which I am quite proud.  It is far from impressive, but it is perhaps 60 million years old and I released it from its matrix in a fraction of second today!  I hope I can get it home in our baggage.

I am really glad I did it for the bragging rights (and because I have a fossil to show for it) but would not recommend it to a healthy tahr.  We all provided some pretty pointed feedback to the ship and I don’t think they will be offering it again to anyone without very close scrutiny in future.  At least, they gave all the intrepid fossilisers a free bottle of wine to calm our nerves after the ordeal.

More than half our fellow expeditioners had to go through the mandatory lifeboat drill and safety briefings, but we experienced old-timers were exempt and watched smugly as they trooped off to their orientation practices.

It is interesting that so much of the second leg of our trip mirrors the first leg - even the menu.  The Meet the Team, Meet the Captain, the Polar Plunge, BBQ night, the Captain’s Farewell and several of the lectures all repeat the format we have already enjoyed.

Greenland

Most of the stuff above (once it is posted, it will actually be below so I will leave it to the erudite reader to interpret the literary compass as he or she wishes) was written during our Svalbard circumnavigation - but our Greenland experience means that some parts of it need moderation of sorts.

We had two days with our new complement of expeditionists revisiting western Svalbard, albeit different areas than we had visited before.  They were exceptional days, including one when we went to see the Three Bears.  There is some dispute as to whether there were 3 or 4, but my photos indicate the former.  We spied one big bear sleeping way up on the mountain (shall we nominate him/her as Father Bear?) so we Zodiac-ed across in the hope of a better look - only to see another adult (had to be a female so I will call her Mother Bear) with a cub who was obviously Baby Bear, somewhat higher up and off to the left of Father Bear.  Some in our group must have had a spot of double vision, claiming to have seen two cubs - but I don’t believe them.  We are reasonably sure that the bears were unaware of the others’ presence because if Mother Bear saw Father Bear, she would take Baby Bear far away - or Father Bear would likely kill Baby Bear in an attempt to persuade Mother Bear to cooperate in making more Baby Bears next season.  But look as I would, I could not see a single bowl of porridge anywhere on the mountain - nor a broken chair or a mussed up cot!  Maybe they hadn’t read the script......

But after doing due diligence to our bear observations, we motored across to an adjacent glacier and did something really cool.  Walking on a glacier is about as cool as you can get and it was an experience of a lifetime for both of us.  It was a bit of an adventure getting up onto the glacier, but a lot easier than we imagined walking on it.  We were able to explore a couple of small crevasses and walk quite a way on the ice.  I don’t think we were the first or only people ever to set foot on a glacier, but it was certainly a big deal for me and we have the photos to prove it.  Apart from being a couple of hundred metres above sea level, we were on an emotional high, an experience we never imagined we would have but one that gave us more of a thrill than many things, including long-distance bear watching.

Greenland is very different from Svalbard. We had two full days at sea sailing to Greenland and had to detour a few times when the ice became almost impassible.  But we awoke to find ourselves surrounded by mountains even more spectacular than many in Svalbard and icebergs several hundred times bigger than anything we had seen before.  There was comparatively little snow and the vegetation was hugely larger - I saw grasses over 30 cm tall and the biggest polar willows, although still prostrate and hugging the ground, had trunks/limbs up to almost 50 cm long/tall. The vegetation was quite varied: a lot was similar to that in Svalbard, albeit often not quite as miniaturised, but quite a few other species were interspersed.  The first morning, we also saw our first musk ox, 3 adults and a calf, checking us out from high on a ridge, giving rise to almost unanimous comments about Apaches ready to attack the settlers.

I was also able to add a couple more birds to my list and I am itching to get some time on the Internet to confirm a couple of identifications and to check whether these are mainly just species we have seen before or variations (subspecies that are different from those seen in Russia and Scotland).

[lindoig3]

Wednesday, 20 February

We decided to stay on in the Ridge for another day - and got it as a freebie from the van park. They are putting in some new gardens and making a bit of noise and dust. This didn’t bother at all because we weren’t in the van most of the time when they were working, but they apologised for the inconvenience and said they wouldn’t charge us for the extra night. Thank you Lightning Ridge Tourist Park!

There is something about the place that draws us.  Maybe it is the freedom – people are mainly pretty quirky out here and everything has a touch of eccentricity about it.  I recall enjoying living in Sydney where I had a sense of invisibility.  There are so many people that the odd-balls can be anything they want and nobody even notices them – so I was happy to be an occasional oddball.  It is the same here except that everyone is a bit of an odd-ball so being straight and proper is more likely to get you noticed than letting it all hang out and doing your own thing regardless.  Basically anything goes unless you accidentally trespass onto someone else’s mining lease – that really is a no-no!.

We had picked up two brochures at the Information Centre: one that provided a route around town where you might see birds and the other where different plant species could be seen.  The routes were actually identical and the text explained a bit about the likely birds and plants you might see.  Some places were close to town, including the Artesian Bore Baths that I had discovered myself, but some of the others were up to 20 km out of town.  We did the tour and went to all the places mentioned.  It didn’t quite live up to its promise, particularly for the birds, but it was interesting nonetheless and took us to a couple of the car door tour spots we had already visited too.  A highlight of a couple of stops were the stones we found, particularly at the first stop.  We finished the route by early afternoon so Heather suggested we go out to some other nearby opal fields.

They were about 70 clicks away and we had to go through Cumborah where we paused for afternoon tea and coffee. We had a walk around and found a place where the ground was littered with little round stones of (nearly) every colour - red, orange, yellow, green, grey, black, white, mottled, stratified, smooth, chunky, tens of thousands of them - but we only collected about a hundred of the most interesting.

Then it was on the Grawin (pronounced similarly to Darwin as we were told), all ‘wavy’ bitumen until the last few clicks over some really awful road.  Grawin is the centre of a small collection of opal mining sites covering a few square miles and we drove around a couple of them.  First up, we went to the Pub in the Scrub - the truly weird clubhouse for the Grawin golf course.  The course is hard to pick out from the scrub.  There is very little ground cover, but I couldn’t discern any evidence of them clearing the scrub to create actual fairways and the ‘greens’ were simply orange gravelled areas.  The clubhouse though was amazing – as were the very strange patrons, none of whom looked capable of holding a putter if their lives depended on it.  A very strange place, but surprisingly busy for all that.  There were about 8 people at the bar when we arrived, but in the time it took us to sink a coldie, several others came in to purchase the odd slab or two and have one for the road.  And quite a few cars and trucks came and went outside the Club as well.

Driving on, we passed what probably constitutes the town - a few mines and a small handful of yards that probably serviced their mechanical needs but not much else.  Further on, we came to the Glengarry Hilton, an equally arcane watering hole, but then retraced our steps before reaching the Sheepyard Pub.  We have seen some odd things along the road, but Grawin probably topped them all for me.

Back in Lightning Ridge, I decided to revisit the wonderful waterhole where I had seen so many birds the previous day.  Alas, when I arrived, six kangaroos were hogging the waterhole, possibly scaring all the birds away.  I scared all the ‘roos away, but despite watching for 45 minutes or so, I saw only 4 very common birds.  It was very windy and dusty so perhaps that also discouraged a repeat of the Avian Follies I enjoyed so much the evening before.

We went to the Bowling Club for dinner and there was a huge crowd there.  The Club was having two high value draws during the evening and crowds of people had flocked in from all over in the hope of being one of the lucky winners.  Interestingly, as soon as the draws were declared and the winners determined, the restaurant cleared and we were able to eat our huge meals in relative peace.

[nicklloydnow]

“You have probably never heard of Nikopol. You would not want to be there now. Night and day for the past six weeks, it has been under constant Russian artillery fire. But there is another factor that makes the situation here uniquely alarming.

Nikopol is the closest town on the Ukrainian-held shore of the Dnieper to the giant Zaporizhzhia power station, which was overrun by Russian forces in early March.

Today, the plant, with its six nuclear reactors, is still in Russian ‘control’. That last word is questionable. What is happening — and what might happen — at the facility has become not so much an international cause celebre as a worldwide danger.

(…)

Iodine tablets, that protect against radiation-induced thyroid cancer, were distributed to residents of the town and surrounding villages in March.

The EU has said it will provide a further 5.5 million tablets to be taken by civilians living further afield.

(…)

‘What we fear is not so much a classic nuclear explosion, with blast and a mushroom cloud, but that the plant will become a “dirty bomb” of massive radioactive fallout,’ says Dr Tumanov. ‘The reactors are only 8 to 9 km (about 5 miles) from where we sit here. A disaster will be very dangerous for the whole region, for Europe.

‘But Nikopol would be ground zero, like (the now abandoned city of) Pripyat after Chernobyl. It will be a catastrophe. And yet the Russian shelling that you hear is coming from Enerhodar and the vicinity of the plant.’

(…)

Did he think the UN inspectors’ visit will save Nikopol and beyond from a catastrophe?

He bursts into peals of laughter at my ‘naive’ question. ‘If there is a serious accident at the nuclear power plant, it will affect not only Ukraine but many of those countries which were at one point behind the Iron Curtain,’ he says.

‘They are the only ones, it seems, who truly know what we are dealing with here. Russia is like a rabid dog. You cannot apply logic to such creatures.

‘The countries in the West are still under a delusion that somehow they can deal with Russia amicably when, in fact, it understands only the language of force.

‘What is needed with such a dog is to build a very high fence and only then can we live side by side.’

Alas for battered Nikopol and Europe beyond her, even a high fence will not save it if the worst happens among those ominous shapes on the southern skyline.”

[my-camino]

Day 1: Porto (Matosinhos) to Vila do Conde

Date: August 19, 2022 (Friday)

Starting Point: Porto (Matosinhos)

Ending Point: Vila do Conde

Distance: 22.2 km / 13.8 mi

Time: 7 hr 0 min

Difficulty Level: 4/10

We awoke feeling rejuvenated and in great spirits, ready to say Adeus to Porto and hello to the Caminho! There are many ways to leave the city, and we chose to cut out the long slog through the suburbs by taking the metro to Matosinhos—a beachside town just a few kilometers to the north. This turned out to be a GREAT decision (more on that later).

The Porto metro operates on an honor system where you buy your tickets and then validate them on little posts. No turnstiles, and very few security guards. We followed the directions, purchased our metro cards like good pilgrims, and thought all was well when we paid for 2 cards and only got 1. Wrong. Just three stops from Matosinhos, we were intercepted by two angry fare officers yelling at us in Portuguese. Although I’m learning, I can’t understand this language when it’s being shouted at me! Other passengers tried to translate, but the male officer told them “No, in Portugal we speak Portuguese. They must learn how we do things here.” (I understood that much.) Luckily, a Venezuelan woman told me (in Spanish) that we had paid for two JOURNEYS for a single person… alas. We were set free, but if you happen to be in Portugal and see our faces plastered on wanted posters—this is why!

Arriving safely at our starting point, we crossed the Ponte Movel and began our Caminho along the Coast. The trail follows the beaches and is often on boardwalks or sidewalks, almost always within view of the ocean. It was a beautiful day, and we saw many pilgrims (who wished us “Bom Caminho”!) and locals enjoying the weather. With our accommodation booked, there was no need to rush things. We took our time and even sat down for coffee and lunch. Unfortunately, a leisurely pace in mid-August also means relentless heat and sun exposure. There is zero shade on the Coastal Way, so despite reapplying sunscreen we were still getting burned. By the time Vila do Conde appeared in the distance, we were slowing down big time. It took what felt like forever to pass the last beaches, cross the bridge, and make our way to our youth hostel. Thankfully, check in was a breeze and our room is perfect. I hope to explore this historic town tonight, at least a little, and then get some rest before tomorrow’s long stage and return to the Central Way. The forecast is similar—HOT! So, send us your prayers and best wishes.

From Vila do Conde, Portugal on August 19, 2022.

[2theburgs]

Day 2 Omaha Beach/Pointe Du Hoc

Well, we slept in this morning, but given the next few days of activity we figured that wasn’t such a bad idea. By the time we got rolling we were out the door around 1030 and headed North for Omaha. We were really impressed by the car/bike etiquette here. Much better than back home.

We started first in Saint-Laurent (1 of 3 villages that lie behind Omaha) where we we saw the Monument Les Braves and the Monument to the 2nd Division. It was surprisingly quiet- I think maybe we arrived before the crowds. The tide was high so there was little beach to be seen, but as I looked out into the English channel, multiple flashes of various images I’ve seen from D Day ran through my mind, of which I had little control. We both kind of walked around quietly, as did everyone else. Omaha was considered the bloodiest battles of the landings on D Day. Today, it’s more peaceful than anything, watching the waves roll in against the shore of the sleepy villages that lie behind. It was a perfect image of the freedom that we have the privilege of knowing today. We made our way to the Omaha Beach Memorial Museum just a few hundred meters behind us. There we so many relics: tanks, guns, uniforms from both the Allies and the Nazis. Particularly interesting were the relics found not long ago (2006). Old helmets partially corroded by the sea and various weapons were recently excavated. We made our way through shocked by the number of real war time memorabilia after watching a 25 min video in French (with English subs) on D Day. We had our sandwiches and hopped back on the bikes to head to Pointe Du Hoc.

Pointe Du Hoc was truly amazing. I had not actually heard of this place until we were researching for this trip. Essentially, it is a large cliff that American Rangers climbed up using rope ladders while under constant fire. They ended up securing the area, but it cost 135 American lives. The bunkers and gun platforms all faced South because the Germans didn’t believe anyone would try to come up the cliff. The remains of the bunkers and gun platforms still exist and are open to walk through. There were also many many large craters in the ground from bombing. Initially, walking through was rather positive, I think because in our minds, our side conquered this area. As we walked through, it began to set in that many people lost their lives on the very soil we were walking on, both Americans and Germans. This was a strategic win for the Allies, but the loss of humanity in this war cannot be forgotten.

We ventured back out on the bikes to head all the way East again to get to a few more sites before heading home. Along the way we passed a cidery, that I felt warranted a visit (not to mention a quick break emotionally). Fortunately, this cidery came with two beautiful dogs which brought some much needed snuggles and laughter ( the 42% distilled cider helped with that as well). We met two other Canadians, one from Hamilton and his wife originally from Kingsville! What are the odds? Back on the bikes we went.

We made our way first to The American Cemetery and visitor’s centre. Seeing rows and rows of white crosses and scattered Star’s of David (to represent the Americian Jewish soldier), the solemn nature of our day returned. A garden area exists to remember those who were never found. Their names are written along a large wall just behind the main monument, just over 1000 men.

Hitting around 5 pm we decided we were well overdue for coffee and so we stopped at a crepery near by. It was closed...not in North American anymore, oh well. We got back on the bikes and went to the Operation Overload Museum. This place must have had over 50 different vehicles including many many tanks on display. Even a Triumph motorcycle! I started fading pretty quickly at this place. Ken was thoroughly interested in the many different machines and vehicles (I was ready for a nap). Alas, no nap for me, but we did find coffee out of a vending machine and I got a Kit Kat Bar to fuel me for the ride back home.

Naturally, we had a strong head wind for the ride home and a misting rain haha, but we made it. We went back to the grocery store to buy the fruit we forgot and came home to cook dinner on the charcoal “BBQ” outside. Yum! Tomorrow is a longer riding day 80 km total, so we’ll need to be up early for real this time! Night night!

[lindoig8]

Wednesday to Friday, 29-31 December

Wednesday

We had intended staying two nights in Innamincka so we could go out to Coongie Lakes, another Ramsar birding site that had been recommended to us by a couple of people. Alas, due to the recent rain, the road was closed and it seemed likely that it would remain closed for some time, possibly up to several weeks. A pity, but perhaps a good reason to come back in the future.

This meant that we had potentially picked up an extra day and could get home a day earlier.

We expected to drive to Tibooburra via Nockatunga (or Noccundra) today, a trip of close to 500 kms. The two names are a bit confusing and seem to be interchangeable for some people. Both are shown on the map but it seems that Noccundra is the name of the station but it is the district name rather that the town's (or location's if there is no town) - but other things I have read say that the name has changed at least twice, swapping from one to the other and back again - so I really have no idea which is correct. But as it happens, we never went there anyway because Heather found a shortcut that took about 150 kilometres off the trip, albeit on more gravel, but mainly good gravel. Some other roads to Tibooburra were closed due to the rain, but the one Heather found was open and we drove about 350 kilometres without seeing a single vehicle - just a very occasional line of fencing with a grid, a few items relating to the gas pipelines and a couple of directional signs. Otherwise, we could have been on the moon. (Maybe we were, but I doubt if the moon ever gets that hot.)

One feature of the drive was the number of WIlly-willies (dust devils) surrounding us for hundreds of kilometres. We drove right through several, but at any one time, we could probably see at least 4 or 5, some close, some towering on the horizon, spiralling to the heavens in the blazing heat.

Thursday

We booked in at Tibooburra for two nights, thinking that we might stay for their big New Year's Eve rodeo, hoedown and fireworks display, but it was just so hot that we decided to head south in the hope of a slightly cooler environment.

We needed a rest so we spent all day in the van, hiding out under the airconditioner, the fan and the evaporative water cooler, trying to avoid the heat to the greatest extent possible.

Friday

As we were packing up to leave, I had trouble extracting our power cable from the supply. The plug was faulty and almost came apart in my hands. It had effectively welded our cable to its socket and was really very dangerous so we reported that to the managers, but I will need to replace the plug on our cable.

We intended just driving down to camp at Broken Hill, but the road was mainly pretty good, all sealed since we last drove that way, although it still had quite a few very sharp dips in the early part. We arrived in Silver City about 2 pm and decided quite spontaneously to continue through to Wentworth and maybe pick up another day and arrive home even earlier. We drove almost 600 kilometres on the day and found a lovely little park beside the Murray River and camped there.

We then realised that the place we usually park our van in Burwood is closed until Tuesday, so there was no real advantage in saving the extra two days so now we need to enjoy four days travelling the 500-odd kms to home. Tough, but we will manage.

Had some nice HNY phone calls with our kids but it will be a quiet NYE for us.

Here endeth 2021!

[mo-loft]

i’m gonna die one day. you’re gonna die one day. we all die some day. no this isn’t gonna be some emo ass poem (unfortunately) but it will be long and depressing.

i’m fine, i’m having fun, the day is a good day and then the realization that i’m one day closer to the last day i’ll exist. panic. instant.

i used to want to die. i used to be suicidal. hell, i used to try.

now i���m scared.

now that i’m out of the environment that pushed me to my breaking point, i feel relieved, i can live!

until i die.

death. dying. dead. gone.

i want to believe in an afterlife, reincarnation, something magical and wonderful, something to put my mind to ease but alas.. i cannot bring myself to fully believe anything other than the abyss.

the abyss.

usually when i bring up the empty void of absolute nothing, people assume that my fear is that i’m conscious in this ending but my fear is much greater.

the lack of consciousness.

there’s so much i wanna do, so much i wanna see, so many people i haven’t met, so many foods i haven’t tried.

do i have the time?

the craziest part to me about all this is that i have ADHD (official diagnosis) and ASD (self diagnosed) which both have this nifty lil trait called “waiting mode,” which usually is experienced when you have plans later in the day so you feel frozen until time comes to do the thing. i’ve done a lot of introspection these past two years of being a psychology student and i finally realized why i always feel like i’m waiting. no matter if i dont have anything scheduled for the day, no matter if i’m in the middle of my plans, i still feel like i’m waiting. some days i feel frozen bc of this impatiently waiting feeling. what am i waiting on?

death.

i realized i’ve been waiting to die. not like in a “i can’t wait, woohoo!!”. way but in a “why does it matter way?”

the two ends of my “waiting to die” spectrum is “why should i do anything, i’m just gonna die anyway” to “i have to do everything, who cares, i’m gonna die anyway”

there is, however, the middle of it all, the grey area, the “i’m in a video game and will live forever i forgot that i’m real” area.

this disconnect from reality is the scariest part, i feel.

bc whenever i snap back to reality i realize..

i’m one day closer to dying.

i dunno when i’ll die or how i’ll die, how do i not die?

by eating right and exercising, but i’m gonna die one day, right? so why push myself and fight myself to do things that i just don’t wanna.

it all ends one day.

i don’t wanna die.

but i have to.

will i know when i die?

what if my head gets cut off and i die instantaneously.

what i think happens after death won’t even let me know that i died

what if i don’t get to say bye

what if i die with regrets?

i won’t know.

bc i’ll be dead.

i dont wanna die.

and sense i don’t have anyone to tell all this to, here i am. with you, dear tumblr.

if anyone besides me actually read this, im sorry.

im sorry you wasted your time.

im sorry i don’t have a cheerful message.

im sorry i don’t have answers.

im sorry i cannot provide any comfort if you feel the way i feel

i wish people actually talked about death more openly and not in a “lol kms” type way..

bc i have real feelings, real questions, real concerns, that i need to vent, need to ask, and need to understand.

i know that no one alive knows what there is or what to do but i want to know if people are as afraid as i am.

or as stuck in time.

thank you.

[travelonlinetipsofficial]

St. Moritz - Summer Fun in Switzerland

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St. Moritz - Summer Fun in Switzerland

St. Moritz is a playground for the rich and famous. Celebrities and royals flock to its luxury hotels and world-class ski hills in the winter for outdoor fun. St. Moritz, (aka Sankt Moritz in German or San Maurizio in Italian) was the birthplace of winter tourism, opening its doors in 1864. It has since hosted 2 Winter Olympics and boasts 350 km (217 miles) of ski trails that have been home to international events for more than a century. However, visiting St. Moritz in summer is pretty special too.

Beautiful St. Moritz Switzerland in Summer

While St. Moritz is known for its winter activities, there are countless things to do in St. Moritz in the summer! With discounted prices at luxury hotels, fewer crowds than Zermatt or Grindelwald, and a tourism infrastructure containing high-end restaurants, luxury spas, and fantastic shopping, St. Moritz is a great addition to your Switzerland itinerary in summer.

St. Moritz – Switzerland in Summer

We only had two days in St. Moritz. The moment we arrived at this beautiful alpine town in the Engadin region, we knew we wanted more. Even though our time was short, we made the most of it and stretched out every minute to see as much as we could. I think we did a pretty good job squeezing in a lot of the best things to do in St. Moritz in the summer. Dave and I can cover a lot of ground when we set our minds to it.

Where to Stay in St. Moritz – Hotel Kulm

One of the top hotels in St. Moritz is Hotel Kulm. By visiting in the low season, they had room for us where we’d otherwise be out of our league in the winter. You can feel the elegance and glitz the moment you drive up to its entrance as priceless classic cars line the entryway alongside Astin Martins and Ferraris. Pulling up in our Volkswagen wasn’t a problem though, the staff welcomed us with huge smiles, fresh juice, and cool towels.

Many people visit Hotel Kulm and never leave the resort and we can understand why. They cater to your every need. Be it movie stars, royals, or regular Joes, you can hide away with private cars and helicopters taking you wherever you’d like. Or you can simply walk like us. With a 160 year history, Hotel Kulm has been catering to wealthy families for generations.

Birthplace of Winter Tourism at Hotel Kulm

Remember we told you that St. Moritz was the birthplace of winter tourism? Well, it all started at Hotel Kulm when owner and founder Johannes Badrut told four English tourists that were visiting in summer that if they come back in winter and didn’t enjoy their stay as much as they did in summer, he’d reimburse their entire trip. When they returned in December, they loved it so much they stayed, and Badrut never needed to give them back their money. Word spread throughout England and St. Moritz became the first winter vacation destination in Europe.

Swiss Sauna and Spa

We couldn’t let a night spent in this historic hotel without using its amenities. So before we even stepped foot in St. Moritz, we made our way to the luxurious indoor pool and spa. It was the outdoor pool that attracted everyone’s attention as its heated water was inviting and the view was spectacular.

The infinity pool plunged over the ledge to a view of Lake St. Moritz and the surrounding mountains. We relaxed in the water spas taking in the views before heading into the sauna for some much-needed heat to soothe our aching muscles. Every Swiss resort has a sauna and the spa at Hotel Kulm has both wet and dry saunas, infrared saunas and hot tubs. It’s the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Leaning Tower of St. Moritz

The Kulm Hotel is located directly across from the Leaning Tower of St. Moritz. The more we travel, the more we learn that Pisa isn’t the only leaning tower in the world. With a 5.5 degree lean it is the same as its more famous counterpart. The tower dates back to the 12th century and is pretty cool to see. I don’t know why we didn’t get a picture of it. We walked past it each time we left the hotel! Sometimes you just need to enjoy the view instead of taking a photo I guess.

St. Moritz Lake

In the summertime in St. Moritz, a lot of the action happens around Lake St. Moritz. St. Moritz boasts 320 days of sunshine a year and residents take advantage of that regardless of the season. Sailboats scatter the lake as people stroll along its shores. In Winter, you can go ice skating on the lake and there are zany adventures like winter cricket, winter polo, and the White Turf winter horse race. The people of St. Moritz know how to enjoy the outdoors! For us, the main outdoor summer attraction in St. Moritz was hiking.

Hiking in St. Moritz

I’m glad we had a good rest at the hotel the day before our day outdoors because it was up bright and early for one of the best hikes in St. Moritz. The Muottas Muragle to Alp Languard hike is one of the best things to do in St. Moritz.

We didn’t expect the views to rival the likes of Grindelwald or Zermatt, but when we reached the higher altitudes, we were taken aback by the beauty. Does every place in Switzerland have beautiful views? Read: The Ultimate One-Week Switzerland Itinerary

Muottas Muragl – Segantini Hütte – Alp Languard Hike

The hike begins at the Punt Muragl train station where we took the funicular railway up to Muottas Muagl for the start of our hike. The trip up the funicular is an activity unto itself offering beautiful views of St. Moritz, the St. Moritz Lake, and the panoramic views of Upper Engadin from 2,456m (8,057ft).

This classic hike is about a 2 1/2 hour climb and if you are going to do just one hike in St. Moritz, make it this one. It’s a good challenging hike that is steep in sections, but not too difficult. It’s the perfect hike for intermediate hikers that will take you to a fantastic lookout at the Segantini Hut.

The views of St. Moritz

The views continue to change as you hike from one side to the other as different ranges of the Alps come into view from the Albula Alps to Bernina Range tower over the Muragl Valley with the Sella glacier and Tschierva glacier plunging toward the valleys. The view took us off guard as we didn’t expect to see such dramatic views of mountains and glaciers. We thought that scene was reserved for Zermatt or Grindelwald.

Make sure to keep an eye out for Marmots on the trail. We saw a few, but always seemed to miss snapping a photograph of them before they scurried away.

Segantini Hut

Named after the Italian painter, Giovanni Segantini the Segantini Hut is a beautiful viewpoint that is worth spending a bit of time taking in the view. It was here that Segantini died while painting the third part of his painting Life, Nature, and Death. The view from this location was his inspiration for the Nature portion of the tryptic. Segantini’s works can be seen in the Segantini Museum in St. Moritz.

Toilet with a View (or let’s make it rhyme – Loo with a View)

The first thing you’ll notice while climbing up to Segantini Hut from Muottas Muragl is a bright red building with the Swiss flag on it. This is a toilet that sits on the edge of the mountain. It’s not often we talked about toilets on the blog, but this is one that you must go in. Make sure to put your camera (but hold on tight) out the window for the view from here.

Segantini Restaurant

After you’ve reached the summit, make sure to enjoy a coffee and pastry from the restaurant at Segantini Hut. There are outdoor benches and several viewpoints that let you enjoy the panoramic scene of Bernina Massif, The Upper Engadine Valley, and the Alps. The sun was warm and strong on our faces and we could have sat there for hours.

The Descent to Alp Languard

Alas, it was time to descend and this is where the hike gets interesting. The trail becomes narrower than the hike up and it goes through beautiful rock slides and fields of boulders creating a great adventure hike through a few obstacles.

Where the sections become too narrow, there are ropes and chains attached to the cliff walls for safety. Make sure to hold on and don’t look at your camera or phone. It’s not dangerous at all, but if you aren’t paying attention accidents can happen.

Many people were climbing up this route and our guide told us it is a much more strenuous climb in this direction. If you only have a short time in St. Moritz, we suggest doing our route from Muottas Muragl. The hike to Segantini hut can be done in either direction, but the people we saw on the way down looked like they were suffering much more than we did.

Alp Languard

Our hike in St. Moritz came to an end at Alp Languard where we caught the chairlift back down to the village. It’s fun riding a chairlift down a mountain. It offers a completely different perspective.

St. Moritz Country Club

The Kulm Country Club is a historic place to have dinner in St. Moritz. It showcases the history of winter sports in St. Moritz. It was here that bobsledding (skibobbing) and the skeleton was born and competitions began at Kulm Park. The Kulm Hotel is home to the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club and there is memorabilia scattered throughout the hotel and country club showing its alpine history.

The Country Club hosts many events and has been host to World Championships a the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics. There is a lot of alpine history here especially on Piz Nair where the Olympic and world cup sports take place.

Go to a Cheese Dairy

No trip to Switzerland would be complete without visiting a dairy to see how traditional cheese is made. The Morteratsch alpine cheese dairy is not only a place where they make cheese, it is an excellent outdoor dining venue set in a gorgeous meadow. After a hike in the mountains of St. Moritz, make your way to Morteratsch on the river to the Alpschaukäserei for a cheese fondue or raclette. Don’t miss ordering their cheese board to start, it is a work of art.

While there, keep an eye out for the cheese master who comes out regularly to stir the huge vat of cheese. The Alpine Cheese Dairy lets you view traditional cheese production up close and personal for free as you enjoy your alpine meal. Daily shows happen daily at 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Shopping

Like many of the mountain resorts in Switzerland, shopping is a must (for the wealthy) when in St. Moritz. Via Serlas is the highest outdoor shopping street in the world located at 1,822 meters above sea level. Dave and I can only window shop as the usual high-end brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier, and Dior are on display. It’s fun to see what things go for though and wonder, “who on earth buys these things?”

Best Way to Get to St. Moritz

We drove to St. Moritz by car and it was amazing taking us through one of the most iconic drives in Switzerland. Having a car helped us explore all of the top attractions at our own pace. However, Switzerland had an extensive rail system and you can easily travel to Ticino via rail with a Swiss Travel Pass and one of the most popular ways to get to St. Moritz is to take the Grand Train Tour from Zermatt to St. Moritz. Two free informative apps to help plan your Switzerland journey are Grand Train Tour of Switzerland app and the Swiss Travel Guide app. Visit My Switzerland for more information

A Swiss Travel Pass includes:

Unlimited travel by train, bus, and boat

Public transportation in more than 90 cities and towns

Including mountain excursions: Rigi, Schilthorn, Stanserhorn, and Stoos

Free admission to more than 500 museums throughout Switzerland

Get your Swiss Travel Pass Here.

St. Moritz is an incredible destination that surprised us. After spending time in Zermatt and Grindelwald we weren’t sure if we’d be as impressed with the mountains of St. Moritz, but it was beautiful and we would have loved to spend another few days exploring this magical region of Switzerland. You can be sure we have put it at the top our list of places to visit in winter.

Read More and Plan Your Travels to Switzerland

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[lindoig7]

Saturday-Tuesday, 25-28 July

Saturday

A lay-day again today – and probably another one tomorrow too.  We are having one of our Southbank-cooked curries for dinner tonight so with only one more in the freezer, we cooked a replacement.  It is quite a different style from those we usually cook so it will be interesting to find out if it is worth doing again.  We used a curry mix, but included a lot of different, perhaps unusual, veges in it so it is something of an experiment, irrespective of what the recipe says.  (We subsequently discovered that our experiment was a resounding and very tasty success, significantly enhanced by our selection of vegetables.  We did, however, resolve to supplement it with a little more meat next time.)

It has been fine and cool all day (maybe our coldest start to the day) and we went for a 2km walk around a circuit across the creek in the mid-afternoon – just to get the circulation going and to keep in practice for more challenging excursions.

Sunday

Mainly just another day around the caravan today. We did a few chores (laundry, cleaning, etc.) and a bit of shopping in the afternoon.  On the way to the supermarket, I took the car to ARB just around the corner from here to see if they could help make the RHS spare wheel easier to lock into position on the back of the car.  I was going to try something myself, putting a washer under the hinge to make it a little easier, but the fixtures were all imperial bolts and I needed a tube spanner to loosen one of them – and I didn’t have one that fitted. Fortunately, ARB came up with the same suggestion and did have a spanner to fit – and 5 minutes later, the problem was solved and all for free.  It is now so much easier to open and close the back every time we need to swap the AC and DC power inputs on the car freezer.  We have actually opened it once now – to retrieve a small baggy of grated ginger.  Otherwise, it is still packed with goodies yet to be eaten.

Monday, 27 July

We took another (more direct) trip to Licola today, driving via Traralgon again so I could return the useless stylus I purchased the previous Friday.  Needless to say, it worked perfectly when the cashier tried it so I went back to the car where it wouldn’t work at all.  Back inside Officeworks, it again worked for the cashier, but definitely not for me so I got a refund.  I suspect I don’t have enough static electricity in my body to make it work – although it works fine with my finger so why not with a fake finger?  It’s a mystery and using the miniscule keyboard on my phone remains virtually impossible.

We intended to go to Bryce Gorge 50 km past Licola to do a nature walk up there.  We hadn’t got quite that far a few days ago before it started getting dark so we decided to try again.  Alas, we almost made it again, but by about 5 km short of our objective, the road deteriorated badly, the fog became almost too thick to see the road and the rain would have made the walk miserable – so we will reserve that one for a bright sunny summer day, if at all.

We detoured via Maffra and a few narrow mountain roads on the way home and for once were home before it was completely dark – nearly, but not quite.

Tuesday, 28 July

Another cold a foggy day and we spent most of it huddling in the warmth of the van.  We had photos to download and sort, blogs to write up, bills to pay, emails to reply to – all the usual stuff – but we got out for a short walk around the circuit behind the caravan park in the late afternoon.  It is about a kilometre and a half, probably a bit more, but just some light exercise in a very pleasant area much used by the locals.