A few whinges, plus the Christmas photos

As I sit here, on a lovely cool day, in a refreshed Aldinga Beach, due to rain last night and again this morning.   Hopefully the rain has reached all the parched areas of Australia.

I should be back in the study, sorting out my continuing problems relating to pensions and tax, but writing a blog is far more appealing, especially as I want to have a whinge about it all.  And  I need to post a few photographs of Christmas, before we have our next big family meet up, on Australia Day.

I love living here, in Australia, and in Aldinga Beach in particular; the freedom, the lifestyle, our large and comfortable house and garden, and especially the white sandy beaches.   

But there is no doubt about it, getting one's head around a system that has changed since we left twenty eight years ago, is not easy.  The health system being one of them, and government processes being the other one, although they are linked of course.    Walter has a Gold Card, due to his service in the army, and he is very well looked after by the health system, and he gets a small disability pension too.   And we are very appreciative of this.    

I am out there on my own.  Thank goodness we are only dealing with one person.  I have private health insurance, which I found out has its limits when I reached my allowance for dental work.     Dentists certainly charge more here than the private dentist I went to, in the UK.    And I am never sure just what are reasonable charges for dental work, as I get given quotes for the specific work, then 10% off because I belong I go to a nominated health fund dentist and another 10% off as I now have a Seniors Health Card.   But it is all a bit too nebulous for my linking.     Am I being ripped off or not?  I always have doubts. 

I will not mention at this point, the cost of my new glasses, which I organised through my local optometrist. They were certainly more expensive than any pair of glasses that I have bought before.

 And my Seniors Health Card, which is a flimsy piece of plastic, gives me 10% off medical and dental bills., medicines and a few household bills.    Every bit counts so they say, but it took z fair amount of work to get the thing, I might add.

I am still waiting on a reply from Centrelink as to whether I receive a top up on pension here.   Another blood, sweat and tears application, which was put in, in September, 2019. And I have had to submit a huge amount of further evidence after I put the claim in, plus a few trips to the local Centrelink office.    All I want to know is whether I am going to get a top up or not.   A decision please.   And now that Centrelink staff members are busily processing claims for bush fire victims, the decision regarding my claim will no doubt be pushed to the bottom.    

Bureaucracy!

However, it is no better from the UK side, just different.   And here lies my frustration yesterday.   Last July I sent the Double Taxation forms to the Australian Tax Office.   I had tried to do this in July 2018 but was told I needed to put a tax return in here before they would look at the Double Taxation form.   A few months later I received a letter from the Tax Office to say they had sent it off to the UK and it was up to the UK Tax Office to action it.   And there it rests, ;permanently I thought.   But when I logged into my UK tax file I found out the office was processing something and I would hear the result by the 19th December.   Well I have not heard!

But I found out something interesting, I have to let the Tax Department know of my reduced UK State Pension, and there is a form online in which to do so.   One has to look around a bit to find the form to upload.   There is no clear message as such.

At no time have I been told to inform the UK Taxation office that I have a reduced State Pension, and more importantly how to go about doing so.   I have tried writing and phoning and have not received any straight or informative answers.   So now I know!   

However I do not feel proactive at the moment.   

 Instead I will write this blog.

Our cute Piper sitting in her favourite place, amongst the herbs.

and fast asleep on the couch.

The new dog in the family, namely Charlie, a labrador/kelpie  cross.  A gorgeous dog, with a huge labrador appetite, who is now on a diet.    He is six years old, and comes from a very loving family who can no longer look after him.    He has settled in with Emma, Steve, Jackson and Isabel and loves his new family.   A friendly gentle giant. 

Piper's not always well behaved, as can be seen from the torn up book in the photograph below.   Luckily she only tore up the front of the book, so I was able to read the last third.   I was not impressed.

Our new outside fan, such a life saver, in the hot weather.

The evaporative air conditioner, which keeps us cool in the dry, hot weather.   Another lifesaver. 

A relaxing Christmas Day.

The video dancing was a big hit.

Jackson received a giant chair.   His Secret Santa present from Scott!   Secret Santa ended up by not being so secret afterall.   We all loved the chair!

We had nineteen festive people sit down to dinner.   Our food included prawns, eaten out in the gazebo by the pool.   Far away from the non prawn people who ate chicken shashliks at the dining table.   Non prawn people do not like the smell or the look of prawns.   Hard to believe really!

This was followed up with buffet food, both hot and cold, and a variety of puddings to finish off.  And later on a cheese board, and hot mini pies and sausage rolls.  So much delicious food.

Glasses were raised!

Rachel, Elliot and Emily celebrated with us, all the way from the UK.   Their trip was too short, as they are back home in the cold and darkness.

Piper preparing for Christmas Day, looking reasonably relaxed on the outdoor couch,

after she chewed a hole in one of the cushions.   It is just as well we love you, Piper.

And to finish I will recount a very funny moment.   As I my blood pressure was a little high, when having my expensive (for me) check up at the doctors I was told to monitor it for a couple of weeks.   So we bought a blood pressure monitor.   Now put that into the hands of an amateur and there could be problems.   Instead of putting my arm through the band and tightening it I wrapped the band around the arm, with some difficulty.  When I turned the monitor on, it just about took my arm off, and my blood pressure was extremely high, both top and bottom.   I panicked, and had to walk around the block to calm down.   It was some time later that I realised what I had done.  I now have bruises on my arm.   Hope no one notices them.

It pays to read instructions first.

But thankfully, later readings showed I do not have high blood pressure, just a 'white coat syndrome' problem.

Out in the countryside

We live in the countryside, and during the last few days I realised that we were just as vulnerable as those people who have been caught up in the terrible fires elsewhere in Australia.  The land around us is dry, bone dry, and it will only take an extremely hot day plus wind and a spark from lightning or electricity lines and hey presto, a fire.  And it appears from the fires in the Adelaide Hills that the greenness of grape vines will not be a deterrent to any major fire.

Onkaparinga Council has trimmed everything back; trees, parks, grass, and farmers have only stubble from their crops left in their fields, however fire can still sweep across stubble, as we have seen elsewhere.   And we have the scrub behind us, and bush land in the surrounding hills.   So we cannot be complacent.  We have had a couple of small fires in Aldinga and Sellicks, lit by a silly man, who has now been arrested, but somehow reports of these fires appeared in the English news.  And to set records straight for the people overseas, most fires here are not lit by people, but are caused by the extreme heat and sometimes combined with dry lightening or electricity lines touching branches.   Eucalyptus sap is highly combustible.

The bright red sun, as it rose over the hills, reflected on the side window of the house, was an indication of a very hot day to come.   The smoke from the bush fires also contributed to the redness of the sun.   A predicted temperature of 40 degrees, which is not really hot compared to temperatures in the 40s, but still too hot for our back garden.   Too hot to swim in the pool.

So I sit inside in air conditioned comfort, as I write this blog.   The evaporative air conditioning has been fantastic, cheap to run, and very efficient in hot, dry weather.   No good in humidity.   We also have solar panels on the roof so during the day there is cheap electricity.   If the fire danger becomes extremely high here, the electricity will be turned off, but so far all has been okay.

I take Piper for an early morning walk, ball throw and swim every day.   She loves it of course.   At the moment Port Willunga is full of holiday makers, all taking advantage of the early morning coolness to spend time on the beach.

It was not a good time for our Hooded Plovers to nest in the sand on the edge of the sand dunes and creek.   These birds are an endangered species, and these days not many of the chicks survive.   Native predators, such as large birds, lizards and snakes, take the eggs and chicks, but their plight is not helped by humans and dogs.   Sadly I noticed that many people ignore the signs and fenced off areas and let their dogs roam freely, rather than keep them on lead when walking past.   One chick, out of four, has survived, and has flown away this week.   Good news.

The dry grass, and trees, on the hills above us.

 I think these hills were once covered in trees, which were cleared for farmland, and then it was found the soil was not suitable for sheep grazing.   Progress or not! 

Jennie and John, from the UK, visited us on the weekend before Christmas. and it was so lovely to see them and have them stay with us.   Great to catch up on all the news, and to share parts of the area, that we enjoy so much.   Most of the following photographs were taken by John or Jennie.

A lovely lunch out in Willunga, at the The Golden Fleece Cafe.

 John, the hatstand, standing under the bright orange lampshade.   He certainly looks the part.  Great photo, taken by Jennie.

 The Golden Fleece Cafe, once part of a Shell Service Station, has been decorated out as a rustic 1960s cafe, with plastic chairs and formica tabletops, and plenty of orange.   It also has excellent coffee, delicious food and very friendly staff. 

John and I, resting for a moment in the shade of a huge NZ Christmas Tree (a Pohutukawa).   Another very hot day.

 We also took Jennie and John to have a look at McLaren Vale, the main street and the visitor centre, where we sat in comfort in the wine cask chairs. 

 An early morning walk on the beach at Port Willunga.   Piper doing her usual running around after the ball, her favourite activity.

 Exhausted.    The life of a dog.   And a very spoilt one at that.

 A line up in front of Aldinga Scrub.   We did see a few kangaroos on the other side of the fence.   No dogs allowed in there as it is a conservation area.   We keep Piper on a lead always, just in case the kangaroos jump the fence in search of green grass.   A large kangaroo would make short work of Piper if she chased it.

There was plenty of water in the wetlands, which was good to see, and plenty of water birds too.

And now back to the last few photographs taken while Kathy was staying with us last November.  Seems such a long time ago now.

We visited Hahndorf. the German town in the Adelaide hills.  A kitschy German town in an Australian bush setting.   However, I like visiting it, and looking through all the small shops, and spending a fair bit of money.   

The main street is lined with large trees so it is also lovely and shady on a hot day.

Kathy and I visited Cleland Wildlife Park, and spent a few leisurely hours walking around it, in mild weather.  It is not a place to visit on a very cold day, as it can be bitterly cold there.   Amazing to think after all the extremely hot weather we have experienced that two months ago it was often very cold.

A very friendly kangaroo, plus me of course, with food in my hand.

This emu was a bit scary.

Jeff's cousin in Australia.   Remember Jeff, the bearded dragon lizard that lived in the Palmer household, and visited us on occasions.   Jeff was so friendly.   He now resides in a secondary school in south London, and loves to watch the activities of the students from his vivarium. 

And finally a walk through the Adelaide Botanical Park.

It was while Kathy was staying with us that we realised the scale of the vineyards and wine production in South Australia.   Once the main area was the Barossa Valley, with a few vineyards in the Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and the Coonawarra regions.    Now there are vineyards spread out from the hills to the coast.    A major industry here in South Australia.

A view across the vineyards towards McLaren Vale.   A scene that we see everyday, when living at Aldinga Beach. 

And to finish.    A few bright red flowers on the New Zealand Christmas tree, the Pohutukawa, growing so beautifully in Willunga, South Australia.