A MOTHER and her toddler almost perished in 43C-plus temperatures after the car they were travelling in with friends broke down in the Northern Territory outback.

The 27-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter - along with two other men, aged 26 and 45 - were severely dehydrated when help arrived.

They had been waiting with the car for more than 27 hours and had run out of water

Tot, mum severely dehydrated after car breaks down in Northern Territory outback Links to the news stories:- News Report  By Rebekah Cavanagh Northern Territory news reports Near Deaths, in the Outback The following advice is from the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Safe Outback Travel The Australian Outback offers spectacular scenery and the chance for great adventure. But it is important to be ready for the rigours of travelling in isolated areas.

Unfortunately, up to a quarter of the emergency medical evacuations that we carry out each year are the result of city travellers who get into trouble on their Outback adventure.

Preparation

• get good quality maps and plan your route
• be careful of how much you pack on your roof rack; a heavy load on top increases the chances of a roll-over
• store water in small containers instead of one large tank; check all water containers for leaks; if you’re unused to the Outback, you may need one litre of water every hour; if active (eg walking, climbing etc) you will need to consume additional water at regular intervals (remember: don't wait to feel thirsty before taking a drink!); most towns have water but, at some places, you may not be able to get drinking water; we recommend that in very hot conditions you carry 10 litres of water per person per day; don't rely on waterholes, dams, bores, mills, tanks or troughs; soap or detergents should not be used in any natural water course or stock watering point
• carry enough food for each person for two days
• bring matches or a lighter
• pack a fire extinguisher
• carry an HF radio compatible with the RFDS (mobile phones and CB radios will not work in remote areas); you can buy an HF radio from most two way communication centres
• get a summary of your medical history and bring all medication and repeat scripts with you
• do a first aid course and pack a first aid kit
• take a hat, sunscreen and insect repellent
• wear clothing suitable for the climate; wear good walking shoes; take warmer clothes for the evenings
• don’t travel in the hottest part of the year
• overseas visitors are encouraged to take out adequate travel insurance when travelling in Outback Australia

Today’s very rich Christmas cake reminded me of my mother’s traditional recipe and this lead me to think of Reg and my wedding cake and then to our love of and interactions with wildlife and I was ready to waffle again J.

The first time my husband tried the family recipe, rich fruitcake was when it was served as our wedding cake and he loved it. We packed the remains of the wedding cake into the car, and headed off for our bush camping honeymoon.

During the night, we heard noises, sat up in bed and shone the torch into the tent.  There were two possums, feasting on our wedding cake.  We were both, so enchanted by the visitor’s and the cake was beyond saving for us, so we just sat there and watched, enjoying the experience. We are a lot wiser these days and we do not usually leave food where animals can get to it, though when travelling up through the centre last year, I stepped outside my van with my dinner in my hand. Put it down on the ground for a second while I picked something up, a hungry thin fox came out of the grasses, and it demolished my dinner in a split second and took off.

At dusk, when we bush camp, we frequently see dingos, circling camps. I always make sure our dog Indigo is away in the van at this time, as it is the nocturnal animal’s time, and not the safest time for our pet to be out.

It is recommended that we do not feed wild life, as that puts their lives at risk, both from the foods people feed them and from their losing their fear of humans and coming too close for their and our safety.

 

Fantastic,  I bought myself a camera, suited to taking photographs of wildlife and birds. This will be fantastic, for this travelling artist and should give me great material, to paint. I love this camera. :-).  I am getting some great 'shots' with it.

Top of the IXUS range, here's what Canon has to say about the IXUS 990 IS...

Elegant design, most powerful zoom in the IXUS series and High Definition movie recording, perfect for travelling

• 12.1 megapixels
• 5x Optical Zoom
• Optical Image Stabilizer
• DiG!C 4
• Intelligent Auto
• Intelligent Contrast Correction
• Motion Detection Technology
• Servo AF
• ISO 3200

The IXUS 990 IS boasts the most powerful zoom in the IXUS series and High Definition movie recording in one elegant package. The 12.1MP sensor, 5x optical zoom lens with Optical Image Stabilizer ensures clear, sharp shots at a distance. Photography is made easy with Intelligent Auto, advanced face detection with blink detection and a huge 3 inch PureColor II LCD display. This stunning camera is a must for those who demand the ultimate in performance and style.

With the new Intelligent Auto mode you can take photos while letting the camera adjust the optimum settings; detecting faces and scenes (macro, backlit, sunset etc) ensuring you get the perfect shot.

Key Features:

• 12.1 megapixels deliver outstanding quality images and stunning photo prints up to A2 size
• Genuine Canon 5x optical zoom lens (37mm-185mm) to get you closer to the subject
• Optical Image Stabilizer for crisp shots even at high zoom or in low-light conditions without flash
• New Auto mode with Scene Detection, Face Detection, Motion Detection and Noise Reduction makes it even easier to get the perfect shot
• High resolution 3.0" PureColor LCD II screen with wide viewing angle to easily share your photos
• Face Detection for perfect focus, exposure and lighting when photographing people
• Automatic red-eye correction gives you more natural-looking portraits
• Blink detection warning signal when detecting closed eyes in the photo taken
• Shoot High Definition movies and view easily on TV with a HDMI terminal

Perfect portraits of family and friends

• Face Detection and Selector
• Face Detection Self-timer
• Red-eye Correction
• Blink Detection Digital photography made easy
• 3.0" LCD screen
• MultiControl Dial for easy operation
• My Colors, Creative Light Effect and Zoom Blur for creative options
• My Category for easy image sorting

What's Included:

• Canon IXUS 990 IS digital camera
• Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery NB-5L
• Battery Charger CB-2LXE
• USB Interface Cable IFC-400PCU, AC Cable, AV Cable AVCDC400
• Wrist Strap WS-DC7
• Digital Camera Solution Disc - ZoomBrowser EX (PC), ImageBrowser (Mac), PhotoStitch

ensor / Image Processor :

Effective Number of Pixels :

Approx. 12.1 MP CCD

Size / Filter Array :

1/2.3 inch / Primary colour filter (Bayer)

Processor :

DiG!C 4

  Lens :

Focal Length (optical) :

6.6 (W) - 33.0 (T) mm

35mm film equivalent :

37 (W) - 185 (T) mm

f/number :

f/3.2 - f/9.0 (W), f/5.7 - f/16 (T)

Shutter Speed :

15 - 1/1600 sec.

Zoom :

Optical approx 5x; Digital approx 4x

Image Stabilizer :

Optical (Lens Shift Type), approx 4 steps

  Focusing :

Focus System :

TTL Autofocus

Focusing Frame :

Face Detect AiAF1,2, Center

Focusing Range :

Normal: 50cm - infinity, Macro: 2cm - 50cm (W), Digital Macro: 2cm- 10cm

  Shooting Functions :

Face Detection :

Auto Focus, Auto Exposure, White Balance, Flash Exposure, Auto Red-Eye correction, FaceSelf-Timer3 Blink Detection

Other Shooting Features :

Servo AF, AF-Point Zoom, Size Select, AF Lock, AF Assist Beam, i-Contrast, Date Stamp, Digital tele-converter, real time histogram, Image Inspection Tool, Creative Light Effect, Zoom Blur

Continuous Shooting (Large/Fine) :

Approx 1.0 shots/sec

Self-timer :

Approx. 10 sec or 2 sec delay, custom, FaceSelf-Timer

  Control/Balance :

Light Metering Method :

Evaluative4, Center-weighted average, Spot5

Exposure Control Method :

Program AE, AE Lock available, i-Contrast

Exposure Compensation :

± 2 stops in 1/3-stop increments

Sensitivity (Equivalent Film Speed) :

Auto6, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600

White Balance Modes :

Auto , Daylight , Cloudy , Tungsten , Fluorescent , Fluorescent H , Custom

LCD Monitor :

3.0 inch Pure Color LCD II monitor with wide viewing angle (approx 461,000 dots)

  Flash :

Flash Modes / Functions :

Auto, on, off, Slow Synchro, Auto Red Eye Correction, Red Eye Reduction, Face Detect FE, FE Lock

Flash Range :

Normal: 30cm - 3.5m (W) 30cm - 2.0m (T)

  Selectable Shooting Modes :

Shooting Modes :

Intelligent Auto, P, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Sunset, Creative Light Effect, Fireworks, Long Shutter, Beach, Aquarium, Foliage, Snow, ISO 3200, Digital Macro, Exposure Zoom, Colour Accent, Color Swap, Stitch Assist, Movie (Standard, Color Accent, Color Swap)

My Colours :

Vivid, Neutral, Serpia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red

  Image Recording Format :

Still image :

JPEG Compression (EXIF 2.2 Compliant)

Colour Space and JPEG Compression :

sRGB; Fine, Normal

Movies :

MOV (Image Data: H.264; Audio Data: Linear PCM monaural)

  Recording Pixels and recording capacity on a 2GB card :

Still Images and Capacity (at Fine Image Setting) :

Large: 4000 x 3000 (626), Medium 1: 3264 x 2448 (930), Medium 2: 2592 x 1944 (1365), Medium 3: 1600 x 1200 (3235), Small: 640 x 480 (10245), Widescreen: 4000 x 2248 (830)

Movie Frame Rate :

HD 1280x720: 30fps (10min 53sec), 640x480: 30fps (23min 49sec), 320x240: 30fps (1hr 13min 10sec)

  Other Operations :

Playback Operations Direct Printing, PictBridge :

Red-eye Correction, Intelligent Contrast Correction, Trimming, Resize, Slideshow, Index, Magnified, Image Inspection Tool, Advancing and Reversing through magnified images, Jump, Auto Rotate, Rotate, Histogram, Overexposure Warning, Sound Memos, Auto Play, Transition, MyCategory, MyColors, Filter by Date, Image advance with tilt of camera Yes7

  Interface :

Supported Operating Systems :

PC: Windows XP SP2/SP3, Vista incl SP1; Mac: OS X v10.4- v10.5

Computer I/F :

USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (mini-B compatible), HDMI (mini-connector)

Video Output :

PAL or NTSC selectable

Audio Output :

Monaural

Memory Storage :

SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard, MMCplus card, HC MMCplus card

Menu Languages :

26 languages English, German, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian, Farsi and Japanese

  General Features :

Battery :

Rechargeable Lithium-ion Battery NB-5L

Shooting Capacity (full charge) :

LCD Monitor On 270 shots; Playback 6 hours

Dimensions (W x D x H) :

94.8 x 56.8 x 26.3 mm (ex. protruding parts)

Weight :

Approx. 160g (camera body only)

I will be touring through several Australian states, during 2010 and I will be available to be booked now, as a ghostwriter to help write memoirs, family history journals or I am very happy to share interesting, short stories here..

Please make requests to book my writing time, early, (now would be good), so I can plan the time required into my tour plans for the gray-nomad, and doggies blog, 2010 review of dog-friendly caravan parks, tour.

Reg, Indigo our poodle and will be touring Australia, in 2010,reviewing dog-and J people friendly, caravan parks and I am going to do some on location paint outs.

Our first tour will be of Victoria, beginning in summer and continuing into early autumn 2010.

Currently our focus will be on the northeast scenic location around Goughs Bay and Mansfield, where our family own an onsite caravan and we can holiday with the family at Goughs Bay Caravan Park. Check out our on site caravan for sale page if you would like a great family holiday van at a bargain price as our travels do not allow us to use this van enough to warrant keeping it.

The second phase of our review tour will take us to another favourite location of ours, beautiful Grampians region, in Victoria’s west. We will stay at Grampians Gardens Tourist Park.

 

Then we will tour into NSW reviewing dog-friendly caravan parks and we will revisit two of our favourite areas, the Kiama Coast, staying at Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park  and South Ballina staying at Ballina Beach Holiday Park

Then we tour into QLD, and will be staying at Captain Cook Holiday Village  adjacent to a national park, magnificent beaches, in the beautiful town of 1770, near Agnes Waters.

Then touring further north towards Cairns, we will stay at the Flying Fish Point Tourist Park. See photos.

I am purchasing a new camera so I can better capture wildlife and bird photos and I plan to paint, on location and I will be keen to hear local interesting stories that I can share with my readers.  Every year, Reg and I feel that ‘this is our best tour ever’ and J 2010 certainly is forming up as one of our best.  Once we reach the top end, of QLD, who knows which direction we will take at this stage, Email me, Kathy, if you have a dog friendly venue you would like me to review during this tour or if you would like to view art or book an art tutorial.

 

Our 2010, tour planning, is progressing well. I am always interested in 'camp fire yarns' suitable for publishing here. I will keep my readers informed of the loctions I can be found, around the camp fire or in the camp kitchen.

Reg, Indigo our poodle and I are going to review dog-friendly caravan parks and I am going to do some on location paint outs, in Victoria during summer early autumn 2010 and plan another tour of the beautiful Grampians region, staying at Grampians Gardens Tourist Park. Then we will tour into NSW reviewing dog friendly caravan parks and we will revisit two of our favourite areas, the Kiama Coast, staying at Seven Mile Beach Holiday Park  and South Ballina, staying at Ballina Beach Holiday Park  So watch out for some lovely coastal on location painting work and stories.

I will update this list as we plan it and add actual dates we will be in each location closer to the completion of our tour plans.  Email me, Kathy, if you have a dog friendly venue you would like me to review during this tour or if you would like to view art or book an art tutorial.