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Thursday, 26 January 2006

vs.

Australia Day

January 26 is Australia Day, where Triple J (the radio station) blast out their annual Hottest 100, jets scream around the sky, and the Aussies celebrate their origins, history, and more than anything else, themselves! If you happen to be a Kiwi you just enjoy the public holiday ;) Anyway, this is my little dedication to Australia, or more specifically, Brisbane. Now, where's my New Zealand flag...

Brisbane (and Australia as a whole) has large quantities of many things such as lots of big tall buildings...		Lots of hills (the bane of every cyclist!)...
Lots of sun - hot hot sun...		Lots of awesome thunder storms...
Lots of (funny-looking) people just trying to make a buck or two...
Lots of real Aussie battlers, from the Wog that makes the kebabs that seem so popular with the piss-heads...		...To the fella that has befriended the city's population of pigeons...
...To the homeless getting hassled by the police...		...To my flatmate all dressed up for a first date...
...To this guy...		...To, well yeah.
There are lots of goths that congregate in large groups...		Lots of cops that also congregate in groups (watching the goths)...
Lots of Aborigines (many of which ride the trains while steaming drunk and rambling nonsense)...		Just lots of funny-looking people.
Lot's of weekend markets, and street cafes...
Lots of traffic (mainly Fords and Holdens), taxis, motorbikes, and scooters.
However, one thing really lacking in this country (besides Marmite) is the number of Skylines on the road! Skylines are worth more than twice as much here than they are in New Zealand and the UK, largely due to the absurdly high import taxes imposed on them (which is what stopped me importing mine from home). One good thing to come out of that though is the only people that own them can actually afford to modify and spruce them up, and as such there are some damn beauties on the road. Just look at the R34 top-left - damn that's nice!

Every Australia Day sees an annual Aboriginal protest against the white man. Today the ringleader of the protest horrified everybody by setting fire to an Australian flag while his mate spat on it. I also found out about a fireworks display at South Bank tonight so thought I'd go have a nosey.

This is all that is left of the Australian flag I mentioned above. I took a detour on my way to South Bank for the fireworks to Roma Street where the protest took place. The flag was left lying on the ground in a burnt patch, surrounded by banners also left behind. Looks like the Abos had a good party / moan.
I found this bunch in King George Square literally 200 metres from the protest site. Looks like it's been a hard day of protesting.		Meanwhile in South Bank the Ferris wheel was cranking...
...The waterfront was chocker with flag-waving Aussies, and the river was fast filling with boaties wanting a front-row seat for the fireworks.
I had a bit of time to kill before the fireworks and so rode into town to see what was happening. Not a lot. This is the city centre looking west as seen from Story Bridge.
Up goes the tax payers' money!
And here's what's left of the tax payers' money hehe.		To all my Aussie viewers - Happy Australia Day!

Friday, 27 January 2006 - Five questions you will get wrong...
How much of a clever cookie are you? Find out here!

Saturday, 28 January 2006 - Blame it on the weather man!
Well, I had planned on taking the bike up to the Sunshine Coast for the day - something I've been meaning to do for the past year but just never have. All week the weather forecast for today was another typical sunny 30-degree day, so I sorted all my shit, got up early for the trains, and I was off! The first train heads north as far as Caboolture (45km north of the city), from where a second train goes the rest of the way. Half way to Caboolture I noticed there was a shitload of cloud in the direction of the Sunshine Coast, and the wind had picked up. When I got off the train at Caboolture it started pissing down, so I got straight back on the bloody thing and headed back to town. May have been a blessing in disguise though...

Back in town I headed to the supermarket before going home. After a short while I noticed my gear leaver wasn't feeling right - hard to explain but I suspected straight away what the problem was, and as such made a detour to the nearest cycle shop to grab a new gear cable. A little after that the bastard wouldn't change up past fourth gear, so I was stuck revving like a dickhead hehe. Got home, pulled the gear casing to pieces, and sure enough the cable was knackered - only three out of twelve strands still in one peice. That's not bad actually after twelve months and over 3,000kms - I thought it would've gone long ago. A gear cable is barely a ten-minute job to replace - if you have the right tools to hand and a spare cable that is, so had I actually gone to the Sunshine Coast it would've been a waste of time anyway. Never mind, next week.

Monday, 30 January 2006
I caught up with a mate from Sydney for dinner tonight, and went for a ride afterwards to get some shots of the city by night...

Shot from South Bank looking east.		This is a Nepalese pagoda apparently. I had no idea it was here until I noticed to tonight - pretty!
South Bank's very popular man-made lagoon with the backdrop of city lights.		Looking north towards Story Bridge on the other side of the city.
I had to trespass onto government property to get this shot hehe. There's a few random abandoned buildings between the cycle path and the river surrounded by fencing. I have no idea what they were or are used for but there's "Keep Out" signs along them. Too bad I can't read ;)
Looking west from Story Bridge. Unfortunately, pictures of this size never do the scenery any justice - it's an awesome view in person.		A common sight in Brisbane at night are homeless people sleeping in bus shelters and on park benches. I often see this guy during the day pulling his 'luggage' along with one hand and trying to hold his pants up with the other, although most of the time his arse is sticking out. If I'm still here this Christmas I'll buy him a belt.

Tuesday, 31 January 2006
I went down to the post office during lunch and was out of work for no more than about twenty minutes, but during that time I received:

Some kind of monthly Chinese newspaper on the Chinese Communist Party...		"The Reservoir of Pleasure" mini book from a Harikrishna who then proceeded to tell me all about my spirit or soul or something (I really wanted to ask if he'd mind me taking his picture hehe)...		A pamphlet telling me all about Jay's body and how he can help me with my health and fitness goals (and how I can look as greasy and shiny as he does). There'd be no shortage of fuel for the fireplace if this house had one ;)

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