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January |
18 At Mum & Dad’s place early, then travel with David and Edith to Robyn’s place at Awhitu, on the South Head of the Manukau Harbour, near Auckland, N.Z. 19 The gang’s all here, for the first time in decades. Paul, Bruce and James all at lunch. 20 Leaving Auckland for Sydney. Dad dropped me off, and Tony picked me up and we went to the city centre. I took a walk around the Darling Harbour area. 28 Sunday at Bondi, Sydney, with Maria, Lidia and Isabella.
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February |
03 Paul posing with the results of a “snack attack” by a great many lice that were most likely infesting the bedding at the Alison Lodge! A few bites here and there, but when I sprayed the carpet under the bed, and the walls, this is what happened. I got moved to another room. 04 The view from the other room. I hoped to leave the bedbugs behind, but there was another lot in residence there! 11 Freeloading on someone’s unsecured WiFi Internet connection. 13 Waiting for the bus on Alison Street, near the Dutruc street intersection. One of the rare days with clouds ... 14 There are a lot of fig trees. At night, when they're ripe, you can hear the fruit bats squabbling over them. A walk along the wharf at Darling Harbour, which has been a lot "developed" since I was last in Sydney. Only a few minutes from ING in Kent Street. 17 Saturday stroll in Sydney. Went shopping in Randwick, then took the bus to the city centre. I walked from near the Central Railway Station along Pitt Street, via Circular Quay, around the Opera House, then took the bus back. 18 Breakfast: San Francisco sourdough cheese & onion toastie, with ham and onion, and a tankard of coffee ... The clamshell toaster does quite good steaks as well. Views around the lodge. 22 Walk from ING to Darling Harbour.
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March |
04 Walk from St Mark's Lodge to Coogee Baths 15 Natalie celebrating leaving work for twelve monhs to have a baby. 17 Budgewoi lakes and the coast, near the Millers' place on Diamond Head Drive. 18 Cool, calm Sunday morning at Budgewoi. Even the pelicans are taking a rest. 24 Red Schnapper salad, Saturday afternoon tea, with a movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy" ... 25 Stormy Sydney Sunday. 30 ING team-building Friday afternoon "On the Rocks". The Mystery Tour: the guide tells stories of notable happenings in the history of the place, and we visit a succession of pubs.
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April |
01 Walk to Coogee Beach (again) ... 05 Maxx Auckland rail service with a push-pull train! 06 On GBA from Auckland to Claris. 07 At the tree farm, and the lodge on Great Barrier Island. Repairs to the driveway, and a walk around south of Kaitoke Beach. Dinner at the Thai restaurant down the road from the lodge. 08 Mason's Road entrance created by Terence O'Toole and recognised as an essential safety improvement by the council! How to operate bee hives with African bees ... And live! Back to Auckland in the late afternoon. 09 Take a $ 10 trip from Manurewa to Newmarket, thence to New Lynn and back to the Britomart station. Return to Manurewa. 10 More of the "new" Auckland suburban rail service. Photos around Mum & Dad's place in Manurewa: feijoa, tamarillo, passionfruit, lemon, runaway choko, apple ... Just stand back so it doesn't choke you ... 14 Took a trip to Rhodes, to buy a filing-box seat at Ikea. A heavy freight train was parked in the station. The camera has gone deranged, and jumbled pictures together ... 29 Heavy job on Sunday, preparing the UAT programs at INGA. Took the time for a proper lunch near Darling Harbour, then through to 18:30. After that, I did the 8ain company end of year accounts.
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May |
10 Day out at the INGA Photoshoot. First taken were scenes at an apartment, then on Bronte beach. 16 Aleksandra waking up at the lodge. 17 Aleksandra at Darling Harbour in Sydney 19 Tony and Charity take Aleksandra and Paul on a trip south to Batemans Bay via Canberra. We stay at a motel and eat at the restaurant there. 20 Travelling back along the coast. Beaches, kangaroos, views along the coast. 22 Martin Place early morning. Walk around the Opera House. 25 Adelaide. Agnes and Shawn at Kristina's place. The beach nearby. 26 Visit to Coriole Winery, Caffeys Road, McLaren Vale. Then to Glenelg via the scenic route. Visit the beach, then an entertainment centre, and dinner at a pasta bar. 28 Charity's birthday dinner in the Sydney Tower restaurant.
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June |
13 Foaming fountain in Martin Place, early morning. 23 Took a Saturday out driving Tony's Land Rover, and went on the Zig Zag Railway: the Australian equivalent of the Raurimu Spiral.
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July |
07 Walk down the road to Coogee in the morning.
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August |
02 Warsaw. 03 Gdansk. 04 Poznan. 18 Coogee after breakfast. 24 Dinner with the "MPE Price Team" from INGA, at the Meat & Wine Co., IMAX Theatre Complex, Darling Harbour. 25 Walk from St Marks Lodge to Coogee. 27 Walk from INGA to Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour.
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September |
02 Sunny Sydney Sunday seaside stroll. From St Marks Lodge down to the end of Alison Road, then along the coastal walk to Bondi Beach. 07 APEC Friday holiday trip to Glenbrook, in the Blue Mountain foothills. Cost $ 11.40 for the day-return rail ticket. Walked down to the entrance and information centre for the National Park. 09 Walk around the promenade at Darling Harbour, between lunch at the Meat & Wine Co. and IMAX for "Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix". 16 Working Sunday, break for lunch at Kingsley's Steak House near Darling Harbour. 22 Working Saturday, breakfast in Coogee, then catch the bus through to Market Street. 26 Leaving party at the Slip Inn for some of the bunch at INGA: but batteries went flat, so only a couple of shots! 29 Got the bike: Suzuki V-Strom DL1000 in ... grey ... (But at least it matches the bargain-price Shoei helmet I got!) Took a trip from Kogarah to the city, bought a map book, then went to Ikea in Rhodes for lunch. From there to Kuringai-Chase National Park to find out how to get to Cottage Point. Then from there to Windsor in the Hawkesbury region and via Bell to Clarence in the Blue Mountains. Renewed acquiantance with the Zig-Zag Railway and their Latte and Mrs Mac's steak & kidney pie, then back via Mount Victoria and Katoomba. Refeuled at 338 km near Parramatta. 30 Went to Sandy Bay to see Maria and Lidia. Michael joined us later. First trip over the Sydney Harbour Bridge since 1983. No "troll" northbound, and I took a ride along the northern side of the river to Lane Cove and crossed on the Victoria bridge southbound, then via the Anzac bridge through the city. Got a bit of sunburn on my upper arms, so wore a long-sleeved shirt for the rest of the day. Rode to the coast near Nowra. On the way back, got a really bad case of bug splat.
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October |
01 Worked through MMBS from Randwick to the south head, then from there to Sussex Street, near Darling Harbour. Dinner at the Meat & Wine Co. 03 Lunch with Malvinder: at the Chinta Ria on the top deck of Cockle Bay Wharf, Darling Harbour. Very hot day! 04 A "Thank You" dinner at the Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour for the MPE Price Team. 06 Pictures on Canon, to be developed. 07 Marks Park on the south head at Bondi. 13 Saturday morning trip to the Blue Mountains. First stop Blackheath, where I saw the Indian Pacific wend its way slowly through town. That passenger train was longer than some of the English freight trains I've seen. Then off on a side trip along a few kilometres of gravel and dirt road to Perry's Lookdown. Good view, but the forest is recovering from a fire several years ago. Good spot to camp, but you need to take everything with you. I took the F1 with me and got some good pictures, but on slide film that will take a long time to get the results back. 14 Barbeque at Richards, along the coast north of Woy Woy on Brisbane Water. Good company, nice food and drink, and watched a progression of trains go by. 16 Sunrise from North Coogee. Tony's birthday dinner at the Belgian Beer Cafe. 19 Suzuki V-Strom DL1000. V-twin 1000 cc, 105 ps (78 kW), 204 kg, 130 mph (210 kph). Dual-purpose, OK on gravel, but needs knobbly tires. 20 Took James back to the residential home he is staying at. Tip chases the ball for his entertainment and exercise. We did a shopping recce, checking out various TV's and getting some bits from Dick Smith, then to Valentines for dinner. 21 Sunday out to Glenbrook Vintage Railway. Hauled by Ww 644, the classic surburban steam locomotive. Very professional operating crew, knowing and using all the tricks to promote safety and ease of working. 23 New TV at Mum and Dad's place, with DVD player: will tidy up the stereo centre and move some of the furniture about. Off home to the island, at last. Doing a "survey" at the Crossroads Lodge, ready to try and convert almost completely to renewable power supply. Need about 500 W solar and 1 kW wind power at the lodge, half that at each of the cottage and bunkhouse. 25 Cobbled together 24 V battery stack to test proper replacement ADSL modem / router / switch / WAP connection. Works properly, but we definitely need better batteries! I can work wireless in a cabin, while Bruce is using the direct connection in the office. Also need to tidy up the embedded network cabling, but we are now connecting to the ADSL OK. A test of Skype worked fine. 26 Trip to the south of Oruawharo Bay, along the dunes to the camp ground. New footbridge, constructed in line with the (apparent) DOC policy of "Hurricane? What hurricane?" making things that need minimal maintenance. Afternoon trek up to the top of Te Ahumata. Dinner at the Curragh in Tryphena. 27 Leave the island, flying from Claris to Auckland on GBA. Got a better seat this time. A bit bumpy, and a headwind, but Dad was already waiting for us and we then had a nice lunch.
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November |
02 Christophe and Sally celebrate with lunch at St Patricks Tavern. Bulli Point lookout. 04 Thirlmere Rail Heritage Centre, southwest of Sydney. A nice trip down the Hume Highway and off into the country. 09 The Pontoon Bar, Darling Harbour. Kim celebrating leaving INGA for a better job on Queensland. 10 Morning ride into the Blue Mountains, looking for Murphy's Glen. Interesting road, once past the gate. 11 Got a new digital camera: Canon PowerShot G9 and underwater housing; to replace dying FinePix 4700z. Hoped that SD chips would work on the Amilo Pro, but didn't. USB is fine, via camera, and a USB adapter came with the 4 GB chip. Works out OK. Took a few pictures about Rae Street, near St Marks Lodge. Look good. 12 Monday morning breakfast with Tony at the Bar Via Reggio (King Street Bar) across the road from INGA. 13 IBM (I've Been Moved) again, Level 7, 68 Pitt Street. Not too bad offices, but the kitchen isn't as good as Level 16. Short walk to Martin Place. I park the bike about 50 metres away in a side street. Escape to Randwick or over the bridge is realitively quick and easy, especially if I can get out about 16:00. This afternoon, I went straight to the cliffs north of Coogee Beach, then took a walk down to the foreshore and back. 15 Straight from work, drop off stuff and go to Gordons Bay, north of Coogee. 16 Inside my room, using the G9 inside its waterproof housing, with the flash difuser attached. Seems to work OK. 17 First thing, real coffee! We have the technology! Later, off to Sydney City Motorcycles in Kogarah, to pick up the promised luggage. Pictures after the battle with Givi finished: I think I won ... Need to run over some rough roads for a bit, then tighten everything again, but it looks reasonable. At least they've got Nylock nuts on everything. I think that an M6 drill and tap set would be a really good idea, to make the top box mount tidier and more robust, but it's not too bad right now. Anyway, everything seems to sit tight. Plenty of room for the camping gear and other bits and pieces. Perhaps a small tank bag to hold the camera and reflective cover for the bike would be useful. 18 Coogee north headland, the rocks and surf. 24 Trip to Siding Spring Observatory, mainly to try all the 'bike set-up out. Went over the Blue Mountains, with rain from Glenbrook past Lithgow on the Friday evening. Luckily, I just bought waterproof trousers. Stopped at a motel in Mudgee: just over $ 200 for dinner with a bottle of shiraz (two glasses only then!), comfortable room with bath and shower, and breakfast. In the morning, continued through to Coolah, refueling at the Black Stump after travelling on Black Stump Way. If you've heard the phrases "Beyond the Black Stump", or "Out back, way out back of Bourke", this is it! Then travelled through Coonabarabran to the Siding Spring Observartory in the Warrumbungle National Park. While I was having coffee a Polish tour party came through! Hope to have Kasjusz along next year with Aleksandra, as this would be a really interesting place for him ... Returned through Merriwa and took the highway 69 through Wollemi National Park. This has patches of nice twisty road, but with damp patches, wet leaves, and a huge number of warning signs for motorcyclists who can't resist whooping it up too much! (I did too, but not too much, I only used the brakes half a dozen times ... ) Total 1060 km for the trip. Luggage waterproof at any speed as the doors have O-ring seals. See Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories. 25 My Givi washing bag: the top box came packed in it ... 26 Café al Denté. 27 Walk from Pitt Street to the Opera House at lunch. 30 Seen on the way to get some bits and pieces on the Friday afternoon, late.
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December |
01 Concert in Darling Harbour. I was going to see Beowulf at IMAX, but it was booked out. 02 Off to Thirlmere, to see the trains: only
they aren't running until next March because of the fire season! The diesel
car will be running from January, though. Saw one of the heavy Beyer-Garrat
locomotives close up, all 280-odd tons of it. Then off to the Valley Heights
museum, where one of the very old Baldwin steam trams was running. Got a short
video clip of it on my new Canon G9. 07 At St Patricks tavern, celebrating survival for another week ... 08 Trip from Randwick to Lightning Ridge. Grotty weather until the middle of the day, had breakfast at the White Rose in Dunedoo, then thunderstrorms near Walgett. 09 Trip from Lightning Ridge to Randwick. Mostly a lot better weather, apart from skirting the margin of a storm. Lots of pictures outback. Had lunch at the White Rose in Dunedoo. Returned via Lithgow and the Blue Mountains. I stopped at the Zig Zag Railway for a pie and coffee. 12 Christmas party at the Meat & Wine Co. in Darling Harbour. The Chrysalis project, downstream testing, and various development and business analyst people from INGA. Dinner at the Heritage Belgian Beer Café with the Price and SAP team. 14 View across Wynyard from the INGA Barrack Street office. 15 Have to stay near Sydney for the on-call support, so off to the Blue Mountains for a meat pie and coffee at the Zig Zag railway! Went there via Richmond and the Bells Line of Road. Came back through Mt Victoria, and stopped off at Perrys Lookdown. Very quiet, except for the insects. I think the birds haven't come back yet after the fires. Went to Murphys Glen and made my first test camp, using the tarpaulin, hammock and mosquito net. Two strong trees about 3 - 4 metres apart, and at least one off to the side. I might see about some tent pegs, but this works pretty well. Lots of bird life around. I didn't actually get to sleep, but just dozed for a few hours, then packed up and came back to my room. 16 Tried some macro photographs. I think sunlight will be best: had a lot of trouble trying to get the thing focused. 19 At Sergio's place: pictures of Sergio and son Sergio. 21 Mum at home in Manurewa. 23 Landing in Claris from the Southwest. Bruce and Katie at the Crossroads Lodge. 24 Views from the Tryphena Hill Road. Medlands and Kaitoke Beach, Oruawharo Bay. Later, cleared some scrub at the tree farm: beehives, bunker and cottage. Pictures at the Lodge. 25 Christmas Day. Laid back at the lodge.
Cats already beating up the presents ... Started with rain and cloud, but the
sun has come through, and the cicadas are having a good time. Went to John's
place for Christmas Dinner, scallops and crayfish, with salad. Took a walk to
Awana beach. 26 Boxing Day. Taking it easy "at
home" in the lodge. 27 Trip to Barrier Building Supplies to
order concrete and timber. Pictures from the Tryphena Hill Road. Walk from the
Crossroads Lodge, through Claris along Ocean View Road to south Kaitoke Beach.
Pictures of the little fish and the grooming shrimp in the rock pool. 28 New bridge on the track to the hot springs. Dinner at the club: no good fish available on the island, now that the fishermen have been put out of business. 29 Walk to the hot springs and back. Now an all-weather track. 30 Walk around the tree farm. Check wiring under the tank stand. Dinner at John's place at Awana. Canon shots to be developed. 31 New Year's Eve party at Helmut and Meryle's place on Harpoon Hil, overlooking Whangaparapara harbour. Just a streak of cloud obscured the sunset. I went in through the neighbour's place: then along the stump path from one house to the other. Notice the homemade furniture: if you can buld a boat, furniture is no problem! The large catamaran in the pictures of the inlet is Fallado, their boat. See http://www.fallado.net. That's all for this year ... |