January

03 Chinese dinner at Shepherd's Bush with George, Sucha and Seraphina.

09 Took a short drive in the iMax wagon to Kiama, then looked for a place to stay.

17 Housewarming at Tony and Charity's place.

21 Prius on left almost identical to the one in the U.K. Compare with the iMax.

23 Stopped at Platypus Hollow, near Molong on the Friday night. On the way to Broken Hill.

24 Rendezvous with Tony and Charity at Broken Hill.

26 Meet with David and Sylvie at Mallacoota. Smoke on the road to Braidwood.

February

05 La Perouse, the north head of Botany Bay.

07 Taking a grand loop through western NSW. Road cleaning truck. Hotel at Mendooran. The land near Kadungle, Trundle. Stopped at Forbes overnight, but the pictures I took there "disappeared" from the camera.

08 Another place, near Illabo, Junee.

16 HP ML310 G4 server inexplicably won't POST.

18 More shots near Botany Bay.

22 Reorganising the kennel.

28 Trip to Bourke. Recently flooded.

March

01 Morning mosey around Bourke.

07 Off to Adelaide to visit John and Agnes, and enthusiastic Shawn.

21 Gone fishing at Broulee (Mossy Point) with David and Sylvie.

28 Barbeque at Richard and Tatiana's place near Adelaide. Steve Timm was there, and John and Agnes Mbewe, with Delica and Shawn, and Aleksandra's friend Krystyna.

30 On the way from Adelaide to Sydney, on the Mallee Highway, with 1300 km to go. Aleksandra driving, while I (Paul) lay back in sinful luxury, watching the countryside drift by.

April

02 Aleksandra, Sergio and I lunch at Steersons, looking over Darling Harbour.

03 Aleksandra at La Perouse, the north head of Botany Bay. We went there by V-Strom, then shopping.

04 The usual lively start to the day by Aleksandra: I got partly packed, then went for a shower, and came out to find she had taken my pillow and sheet, whilst still apparently completely asleep! Off to visit David and Sylvie at Forbes Creek, via Tarago and Bungendore. During the late afternoon, the local kangaroos came around for the grazing. Aleksandra tries for a close-up view, but the creature wasn't having any of that. We had dinner at Queanbeyan, and were travelling on the road towards there at sunset.

05 Sylvie and Aleksandra take the quad for a ride to the top of the property.

10 Trip to New Zealand. Robyn's place in Awhitu.

11 Flight to Great Barrier Island. Walk to the South Kaitoke Shrimp Pedicure.

12 Walk up the driveway to the tree farm.

13 Travel from Tryphena to Auckland on Fullers Jet Raider. Views of Hautapu (Little Barrier Island) and Channel Rock, boats, barge and birds commuting home after a day's fishing.

15 Back in Sydney, an early morning Skype session.

16 Visit to Lidia and Michael's place. With their three dogs.

24 Taking a "before" view on the big office cleanup day.

May

16 Saturday morning refuel at Randwick, then off to Cobar. The profitability of the mines greatly improved once the railhead was extended from Nyngan to Cobar. Generally, the road and rail run together, with the rail sometimes diverting along contour lines when the grade gets too steep. Lost pictures of a concentrate train running from Cobar. Something weird about that camera. I went to the Heritage Centre just after arriving, but my camera settings were messed up, and those pictures have also disappeared. Sigh.

17 Browse around Cobar. Heaps of parked road trains. Pictures of a long line of diesel-electric locomotives at the head of an empty concentrate train bound back to Cobar, delivered via Trangie. The rail used is rather too light for full-size locomotives, and a lot of the track is on wooden sleepers in a state of advanced decrepitude, so the trains use multiple smaller locomotives with lighter axle loadings. Stopped at Clarence to have coffee at the Zig Zag Railway.

June

07 Went to Quorn with John Mbewe: but it was full, the Quorn Race Weekend had started. So we stayed at Port Augusta, then returned to Adelaide. Stopped at a roadside shop and bought some "Harry's Specials" including Quandong chutney and jam. Later, John disappeared shopping, so Agnes, Shawn and I went for a walk in Burnside.

08 Return from Adelaide to Sydney. Rain on the Hay Plain.

18 An "official" Price Team meeting at the local pub.

21 Visited the Zig Zag Railway at Clarence again, for the traditional pie and coffee. 1072 delivers another load of happy tourists to the station.

July

05 Birthday party for Kasjusz at Park Royal. Kasjusz prepares for "cake diving" attempt.

07 In Gdansk, at Marcin and Agnieszka's place. Tomasz and Aleksandra watch TV early in the morning. Went to Bydgoszcz for lung checks. Visited the cemetery and browsed around Mogilno, then stopped at Anna's place on the way back to Prabuty.

08 Pictures of the new "recycled" kitchen in Prabuty, and in the front yard.

09 Prabuty town centre, greatly improved. Back yard at our place in Prabuty. Inside and at the front.

10 Agnieszka and I go to collect Tomasz from the nursery in Gdansk.

We all go to Gdansk Old Town for a free concert. "Sea Shanties". One of the performers used an interesting drum, with elements of bongo, but also deep bass notes on a different part of the box.

11 Walk along the beach, viewing sand sculptures. Some of these match the buildings from the square at yesterday's concert. Dinner with Wojtek and Ula in a restaurant by the basin in Gdansk. Note the "Crane" building used to step masts on the old sailing ships.

26 Noticed what looked like some interesting pre-pack meals: Beef & Vegetables, Gourmet Chicken, Chicken & Rice. I was thinking of something like luncheon sausage or chunks in aspic. Then I saw the pictures on the packages ... Dog food! Mind you, I was still tempted ...

August

15 Went to Melbourne to check out a Caria MiniCamp caravan. Not quite what I was after, at the price. Resale would be awkward. Went to the terminus for the “Puffing Billy Railway” to see where it is, and what it would be like. Amazingly busy, even on a rainy day!

29 Along the road between Molong and Peak Hill. Classic three-rut gravel highway. Also, the forest shows the effect of the recent fires. You don't need a 4WD vehicle to be having fun!

Took a closer look at the Coromal Pioneer PE 402, a ruggedised caravan suitable for use on bad roads. It is very little wider than the iMax, so I wouldn’t need special mirrors, and it can carry a substantial payload. Design and construction is generally OK, although the workmanship is a bit rough (look at the welding on the bottom, and the poorly-laid cables). I would need to check out the particular options for the refrigerator, etc.

On the way back, stopped at the Zig Zag Railway for my now-traditional pie and coffee, as I usually do coming through that way from out west, via Lithgow and Bell’s Line of Road.

September  

19 Flight to Coolangatta with Sergio, to review Linux / Apache / MySQL / PHP set-up for DD-Code.

23 Red dawn in Sydney sandstorm, strong winds. Dust particles suspended in flash pictures, diffuse red sunrise, which lasted well into the day. Only cleared later in the afternoon. I got dusted during my ride in: the shirt developed some interesting patterning.

October

03 Travelled from Randwick to Mundi Mundi. About the middle of the day between Nyngan and Broken Hill, the mirages floated down from the sky. Notice that there is greener grass near the road, which the sheep, goats and kangaroos do their best to pick up between vehicles. I suspect this is because the roadbed holds more water than the surrounding soil.

04 Cloudy dawn at the Mundi Mundi lookout. I stopped overnight, but it clouded over ... Sigh ... I guess I'll just have to try it again. Further pictures from mid-morning, then a quick survey of Silverton.

I drove to White Cliffs: on the way at one of the rest areas, I spotted one of the "kitset" Clivus Multrum (Swedish composting toilet) manufactured in WA. A good solid design. A few details not quite right, but very useful, and requires no water, apart from the handbasin.

The country between Wilcannia and White Cliffs gets more severe than the plains east of Broken Hill. I tried the B&B first, but they were booked out. I stopped at the underground motel instead.

The solar power system was a reference prototype for a solar-thermal RAPS (Remote Area Power System), then was converted to solar-photovoltaic concentrators. When the mains cable was put through (and the subsidies were cut) the system was mothballed. Installation cost is less than flat panels, but I suspect that maintenance and repair is significantly more.

Took pictures of the moonrise on top of the dugout. The "frames" on the ground are not gardening: they are the caps of the ventilation and lighting shafts. The whole interior of the place stays about the same temperature year 'round, the "average" ground temperature.

05 Leaving White Cliffs for Randwick. Notice the shop made out of beer bottles! The final few show the roadside near Trangie, a wheat collection point.

23 Lunch at James Squire's near King's Wharf, Darling Harbour. Celebrating Tony's 63rd birthday.

25 Shane & Saskia at Sergio's place, with Narelle, Sergio, and Sergio.

November

13 End of year barbeque for CSIT. Then off on a cruise around the harbour organised by the social club.

26 The "Phoenix" project had a celebration to mark getting thorugh the first phases alive.

29 Took a trip on the bike to the Illawarra Light Railway. They were just closing when I got there, but "Cairns" was still in steam, cleaning out.

December

06 Three of the mount bolts for the back seat in the iMax had damaged threads. The worst one was because the nutsert was offset compared with the hole in the hardpoint attachment plate. Fixed it with a small grinding stone, to relieve the hole, then used new bolts.

09 A team Christmas Party at the Waverley Bowling Club. Definitely time travel so far as the venue was concerned... Good fun, grotty food. Tony in a characteristic pose.

17 The Price Team Christmas Lunch at James Squires. Tasty food, OK drink, and reasonable value. Final photo of the motley crew, except Natalie.

20 Visited cousin Susan, not seen for a long, long time. Her husband Bob. Nice place not far from Waiuku. Then at Robyn's place in Awhitu.

21 Gone to see James at the farm near Ardmore Aerodrome. This is the new building, nice rooms, and tasty-looking ducks amongst the trees in the back yard.

22 Fly GBA back home to Claris Aerodrome, Great Barrier Island. Nice plums at the gateway to the tree farm.

23 Went to Mulberry Grove shopping with Shane and Saskia.

24 Lewis gave us a ride and we picked up Sergio, Narelle and Sergio at Tryphena Wharf. A lot of the pictures I took seemed to vanish again: most frustrating. The tap fell off the MadAss, but Shane and I strapped it back on with a wire hose clip, three zip-ties and a key ring. We went to the cottage to clean up a bit. Went to the Curragh for dinner. A bit disappointing: portions much smaller than they used to be.

25 Christmas dinner at the Crossroads Lodge. All sorts of stuff. Shane got lots of red moki, snapper, and crayfish. We also had ham, eggs and all sorts of "other stuff". Afterwards, went to the South Kaitoke Shrimp Pedicure. Had tea at John Thornton's place in Awana.

26 Took Sergio, Narelle and Sergio to Whangapoua for a look and swim. A brief visit to Port Fitzroy, where we had a burger lunch, then a visit to the Windy Canyon Lookout. For tea, Shane had the biggest Pacific Rock Oysters I have seen, easily matching the best Foveaux Strait Bluff Oysters.

27 Walk to the hot springs. Again, I took a whole lot of pictures that mysteriously disappeared from the camera. We also visited Whangaparapara.

28 We all went for a swim off Ocean View Road in the centre of Kaitoke Beach.

29 Trip to Cape Barrier. No good fishing, but Shane got some good underwater pictures of the area. Dinner at the Thai restaurant down the road.

30 Tried some more pictures on the dunes of Kaitoke off Ocean View, but the sun kept hiding. Dinner at the Claris Club, featuring the legendary "Jade Burger".

31 Fly the Great Barrier Airlines TrIslander from Claris Aerodrome over the Hauraki Gulf back to Auckland.

That's all for this year ...