I was just listening to the local news and it seems that Queensland, the Australian state north of News South Wales, on the east coast of Australia is severely affected by flooding. The news report said that in Queensland an area the size of France and Germany combined is under water. That's a LOT of water!
The biggest problem that they have now is avoiding crocs that are roaming through submerged towns. A crocodile steak, anyone?
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Canyoning on Wollangambe River
I have just returned from a canyoning trip and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun outdoors!
Canyoning entails finding the canyon, traversing it by walking, swimming, abseiling and liloing (lilo is the Aussie slang for an air mattress). Throughout the whole experience, you are wet, cold, wet and (have I mentioned it already?) wet. Wearing a steamer (an Aussie slang for a wet suit with long sleeves) helps reduce the effect of cold water on your body.
I was invited to go canyoning by a coworker, and at first I was reluctant to go, fully aware of his safety record. Once I was assured that other people were going, I was fully committed.
We arrived at Mount Wilson about 9:30 am. It appeared that I was the only one that had checked the weather forecast as no one but me was wearing jeans. As it was 10 degrees in the hills that morning, I was not going to brave it and wear shorts, especially as the high was only going to reach 17 C. They were all telling me that I should change and that I was going to get my jeans wet but I was about to prove them wrong.
After packing up the essentials, and storing our dry clothes in waterproof bags (very important to have dry clothes at the end of the trip!) we took off for Wollangambe River. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the river canyon. The sight of the canyon was amazing, with 30-40 meter tall cliffs on both sides, and the canyon, at times, narrowing down to a width of a couple of meters.
Before we took off on our trek through the river canyon, we had to put on our wet suits and inflate our lilos. At this point, I packed my jeans and the rest of my clothing in waterproof bags and prayed that it would stay dry. I have to thank James (my colleague's son) for lending me his long sleeve wet suit while he took the short sleeve wet suit. The river was REALLY cold. But nothing could stop us from jumping on our lilos and taking off down the river through the canyon.
Along the way, we came across a lot of sections where the path through the canyon was obstructed by large boulders. We would then have to carefully navigate up and around the boulders and rocks, trying to inflict as little damage to our bodies and lilos. The experience was similar to white water rafting, except that this trek involved a lot more climbing over large, slippery rocks with more rocks of varying height below the water surface. The whole canyon experience took about three to four hours (not sure how long as I did not dare bring any electronics in such a wet environment.
We arrived at the point in the canyon that had a tiny Exit sign (which is a recent addition since someone lost their life about a year ago in the same canyon) and stopped for a well deserved meal. At the same time, we let our wet clothes dry while we switched into our well-packed dry clothes. Guess what! My jeans were dry!!! While their teeth were chattering from being cold and wet, I was cosily putting on my DRY jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Dress for the elements, people!
After a half an hour break, we took off to what my colleague calls "The Wall of Death." He just calls it that to scare the kids in the group (we even had eight year old girls doing the trek with us). I must admit that, in North America, the "Wall" would be cordoned off and people would not be allow to use it, as there was serious risk of injury if you slipped. Not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Luckily, we all safely passed "The Wall of Death" and continued back to where our cars were parked. The trek back from the "Wall" took us about an hour. All in all, it was a great adventure and I would love to do this next time with Carla.
If you are interested to see what the canyon looked like, check out this link - http://www.david-noble.net/canyoning/2004/Wollangambe_Canyon.html.
The link above portrays the canyon pretty accurately, and is the only thing that I can show you as I did not dare risk putting my camera in a waterproof bag.
Canyoning entails finding the canyon, traversing it by walking, swimming, abseiling and liloing (lilo is the Aussie slang for an air mattress). Throughout the whole experience, you are wet, cold, wet and (have I mentioned it already?) wet. Wearing a steamer (an Aussie slang for a wet suit with long sleeves) helps reduce the effect of cold water on your body.
I was invited to go canyoning by a coworker, and at first I was reluctant to go, fully aware of his safety record. Once I was assured that other people were going, I was fully committed.
We arrived at Mount Wilson about 9:30 am. It appeared that I was the only one that had checked the weather forecast as no one but me was wearing jeans. As it was 10 degrees in the hills that morning, I was not going to brave it and wear shorts, especially as the high was only going to reach 17 C. They were all telling me that I should change and that I was going to get my jeans wet but I was about to prove them wrong.
After packing up the essentials, and storing our dry clothes in waterproof bags (very important to have dry clothes at the end of the trip!) we took off for Wollangambe River. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the river canyon. The sight of the canyon was amazing, with 30-40 meter tall cliffs on both sides, and the canyon, at times, narrowing down to a width of a couple of meters.
Before we took off on our trek through the river canyon, we had to put on our wet suits and inflate our lilos. At this point, I packed my jeans and the rest of my clothing in waterproof bags and prayed that it would stay dry. I have to thank James (my colleague's son) for lending me his long sleeve wet suit while he took the short sleeve wet suit. The river was REALLY cold. But nothing could stop us from jumping on our lilos and taking off down the river through the canyon.
Along the way, we came across a lot of sections where the path through the canyon was obstructed by large boulders. We would then have to carefully navigate up and around the boulders and rocks, trying to inflict as little damage to our bodies and lilos. The experience was similar to white water rafting, except that this trek involved a lot more climbing over large, slippery rocks with more rocks of varying height below the water surface. The whole canyon experience took about three to four hours (not sure how long as I did not dare bring any electronics in such a wet environment.
We arrived at the point in the canyon that had a tiny Exit sign (which is a recent addition since someone lost their life about a year ago in the same canyon) and stopped for a well deserved meal. At the same time, we let our wet clothes dry while we switched into our well-packed dry clothes. Guess what! My jeans were dry!!! While their teeth were chattering from being cold and wet, I was cosily putting on my DRY jeans and a long sleeve shirt. Dress for the elements, people!
After a half an hour break, we took off to what my colleague calls "The Wall of Death." He just calls it that to scare the kids in the group (we even had eight year old girls doing the trek with us). I must admit that, in North America, the "Wall" would be cordoned off and people would not be allow to use it, as there was serious risk of injury if you slipped. Not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
Luckily, we all safely passed "The Wall of Death" and continued back to where our cars were parked. The trek back from the "Wall" took us about an hour. All in all, it was a great adventure and I would love to do this next time with Carla.
If you are interested to see what the canyon looked like, check out this link - http://www.david-noble.net/canyoning/2004/Wollangambe_Canyon.html.
The link above portrays the canyon pretty accurately, and is the only thing that I can show you as I did not dare risk putting my camera in a waterproof bag.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Saved by JungleDisk
I knew this day would come! The day you go to use a really important file on your hard drive and you can't find it because it's been corrupted/deleted. Arghh!!
Arghh no more! JungleDisk to the rescue. Few clicks of a button, and the file is back in all its glory. I feel like Jack Bauer of the computer world. I SAVED A FILE! :-)
The real saviour here is JungleDisk. It runs quietly in background and backs up your files to an encrypted storage disk over an encrypted link. Later on, you can restore your files to any of the older versions of the file. It will actually backup various versions of the same file, so if you would like to restore a Nov 15th version because you know it is better than your Dec 1st, you can do it.
Even JungleDisk pricing is amazing. Just a few dollars a month for the privilege of having your important digital content backed up. If you are backing up a large amount of data, then you pay $0.15 per GB.
If you would like to backup really important files but don't want to pay for the privilege, I highly recommend using Windows Live Mesh 2011. With Live Mesh, you can backup up to 5 GB to an online disk. You can access data on this online disk even if you computer is turned off. The ability to access your data at any time comes in handy, for example when you are on vacation or when something bad has happened to your computer.
I am bringing up the issue of data backup as most people do not backup their data until they lose something really important. It is too late to backup your data AFTER you've lost something important. Do it while everything is still fine. It will take you only a few minutes to setup the backup process and they you are protected for life. We have too much information in digital-only form (emails, photos, documents) that it is essential to backup the whole thing. Windows Live Mesh and/or JungleDisk are perfect tools for the task.
Arghh no more! JungleDisk to the rescue. Few clicks of a button, and the file is back in all its glory. I feel like Jack Bauer of the computer world. I SAVED A FILE! :-)
The real saviour here is JungleDisk. It runs quietly in background and backs up your files to an encrypted storage disk over an encrypted link. Later on, you can restore your files to any of the older versions of the file. It will actually backup various versions of the same file, so if you would like to restore a Nov 15th version because you know it is better than your Dec 1st, you can do it.
Even JungleDisk pricing is amazing. Just a few dollars a month for the privilege of having your important digital content backed up. If you are backing up a large amount of data, then you pay $0.15 per GB.
If you would like to backup really important files but don't want to pay for the privilege, I highly recommend using Windows Live Mesh 2011. With Live Mesh, you can backup up to 5 GB to an online disk. You can access data on this online disk even if you computer is turned off. The ability to access your data at any time comes in handy, for example when you are on vacation or when something bad has happened to your computer.
I am bringing up the issue of data backup as most people do not backup their data until they lose something really important. It is too late to backup your data AFTER you've lost something important. Do it while everything is still fine. It will take you only a few minutes to setup the backup process and they you are protected for life. We have too much information in digital-only form (emails, photos, documents) that it is essential to backup the whole thing. Windows Live Mesh and/or JungleDisk are perfect tools for the task.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Oprah in Sydney
Take a look at the following picture:
That little spec on the bridge in the background is me! I am on TV!!!! :-)
Joking aside, Oprah did shoot two episodes in Sydney, by the Opera House. The shows will air in the USA and Canada this January (13th or around there).
I did walk on the bridge during the taping of her second show and could see the outdoor stage that they had setup opposite to the Opera House. All the important Aussie stars were there: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman (who was so excited that he injured himself while zip lining into the show) and Russel Crow (who walked to the show from his house from across the harbour).
It seems that Oprah had a good time. She visited Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, etc. This is a great advertising opportunity for Australia. Oprah's show is broadcast around the world, so Australia will gain immense exposure. Australia, get ready for a tsunami of tourists!
Joking aside, Oprah did shoot two episodes in Sydney, by the Opera House. The shows will air in the USA and Canada this January (13th or around there).
I did walk on the bridge during the taping of her second show and could see the outdoor stage that they had setup opposite to the Opera House. All the important Aussie stars were there: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman (who was so excited that he injured himself while zip lining into the show) and Russel Crow (who walked to the show from his house from across the harbour).
It seems that Oprah had a good time. She visited Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock), the Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, etc. This is a great advertising opportunity for Australia. Oprah's show is broadcast around the world, so Australia will gain immense exposure. Australia, get ready for a tsunami of tourists!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Book review - James Clavell
I just finished reading a monster of a book, Shogun, by James Clavell. I called it a monster because it was over 1100 pages thick. It appears that all his books are back-breaking reads, as Tai-pan was had over a 1000 pages.
Shogun - brief summary
The book describes Japan in year 1600 as seen through the eyes of Blackthorne, an Englishman piloting a Dutch ship. At this time, Japan was governed by a collection of feudal lords (daimyos). Samuari were the ruling caste, so you get to learn how bushido (samurai's warrior code) ruled lives of everyone.
The book is chock-full of action, strategy, love story and historical information. Everything you wanted in a book was there. I highly recommend this book. 5/5
Tai-Pan - brief summary
The story is set in Canton and Hong Kong around 1841, during the beginning days of establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony. The main character is Dirk Struant, an English merchant whose intentions are to dominate the trade with China. Just like with Shogun, James Clavell fills the book with historical information, drama, love story and action. Highly recommended as well! 5/5
Shogun - brief summary
The book describes Japan in year 1600 as seen through the eyes of Blackthorne, an Englishman piloting a Dutch ship. At this time, Japan was governed by a collection of feudal lords (daimyos). Samuari were the ruling caste, so you get to learn how bushido (samurai's warrior code) ruled lives of everyone.
The book is chock-full of action, strategy, love story and historical information. Everything you wanted in a book was there. I highly recommend this book. 5/5
Tai-Pan - brief summary
The story is set in Canton and Hong Kong around 1841, during the beginning days of establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony. The main character is Dirk Struant, an English merchant whose intentions are to dominate the trade with China. Just like with Shogun, James Clavell fills the book with historical information, drama, love story and action. Highly recommended as well! 5/5
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Lonely!
As I write this, Carla's plane is taking off from the Sydney airport, to take her to Ottawa. She will be away for a month, but I think it will feel a lot longer than that. :-( I am going to miss my Honey!
In order to make the time go by quickly, I will spend a majority of my time on the following three areas:
-fitness (lose 1% of body fat)
-work (there is so much to do)
-Wii (I have to set some serious hi-scores on Wii Fit)
Skype and Google Talk will also help reduce the geographic distance between us. We are lucky that we don't have to spend a month apart 30 years ago, when the only way to keep in touch real-time was with the help of extremely expensive long distance call. Hallelujah for the Internet!
In order to make the time go by quickly, I will spend a majority of my time on the following three areas:
-fitness (lose 1% of body fat)
-work (there is so much to do)
-Wii (I have to set some serious hi-scores on Wii Fit)
Skype and Google Talk will also help reduce the geographic distance between us. We are lucky that we don't have to spend a month apart 30 years ago, when the only way to keep in touch real-time was with the help of extremely expensive long distance call. Hallelujah for the Internet!
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