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In February 2003, I placed a small wooden horse in a geocache in Sydney. It had been manufactured in Sweden and its task was to make it back to Sweden by being passed from cache to cache by geocachers.
It made it back its factory bithplace in May 2006 and has been making its way back to Australia ever since.
After sitting for about six months in a cache in the Netherlands, it has surfaced again.
So far it has traveled 24,603km. Not bad for a wooden horse.
Here is a map of where it has been.
This email was recently sent around at work by the CEO.
Rubber snakes on Level 16
Large black birds (apparently either crows or currawongs) have been taking the white decorative pebbles from the garden beds on Level 16 and dropping them over the edge of the building, trying to break them open.
Brookfield Multiplex Facilities Management have placed a number of rubber snakes around the balcony garden to scare the birds away.
So if you’re up there, don’t be alarmed, and please leave the rubber snakes where they are.
As the emails arrived and people read them you could hear outbreaks of laughter all across the floor.
Check out this great new product from Google called Google Wave. This could make a lot of project work a lot easier. The video is quite long as it is a full demo of the product, but it does have some very impressive features. And it’s being developed in Sydney.
I have just come back from Ballina where I was part of a contingent from the Sydney Southern Region of the State Emergency Service. We were the second task force to be dispatched to the area after strong winds and torrential rain had lashed the area over the previous week. As the rain moved down the coast it was evident that the SES would be needed and so the first task force was in place before the storm even hit. Heavy rain fell as far south as Kempsey and many places along the coast were flooded.
We flew in to Coolangatta on the Sunday where the previous teams were waiting with our vehicles. Most of these people went back to Sydney, but some stayed on for a second turn.
We drove to Ballina, found our accommodation and that was it for the day. There was some minor flooding along the way, but there were many trees that had been blown over.
We reported for duty at Ballina SES on Monday morning and were given our tasks. There were just over 50 jobs and ten teams to do them.
Our first job was a house that had roof damage on a veranda and in what looked like a granny flat. We tarped the granny flat, but the absence of a few panels on the veranda was not going to lead to any more damage so we left it.
 The next job was to take us most of the day. A large tree had fallen onto a house and it was a very twisty tree with multiple trunks. We did as much as we could with the normal chain-saws and then started on the higher branches with a pole saw. The pole saw started to sound a bit weird and we discovered that there was no chain oil getting to the chain. We tried to repair it, but we couldn’t get it to work so we arranged for another pole saw. While that was happening we went to lunch where we found out that we would be going home the next day. Apparently all the jobs would be finished that day and our services were not required.
We returned to the tree job with the new pole saw but it still took about two hours to finish. It was a little disappointing that we couldn’t do more, but we had done our bit to fix Ballina and the locals were grateful for that.
All that remained was to get the Randwick truck back to Randwick. The relatively new truck had its fuel tank shorted to fit in the equipment bays on the back. The fuel gauge has not been adjusted to suit and so the tank is empty when it still shows 1/4 full. This is a bit of a worry and gives the truck a range of less than 400 km. The road to Grafton was closed by floods and the Pacific Highway was also closed at Kempsey. This meant driving out along the Bruxner Highway to Tenterfield and coming home down the New England Highway. With numerous road works and 40kmh zones it took 13 hours to get home.
 Today I participated in my fourth hike with the Bush Club and my third “prospective member” walk. Having completed three of these walks I am now able to apply for membership of the club. It is not automatic, but as long as any of the previous walk leaders don’t think I am a potential serial killer, I will get in. It allows to to vote at the meetings I don’t go to anyway, but apart from that I don’t know what the difference is.
The walk itself was in an area that I drive past frequently, but haven’t walked around for many years. It is the area in Medlow Bath behind the Hydro Majestic. This hotel was built in 1904 by department store tycoon and was THE place to go for many years, principally in the time before the widespread use of cars.
Food for the hotel was grown in the Megalong Valley below the hotel and hauled up the cliff via a flying fox. There were spring fed swimming pools constructed in the bush and a vast network of walking paths, many of which are carved out of the side of the sandstone cliffs.
Although currently undergoing renovation, the Hydro Majestic still operates as a hotel, but the pools and paths belong to an era long passed and have fallen into disrepair. It is amazing how quickly nature takes over again when man leaves. We were walking along one part of thick scrub and found what looked like the brick foundations of an old gazebo or summer house. As we walked along through the bush nearby we suddenly realised that the ground dropped off sharply to the left. On closer examination it turned out to be a brick wall and we were walking on the silted up remains of a swimming pool. At several other points in the walk we swept branches out of the way to reveal stone steps leading to hidden caves and other hints of what had once been a much grander looking path system.
We traversed around the cliffs to the lookout for the Glen Rosa waterfall. The term “look out” is appropriate here, as in “Look out, it’s a 100m fall and the safety rail is a single rusty pipe”.
 We continued around the cliffs and found several flat areas that had been engineered with retaining walls made for locally gathered stone. The area seems to be seldom visited which is a shame since it has some of the best views to be found in the mountains.
We made our way past Tucker’s Lookout and down to the coliseum (see end note) via Sentinel pass. This pass goes down some steep stone steps, through a rock slot and down a ladder.
At the coliseum there was a lot of stone work and it had obviously an important destination at one stage. When we arrive the wind was blowing fiercely (recorded as 85km/h in nearby Katoomba) but there was soon a lull. It then immediately started raining, or so we thought. In fact the coliseum is tucked in behind a waterfall and when we arrived the strong wind up been blowing the water back up the waterfall. Once the wind stopped, the waterfall behaved as normal.
We returned from the coliseum via the short steep route back up Sentinel Pass and came out of the highway near the railway bridge. A quick walk back past the Hydro Majestic saw us back at our cars.
Note: I had thought that coliseum had been mis-spelt, but according to the Macquarie dictionary ‘coliseum’ is an ampitheatre while ‘Colosseum’ is the name of the big ampitheatre in Rome.
Can you use discrimination in an anti-discrimination ad? The ABC apparently thinks not and chose not to air this ad on tonight’s episode of “The Gruen Transfer”. Go to the site, watch the ad and the discussion that follows. There are a lot of good points made in it, but don’t go if you are easily offended.
http://www.antiprejudicead.net/
I received this email today.
Dear Commonwealth Bank client,
Because small length users equals almost no security due to the new encryption keys, Commonwealth will change its log on procedure. From now on you will login using your Maestro Card due to its 17 digits length. First time login you will be required your ATM Pin for verification purpose, a new password will be mailed to your billing address shortly after your first login ( 3-4 working days ).
NOTE: -First time login will be mandatory for all bank clients.
-After your first login and until your Maestro Card password arrive you will login to internet banking using your old Client Number and Password
Click here for first time login ( activate Maestro Card internet banking login ).
The Commonwealth Bank Team
Copyright © 2009 Commonwealth Bank Inc. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
It is hard to believe anyone would fall for it.
Firstly, I would expect communications from the Commonwealth Bank to be written (or at least checked) by someone who had English as a first language. And secondly the link was to a site called childcareinc
Go figure.
Well the time has finally arrived and my work has moved from Sydney to Parramatta. This means a longer and less direct journey to work.
The journey consists of getting to Redfern Station and then catching a train. Most morning get a lift to the station with Sue but other times I have to catch the bus. Getting the bus means leaving home 15-20 minutes earlier and the connections are not always reliable. Coming home it is a train back to Redfern and time it so that Sue drives past the bus stop before the bus comes.
The new building at Parramatta is great. It has a 6-star energy rating, and recycles its water so that it uses 80% less water than a conventional building. Air-conditioning is via chilled beams. These are pipes with cold water running through them that cool the air so it falls from the ceiling and is circulated naturally. There are no ducts or fans blowing air about and it is very comfortable.
The layout of the office is mostly open plan. Only the MD and the General Managers get offices. There are lots of meeting rooms on each floor and a number of ‘quiet’ rooms. Quiet rooms are small rooms that you can go into when you want some privacy. They are meant to be used for a short time only and cannot be booked.
Each floor has a well-equipped kitchen and a breakout area. The breakfast has tea and coffee making facilities, a TV and comfy chairs. I have noticed lots o people having their lunch here and socialising. In the old office there was no such place and people often ate lunch at their desks. It is quite incredible how interior design can change the culture of a company.
The top level is level 16 where no one works. There are three small meeting rooms, a large breakout area, a rooftop garden and a BBQ. There are views from the city to the Blue Mountains, or as I like to say a 180° vista of places you would rather be.The building itself is in a formerly sleazy area of Parramatta. There is a tattoo parlour a few doors down and a very dodgy looking pub. Yesterday half of the bus station was closed after two teenagers were stabbed and earlier in the week someone was bashed.
We are just across the road from the station, which is very convenient, and a tunnel under the station leads to Westfield shopping centre, which is almost big enough to have its own postcode. It has all of the shops you could possibly need (except for a map shop and a camping shop, both of which are elsewhere in Parramatta).
Parramatta was founded in 1788 and has many historical buildings several of which are in Parramatta Park, which was formerly the backyard of the Governor’s House. I have yet to explore these.
The library is right next door and the day I went in, half of the company was in there signing up.
Once I get used to the travelling and learn the parts of town to avoid it may not work out too bad. Those that have to come from the Shire or the Northern Beaches might get sick of the travel well before me.
Oh and one more good point, the train journey is smooth enough to allow me to write a blog.
 I have never seen a storm warning quite like it. Normally the map on the BOM site shows an amorphous blob with smooth edges covering a large area. This time it was a thin squiggly line hugging the coast from Kurnell to Palm Beach.
There was some rain and fierce lightning at our place, but nothing that could do a lot o damage (unless your house got hit by lightning), so I was surprised when the call came in from SES.
It was only a small sandbagging job in a place that had flooded previously so there was no point in calling out a whole team. Two of us would do. THe closer we got to the headquarters at Randwick, the harder the rain got. Before we could leave HQ the phone rang. It was the police wanted assistance with a shop awning that was half fallen down and was a danger to the public. And then the calls kept coming in. At 7:30 we had one call, by 7:50 we had 10 calls, by 8:00 we had 30 calls.
After pulling down the rest of the dangerous awning we went to a call where a manhole cover had been blown off by the force of the water in the drain, leaving a dangerous hole in the footpath.
 We never did get to the sandbag job (another team did it) and we were soon called out to a subsiding footpath. This was on a popular shortcut between The Spot and Coogee Bay Road. It ran down beside a block of flats. A gas pipe had been exposed and residents had smelt gas inside the building. The fire brigade arrived just after us, checked out the site with a gas detector and gave us the all clear.
In other parts of Coogee, cars were up to the windscreens in water and twelve cars had been washed down Dolphin Street.
We called it quits at about 0100. I had to be back at HQ to finish off my First Aid course, and was a bit tired.
 The unit was short staffed as many people were off for the weekend at a training exercise. I was fast tracked through the First Aid assessment and sent out again at lunch time to do reconnoiters, this is just a quick look at a job to see if it needs a team to come and do more. In most cases, the flood had passed and the damage done and there was not a lot more to do.
A team from Rockdale SES came to help and were tasked to a flooded car park under a block of flats. It took nine hours to pump out the water. All in all an eventful day, including coverage from Channels 7 and 10 and the Daily Telegraph.
Ever since I moved house I haven’t received a single David Rhodes letter (although I’m sure they will catch up soon) and the instances of people commenting on the web site also died down for a few months. But in the last couple of weeks there has been a resurgance, maybe as the financial crises really start to grab and people look for alternative methods of making money. Rest assured, unless to start the scheme, this is not a way to make money.
For more detailds and comments see my David Rhodes page.
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