Happy New Year!

... and boiled eggs! We had 5 boiled eggs this morning! It's funny... our various options for breakfast don't even occur to most people until they see and example. We had a run on boiled eggs this morning, which makes life easy. Jodie even invented a chive nest to put the extra egg on... incorporating our garnish into a practical structural breakfast component, rather than just my usual three dimensional art.

As you may be able to tell... it's been a very full year for us. Rather than most people, relaxing and reflecting at this time of year... we are in the swing of peak season, and completely exhausted. So much so... it's bedtime(tm) after this.

We are looking forward to starting the new year as husband and wife, and open to all the possibilities that 2008 has to offer. We hope you all are having as great a new years eve as we are, and we wish you all the best for the year ahead.

P.S. Our huge breakfast streak came to an end today, and apple vs. orange ended on a tie.

P.P.S. Our new years resolution is to send out our wedding thankyous.... before our anniversary. We got our selection of photos back, so it should be all go... soonish.

Huge Breakfast Streak...

... is still going for a total of 4 days so far. We don't have a three share for the next few, so this record might last for a while.

I don't have anywhere else to store the stats at the moment, so the blog is doing the heavy lifting. I'm thinking about keeping apple vs. orange [juice] going too... at the moment it stands at 1:1. Jodie is firmly in team orange, while I am championing team apple.

People have been eating a lot more this season! I can't remember baking three loaves of bread in a day last year, and this year we've had to do it a few times already just to keep up... We put out two full loaves of bread for toasting, and each cooked breakfast comes with toast.

Pancakes continues to be very popular, especially with our really real maple syrup. Yes, Matt, that's really real, imported from Canada maple syrup. We go through over 4L of it in a year.

Eggs [scrambled or poached] with smoked salmon is always a hit, especially since we've been getting naturally wood smoked salmon from Mures. Their smoked cod is also excellent... so when things get a little bit quieter we might introduce that in our gourmet breakfasts too.

Fresh fruit salad has been disappearing too, even with our super square bowl. Jodie has been adding fresh strawberries and mixed berries into the mix so our continental breakfast table looks spectacular.

As we had planned, every part of our breakfast is now either local, home made or boutique. We can now experiment with some special gourmet breakfast options.

The new record

We turned over all 6 suites today, so it was a very busy one, and we are exhausted.

However, while cooking breakfasts, I came up with an appropriate huge breakfast streak record. The most consecutive days with a total average of 12 cooked breakfasts. Since we have 6 suites and most of them are used as doubles [two people, one queen bed] when we are full, we usually have 12 or 13 people in total. We have plenty of people that couldn't imagine adding a cooked breakfast to our continental, so it's a feat to keep an average of 12 cooked breakfasts for any length of time.

So... the current huge breakfast streak record is 3 days! Maybe we'll make it 4 tomorrow.

New Breakfast Record

Yesterday, we set a new record for the number of cooked breakfasts in a morning. 13. Thirteen full cooked breakfasts, including one of pancakes with a side of over-easy fried eggs. I now hold this illustrious record, taking over from Jodie's 11.

The thirteen cooked breakfasts was a nice reminder of what the peak season is all about. We are booked out for the next while, with a shot at breaking our previous 'booked out streak' record. After some refinement of our processes, Jodie delivered a stress free twelve breakfasts this morning, but alas... the new record had already been set.

I should probably think about recording the record for the greatest average number of breakfasts over a week or something similar... but that can wait for now.

Bed time(tm)

Merry Christmas ...

... from Borgthor and Jondayla!

Jodie's Pancakes

We had a some wonderful feedback about our pancakes yesterday morning. A family that stayed with us for three days told me that they knew what our next venture would be - a pancake house. While we've had many positive comments about our pancakes, this one has outdone them all.

However... as you may have guessed from the title, it was Jodie's turn in the kitchen that morning. After giving me almost endless grief about me taking over the pancakes, Jodie's first time out for guests resulted in our finest feedback yet.

So, now I can publicly inform you all, that our pancakes are awesome.

I guess I still have my shortbread.

Bwa ha ha ha ha.

70

DING!

So many opportunies for World of Warcraft posts have come and gone. Especially posts about my nephews, Andrew and Cameron joining our guild, Andrew [Zand] getting guild member of the week, and us both getting promoted to officers.

Jodie and I cracked the champagne tonight! Borgthor is level 70!!!! For the uninitiated, that's the highest level obtainable until the new expansion comes out.

Thanks to Jondayla [main of my wife], I was also able to get my flying mount, pictured above... which reminds me, I should give her some change out of the 700 gold she loaned me.

Jondy and Barrath [our best man] are both level 65, and quickly climbing the ranks. Jondy has been pre-occupied with getting a very special epic mount from the wintersaber trainer, which has slowed her progress a little [as well as engaging in the 'social' aspects of the game [she has quite the fan club]].

Now that we each have accounts, we have been playing together a bit, and Jondy has welcomed [somewhat reluctantly, but has humored me] my various money making schemes, and we are having a ball! Transmuting has never been so much fun, profitable, and alchemy skill increasing.

For family and friends that want to join in the fun, we are on the Dath'Remar server. LFM, Tank and Healer for hire!

Now for the rest of my pre-Kara gear...

Haighs

Jodie and I have just finished our wood fired pizza from the Bark Mill Tavern. Mushroom and Volcano as usual. Delicious.

We have just started in on our Haighs truffles from Anthony and Anita! Jodie said as we bit into the first one, "now, you don't pig out on Haighs truffles, they are the real deal!"

Thanks guys, it's a fantastic dessert!

Elections and stats

Another advantage of living in a small town, is there isn't a wait to vote in the Federal election. I'm getting more and more cynical about Australian politics. The outcome was as just as predicted.

Tasmania is a funny state. We turned over a few seats to labour, and Lyons seems like a safe labour seat. I sent our representative an email before the election about the water issues here, and wasn't really impressed with the result.

The senate seats in Tasmania are the funniest thing. The Democrates don't even bother to run in the senate here, since the greens end up with 17% of the vote [second only to the ACT with 21%, but they are [only] a territory, so it didn't win them a seat]. I'm really not sure why any independent / crackpot party bothers to run in Tassie... but they do.

The best part [why I'm writing this post] of the election for me was looking at the ABC website coverage. It's got a google map and plenty of stats. You should definitely check it out here.

Sushi

Jodie and I made sushi tonight for the first time. It was awesome. We had some delicious fresh salmon. Wasabi is green, hot and tasty.

More friends come to stay

On Sunday night we had Anthony and Anita from SA [we used to work with Anthony at the Department of Health] and Sally and Craig from VIC [Jodie used to work with Sally] come to stay.

I made Jodie's three favourite curries: Cauliflower and Potato, Parsee Red Chicken and Lamb Cardamom. I had so much going on the stove, I had to break out the 11L stock pot. The boys both tried Moo Brew for the first time and we had wines from the Barossa and from just up the road [Springvale] which is just how we like it. We also had our first wedding photo slideshow victims! I'm sure there'll be plenty more.

They all left on a perfectly sunny Monday morning. Anthony and Anita were happy to pose in front of the house and imagine it was theirs. You can see the smiles on their faces as they imagine the mortgage... We couldn't get Sally and Craig to stand that still.

Closest Lightning ... ever

Today at about 11am, both Jodie and I saw a huge flash, followed way too quickly by the loudest thunder we had ever heard. The light and sound was so close together, our first thought was bomb rather than lightning.

We quickly checked that each other was OK [if a little freaked out], and the boys too. Then I checked that the power hadn't gone off [it hadn't [and we don't think the house was hit]] and that they computers were fine.

The other strange thing was that it was the only lightning strike. We weren't in the middle of a thunder storm, and we've only had a drizzle of rain since.

Then it was back to work as usual... rooms to clean. We have been busy with projects for the house too, so more about that later.

Misuse of Science

I know I shouldn't blog when I'm tired... but I had to just get this one down. It's the worst 'use' of 'Science' as a supporting argument I've ever heard. Surprise, surprise, it was Oprah.

Oprah was talking about power. In this case, will power, and its application to eating well, exercising, losing weight, and keeping the weight off. At the core of the argument was the concept that lifestyle changes happen with discipline over time, and you can't rush losing weight and the process still be healthy.

So, to bolster the argument, they decided to take something from physics. Something profound. Here it is: power equals work over time. If you are disciplined [work] for long enough [over time] you have the power to change your lifestyle and your weight. So, the more disciplined you are, and the longer you stick at it - the more power you have.

I've highlighted where the fundamental problem is. Over. Do you know what that means, Oprah? It's division. The formula is power = work divided by time. The shorter the period over which the work is done, the greater the power.

Maybe that's not even the biggest problem. Even if it was the right way around, do you really need to try and use anything but: energy consumed > energy expended = gain weight?

Shakespeare wrote that the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. Physics just shouldn't be like that.

Cullinary Delights

I usually have a lot to say about food on this blog... but since I haven't posted for a while, I'm going to have to go with a summary of highlights.

First up, we were really happy with the food at the wedding. We had lots of great feedback about the food, and the wedding cake worked out very well too. Gots to love that Guinness gravy!

Jodie and I had a quick [one night] honeymoon in Hobart after getting home. We had a wonderful meal at Maldini's [pictured above] in Salamanca, which was where I proposed. It's our special place, and we highly recommend it if you are looking for a great restaurant in Hobart. We also had our first 'gold class' cinema experience to see Bourne Ultimatum. I managed to have room enough for profiteroles after our wine and cheese.

We have been busy cooking as usual. We have started making our own pasta again from scratch, and we've had some wonderful 'Italian' nights. My favourite has been Jodie's spaghetti and meatballs. Now that's a bold statement, because it beat out a fantastic smoked mushroom lasagne for my favourite.

We finally have a tortilla press, thanks to Jodie's efforts googling. We are now close to completing the ultimate 'Huevos Rancheros', with only the tomato chili sauce to make from scratch. Another favourite new breakfast/brunch is Jodie's Spanish baked eggs. We also got a bottle of 'insanity sauce' which is freakishly hot and has a wonderful flavour. It also appeals to me due to it's economy. I'm up to several hard shakes of a tabasco bottle in my baked beans on toast, but it only requires two fat little droplets of insanity sauce to get me moving in the morning.

I've been busy making curries too. The lamb we are getting from our new butcher has been a real highlight of the dishes. The most recent was a Rogan Josh, and I'm looking forward to left overs tomorrow already. We have some friends coming to visit on the weekend, and are looking forward to preparing a curry feast. Jodie has been particularly persuasive in her requests for particular dishes this time around, so we are basing the curries around her favourite chicken dish - a spicy Red Parsee Chicken.

Finally, I had the best fish and chips I have ever had the other night. Col and Jacqui, our wonderful neighbours brought us some Stripy Trumpeter and Morwong [Sea Pearch] after a day on the boat Stripy hunting. Jodie had me grate our fresh home made bread for breadcrumbs, and fried the fillets with chunky potato wedges as well. It is a real treat to be able to try different types of fish on the day that they are caught, knowing that the flavour and texture are as good as it can possibly be.

I've got some photos of the tortilla making process... so I'll dedicate a future blog just to huevos rancheros.

You asked for it!

20070909 Wedding Sampler

It's been a little while since the last post. Jodie and I have been enjoying wedded bliss, but have been back hard at work. I've finally gotten a pre/post wedding batch of paperwork out the way, so it's time to get back to the blog.

Everyone has been asking about wedding photos, so we've added a web album with some of our favourite shots. There'll be plenty more to follow.

If anyone has any photos from the day that they haven't already sent us, we'd love to see them. Thanks to those that have already sent us emails and CDs with their photos too!

We'll also post more about what we've been up to since the wedding soon. We've been busily preparing for another peak season, and getting to some of those 'after the wedding' projects too.

Injury Haiku

I pinched a nerve [or something] in my shoulder / neck by just sitting up in bed the other day. It was very painful. It was even more frustrating than painful, because of the days of neck stretching, hot packs, pain and twisting from the hips to look at things that followed. It was particularly frustrating because of the trivial cause of the injury. There is no scar, no exciting story and it doesn't involve sport or wood chopping.

I composed a couple of haiku while cleaning the rooms the next day about my and Jodie's reaction to the event.

I injured my shoulder
Is it a heart attack, dear?
No, it's my shoulder

#$@%, !&*@!, damn, blast it
Do you need the hospital?
No, it's a tantrum.

So we have slightly different ways of looking at the same situation. In the light of day, I see that expressing both my pain and frustration, at the same time, in a hail of profanity may have lead to some confusion about the symptoms I was experiencing.

Quick Haiku

I just found another of my PC reinstall haikus, so I thought I'd post it before the post it note is gone forever. I think it's my smallest word count haiku to date.

Windows security
Oxymoron, Archaic
I have had a stroke

Bioluminescence in Great Oyster Bay

Our wonderful neighbours, Col and Jacqui, rang us one evening shortly after we returned home from our wedding to make sure we didn't miss the phenomenon of bioluminescence in the waves of Great Oyster Bay.

It was an overcast night, and while Schouten Beach is just metres away there was little light to see by, which made for poor photos but a spectacular effect as the waves broke in vivid fluorescent green. The spectacle was moving, and a wonderful wedding present.

If you haven't come across it before, the wikipedia article is worth a read, but you have to see it in person to appreciate it fully. There is a nice clear picture of the phenomenon too. In our photo, you can just see the lights of Coles Bay in the background. The rest of the light and colour was in the waves. Another photography lesson learnt too - take a torch so you can manually focus based just on distance.

A magical memory from our honeymoon!

Married!

Two weeks ago tomorrow [Sunday 9th September 2007] Jodie and I were married in a wonderful ceremony in Ayers House, Adelaide. More photos will follow, but for now I wanted to share a precious moment from the celebration - a photo with all the boys from Scotch College that are still a big part of my life today. From left to right, they are: Andrew Ellery [best man], Tim Mudge, Andrew Mudge, William Mudge [groomsman], Andrew Williams [groomsman], Cameron Finlayson [groom], James Hosking.

One of the great things about this group was despite the diverse locations we now call home we all made it to the wedding. Again, left to right: Geelong, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, London, Swansea, Brisbane. The group [at the time of the photo] covered 5 states and 1 territory of Australia. Two countries and hemispheres of the globe [thanks Andrew]!

The school connection didn't end there, as we were married by Reverend Alex Rodgers, former Chaplain at Scotch College and we were piped in by Andy Fuller, another former student and pipeband mate. Dr Alex Pouw-Bray [Doc], who taught most of us history at Scotch also helped us celebrate the big day.

There is far too much to say for one post, so I'll leave it there for now. Suffice it to say, it was a perfect day and especially because of the wonderful people who were able to share it with us [who make up a large portion of the readership of this blog!] For those of you that weren't there, I'll post more as the photos keep streaming in. For those of you that couldn't be there we were thinking of you on the day.

Thanks to Mel [our chief bridesmaid] for the photo!

Boy's Weekend

Just a quick blog to thank Andrew, William and James for giving me such a great weekend in Melbourne! I'm one day away from getting married and very excited, so there's just enough time to post a photo of the boys [thanks William]!

Oh... and quickly, while the photo is uploading... some of the highlights were:
- Awesome Mexican on the first night [including Don Equis]
- James Squire Brew House
- Getting my ass handed to me by Andrew at Buck Hunting [physical arcade game]
- Watching Andrew's plans unfold, 'Just over the next hill'
- Having a Kispy Kreme donut for lunch at the footy
- Watching Hawks destroy the opposition at the Telstra dome
- Having three attendees fly in for the weekend. We covered 3 states and a territory.
- Being bewildered by the size of Crown Casino
- Carrying 12L of water across Melbourne to make sure we were all hydrated
- Having James [our resident Doctor] explain that dehydration isn't the only effect of drinking alcohol, so water isn't a cure all
- Training back to Geelong to a roast dinner [thanks Mel]

Boys weekend in Melbourne

Have been very slack on the blogging front lately... but things are getting very exciting, with only 2 weeks until I'm married!

I'm in Melbourne, having a look around the city [much more of interest than I imagined] and waiting for the other guys to arrive. I think William should be getting to the hotel in about half an hour or so. Andrew, a little later, and James flies in tonight!

I'm sure there'll be more to blog after the weekend.

Ellery Family Visit

20070707_Ellery_Family_Visit

Earlier this month, right before we keeled over with the flu [or something like it] we had a wonderful visit from Andrew, Mel and Hayden.

We got to have them for almost a week, which meant plenty of time for hanging out and catching up, as well as getting to know the new addition to the family and some quick trips about. The time flew by, and we could have had them stay much longer.

The tours of Cascade and Cadbury factories were on Mel and Andrew's must do list, so we managed to fit them in on a Friday afternoon in Hobart. The genius of this plan was staying with Miriam Cooper at her B&B, Mulberry Cottage in Richmond. She even treated us to a performance by Grannie Rhodes in her original cottage on site. The surf wasn't looking good for the way home, so we headed back into Hobart for the Salamanca Markets. Check out the web album for all the photos, including my awesome Kransky!

Andrew and I headed north on Monday and had a surf north of Bicheno. The surf was a little [OK, very] bumpy, but we were very excited to have a session since Andrew had strapped the mini-Mal onto the Forrester and brought it 'overseas' on the boat. Having a very serious case of the surfing bug, it was awesome to be able to catch some waves with Andrew and see how it's done.

On the last day, we all drove up to Launceston and had lunch at Stillwater at Richie's Mill on the river. It was a nice way to say goodbye before Mel, Andrew and Hayden headed to Devonport to catch the boat.

You were probably thinking you'd miss me mentioning [in detail] food and World of Warcraft. No luck.

The culinary highlights were... Curry night [the blender died while attempting to shred cardamoms] , followed by Jodie's pumpkin pasta [the recipe is on the way guys]. Then we had home-made pizzas! Andrew and I created a 'the lot' while Jodie and Mel were a little more creative with bocconcini, cherry tomatoes, basil, mushroom and a light sprinkling of other goodies. I was charged with pizza round 2. Firstly, a tasteful and delicious salmon, onion and capers pizza and an outrageous desert pizza. I also remember consuming vast quantities of Mel's cadbury chocolate. Mel and Andrew made us a fantastic chilli, served with corn chips, avocado, cheese and sour cream. We tested out our pancakes and cooked breakfasts too. I could go on, but I'll leave the rest for Mel and Andrew's comments - except for mentioning that a healthy amount of Moo Brew and Coopers was consumed.

Mel and Jodie did make fun of Andrew and I obsessively checking our auctions on World of Warcraft. Despite asking how long it could possibly take to 'find an egg' after we abandoned the girls for the entire movie for a WoW session, they both got their turn too. It was fun having two WoW accounts in the same house.

We are looking forward to seeing Mel, Andrew and Hayden again for our wedding [and me for the buck's night] and very excited to have Andrew as my best man and Mel as Jodie's bridesmaid.

Cradle Mountain

20070630_Cradle_Mountain

We have created an album from our weekend at Cradle Mountain. The highlight of the trip was snow, which Jodie had never seen falling until this trip. We even enjoyed a hot tub while the snow was falling.

We stayed in the King Billy suite, which is the lodge's luxury suite and was a very special treat. We were finally able to relax and stoke a fire without worrying about one for our guests. The breakfast buffet was plentiful, and the restaurant was a real treat too. The rosewater panacotta was the final tipping point for Jodie's new culinary pursuit [a fantastic chai panacotta a few weeks before got things started].

We got out for a walk on Friday before dinner, and on cue the weather was bad enough on Saturday morning that we got to relax in the lodge in front of open fires, with irish coffee [the alcoholic content was loudly announced, much to Jodie's embarrassment]. In the afternoon, the snowfall started, which capped off a beautiful weekend.

Jodie was a little concerned about the weather conditions for driving. I think I lost count of the people she had talked to about ice on the road [granted, she didn't start all those conversations] before we went. Of course, with the low temperature and snowfall, those concerns happened to be warranted as we left on the Sunday morning. It was a lovely sunny day, but slow going until we hit Sheffield where the road surface could get a little of the sun. Oscar handled admirably - despite the ice there was only one little slip - and I was extremely thankful for the all wheel drive.

My new favourite Web Comic: XKCD

No post recently... even though I've got LOTS of stories and photos! After Andrew, Melissa and Hayden left, Jodie and I were struck down by a mysterious illness that knocked me flat for several days [Jodie is a trooper]. We closed for a few days so as not to infect the general public - and even though we're coming good - the last few days of guests has been a bit of a struggle. Energy levels are sub-optimal and my sinuses are just starting to feel as though they won't explode. Too much information? Fair enough.

Andrew Williams got me onto a web comic that has finally bested Penny Arcade in the number of times I feel the urge to forward the comic to my friends who know me well. This is usually when I identify with the comic so much, that I laugh as much at the memories I recall, as at the comic itself.

So here it is: XKCD . All of the Mudges will relate to this comic, as we used to have regular multiplayer MarioKart matches! William will be able to substitute a few titles in there, in particular Doom / Doom 2 deathmatch sessions. Anyone who has joined in a LAN session will also know.

Joys of remote, tripod photography

The photo is from our trip to Cradle Mountain... I'm enthusiastically trying to get the camera to take a photo with the remote, and finally had some luck!

We've been busy since we've been back from the trip, not so much with guests, but with a visit from Andrew, Melissa and Hayden! I'll blog about that soon, and hopefully we'll get out surfing tomorrow!

Engaged, Getting Married and Honeymoon

Lots of you already know that Jodie and I are engaged! Some of you should even have invitations to the wedding by now. Even though the wedding isn't until September, we just got back from our honeymoon this afternoon! Since we will be coming up to our second peak season after our wedding, we won't have time to take a break until next year, so we had our honeymoon early.

We have had a magical weekend at Cradle Mountain Lodge, including snow falling, just as Jodie wished and I promised. It was the most inspiring and relaxing time away and we have come home more excited than ever about the commitment we have made to each other. Our wedding is a chance to share our love and enjoy the ceremony with all the people in our lives, but we've already started our lives together with a view to forever.

Jodie finally has an engagement ring to wear after this weekend! It is one of the diamond ring keepers that will sit either side of her wedding ring. We were able to pick up our rings from Hobart last week, and they captured our design flawlessly. The rings have a celtic knot pattern that means infinity or eternity, and I'll post the design once I can do it justice.

I'm expecting several comments on this post that include the words 'marriage is forever', since I've hounded all my best friends on the subject prior to them tying the knot. So I've got in first. Read again from the top [especially the bit about infinity].

We'll post some photos from the trip a bit later on too!

Trip to Launceston

20070618_Launceston_Trip

On Monday, Jodie and I took a quick trip up to Launceston to meet some of the members of BBBAT - Bed & Breakfast and Boutique Accomodation of Tasmania. We stayed overnight at Edenholme Grange, a lovely Victorian home with a great view of Launceston and one of the member properties of BBBAT. It was great to meet some of the BBBAT members over pizza, and even catch up with some properties close to us on the East Coast!

The following day we decided to take the long way home, and experience the north east coast. The weather wasn't great, but sunny patches allowed us to stretch our legs occasionally - and we even saw a rainbow! The trip filled in a last major gap in our local knowledge, having not driven north through St Helens before, but was enough to make sure we head back that way and really get to know the area.

While we had to get back for guests, Jodie convinced me to turn north at St Helens to take a look at Binnalong Bay. What an inspired decision. We'll post more photos later, when we get appropriate sun to reveal it's spectacular coastline - but we did find a fantastic place for lunch! Angasi is a restaurant with a fantastic location above the bay and terrific food. We already intend to get back there for an overnight stay, and dinner. Hopefully the surf will be up too!

Freycinet Walk with Frances and Catriona

20070209_Freycinet_National_Park_walk

When Frances and Catriona came to visit in February, we were able to get in a full 5 1/2 hour walk in Freycinet National park. We walked up to the Wineglass Bay lookout, down to Wineglass bay, across to Hazards beach, and then back along the coast to the start. It was great to get down and experience both pristine beaches - both of which warranted more exploring than we had time for. Frances and Catriona are both very fit, and I could have left the 70-200mm lens behind...

I've added a web album, to head there, click on the picture above.

Fast Boil Kettle

On the recent long weekend, we again tied the record for the most full cooked breakfasts. We had a full house with 13 guests, so we had a look at beating the old one. While two people declined a cooked breakfast, we had our first double breakfast, serving both pancakes and bacon and eggs to a hungry and happy guest to equal the record.

We currently operate with two kettles in the big kitchen, both with a 1.8L capacity. We have removed the slowest kettle from the kitchen, but would love to have even quicker ones! Our own personal kettle can boil [from room temperature] 1.5L of water in 3:41. The two in the big kitchen take 4:37 and 4:42 - the slowest one took more than 5 minutes!

If you know of, or have a kettle that can boil 1.5L of water in close to 3 minutes or under, we would love to get a make and model from you! If you do go to the trouble of experimenting with your own kettle, make sure you post your time in the comments...

Cameron vs. Schouten Beach: Winter Edition

Today, after a busy weekend, we were able to get down to the beach... but only one of us swam. Understandable, since only one of us has a new winter wet suit! The water was very, very cold, but the wetsuit was wonderful, and I only had to get used to my feet being frozen before I could really enjoy the water.


We have been lighting the fire in the big house every night for our guests, and I'm trying to get into this whole 'winter' thing. We had a minimum of 0 degrees the other night... which is 4 degress off the RECORD minimum for June in Swansea, of -4. Some days don't even make it into the teens. Still, it's nice to get out and chop some wood with my new Axe, after Jodie had a close look at the one I was using. I thought it was going to last another season, but the handle was starting to break apart. After the last exciting episode with wood chopping accidents, Jodie explained that it made fiscal sense [appealing to the right [left] side of my brain] that we avoid another trip to the emergency room.


I'm finally out of the water, and I'm really, really WARM! As small as the waves are, I'd prefer to mess about in them rather than try for some longer distance swiming.

While Jodie was away, I literally let my hair down - but I don't think it will last too much longer.

Jodie's Back!

Jodie has been back for a week now, and I've been sooooo glad to have her back.

We have had a couple of days off this week, which meant we got to have a couple of sleep ins, and special breakfasts... pancakes and huevos rancheros! We've had a couple of special dinners too, including Jodie's favourite curry for her return, pizza nite(tm) with our bread maker making fresh pizza dough, and Beef Wellington last night. Jodie's culinary repertoire never ceases to amaze me, and beef wellington is my new favourite [having never had it before!]. I can't wait for our next pizza nite(tm)! I'm hoping to have them often enough to avoid making a MASSIVE 'the lot', just because you can. Next on the list is BBQ Chicken and Mushroom. I think Jodie is going to do something with tuna...

We have a full house tonight, since it's a long weekend here, and have had the fire going all afternoon, which is a favourite with the guests.

Plasma [vs LCD] Propaganda

Today, I received several pieces of propaganda with this morning's newspaper. Naturally I was outraged by perhaps the least significant: Panasonic's 'discussion' on LCD vs. Plasma. You can check out their balanced approach to the subject at: www.whychooseplasma.com.au

First up, the conclusion is that if you want a 'small' [81cm or less] TV for 'personal' viewing, then LCD is cool. Bigger than that, Panasonic recommends plasma. Did you already guess that from their URL?

I've been following the LCD vs. Plasma debate since they were both on the scene. The last TV I bought was 10 years ago... and 3 PCs later [including a change of monitor], I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for the cost of an LCD or plasma represent a bang for buck upgrade over a 51cm CRT screen [We actually watch Jodie's [yes I know - our] 68cm TV of a similar vintage now].

So back to Panasonic. Here are the problems I have with the propaganda, in BEr.g's guide to [somewhat] credible argument.

Don't debunk myths about your view while propagating myths about others. I think they have over stated the advantage plasma has in 'reproducing fast moving images' and 'producing blacker blacks'.

Don't defend a fault with a definition of the fault. Burn in 'will only happen under the highly rare condition that a high contrast image is continuously displayed for a very long time'. Indeed. That's exactly the problem.

You won't win over your audience by assuming they are idiots. 'Remember, you watch TV at home not in a store'.

Don't use surveys when it can't possibly contribute to your argument. I don't care at all what 70% of Australians think about the colour reproduction of the two technologies. I don't watch TV with their eyes, brain and nervous system!

My main issue with plasma is that screens have always been much lower resolution. Finally however, there is a 1080p model. It's HUGE though [165cm] and priced to kill.

So rather than rant about LCD, I'd like to hear from all of you [well, those of you prepared to write a well reasoned argument]. I would like to get a 1080p capable TV, but keep in mind...

• most video I currently watch is in the order of 512x384, 624x352 or 720x480 and somewhat compressed
• Swansea doesn't have standard let alone high definition digital TV
  
• I have regular DVDs too

However

• Swansea should get SD and HD TV later this year!
• We have the capability of watching movies on blu-ray discs [if we had any]
• I would like to hook a PC up to it as well [so many applications]

What should I be looking and waiting for?

City of Adelaide Lorient Trip on YouTube

As many a loyal reader will know - blogging took off for me on a trip to France with City of Adelaide for the Festival Interceltique.

Well, the video above made it onto YouTube, and I found it today at the City of Adelaide Pipe Band website. The band's site is worth checking out. There are photo galleries, a couple of tunes and merchandise.

You might even recognise someone in the video... I might be even game to tell the story about how lucky I was to make it in to this video at some point... but it still might be a little too soon...

Epiphany

I had another big day. I had two rooms of guests, which turned out to be 5 breakfasts, since someone changed their minds about the pancakes... They weren't so nice by the time I got to [try and] eat them 2 hours later. After a 10ish checkout I was ready to do the rooms. I didn't put my lunch in the microwave until 1300... so there is definitely something about the way Jodie and I do the rooms together that makes it much more efficent. It doesn't feel like twice as much work while Jodie is away... it's more like three times as much!

My afternoon was spent ironing table cloths, reseting the dining room, trimming 5kg of bacon [I portioned the 4kg of sausages yesterday], washing, drying, dishes, diswasher, greeting guests, lighting [and piling wood on] the fire. By the time I had that under control that it was about 1800 - and time to nuke the curry!

It was during this, that I realised why running a B&B is so much fun! It's because I get to do it all with Jodie. We spend most of the time talking, laughing and providing much needed comic relief to one another. When things go awry in the kitchen and I'm by myself - I don't even swear - since there is no one to hear it [I know you'll apreciate that, honey]. When there's a 'mess' in the bathrooms, at least I can make Jodie laugh [and / or squirm] by describing it in great detail. Nothing much is too linear when we work as a team - if one of us is behind in our usual list of tasks, the other pitches in, so I get constantly surprised when things are just done. When it's time for a break, I'm either brought a coffee [luxury], or I get to make one for Jodie [a little present]. Making a coffee for myself just seems mundane.

Now it's off to bed. I've already made the fruit salad this afternoon, and pancake batter is at the ready, so I'm prepared for hopefully four breakfasts tomorrow.

Jodie, where for art thou?

If you guessed Adelaide, you'd be right. After a rigorous training and assessment program, I have been assessed as competent in every aspect of running Schouten House. So Jodie is able to have a couple of weeks in Adelaide while I run the show here.

Tonight I've got two rooms of guests, so tomorrow will be a full test of how I'll cope. Not that I haven't done it before. While Jodie was unwell, I looked after one room of guests single handed... So my assessment included thing like making beds, doing washing [both washing machine and dryer]. Most other things we tend to share anyway.

The biggest challenge will be breakfast service. We usually take turns in 1) taking orders, making and serving drinks, and serving breakfast and 2) cooking breakfasts. We have it on good authority that one person should be able to cope with 3 rooms by themselves - so 2 shouldn't be a problem.

Today was a busy day of preparation for me. It's getting cold, so chopping firewood was a must. Vacuuming is still rewarding, although the novelty has worn off. I baked shortbread, and had it out of the oven just in time for coffee for one set of guests. Yesterday I cooked mung bean soup, and today was a new Rogan Josh curry. With 3 cups of beans and 2kg of lamb respectively and an open 2.95kg tin of baked beans, I'm set for food for the next little bit. We also froze a bunch of meals recently so the freezer is stocked too. I managed to have the Rogan Josh simmering early so it had about 6 hours of slow burn. Delicious.

Both George Henry and Irving Norman have been keeping me company, and I think they miss Jodie almost as much as I do. It has just occurred to me that I think talking to cats maybe weirder than talking to myself. At least they seem to agree with me more often than I do. Just to put your mind at rest Jodie, I've given them their treat, checked their water, food and ensured that their air-look security system has not been breached.

Andrew's Visit

At the end of April, Andrew came to visit! He brought his new DSLR, which can be seen above. What fun, when 2/3 of your party are holding digital cameras. Not all of the photos need be posted here.


We found a bridge across 'Old Man Creek' at Mayfield beach, after it was mentioned at our afternoon tea for heritage week [more about that later]. The colonial brick work was fascinating.


Mayfield beach is usually teaming with campers and surfers in warmer months but we don't know if the blue bottles are usually so prevalant. I can't wait to go back on a sunny day when the surf's up.


Andrew was a fantastic help with our afternoon tea preparations, and even helped out with cleaning rooms! Jodie was very impressed with his ability to follow instructions, and wanted to keep him on. The orange zest on the chocolate truffle tarts was just to die for, and meticulously placed.

We are both looking forward to Andrew, Mel and Hayden visiting later in the year, and catching some serious waves!

To finish off, a quick shout out to Chris, Teressa and Isaac who came for a quick visit on the same weekend. We'll be sending you some photos soon!

Pancakes

Pancakes! Pancakes are becoming something of an attraction for our guests at breakfast.

Ordering Pancakes

Since the pancakes are a work of art, and prefer to sit, in batter form for 20 minutes before being cooked, we ask guests to order them the night before.... leading to some disapointed guests in the morning, who suffer from a common human trait - failing to read all the information available... and it's not fine print. We make sure people know they can have pancakes... but they'll have to wait. I've even started mentioning the pancakes at check in, just in case.

Size of Pancakes

I prefer my pancakes big! Over time, I've come to realise that many of our guests perfer a much smaller serving of pancakes. The difference in size is demonstrated in the photo above. My serving is on the right! For scale, note that these are 12" dinner plates!

Variations

By far the most popular pancake creation is pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, which I also fell in love with when Jodie introduced me to it. We serve real maple syrup with our pancakes, and were lucky enough to find somewhere where we could get it in a 4L bottle. We also offer it with maple syrup and cream, and even fresh berries when we have them available. On one of the many mornings I have spent making breakfast in bed for Jodie, I was struck with inspiration. Nigella [who's pancake recipe we use] suggested that you can bombard [my word] the uncooked side of the pancake with blueberries before flipping it over. Since I knew about Jodie's love of blueberries [another thing she introduced me too] I thought it would be an extra special breakfast... if only the suggestion hadn't come from another woman! Blueberry pancakes are now one of our favourite sleepy morning breakfasts.

Accolades

Our pancakes have been mentioned quite a few times in our guest book. The other breakfasts don't usually get a mention over and above ' breakfast', however we do get a kick out of the gasps, laughter and smiles when we bring out a breafast that we've had trouble fitting onto the plate [which can happen when you order eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans].

Surf Lesson

Today, I had part one of my birthday present from Jodie - a one on one surf lesson at Clifton Beach with coach Pat! As you can see, the use of a wetsuit was included with the lesson. It fit like a glove and was nice and warm. Essential, since the water was about 14 degrees.


Coach Pat gave me a thorough grounding in 'Surf Theory' before heading into the water, and explained that lots of experience is the key to 'reading' a beach.

This one isn't exactly a monster wave, but it was a great first step in getting on the board, and a exhausting work out to boot.

I was ecstatic to get up on the board, for however brief a time.


Wiping out was also awesome fun.

We had a perfect day for it, and finished off with a wonderful lunch at Barilla Bay before returning home to greet guests [who are from Queensland and enjoying port beside an open fire]. All in a day's work!

Sunset

Well, I haven't posted since about this time last month. So there's an even bigger backlog of things I'd like to post, like really old, but exciting news everyone should already know. Heritage week went really well, and we had Andrew come and visit... and then had a little busier end to the peak season than we expected.... and...

I thought I should get our BAS done before I began posting it all... For those of you that don't know - BAS stands for Business Activity Statement. Which requires us to be up to date with our paperwork for the quarter [... so to the end of March], so we can report on GST [Goods and Services Tax]. Since the January - March quarter is in our peak season, we made a profit, so had to hand over some cash. It's OK... I believe in paying my taxes.

Now, some of you that know all about BASs might be thinking, 'aren't you late to be doing that in May?' Well yes... but we did it online, so got a two week extension to lodge and pay. To which you might say, 'I didn't know about that'. Well, apparently neither do the people on the ATO helpdesk! One guy knew about but didn't think that the ATO advertised it. So I sent them the letter we got from the ATO advertising it, which you can read here. Seriously... check it out.

The problem is that there is no indication during this extended lodging process that actually tells you that you've got the extension. I was even told that we couldn't lodge online, because we weren't registered to lodge online in our 'file'. However, once we lodged online our 'file' would be updated to say that we could lodge online. I'm paraphrasing... but it's almost word for word... two sentences, one after the other.

So we got that out the way. We've just had a few quiet days, so we've had some sleep ins, some gourmet breakfasts we've cooked for each other, and burned through that rest XP [see WoW posts].

The photo is of a sunset from our front door yesterday that Jodie and I caught at 1722. Yes, it's getting darker and colder, so I'd better get chopping some firewood too.

Swansea Heritage Week

I've just updated the Schouten House website with a news section, since we have some events coming up next week. Swansea is hosting a Heritage Week, and Jodie and I are very excited to be a part of it all. The programme is linked from the news page, but you can find it here too.

A snip from the news page to let you know what we'll be up to:

• Cameron will be playing bagpipes during the opening ceremony at 2pm on Saturday 21st April at the Jubilee Beach amphitheatre.
• Grannie Rhodes will be performing at Schouten House at 6pm on Anzac Day. Our guests on that night are invited to attend as part of their accomodation package. Drinks and nibbles will be provided.
• On Friday 27th April, a history walk culminates with an afternoon tea at Schouten House.

If you'd like to know more about Grannie Rhodes, head over to Miriam's Mulberry Cottage website.

As always, I would love it if the tech savvy of you could give the site a browser compatibility test and let me know about any issues.

Busy Easter

We are having a busy Easter, with the house full of guests. This morning, we broke the record for most cooked breakfasts! With a full house of twelve people, we finally had everyone opt for a full cooked breakfast. I have to thank Jodie for this record... firstly, because it was her turn to cook, but she let me do it for a shot at the record. Secondly, because she was wonderful to work with - keeping all the guests happy, and still having time to help out with beating eggs, and expert toasting duties.

Here are some stats for this morning's effort:

• Start cooking at 0815, and finish cooking before 0915 [that's me just plating up the last breakfast in the picture]. That's one breakfast every five minutes.
  
• 31 eggs used [lots of people opted for scrambled eggs]
• 8 serves of mushrooms
• 7 serves of tomato
• [only] 14 rashes of bacon [I think it's usually a higher percentage]
• 6 sausages [a good effort there]
• no baked beans, pancakes, smoked salmon

We've got a full house tonight as well, so we'll see if Jodie gets as many orders. I think now that it's getting into winter, the full cooked breakfasts are getting more popular. In summer, we had people cleaning up our fresh fruit salad instead.

After Easter, things will wind down a little as we get towards the end of the peak season for Tasmanian tourism. The year, Swansea is running a program for Heritage week, and we are hoping to attract some people for that, including a couple of events at Schouten House... stay tuned for more details soon [and on the Schouten House website].

PC Reinstall

Today, I finally got around to formatting and reinstalling my PC, after much backing up. I think a windows update had its way with the registry, and it wasn't the same afterwards.

I was looking forward to getting RAID 0 working... but even though I managed to get the drivers loaded, the partitions formatted, it wouldn't even make it all the way through a windows XP install. I wrote some haikus that might tell the story.

Nvidia shame
Asus let me down again
Raid not working now

After the initial jubilation [getting the drivers loaded, formatting neat partitions] and then frustration, I gave up... but it had its own set of problems.

Master boot record
Raid setup molested you
Windows never loads

At some point further along...

Haiku Therapy
Anxiety fades away
Stupid computer

Now it's all said and done, with most of the business critical applications loaded and tested...

Mug of camomile
I am getting sleepy now
Windows still loading

There's nothing quite like a clean install. It feels stable. It goes faster. I will enjoy it all the more after some sleep!

Tsunami warning

Yesterday, it was a little surreal to get a Tsunami warning after having a rare sleep in. It was mostly surreal because I checked my inbox at about the time it was supposed to hit...

We certainly couldn't see any activity on the water, and the Flotilla Commander of our Volunteer Coast Guard didn't seem to be too worried... so we relaxed a little bit. That didn't stop us, however, from Skyping into Victoria to tell Andrew and Mel the news [which by that stage was old].

I've posted the alert here... just for interest's sake. I particularly like the article about why you can't surf a Tsunami, since that was my very first thought.

World of Warcraft: Ninja vs Clepto

Yes, yes... it's time for another World of Warcraft post! Above is a photo of Borgthor, my human warrior in armour and with weapons that he made himself using his professions: mining and blacksmithing. Since then I've been upgrading and I've even got myself a helm.

The main reason for the post is just to publicly document a proposal from our guild to the WoW universe that I'm very enthusiastic about. Change the common usage of the word ninja to clepto. Let me explain [after a good 5 minutes of reading the avid debates about what constitutes a ninja]. Calling someone a ninja in WoW implies that they have stolen something that you've earned, or have robbed a group of a valuable item they don't actually need.

I need more explanation and an example. This is going to be hard going for those of you that don't care. In WoW, you can team up with other players, go adventuring and get loot! You are supposed to share that loot. The game mechanics allow for a random distribution of valuable items, with an option for a player to nominate that they NEEDS a specific item. If you elect need, and you don't actually need it... you are a ninja.

Another example. If you allow Borgthor to kill every last Ogre, while he's specifically on his way to the iron deposit [which he needs to increase his skill in mining [so he can learnt to smelt steel]] and then sneak in behind him and mine the iron... and then after being told that I was after that iron vein and one around the corner too, let Borgthor get attacked by another Ogre so you could go get that as well... you are a ninja.

Anyway... so make a long story... end... Ninjas are cool. They shouldn't have their names tarnished by being used in vain. So the term should now be Clepto, as suggested by Wraithenei of guild The Ancients on the Dath'Remar server. At the time of suggestion, each of the guild members online told general chat about the change... My responses ranged from 'k' to 'Now you have to do that in every zone, on every server and you might have a chance... and then tell everyone that is currently offline later'. I remain optimistic. We only have to convince about 8.5 million other subscribers...

In other news... Jodie has a night elf druid character, and has taken to the game as much as I have. Jondayla's professions are helbalism and alchemy, which is nice, since Borgthor gets potions in the mail. I've also created a second character that is a night elf rogue, who's into tailoring and plans on engineering.

Birthday Food

Above are the spicy lamb shanks [yes, that's plural] that Jodie made me for my Birthday feast. You can't see the mountain of mashed potato that is propping them up, but that was yummy too. Jodie didn't seem to grasp that picking each one up and extracting every delicious morsel with fingers and teeth was a compliment for the chef. It even made sure that there was some left overs for the next day!

Below is the last stage of the blini cooking process. five hour investment [courtesy of a Roux brother's recipe] from first introducing the yeast to the base ingredients, to the cooking you see here.

Here are the blinis dressed with creme fraiche and salmon roe. They disappeared fast, washed down with a Watervale reisling.

The menu was completely my design, after Jodie offered to make 'anything I wanted'. Giving me choice isn't always a good idea, as I then proceeded to painfully extract suggestions from her day after day...

Yesterday was our first night without guests in a while, so we got to enjoy a sleep in today. Back to reality now, and we'd better go and get the bread on for the morning.

My Birthday, my b-b-b-Birthday

Today is my birthday. I have had a wonderful day.

Firstly, after no days off this month, I got a sleep in! Jodie took care of the guests, brought me coffee in bed, and then a full cooked breakfast. That means, poached eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomato, sausage... and there was no room on the plate for baked beans.

Then I got to lie in bed with the laptop, and get some birthday wished online... and play some more World of Warcraft... Of course, more coffee was delivered. Yum.

A quick interlude with some room cleaning, done in record time so we could get out to Spikey beach for a picnic. As you can see from the picture above, it was a perfect day, and very relaxing on the beach in the middle of a work day. We could have stayed there the whole day, but alas... duty called. Jodie even organised some dive bombing birds to perform, of a different species than usual [so I'm not sure if she actually taught them the trick]. Now that's attention to detail!

I had a fantastic dinner [maybe photos later]. Jodie made blinis with creme fraiche [Jodie will help with spelling later] and salmon roe. To follow, we had spicy lamb shanks, with mashed potato and green beans. After completely over indulging, we feasted on Robyn's clinkers, and turkish delights, which arrived in the mail today!

For our evening entertainment, we watched The Illusionist. I loved the movie, and as always, Edward Norton is superb!

Thanks to everyone who rang, text messaged, emailed [had a chat online], or sent a card. A special thanks to Jodie for completely spoiling me and finding me the perfect present[s]. I've had a fantastic day, and it's reality will colour my glasses even more rose coloured for weeks and months to come.

Miscellany

Check out this awesome photo that Jodie took of some kind of insect. We really don't know what it is, but the angle of the photo, and the legs resting on the glass makes for a great effect.

Some quick miscellany from our first six months at Schouten House:

• Our latest check in: 2300 [they let us know in advance, so it was just more computer time]
  
• Our earliest check in: 1100 [please note, we prefer between 1400 - 2100]
• Our earliest breakfast: 0630 [very keen cyclists]
• We've had more than one lot of guests MISS breakfast altogether...
• Our longest run, fully booked: 18 days
• Our longest run without a day off: I think it's currently running at 21 days
• Most full cooked breakfasts cooked in a morning: 11 [Jodie holds this record]
• Fastest cooked breakfast service: not sure... I'm just trying to come up with something so I can get a record in the kitchen...
  

Well, that will do for now... if anyone else would like to ask about other metrics, please let me know... If Jodie gives in to my obessive compulsive disorder, I'm sure there are lots of other things we could start recording...

Cressy Beach

On Sunday, after cleaning the rooms, Jodie and I took a quick trip to Cressy beach to check out the beach and the surf. The beach looked stunning, and much to my surprise, the waves really picked up while we were down there.

The water was a fantastic crystal clear green, and the surf started to get rougher as we waded out from the sand. Jodie really felt the difference in power between Cressy and Schouten beaches, and ended up getting bowled over by some of the more severe waves. I was very excited, because I caught my first 'real' waves since being in Tassie, after getting excited over some little 'pretend' ones I caught a couple of feet from the shore at Schouten beach. Even a couple of boogie borders in wetsuits came in to catch some waves.

In the picture below, you just might make out my head in the wave in front of Schouten Island. I don't think I've had that much fun body surfing since I was at Dee Why beach in Sydney. So after going for a 'quick trip', we ended up getting back a little later than planned to begin preparations for curry nite(tm).

Six Months at Schouten House

On Thursday last week [15/03/2007], Jodie and I celebrated our first six months at Schouten House. The photo above is of a timely gift of freshly caught Bream that another neighbour gave us. Fresh local seafood made the occasion all the more special. Tonight we had some flathead that was caught this morning [along with home grown tomatoes [and our very own rocket]]. We are getting spoilt!

It's been six months of sun, sea, breath taking scenery, fantastic food, great neighbours, new friends and lots of hard work. We've loved every minute of it, and are looking forward to the next six months. We've met some wonderful people and learned something new about the business [and the business of being in business] every day. If only we could have a sleep in...

Ordinarily, I would furnish the blog with lots of lists, statistics and interesting [at least I find them interesting] facts accumulated over the last six months. However, we haven't had a day off so far in March, so I would do the task justice. I'll have a think though, and put some down in future posts.

There's got to be a downside, Fatty

Just a quick rant about one of my incorrect assumptions about the consequences of embarking on a new small business adventure. I'm not talking about the obvious misconceptions, like that running a small business is more work that you imagined [regardless of what your expectations were]. I'm not talking about the things that you don't like so much, but knew exactly what you were getting into... like cleaning toilets. After my short stint as a cleaner, if there is anything a guest can do over a couple of days that comes even close to a couple of those clients - I'll think it's divine intervention directing me away the service industry.

I'm talking about my weight. I thought that with a more physical job, I'd easily be able to manage my weight, and get to enjoy lots of treats too. It turns out that testing everything we've ever served to guests, doing some serious quality assurance and having lots of things to celebrate over the last six months, has kept my weight in 3 digits - yes... more than 100kg.

Now, I know some people will say... but Cameron, you aren't fat. Well, that's very kind of you, but you are wrong. If not aesthetically, then medically.

My BMI (body mass index) is over 27. The healthy range is 18.5 - 25. After explaining that... I've heard: 'but Cameron, you are so tall'. To which a swift kick in the keister would have been my justifiable response. The only other variable in the BMI formula is height. Some of you might read the wikipedia page on BMI and lament about it's limitations. Yes, BMI doesn't tell you how much fat you have... It's still a useful measure since my knees agree that 100kg is too much to carry around.

If you still aren't convinced, then that's where body fat scales come in. Using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis [running a electrical current through the body] it can tell me my body fat percentage. So that's too high as well, despite the being just inside 'acceptable' range according to the American Council on Exercise [the Australian government still uses BMI to define obesity]. I also miss having William's newer model Tanita scales, which always gave me a lower result.

So hopefully we are all on the same page, and you are urging me to loose some weight. That's again... very nice of you. Well, I am well on my way. For the first time in about two years, I'm below that 100kg mark, and observing the simple, simple weight loss rule... energy spent > energy consumed = loose weight. I'm also enjoying not being 'fatty fat fat fat, fat fat, fat fat'.

Great Tasmanian Bike Ride and JAG Club

On Saint Valentine's Day, Swansea was host to the Great Tasmanian Bike Ride, and we had four rooms full of cyclists, and had the other rooms taken as well. I think it was our most dynamic and delightful groups of guests we have had yet. We had a full house, so it was lots of work, but when you experience people enjoying their time in Tassy so much, it's rewarding. One of our guests, fearing that I'd be much too busy to concentrated on Valentine's Day, gave me a rose, to give to Jodie!

For the bike ride, there were about 1200 riders, and a self contained city that made their way down the East Coast of Tasmania. I was impressed with the exercise in logistics, and that the site was completely packed away except for a rubbish pick up [LOTS of wheelie bins] by the time we got to poke our heads outside after breakfast service. The ride had it's own radio station, newspaper, cinema and pizza oven [and other hot meals]. Different entertainment was organised each night, including speed dating in Swansea on Valentine's day.

We had the JAG club a few days later, on their tour through Tasmania. It was certainly the best looking car park we've had since we've been here [which normally sees more than it's fair share of rental cars].

Australasian Ganets

On 15th February, after I thought they might not come back, Jodie and I were treated to a feeding display, by a bird that's almost knocked the Albatross from the top spot on my favourite birds list. The Australasian Ganet is a fantastic fisher that dive bombs the ocean for fish, as seen below!

Approaching...

Entering the water...

and splash!

and then off to get the next one...


... to the next school of fish!