Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wagga Wagga Model Show
Last weekend was the annual wagga and district model show. I missed the first one as we had just arrived in Wagga and didn’t know they held an annual show. Anyway I had plenty of time to prepare for this one. I decided to build a Ducati Monster (Carl Foggerty Version). Model was constructed over several months (weekends only) and probably took about 30 hrs to finish. Attached are some photos of the model in various stages of construction.
The day of the show came and Gill and the Girls helped me transport the model to the show. I registered myself and the model in. The bike went into the street bike section. The section was well represented with 15 other modellers in the category. The show ran over two days with judging taking place on the Saturday night and the awards presentation taking place on Sunday.
I stayed and looked around the show on Saturday afternoon and had a look at the stalls that had set up. I was impressed by the stalls some were selling model kit at 50% off retail prices other were selling loads of accessories. I ended up spending over $200 and came away with six new kits.
On Sunday I walked into the exhibition hall feeling quite nervous with this being the first ever model comp I had entered. (I never felt by kits were up to scratch) I walked around the display tables looking at the winning models and seeing if I agreed with the judges. Eventually I came across the display table with the street bikes I tried not to look at my bike and slowly started up the line. By the time I got to the 5th bike in the row it had a little piece of paper next to it with a 1St written on it. I knew my bike was nowhere as good as this kit and it well deserved the 1st position. I continued on down the line until I came to my bike and sitting next to it was a certificate saying Silver 2nd position. To say I was surprised was an understatement I was just happy to get my model judged let alone attain second position.
I hung around until the closing presentation was taking place and the 1st place medals and best in class and best of show medals and cup were presented. Some of the prizes given with the cups and medals were quite expensive model kits.
I am now onto my next kit (A scratch built model of a bridge) and will have many more kits completed by the time the next show comes around.
The day of the show came and Gill and the Girls helped me transport the model to the show. I registered myself and the model in. The bike went into the street bike section. The section was well represented with 15 other modellers in the category. The show ran over two days with judging taking place on the Saturday night and the awards presentation taking place on Sunday.
I stayed and looked around the show on Saturday afternoon and had a look at the stalls that had set up. I was impressed by the stalls some were selling model kit at 50% off retail prices other were selling loads of accessories. I ended up spending over $200 and came away with six new kits.
On Sunday I walked into the exhibition hall feeling quite nervous with this being the first ever model comp I had entered. (I never felt by kits were up to scratch) I walked around the display tables looking at the winning models and seeing if I agreed with the judges. Eventually I came across the display table with the street bikes I tried not to look at my bike and slowly started up the line. By the time I got to the 5th bike in the row it had a little piece of paper next to it with a 1St written on it. I knew my bike was nowhere as good as this kit and it well deserved the 1st position. I continued on down the line until I came to my bike and sitting next to it was a certificate saying Silver 2nd position. To say I was surprised was an understatement I was just happy to get my model judged let alone attain second position.
I hung around until the closing presentation was taking place and the 1st place medals and best in class and best of show medals and cup were presented. Some of the prizes given with the cups and medals were quite expensive model kits.
I am now onto my next kit (A scratch built model of a bridge) and will have many more kits completed by the time the next show comes around.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I Got sent this by a friend some of it is true of Wagga (flies and heat)
DIARY OF AN ENGLISHMAN IN WAGGA WAGGA, AUSTRALIA
August 31
Just got transferred with work from grey old London to our new home in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Australia. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset froma deckchair by the pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I've finally found mynew home. I love it here.
September 13
Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car.What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a sun-worshipper.
September 30th
Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.
October 10th
The temperature hasn't been below 35 all week. How do people get used tothis kind of heat?At least today it's windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatisingis taking longer than I expected.
October 15th
Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of mybody. Missed three days of work. What a dumb thing to do!Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.
October 20th
Didn't notice Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car before I left for workthis morning.By the time I got back to the car after work, Kitty had died and swollenup to the size of a shopping bag and stuck to the upholstery.The car now smells like Whiskettes and cat shit. I've learned my lesson though: no more pets in this heat.
October 25
This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant f*ckin' blow dryer.And it's hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to orderparts from f*ckin' Perth.
October 30th
The temperature's up around 40 and the parts still haven't arrived for thef*ckin' aircon.Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. Bloody $600,000house and we can't even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
November 4
Finally got the ol' aircon fixed. It cost $1,500 and gets the temperaturedown to around 25 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel about 30. Stupid repairman.
November 8
If one more smart arse says 'Hot enough for you today?', I'm going tof*ckin' throttle him. F*ckin' heat!By the time I get to work, the car's radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking f*ckin' wet and I smell like baked cat!
November 9
Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in the ol' car.I thought my f*ckin' arse was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and my f*ckin' arse. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried arse and baked cat!
November 10
Weather report! It might as well be a f*ckin' recording. Hot and sunny.Hot and sunny, Hot and f*ckin' sunny!It's been too hot to do anything for two f*ckin' months and the weather man says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn f*ckin' place. Water restrictions will be next, so my $5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into thef*ckin' pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the f*ckin' flies. You don't dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the fuckers!
November 20th
Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 f*ckin' degrees today. Now the air conditioner's gone in my car. The repair man came to fix itand said, 'Hot enough for you today?'My wife had to spend the $2,500 mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fucker. F*ckin' Wagga! What kind of sick, demented f*ckin' idiot would want to live here!
December 1
WHAT!!!! The first day of Summer!!!! You are f*ckin' kidding!
DIARY OF AN ENGLISHMAN IN WAGGA WAGGA, AUSTRALIA
August 31
Just got transferred with work from grey old London to our new home in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales Australia. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset froma deckchair by the pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I've finally found mynew home. I love it here.
September 13
Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car.What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I'm turning into a sun-worshipper.
September 30th
Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me. Another scorcher today, but I love it here.
October 10th
The temperature hasn't been below 35 all week. How do people get used tothis kind of heat?At least today it's windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatisingis taking longer than I expected.
October 15th
Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of mybody. Missed three days of work. What a dumb thing to do!Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.
October 20th
Didn't notice Kitty (our cat) sneaking into the car before I left for workthis morning.By the time I got back to the car after work, Kitty had died and swollenup to the size of a shopping bag and stuck to the upholstery.The car now smells like Whiskettes and cat shit. I've learned my lesson though: no more pets in this heat.
October 25
This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant f*ckin' blow dryer.And it's hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged $200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to orderparts from f*ckin' Perth.
October 30th
The temperature's up around 40 and the parts still haven't arrived for thef*ckin' aircon.Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. Bloody $600,000house and we can't even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
November 4
Finally got the ol' aircon fixed. It cost $1,500 and gets the temperaturedown to around 25 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel about 30. Stupid repairman.
November 8
If one more smart arse says 'Hot enough for you today?', I'm going tof*ckin' throttle him. F*ckin' heat!By the time I get to work, the car's radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking f*ckin' wet and I smell like baked cat!
November 9
Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in the ol' car.I thought my f*ckin' arse was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and my f*ckin' arse. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried arse and baked cat!
November 10
Weather report! It might as well be a f*ckin' recording. Hot and sunny.Hot and sunny, Hot and f*ckin' sunny!It's been too hot to do anything for two f*ckin' months and the weather man says it might really warm up next week. Doesn't it ever rain in this damn f*ckin' place. Water restrictions will be next, so my $5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into thef*ckin' pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the f*ckin' flies. You don't dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the fuckers!
November 20th
Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 f*ckin' degrees today. Now the air conditioner's gone in my car. The repair man came to fix itand said, 'Hot enough for you today?'My wife had to spend the $2,500 mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fucker. F*ckin' Wagga! What kind of sick, demented f*ckin' idiot would want to live here!
December 1
WHAT!!!! The first day of Summer!!!! You are f*ckin' kidding!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
All in a days work
Having moved away from the culvert team on to the building of the local road at Zone 2 one of my first jobs was to build the biggest single culverts on the whole contract. Culvert N2 410 is a 66m long 4.2 x 3.6m internal culvert. It’s to allow cattle to safely transverse the HUME Highway.
Anyway the first job was to engage my old team to build it (there was no way they were going to pull the wool over my eyes) The zone had to get the excavation ready for the culvert team to come and start building. This was where my previous knowledge came into play and the excavation was dug exactly as the culvert team would like it or at least as I would have liked it as the culvert team leader.
Hole dug, the team came along and started building and they did a fab job. They probably built the best quality culvert on the whole job so far. ( I think they were trying to impress me) and they did.
So here are a few photos of the team at work. I’m not in it as I’m taking the photos.
Anyway the first job was to engage my old team to build it (there was no way they were going to pull the wool over my eyes) The zone had to get the excavation ready for the culvert team to come and start building. This was where my previous knowledge came into play and the excavation was dug exactly as the culvert team would like it or at least as I would have liked it as the culvert team leader.
Hole dug, the team came along and started building and they did a fab job. They probably built the best quality culvert on the whole job so far. ( I think they were trying to impress me) and they did.
So here are a few photos of the team at work. I’m not in it as I’m taking the photos.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Weather
The weather here is now getting warmer. The other day it was 31 drgrees and we were out cutting the grass and generally doing some gardening. Gill was also on spider patrol going round all the windows spraying some harmfull chemical to kill the Red Backs and any other creature that walked over the chemical librally sprayed around each window. Can't blame her as none of us fancy a bite from one. With the warmer weather the snakes are starting to come out of hibernation and few have been spotted at work and you need to be bit more careful of were you walk in the long grass along the side of the new road we are building.
I like the warmer weather as BBQ season is back on, the evenings are getting lighter and i can come home and sit in the back garden and have a beer now.
Any way I have put a weather gaget on the blog so you can check out the weather here in Wagga Wagga anytime
My New Bike
A couple of weeks ago I bought a new bike (just happened to have a few Aussie dollars under the mattress) After a few months I settled on a Suzuki GSX650F. Mark actually suggested it.
Anyway I’ve had the bike for a couple of weeks now and put 750Km on her. Yes it’s a she as I prefer to ride the opposite sex. I must admit I’m very pleased with her. She starts at the first push of the starter unlike a few bikes I’ve had. The engine just purrs away not missing a beat, a quick blip of the throttle and the engine whines up to the 12000 rpm in no time. Once on the road the gear box is pretty smooth with none of those nasty clunks you get from some bike if you don’t hit the sweet spot of the gearbox.
The bike is fitted with Bridgestone battleaxe BT010 front and BT020 rear and they give good grip and feel. The handling is better than any bike I have ridden and I feel confident on it. Power output is about 80bhp not too many horses that’s probably why I feel comfortable. The steering is relatively light but you still get a good feeling on what the front end is doing and the back end is well planted and when it does let go it lets you know in a gentle fashion.
The brakes are a little too soft for my liking and could do with a bit more bite. This may well develop as they get fully bedded.
Overall a good middleweight sports tourer. I am still running her in a the moment and will give you an update once I have fully opened her up
Anyway I’ve had the bike for a couple of weeks now and put 750Km on her. Yes it’s a she as I prefer to ride the opposite sex. I must admit I’m very pleased with her. She starts at the first push of the starter unlike a few bikes I’ve had. The engine just purrs away not missing a beat, a quick blip of the throttle and the engine whines up to the 12000 rpm in no time. Once on the road the gear box is pretty smooth with none of those nasty clunks you get from some bike if you don’t hit the sweet spot of the gearbox.
The bike is fitted with Bridgestone battleaxe BT010 front and BT020 rear and they give good grip and feel. The handling is better than any bike I have ridden and I feel confident on it. Power output is about 80bhp not too many horses that’s probably why I feel comfortable. The steering is relatively light but you still get a good feeling on what the front end is doing and the back end is well planted and when it does let go it lets you know in a gentle fashion.
The brakes are a little too soft for my liking and could do with a bit more bite. This may well develop as they get fully bedded.
Overall a good middleweight sports tourer. I am still running her in a the moment and will give you an update once I have fully opened her up
Snow
Last weekend we went to the snow! We drove for 2 ½ hours along the Snowy Mountain Highway and as you will see by the photos the closer we got to the mountains, the lower the cloud was, and the temperature dropped from 10 down to about half a degree. Within half an hour of seeing a few flakes of snow on the ground we went to very snowy conditions with the snow falling fast and soon the whole of the country side was covered in the white stuff.
Charlotte and Hollie were getting more excited by minute as the snow was getting deeper and deeper. We arrived at the beginning of the Snow Fields and had to pay $27 for the car and passengers just for the privilege of being at the snow. When we arrived, we parked up and had an early lunch of hot noodles and chocolate cookies – thought we had better fill up before we got too cold and wet! Then it was time for a snowball fight. It was difficult walking in some of the snow as it was very deep and quite soft, our feet were sinking in, and at times we were up to our knees! The picture of the wheelie bin shows how deep the snow was.
We hired toboggans from the ski centre for the girls (obviously pretending that they were just for the kids). Much fun was had by all, but Hollie proved to be the best tobogganer, she seemed to get the hang of it much faster than the rest of us.
When we started to get cold, we headed to the ski lodge to get some coffee and hot chocolate which did the trick in warming us up then we went off for a walk and watched the skiers and the ski lifts. The ski chalets on site looked very inviting to us, we peered in through the windows and walked round the outside, spotting on the upstairs outside balcony a Jacuzzi and barbeque area. It would have been good to be able to go in one of them to have a hot bath, get changed into dry clothes then barbeque some sausages on the balcony. However... we had to get changed and warmed up in the car before heading back to sunnier climes back in Wagga. A good day was had by all.
Charlotte and Hollie were getting more excited by minute as the snow was getting deeper and deeper. We arrived at the beginning of the Snow Fields and had to pay $27 for the car and passengers just for the privilege of being at the snow. When we arrived, we parked up and had an early lunch of hot noodles and chocolate cookies – thought we had better fill up before we got too cold and wet! Then it was time for a snowball fight. It was difficult walking in some of the snow as it was very deep and quite soft, our feet were sinking in, and at times we were up to our knees! The picture of the wheelie bin shows how deep the snow was.
We hired toboggans from the ski centre for the girls (obviously pretending that they were just for the kids). Much fun was had by all, but Hollie proved to be the best tobogganer, she seemed to get the hang of it much faster than the rest of us.
When we started to get cold, we headed to the ski lodge to get some coffee and hot chocolate which did the trick in warming us up then we went off for a walk and watched the skiers and the ski lifts. The ski chalets on site looked very inviting to us, we peered in through the windows and walked round the outside, spotting on the upstairs outside balcony a Jacuzzi and barbeque area. It would have been good to be able to go in one of them to have a hot bath, get changed into dry clothes then barbeque some sausages on the balcony. However... we had to get changed and warmed up in the car before heading back to sunnier climes back in Wagga. A good day was had by all.
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