Adrian Porter Pulls No Punches

Another interesting maintenance journey undertaken during my posting in Adelaide, was the slow ride to Oodnadatta to repair the radar there. Being young and not wanting to stay in outback pubs, and at the same time trying to conserve travel allowance, meant unofficially camping in the meteorological office. This had some down sides, particularly at 3 am when the scream of the WF2 radar alternator would keep my attention for the hour or so that the balloon flight at this time took. It invariably happened, too, that while a 'tech' was on station the observing fraternity would jump at faults that were not there. I remember being called out of the open air Oodnadatta picture show, by an eager Albert Zammit, complaining about the WF2 radar not working only to find that the brilliance control was turned down. This made you look good to them; and missing the movie was the only down side.

In those days the RMO for South Australia, Alan Jarman, was a big fang for food of quality and quantity. The maintenance trip to Mount Gambier would be accompanied by a huge order for cheese and meats from local merchants. The advantage of being the procurement officer was the side order for wines from the Coonawarra area, and this is where my appreciation of wine came at a young age. The South Australia Region, unlike today, was then responsible for the maintenance at Giles. I was fortunate to go on a number of extended maintenance trips there. One of these was as a result of an unfortunate motorcycle accident to Trevor Rogers the day before he was due to depart for Giles. This trip was an extended visit to fill in while the diesel mechanic took leave. What did I know about being a diesel mechanic?; nothing. I learnt a lot during that trip and improved my self-reliance skills, including becoming a whiz helping the locals fix their punctured tyres. The record for patches on an inner tube was 25. I know, I counted them as I was putting on the 26th.

Bureau of Meteorology