|
January |
03 Birthday. Trip from Claris Airfield,
Great Barrier Island to Auckland International Airport, Mangere. Later, take
Mum & Dad to Robyn's place in Awhitu. 05 Trip to Illawarra Light Railway Museum. Got rained on! They weren't open for operations, but kindly gave me a tour of the workshop anyway. Later, off to Bombo Beach, to see the only railway station on a beach in N.S.W. 11 Dinner with Michael & Claud Rothstein, and the rest of the crew. 12 Trip over the Blue Mountains. Zig-Zag
Railway, Evan's Lookout. 15 The house that Maria shares with friends in Bondi. Bike (mine) parked out front. 25 Friday afternoon and evening, on the way to Adelaide after work. Stopped at Narrandera for the night. 26 Leave Narrandera early. Sunrise over the Hay plain. Various stops on the way, then the bridges at ... Murray Bridge. 27 Day out with Shawn and John. There is a
miniature steam railway that runs along the dunes from Semaphore: it has been
operating for years. A well managed ride, giving children the opportunity to
ride on the locomotive with special care: a most professional and dedicated
outfit. The ride through the dune gardens is also interesting in its own
right. 28 A whole day to ride back. Agnes rode pillion to Pinnaroo, about 240 km: her first ride on a bike. I suspect that they all might get out of the city more often now. Pictures of emu and young on the Hay plain. 31 Ashok's going-away meet: he is taking three months off.
|
|
February |
02 Took a trip to Riverstone, to see some properties there. It is a bit closer than Mount Victoria, but the council is deliberately stalling development of the area. 10 Went to Thirlemere, to ride the diesel car: but it wasn't running. I took pictures of the large Garrat locomotive: one of those that hauled huge trains from Broken Hill to the coast. First shots using Av mode, without automatic flash added. 13 Darling Harbour afternoon. 16 Tony's barbeque, celebrating getting permanent residency. Only a year to go and he can be a "new Australian" ... 17 Access down The Glen to get to Salisbury Road. Shots of Chatsworth Road.
|
|
March |
06 View from the new BACP ofice near Wembley Stadium. 08 Leaving the flat at Gdansk (pictures are in Australian time zone, not Poland!) ... 09 Visiting Babcia with Agusiu, Tomek and Kuba. Back to Prabuty, and a walk with Tomek. 10 Visiting with Ula and Wojtek at Rumia. 16 Meat & Wine Co. at Darling Harbour. Lunch. 17 My PC on my desk at work. 21 On the way: Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo, Cobar, Wilcannia, finally Broken Hill. Saw the Indian Pacific from Perth going to Sydney, waiting in the station. Had dinner at the memorial restaurant at the top of a waste heap. Pictures of the sunset. 22 Broken hill, Silverton (scenes from Max
Max movies), Mundi Mundi plain. Pictures of a causeway over a billabong. The
trip back, Menindee Lakes (where we couldn't find the lakes, so abandoned our
initial plan to camp there), 204 km of dirt to Ivanhoe, and down the highway
towards Hay. Took to the dirt again to Gunbar, then saw a storm over the Hay
plain, dust up and rain down. Refueled at Goolgowi, after asking the people to
re-open the gas station. We got over 82 litres into an 80 litre tank ...
Stopped at West Wyalong, then took the back roads through Temora, Harden and
rejoined the Hume Highway at Yass. Then back to Sydney. 29 Before sunrise at Coogee. 30 Lunch at Fisherman's Wharf in Woy Woy. One of the best grilled sea trout I have had, tasty and moist.
|
|
April |
06 Thirlmere Heritage Railway trip, from Thirlmere to Buxton return along the original Great Southern Railway main line. A rail journey almost as it was a century ago, and not much different from 150 years ago. 12 The Royal Botanic Gardens and adjoining Domain in Sydney. Lots of plants. This is where some of the fruit bats hang out during the day, resting up to attack the available fruit all over the city at night. 13 Ride to the Zig-Zag Railway in the Blue
Mountains, for a pie and a cup of coffee. Reasonable ride there, but a huge
thunderstorm coming back. 26 Trip from Sydney to Tidbinbilla via Canberra and Mont Stromlo. Mount Stromlo was denuded of its forest by the fire in 2003. Tidbinbilla has teh Canberrs Space Centre, a Deep Space Tracking Station of the NASA worldwide network, and other radio telescope equipment. 28 I've had garlic crushers which explode if you squeeze them too hard, I've had ones with handles that bend and buckle. I have finally found something a bit more suitable, the "industrial grade" garlic crusher that should last a good long time ...
|
|
May |
03 Took a trip south along Highway 1. Stopped at the Sublime Point Lookout and took some pictures over Wollongong, and some mug shots of me and my trusty steed ... 10 Trip to Rutherglen, Victoria. Breakfast at the Coolabah Café about 140 km south of Sydney on the Hume Highway. Refueled at "The Dog on the Tuckerbox". Stopped at Robyn & Stuart Gibbs' nursery in west Albury overnight. Had a really nice dinner, with real steak. 11 Went to Morris Wines. Got a bottle of their Durif (very nice), and two each of their Shiraz and the Old Premium Liqueur Tokay. On the way back, stopped at Yass Junction. Didn't recognise it! 14 The South Steyne ferry, moored in Darling Harbour, makes a nice restaurant venue. Good quality, but a bit high priced. 18 Investigated Cottage Point Inn, by road through Kuringai National Park. I remembered this from years ago: a trip by DH Beaver from Rose Bay, and a fine dinner on a Sunday afternoon. I will try this one again and see if it's as good as I recall. Later in the day, checked out Brooklyn: looks like a nice place to live, but must check the prices ... 24 Morning trip to Bald Hill, overlooking Stanwell Park, south of Waterfall. Rode along the coast as well, then back through the Royal National Park. 25 Morning walk thorugh the Domain and the peninsula enclosing the Botanic Gardens. Pictures over the harbour. Rain cloud over the city. Afternoon walk to North Coogee. 27 V-Strom gets a new Givi windscreen: before and after. 29 Auckland by train, and dinner at the Chinese restaurant with Mum & Dad. 30 Flight to Great Barrier Island. Fresh fish for lunch: trevally sashimi, and schnapper fried in butter. 31 Installing the battery stack, inverter and the regulator for the wind generator system at the bunker on the tree farm.
|
|
June |
01 Bruce doing some gardening at the tree farm (as usual, using a chainsaw), to clear the overgrown scrub that is obscuring the wind generator. Pictures around the bunker. Cutting firewood at the horseshoe bend at the bottom of the drive. Dense, oily Tasmanian Blackwood: burns hot and slowly, really good for the heating at the lodge. 02 Shane snorkeling for dinner. He took some
pictures underwater using the Canon G9 in its waterproof case. Portrait of
dinner. Flight from Claris to Mangere. 22 Looking at land near Phegans Bay. $ 125,000 for a goat farm. Interesting to build on, but too expensive for what it offers. 28 Visited David & Sylvie Harris, at their place on Old Mill Road, Forbes Creek. Nice spot, with a view, and quiet. Picture of the rat patrol (also takes rabbits and small wombats, and rumoured to be quite partial to slow dogs ... ): trails around everyone like a deputy. 29 More photos from the next day. Their son Ian working on his 250 cc Husqvarna. Breakfast Canadienne. Sylvie rides the quad, a dust cloud racketting down the driveway, then up the hill after me and David on our walk. She drives it just like the Statesman, or the LandCruiser with the V8 Chevrolet engine, or even the little Daihatsu 4WD! Remnant of a crofters' cottage, and a tree burned-out after being hit by lightning.
|
|
July |
12 On the way to Cobar in Tony's Landrover, about halfway between Lithgow and Bathurst. Felt unwell, so stoppped for a break, then went back to Randwick. Very tired. 17 During wally-world, they turned Kent Street into a clearway. But the signs were daft, hidden behind a hoarding, so I didn't see it when I parked ...
|
|
August |
03 Took another trip to Thirlemere, a nice
ride on the V-Strom. The train recalls those that worked that line since a
century ago and more. 10 Sunday trip to the Illawarra Light Railway Museum. Got rained on while going there, and rather cold. Some interesting stationary engines, but the trains weren't operating because the tack was being relaid. Lots of artefacts and ideas. 11 Monday lunchtime walk to the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour. Replica of Cook's barque Endeavour and other craft of note. I like the floating jetty. 17 Pictures of the new paddock stand, working on the bike. Cliche views of the opera house and the harbour bridge. 22 Candy's 21st birthday party.
|
|
September |
05 The Price development team lunch. Tony, Peter, Fe, Rahul, Ian, Joseph, Suen, Paul, Sergio but missing Natalie. 11 At Kingsleys Steak House, celebrating the Utopia system recovery from disaster. Sergio, Christine, Ian, Paula, Hugh, Duncan, Graeme, Paul and Paul. 15 Lunchtime walk around Darling Harbour, to the Maritime Museum. Shots of the floating exhibits. 23 Lunch with Andrew, Peter and Fe at St Patrick's. Andrew back from Moscow, working on some local components of the system. 26 The Keystone lunch, A lot of stuff I didn't know about, and the end-of-year processing worked out OK. Brett, Lilian, Petar, Sri, George, Paul. 28 Day out at Manly with Andrew and Peter. Got bumped from the ferry twice, so took a water taxi instead. Had lunch at the waterfront. Andrew and Peter had a go at the horses, lost some, won some. I took the freey back, then put the registration sticker on the bike just as it got dark.
|
|
October |
04 Flight Auckland to Claris on GBA. Auckland, Claris, north Kaitoke, views over Kaitoke beach. The TrIslander. 05 Walk on Kaitoke beach, this time towards the centre, near the airfield. Bird tracks. Peat-flavoured water from the swampy hinterland. In the evening, Bruce, Shane and I went to the Curragh for dinner. 06 Flight from Claris via Okiwi, to pick up
a passenger. I had dinner with Anne, and here is one of the pictures she has
made. 08 The Chrysalis completion celebration snack at L'Aqua near Cockle Bay Wharf in Darling Harbour. Endless drinks and canapés, some quite tasty, but not a proper meal. 11 ML310 G4 memory and drive bay. ILO defaults. Netgear RP614, DG834PN. 13 The Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, at lunchtime. 18 Travel to Barnawartha to visit Katie, Skeet and just for the ride. Dinner in the pub. 19 Morning at Indigo Valley, Barnawartha. 24 Our team at St Patrick's for lunch ... Again ... I think it might be possible to have another single table with people from so disparate backgrounds all used to working harmoniously together, but I think it is likely to be very rare! 29 The Chrysalis end-of-project celebration at the Cargo Bar, Darling Harbour. It actually worked after all the mad scrambles and crazed effort!
|
|
November |
07 Walk around Darling Harbour again, this time down the decorative staircase near the monorail station. 08 Moving house for Tony and Charity. Alan and Sergio also pitched in. Two major truckloads, and green things hiding in the dust ... 16 Sunday morning ride to Bald Hill Lookout, where the southeasterly wind attracted quite a few hang glider enthusiasts. I was going to the Illawarra Light Railway Museum, but the weather turned grungier as I headed south, so I packed up and went back to my room. 23 Ride south on Anzac Parade, and eventually you come to La Perouse.
|
|
December |
07 Carparks can be dangerous places, especially when somebody doesn't pay attention and runs into you from behind. I picked the bike straight up and put it on the stand: you can see where the left indicator got smashed on the concrete. 12 INGA CS IT Christmas dinner spit-roast in a tent (because of the rain!) ... 15 Got the Hyundai iMax station wagon at last. 2 + 3 + 3 station wagon, with lots of room for people and luggage. Nick-name is "Moby Dick" for obvious reasons! Extras like locking (limited-slip) differential, and other things for long trips "out back". 19 The Price Team Christmas Dinner at a nice Indian restaurant in Darling Harbour. 24 Christmas Eve in Southall, U.K. with all the family. 28 Off to Maciej's place in Perivale for another dinner. I was feeling rather tired and still not well. 29 Paramount Centre Point is now one of our clients. The top three floors of the building in New Oxford Street. Views of the various bars, restaurants, club rooms and the posh peoples' pissoir ... That's all for this year ... |