Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 6 November 2016

Thank you Diane for starting us off. Shall we say an interesting week ahead?

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Report on Wed’s escape. Chauffeur Friend & I set off 8.30 am, up the highway, through Kapunda & Eudunda, deja vu! All the way to Robertstown, a sleepy town where we captured a “live” church, 1 possibly still live church & 2 cairns to long gone churches. The latter had pics of the church but one, alas, had been smashed. B*** vandals.

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We headed eastwards, finding more cairns, to churches & schools, finally an existing Lutheran church at Geranium Plain (-33.985, 139.1881). As we stopped, a small truck pulled up. Growing up on a farm, we were always aware of strangers driving up our road. So I was ready to explain what we were doing. But no, this man leaped out and spoke first “If you are wondering what I’m doing . . .” He thought we were locals! He was from Uni looking for tagged lizards. An interesting chat followed. During the day we saw a few squished lizards on roads, thereafter we wondered if any had belonged to Lizard Man.

cont . . . Returning to Robertstown we found our way to former Methodist-church at Ngapala. Another extinct settlement. Then back to Eudunda to the bakery. There were a few people in the street. Perhaps, Annette, Mr Google didn’t drive through at lunchtime? Revived with coffee & decadent food, we captured 5 churches in the town, 3 of them closed.

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Neales Flat was our next batch of churches (-34.2289, 139.1619). No town, just 3 churches in a row the eldest became a school, with amalgamations now only one in use. A few miles away another Neales Flat church, was different synod, now closed (near -34.2253, 139.1841). We met a flock of sheep being transferred from one paddock to another along the road. Otherwise hardly any signs of life. Back to city through Dutton & Truro.

Diane: Thank YOU!

Keith: Do take care; care giving is very hard on the caregivers.  There are other meds that might help....

Heather: I've more or less stopped watching any news. All way too stressful. I remember when George Bush was elected - our mute button got a good workout for all the years he was Prez.

AQ: Thank you for all the coordinates - do you get them from a SatNav? No Google street view for Geranium Plain. Did stop by Ngapala, but couldn't spot a church.  Three churches in a row indeed! Safety in numbers?  The Street View for the church north of Neales Flat was very spotty (but lovely clouds!).  Wonder if Sutherlands Hotel gets any customers.  No Street View of Australia Plains and a couple of other places. Seems like several RV parks around that region. That Lutheran Church at Point Pass looks quite impressive. I took a look at Tarma on Google (normal Google) and noticed quite a few German names on the headstones. Seriously, you should publish a book on all these churches.    So. Where are we going next?  :-)

Really do hope the coming week is kind to all.  We'll all be chewing our fingernails on this side of the Pond...

Annette - I’ve only just discovered if I click on a spot on the satellite view of a place, it gives me the coords. Previously I had to rely on a website with coords for cemeteries. With the back roads, unfortunately Mr Google was a bit picky with his camera and missed many, so you will have to make do with the satellite view & zoom as close as you can when there’s no StreetView.

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Ngapala (-34.072233, 138.992840) Since Mr Google passed by, the house has almost disappeared behind greenery. I'll let you know when I post my pics.

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3 churches. At Neales Flat they built a small one, then a breakaway group set up another congregation & built their own church “next door”. The original church becoming too small, the first group built a larger & used small one for Sunday school. So 3 in a row. In some towns they soldthe unwanted to another denomination. The Lutherans here kept splitting & merging, some following this pastor, those another pastor, some belonged to particular “synods”, others were independent. Since 1967 there has been only one Lutheran church. Oh, to complicate further, sometimes when congregations A & B merge, they take new name C. <sigh> Sometime I wonder why I started this! No, I shall not publish a book – I publish on flickr. So far I have photo-ed 1450 SA churches covering only a small area of the state. At even one pic for each church, how enormous would the book be?

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Where next? You will have to wait until I hear from Chauffeur Friend. I’ve emailed her my suggestions.

AQ: Ah so, but then you have to write down the coordinates (no copy/paste option), right?  All that splitting and reforming must've kept everyone busy. Just a tad frustrating that the satellite photo of Ngapala is so recent (I think August this year) but the Street View is 8 years or so.  I can see why you wouldn't publish a book!

AQ:  I am rapidly becoming a great fan of your 'church-hunting'.  I haven't started following you on Google yet - but I will at some stage.  In the meantime I'm really enjoying your descriptions.  As a Methodist I am particularly interested in the splitting of Methodist and Lutheran congregations - over the centuries there have been so many 'arguments' and splits.  Actually seeing the results on the ground is fascinating.  Thank you so much for sharing your research - fascinating.

Good Morning, and Happy New Week to everyone.

Thanks to Diane for starting us off. AQ - Your church hunting is a fascinating hobby.  (Oops, I can see that I'm unconsciously echoing Pats comments.....but that's the best word)

My OH felt unwell yesterday and as he has a cast iron stomach we don't suspect anything he ate, but he may be fighting off a bug. I have to get on with some photo sorting and possibly some card making today, so we're going to have a quiet day.

Hope everyone with worries can have a restful Sunday.

Good Morning Everyone.

Thank you for starting the week, Diane.

A rather cold, sunny and frosty morning here. Ice on the car. We intend having a quiet day at home today. Possibly have a walk before any rain arrives.

AQ, I really do enjoy reading about your church hunting expeditions and then looking at your photographs.  You certainly have enough material for quite a few books.

Annette, Not long to wait for your Presidential results. I watched the security alert on the news this morning. I did wonder if it was all planned by Trump's own camp.  

OG, I do hope you are feeling somewhat better today. Sounds like you have had a real ' stinker '.

Heather, Hope your OH had no mishaps last night and you managed a decent sleep.

Linda, Sorry that your OH may have a bug. It is that time of year again, when people seem to be catching various bugs. Hope he recovers quickly. 

Good morning, all and thank you, DIANE.

I just ventured forth to the local shop at the end of the road for the Sunday papers and quite glad it wasn't any further away - it is quite cold and windy today. No frost here, BRENDA.

No mishaps last night and we both slept better than of late. My OH showing sign of his old humour which has been missing for quite a long time. Fingers crossed.

LINDA - I do hope that you OH feels better today. make one of his favourites for dinner and see if he eats it LOL. Always a good yardstick, I have found.

AQ - Agree with others here, like reading and looking at your pics of travels. I know I've said it before but it does arouse curiosity about the early settlements and way of life in the area.

ANNETTE - don't blame you for avoiding the news programmes.

OG - Feel better soon.

My brother is a planning to visit us in about four weeks time, just him. He is going to fix up some grab rails in the shower room if we still need them. I'm thinking that a towel rail in the shower might look a little less obvious than one of those handle thingys. I could hang a facecloth or two on it to make it look better :-)