that is lovely of you! i think i might feel shy ;-) are your parents in
qld too? because a lot of this sort of thing is about finding local
sources; we're in nsw southern tablelands, which is pretty good for this
sort of thing, it seems. there are some fabby places in canberra for used
stuff, it's bliss. (yet when i lived there, i could NOT get out fast
enough, lol).

there is a solar person in town (who gave us a quote when he eventually
got round to it after we phoned/went in a number of times - a telling
point in itself) but the whole thing is really bothering me. firstly, his
quote is outrageous, considering we aren't starting from scratch. when dh
let him know (or rather, confessed ;-) he & his bestie are building a wind
turbine, solar-dude said "oh, that will be a nice addition" and yet, best
as anyone can work out, the turbine should be supplying a fair bit of
energy, which i'd think would mean elements of his quote could be
downgraded somewhat - but apparently not (HMMMM). i got the number of
another person who operates in our area part-time & really want a 2nd
opinion because my gut tells me going with the first guy just doesn't make
sense. i think the first guy has, amongst other things, entirely
misunderstood the situation & thinks we want to be able to run toasters
and microwaves & multiple computers & whatnot all at once - yet he's been
here & had the opportunity to notice we haven't the room nor the
powerpoints for multiple appliances even if we did want to use them at
all, OR all at once (which we don't). stuff like that. i'll see what the
other fella says about it. my microwave & toaster were great, but, they're
gone now & i don't even notice they're missing, so i think there's been an
attitude or aspiration disconnection entirely!

anyway. there you are! let me know how your parents feel about fielding
emails from complete strangers :-) thanks for your help :-)
kylie

Lol my parents wouldnt mind at all, dad would love to help out as he knows
how hard it is to break the mould and start out! When they moved out of the
city to the country, no-one spoke to them for about 10 years as they were
too 'weird' living in a shed and having goats etc....OMG why are they not
slashing and burning their block and running cows? They're a bit odd...best
stay away.....type of attitude!! Anyway they are in sthrn qld, I'm not sure
what NSW contacts they have, although mum's family are in sydney, and were
in canberra so on various trips down i seem to vaguely recall them doing
some research at places on the way/in the cities themselves. My email is
pacific underscore siamese at yahoo dot com dot au; if you email me I can
give you their email/phone and send you what pics I have of their setup.
Trust me, Dad is very friendly and loves to help with this kind of
thing...and if you want to know obscure permacultureish gardening
facts....my mum will talk your ear off!! Hopefully it will get her off
mine...lol just joking. Anyway let me know!!