The Tingle Factor Box

Well, its some sort of jar - Ginger Jars

Imagine, it is the mid 1800's and you live in China. You've heard that there is a gold rush going on Australia and you've decided to try your luck. You're getting ready to leave China and collecting up things to bring with you. Your whole village is involved and they've sent people to the gold fields before. They've told you to take some items with you to trade, and amongst them is a ginger jar.

Roaming Roy Searches for the Roots of Australia's Exploring Past - The Explorers Tree

This week Roy decided to take you on a visit to somewhere which you may well have driven past many times, but which you probably never think too much about. You might not even know its significance! So this week Roy decided that the Explorers Tree in the Blue Mountains was the perfect place to visit. The Explorers Tree is located on Pulpit Hill just West of Katoomba (NSW) along the Great Western Highway.

Roy Creates an Easter Egg Cosy

This week, with Easter coming up Roy decided it would be the perfect week to make a special egg cosy which he's been wanting to try out. His Grandma made one just like it when she was just in kindergarden and he thought it was so cute he would like to show you how it was made. With the little chicken popping out of the top of the egg it is the perfect Easter gift, and best of all, you can even give it to people who can't eat or don't like chocolate!

It's like a fairy cave . . . no, it's where thunder is born - thunder egg

Imagine,there you are, walking through the bush. You know the area you are walking through used to be volcanic, in fact there is a mountain  close by which is an extinct volcano! You spy a funny rock while you're walking and pick it up. It's a odd shape, very round, but also a bit of a strange colour. Perhaps, if you're lucky it's a thunder egg!

Roaming Roy Follows The Line - Marulan Meridan Sculpture

This week, with the autumn equinox being on March 21st, Roy decided it was the perfect week to show you our visit to the Marulan Meridian Line. So, he told me to 'get out of bed' so that he could tell you all about it. (For those of you who may have missed the news, Roy has been helping to look after me as I had my Appendix out this week and bought home one of those infections hospitals are famous for!)

The Meridian Sculpture is located in the historic town of Marulan outside Goulburn (NSW) on the way to Canberra from Sydney. Marulan used to be on the main road but has now been bypassed by the Hume Highway. Marulan is the only town in the world which is built on top of the 150 degree meridian and for Australians, is where the Eastern Standard Time is measured and gives us our 'true time'. As a result Marulan is the only town in the Eastern Standard Time zone where twice a year, on the Autumn and Spring equinoxes the Sun rises at exactly 6am and sets at exactly 6pm. This is because the Sun's axis is directly above the equator on those days. The word Equinox comes from two latin words - aequus (meaning equal) and nox (meaning night). This is because at the Equinox day and night are of equal length. There are two each year in March and September.

The 150 East Meridian is a line of longitude which runs around the world from the North Pole through the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific ocean, Australasia, the Southern Ocean, Antarctica to the South Pole. It joins up with the 30 degree West Meridian to circle the earth. You may have heard of Greenwich Mean Time. This is because all time is measured from Greenwich in England, and Greenwich lies on the 0 degree meridian. Meridian comes from the latin word merides which means midday. It is from this we get the terms anti meridies (a m) and post meridies (p m).If you'd like to learn more about the meridian click here.

To celebrate the meridian line running through Marulan, and the Centenary of Federation, a sculpture has been built to show exactly where the meridian line runs. This sculpture was designed by local artist Sebastian Meijbaum and built overlooking the main road from Sydney to Canberra so you might have even seen the arch as you drove along! The sculpture is called the Meridian Arch and it marks the exact middle of the eastern standard time zone, as well as marking the meridian itself. You can even stand on the meridian! At the top of the arch there is a world rotating around the sun and on either side of the sculpture are a sundial and a clock, representations of what the meridian has meant to our telling of the time. If you would like to learn more about the sculpture, click here.

You might wonder why anyone would be particularly interested in the equinox but these days were, and still are, very important to many civilizations. They were one of the ways which ancient groups worked out when to hunt or plant crops and often they were also part of important religious festivals. Some people even think Stonehenge may have an aspect of the equinox built into it, but nobody really knows! One site where the equinox plays an important role is the Loughcrew Cairn in Ireland and you can find out about it by clicking here. Western Societies have adapted pagan celebrations of the equinox to fix the dates for celebrations such as Easter. It also marks the beginning of the Iranian New Year. Of course if you live in the Northern Hemisphere you will be celebrating the Spring Equinox this weekend while we in the Southern Hemisphere look forward to cooler days and nights!

Cancellation of Tingle Factor Post for this week due to illness

Hello -

Roy and Elissa would like to let you know that Wednesday's Tingle Factor Item post and possibly this Friday's Roy Creates post won't appear as usual.  Elissa has had her appendix out and whilst she is fine, she isn't up to writing posts! Without her, Roy is almost lifeless, so he isn't being a lot of use. The blog will be up and running again as soon as Elissa is well enough. Unfortunately Roy's Grandma is not THAT computer literate so despite Elissa's best efforts dictation just won't work! Hopefully all will be back to normal soon.

Roaming Roy Visits A Very Old Man - Bulgandry Aboriginal Engraving Site

This week, Roy decided he wanted to do something completely different and when I pointed out to him that we had not looked at Aboriginal Engravings yet, he thought that would be the perfect thing. Luckily there are many Aboriginal sites not too far from home so we could easily find one which he thought would be 'right' for this weeks post. The site we visited is near Woy Woy on the central coast of NSW, and is called the Bulgandry Aboriginal Engraving Site. It is easy to get to (click here for instructions) and is even wheel-chair accessible. Best of all, there is a great walkway with interpretive signs above the engravings to stop them being damaged by people walking on them. 

Roy Creates A Toga

Earlier this week, I took a Roman fibula or 'toga pin' to show the children at school and we had a long discussion about Roman clothing. They were really interested in what Romans wore and how they kept it from falling off. When I told Roy about this interest he immediately decided that he would have to learn how to 'dress like a Roman' and show you all how to do this too (if you would like to see the earlier post, click here). Our first few attempts were pretty funny, and Roy even managed to wrap me up so well that his Grandma had to help me out of the toga! Now though, we are pretty expert at toga tying and ready to share our skills with you.

So it's an ancient safety-pin? Roman Fibula

Imagine, you are an ancient Roman. It's early morning and you're getting ready for the day. If you're a man you need to get dressed in your toga because you have an important official event to attend today. If you are a woman, you're arranging your palla over your stola. Whether you are a man or a woman though, your clothing is not sewn into a pre-made shape, it needs to be specially draped and held in place. If it isn't securely fastened, you might be embarrassed because it could slip, but luckily you have an ancient safety pin to stop your clothing falling off - a fibula!

Roaming Roy finds a different type of skeleton - The Wreck of the Adolphe

This week, Roy decided he wanted to head up towards Newcastle again. Newcastle is a great city and there are lots of interesting places to see. One of his favourites is the Stockton Breakwall, built using various shipwrecks which happened in the area. When he first visited, he was a bit uncertain about whether it was a good place to visit, especially since the sign on the gate warned against 'proceeding past this point', but when he got out on the breakwall and could see the wrecks, he decided it was worth it, even if it was extraordinarily windy! Perhaps the most famous of the wrecks, and the easiest to see is the Wreck of the Adolphe.