Maxsim Mixsem Matchem

We went for dinner at Maxs, so who would have thought we would have the Maxsim Magic Card show as well.  There seems to be a bit of deja vu here when you think how Simon Taylor started mucking around with cards.  The show continued later and morphed into Cards and Cake. All very entertaining.  I now have a scratchie to deal with,  a voucher to spend and a mystery tour next week.

Nothing up my sleeve

Europe in Melbourne

I got a free ride into the city yesterday due to the Seniors travel scheme. Get those old dears out and about it'll do em good!  We had lunch at the Federici's outside the Princess Theatre. The Matilda show audience is 99% mothers and their daughters or is it princesses and they were all dressed up. Today we excused ourselves from this weeks wake and went to Mitte just down the road. An eatery in the small streets of Fitzroy.

Fruity Muffins

Birth Days and Death Days

I have never been to a funeral on my birthday before.  Not sure if it is the kind of celebration (wake) that you would want on your birthday.  JK Rowling introduced me to the concept of Death Days as opposed to Birth Days.  There must be somewhere in the history of the world where a person has died on their birthday. This would be a talking point at the wake, although I have never actually heard of this happening.

Sir Nicholas De Mimsy-Porpington

Jurassic World

I remember going to a dinosaur park in Creswick about 35 yar ago. You walked along a path through the bush and a dinosaur would be around the next bend. Those were concrete critters. The Museum has animatronic versions that do everything except eat.  The show has been running 6 months but will be dismantled next week.  The rest of the museum could also be viewed. Had a quick look at the forest section. This is a lame imitation of the real thing. They have a lot of stuffed animals, bones and rocks. This new location and building has much more space than the old spot in Swanston street.

Williamstown

Williamstown is always a good ride especially if the sun is out.  It was out at the start but two hours later it was raining. Nevertheless better to fit in a ride today than during the next few days of rain. Did a loop around the Time Ball Tower and stopped at Schwabs Galley. The cakes looked a bit over engineered so I just had a cappuccino.  I could see Tenacious not far away being part of the Williamstown 'Seaworks'. 

Sailings are possible.

Analog Micro Cassettes

I now have a box of MC-60 cassette tapes. I also have the portable voice recorder that was used to record them.  This is way old technology but I also have a cable that can plug from the Earphone jack to the Microphone jack on the laptop thus converting the analog to digital.  Not quite. The box came with one of those dodgy variable power supplies. I checked the voltage required for the recorder which was 3V. The power supply was already on 3V so I plugged it in and immediately I could tell I had just fried the recorder. Do not ever use this type of power supply! 
Two days later and I have located another antique voice recorder from Cash Converters (thanks to Debbie dearest who suggested they may have something), which I have purchased for $19. This one is intermittent but if you shake it, it will play the tape. My latest laptop does not have a Mic jack input but the docking station does. However after  three hours of  trying it seems there is a configuration issue which results in a file with no sound.  I then tried an old laptop which does have a Mic Jack and voila I now have a wma sound file of Jack Roberts describing his various exploits. This was recorded in 1992.

Power supply not supplied

Cuckoo's Calling

So, looking at the Robert Galbraith website it states that JK Rowling wanted to start writing afresh with no hint of any previous connection to earlier writing styles and characters. OK that makes sense to me now. In this first book when it gets to the scene where you find out if the butler did it, the private eye loves to note the look on the culprits face. It would have been good to see the look on JK Rowlings editor when she told him the manuscript he is holding was written by her. There is a lot of talk talk talk in this book, maybe the other stories will have more action. The TV series might beef it up as well.

Cormoran Strikes

Shopping Day

Who has ever heard of shopping day? I've heard of Christmas Day and Australia Day but why would you want to go near Highpoint on shopping day? I said to the Rebel lady that these knicks were on the wrong size hanger, that is why they are too big.  That's annoying she said, but you have cut off the price label! I said whats more annoying is that the road to get here is blocked off so a long detour is needed to get past it. Then when I get here, there are no car parks. You can park 3000 cars here but there are no spaces. That's annoying. I spent 20 mins out there. I tried to call home but my phone says there is no credit for calls because the credit card has an issue. That's annoying. When I did get inside I couldn't get my face painted because the queue was so long and then the lady with the sausage balloons ran out when I got to the head of the line. That's annoying.  The rebel lady said OK I'll just swap these for the right size. Thank You.

What no balloons left

Western Circuit

The current idea is to do one 50km ride per week leading up to the Great Vic Bike Ride. Today was a trail ride with an industrial outlook along the Western Ring, eventually branching off at Sunshine station. The rail trail took us to lunch at the Sun Theatre then back via the Maribyrnong.  52 km  was just enough but not quite equal to the shortest day on the ride.

Western Circuit

Gowanbrae

Sun Theatre

Tourists, Dwarfs and other miscreants

"In Bruges" would be more interesting if you have been to Bruges. This is a crazy film about honour among thieves. There are a few lines in the film stating they are crazy.  This is OK to while away two hours in a plane but don't go out of your way to see it.  Dwarfs have come along way since Game of Thrones but I think this film is belittling them again. HaHa.

Killer tourists

King's Beach

We rode back for lunch at the Captain's on Kings Beach.  Good views here out over the sand with a Fat Yak and a chardonnay. Back at the pool we got some more pics through the porthole as well as a session in the spa tub. We are off for some more eating now via the barbecue.

Shifty Shark

Ride to Currimundi

We got some clunky heavy bikes with no gears for our ride to Currimundi Lake. The coastal path is narrow in parts with some sections crawling with peds. Peds carrying sups is a nightmare. Short steep hills were found at each headland but otherwise we did the 7 or 8 km in under an hour.  Cocos is a café right at the shore near the lake. It was 25 today so the iced coffee was a good option.

Cruisers

Noosa is busy

There were no school holidays, it was only a Monday and also it was the off season but we went around car parks more times than spit on an escalator.  Eventually we paid $22 to get into a commercial car park.  Hastings St is the preserve of the beautiful people.  Just as I remember it about 14 yar back during the Triathlon. Nothing had changed at all. I think the same woman we saw sashaying was still doing it.

Pulled Mussel at Chandons

Sully the Unsullied

Ordinarily plane crash movies are to be avoided particularly on holiday where planes flights are required. Call it superstition, however as Sully points out this is not a plane crash but a forced water landing.  The ATC who got the case was convinced they all crashed and burned after the last radio transmission. Then along came Sully.

On a wing and a prayer

Caloundra Sun

Yes on the fourth day the sun has shone.  There is a trick of the tides in Pumicestone Passage where you can get a free ride at 20 knots. When you are ready to slow down just toe some sand, climb out and walk back then you can do it all over again. The Sunday market is extensive but more of the same. I haven't seen anything new at one of these for years. We have been warned about the local picture theatre we are about to find out.

From our room on a clear day

Coastal Pathway South

Went for a walk alongside the Pumicestone Channel. This is the quiet waterway between Bribie Island. Except for when the Seadoos startup.  Otherwise paddling both standup and sit down seem to be the go here. Getting across to the island would be less than 100 metres. There are many eateries for breakfast and as well as barbecues and parkland. The Big 4 is nearby with waterfront cabins at $1700 a week in summer.

coastal path south

seaside rendezvous

Rumba

The Rumba in Caloundra is an apartment style hotel with full kitchen, laundry, spa tub bathroom and big balcony views over the ocean and the passage to Bribie island as well as views out to the glasshouse mnts. Should be a good home for the next week. The pools just below look good with see through portholes on all sides.

Rumba Pools

Distant Glasshouse

Nice Guys

The flight from Melbourne to Sunshine Coast allows enough time for one film as long as you get started on the tarmac and don't pause for the drink trolley.  Not sure if Nice Guys was supposed to be action or comedy. I did get a couple of laughs so I guess it is a bit of both. Balancing the ipad on your knees is not the best position but it works ok for one film.

Nice Guys who kill

Funerals, Food & Flanagans

We were just commenting on the ills of smoking. This is the third funeral I have been to where the deceased was a heavy smoker and their dying times were ages 55, 58 and 65.  Now if that isn't a message about an early grave then what is.  Some time back we went on a wander through the Werribee gorge and finished up at the Jolly Miller. Well over the road in Bacchus Marsh is Flanagans historic pub. There seems to be a bogan element at 1:00pm on a Wednesday, the steak sandwich was ok though.

Bacchus God of wine

Dogs of War

Appropriately this book is published by Corgi. For some reason it is stamped on the inside cover with Nambucca Heads newsagency. Fred Forsyth wrote this book in the early 1970s.  It is more about how to organise a war rather than the war itself which in this case lasted less than an hour. There was a lot of letter writing and use of cheques. No hint of email or internet in those days.

Foodies day

Fathers Day could well be Foodies Day after Mushroom Risotto for lunch at Max's Corner. Good service and fast delivery here. Then that evening it was homemade Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Pizza and Apple Pie. Not to mention the fudge cake I made.  It worked out because I was given a mattress and a good book to lie down with afterward.

Bike Touring made comfy

Video History

Converting old Digital Audio Tapes (DAT) into files that can be viewed from the network is turning out to be another time taking exercise.  I must have at least 50 tapes that have been copied to files each around 60 minutes long.  Taking each one of those and identifying where clips start and finish to build up an index file of contents then to split those into components and edit them can take up to 4 hrs per tape.  I have done about 6 files so far.  These cover from the 2000 Olympics where I first used this camera to around 2009.  Before that it was Compact 45s. They will have to wait.

Arakoon