Tassie 12 Hour race

Well the Tassie 12 hour was on for the third time and this year (due to a collapse of team) I had to enter solo. It was a beautiful day, hot in the morning and cooling off rapidly in the afternoon. Due to a complete shutdown of my legs and fitness and piked out very early, to my total disgust of myself.

Heading out for another lap.



Dave screeming by on one of his 12 laps of the day. Solid effort by him all day riding constantly. He had some competition early on when Cul was chasing him until a stick went through and snapped four of his spokes.



Big thunderstorm and cold front coming through cooled everything off and gave everyone a quick shower.



This is me totally destroyed at a time in the race that I wont mention. I have to do some training for the 6 hour at the end of the year.



Moral of the story? If you haven't ridden in 2 months dont just jump on and expect to do a decent job in a big race event.

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

Off to the Symphony under the stars we went, and as typical Tasmania, it pissed down with rain before and left everything wet and cold. So we huddled under the umbrella and watch as the relatively dry symphony played some tunes.



The soloist is a bloke named Jun Il Sun (I think). I have to find out if its the cousin of my local chinese resteraunt owner.



They played some of the theme music from pirates of the Carribean and to fit the part the conducter became a very lively Jack Sparrow. Pretty cool part of the show really.

Back to Uni Road trip

Well the dreaded time had come for summer holidays to end and to head back to uni. Now that they have cancelled the Sydney Spirit of Tas (mongrels) we have to drive all the way to Melbourne to get on the ferry. We started off the night the Queens met and somehow managed to get out of town without incident, traffic or delay (if you were driving in Sydney that day you'd know what I mean)

Found this little dude trying to hitch a ride,



Stopping for a quick break just North of Melbourne, Thermometre was reading 36 degrees here, hence the parking in the shade. Burnt the crud out of my feet because I was too lazy to wear shoes.



Looking out over Port Phillip Bay and Station Pier. It was very windy and rough out there although the size of the Spirit meant we hardly felt a thing.



Small powerboats were getting hammered in the swell, we thought we were in for a rough journey as this was the water in the bay. Turns out I picked when we left the head from inside our windowless cabin by the change in the motion of the vessel. Proud I picked that one :)



The big red boat...



Watching the sailing race out the back of the boat, the winds were quite heavy and made for some close calls as the boats rounded the marker.



Well what else is there to do when your stuck on a boat for 12 hours with nothing to do.



Devonport the next morning at sunrise, quite a beautiful scene actually.

The Queens meet

Got some awesome photos from a secret little spot down in Mosman as the QE2 entered the harbour next to the QM2. It certainly was a spectacular sight. Enjoy!


Here is a little scene of it coming around Bradleys Head...




And a few more as the QE2 approached Circluar Quay to dock for a few days. You may just be able to make out the stern of the Queen Mary in the background. (It was quite a hazy smoggy day on the harbour)

Queen Mary 2 Arrives

Well she was on the horizon as I got to Middle Head and it was awesome. There were so many spectator boats out there and police boats that there it looked like fireflies. I wasnt as impressed with the size of the boat but it kept getting bigger and bigger without appearing to get much closer.





Here she is a little closer. Most of the photos I took were a little blurry because it was so dark and the ship (for its size) was coming in pretty fast. It has had to be one of the hardest things to capture for me yet. She must be a pleasure to drive.




As it turned South to come down the harbour it really showed how massive this vessel is. The way it's lit up is suberb, I dont think it carries across to well in the photo but if I can get a long exposure later on tonight when its not moving it might convey it across. It really was beautiful, unlike those big american cruise tubs that float around the Carribean.




This is what greeted her in the Harbour. Full honours from the fire boat. This baby can spew water so far yet it was hardly level with the top deck.



I quite like this one, the spotlight from the helicopters buzzing around sort of cast a 'last star of the night' look. Its just a bummer the sky was so grey and smoggy. Would have been beautiful if it was a typical clear morning.

Cindy's Birthday

Happy Birthday Cindy!!!

Hi all,

I am currently trying to source piccies from Cindy's birthday the other night, I'll put them up as soon as i get them.

Ben