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Archive for the 'Adventures' Category
I finally got around to uploading the rest of my pics from my October trip up north. This set is from our trip to the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour. They have no porpoises anymore though. I really like this one of the peacock. This guy was seriously showing off for a solid ten minutes so I got plenty of time to get a couple of great shots. There are heaps of the dolphins and seals doing tricks - go check it out! I’ve been a bit obsessed with selling stuff on eBay recently. I tell myself it’s to get a decent feedback score before I sell my old Laptop, but I’ll probably end up selling that privately anyway. So the exercise has really become a challenge to figure out the quirks of listing optimally on eBay. Now I don’t claim to be any kind of expert, but just because I’ve found the experience interesting, here is a list of things I’ve learnt so far.
If there are any eBay veterans out there, feel free to elaborate. Just a quick blog entry via the unsecured wireless I found at Mum’s :-) Saw an awesome sunset tonight during mine and Sam’s walk on the beach, but didn’t have my camera. I’m so cut, there were *rays* coming out from behind a cloud. It was wallpaper material I tell you! Well, maybe next time. Sam & Mum are playing 500 and I’m about to join in. I had a yummy falafel for lunch with tabouleh and all. Falafel balls were too big though. Weather here is possibly going to be a bit showery, but if we get lightning it will make up for it. There’s a big sand dune we’re gonna go down on boogie boards!
Spring has finally arrived! Ahh, my favourite time of year ^_^ To celebrate this marked occasion, I present my observations of the local bee population that have begun harvesting the peach/plum blossoms in my backyard. Otherwise known as “in which I risk several injections of histamine” it was quite a relaxing experience, despite the difficulty of getting good shots of the little buggers. These fickle little creatures rarely stay on the same flower for more than about 10 seconds. Perhaps they are just fickle by nature, or maybe it had something to do with having a camera persistently poked in their faces. About half of the bees just ignored me while the rest moved on dutifully. I love having this tree in my backyard. There are distinctly pink flowers around the base which suggests a graft. I think these are peach blossoms, while the white ones are plum. Anyway, I am inescapably reminded of sakura, adding to the list of references to Japan which recently appear to be increasing. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something…
Last weekend I went to the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne. It was truly awesome. Impossible aerobatics with pilots throwing their planes all over the sky and the audience staring up in awe thinking “how the hell is that plane still in the air”. An impressive showcase of the wide variety of aircraft responsible for “protecting our freedom” as the announcer so melodramatically put it. Initially, the F/A-18 Super Hornets were my favourite, but that was before we saw the F-111C take to the skies. Both are bloody impressive, but there’s something inherently appealing about watching a jet scream past sporting a giant flaming tail. Took some videos during the day but they simply don’t do any of it justice. This is something you have to see with your eyes and hear with your ears at least once in your life. Full photoset is here.
The Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Newcastle was pretty standard and I was starkly reminded of how cramped their seats are. Cheap though, so I shouldn’t complain. I got some awesome air shots on the flight with the curvature of the earth appearing visible but the skeptic in me suspects the camera lens. My iRiver was useful in blocking out the token screaming baby. The 2 hour drive from Newcastle to Forster was interesting for the bits when I was awake. I immediately noticed how green everything was. You get that when you’re in the 7% of New South Wales that isn’t declared a drought disaster area. From the air the drought was quite obvious if not alarming.
Today I played my first real game of Go and here is the result. I was playing as white, and was shamefully defeated. The size of the board (19×19) is intimidating, and I had no clue how to play the game. I mean I know the basic rules from watching Hikaru no Go but my strategy consisted of a lot of head scratching. My opponent who wishes to remain nameless (out of humility, I’m sure) explained the concept of “eyes” as four stones surrounding an empty space and how they are apparently good to have because it’s secured territory that can’t be recaptured. So for a while I tried to get as many of these as I could but that became predictable after a while. In the end it was just trial and error with no real aim except to experiment with different moves. Then we stumbled upon the situation of Ko which I still don’t funny understand. Go seems like a fun game but I need more practice if I’m to be any good. I got some cool macro shots of the finished board too.
Happy New Year to the 3 people who read this blog ;-) It was a pretty good year for me, really, topped off with a nice display from your friendly neighborhood pyro (pictured). I headed down to Melbourne for the celebrations and we wandered south to try and catch a glimpse of the city fireworks. Couldn’t see much of them past the buildings and trees but no matter, the ameteur displays were still pretty cool. There was nothing to which I could attach my Gorillapod, so I took a few wobbly ones before it dawned on me that the ground was an ideal place to put my tripod… |
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