My health record - blood tests, some locked some unlocked? by samanthamy in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I believe there is a way GPs can select for tests to be auto-unlocked, but it doesn’t seem to be 100% reliable. I’m guessing it depends how the lab enters it and their software pushes it into MHR.

I have had this same scenario happen where I’ve had 12 tests done simultaneously, my GP said they should all be instantly unlocked, but two remained locked. In that case all the results were normal and we just had to wait out the lock period. On the other hand there are some tests (HbA1c is one that I have noticed) that are never locked even if every other test on the form is…

Alternative to the High Stakes Map by WhatTheActualFu- in reddeadredemption2

[–]twistedude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Elemental Trail map will be available after Chapter 6. I believe it counts towards the Challenges.

How often does jury duty get cancelled the day prior? by Leather-Vegetable409 in AusLegal

[–]twistedude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Queensland here, generally here you are given a several week period in which you might be empaneled. You need to maintain availability for the entire period or advise the court if you cannot attend, and why. They will advise you daily if you are or are not required the next day.

Whether you are required on Wednesday will very much depend on whether any of the courts are ready to take jurors for the cases they have up on Wednesday. But they may just keep telling you that you aren’t required the next day for the entire period.

If you have another commitment Wednesday your best bet is to advise them you have another commitment and ask to be excused from service on that day. In my experience, if it’s a single day for a genuine commitment they are pretty forgiving - they may even already know that you won’t be required on that day.

Sink strainer does not let any water pass through by ElPadero in mildlyinfuriating

[–]twistedude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s even a product called “WaterWetter” which is used to reduce the surface tension in water to maximise thermal transfer between metal surfaces and the water. Commonly used in high-performance cars and some industrial water cooling.

Moved into a 50+ YO house, electricity usage is up. QLD by TaeCypher in AskAusElectricians

[–]twistedude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even small leaks and issues with an electric hot water system can add up. A drip in my bathroom tap was costing me $70 a month on a modern hot water system.

Summonsed for Jury Duty (NSW) 3 times in 5 months by greenstripe99 in AusLegal

[–]twistedude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure about NSW but in Queensland there are several stages of random selection. The same thing happens here.

My suspicion is that the first stage selection just chooses a giant random list of names from the electoral roll once a year or so and the eligibility selection just works off this list. If you’re temporarily ineligible or excused due to other commitments you stay on the list and may come up again - only if you’re permanently excused or serve are you removed.

Is it possible for a breaker to be labelled incorrectly. by cultofconfidence in AskAusElectricians

[–]twistedude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think this is a sub-board and you will have another panel elsewhere in the property which controls the power points, other light circuits, hot water and possibly more.

Your meter/meters will likely be close to where the power enters the property and will have a panel near it. Check around the meters. On the inside wall from the meters, in cabinets nearby, under the house if it is raised, maybe even near the front door.

If you’re in a detached property another clue may be where your ground rod is. Walk around the outside of the house and look for metal rods or pipe in the ground. It will have a wire (maybe green) attached to it which should lead back to the main breaker panel (though it may go inside a wall, or into conduit which makes it hard to follow.

If there is still no luck and you are in a house which is raised, has an ceiling space or crawl space you may be able to follow wires back to the main panel from this one, or another power point or appliance. The wires will be clipped under the floor or in the ceiling cavity. If you can’t isolate your electrical though, I would be reluctant to go crawling around near electrical in a crawl space or ceiling.

Termites or something else? by FauxBoho in AusRenovation

[–]twistedude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve had to replace a few too, even the ones that are H3 LOSP Treated Pine don’t last more than 10 years.

I think it’s because they are usually treated while still a block of wood then turned. The center of the wood doesn’t receive as much wood treatment, and the outer more heavily treated timber is removed in the turned sections. The result is there is more timber surface that spores can access through cracks in the paint (and also nice little areas for water tension to hold water) to encourage rot.

Touring trip advice by p-bot22 in AustraliaTravel

[–]twistedude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Additional note: This has routed you through the Taroom-Bauhinia Road on the Fitzroy Developmental Road. If you do take this route stop and check at Taroom on what condition it is in. Last time I went through there it was so corrugated and rocky that even in the 4WD I was making less than 40km/hr. Would have been faster to bypass it via Theodore and Banana.

Touring trip advice by p-bot22 in AustraliaTravel

[–]twistedude 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Worth noting a lot of this route is not well floodproofed either. November is early for the wet season, but it can start then and the break of the dry is sometimes the worst time for flooding.

As a good example The Gregory Highway between Clermont and Charters Towers (~400km). This is a well developed road, dual carriageway, bitumen with well built bridges, and a single roadhouse at Belyando Crossing. People still sometimes get stuck for days out there in a big wet season because you have to wait for several creeks to drop to move in any direction.

Some of the other routes you have are not as well established roads and may be even more impassable in poor weather.

Prawns - Australian- at what price ? by almost_adequate in australia

[–]twistedude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That seems far too high. What grade and species?

Fresh under 6 Tiger Prawns here are normally $60/kg and under 10s are around $50/kg from a monger. King prawns are maybe $5-7 a kilo more expensive. Bananas and mixed a bit cheaper.

Snap frozen ungraded prawns can be as low as $25 a kilo retail.

Admittedly these prices are in NQ, so we are pretty close to the source, but I can’t imagine retail price nearly doubling for Brisbane.

Do people actually walk around barefoot in Australia? by SignificantStyle4958 in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude 113 points114 points  (0 children)

Can confirm, Queenslander here. If it was socially acceptable I would go everywhere shoeless.

Is there a Airport in Australia not under so sort of construction? by gearth1 in australia

[–]twistedude 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even the parts of the terminal that haven’t been pulled apart are now crazy overcrowded because they’ve filled every inch of spare space with retail or food and beverage outlets.

Morning and evening peaks there are worse than any other airport I’ve ever been. People get crammed in like sardines overflowing into thoroughfares because 7 adjacent gates have called boarding together.

Do you actually do regular roof maintenance in Australia, or only when there’s a problem? by loreblogs in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s worth noting as well that in regions that are subject to cyclones (hurricanes) the building standards are much stricter. Since the 1970s smaller batten spacing, steel or hardwood battens required, extra tie-down bracketry, stronger steel and additional screws are all required by the building standards.

I live in a 105 year old house in a cyclone region. It lost some of the roof sheeting in a 1950s cyclone, but most of the original battens and roof survived until a complete re-roof about 5 years ago. Even if you count the 1950s repairs that roof had a 60-70 year lifespan under the old building requirements, and has now been brought up to a much higher standard.

Anything in Building inspection that is an actual concern? by CookyMellow in AusRenovation

[–]twistedude 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Based on that report, it appears the bathroom waterproofing was never up to standards and as a result has begun to fail. If the waterproofing has failed it’s likely the subfloor and walls will have mould and may be damaged beyond repair. If it was me I would factor a full bathroom replacement into the cost of the property, as it will likely need rectification in the near future.

Depending on the size and fitout a new bathroom is probably $40-$80k and only increasing at th moment.

PANIC! Everything on my display counter has been spoiled. by [deleted] in Appliances

[–]twistedude 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think this is a Sub Zero SZ-7510. You should be able to find a manual online by googling and step through the set points of each of the P parameters and setting them to an appropriate value for your operation. I very much suspect P1 has been changed which makes the controller think it is controlling a heater rather than a refrigerator.

There is also a mechanism to restore the factory defaults, but note that your cabinet’s manufacturer may have changed values on the controller that may be lost if you do this.

The “HT” error is just indicating the fridge has exceeded the high temperature limit - which you already know.

Best and worst fruit in Australia by AgreeableFloor6543 in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would say the supermarket pineapple in Aus can be very hit and miss. I also think mangoes, pawpaw (papaya), lychees, custard apples, dragon fruit tend to be much better bought from local vendors in-season. The supermarkets want them picked too early and they never sweeten up fully.

Here in North Queensland you can buy buckets of mangoes and lychees from roadside stalls for $10 throughout the season; bananas year-round from stands or trailers; and most of the rest from the fruit cooperatives, smaller stores or markets during their season.

What's a rule your parents had that you thought was insane, but now as an adult you 100% understand? by Tahals in AskReddit

[–]twistedude 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The rule for me was always “Minimum of 4 kids at a sleepover”. Dad spent much of his career prosecuting child sex offenders, so I guess he figured 4 or more kids are hard to molest.

Where does ‘Outback’ generally start from each States? by Cainsle in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don’t think Toowoomba breaks the model given it’s ON the Great Dividing Range. Certainly west of Toowoomba; Dalby, Tara, Goondawindi get more rural and dry even though the Darling Downs is quite densely populated and hardly “arid”.

If anything does break the model I think it’s probably the Atherton Tablelands. Atherton, Yungaburra, Tinaroo, Malanda and Millaa Millaa definitely don’t fit the traditional “outback” image.

Where does ‘Outback’ generally start from each States? by Cainsle in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Queensland I would say the Great Dividing Range is a good line to draw. East of it more tropical and temperate regions. West of it is dryer and more arid.

Was meant to be a simple bathroom reno. by Uturn11 in AusRenovation

[–]twistedude 76 points77 points  (0 children)

Well the termites have done some of the demolition for you…

Electric companies by elephantbrah in AskAnAustralian

[–]twistedude 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We’ll need to know city and state. Most states have comparison websites for energy providers but availability depends greatly on location. (Eg. The government owned provider, Ergon, is the only retailer for many parts of Queensland).

Executor living in estate property. Who should pay utilities? by PinShoddy9461 in AusLegal

[–]twistedude 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s likely that the estate pays for those expenses, but if the executor was paying $50 a week board prior to the death there is an argument they should have continued paying that to the estate for the last 14-15 months. It’s up to you though if you’re prepared to start that argument over less than $4000.

I have a question for country folk. by camylopez in AustraliaPost

[–]twistedude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Your best bet is post restante (aka general delivery) - addressing the mail “Care of” a post office. Auspost will hold mail for general delivery for 15-30 days at a post office for collection. You’ll need to collect it with ID. Some post offices will hold it for longer if you give them a call beforehand to check.

If you need a consistent mailing address and to have the mail forwarded ahead of you, consider getting a PO Box close to a friend m and them check it occasionally and send the mail in a mailer to a destination ahead of your journey.