My Image Blog

In my spare time as a bit of personal therapy - quiet time; whatevs - I like to do some photography. Well, my version of it. I haven't done a shout-out for them in ages so I'd thought do one now as I got a couple of new lenses and have a few projects on the go.

The following is a couple of examples. Hope you like em. Links to the image blogs on the right. The top one is the one I update from now. Think you need to click the images for a better view.

Civil Union ... what's left to create equality?

On the legal face of it gay couples are equal in regards to civil rights as a couple under the law in Queensland. In the traditional sense of the words 'wedding' and 'marriage' it ain't so much ... but that's only in the sense of that union being 'ritualised'. What's stopping same sex couples from creating their own sort of ... uh ... ritual? Really, they only need someone officiating that can witness the signing of the documents. If that's how it works..

White Ribbon Day ... is not for men.

White Ribbon Day is for the awareness of violence against women. A great cause. I asked the question after seeing ads for the day: "what about men?".

This is from the website for White Ribbon Day: (Sorry about the spacing and shit, but cut directly)

What about violence against men?

While this campaign focuses on violence against

women, it is important to acknowledge that men

too are often the victims of violence. Many of the

victims of murder, manslaughter, and serious

physical assaults are male.

Men are much less likely than women to be

subject to violent incidents in the home and are

more likely to be assaulted in public places.

Violence against men is far more likely to be by

strangers and far less likely to involve partners or

ex-partners. Of all the violence men experience,

far less is represented by domestic violence (less

than 1 percent, versus one-third of violent

incidents against women).

6

Boys and men are most at risk of physical harm, injury and death

from other boys and men, but small numbers are

subject to violence by women.

This kit focuses on the prevention of violence

against women and takes for granted that all

forms of violence are unacceptable and supports

efforts to end it.

It seems that because the unstated numbers are apparently so insignificant the plight of these men who are just as much victims of domestic violence as any female might be don't get representation by the foundation. That statement is an excuse to not represent them. I'm sorry - actually, no I'm not - that's fucken bullshit.

Domestic violence doesn't hurt one person more than any other. All are hurt. Women get angry, drunk, drugged, psychotic, whatever, just as much as men and without having a Phd I'd suggest it's merely the human physiology and psychology that bumps the scales towards men being more physical than women. Also, domestic violence isn't necessarily physical. Most of the time scars can't be seen. It seems to me we're a LONG way off from heading in the right direction to fix the issue.

A bully is a bully. No one bully is worse than any other.

Dear, #OccupyBrisbane...

Unless you're living in a hole in the ground ... not shared by a protester ... you probably have heard of the "Occupy" movement going on at the moment. In reality, it's going to achieve fuck all, and is currently only annoying people. In the beginning of the Brisbane effort I was fairly apathetic towards the entire thing. I saw it on the news previously and had an idea it was about something to do with 1% of the population having the majority share of the wealth ... or something.

I figured if you're uncomfortable with not having money, then work, hard, and get some ... like they did. For two weeks Occupy Brisbane was fraught with infighting and lack of direction. Worse, there wasn't a lack of direction, there was NO direction at all. In the end even the organizers went: "Fuck this", and packed their bag/s and went home. Unsurprisingly various factions who have their own agenda against the police and government took control and screwed it into what became 4 grand worth of fines. I work in the city. I saw this every day, and I even saw the last moments when the council handed out the fines. It pissed me off having to work 60 hours+ a week only to see these idiots ranting about whatever, ruining my park, every day.

Then I saw a vid by Sean Bedlam. Batshit crazy fucker, but made sense. When asked why is he doing it - in Melbourne - and he replies: "Are you fucken retarded? You need ONE reason for this" ... and I got it. It gave me clarity. Here's his 'Why' vid.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to join the fuckers ... although being a staunch police supporter I would very much like to experience a forced eviction just to see if these people are full of shit or not .... from their lines. But I GET what he's saying.

Personally, I think the current Australian government is a joke. Gillard ebbs and flows with the polls and Abbott is fucken retarded. This perplexes me. I have no hope in the future of the government. Insurance companies are responsible for the deaths of 25 people who committed suicide after the January floods in the Lockyer Valley. Why aren't we angry about that? Fuel prices go up with MOMENTS of oil price rises but it takes weeks to go down when oil does. I saw a stat a while ago that said 25,000 American troops have suicided as a result of being in combat. 5000-ish have died as a result of combat. Australian troops are dealing with HORRENDOUS mental illness.

I could go on. Those are just a few of the things that get to me about life. This place is broken. People are second to money. This upsets me.

They have gone about it the wrong way and I HATE when they instigate fights with the police JUST for video footage. Once the police commit to moving you, you are going. They can't back out, and you know it. But I get the anger. It's just shame that anger and sadness isn't a unified voice for all. Maybe when you get a common goal and agenda you might see me standing next to them on the weekends.

...maybe I could cash some RDO's....

THIS. IS. YOUR. LAST. CHANCE.

I've made a deal with God ... and the All Blacks ... same thing really. I've been a staunch supporter of the AB's all my life and now is no different to any part of my life in regards to my loyalties. I will ALWAYS be a staunch supporter but one thing that separates the staunch supporter from the loyal supporter is your citizenship.

"Who you supporting?", one might ask.

"The All Blacks mate", you'd reply.

"Why them?"

"I'm a Kiwi...", you would need to add no more.

Without your kiwi citizenship you're just an expat. Like the poms that come out here and give up everything but their support for the homeland.

The All Blacks haven't won a World Cup since the very first one; in 1987.

1987...

Walk Like an Egyptian by The FUCKEN BANGLES was a hit that same year. Duran Duran was still throwing them out there. SAMANTHA FOX had a hit.

Nucken FUTS.

So I put it to the universe. Enough is ENOUGH.

IF the All Blacks lose this tournament I will go for the Australian citizenship.

Cross my heart.

Our Chopper Flight Over and On the Glaciers

Bit long, but what ya gonna do.

Click the '360p' bottom right of the player when it starts and up the quality to 720. Full screen it too.

New Zealand Trip (Photo HEAVY)

Just recently we went for a week to NZ. Here's some pics. After you're done reading, click a photo for a slide show.

First one (order fucked up in uploading ... but anyway) is on the West Coast. This is the first time Tracy saw a sunset over the ocean. She's always lived on the east coast of Australia. The rocks in the foreground are left by tourists mostly with just their names on them. Some have been there for YEARS. Ours is there too now.

This was one particular rock. Piece of advice I'd take I reckon. lol

Wanaka. Pretty.

The VERY first time Trace touched snow.

This was after we TREKKED to the top of the Remarkables lookout through EPIC snow. A REAL struggle for Trace and a massive achievement. One step at a time. Quite freaky in places but she got there. Amazing view.

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown. The mountains on the left is the ridge we were on in the above photo.

Moeraki. Cool rocks.

Fox Glacier. Cold as FUCK, but well worth the short walk. We took a chopper flight over this and up around the highest mountain in NZ. Video to follow later.

Cromwell. Pretty.

AHAHAHAHA Australia

Trowsered by Ireland in the pools. *SNORT*

1943: The First Cruise Missile

Something that fascinated me as a kid was the German's ability to lob missiles from the French ( and Dutch, apparently) coast and land them in London ... what happened in London when they got there was something I didn't really grasp from an emotional POV till much later. Then, it was all toy soldiers in the comics.

Until today I hadn't really revisited those questions from the 'Commando' comics. What I imagined was a certain amount of fuel being used to send it the required distance and when that ran out it would drop and explode. This isn't the case. My little imagination forgot about wind. Check this out.

From Wikipedia: (don't worry about the links; I just cut it straight from wikipedia)

The V-1 guidance system used a simple autopilot to regulate height and speed, developed by Askania in Berlin.^[4] A weighted pendulum system provided fore-and-aft attitude measurement to control pitch, (damped by a gyrocompass, which it also stabilized). Operating power for the gyroscope platform and also the flight control actuators was provided by two large spherical compressed air tanks which also pressurized the fuel tank. These air tanks were charged to 150 atm (15,000 kPa) before launch.

There was a more sophisticated interaction between yaw, roll, and other sensors: a gyrocompass (set by swinging in a hangar before launch) gave feedback to control each of pitch and roll, but it was angled away from the horizontal so that controlling these degrees of freedominteracted: the gyroscope remained true on the basis of feedback received from a magnetic compass^{[citation needed]}, and from the fore and aft pendulum. This interaction meant that rudder control was sufficient for steering and no banking mechanism was needed. In a V-1 which landed in March 1945 without detonating between Tilburg and Goirle, The Netherlands, about 6 rolled issues of the German wartime propaganda magazine 'Signal' were found inserted into the left wing's tubular steel spar, used for weight to preset the missile's static equilibrium before launching. It is also known that several of the first buzz bombs to be launched were provided with a small radio transmitter (using a triode valvemarked 'S3' but being equivalent to a then-current power valve, type RL 2,4T1), to check the general direction of flight related to the launching place's and the target's grid coordinates by radio bearing.

An odometer driven by a vane anemometer on the nose determined when target area had been reached, accurately enough for area bombing. Before launch, the counter was set to a value that would reach zero upon arrival at the target in the prevailing wind conditions. As the missile flew, the airflow turned the propeller, and every 30 rotations of the propeller counted down one number on the counter. This counter triggered the arming of the warhead after about 60 km (37 mi).^[8] When the count reached zero, two detonating bolts were fired. Two spoilers on theelevator were released, the linkage between the elevator and servo was jammed and a guillotine device cut off the control hoses to the rudder servo, setting the rudder in neutral. These actions put the V-1 into a steep dive.^[9][10] While this was originally intended to be a power dive, in practice the dive caused the fuel flow to cease, which stopped the engine. The sudden silence after the buzzing alerted listeners of the impending impact. The fuel problem was quickly fixed, and when the last V-1s fell, the majority hit under power.

With the counter determining how far the missile would fly, it was only necessary to launch the V-1 with the ramp pointing in the approximate direction, and the autopilot controlled the flight.

Interesting as hell. Out of around 12,000 V-1's being launched throughout Europe around 22,000 people were killed as a result. Fairly shitty kill rate - from an unfeeling weapons effectiveness POV - but the fear they created was something else.

Here's video from the testing in 1943:

Hendra Virus

No one could ever accuse me of an expert on biohazard crap, but I'm thinking this shit is getting serious. If you have no idea what I'm talking about: BASICALLY, local flying foxes - large red bats - are being accused of passing on a disease that has an apparently RIDICULOUSLY high mortality rate. IF you're a horse, and catch it, and the fuzz find out, you're survival rate is ZERO. They plug ya.

Outbreaks so far have been fairly local to Brisbane. Now though, cases seem to be spreading far and wide but still localised to the animals and people that get it without having some sort of path of destruction from one area to another. This disease previously to this week was thought to be 'only' a threat to horses and people. This week, however, a dog was found with antibodies to this disease. Unfortunately for the dog it's gonna get plugged as well. I'm kinda thinking this is a mistake, of sorts. For one, apart from bats themselves, this animal is the ONLY living being that has antibodies to it. Two, I'd be feeding this dog bat shit to see what happens. This tactic is fairly ineffective if the dog is in a hole ... in the ground.

The other thing is, the geniusii at the top are dumping a cool six million into studying this disease even further. I got an idea. Just seeing as this disease is now being carried by DOGS ... you know, the things that FKN 87% - made that figure up for dramatic effect - of the population have one. The bats are getting lined up for near genocide, as well. They're gonna start with fucken smoke bombs and scaring them with choppers, which is retarded. Aint' gonna help, and apparently when bats get stressed the potential for this disease is greater ... somehow. So yeah, lets scare the crap outta them; that'll help....

That leaves one solution ... getting plugged and sharing a hole with horses and dogs.

So here we are, at the brink of a SERIOUS outbreak and they dump the loose change from the state government's smoko fund for the year on it. Dickheads.

Cameras: Expensive versus inexpensive

Funny thing happened on the way ... oh wait, no it didn't.

Got a new camera a few weeks back. On the amateur scale it was creeping up there in price - 2000 - but on the global scheme of things that's cheap. I searched high and low - pretty much in the canon range only cause I already have lenses for my canon cameras. I got the 60D mostly because of the flip screen and it does shit more expensive cameras do etc etc. I like it. I like it alot.

ANYHOO...

Previous to this camera I mostly was using my phone. Yes, phone. And I'll show you why.

Click THIS.

So that's a shot using my phone and processing on an app using red highlights. I love that effect.

Click HERE for another example. And HERE. Hope that last one works.

But, all fairly reasonable photos taken with my phone. The last one has some post processing OUTSIDE of the phone just for colours but you get the idea of what phones these days are capable. The other thing about phone cameras is that they really are unobtrusive when it comes to shooting people on the street. No one is intimidated by a phone being pointed in their general direction. But a big black thing - *cough* - with a massive lens is intimidating. ALOT of pro photogs know this and use small cameras on the street.

In my mind you're quite capable of getting creative with a phone. Even check THIS one out. But, the advantage I've found in DSLR's is with stuff like THIS and THIS which would be absolute miracle shots with a phone. DSLR's also give you time exposure shots with things like storms and water AND street photo's of moving things. But on the whole, I've found my phone JUST as useful as the canon. Sometimes I even choose the phone over it for a shot.

A new home for my images

Go HERE.

It was going to be just for that arty one I did but I kinda want a better looking host than blogspot. Over time I'll transfer my favourites from 'Delinear' to 'Tumbles'.

Hope you like em.

Why people should immunize their kids

So this is Tracy. Tracy is my partner.

Tracy has Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and as a result of that has had a double lung transplant. Because of a botched ovarian cyst removal operation Tracy had her uterus taken out. Tracy cannot have kids. Tracy can't adopt - well sorta, maybe, it's a time frame thing - and Tracy can't find anyone to be a surrogate.

Every friend that Tracy has had was met in the hospital system because of the CF. Every friend that Tracy has had is dead. Dozens of friends are dead. Tracy had a life expectancy of months when she was born. She's fought her way out to 37 years, and counting.

That photo is of Tracy who is currently - at time of writing - in hospital suffering from RSV. She has it because some people won't immunize their kids. Tracy also has a fungal growth in her lungs that she is fighting. It's at the point where they are considering a plasma transfusion. A plasma transfusion takes 1000 people to happen. This stuff is PRECIOUS.

Apparently, at a rough 'guesstimate', around 75% of transplant recipients (Tx) from her hospital alone is suffering from whooping cough. Whooping cough IS killing not only Tx's but other people's kids.

Immunize your kid, for fucks sake. Tracy is fighting MORE than enough as it is, she doesn't need to fight your shit as well. I wouldn't mind keeping her around for awhile...

Why are comedians so FKN precious?

A dude on a talent contest show here copied a coupla comedians jokes and told them on the show. I get that you shouldn't do it - because comedians are insecure as fuck - but there's a grey area there that makes the entire shit storm about it a fraction hypocritical.

I've been to pubs where people have been singing - for money - and haven't attributed the songs they're singing to the writers of these songs. Do you think they're paying royalties while making money at pubs from it? Personally, I can't see the difference when comedian's delivery in a LARGE part of the success of the joke. Much the same as singing.

I'd have an ENTIRELY differing opinion if he profited from the jokes but really, what's he done, told a couple of jokes on a stage. Lighten, the fuck, up.

End times, the rapture, and fucken idiots

The Egyptians, The Mayans, and Christians ... probably a few others ... reckon now is the time when either we all die, many die, some die, some sorta die, or we enter a period of so called enlightening - no, not quickening like in Highlander.

For the Egyptians apparently their main corridor in their largest(?) pyramid is 2012 inches (they measured in inches?) long before the the main chambers open up and are sorta layered above each other in an apparent symbol of various levels of enlightenment.

The Mayans had a calendar. IT went to 2012. Maybe they ran out of space.

The Christians have the dawn of the third millennia. One day in heaven is equivalent to one thousand years on earth. ie: the second coming of Christ as symbolized by Easter. Dawn in most places is around 6am. 6am is about one quarter through the day. One quarter through the day is 250 years into a thousand years. So, IMO, if we're gonna get all symbolic this stuff can happen as far out as 2250ad.

There are other things like natural disasters, wars, and the fight for democracy throughout the middle east being seen as people becoming enlightened on some level. Right up till the end of 2012 people are gonna get stupid on this stuff. So if we're gonna take shots at people of faith ... a-fkn-gain ... please don't lump them all in the same basket because quite fkn obviously everyone believes something different.

Bin Laden's Head...

They should put it on a pole at ground zero.

Just saying.

Villawood

In Australia, there's been 'unrest' - read: arson, and attacks on emergency services - in one of the asylum seekers processing plants. Let's call it what it is. Understandably, the inmates - again, what it is - have got the shits over processing application times - this is where 'understandably' ends - and decided to burn their compound.

Article.

As an immigrant, and a non-citizen, I KNOW that if I get the shits with whatever and decide to burn 9 buildings and attack the fire fighters that come to fight the fires, AFTER ... I finish being tasered, I'll be heading to jail. AFTER I finish my sentence I'll be deported.

I'm sympathetic to asylum seekers because in reality we created most of them.

Arson and anti-social behaviour INCLUDING assault shouldn't be tolerated one little bit.

The Military, Para-military, and Society

SO here's what I'm thinking...

The problem with the military, and para-military organizations (police and such), is that they are a power unto their own. They shouldn't be run by civilians who have no idea but they need independent services keeping them in check, such as criminal investigators, shrinks, medical services, and such BECAUSE, in the end, people expelled from the military and police end up back in civilian life. They are TOO independent when really there's no real logical reason for them to be that way anymore. Those days are gone where the military had to run that way 'on the run' cause of distance from their society.

After two weeks...

Well, here we are two weeks after starting the new job. Really liking it, long hours - up to 14 and none under 10 - but they go really quick. Quite a bit to learn but none of it is super complicated. I'm just off-siding for what they call 'specials'. We go round in a truck that has a tail lift and do pick ups that fall out side of the normal courier type stuff. Dealing with bulk, and such. Awkward things.

The thing is, that creates variety in the day. None are the same. I get along well with the driver and we have a bit of a laugh. He can be a fraction bossy outside of what he needs to be, but he's been doing it for years and that's just who he is. I'm starting to say "yeah, I've got it" sort of thing and he's starting to lay off a bit.

The hardest part to get used to is the lack of time to yourself during the week and no amount of pay really makes up for it. Pay day's great, but quality of life is important too. Having come from shit pay of years I'm appreciating the financial and job security. Am able to plan some holidays to NZ later this year and organize some savings. So, I guess that makes up for the hours.

Onward and upward.

@Can_Do_Campbell Photo Bomb

You might have missed this if you're not on Twitter and really have NO IDEA WTF I'm on about, but here's my highlight for the news week and really this deserves a standing ovulation. So, to the man himself: Bravo. The Question Mark in he middle is the fake Can_Do on Twitter standing next to the real one. Love it.

Here's the reporting of it.

Car Music

Any suggestions for decent car albums? I really don't need CD's of what's on the radio so I'm aiming for some chilled different stuff. I'm leaning towards Jazz and such ... but whatever whatever...

Something like this...

Career Paths Update...

So I went with the trucks. Purely for the reason that the pay is the same as depot work and there isn't as many people trying for a career in the bulk section. It's a niche area for sure, but the skills are interchangeable to a degree. With the depot work there's hundreds of people competing for a career and some of the ones who've upgraded have been there years and haven't gone past team leader. REAL slow progression. Also, depot full time work is from 0400 on. Bulk work starts at 0600. Jobs in bulk are as rear as hens teeth, ESPECIALLY in what I went for. I only got the opportunity through luck and constantly 'harassing' the people I want to work for.

And who doesn't want to play with trucks? My hours will be from 0600 to around 5pm. I'm okay with this. There's ARE inter-state driving jobs but licences for those take YEARS and I just couldn't be away from the missus. The reason I chose bulk was for her. The difference between getting up at 0245 for depot and 0445 is huge when it comes to lifestyle.

One thing I've learnt about progressing through jobs is transparency with current bosses. And having a good story to tell them doesn't hurt. I told my current boss - within the same company; there's sections - that I wanted full time work and the reason I chose other than him was to do with with where I lived and the hours I would be driving to and from work. NOT saying 'because career progression within your department sucks arse' was the way to go. Don't burn bridges, and be honest with them, EARLY.

The money's good too. More than I've ever earnt. Win. I start next Wednesday.

Career Paths

At work, I'm at a really interesting point. I'm only writing this - as with most like this - so one day I could look back at a point and go: "HA, little did you know".

I'm at a point where I can go one of two ways. Within the next month I've got the opportunity to pursue a career in driving large trucks - off-sider jobs coming, then work your way thru licences - or stay in depot and pursue a career in like everything to do with freight OTHER than driving.

Within myself I know which way I wanna head because I'm aware of things I don't like about the other. I'll explain those later.

Anyway, here goes nothing ....

The Last Pope

Whether you're a person of faith, or not, now is a REALLY interesting time in regards to the scriptures and prophecy in the bible. Not only were there prophets propheting the prophecizing of prophecies - lol, couldn't resist - within the scriptures, there were various others doing the same for this period right now.

Things like, The Last Pope visions by Malachi, the idea of Dawn of The Third Day within the scriptures referring to Christ's rising - this is stated that 1000 years on Earth is 3 days in heaven and we are in the dawn of the third millennia since Christ's crucifixion - and various other visions from ancient tribes and individuals who lay claim to visions of end times from various points in history. Not just recently, but 'obscure' times and 'obscure people'.

Pass it off as fairy takes if you like; I don't give a fuck, but the fact is this is the time where the prophecies from through the ages are predicted. Plenty of ones referring to natural disasters and wars, as well.

Something interesting to read about for the weekend of you're looking for something to study.

Wolves, Sheep, and Teeth

I come in here regularly and don't update. Fucked if I know why.

I really want to leave it, but part of me doesn't wanna let it go purely cause it was a straight out unprovoked - surprising, I know - attack on me personally by Orin under the guise of "FKNHVK". That one being one of his many guises. Talking about that 'drama' at Birmo's CBG the other day.

Now I've never had anything against Orin personally so it was a minor surprise that this Sybil fuck would overtly shoot at me personally. Before I let Orin know I knew who 'FKNHVK' was I considered the option of smacking the goofy fucker in the head, but, for the sake diplomacy at these 'Burger' gatherings which I very much enjoy I figured a chat would be the better option. I still think it is. Seems to me this bloke is a sheep in wolf's clothing ... or wolf in sheep's clothing ... when he gets online. I'm not sure yet.

Anyhoo ... I think the lesson from this - ESPECIALLY for Orin - is not to say anything online you're not willing to say in person. You tend to keep your teeth that way.

Oh, on a side note, I FINALLY started reading the Cap'n's little book called Angel Rising. Great stuff so far. Will blog about it when I get the chance to finish it.

Bow Hunting: The Bow

Ocker Nationals in Egypt and Gillard.

Saw on the news some clowns caught up in the shindig in Cairo unleashing on Gillard cause she hasn't choppered them out yet.

First up, shouldn't the gubbermint have a default plan that when the shit hits critical mass - or be aware it's heading that way - that there's transport available for people to bail. Second, 7 days into it and NOW they're at the airport bitching?

Natural Disaster Essentials

One thing I figured out - and what upset me most - was what to expect in the event of a disaster. A disaster, by nature, is an event that leads to a situation beyond what society is/can/will be prepared for and the event is a DISASTER. It's one thing to look at on the box, but it's something else to live through.

Where ever you are is civilisation. Never a truer word spoke. So sayeth Mr Barnes.

Isolation is humbling. Cash trumps charity. People who have what others need generally become cunts. Hope is the glue for any society. These are just a few things I learned.

What happened on the Monday was that a street wide deluge poured through Toowoomba taking out everything in its road. This was incredible, but by Tuesday lunch time this ENTIRE region was set back by about 130 years. No roads. No power. No water. No food. In my previous post there was a pic of me standing in the middle of the road. The water course - not creek, nor river, but water course - was a few centimetres deep and just a few feet - if that - wide. In a matter of moments it became a kilometre wide. A few feet to 1000 metres wide in a matter of minutes. This is why people died.

First thing's first. Information. You need access to what's happened. I was on my way to work on the Tuesday morning when I heard of road closures. I decided to turn around and I rang work. With the power being out we were fortunate enough to have a generator. This gave us TV and power for the fridge and freezer. One thing I realized is that we had limited fuel. I went to get some that morning. We could still get down the valley at this time. We filled a 20 litre jerry can with fuel. Queues at the servo weren't too bad but people were stock piling. By lunch that day fuel was rationed, and by mid arvo it was gone. As was cash from the ATM's, as so was food.

We have food in the pantry so that wasn't TOO much of an issue but the thing is you have NO IDEA how long you'll be away from shops etc. We were told to expect as much as two weeks.

Three things you MUST have access to at your place. Cash. A generator. And fuel. I'm going to track down a syphon set up for taking fuel from cars. Shops were STRICTLY CASH ONLY. There was NO charity from them until AFTER we knew it wasn't terminal. Shops WERE profiteering. Bread cost 10 bucks. Milk prices tripled. I found my smart phone with internet was a God send with you guys giving information. Phones went down with the power. Apparently the exchange has emergency backup for a day or so. Eventually the emergency services took control of the cell towers so we couldn't call AT ALL. Text was it.

IT's a scary thing. And much of it will sit with me uncomfortably for the rest of my life.

Oh, and run your generator for an hour every four to keep your freezer and fridges cool enough. Fridges are NOT designed to preserve cool air. Open rarely.

Flood photos.

These just give you an idea of what we were surrounded by. Click photos for bigger image.

This is the north end of town. This is the highway. By the mud on the ground you can tell the water was WAY higher than this. The main bridge is about 500 metres further on. IT's about 5 metres under water here. The bridge is usually 10 metres above this river. If you know this area at all. That turning sign is for Twin Bridges.

During flood.

After flood.

ME standing on the main highway to the town. Unfortunately civilisation is on the other side.

Well, THAT was an experience.

Last Tuesday we were sent back 130 years in four hours, technologically. Well, 130, with splashings of tech thrown in. Thank fuck for generators. We had something resembling an inland tsunami cruise on by picking up anything in its road and generally killing it. Fortunately we are on a hill, but not so fortunate were many many people around us.

There's plenty I could talk about but what I want to forget outweighs that. It took a huge emotional toll but we came out the other end still kicking. The missus got a bit sick from it all and we're still working our way through that.

I've got some vids and pics of the disaster, but nothing TOO spectacular. Just lots of water.

Hope everyone is okay and I'm glad to have the net back. Win.

Garmin Nuvi 1490T GPS.

Bought one of those for us for Xmas coz our MIO ones were just a pain in the arse. That particular Garmin allows you to update your maps for free for its life. Max, 4 four times a year. Sweet FKN deal. I got it for AU$360 from JBHifi, near Brisbane.

Has plenty of sweet features and is very intuitive. Easy to use and has traffic updates on route and lets you know what's going on on the highways and stuff. At major intersections it pops up an actual photo of that intersection from what lane you need to be in. It says the street names you need to turn into so you don't have to watch the screen. It can even break down the entire journey street by street, turn by turn, and tell you if there's anything you may need to know about road works and shit on the way.

I thought the five inch screen might be a bit big - it just looks it -but it isn't. Makes it simple to view. Highly recommend it so far.

Here's what it looks like on my screen. My car looks like it's giving me the evils.

Resolutions