Day 173: Washed Up

As a rule, I generally don't do this because automatic car washes tend to be a little harsh on the paint but due to a lack of time to arganise a gentler cleansing I made an exception. This was in preparation for a viewing of Belinda's Commodore tonight, I also gave the interior a good vacuum out and cleaned the windows when I got home. The viewing went ok, but they've got a number of other cars to look at over the next few days and I didn't get the impression they were all that keen. I guess time will tell.

Day 127: May Task - You

I decided that today's subject being 'You' could really only be interpreted as being all about 'Me'. So I chose to gather a few things that are a little bit 'Me' instead of doing a predictable self portrait.

Running through the things I gathered, there is:
- My helmet (not the mouldy one, this is the one I use for racing)
- My favourite sneakers
- My phone which is a necessity for work and play
- My favourite cuff-links (a gift from Belinda, they're in the shape of steering wheels)
- My sunnies I really hate the glare
- My family (on the screen of Belinda's laptop)
- My 'Mr Grumpy' coffee cup
- My car and bike keys

There were many other things that I would have liked to add to this collection but I ran out of time (if you look closely at my phone you'll see it was midnight when I took this photo) and the collection would have ended up looking like a trash & treasure stall. I am indeed a complex individual.

Day 123: May Task - Skyline

Today's subject is 'Skyline' and when the clues said 'where the sky meets land, can be buildings, the beach, forest, whatever!' I took 'whatever' and ran with it.


My take on 'Skyline' is the photo above: it's the engine bay of an R33 Skyline that has been built by a local performance shop. It's much more me than some lame picture of a landscape and as far as I'm concerned it still fits the brief.


So how did I stumble upon today's photo? I was doing laps of Fyshwick thinking that because I see so many Skylines (the cars) every day that I'd find one pretty easily. It turned out that I was wrong... it's always the way though: When you're looking for something it's never around. Eventually I saw this one parked out the front of Dynamic Tuning Services with DTS advertising all over it. I went into the shop and asked if they minded me taking a photo and the response was along the lines of 'it's covered in bugs... can you use the engine bay instead?".

I was happy to oblige and I think my photo is pretty impressive: There's been a lot of time and effort put into this Skyline and in my humble opinion it's as beautiful as any landscape, sunset or cityscape that you're likely to find.

Day 113: Form And Function

Today we went down to the wharf at Eden so we could buy Jenna the ice cream that had been promised yesterday... there was no way she was going to let that slide.

While we were there we looked at the big tugboats and fishing vessels with their huge machines for winding in nets. The photo opportunities were plentiful with all the boats, ropes, nets and even a forklift named 'Pace Maker' that had a weird engine hoist looking contraption attached to its tines (I guess that what they're called since it's a 'fork' lift) that I can only assume is used to reach over the edge of the wharf to lift heavy objects from the boats.

Even though I was surrounded by all this cool nautical stuff that was just begging to be blog fodder, I still managed to find my photo for the day planted firmly on the ground... in the car park.

Today's image is a brilliant example of form and function in the one piece; it's the hood ornament/engine temperature gauge from a Morris Cowley Bull Nose car that from what I can gather would have been built somewhere between 1915 and 1924. The car was tiny, not much bigger than your modern day Smart Car and the body work looked to be made from aluminium that had been polished to a mirror finish. It was beautiful and old and had a few little dings and scuffs around it that just added to its character, but my favourite part was this little instrument mounted at the end of the bonnet. I really like how all the internal workings are framed inside the glass for all to see.

Day 71: Back to Melbourne

Almost a month after my last flight to Melbourne I'm finally on my way back to pick up my car. Isn't funny how a few weeks can seem like forever when you're waiting for something that you're really looking forward to...

At least the wait is almost over and I'll be on the road for the long drive home in my new car tomorrow. I also get to catch up with my cousin Steph tonight, this will be the second time that I've crashed at her place when buying a vehicle from Melbourne. The last time was about 2 years ago when I bought my first race bike, it's been convenient having a place to crash and is always great catching up with my cuz.

Day 48: Sun Up Departure

After spending the day in Melbourne and taking a few photos, I've decided that I'd use the one I took on my iPhone as the plane was taxiing out onto the runway for my departure. It's so rare that I see the sunrise that I thought I should use it today as (with a little luck and fore-planing) it's unlikely to happen again this year.

The whole reason for my trip was to inspect and test drive another car, up until this point what I'd looked at had left me either unimpressed with condition of the car or unhappy with the interior/exterior colour combination. Not so today. The car drove very well, the interior and exterior condition were better than those I'd looked at previously and the all important colour combination was very appealing.

With the completion of a little negotiation I agreed to buy the car and am now looking forward to hearing back from the dealer with confirmation of a mid to late next week pick up. It will mean another day off work and a nice drive from Melbourne to Canberra that will allow me to become very familiar with the new car. I organised a pick up rather than a delivery intentionally as this way I can make sure what's been promised will be delivered prior to handing over final payment.

I'll leave photos of the car until it's all been finalised.

Day 47: Planning An Early Start

In my quest for another car I've had to widen my search parameters. Initially I'd restricted my search geographically to be within ACT or close to Sydney as I'm in Sydney pretty regularly, I even had a dealer meet me at the Hotel last week so I could test drive his car while I was up there for training.

After exhausting my options locally and in NSW, I've had to widen my search to include Melbourne. So chasing what looks to be the right car at the right price I've taken tomorrow off and have booked a return flight and car hire. This will entail getting up well before I would normally to catch the first flight out of Canberra. Those who know me will understand how desperate things have become when I'm forced to be up and out of the house by around 5:30am. This is not something I'm comfortable with and certainly not something I will do if I can avoid it. I really do prefer to be sound asleep until at least 7:45 on a weekday and much later on weekends.

With a little luck I'll be putting a deposit down and getting the towbar and delivery details organised before lunch which will give me a few hours to kill before my flight back.

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.