“Elly and Nonna go to the Beach” is the second book in the Elly and Nonna series.
This book follows the many adventures of our grandchildren when they join Nonna on excursions to the seaside. Each journey is different, fun and exciting, and there is always a story to tell Poppy when they get home.
The idea of writing this second book evolved after that extraordinary moment, the afternoon my wide Kerri (Nonna) read my first attempt at storybook writing “Elly’s holiday at Nonnaand Poppy’s farm” to our granddaughter. Watching the joy on her face as she pointed to each animal saying its name, in turn, was an enriching experience.
But the innocence of children never ceases to amaze me. When Kerri finished reading, Elly turned to my wife and asked, “Why didn’t Poppy put me in my shorts?”
The best impromptu answer I could muster at the time; “You’ll have your shorts on in the next book.”
“Well, you got out of that one easy,” Kerri said with a somewhat cheeky smile. Yes, I probably didn’t think that through all that well. So, what to write about in this next book? It was a question I pondered for some time.
Many weeks later, the answer finally came while sitting at the beach, having a picnic with Kerri as we watched the children play games, make sandcastles, and collect seashells.
Kerri has an insatiable love for the seaside. The ocean is with her in her daily life and reflected in her artwork. Joining Kerri on one of her seaside adventures is a joyful soul-soothing experience. Her adventurous passion for the ocean certainly does not go unnoticed by the grandchildren.
And so, the storybook of Elly and Nonna go to the beach evolved.
Great Australian Road Trains: Collector’s Edition #1 is a collection of some of the more remarkable road train journeys through the vast outback of Australia. This photo book is set out in a large colourful easy to read magazine-style layout. Each story includes a specification table of the featured truck with a description of the running gear woven into the story.
The story begins in the north of Western Australia, where Iron Ore mining is the backbone of the region’s economy. Then, we visit one innovative Port Hedland transport company trailing Scania’s new 730HP twin steer prime movers in its Quad road train operation to gain the upper hand.
The journey continues as the crew head over to the east coast to join a Kenworth T650 delivering much-needed supplies to the remote Gulf inhabitants and mining communities. It’s an 800 odd kilometre run up the notorious long dusty corrugated Peninsula Development Road to Weipa in the far north Queensland.
Page from Great Australian Road Trains #2
After the run to Weipa, the plan was to hitch a ride in a new Detroit powered Western Star 4900. The journey starts in Townsville and traverses west to deliver vital fuel to mining communities dotted around western Queensland on the long straight road along the Flinders Highway.
Then in the darkness, on the side of the Flinders Highway roughly 620 kilometres west of Townsville, we’d arranged to meet Clark Harland or “Cackles”, as he’s known around the traps. Earlier in the week, he’d told us he was heading deep into what’s folks now call the Devil’s Triangle and asked us if we were game enough to tag along to check out his custom Western Star 6900.
Further west in the mining town of Cloncurry, where mining company executives have little time for the finer details of truck and trailer specifications and even less for manufacturers marketing garrulity. Except, that is when a new lightweight trailer combination promises to deliver a 10 per cent payload increase.
Then the Fifty kilometres off the Australian mainland, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, roughly an hour and a half flight east of Darwin, at Groote Eylandt’s, we take a run in some Mack Titans hauling 160-tonne loads manganese in the shortest gazetted highway in Australia.
Not far past the Burke and Wills roadhouse, the only modern oasis that sells the essentials such as fuel, food and beer for almost 200 kilometres in any direction, the road deteriorates rapidly heading north. It’s aptly named the Burke Development Road and, according to locals, has been under development for the best part of the last century. It’s also the quickest way to Normanton, where we meet some seriously heavy-duty Kenworth C509 heading out on large cattle lift.
Pages from Great Australian Road Trains #1
As we found out, the roads in far northwest Queensland are arguably some of the toughest in the world, and that’s because they’re damn rough with deep river crossings often inhabited by dangerous crocodiles that lurk near the banks. Yet, for Hintz Livestock Transport and their 6900 Western Star, it’s a challenge they face day in day out, especially on this run to Riverview Station.
Then we head further south into northwest NSW to check out a large scale cropping operation, where a fleet of Kenworth road trains hauls the harvested grain.
Finally, it’s back over the Pilbara on the west coast. For a run in a 2005 Mack Titan. Back in the day, it was one of the giant brutes in the road train market. Specified with a CAT C16, triple countershaft Mack 18-speed and big RT52-185G Meritor axles. It was built for hard work.
10 Great Trucks and 10 Great Journeys. A terrific Christmas Gift or Birthday gift for truckers.
Pro Driver (Volume-1) is a technical handbook for professional truck drivers written in an effortless read style with realistic illustrations.
The fundamental aim is to help drivers gain a better understanding of the latest technologies and principals in modern trucks.
This guide contains up-to-date information about current model equipment and features easy to read content with clear, realistic, illustrated diagrams.
Pro Driver handbook: Key features of the book
The back page conveniently contains a list of all the operating temperatures and pressures with four of the primary gauges that show where each gauge’s needle should be when the truck is at normal operating temperature.
Quick Reference section where the driver can fill in the VIN, engine number, filters and belt numbers along with other details and service parts that required to maintain their truck.
Vehicle Pre-start Checklist that can be photocopied and used by drivers if they don’t already have one to document their daily pre-start check, all laid out in a weekly schedule.
This handbook is a “must-have” for all drivers keen on increasing their economy.
Until 1889, all fruits, including apples, were typically transported in a hodgepodge of containers from casks and barrels and, in some cases, used even recycled motor spirit cases.
Tasmanian export agent W.D. Peacock designed what became known as the “Tasmanian Dump Case” in 1890, which was then adopted in the act of parliament to become the standard export case used by most Australian states and New Zealand.
Peacock’s design without a middle partition made it easier for packers to insert both arms when packing fruit into boxes. Moreover, the case was lighter and stowed better than any other design in a ship’s hold and transported to England for 6 pence per case, cheaper than other crates.
Conversely, as the production of apples increased, the industry required more packing boxes and the number of sawmills in orcharding districts multiplied to respond to demand. In some cases, orchardists like Percy Tucker of Scottsdale also ran a dedicated sawmill to cut the timber to produce the apple boxes.
By the 1930s, the 40-year-old “Tasmanian Dump Case” was not meeting the advancements in marketing requirements for export fruits due to its rough-sawn hardwood appearance, which was not aesthetically pleasing at the time. Consequently, the search was on for a new design. As well as other requirements to improve the packaging of Tasmanian apples were enforced in the 1930s, including the necessity to only use adequately seasoned timber at the time of packing. Therefore, many orchards constructed wood sheds where timber could be kept dry and facilitate the construction of apple boxes.
The solution was the introduction of the Canadian Standard Case, also known as the Standard Apple Box, which used a standard thickness of timber and had aesthetic attributes since they were decorated with attractive labels or neatly stencilled.
The pickers traditionally carried out the construction of apple boxes in the evening after dinner. Apples were individually wrapped and boxes lined with wood wool or corrugated strawboard liners on the top, bottom and sides.
Today Tebrakunna Holdings Pty Limited’s creative art business unit carries on this tradition of hand-making apple boxes based on the original Tasmanian Dump Case designed by W.D. Peacock in 1890. One Off Art apple boxes are with custom labels and utilised as Christmas hampers by many of our clients.
Orders for Christmas edition custom apple boxes close on September 30 each year.
(Information sourced from; The History and Heritage of the Tasmanian Apple Industry – A Profile. Published December 1999).
