News And New Camera Problems!

The weather continues cooler with tops now struggling to get the mid 20's. We have had a cool gusty southerly wind too and that hasn't helped. I wouldn't consider a dip in the pool right now either, too cold for me!

Trish is at her Stitcher's Club this morning leaving me at home to 'surf' the net.

We recently bought a new Kodak 812ZS camera. It came at a pretty good price and it looks like it takes a couple of rechargeable AA batteries. After the original battery turned up its toes I bought some 'quality' Sanyo rechargeable batteries for it. We were not getting a very good run out of these new batteries (despite buying quality batteries) with only enough power for about 15 photos! I reckon it was time to read the "Manual" and saw their recommended rechargeable was a 3.7v battery. I have since discovered that the rechargeables I use peak at about 3v but are really much less than that. Therefore , though long lasting, as soon as the lose their 'peak' power they will no longer be strong enough to power the camera.

I therefore needed to buy the correct rechargeable battery for the camera. After a few phone calls a local battery supplier will charge me $45 for the correct rechargeable battery and $55 for a recharger! Further hunting around on the internet got me a battery for $30 and a lot more for a charger.

eBay was my next bet! I am getting a charger and battery from Hong Kong for just over $20. I am mainly after the charger, my experience with batteries off eBay is they don't last too long. However if the charger works OK, I will look at buying a reasonable battery before we go away. This seems like a pretty good 'risk' to me especially if a charger is going to cost me $55 here. All this needs to be done before we head away in three weeks today!

Had a bike ride this morning and took the 'new' camera with me. These two photos give you an idea of just how much earth is being moved here to finish this area of the estate. With the lack of rain over the last fortnight, the dust problem continues! Work is going ahead and new home sites will be available for sale very shortly. The price of a block of land the same size as our small block is about 4 times the price we paid 6 years ago!


This final photo is the last area of the estate to be developed. Some of the blocks here are at the highest point on the estate offering the best views. Goodness only knows what the cost per block will be. However it forecasts well for what we can get for our little place when we decide to sell up!