Darwin's Waterfront

5 years back when I arrived, I recall the census reporting a population of just 100,000 for the Northern Territory (this includes Alice Springs and remote). Meaning; there's a lot less in Darwin. Houses were still pretty cheap then, you could get a land and home package for $250k.
Not anymore. Populations almost doubled and it was only befitting that we had a convention centre to match. National conferences were always held down South as there wasn't a location that could accommodate such a large crowd. Next year, we're finally having the National Dietitians Conference up here in Darwin for the first time

Apparently the State government put aside $500k for the celebrations with 2 days of spectacular fireworks. Some contested the splurge who thought the money could be better spent.

Happy Snaps...

The Kid in me

Sis is gonna kill me for this, but I must say, the intention was there. I was to buy something for my nephew and 2 niece. But sometimes I wonder if I'm buying what I want instead. Am sure David (my nephew) would have been happy with a brand new train but no, not after I laid my eyes on the most elaborate (and expensive) train set!
And with that, I pretty much blew the budget. Then again, I'm a 'boy' person. I can wrestle, tickle, poke and play rough with my nephew, but obviously, my niece dun enjoy that..ha.

Did she ever feel secure?

The Dry Season: cool and crisp weather, sky's crystal blue. Time to enjoy a little good ol' nature. Went back to Kakadu National Park for some ideas on my parents itinerary but I doubt we'll be spending much time here as mum's not the sit by the camp fire type. Gosh, we havent even got to the toilets yet...
Anyway, back to the post. I thought I got asked a question that sounded awfully familiar.
Gina: "Does your girlfriend ever feel secure?"
Me: "Why?"
Gina: "Well, you seem to know more Taiwanese backpackers than us (backpackers). And they're all girls."
First, let me set things straight. Perhaps guys are more focused on careers, that the thought of resigning from full time employment for at least a year to travel is a huge ask thus most of the backpackers are females.
Second, (not most but) all my colleagues are females.
So why am I single? Perhaps I'm used and contented with single life, perhaps I dun see myself in Darwin for the long haul. But one thing did come out of that conversation, its definitely harder getting to know people once you leave Uni and start working, cos its an extra effort that on days you'd rather sit back and relax in front of the telly.

Top: Was suppose to be rock art at Ubir but I think the camera was focused on other art.

Glenti 2008

The annual Glenti or Greek Festival here in Darwin. All my Greek favourites from Yiros to fried Octopus and short bread to vanilla slices over the weekend.
Darwin only has a population of 200 thousand. If we take out the remote population, and a turn out of 35 thousand is expected, it pretty much a huge part of town. Thats a good crowd.

Back from Brisbane

Was in Brisbane the previous 2 wks doing a course looking at the management of Type 1 Diabetes. But what I really do enjoy is the travel allowance that come with it. Its what I look forward to everyday when I'm on course.
You see, even though there's a limit, I am quite happy with cereals for breakfast in my hotel room and perhaps a quick sandwich at the hospital cafeteria or the bakery across the street. Which leaves me with quite a bit of budget come dinner. My daily routine has been grabbing a boost juice at the end of the day and trawling through the restuarants on SouthBank and in the City. I had been having a different cuisine everyday Chinese, Greek, Italian, Korean... with a few fine dining thrown in here and there. I can totally see how hard it would be for Steph to resist all these choices and good food (especially when the boss pays the tab). Took a couple of days after for some R&R and went for a day trip to the Lamington National Park.

Paranoia

My housemate has this thing about the flat burning down. For me, I've got an obsession with security. And trust me, if I had the choice, I would never have gotten the flat on the ground level. I'm probably one of the few people who would pay $600+ for a 'flyscreen' door, the only difference is that the mesh is stainless steel, and you cannot lift it off the rails. I dun wanna have to close the sliding doors everytime I'm gonna take a shower.

Perhaps its also the fact that we've had someone broke into our place in Singapore previously. When the cops came and asked what was missing, we noticed that the burglar had actually taken something from upstairs. Meaning he actually came in, and ventured upstairs when we were sleeping. Frankly, I'd hate to walk into one, if I ever had to take a leak middle of the night. Anyway, Mike introduced me to a torchlight, Sure Fire. It's one used by police/tactical forces and is meant to blind assilants with its powerful rays; which I sleep with under my pillow!! (there goes my element of surprise).
I was doing the sheets this week and I noticed that the washing machine was more noisy than usual. As I started taking the sheets out, I realised that the torch was in there. When I opened it, it was bone dry inside and still works.

Any torch that has batteries with a shelf life of 10 years, can blind would be burglars, used for my camping and is able to go thru a whole washing machine cycle; thats where I'd put my money.

P.S. Its slightly smaller than the size of my palm so will fit nicely into any handbags ;)

Double Barrrel

Double barrel, triple volume, thats the claim and a pump that even Jeanie will like. For anyone pumping up tires you would know that for mountain bike, you pump it up to 40-60psi (depending on the tires), for racers (110-120psi).
Once you start getting into these ranges, you start to use your body weight to try and squeeze in that extra bit (and here's where Jeanie and even myself hate doing). That last extra bit.
For racing tubular tires, I cant even begin to imagine when we have to get it up to 220psi. Here's perhaps the key to the pump. 3 settings. Once you flick it to the 200psi setting, it somehows engages different chambers, cos its very easy and smooth. You cant get as much volume in but the needle on the guage moves. Sort of like dropping gears on a bike to climb up a hill.

P.S Mike, whats the view on Tufo's racing tubular clinchers (C3 lite, 135g)