Gus's Groove - Gove FM 106.9

I have started as volunteer at the local community radio station, Gove FM 106.9, and have a two hour program on Sunday 5 to 7 PM. Gus’s Groove is a mixture of Jazz, Classical, Latin Jazz and some Blues. Soon we will be streaming on the web. I am learning a bit about programming, editing and announcing music.

Cyclone Helen

Sunday 6 January and we have been without electricity since 5 am. This is due to the high winds experienced last night as result of cyclone Helen which passed 100 km south of us. It is 10:30 am and we are just beginning to feel hot inside the house. For the past week we have had monsoon rains every day. All of this due to the low pressure centered north and northwest from us. It is similar to our summers in south Texas and the low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico. We take advantage of the few minutes of no rain to take our dogs out to the back yard or for short walks. They are getting used to the wet season.

Party month in Nhulunbuy

December is a party month here in Nhulumbuy like every other place in the Christian world. Summer begins here as of the 21 December, summer solstice, which is the longest day in the southern hemisphere. The schools are also out for a month of summer vacation. Nhulunbuy becomes a ghost town by Christmas day. I don’t think I exaggerate if I say that half of the population of 4,000 people leave town and head south to the big cities. There are even special charter flights that Qantas ads in order to get people out of here. Christmas day and Boxing Day (26) we had a quiet celebration, walked the dogs around town, saw a few other people doing the same. We attended midnight mass and had a nice dinner afterwards. The natives that stayed in town really celebrated Christmas day, the kids were out early in the morning playing with their new toys and by noon everyone was cooking on the barbie. New Years Eve we went to the Surf Club for a couple of hours to socialize and drink a couple of tinnies, came back home and welcomed the new year with a nice glass of wine.