Tuesday 31 January 2012

Day 31: A Little Light Reading


Henry has become very fond of his collection of books. It used to be that reading to him while he had his pre-bed milk was a fight to keep the book open; the novelty of closing the book mid sentence took a while to wear off.

Now one book before bed just isn't enough and he selects the evenings reading material one at a time. He toddles over to his pile of books and picks one, toddles back to the couch and hands the book over then raises his arms to be lifted onto my lap for his story. After the story is read and Henry has finished pointing at the animals in the book and saying "Baa Baa" at the sheep or "Moo Moo" at the cows, he climbs off my lap to choose his next story. This process was repeated 7 times tonight.

After the 4th time, I thought I'd try to bribe some kisses out of Henry so when he brought the 5th book over I asked for a kiss before I'd pick him up to read the next book. He shook his head and said "No". This process was repeated 3 times with the same result.

He loves his books so much now that he even ropes Jenna into reading him stories. Last weekend he presented her with 12 books, one at a time, for her to read to him. As much as I love my turn reading to Henry before bed, I also think it's very special that Henry will ask his big sister to share time reading with him and that Jenna will so happily spend the time with her little brother. I couldn't be more proud of my children.

Monday 30 January 2012

Day 30: Belinda's New Beast


Today we completed one of the quickest car purchases I've been involved in. With close to 7 years of my life dedicated to selling cars for a living I've certainly been involved in a few of these transactions.


We found the car on Carsales.com.au, arranged to view it, drove it, arranged for a quick mechanical check, performed a REVs check and then bought the car all in the space of roughly 28 hours from go to whoa. It was all very smooth and easy, apart from the free REVs check service being discontinued and replaced with the "Personal Property Securities Register" today... that's correct, it was switched over today and the system crashed. What are the odds? It all worked out in the end though, we had the check performed online for $3.70.


We'd been looking for something a little smaller and more economical for Belinda sporadically over the preceding month or so. For those who've been following this blog you may remember we test drove an Alfa 159 not that long ago. It was nice... although when we took it to an Alfa specialist for a quick look they did mention that they specialise in Alfa Romeo cars because they're a constant source of income. Sorry Dave.


I think we've made the right decision with the Mazda, it really is lovely to drive. It also has all the features one would want: Leather trim, cruise, abs, more airbags than you can poke a stick at, climate control, a really tidy MP3 input hidden away in the centre console and a premium Bose sound system. It's also been slightly lowered and has quite a nice set of aftermarket mag wheels that suit the car quite nicely.


I even got to drive it home tonight... but I'm sure that won't last.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Day 29: It's been a while...


Lamb chops on the Barbie... is there anything better? I've just started salivating again at the thought.

Over the weekend we had our friend Robbie come down from the mountains for a visit, Robbie's a vegetarian and dinner required Eggplant and Zucchini to be barbequed. This prompted a quick trip down to the servo for a swap-n-go gas bottle, the Barbie's been out of action for a while.

Having the new gas bottle christened with a vegetarian dish just didn't seem right to me so tonight I had to set things right. It was straight down to the supermarket for a tray of forequarter for dinner... I was in my own little Lamb lover's paradise.

Robbie's visit was great by the way, it had been ages between catch ups... We love Robbie despite her Vegetarian persuasions, thanks for the visit and don't leave it so long next time :)


Saturday 28 January 2012

Day 28: Dark Detailing Delivers Dividends


Braving the mozzies last night really paid off. The Lancer has found a new home with Luke who bought it without rego (I'll have to cancel that on Monday) and towed it back to Sydney this morning.

Some of the things I'll miss about the Lancer:
1. The incredible acceleration that tries very hard to shove you into the back seat.
2. The unnatural ability to drive through corners at warp speed with absolute confidence that it will just go where it's been pointed as only an Evo can.
3. Having children in the yard at Henry's daycare yell out 'HEY MISTER YOU HAVE A COOL CAR!!"

Some of the things I won't miss about the Lancer
1. The rock hard suspension combined with rock hard seats.
2. The speeding fines
3. The attention from every bogan in a hotted up commodore who wants to drag you off at the lights

As it turns out I might get to see it again as the Lancer's new home is only a suburb away from Belinda's parents. Small world hey?


Friday 27 January 2012

Day 27: Dark Detailing / Marauding Mozzies


I've had the Lancer advertised for sale and this evening I had a call from a guy who wants to have a look at it in morning. It has been sitting out in the rain for a while and was looking a bit grubby so I decided to give it a 'quick' once over after Henry had gone to bed. 

After applying a liberal coating of Aeroguard to protect myself from our ferocious Mosquitos I headed out to make a start. I kid you not, Aeroguard is a must around here particularly at dusk. The mozzies that seem to be breeding in the lavender bushes lining our driveway are monsters and there's enough of them to expose small animals to a real danger of being carried off. It's no wonder our little cat moves like a ninja when she's out there. I digress.

By the time I'd finished cleaning up the Lancer it was well and truly dark and after I'd packed up and retrieved the camera for today's photo, condensation had even started to form on the roof. It had better not rain tonight and ruin all my efforts!

There's a real sense of satisfaction when the car looks so good after spending so much time on on a 'quick' once over... there is also great satisfaction in surviving the whole ordeal without being carried off by our massive mozzies.

With a bit of luck I'll be waving goodbye to my much loved Lancer tomorrow which will allow me to get serious about hunting down a replacement.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Day 26: A Very Happy Australia Day - Moron Continued Part 1


A couple of days ago I mentioned that I'd been making room in the garage for my most recent racing procurement with a promise of 'more on that later'.

Today, it arrived. So here's the more:

My new racing steed is another Triumph Daytona, this time it's a 'real' Triumph as it's a 3 cylinder, 675cc engine as against my old one that was a Japanese inspired 4 cylinder 600cc engine. Like my previous Daytona this one has been built for racing with many upgrades to improve the handling and performance. I spent a few hours today removing the old fairing and dented fuel tank to replace them with the new tank and undamaged race glass. My first outing on the new 675 is next weekend at Eastern Creek and I'm looking forward to posting up a comparison between the two Daytonas... so there'll be 'more on this later' again.


Wednesday 25 January 2012

Day 25: Tandem Post... What's In Your Glovebox?


After showing Belinda a funny comparison between guys & girls cars & bedrooms (girls bedrooms very neat, girls cars very messy and guys bedrooms very messy, guys cars very neat) she suggested we do a comparison between our respective car glove boxes. Straight away I thought I'd be at a disadvantage due to the lack of stuff in mine... turns out I was right.

For details on the brothel that is Belinda's glove box, click here: http://belindasproject3662012.blogspot.com/

So, what's in my glove box you ask? It contains a total of 7 items:

1. A small plastic zip lock bag that has the floor mat anchors I never used (because I didn't want to put holes in the factory carpet to secure floor mats that stay put pretty well on their own).

2. A larger plastic zip lock bag that I put all my fuel receipts in (I claim a percentage of all running costs in my Tax each year).

3. The lock nut key (vital if you want to change a tyre when your wheels have lock nuts).

4. An old microfiber Nike sunglass bag (empty) that I use to clean my sunglasses when driving.

5. A small manila envelope containing my CAMS license, Competition Pass Book and Manual of Motorsport.

6. The Owners Manual that came with the car.

7.  A rectangular section of foam double sided adhesive (I really don't know where this came from or what it's for... but it might be handy one day).

So there you have it. Feel free to compare mine to Belinda's and you can even share the contents of your glove box if you like. I'm sure the results between guys & girls won't vary too much from what Belinda and I have already proven.

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Day 24: Motherly Advice


Out of the blue I missed a call from Mum today, and when I listened to the voicemail it was along the lines of 'just calling to give you some advice on taking Macro photos'. I thought, and almost muttered out loud in a mixture of surprise and excitement: 'Crikey! Mum's been reading my blog!'.

My mum is good at just about everything she puts her hand to, not just because she's naturally talented in her chosen fields but because she works at it, learns, gains experience and shares the knowledge gained.

For some time now she's been hunting out and documenting Orchids around her home town and further afield, I think it might have been my Nan & Pop who stirred this interest initially. The documenting side of things requires photos for reference and as many of the Orchids are tiny the use of extreme close up photography is a must. Mum has some spectacular photos of Orchids adorning the walls of her home and she's produced most of these herself.

As mum was offering advice on the subject I was keen to listen and try it out. The advice was on how to deal with the frustrating auto focus on point & shoot cameras that always seem to focus on something other than the subject you're trying to capture. It's quite simple really: When the auto focus is focusing on the background put something behind the subject, whether it's a piece of card, your hat, your hand or anything else that will bring the focus forward. Once the lens is focusing on what you intended you can remove the backing and take the shot. It seems so simple, wish I'd thought of it myself for the praying mantis photo shoot.

This afternoon I scoured the back yard for something else of interest to shoot up close and as usual the back yard delivered. This colourful little spider made the cut for today's photo, it took a couple of attempts but using mum's method made the job a lot easier. Thanks mum!




Monday 23 January 2012

Day 23: Happy Chinese New Year


I had lunch with my friend Doris today (whom I work with and sometimes reads this blog) and as she's originally from Hong Kong we thought it fitting to have something asian inspired to celebrate Chinese New Year. We chose to dine at Bambusa, quite a nice little restaurant in Manuka that speacialises in Modern Asian Cuisine. Doris recommended the Tapas for lunch, which is what you can see in today's photo. It sounds weird I know, Tapas at an Asian restaurant, but I have to say it just works.

I got a little excited when the dish came out and ate half of what I think was a Yuba Cake (delicious!) before I remembered to snap a shot of the dish on my trusty iPhone.

I highly recommend the Chinese Tapas, it was all so yummy and the service was great too. I'll definitely be keeping Bambusa in mind next time Belinda and I manage to get a night off together... which might even be sooner than later with Daphne coming for a visit tomorrow! (I know my Mother in Law reads my blog... Subtle hey?)

Sunday 22 January 2012

Day 22: Bug Rescue / Moron x 3



I spent a fair bit of time in the garage this afternoon making room for the new race bike I bought last weekend, it's being delivered next week (more on that later). I made some serious headway and there is now a clear path from the front roller doors through to the back door, previously one had to step over and around various bits & pieces including the old race bike that needs an engine transplant (probably more on that later too).

During my cleaning, culling and general re-arranging of things I came across the subject of today's photo. He (she?) just fell from the ceiling and landed in front of the broom as I was about to sweep more dirt, dust and detritus out the door. I let him (her?) crawl up on my finger so I could release him (her?) into the wild that is our backyard, as I had my camera on me I thought I'd test the Macro setting out. It was quite a challenge. The auto focus just kept focusing on the foliage behind the subject, it was starting to bug me... so to speak. Eventually I managed to grab a couple of shots that were OK, the in focus strike rate was around 1 in 10.

In other news and in light of the trials I faced trying to capture today's image, I spent some more time researching camera upgrades... I think I've narrowed it down to the brand and even the model, it's just the variant I need to decide on (more on this later also).

Stay tuned, there are 3 lots of more (on) to come.

Saturday 21 January 2012

Day 21: Mummy!!


It's amazing how a little stroll outside can cheer our little bloke up. He's been a little under the weather today and just before dinner time he was miserable. We took a little walk out the back and Henry led me up to the gazebo to splash his hands in the wading pool, the transformation as soon as we set foot outside was instant.

In today's photo Henry is waving to his mummy as she was returning from bringing in the washing (how's that for stereotypical mummy behavior?), it's the cutest thing when he points and says 'Mummy!!' as only he can and then starts waving. A round of backyard peek-a-boo behind the bushes ensued.

Friday 20 January 2012

Day 20: Stormy Weather



Who'd have thought the weather man would get it right today? The forecast was for thunderstorms and thunderstorms we did have. It wasn't the most violent of storms but enough thunder to scare my poor old mutt Rex (it doesn't take much for him to be cowering at my feet) and a lightning show that was pretty spectacular... If I'd been better versed in the settings on Belinda's camera I might have been able to catch a rather large lighting bolt that looked to strike just over the back of the houses on the other side of our street. I really do need to upgrade my hand-me-down Canon.

Instead I played with Belinda's Nikon and took a shot of the one of the candles we were forced to use during the 40 minute black out. No internet, no TV and candles to read the Nikon instruction manual by. 'Twas a pleasant evening none the less.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Day 19: ALFAnalysis


We've been looking into replacing Belinda's Commodore and although initially she spoke of things that made me cringe, like station wagons, we took something a little different for a drive today. On David's advice we looked at an Alfa 159 and found that they really are a great looking car which I'm sure you'd agree is far more congruous with Belinda than some old station wagon.

The one we took for a drive was a diesel model which only sounded like a tractor on start up; once we were moving it was very quiet and quite pleasant to drive. I was impressed by the torque of the 5 cylinder Turbo Diesel but found that there was quite a bit more lag between right foot input and power output than I expected. It's nothing you couldn't get used to and the lag disappears when you're in the right gear to keep the revs in the right range, with 6 gears to choose from there should be one for just about any occasion to avoid the hesitation in throttle response. As with most Euro cars the indicators are on the left side of the steering wheel instead of the right, this lead to the wipers indicating some of our turns instead of the little orange lights. Again, something that you'd get used to.

Due to years of Alfa antagonism, David will probably fall of his seat if we end up with one of these, which is looking more likely than I'd have believed. I fear the consumption of humble pie may take more getting used to than left hand indicators and diesel turbo lag.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Day 18: The Upgrade Path - Part 1


You'll never guess who didn't take a photo for today's entry... but it's ok, being the resourceful fellow that I am I decided that tonight I'd show what has become a nightly event for me and share my thoughts on what's involved and what's required.

This blogging thing has taken over my evenings. The time is spent between stringing sentences together in a loosely coherent fashion and editing the photo of the day. The photo is usually played with using the Snapseed app on the iPad and I also use some of the effects in iPhoto on the MacBook I inherited from Belinda. Usually the photos are taken on the Camera that was handed down to me by Belinda's mum. So of the tools used for my nightly activities it's only the iPad that is truly mine.

This brings me to the 'Part 1' in today's post title: My plan is to make certain upgrades throughout the year. Part 2 will probably involve an upgrade to photo taking implement, I'm undecided as to what form the upgrade will take as yet but whatever it is it will need to be more responsive and take better indoor photos wile still being compact. Part 2 might take a while with such vague requirements and so many cameras to choose from.

By the way today's photo was taken with my phone.

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Day 17: Paperwork


In preparation for the impending sale of my boat I've been getting my ducks in a row. This has involved organising rego for the trailer; it hadn't been registered for over a year so it needed an inspection which was really just a formality. The registration surcharge for 'establishing' the registration was bit of a rude shock, it was actually close to double the registration fee.

I've also been trying to locate the papers for the boat to no avail so after a quick trip to the ACT Govt. shopfront to pay for registration on the trailer I made an even quicker stop at the NSW Maritime office in Queanbeyan to see if they could help me out. The lady at the counter was very helpful, she looked up my details, found the file and printed a new copy of the expired registration papers so I could sign ownership over to whoever ends up buying the boat. There was no charge for this service and the whole transaction took about 5 minutes.

I have to say that both transactions (apart from the unexpected surcharge) were easy, took very little time and the staff involved in both were very pleasant... in fact you could even say they were cheerful.

What is the world coming to when dealing with the RTA doesn't involve walking away feeling like you need a shower and a stiff scotch????

Surely my two encounters were flukes and my next experience with the RTA will be back to the hours of waiting to be served followed by dealing with the ineptitude of a cranky old biddy who stuffs everything up and has to do it all again from the beginning that I've become so accustomed to.

Monday 16 January 2012

Day 16: Child Proofing


Yes, I know. It's a little late to start with the child proofing when your toddler is already 18 months old and has been opening and closing cupboards, not only with uncanny dexterity, but also with a discerning taste for the expensive, fragile and sentimentally important for some time.

Belinda even went to the effort of finding the cordless drill and placing it with the little child proofing hook and latch thingamajigs (that is the technical term) where I wouldn't miss it... on the dining table where my dinner plate goes. So, 3 nights and a weekend away later I have secured the cupboard that contains the good china. I'll be riding these brownie points all the way to easter.


Day 15: The morning after the night before




Today I slept. A lot.

After checking out of our hotel at 10am and then eating a massive breakfast at the little cafe across the road we made our way back to Casa de Freke where I 'had a little lie down'. Belinda woke me to tell me everyone was going out for lunch and asked if I wanted to come, I declined and immediately fell asleep again waking just before everyone came back from lunch at around a quarter past 3. 

On the way home I realised I hadn't taken a photo for today, Belinda suggested that the cloud formation as we were approaching Goulburn would look good using the 'Drama' effect in Snapseed. I agreed and with minimal effort I had my photo of the day.

The problem with sleeping so much during the day is that when it's time to go to bed you just don't feel that tired. Which is why I'm still blogging at half past 12... I'm off to bed now to see about getting some more sleep.

Sunday 15 January 2012

Day 14: McVicar Matrimonials



Belinda and I were privileged to be among the friends and family of Matt & Renee as they exchanged their vows today. Renee was stunning in her gown and Matt cut a pretty fine figure too even though he wasn't allowed to wear his white shoes. The ceremony was beautiful with the Newport Marina forming an a amazing back drop.

Matt is one who appreciates his beer and I have to compliment him on his choice in beers for the reception. He chose a James Squire beer that I hadn't had before, the One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale. I enjoyed many of these throughout the evening and will be hunting them down in my local bottle shop.

We don't get to see Matt & Renee very often but when we do catch up we always have a great time, today was certainly no exception and we're both looking forward to catching up with Mr & Mrs McVicar again soon.


Saturday 14 January 2012

Day 13: Off to Sydney... again



Today's events were so exciting that I had trouble choosing what to put in my blog... I jest.

Another day at the office, another commute on the bike, another viewing of the boat by a prospective buyer and an early knock off to head back to Sydney. This time we're up here for a wedding tomorrow night, should be good.

It was odd though, I got home and Belinda had packed my bag (I still haven't looked in the bag to see what I'll be wearing for the next couple of days...) and then loaded everything into the car ready to get Henry from Day Care and hit the highway. The oddness for me was how empty the boot looked, normally when we're all loaded up it's an effort to close the boot without things falling out.

So today's photo is of the partially full boot. It's about as exciting as my day has been, I'm sure tomorrow will contain more blog fodder.

Thursday 12 January 2012

Day 12: Out with the old and in with the new


I've been riding the bike to work all week due to some ongoing car issues and rather than wearing my full length race boots for the week I dug out my old ankle high bike shoes. They're about 8 years old and are very comfy... but the old shoes haven't aged well. 

Today on my way back to the office from visiting a customer I pulled in to one of the local bike shops to see what they had in the way of replacements and I found these little gems. 

You're looking at the stainless steel 'laces' that are fastened with a little dial that drives a ratchet mechanism at the back of the boot. There are a couple of benefits to this design over my old traditional lace ups:

1. Laces can get caught on things like foot pegs & gear levers - not ideal when trying to put your foot down at the lights.

2. Laces can come undone.

3. Stainless steel doesn't stretch when it gets wet like laces can.

4. Tying laces is hard and this simple dial fastening design makes life much easier for motorcyclists who aren't renowned for their intelligence.

So it's out with the old bike shoes and in with the new as well as out with the old shoelace technology and in with the new Stainless Steel 'closure system'.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Day 11: Prancing Puppies


After comparing the excitement of Jenna and Henry seeing each other to that of the dogs when they're let inside for the evening in yesterday's blog entry, I decided I'd try to capture the dogs going nuts tonight... I knew it wasn't going to be easy with the old hand me down Canon donated by Daphne and I was right, the first photo was of the stairs sans dogs, they were just too fast.

Luckily Rex goes a bit more nutso than Milly does and he usually heads back up our 3 steps to bound down them again. On his second run I managed to grab the photo above as he's leaping from the second step.

My best laid plans of capturing both Prancing Puppies in full lunatic mode were dashed when I found that all the photos with both of them were either out of focus or just didn't capture the movement and excitement that happens every night. In hindsight I should have borrowed Belinda's Nikon, it's so much faster than the little point & shoot Canon.

I may end up borrowing the Nikon a little more often throughout the course of the year... Belinda is yet to hear about my cunning plan of SLR snaffling...

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Day 10: Tuesday is Jenna day


Every Tuesday night and every second weekend Jenna comes to stay and since Henry was born she's always been pretty excited to see her little brother. Over the last few months as Henry has been growing and developing quite a cheeky little personality, his excitement to see Jenna has finally equalled and almost surpassed her excitement to see him.

It's gorgeous.

Henry's face lights up and even if he's been in a bit of a mood he gets the giggles, then they both dance on the spot and run around in circles yelling and laughing at the tops of their voices for the first 5 minutes or so... it's akin to the prancing excitement that the dogs display when they're let inside each night.

This week Henry almost mastered a new skill, he's been learning to give kisses. They're still quite wet and usually open mouthed... sometimes he pokes his tongue out while giving his kiss which takes the sloppiness to a whole new level.

A couple of weeks ago Henry went through a slightly antisocial stage where he wouldn't even give Jenna a hug, it broke her heart. She was close to tears when she was dropped back to her mum's after that weekend which broke my heart.

Today when Henry saw Jenna it was back to hyper, giggly normality and once they'd calmed down we asked Henry to give Jenna a kiss. As a result we all received multiple kisses and I found my photo for the day.


Monday 9 January 2012

Day 9: "Coffee"


There's a regular gathering of Canberra Riders on Monday afternoons, we call it "Coffee". I like to get along as often as I can to catch up with some of the folk I ride with over a beverage or two and even though we call it Coffee, for me the beverage is usually a beer. Today Coffee was at the Civic Pub which worked quite well for me but not so well for those who actually come to Coffee to drink Coffee, this may have attributed to the smaller than usual numbers.

I'm pretty sure that today was the first time in roughly 2 years of me making semi-regular appearances at Coffee that I actually showed up on a bike! I think some of the 'gang' as Belinda likes to call them were starting to doubt that I even owned a bike...

Sunday 8 January 2012

Day 8: Back on the dirt


It's been a while... in fact the last time I was out on the Dirty Husky was on the 3rd of October last year. The reason it's been so long is because about 10 minutes in to that ride I accidentally rode into a fence which stopped the bike but I kept going... until I hit the ground. The sudden stop when I landed resulted in a fracture to my elbow that has been healing ever since. I didn't know it was fractured at the time and continued to ride for another 6 hours, needless to say I was in quite a bit of pain.

Today when I went out with Pete (yes, the same Pete who bought the Bee), I showed him the fence I ran into, it's the one that the Dirty Husky is leaning against in today's photo. I was sure the fence was far less upright and hidden in the long grass last time I saw it... but that may have been because my bike was lying on top of it at the time.

I'm glad to report that I made it back injury free after a very muggy day out in the forrest, there was rain, a lot of mud, some confusion about where we were and most importantly a great time was had. All in all it was a bloody good day out in the dirt and my elbow coped with the rigors of Tallaganda pretty well.

I hope there will be more posts like this than like yesterday's ironing...

Saturday 7 January 2012

Day 7: How do you spend your Saturday night?


I spent mine ironing... yep, that's right, I'm a serious party animal. Not only did I iron my shirts for next week back at work, but I also got through a few casual shirts that have been waiting for their next outing since being washed, at least now they'll be ready to roll.

This lot took me most of 'Little Fockers' with a Mojito break in between... the whole ironing caper is pretty time consuming and not something I particularly enjoy, the Mojito helped a little in that department but still not quite enough to make it 'fun'.

While I was ironing I had time to reflect that taking a photo per day for the whole year might end up being a little more difficult than I thought... I'm back at work on Monday and I think it's going to get harder to find time to take photos. While trying to come up with ideas for what I'll do on a slow news day or a particularly busy day at work (yeah yeah, I can hear the chuckles already) I started imagining blog entries about putting fuel in the car, or finding a park for a customer meeting or maybe even more ironing photos.

I guess time will tell.

Friday 6 January 2012

Day 6: What lies beneath... the couch


Today we re-arranged the lounge room - for a photo of how it now looks check Belinda's blog: http://belindasproject3662012.blogspot.com/

When we moved the couch we found this little treasure hiding against the skirting board, it was pretty docile and was easy for me to gather up on a piece of paper and put in a container until we'd finished the furniture shuffling.

Once the lounge was sorted I decided the scorpion was a good subject for todays photo and after a few minutes on google I found this is the 'Little Marbled Scorpion' and is very common around most of Australia. They're handy little guests to have in the house as they live on insects and spiders, but as lovely a house guest as the little fellow was I put him out into the front yard after our little photo shoot. 

It was interesting how it's character changed once it was out in the sunshine, it went from being a docile and quite obliging model to a skittish little missile that spun 360 degrees 3 times before bolting for the lavender bush out front.


Thursday 5 January 2012

Day 5: Hidden treasures of Nimmitabel


We came home from Eden today and stopped at the famous Nimmitabel Pie Shop for lunch on the way. This pie shop is a regular breakfast stop for Pete, Andy and myself on our trips to Phillip Island and over the many trips we've made I'm yet to be quick enough to buy one of their Cornish Pasties... today was no different. As a consolation I ordered a Steak &  Bacon as well as a Steak & Mushroom pie for lunch, they were good as always, but they weren't Cornish Pasties.

After we ate, Jenna insisted that we go look at the Elephant next door to the Bakery, it had been years since I'd actually stopped and looked at the little park they've made (last time was also at Jenna's insistence some years ago) and I'd forgotten about the other little sculptures they had. Today's photo is.... well I'm not really sure what it is but I thought it made an interesting picture.

If I'd been able to buy a Cornish Pastie for lunch I'd have taken a photo of that... one day, I'll get that Cornish Pastie from the Nimmitabel Bakery and when it finally happens I'll feel obliged to blog it.

Now there's a goal for me this year: Get Pastie, Eat, Blog.

Day 4: Just another day at the beach


Day 2 at Eden and we went back to the beach again... despite the rain. It only rained a little and Jenna braved the water again which meant I also got wet. Henry had a great time digging in the sand again and he's still a little iffy about the 'waves'. It was pretty funny watching Jenna carry Henry to the water's edge and try to put him down so he could get his feet wet... Henry had different plans and clung to Jenna wrapping his legs around hers and clinging on to her arm in what could only be described as a death grip.

Today's photo is of my two gorgeous ladies and my handsome little bloke looking back to the beach from the water's edge. It was taken shortly after Henry's clinging monkey impersonation. On a calm sunny day the water at mum's place is a beautiful blue and it's clear enough that you can see the bottom from a long way out... today it was still clear, but as it was overcast and windy the water in the background of this photo looks more like Lake Burly Griffin on a good day.

Day 3: 3 years and 3 blogs on the 3rd


Today was our 3rd wedding anniversary, it'll be the only one where the number of years will match the date (3 years on the 3rd of Jan) and as this year I'm now doing a blog entry per day it's also my 3rd entry.

3 x Thirds... makes a whole right?

We headed to Eden to visit my mum today so it was a pretty busy morning getting the car packed, cats & dogs organised for 2 nights away, Evo off for service (again), Jenna from her mum's... etc etc etc. By the time we got there it was around 3pm so we headed straight to the beach, while we were there it occurred to me that Belinda's blog and mine will inevitably have some similar posts, particularly when we're away together. In an attempt to keep things a little different between Belinda's blog and mine instead of using a shot of Jenna or Henry playing on the beach I drew the above in the sand and managed to grab the shot just before the water in the lower right washed it away.

It was a lovely way spend out 3rd anniversary, together on the beach in Eden.

Monday 2 January 2012

Day 2: Passing the Bee.


I had mixed feelings today as I delivered the bike above to my good mate Pete, its new owner. The delivery was a family affair with Belinda and Henry coming along to farewell the bike which lead to todays photo being taken by Pete's wife Bron. My hands were a little full with Henry at the time and it's a much nicer pic than the crappy one I took one handed about 30 seconds before. So today, in my second blog entry ever, I've used the services of a special guest photographer. Thanks Bron :)

So why the mixed feelings? I'll share some memories of my time with the bike that became known as the Bee:
- It was the most powerful bike I'd owned with 160hp at the rear tyre which is equal to it's replacement.
- It was the first bike to really scare me with just how fast it can accelerate
- It was the first bike I ever rode on the Phillip Island GP Circuit
- It was the first bike that ever propelled me to just under 300kmh
- I had my first experience on full slick tyres on a race track
- This is the bike that inspired me to give racing a go.

I know Pete's going to love the Bee as much as I have and Bron said I'm allowed to visit if I want. I also know I'll see it again and soon too, Pete & I are booked in for a track day early in February. 

So today there was an ending for me and a new beginning Pete & the Bee.

Sunday 1 January 2012

Day 1: Blogs, Boats and Beating the Clock


Talk about leaving it to the last minute... It's 11:57 and I've decided to join up with the crew and take a photo per day... better be quick!

First pic for the year is the boat, I've decided to sell it as it hasn't seen water for 2 years. I'll be very sad to see it go, it's such a good looking boat and I've had many great times on the water in it. Sometimes life gets in the way of a good time though.