Rain-o

A note on word construction: Nicknames and abbreviations often end in “o” and the “o” is pronounced “oh”, regardless of how it combines with the earlier letters. Therefore your car registration is the “rego” (pronounced “redge-o”, not “re-go”), Bill is Billo, John Blaine is Blaineo, and afternoon is arvo – don’t ask me, I still haven’t figured that one out!

There seem to be a few other local idiosyncrasies. I was given directions to get here via a scenic route on un-sealed roads. I was assured that it was OK unless it rained, and of course it never rains. Naturally it poured. It was OK anyway. I am amazed at the number of times I have been assured that it never rains – on more than one occasion during an actual rain shower. In any case it was a beautiful drive with several storms and a full complement of wind, rain, and lightning. It was definitely not a day to fly.

On a more serious note, however, there is a very serious drought going on right now. Forbes gets an average of 600mm of rain a year, and this year they got 180mm. In the first pictures you see the Lachlan River right behind my campsite, certainly an idyllic setting. There is also, however, a picture of “Lake” Forbes – just dry caked mud. Today is overcast and spitting rain, but I think the locals are so hardened to the lack of normal rainfall that they refuse to even hope it will amount to much.

Hang glider pilots are starting to show up, and the sight of a ute or a van with 2 or 3 gliders on top is becoming commonplace. It's quite a picturesque town and the locals are very welcoming to the hang gliding crowd. Lodging at the caravan park is half price for pilots, and the Vandenberg Hotel has been completely taken over. All rooms are full and it's all hang glider pilots. The "Van" is the comp headquarters, and they have wireless internet here. They are providing it to me for free, since I am a pilot - even though I am not staying here. Grant, the proprietor, reasoned (correctly) that I would be paying for the internet access with my beer tab. It's definitely fun to be in a hang glider freindly town with a bunch of hang glider pilots.