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January 22, 2006
I've had connectivity problems at the Victor Harbor weekender in the last few days. Broadband--which took weeks to get going thanks to a faulty Telstra exchange--- dropped out. After lots of checks yesterday the fault has been traced back to Telstra's copperwire infrastructure. Since they will not do any repairs for 48 hours, as they do not work on weekends, I've fallen back on dialup as a backup. But I could not get connected yesterday--the lines were too busy. This is the first connection I've had in 36 hours.
I came down to Victor Harbor to escape the heat wave that has enveloped Adelaide and southern Australia. It was 10 degrees cooler than Adelaide last week, but the heat storm has enveloped Victor Harbor yesterday and continues today. The temperatures are around 40-44 degrees with a gale force north wind blowing down from the desert.
Leunig
Since I've been down here working I've noticed the poor infrastructure of the region. Two examples. We had the usual blackouts due to the electricity overload., and the whole house closes down. Secondly, the sewerage infrastructure cannot cope with the summer overload when the coastal own increases by 3-4 times. So the sewerage is poured into the local rivers that then flow into the popular bathing beaches. The tourist town stinks in high summer.
In the reserve, just across from weekended the sewerage flowed out of the pipes into the reserve. Raw sewerage. It took the the relevant authority 3 days to repair. So for three days raw sewerage was allowed to flow into a popular reserve where people walked and played.
The regular break down of electricity, telecommunications and sewerage infrastructure is a normal feature in the regions.
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solar power seems like a great idea... why isn't there more of it?
the conditions you describe are appalling!
we had a quote for $40,000 to power our house in sydney...in regions like the one you describe, surely there is much more need for it, with greater financial incentive perhaps?