Generous Donors

We have been fortunate to have two donors so far donate equipment to the water supply project we are going to work on.
Heron Instruments in Canada (http://www.heroninstruments.com/) have donated a Dipper T water level meter for gauging water depths in ground water bores. They also provided a water level logger kit. This will allow studies of ground water levels to monitor bore production capabilities and see if there are any seasonal level fluctuations of the bore levels that may affect amount of water the bores can yield.

The Enviroequip division (http://www.enviroequip.com/) of Biolab Australia donated a range of basic equipment for taking water samples from bores. Equipment like bailers and foot valves, a fox whistle for simple depth gauging, and some water quality measuring test strips, will enable anyone to take a sample from any bore to enable the water quality to be accessed for suitability standards.

Thanks to these organisations as their equipment will be valuable out in the field to enable the local people do their own bore monitoring.

Going Away Party

With 3 weeks to go we had a send off get together at the house for our friends. Most were from our company Enviroequip or our triathlon friends (who have mostly traded in their bikes and running shoes for children). It was a good get together to see so many friends in the one place. The BBQ was fired up for a great meal and many laughs. It is nice to have good friends.

Packing Sept 08

In September we were furiously preparing to leave for 2 years. It is amazing how much there is to arrange before hand. Ramona has been doing all the admin for us such as arranging meetings with property agents, bank account managers, arranging a bookkeeper to do our finances while we are away, setting up an over-all property manager to deal with the various agents, arranging for any and all organisations to email us any correspondence so we can retrieve them in Tanzania.
Ross has been doing more physical projects to get the house ready, doing any repairs, or modifications that will allow our house sitters to easily occupy the house while we are away. Plus arrange a few contactors to do maintenance on other properties. Then learning how to use this site.
Today our house sitters Sarah and Blair arrived from NZ.
Our visas have been approved and sent through so now we have a departure date of 28th October.