Gliding talk

Yes, I did it again. We were invited to the monthly dinner with Wimmera Region Engineers Australia group and I was asked to do some talking.

http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/events/wimmera-regional-group-monthly-presentation-marta-najfeld-aeronautical-engineer

I prepared presentation introducing basics of gliding, principles, weather and showed a short movie about competitions. Questions kept coming and coming which is really good showing you that people understood what you were talking about.

setting everything up

Ziggy is seriously coaching my talks and also this time he told me not to talk too fast and loud. It's wise to listen to his advice cause he's a very good talker himself. I was trying to do my best but started speeding up towards the end ... again. I'm getting there though.

yes, looking serious is very important

explaining landings

It was a very nice evening and we returned home well passed our weekdays bed time. We enjoyed it, made new contacts with very interesting people so it was really worth it. We'll keep going to the engineers meetings.

Australian animals

I got a chance to visit a Dimboola lady who is an animal foster carer. I drove to her property very early in the morning yesterday and was able to watch the animals she takes care of being fed. At this moment she has a baby Possum and a joey. There are more half wild kangaroos coming every day for a feed.

happy Possum after breakfast

The animals are being raised and if possible released in the wildness. It usually works fine with the kangaroos and they keep spending more and more time in the bush with other species. Mrs. Fraser makes sure they don't get used to people other than her. They are supposed to be afraid and don't approach humans.

Misty begging for the milk bottle

sucking on the bottle

nothing can stop her till the bottle is empty

play time

happy roo with full tummy

I learned that a female kangaroo is basically pregnant all the time carrying one joey in the pouch for months and still feeding the one on her leg. The little one spends only a month inside her body and then crawls to the pouch - she is immediately ready to conceive again. Once this happens she can regulate the time the little one stays inside her. She can basically "freeze" the development of the embryo if the conditions outside are too harsh (a drought for example) or if the one occupying the pouch is not ready to get out yet. This is just amazing!

who would have thought they like coffee

there is actually tea in the mug but still

Because of the way they move they have difficulties climbing stairs. They prefer to slide down a board which looks just way too funny:

sliding kangaroo

I kept bothering Mrs. Fraser with my questions for much longer than I should but I just couldn't help myself. It was soooo interesting. While we were outside two other roos (Mum with a leg joey and one already visible in her pouch) came to check out what was going on. They are making friends with Misty which is really great for her. She can go an hoop around with them.

"how many more pics do you want???"

relaxing in the sun

I will go visit again when a new little joey arrives ...

Supra's maiden flight

It finally has happened last weekend on Mike's private airstrip. Ziggy wanted to keep it all low profile in case something goes wrong but the news spread in no time and he had a fair amount of audience. The brand new winch has also been tested.

farm owner shows up with style 

Luckily, despite the fairly strong wind, it all went well and Supra is still in one piece ready for the Jerilderie competition in a week time.

last controls check

there she goes

In the meantime I asked if I could have a closer look at the sheep. People were looking at me like there was something wrong. I think they just don't expect there might be something interesting in sheep. But believe me, there is - especially if you've never lived on a farm.

I learned that the little guys are almost ready to have their tails cut off ... I don't like this idea but it's actually necessary and just for their well being. If you don't do it they get really dirty around that area and bugs will start feeding their flesh.

It was very interesting although I really didn't like the "tail cut off" part.