As we have to be in Victoria in mid February, we had to get on so we returned to Lawnton to complete the outstanding chores.
In the afternoon, I went to West End to buy a new plate for the microwave oven and to Archerfield to buy a new sullage hose.
I was out early to do the laundry. The weather was a bit unsettled but some local ladies had monopolised all the driers at the laundromat so I took the wet clothes back to the Motley and hung them on our washing lines.
We went to Patricks Road to access the internet on the ADSL connection so that I could download and forward to CMCA Head Office an email from the Tasmanian National Parks people commenting very positively on our self-containment scheme.
We went to Mitchelton for lunch and then picked up Jean's repaired and modified hearing aid. She was much happier with it and might now be encouraged to wear it every day so that she will become accustomed to it.
We visited Brian and Pat Galland who are now living in their house in Mitchelton. Brian has recently had major heart surgery to prevent a future heart attack and is recovering remarkably well. He has been told he mustn't drive for three months so they won't be going to Horsham.
We veged out for a bit before going to the supermarket to do some shopping.
I spent the better part of the day trying to backup the iBook onto the external hard drive. There was something amiss and I couldn't get a satisfactory backup due, I think, to a problem with the Finder or perhaps the part of the operating system responsible for firewire communication. I have to back up before I install the new hard drive and re-install the operating system. This, I assume, will get rid of any problems.
I tried the backup again and this time succeeded.
We went to Cafe Zanetti to have brunch with the family.
We returned to the comfort of the air-conditioned Motley.
I spent the afternoon trying to replace the hard drive in the iBook. I couldn't find the secret fixings to get the bottom cover off so I had to call it quits. I'll try and get some advice from a tech at Next Byte.
I rang Next Byte to talk about a fault in the iTrip. It makes an annoying popping noise every minute or so. The loudness depends only on the volume setting on the radio and the noise doesn't occur when using the the iPod with earphones. They said to bring it in to the shop which I did. They took my word that it was faulty and gave me a new one.
I took the opportunity when I was in town to stock up on greek yoghurt.
On the way back to Lawnton, I went to Centrelink to assure them that the problem with Uncarved Women is being resolved.
In the afternoon I made a new cover for the big table which has to travel on the trailer under the Terios. The old one was on its last legs so a new tarp was turned into a bag to keep the rain out.