Tidbinbilla

Henry drove us to Tidbinbilla.

There was a strong video presence on Artimus. It was made before the recent flight but it got me thinking I need to brush up on the current status of space flight and the various launch vehicles. 

This is a monunent to Voyager.

We went to the visitor centre. 

Henry:

BNE->CBR

2026 SKI JULY

T-Minus

4:00 rise and shine

4:30 Depart Fairfield 

5:00 Arr Airport

6:00 Boarding

6:20 Depart

Fletch drove Phoebe and I to the airport.

After bag drop, we joined a huge queue for security. A very officus woman was giving weird and loud  instructions to the crowd and her work mates. Lots of eye rolling.

In the queue we chatted by phone with Graham and Mel, who were at the virgin end of they'd terminal and eventually gave up on the idea of meeting for coffee. 

Gate 1 has it seems, a better than average support presence - It had three Qantas staff manning a [help?] desk, a newsagent and coffee shop. No queue. 

After a black coffee which I found refreshing but was not too Phoebe's liking, we queued for a bus. In such situations I imagine the bus going rogue and just driving us to Canberra. 

Alas it was straight to the plane. 

On board experience was on par with expectations.  

There's always a catch when you get something really cheap. 

Had to work to fly.

a lovely chat with the pilot.  He's based in Brisbane and this is a lifestyle job. Today only a down and back. 

SKI 2026 July

2026 JULY

T-Minus

4:30 Depart Fairfield 

5:00 Arr Airport

6:00 Boarding

6:20 Depart BNE for CBR

PACKING LIST

Torch

Phone charger & 2m lead

4 way Power board.

3m extension lead.

Nikko & stickers.

TODO LIST

Accommodation- Booked & Paid

Henry car

Ski hire

Epic pass w ski tube.

Roof rack issue

sick

TUESDAY

I've taken the day off work. 

Runny nose,  mild headache, sore throat. 

Monday AM I went to the doc.  He ordered a chest x-ray and this showed i didn't have pneumonia. 

I bought a 4 in 1 RAT test. 

I don't seem to have any of the viruses it tests for. 

I asked chatGPT  to make me a "Man Flu" RAT test

Sunday

Sunday began with coffee and crumpets (toasted with butter and golden syrup) 

Followed by church at Tarragindi uniting. It's now part of a thing called "southside uniting Church".  We chose this because Phoebe used to attend years ago.   Saw a few old friends I knew. Saw Don R.  Derek was doing the live stream.  Phoebe caught up with people she hadn't seen in years. 

The rest of the day was consumed fixing the window mechanism on Phoebe's car. This necessitated not one but two trips to bunnings to buy tools.  Phoebe reclined keeping an eye on things and playing solitaire.

The day concluded sitting round the fire in the front yard eating steak and drinking wine and the final [sinful 🤣] act - ice cream in the form of mini boysenberry choctops. 

Dualas Window

Phoebe's Nissan Daulis Drivers Window is no longer winding up and down. 

I assumed the [mechanical] wire had broken the way it used to on both the Ute and the Vito so I had a look on line and purchased that part of the mechanism. 

Watched a YouTube video. 

Began to dismantle. 

Pried the cover off the handle using a flat blade at the bottom. 

per the video the top screw is posi and the bottom is Torx. In my case the bottom screw had been gronched by a previous fixer.   Two trip to bunnings to buy torx.  The second set I could hammer it in. 

The connectors have a little tit. To remove the connector,  use a small flat blade to push the lug back toward the body of the connector. 

By Good luck the window had gotten stuck at the position it needs to be to unscrew the glass from the mechanism. 

next unscrew the plate. 

Then one bolt that holds the door opener. Slide it and move it.  Behind it is a bolt that connects to the top of one of the slides. To the right is the other bolt. 

Remove 3 screws (self tappers) that hold the motor in place. 

Motor

The three slots in it motor should link with three lugs in it mechanism but they were sheered off.

Old and new side by side

One of the pop rivits still had the steel shaft making it difficult to drill. 

Cut away with the dremmel and then ripped it out with pliers from the other side. 

Phoebe kept a eye on things just to make sure.....

Dog Dinner

400g pet mince

Cup rice

Cup mixed frozen veggies