Rum & Dal

The folks have been and gone and we had a fantastic time with them.  They livened the house up, did a grand job on the garden (with a little supervision) and kept us entertained with their stories of home.  I was so worried about them at the airport thinking they would be bringing at least one of them out on a wheelchair.  I was so wrong though, they were the last to come out but they came bouncing out! If anything Rum and I looked terrible, as it was almost 1 in the morning.

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It’s been a while since I completed my 40Km bike ride around Melbourne City so i’ve decided to team up with a few guys from work and attempt a 100Km ride.

I haven’t really been back on the bike due to the weather and lack of motivation but this will do the trick.  I have until the 18th October to get into shape and learn to ride on the busy roads.  It will be a beautiful and scenic ride as the full 100Km will be along side the Bay, lets hope the weather is good and not windy.  If anyone has any helpful tips please pass them on.

Feel free to check out the route I think i will get some road tyres for my bike just to get less friction on the road.  “Every little helps”  You’ll see that i’m not acutually doing the full ride, 250Km is more than what i can endure; maybe next year for that.

This is a yearly event to raise money this year we will be raising money for the Smith Family who help disadvantaged Aussie kids.  Feel free to sponsor me

Say hello to the Australian Red Back Spider.  This little guy isn’t very big but his bite is real nasty.  We have had three of these in the garage since we first moved in, but after boarding up the gaps we haven’t seen one since.  Fingers crossed we don’t! There was one on Rum’s tool box and he almost grabbed it went he reached for his tools but pulled back just in time.  You can’t be too careful in an Australian garage.  So we took a trip to Safeway to get some insect spray and there was a whole section on the stuff! You can buy sprays to kill just about anything with more than 2 legs! You even get surface sprays that will kill for up to 6months (so they say).

We are yet to see a White-tailed or a Huntsman.  My friend, Mere, tells me, “You will know when you see a Huntsman!” After reading Wikipedia, I think I can wait forever to see one of them! They are so big that I would be too scared to even step on one.  Not even sure it would get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.

We’ve also been introduced to cockroaches out here.  Only really seen one type so far, not too big but too many legs and those antennae… shudder! The worst thing is it will climb anything and anywhere and on top of that the little sh** jumps! Again though, these can be controlled with sprays, so luckily I only see dead ones.

Moths here are on another level altogether. They are so damned big and they flutter noisely.  We went to sleep one night and all of a sudden we heard something around our heads.  I got up like a shot as I knew what it was.  Good thing about moths is they are pretty dumb. I put the light on in the hallway, it went out, I shut the door and left it there till the morning.  Haven’t seen one since, don’t know how it snuck in.

I know In the UK we see one spider a year, a moth or two but never a cockroach.  Well they do take getting used to but they leave you alone and you do get used to them. Never thought I would say it, but as I have seen so many now they are getting boring.  I’ll find out when theres a Huntsman in my bed! Oh and I am not dettering anyone from visiting… you will be safe in the house I promise

Battery operated screwdrivers have been around for over 15 years.  Since their debut they have come a long way, reduction in size and weight, variable torque settings, ergonomics and more importantly battery life.

Whilst browsing in Bunnings, the equivalent to B&Q; I came across the Bosch IXO cordless screwdriver.  It was the packaging that drew attention towards the quaint stylish driver.  The driver and its accessories are packaged in a tin box (18 x 18 x 14cm) however this is not why purchased the item.

The driver weighs approximately 300g and fits like a glove.  The soft rubber grip allows the user to be comfortable and confident when using the driver with his/hers left or right hand.  For additional support you can easily hold the driver with both hands.  With the aid of arrows that light up the user is always aware which way the driver is rotating.  When the trigger is half and fully pressed an LED will come on at the front of the driver to illuminate the fastener.  Nice idea when you working inside a cupboard.

The main reason I purchased this driver was because of the attachments that accompanied the driver.  The driver can be used as it is or with the adjustable torque setting attachment or with the angle driver head.  The heads are easily attached by removing the plastic cap and clipping the attachment, they can be removed with a simple twist and pull action.  Torque settings are necessary when using small diameter screws; if you’re not careful you will thread or damage the screw head.

The set includes 10 fastener heads: 1 x flat, 2 x hex, 2 x torx, 2 x cross and 2 x which are all housed in a plastic clip that can be removed from the docking station.  The docking station which is also the charger can sit on the work bench or mounted on a wall.

This is a nice piece of kit that should be a part of everyone’s toolbox, a must for those enthusiastic IKEA future lovers.  It is clear that this driver has been designed with some thought, comfortable for men, woman and children to use; from the amateur DIY person to the professional tradesperson.  The only compliant I have is that Bosch should have included an extension piece for the fastener heads.  I paid $79 for this, ten dollars less and think it would have been a bargain.

Every year Melbourne has a bicycle marathon to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Charity.  It’s 40km which works out to be just shy of 25 miles, what have I let myself in for?  The last time I was on bike, was about 5 years ago with the chaps from Polymer Laboratories.  I had fallen so far behind that I got lost and took the wrong turn, ended up in a field full of cows and so exhausted that when I drank my water it all came rushing back out.  OK so I’m no fitter now than I was back then, but I will do this

I have until the 22nd February to get in shape.  I’m not that worried because it is a family event for all ages so I think we have about 5 hours to complete the course.  Accompanying me on this trek will be Asar who will have is work cut out for him motivating me.  Hopefully we can make some time and get some training session together.

If anyone would like to sponsor me and help the MS society follow is this link and click DONATE

Larger image of Cinder Cone Mountain Bike

Here we are again. New home no internet.  We have no link to the outside world via the super internet highway.  Technologic advancements which we have become so dependent on are now a necessity to have in your home, broadband is the fourth utility along with water, electricity and gas.

We had a telephone line connected with Telstra (BT equivalent) just so we could have ADSL broadband but Telstra said the infrastructure has not been installed in Craigieburn just yet and they do not know how long it will take.  So not having the option of ADSL we decided to go to the latest method of data transferring.  G3 network, this enables you to access the internet via a SIM card which connects to your computer with the use of a modem (usually the size of a USB flash drive) again we do not get coverage from Vodafone or Optus.

We’ve built a beautiful home here in Craigieburn but I think we might as well have dug a hole and lived in a cave!  Telstra have a huge monopoly here and they have the government over a barrel.  They are taking their time with building new data infrastructure and updating existing lines.  Australia really is about 10 years behind the UK when it comes to broadband.  Until we catch up we have to be prepared to pay many hundreds of dollars for a slow connection speed and limited bandwidth.

Luckily, Dal and I will have access to the web at work to quickly check our mail whilst looking over our shoulders to see if the boss is watching ? So you won’t hear from us until we do get a connection at home and there won’t be much happening on the blog.  Sorry guys but we are officially disconnected from the planet.