patham

Not sure I agree with you there, but my sample size and industry is biased. I think that in the professional consulting businesses here (science and engineering), native Australians are under-represented in general, and at higher levels in particular. But that is because migration to Aus in these fields is generally limited to the go-getters with an ambition to better themselves and have built up appropriate experience - hence the bias in the sample. Whereas the native born are the full spectrum of "deadwood" to "go-getters", so their average performance is drawn down ! I do agree that hard work and ethics is pretty multi-cultural here, but I think the saffa's (in professional roles at least) pull more than their "nominal" fair share.

It just dawned on me that you used the term "salties". Well done, you are well on the way to becoming a local ! Have you cracked the other Australian colloquilism code: chop the words in half and end it with an "O". Servo, ambo, no probo etc....

I think technically Intern is right, you don't want to swim in the sea by Brisbane proper, as it is really a mangrove swamp. You need to go the Sunshine or Gold Coast to get to swimming waters. But no dangers lurk in the water, no. Spiders - we have the huntmans here a plenty, and the Golden Orbs which are massive and build humungous webs but I have not seen any of the dangerous kinds. Snakes - in 6 years I have had 1 x 3m + long python curled up in my electric gate, 1 x 1.5 m python slithering across my driveway, 1 x skinny green thing that zoomed across my driveway at such high speed I can't be sure what it was, and a few months ago I accidentally picked up a baby Brown tree snake that was minding its own business on a dead palm tree leaf. I looked at it, it looked at me, I looked at it, it looked at me, and then I very carefully put the leaf down. And shoo-ed him away with a rake to the perimeter hedge, or as I call, the snake pit. Very cute little guy- but enough of a shock to get the heart beating.

There are a few days in the year when Brissie becomes unbearable without staying indoors with air-conditioning, when my swimming pool hits 35 degrees plus. But on average - most liveable place in Aus I think. My youngster has literally not worn a jersey or a pair of long pants in the last 4 years. We always buy one tracksuit pants / jacket in case we get the coldest year ever, and every year we donate them away, unused.

And then you get us Aussie posters here as well. I think its because we view NZ as that little awkward kid in class who needs a little bit of help now and then Alternatively, we hang out here to find out why so many NZ'ers move over to Australia ! But in reality, there are a lot of similarities between the two places, with some local flavour being different, and as they say on Third and Bird - "Different is Good'.

Just think of it as a bus. Which is about how glamorous air travel is these days. Maybe google if anxious flyers find it calmer to have a window seat or an aisle seat- maybe seeing the ground below you might help or hinder, and request that seat when you check-in. But I think if you survived a chopper flight - a domestic airliner trip will be as boring as paint drying. As for a surgical mask, maybe they will look at you funny, but at age 38 - stuff'em - who cares. I fly with a lot of Asian tourists on the domestic flights in Australia, and they love wearing those masks - so its common here, just not in S.A.

I remember seeing part of their display whilst doing the long walk from where we had parked- traffic was not good that day. As we were not watching from the official sight line I thought they were good but not "wow". I have since found out, by watching the same display from two different vantage points, what looks meh! from the "wrong" direction looks amazing from the best seat in the house - which is normally the VIP podium. From the best location, all the sight lines and perspectives make the formation look tight and with little to no clearances between planes. From the wrong direction you can see gaps the size of a Putco bus.....well maybe not that bad but you get my drift. I still would like to see the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds, who take up the noise, speed and spectacle up one more notch from the trainers used by the Red Arrows.

Likewise, saw it at the SAAF 75th anniversary air show in 1995. Still one of the coolest displays i have witnessed. Only thing that beats it for impressiveness was the F-18 E Super Hornet screaming down the Brisbane River at sunset at about the level of my 3rd floor balcony of my work building - which is on the river. I was able to pretty much look level at the pilot. The air force uses them to precede the annual fireworks show, so I was expecting a good display, but not that good! I am pretty sure that pilot was not following his published minima altitudes for that run (was meant to be 150 feet, no way he was that high). All the other years have been a disappointment in comparison! Similar video, but not at sunset or at my stretch of the river linked below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzGbqOfINk

I fear the double whammy might be the death of me - I only ride with 10 year olds atm. And even those blighters can beat me downhill (no sense of self-preservation at that age). I know CRC has a local website, but I was under the impression it is just a front for their offshore entity, and that you are still liable for sales tax etc. when your delivery comes through. Keep me posted ! My favorite local on-line shop (Torpedo7) decided to fold its Aus operations recently and return to being a pure NZ operation which is a shame. I have yet to work out if I have a new favorite - just hunt for the deals I suppose.

Pushys. I could have tried the various German places, but the geoblocking, price in Euro's, then VAT and having to deal with import aspects put me off a bit. Pushys have a pretty good range and their response time was great. Lodged order at about 8:00 pm. Didn't bother with the "pay extra" fast delivery option. The boxes arrived at lunchtime the next day ! Trail ride: did you do a Gap Creek or did you guys head off into the yonder elsewhere? I am 1/2 way through a head-cold and then the bike will be in deep maintenance for a while. You know the drivetrain has had it when you drop a chain on a leisurely family ride to the Kenmore cafe! But spring is coming up soon and we need to make a plan for then.

New groupset for my 2015 Trance 1, the original one was way past its sell by date. Mix of XT (brakes and drive train), XTR (shifter), and the odd one out- Saint pedals. Add in two Schwalbe tyres and it ended up costing 50% of the original bike value (admitted I got a good discount back then). Was also surprised at how bulky it all is - although I am bucking the trend and retaining my 2x. Couch pic included for scale.

Now this is a great photo of an interesting and more unusual subject- good post. Note the semi-elliptical wings that belonged to the era of "the gov'ment will only buy it it if it looks a bit like a Spitfire (if you squint hard enough)" school of WW2 British aircraft design. The Hawker Tempest/Fury was another good example.

As they say - what are the two happiest days in a boat owners life? The day they get their dream boat, and then the day they get rid of it ! An oldie, but I gather not far from the truth. A colleague had an old yacht here in Brissie, and when he realised that maintenance weekends far, far, far outweighed time actually sailing he decided to pull the plug and give it away.

How does the old joke go? If you can keep cool and collected whilst everyone else is panicking and losing their heads around you, maybe they know something you don't. Anyways. Just joking with you. A bit of momentary self-doubt and introspection is not a bad thing at all, far better than complacency.

Patches wrote up a summary for me on this and Rotorua one page back. This link should take you there. https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155527-new-zealand-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/page-224?do=findComment&comment=3539662 Patches wrote up a summary for me on this and Rotorua one page back. This link should take you there. https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155527-new-zealand-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/page-224?do=findComment&comment=3539662

Vancouver would seem similar, yes. Bit more chance of snow in Vancouver than there is in Auckland, but most of the time the weather would be similar. Vancouver has the best winter weather out of the major cities in Canada, which is why it is a magnet for their homeless. I found the French language to be non-existent there - so another similarity. Property prices are ludicrously sky-high, so another aspect in common with Auckland. People in Van also like their outdoor activities, and are not deterred by a bit of rain. A friend of mine moved to Vancouver back in the 90's. He found the first few years tough, with their salaries they could only find an ancient basement apartment with a few tiny little slit windows that looked out at pavement level. Things got better after that and they clawed their way up the property ladder. Once he started regular travels for work in the US he realised that just across the border in Seattle was where the real land of milk and honey began, his salary would be more, cost of living and tax rates would be much, much lower and there was less government control of his life. However, he and his family were just too established to move again.

There is a reason why there was a gaggle of Dornier 228's using the strip. I have flown a charter in one of them out of Brisbane, sea level, early morning. Under those conditions it practically left the ground as soon as the throttles opened. Part of the good STOL performance is probably due to the total lack of sound proofing. Ear-plugs were handed out as compulsory kit on that flight.

The downhill feels longer for me because of the time dilation effect of going very fast downhill whilst out of your talent depth. Its just like the slo-mo effect that kicks in as you stuff up and wipe out..... There's Pigs n Whistles everywhere! It is the second closest pub to me here in the suburbs, and has now become a business with 6 pubs scattered across Brisbane. Pretty sure its a co-incidence though. Thanks for the offer - will keep you posted.

Thanks Patches, those pictures look familiar from my web trawling. I had not thought of the skyline gondola park, and admittedly some of the youtube vids put the fear of god into me, or more correctly, the fear of my youngster up ahead deciding that he is good enough to take the double black diamond fork in the trail, and us testing the NZ healthcare system to its limit. A Qantas 4 day flight sale offer to NZ popped up in my inbox today, so that could be a sign....

Gentle bump to get the NZ MTB community to look at my above post....I must have sent it on a slow day! Or else the rugby defeat last Saturday means they are forbidden to communicate with Australians.

Pinging NZ MTB hubbers. We (the family) are thinking of crossing the ditch and doing a NZ holiday trip in January, based around Auckland and spending a few days cycling in Rotorua. I have been doing a bit of research, looks like I can hire decent bikes there that match what we are used to (Trance for me, Trance Jnr for 11 year old). That saves me from boxing and unboxing and having to hire an appropriate car. What the research also shows (incl. on this very thread) is that there is a lot of trail choice that I could research forever and still maybe not have a good understanding of. So questions to leverage off your collective experience if I may: 1. Suggestions for a good place to stay that is convenient to trails. Hotel or apartment type place, no camping ! Needs to be in a pleasant surrounding as the wife is a non-cyclist...... 2. Suggested trails. Our skills level are probably at the Grade 3 and below, maybe the occasional Grade 4 (on the 6 scale grading system) going by some of the trail maps and Youtube vids out there. Note that the youngster is a pretty good shredder going downhill (faster and more fearless than me), but the amount of whinging that occurs on the uphills is pretty significant. Seeing as we live next to a trail park in Brissie, we are also used to multiple short rides (say 2 hrs max), and not all day extravaganza's. 3. Based on the above, is it worthwhile doing shuttles, or the organised tours or even a guide? I would far rather cough up extra cash and have us enjoy the experience, than spend all day going round in circles because directionally challenged me cannot read the trail map or get us boxed into a position where there is a climb from hell to get out ? Thanks all

A google search on the Washington monument makes me think you are dead right on the scale of the projection. The museum at KSC where they have one lying down is awe-inspiring and humbling at the same time. Imagine yourself being strapped into the little compartment at the pointy end when someone kicks the tyres and lights the fires.

The second image took me a second or two to figure out, but is very cool On the reminiscing side, Apollo 11 was before my time, but my father was very proud of the fact that he got to meet and shake hands with Buzz Aldrin.

Groupie alert !

I may have beaten you to the post, but I couldn't remember his name!