Roma Bar Cafe

The Roma bar is one of my new favourite places.

Not just for the good coffee and free wireless internet access point, but also for the range of people that dine here.

It's funny how different locations ensure a gathering of stereo typical people.  The Cavenagh across the road stays busy with a younger 'party' crowd that gather for debaucherous Sunday Sessions, while the Roma Bar seems to attract a group of people with extraordinarily strong opinions of politics, religion, world events.

It's not my favorite place because I'm opinionated in these topics.......... I'm just generally opinionated across the board, but because I can sit back and listed to how a group of people are going to change the world for the better.

Across from me on this occasion are a table of four, two couples, who are in the throws of conversation regarding the Bush's term in office.  While they are making a few good points, it appears that the only action one couple has taken is to refuse to shower or use deodorant and seem to have boycotted the use of a comb and shampoo.

It's a damn good thing Obama has come along now, because with eight years worth of talking about it I'm sure they were on the verge of actually doing something...... oh yes Bush you should count yourself lucky you couldn't serve another term.

Well I'd best be off, I'm going across to the Cav to meet a few mates for a couple of beers and discuss what can be done about the Australian Cricket team

Justin on wiki

I've recently flown back to my home town of Darwin and resumed at my old job working with nerdy IT stuff.  

One of the new things we're pushing are wiki's in the work place.  

Before you start..... yes I know wiki's aren't new, but when you enter a workplace that has become very particular in the way the work with paper it is difficult to push new technologies, even if they're many years old.

We set up Media Wiki on my computer which is running Xammp to show how beneficial a wiki could be to potential clients within the organisation.

Fortunately my mate at work decided to put up a post to show the ease at which you're able to update and share information.  UNfortunately he decided to post a wiki article about me that went along the lines of this.............

The Justin is a recently discovered species found to hibernate in dark corners of seedy pubs. First discovered in Australia, poor quarantine procedures allowed for the accidental migration of this species to several other countries, where it has become a evironmental pest. If not properly controlled, the Justin is known to take down anywhere up to 15 German Backpackers in a single month. It also has a significant ecological footprint on disposable resources such as doritos and midstrength beer.

While generally weedy and rather unassuming to look at, the Justin can often be mistaken for the Jesus christ, which, is of course, a totally different species. In fact, morally, it can be said the Justin and the Jesus Christ could not be any more different.

Although the Justin is not a naturally agressive species, it does have several defensive traits that are known to protect it from predators. Firstly, with its supporting diet of processed food and carbonated liquids of 'most' varieties, the Justin can produce a defensive odor that will literally burn your nostrils off. Victims of the Justin can often be heard sreaming, "For the love of god, I can't feel my legs..." Another defense mechanism the Justin has been known to employ has simply been coined, "the webmonster", but to date, those who have experienced this have been unwilling to discuss it, rather, they just curl up into the fetal postion and rock in a corner of the room. It can only be assumed it must be quite devestating.

The Justin is renound for it's amazing sense of sound, with large protruding ears capable of hearing what the Chinese are thinking. Although it is not known for what reason this enhanced sensory ability is for, it is suspected it could be used when preying on Swedish barmaids.

While it is not entirely true, it is pretty damn funny and one of the best digs I've seen in a while..... at least until the wiki post on Paul becomes available.

Surfing in Darwin

As I went through my morning ritual of checking my email accounts I came across something other then the usual Facebook updates, mailing list news and spam.

The email was from someone that wanted to know about Surfing in Darwin.

I just found your "surfspotmap" for Darwin, could you recommend it as a spot in april-may? I am struggeling to find any information about the surfing in darwin.It would be great if you could give me some good advice as I am looking for an hospital (close to some good waves) for my clinical elective!yeay. Thanks a lot!

Surfing in Darwin? Something tells me that I've somewhat mislead the readers with my post on Surfing Spots in Darwin, so I will revisit the topic and try and set the record straight.

Surfing in Darwin is for kamikaze's only. Not for the reasons that you would usually rate a break as kamikaze, shallow reef, big waves, thick lips, bad rips. It's not for what you're surfing in, but what you're surfing with.

Sharks

I know, I know. Every break in the world is plagued by sharks. Some more so then others, like South Africa and southern Australia with the Great White Sharks, others with Bull Sharks and Darwin with their Tiger Sharks.

Box Jellyfish

These are no portugese man of wars or sea wasps. They sting, and they sting really bad. The box jellyfish, or Chironex fleckeri, are difficult to spot in crystal clear water and nearly impossible to spot in the dirty waters of Darwin. There sting releases a venom known to be the most painful of any species, and it attacks the central nervous system.

A sting on the legs or arms will be extremely painful and leave scarring, where a sting on the upper torso or face could be fatal.

Saltwater Crocodiles

That's right, as if two deadly animals in the ocean wasn't enough you've also got crocodiles to deal with when surfing in Darwin. These prehistoric beasts will make short work of your board and even shorter work of your limbs if it manages to clamp it's jaws around you.

So that's what you have to deal with when surfing in Darwin.

What's that you say? World class surfers deal with the dangers of big waves, shallow reefs and sharks just to ride that perfect wave, so what makes Darwin so much more dangerous?

Well the truth is that it's no more dangerous then any of those places, but there is one very obvious difference between surfing in Darwin and surfing anywhere else in the world.

There is no surf in Darwin.

Now that's a very simple reason, but I think it's worth mentioning twice.

There is no surf in Darwin.

That might be worth mentioning three times....... but I won't.

To be fair, we do get surf evey now and then, but it's only when huge low pressure systems sit about 100km NNW from Darwin, or cyclones such as Thelma or Tracey track near our shores.

The wind swell that is generated from these huge storms produce a washing machine type effect, which then makes its way to the shore and forms something that resembles a wave. This also brings storm surge and horrendous rips, but no worse then what you get anywhere else in the world.

Oh and you also need spring tides (0.5 - 5.9 meters at the very least) for any of the surf spots to work.

With all of these circumstances, the nasties in the water, the storms and the tides, it's very tough to get a surf in Darwin. You would probably be looking at 8-10 sessions a year, with only 1 of those being a nice glassy day, and even then you've still got the water based animals to deal with.

However as the sun sets at mindil beach, the water is warm, and it is that one day a year that glassy sets are rolling in, there are few places more beautiful to be sitting on the board with your mates around you.

Getting to heathrow terminal 4

I've finally come to the realisation that I'm not a light traveler. In fact I'd go so far as to say i travel fairly heavy.

It's not just a matter of leaving out the extra shirt or shorts you'll never wear, i haven't even packed those things this time.

It's got to the point now that i've got the laptop, camera, video camera and tripod, but now i travel with 2 external hard drives as well. And of course its not just one camera, theses the xl1s for land shots and the hv20 for water shots....which means the water housing is in there as well. Now with two vastly different sized cameras brings two bags, and because of the additional lens i have for each one is kept in a silver hard case, and don't forget the two tripods that go along as well.

So what powers these things, countless power adapters and plugs of course, not to mention the cables to link them all together.

On this trip it isn't just holiday and travel, it's 3 months of work as well and therefore work clothes are added to the mix.

At a rough guess its about 25 kg of stuff strapped around my body which then walks 400 meters to stockwell to catch the victoria line up to green park before changing trains to the piccadily line and heading towards heathrow terminal 4.... All up taking about an hour.

It is a sad day though leaving my girls behind, which is why the next post will be dedicated to them, the adventures we've had and the things they've taught me,and of course the silly things they've done.

After my first rough guess it ended up being 20.9 Kg for the back pack and 13kg for the Camera box alone. Had

Pint after work

The mood is set.

You've had a long long day at work.

In fact, you've had four long day's at work.

You know that tomorrow is Friday and you can unwind then, but that's my time! Why should work frustrations encroach on my time. It's okay though, the bad day is over and you're on the way to the pub..... albeit after the sun has long since gone down.

You pass a few windows with the lights still on and laugh to yourself, "ha, that was me yesterday".

You reach your local and, even though you've missed happy hour by 3 hours, you're ready to enjoy the beer you've been looking forward to since brushing your teeth yesterday morning.

You find a seat at the bar, get served first, and it's by the cute barmaid that hasn't been there in a month! Could life get any better!!!!

As you pick up your pint to take that long awaited and well deserved first sip, the song changes. You hadn't even noticed there was any music playing up to that point.....

It's one of those songs from your earlier years, during your hay day. The one that reminds you of good times and great friends. The one that you love to sit back, listen, and reminince about the good ol' days of 8 years ago.

You close your eyes, put the pint to you lips and let your mind cast back to that time when you were........

**click** **click** **click**

Wait a minute. That's not my song any more.

The now much less cute barmaid has skipped your song. Your song!

Your opportunity to sit back and reminisce has now been skipped along to "Man Eater". And not the Hall & Oats version. I could deal with the Hall and Oats version. She's skipped it for the Nelly Furtado version! If that isn't bad enough it's followed up with ABBA's "Waterloo".

There's nothing left to do except put your pint down and think about how lucky those people still at work really are.........

You Tube comic causes audio preview for comments

While I was wandering around the great expansive web I came across a comic depicting a typical user of you tube.

To show what a great sense of humour the good people at google have it has now been made a feature of the commenting tool on you tube.

You need to be signed in to leave a comment, and if you're not already a member I can tell you it's worth the registration process for just a few minutes of immature giggles.

If you're struggling to find a you tube video to try this out on, check out the latest ads from the Natural Confectionary Company with the "Bring on the Trumpets" and "I'm sorry but I don't speak pinnaple"

Google Map Surf Spots

I'm thinking about adding a Surf Spots section to my film and other blog site. What it would effectively do is show the surf spots that I have found during my travels through Europe, Bali, East Coast of Australia, Mexico etc etc.

I would also plot places to sleep, sources of water, nice views, and interesting places.

It's basically a guide to where I've been and how I've done it, so someone doesn't have to spend the 30 minutes extra driving around trying to find a free parking area at 10pm when they've been driving for 12 hours on a hangover........... not that I ever had to do that ;)

My main concern is that occasionally people have been upset about my directions to certain spots, even after they've been searching for the spot, found it, and then are upset that they've found it..........

Here's an example of what I mean from google maps and tiny url of the surf spots in Baleal, Portugal.
Does anyone have any thoughts?