Got a few crappy photos of the ISS flying over. Had trouble getting it focussed in the dark... will try harder next time!
Results matching “Flying”
A little late getting this post out ..
One from my parents
Nelson Bay. I actually gave up on this one. Only the second time I've ever done that. There were only 42 pieces left, but the jigsaw was cut so badly and the piece colour had deteriorated that it was getting impossible. I got to a point where I'd tried every piece in a spot but none of them fit, because there were mistakes elsewhere. I couldn't be bothered trying to find the mistakes so gave up.
A carousel in Germany. Another $1 one from K-Mart
Fishies. As horrible as the swans :(
Yesterday we went for a walk around the Palmerville Heritage Park, which they've added signs to since we were last there, so that was quite interesting. Then walked all the way to the Barton Highway, although that wasn't as much fun through very thick grass covering wheel ruts - had to step high and very carefully.
In other news, we had a small visitor come to the front door and look at us hopefully.
Hi George!
In the evening we watched WALL-E
Today was our second of many Christmas parties. This one was originally just our section, but expanded to include the section next door, and then continued expanding to include most of the floor. Which is good and all, but does make logistics trickier. But I wasn't on the organising committee so I didn't stress about it. The only real problem was that the person delegated with the buying of the booze was on the Go Karting trip, and then his car broke down. So beer was *very* late getting to the party. There was nearly a riot!
Yeah so Go Karting. I'd never been before. It was super awesome fun! I was second slowest in the first race, and slowest in the second race. And I got a *massive* bruise under my left arm where I was banged into the side of the kart going around corners :( If it wasn't so damned expensive ($40 for two ten minute races) I'd totally do it more often.
The party (once the beer arrived ;) ) was pretty awesome. Rain stayed away. Instead it stayed very hot, so I spent the afternoon hiding in the shade. Although I did have one go on the flying fox...
Windy found my year on a can
Got this stubbie holder at the Reject Shop the other day for $2
Took this photo of the local wildlife for @CLBradley
Takes talent to drink upside down on a flying fox. But he did get the fastest lap of the day in Go Karting, so I guess he's just good at everything.. hrmmm
Wheeeeee
I won't say what is going on here .. CLM ..
The birds thought it was very hot, they were all panting..
As is now a yearly tradition (slightly late this year), the sweetie and I headed up to Queensland to visit Chay and David.
Thursday
We left work just after lunch on Thursday, as our flight was 4pm. Two flights for the day - Canberra to Sydney, then Sydney to Brisbane. So weren't scheduled to arrive in Brisbane til after 7pm. Then our flight from Sydney to Brisbane was delayed for half an hour due to heavy traffic in Brisbane. We did three big loops around the coast off Ballina/Tweed Heads. But to keep us entertained, they announced that Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm were on the plane, and they wandered down the aisle showing off their medals! It was amazingly cool! Got to touch Emily Seebohm's silver and gold medals! They were very heavy! But not as shiny as I thought they'd be! heh. Finally arrived in Brisbane, picked up our hire car then headed out to Chay and David's. Fairly quiet night. Only stayed up til 12:30 drinking and chatting :) But did get to meet their new bird - Ichy - an Indian Ringneck, who is amazingly cool :)
Have I ever mentioned how much I love flying? :)
Pretty clouds over NSW
Sydney shining
Look mum, I can see your house from here!
This dude is taking this plane for a walk
I was quite surprised by the *glass* bottles!
Cate Campbell and her gold medal
Emily Seebohm and her two silver and one gold medal
Cate Campbell and Emily Seebohm on our plane!
The girls had some cool "Australia" luggage
Brisbane Airport
Mine!
Friday
After a fairly slow morning, we headed out to Ipswich for lunch and went to the Hog's Breath Cafe for lunch. I didn't feel like anything too heavy, so had a "side" of caesar salad, and a "side" of curly fries. Because if you go to the Hog's Breath Cafe you *have* to do curly fries :) Stu had a pretty awesome "finger food" platter. On the way back, we stopped in at Dan's to pick up supplies for the rest of the weekend. Dinner was lots of Eagle Boys pizza. There was drinking. There was Buzz. There was Singstar. And it was very good.
Finger food platter
Caesar salad and curly fries
Supplies for the weekend
Stu and Ichy
Ichy!
Ichy!
Saturday
Saturday after a bit of a sleepin (and the sweetie had headed out to meet a friend), C&D and I headed over to the markets next to Orion. But they were pretty boring, not much there. So headed into town to wander around South Bank and the markets there. Was a very lovely wander. Dinner that night was some roast chicken that we picked up from Chay's mum, along with the kids who were quite sick with the flu. (David did his "best potatoes in the known universe" which were pretty decent :) ). Their friend Storm came over after dinner too which was pretty cool. There were mojitos. There was drinking. There was Buzz. There was Singstar. And it was very good.
Near Orion
Southbank
Brisbane from Southbank
Southbank
Southbank (taking after Japan, much?)
Bored lifesaver. The water looked lovely. I'd have liked to have gone for a swim. But I didn't have any swimmers. And I think they'd have arrested me if I went skinny dipping!
Brisbane from Southbank
Lizard at Southbank
Nepalese pagoda at Southbank
Chookens!
Mojitos!
Sunday
After a bit of a sleepin, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to Wivenhoe Dam. We'd thought of this too late last year which was a bit sad as we would have seen it spilling over. As it was this year, they'd closed off the viewing area so you couldn't even see the front of the dam. But I did walk over most of it while the others took photos of me heh. Dinner was roast pork, along with a stack of pork skin. But after dinner I started feeling a bit off-colour. Thought I was coming down with the flu the kids had. But also felt quite queasy. Didn't even feel like drinking! Tragic I know!! Storm came over again and we played a card game called "Frustration" which I think I'd like to play some more. There was no Buzz. There was no Singstar. There was no more drinking. And it was very sad.
Wivenhoe Dam
Extra spillway at Wivenhoe Dam
Blue-faced honeyeater
Isn't he a cutie? :)
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
Wivenhoe Dam
er..
We'd bought a big bag of purple carrots. If you boil them, their water turns bright indigo!
Monday
The last day is always a quiet day. Didn't really do anything before heading off with ten baby plecos and three baby guppies in tow at 11:30am. Pretty uneventful trip home (two flights - Brisbane-Sydney then Sydney-Canberra, and Lake George looks very full!). After a long weekend of entirely t-shirt weather it was a bit sad to get home to the freezing cold.
Jaffas at the Brisbane Qantas club
Citrus lemon shortbread on the plane
Northern beaches of Sydney
Drinks with Libby Trickett at the Qantas Club in Sydney
A-380 taking off
Been to a couple of parties down there
Sunset over Botany Bay
I've never seen Lake George completely full!
Home!!
I dumped all the fish into the two-foot tank. The next morning (Tuesday) I couldn't see any of the new fish at all - alive or dead. Wednesday morning I saw one of the plecos swimming around. So who knows if any others have survived.
Also fought the infection for a couple of days, but I think I have beaten it and not really gotten sick.
As always, same time next year guys, it was fun :):):)
So the year began with a small pool party at our house, with beer, pizza, games and good friends.
We didn't travel much this year. Well, we did a bit, but no big international holidays. We did a long weekend trip to Queensland in July to visit Chay and David which is always nice. The only other flying I did was for some training for work in Melbourne. We went to Dave's coast house in February, April, June and November. Again, always great weekends away.
Did several trips to Sydney throughout the year:
- In August for my birthday to see a John Williams concert and visit friends and family
- In September to play tour guide to Dave2 and be a tourist in my home town
- In December to repeat the tourist trip with Kore
And a few smaller trips - to Yarrangobilly Caves, Parkes for The Dish 50th Anniversary open day, and Jindabyne to see the dam spilling.
At work I actually had a good beginning of the year. We got some new staff and for a few months I had time to step back from project work and get some operational stuff done. But then Phil went away for three months and it got super busy again - doh! Had a bowling night in June where I *didn't* come last! Team Blank went to three trivia nights: we came third in April, second in August and first in November! Of course that means we need to plan the next one! Planning to have that in March next year. Had a Hollywood-themed ball in October that I was sick for and was pretty miserable the whole night.
Speaking of sickness, it was one of the worst years I've ever had. Had a cold in February, with an ear infection and conjunctivitis as well. Got pretty severe gastro from Violet in March. Another cold in May and another in August. And then two months of various colds/flus/ear/eye infections from September to November. Finally healthy at the moment, but it hasn't been a great year :(
Didn't see as much of Nat and Andrew this year. The default activity for Saturday nights was watching Buffy and Angel with DaveC, so it took energy to do anything different, hence it didn't happen very often. We did have a couple of Singstar/video/games nights though.
Not a lot has changed on the fish front. We (I) made a rule some time back that we wouldn't buy any new fish until after Stu's Japan trip next year. So numbers have been slowly dwindling there. We had another heat wave that required regular dumpings of ice to keep tank temperatures down.
Although we had a couple of record lows in winter, the days were generally warmer, and the pool only froze over a couple of times.
The only new Lego this year was a few Harry Potter sets. Just trying to remember if the Toy Story 3 Lego came out this year or last year. It certainly didn't all get put away until just the other week! We went to the Lego Brick Expo in Woden which was pretty awesome. Also saw Nathan Sawaya's "Art of the Brick" exhibition in Sydney this week. And an unexpected bonus of lots of Lego displays at the Aquarium yesterday.
Only real toys this year were a new random camera, and a little Eee PC for use when travelling (and in fact I'm using it now!). I had a play with a macro lens and an L series lens. Still using my original lens though. On my phone I played with HDR and Instagram apps, as well as doing my first time lapse videos of Lego building, jigsaw building and clouds.
I had a lot of fun with origami this year - making several "phizz" balls of various sizes. Also some smaller geometric shapes (technically not origami).
I did some big jigsaws this year (and a stack of little ones). I did my 3000-piece one that I've had for years but never made. And then the first quarter of an amazing 24000 piece jigsaw! Hoping to do the next quarter early in the new year.
After the big La Niña of last summer, got to see Bendora Dam overflowing in January, as well as the aftermath of the floods at Coppins Crossing. Watched the progress of Cotter Dam and went to an open day in April (didn't go to another open day in November because it looked like they weren't preselling time slots and that didn't work very well at the first open day I went to).
In culinary adventures this year, I tried my hand at quite a few new recipes (and a few old ones). These were mostly desserts - Anzac Biscuits, Violet Crumble cheesecake slice, Apple pie, Caramel slice, Melting moments, Chocolate dipped fruit, Christmas cookies, Gingerbread. That was a lot of fun and will continue next year. Also did quite a few slow-cooked dishes, and rediscovered the simplicity of roast vegetables. Another new favourite of ours this year was okonomiyaki, thanks to Lisa. I also tried crocodile for the first time (it was a bit tough) and had my first McFeast (pretty good). Our favourite restaurants are still Black Pepper, the Dumpling Inn and Bella Vista. Tried a few new places as well including Courgette for our anniversary, Rice, Alice's and Kingsley's.
Shows seen this year:
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Folk Festival
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- John Williams at the Opera House
- Za Kabuki
- Floriade Nightfest
Movies seen this year (at the movies):
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)
Books read this year:
- Hook by Geary Gravel (and got a comment by the author!)
- Lord of the Rings trilogy
- Mallorean series by David Eddings
- National Velvet by Enid Bagnold
Other Stuff:
- Got lots of my photos onto the RiotACT
- Saddened by the Queensland floods
- Lots of scanning of old photos
- Got a GPS and had some fun
- The little brother came to stay a few times with various people in tow (or by himself)
- Balloon fiesta including going up in one!
- Skyfire
- Walk around Government House
- Saw Peter Russell-Clarke at the mall
- Enjoyed the third season of Masterchef but decided not to watch the second kids series
- Walked up Black Mountain again in May and went up the tower this time
- Watched Amazing Race Australia
- Did the Mount Majura to Mount Ainslie walk
- Missed two lunar eclipses (4am the first time, clouds the second time)
- Met Fiona again (x2), and Lisa and Chris
- Radio silence in July when our internet went out for two weeks
- Skiing in July
- Trivia night for Stu's work
- Geotagged UK photos, but didn't get them all online
- Walked up Mount Taylor
- Stu's sister bought a new house in Canberra which makes visiting somewhat easier
- Hanami party in September, would have been better a week later
- Two games nights at Mishi's (only played games on one of the nights)
- Blog got screwed over (again) by my hosting company
- Saw the Queen
- Saw Air Force One come to land at Canberra
- Got some cool photos of lightning
As usual I don't really make new years resolutions. I think if anything I'd still like to try and spend less time on the computer - eg two hour chunks in the evenings.
We're having a quiet party in our hotel room tonight. Just a little champagne and nibblies in our room. The thought is to watch the 9pm fireworks from the hotel pool, and maybe go out at 11pm to see the main fireworks from Lavender Bay....
Happy New Year!!
Snuck out of the office after lunch with Windy today to go see Air Force One!
It got pretty close!
They'd been landing from the north all morning, but the wind changed and all the flights started coming in from the south. So we went to Tennant Street Fyshwick which afforded an awesome view of the plane in flight. My brother made it in time to go to Brindabella Business Park. We thought about going there too, but were too worried about crowded roads and closures, so decided not to fight the masses and stayed where we went.
We had about 3/4 hour to kill before the plane arrived so took photos of planes, flowers, birds, bugs, and helicopters. And listened to the F/A-18s flying around somewhere way above the clouds.
Windy was listening to the Air Traffic Control on his phone, and we heard the pilots of Air Force One!
Isaac was the first to spot Air Force One in the distance.
Incoming..
It got pretty close!
It's gonna hit the ground!
So yeah.. super awesome!!
We decided to go up to the airport to see it on the ground. Bit of a mistake. We timed it badly and had to sit on the Monaro Highway for about fifteen minutes while the motorcade left the airport. Doh. Saw it from the Costco car park. Not a great view but traffic was so bad we decided not to go down to the Brindabella Business Park, and went back to work the long way around via Majura Road.
Nanette and the kids were lucky enough to see the motorcade outside the Hyatt later on while we were stuck in traffic.
I can still hear the jets! :)
So yesterday was less than 2000 steps: the furthest I walked was just outside to photograph the house and flowers.
The cherry blossoms are about to burst. I thought it would be cool to have another Hanami party this year - who wants to come? :)
Purple bell things
The rest of the weekend (apart from a trip up Mount Taylor) was spent geotagging photos. Do you have *any idea* how hard it is to accurately geotag photos taken from trains??
So it was a year ago last night that we took off for the UK. Our first day was a bit of a waste of a day, flying all night, then arriving in the morning and catching a train to Osaka. Extremely hot, so didn't do much, just had some lunch before checking in, then a rest, then heading out again for dinner and having a fun time in Nanba, Osaka. I've updated the blog entry with some pictures here.
Today I organised to meet up with Neil at Woden at 2pm to join the queue for Brick Expo 2011! I told Nat and Andrew we were going, and they turned up a little after 2pm as well.
A casino..
Cool things from movies..
A delorean and train from Back to the Future
Wall-E and Eve
Lots of Star Wars stuff
The Blacktron vs Classic Space diorama
The Western diorama
Some other miscellaneous models..
A big minifig
Snoopy!
A cool mountain scene
Parliament House
Another space type scene
A wind turbine (this is actually a set - I saw two of these)
But some of the most fun was in the detail people put into the dioramas. You really need to look closely to see everything that's going on. So much fun!
This was in the casino. Hagrid, Harry and Ginny using slot machines?? With Dobby watching??
It took us fifty minutes to make our way along the queue and into the room they'd setup (which was a bigger room than last time). There was a lot more Lego there this year, looks like a lot of SydLUG people had brought Lego down as well.
They didn't have the Hogwarts Castle this time, but there was a super awesome Space Lego setup (probably my favourite thing of the day) and an amazing western scene.
Last year when I went my camera was exactly one day old. This year it was exactly one year old. !! To the day! Since changing the focus mode in Japan last year I've been a lot happier with the results out of the camera, and generally this year's photos were better than last year's.
There were lots and lots of town/city scenes and lots of trains..
Bridges..
Towers..
A casino..
Cool things from movies..
A delorean and train from Back to the Future
Wall-E and Eve
Lots of Star Wars stuff
The Blacktron vs Classic Space diorama
The Western diorama
Some other miscellaneous models..
A big minifig
Snoopy!
A cool mountain scene
Parliament House
A Tardis
A wind turbine (this is actually a set - I saw two of these)
80s Video Games characters
But some of the most fun was in the detail people put into the dioramas. You really need to look closely to see everything that's going on. So much fun!
Fishing a skeleton out of the water
This was in the casino. Hagrid, Harry and Ginny using slot machines?? With Dobby watching??
Geisha and sailors inside a very large building, that had stuff going on on all the floors
This Buzz was flying around the top of the tower - you couldn't really even see him from ground level
A kitten needing rescuing from a tree
People having a spa
Chickens in the western scene
R2-D2 serving drinks on the sail barge
Hagrid and Dumbledore on platform 9 3/4
A bicyclist hit by a car
A barbeque
By 3:30 the room was starting to thin out, and by 4pm there was wide open spaces. So glad we decided to stick around, as it made for much less stressful viewing of Lego with no crowds and kids sticking their heads in the way of photos.
Debating whether I should join CLUG (and display any of my Lego at one of these things - but I don't think I could do that - I'd be far too stressed about kids touching my Lego and breaking things and losing pieces... hrmmm.. maybe if I could display stuff behind plexiglass?? :) )
Lovely day today. Although the wind had a bit of a chill in it!
Headed out for brunch. Went to Black Pepper which is our main haunt. Service is often a little slow there, but today was particularly bad. Got there at 10:35, but they said there would be a 15-20 minute wait for a table. So we went for a walk.
Came back at 10:55 and were seated straight away. But didn't get our food until 11:40 :(:( So was very hungry by that stage. But the food is pretty good and today was no exception.
Went for a trip to the other side of the lake afterwards to feed the birdies (and the little fishies).
Autumn colours were all over the place (I still haven't taken many for the RiotACT), the red is at home.
Some bugs at home..
A little butterfly
And these little bastards are destroying the cherry tree :( Hoping it's got enough energy to come back ok next spring, and then might need to figure out how the heck I can stop them if they come back next year :(
Other than that, really just read news feeds all afternoon (and put away the two jigsaws).