Category: Canberra

Down in Canberra for a few days to introduce some extra people to the project I am working on. After their first day today I am sure the smiles on their faces was bordering on insanity.

During the last 6 months on and off down in Canberra it has been an interesting roller coaster or success and frustration. The last few months however have been difficult due to the shear amount of work and the complexity of the dependencies.

To assist me and help replace the other software Architect that is leaving the project, we have started two extra people from Brisbane in Canberra on this project. After their first day today I am sure the smiles on their faces was bordering on insanity.

We have 5 streams of (relatively) independent work that needs to be performed to complete this particular job. This includes hardware purchases, software installs, configuration, testing and the co-ordination of approximately 6 different groups. Well to stop me from having a break-down we got the other guys involved.

Now I have worked with these guys on and off for about 5 years and feel a little sorry for them, this work will consume all they have and more.

Well I will keep you informed.

Well I am back in Canberra for work again. This time however my camera is at home so you won’t be getting pretty pictures of this fair city

The camera is being put to good use taking photos of my kids, my youngest starts grade one this week.

I will also be “Playing” with the site over the next week or so. I am hoping to improve the feedback, links and style sheets as well as creating a blog entry screen. You see I love playing with the code behind the scenes. This is if I can stop playing Hit the Pengiun

Rain, rain… rain some more. Last night around 7:30pm thunderstorms rolled through Canberra.

Last night a bank of thunderstorms rolled through Canberra, bringing some welcome rain to this parched region.

It was very nice to hear the rain falling on the roof and splashing against the window pane. The gentle white noise broken by the occasional roll of thunder in the distance. The clouds were lit by flashes of lightning, distorted through the water trapped on the window and screen. It reminded me so much of the summer thunderstorms that came every year to my home town Roma (western Queensland, not Italy).

My day dreaming was interrupted by a rhythmic, Plop, Plop, Plop….
Well looks like the drain in the patio on the apartment above has a problem! Water was dripping out of the light fitting and onto the magazines on the coffee table. At least they were not my magazines but some Vogue ones provided by the Hotel.
By the time I had got a plastic container and shoved a tea towel in it (to stop the Plunk, Plunk into the plastic), the storms had passed.

I love the air after a thunderstorm, it is fresh, clean and cool.

Now all Canberra needs is another 10 of these over the next month and the drought might be broken.

On Saturday I wandered around the Kingston area of Canberra, where I am staying. Taking photos of the park, lake, trees and a very nice Greek Orthodox church. You have seen some of the shots in my Sky photos, and more will appear soon.

I was dragged against my better judgement into a computer swap meet. So I parted with my $2.50 and entered the old bus depot (apparently that is where this thing is held every second week), I was thrust into a crowd of people all looking for a bargain and bargains were to be had, webcams from $28, cases from $40, hard-drives from $60 and much more. With all this in front of me the only thing I could do was buy, buy BUY! Fortunately for me (my wife would have killed me) and my bank balance, they only take cash and I did not have more than $5 on me. I will return however and may god have mercy on my bank balance.

Since I was in Canberra this weekend and had nothing better to do, I went for a drive to Bateman’s Bay on the NSW south coast.

Until I was looking through the Canberra street directory I did not realise how close to the coast Canberra was, on 120Km’s or so. Now that is an easy Sunday drive.

So I got up early and packed the Echo (hired from Hertz), with my iPod, camera, a novel (Sputnik Sweetheart) and my work laptop (I am not allowed to leave it unattended, it might get lonely). Now I knew I had to go through Queanbeyan, Bungendore and Braidwood. This was a good as I know where Queanbeyan was, and I just hoped that the way was easy from there.

I did not have to worry as it is well signed and a very well used minor highway, I was soon aware that I was not the only one with the idea of a Sunday drive. I knew it was going to be an interesting drive when I stopped at the Bengendore wood works gallery. Right there near the Café was parked around 20 bikes, looks like this was a road that the Café racers liked. This meant the road would be windy, hilly but well surfaced. I thought this would be great, fun drive, then I remembered that I was in the Echo, not the most exciting car to drive. Oh well, I was going to take it easy and stop whenever I saw something interesting. Now before you ask, no I do not have any pictures, yet. The digital camera is at home with the family, but I do have the small 35mm camera and I will get them processed as soon as possible.

Ok where was I, that’s right Bengendore wood works gallery. This place is amazing, the stuff in there is great, I would love one of the clocks but at the price they were I decided on a gift for my wife instead (I cannot tell you what it is until I give it to her next week). People that can work wood into these creations have my greatest admiration, I mean I cannot cut a piece of wood in half.

I had breakfast in their Café and really enjoyed the Latte, bacon, sausages, mushrooms and eggs, in the quiet surrounds. About 12 of the bike riders where still there, owners of BMW’s, Triumphs and Kawasaki’s, looked like members of the Ulysis club. The owner however informed me that they were a group from Canberra called the “Bad Eggs” and they do a ride every month.

After breakfast I stopped at the leather store over the road and picked up something for my daughter and a wallet and hat for me. Looks like this drive would be the one to pick up the “I’ve been away kids!” presents.

Leaving Bengendore and heading onto Braidwood I saw some great sites that made me chuckle. A sign advertising turf had the line “We guarantee you 1,000’s of roots a year!”, and I saw a site that inspired me to come up with a new gallery, IT in the country. Hopefully the photo’s will work and you will see it later in the week.

Braidwood is an old gold mining town, with some very very old buildings and sights. I walked through the local museum, very much like any small town museum, run by the local historical society. One thing set it apart however, they had a collection of Chinese artefacts. You see during the gold rush many Chinese people moved to Australia and made it rich. Several families of Chinese decent became rich and powerful in the area around Braidwood and a significant number of their cloths, photos and artefacts are now in the museum. Braidwood must rely on the tourist dollar quite a bit as it has the strangest collection of shops I have seen. I went into the little store that only sold model cars, not ones you make but the die-cast ones. I kid you not, only model cars. Near it is the little toy shop, that specialises in toys like you used to get in the 50’s and 60’s. Tin wind-up cars and robots for the boys, and little dolls furniture (in wood) for the girls.

Braidwood to Bateman’s Bay was the “fun” part of the drive, down the Great Dividing Range and onto the South Coast of NSW. Now I am from Queensland where we have beaches called “80 mile beach” because, well, it is 80 miles long (not real original I know). In this part of Australia however there is just a lot of bays and inlets, and small secluded beaches, where a family could be on their own. I stopped at at least four beaches during my drive and three of them had less than two families. It was a beautiful warm clear day and perfect to be on the beach, shame I did not have swimmers or a towel.

Well it was about three in the afternoon and I decided it was time to head home. This time I found out how popular this place was with local Canberrans. The road was full of people coming home from a weekend or day on the water, many got very impatient and I hope they all got home ok.

I will post photo’s sometime soon.

Today I spent a few hours in the Australian War Memorial. It brought back memories of my Granddad, recent wars and the devastating loss that conflict brings.

The Australian War Memorial is an amazing place, from the huge stone walls, to the panoramic view, the many diaromas and the tomb of the unknown soldier.

I am a pacifist, I do not believe that going to war solves anything, in this global economy I think trade and aide provide much better leverage than force. I do however have the highest admiration and respect for the men and women that felt strongly enough in our country, values and freedoms to fight and possibly die.

The newest exhibit is about the night bombing raids over Germany and Berlin. It is centered around a rebuild Lancaster bomber called “G for George” and includes some Messerschmitts as well as anti-aircraft guns.

This exhibit moved me as my Granddad was one of the men who fought and was lucky enough to return home. He joined the RAAF in October 1943 when he was 31, leaving behind his wife and my dad. He was trained and became one of the bomb aimers that made those night raids into Germany and Berlin.

I learnt this only in the last couple of years of my Granddad’s life. He showed us his medals, including the caterpillar, he told us how every person that survived, bailing out of a disabled plane. Luckily because of the skill of his pilot they made it to friendly territory before bailing, otherwise he would have to rely on his wits and a small silk map showing the location of the front line. I plan to request copies of his service record so I can find out more.

Being in the memorial became a little “difficult” at that point, I was feeling some very personal sorrow and regret. Regret I had not talked more to my Granddad, that I had not discovered more about this brave man and sorrow that he was gone. I left the crowds at that time and went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, I just sat for 15 minutes in that quiet and very amazing place.

I have included some photos, but really they do not do the place justice.

Pool of Tranquility

Spitfire

Courtesy of Ivette01, I have been prompted to take photos of the skies over Canberra today. So click on the heading and see for yourself.

So here are a few to look at 🙂