hello rover

yesterday i got to catch up with an old friend from school i had not seen for a few years. in the years since we last met he had obtained a pilot license and with the fine weather we got to go for a joy flight around the glasshouse mountains. now this is the first time i've ever been in a plane over the glasshouse mountains, normally i'm climbing the mountain and i get to see a plane fly past and wish i could fly around one day and see the view from the air. this was the day my wish came true. it was awesome. i got to see the crocoseum at australia zoo, my parents farm, circled mt beerwah, coonowrin and tibrogargan. then i got to take over the controls and fly across to bribie and up the beach for a bit. fantastic. it wasn't that hard as i'd imagined, but i didn't really keep the plane as level as i should have, and i kept forgetting to watch the altitude. i must get a camera! i don't have one and so could not take any photos! i apologise, because it is a much more boring blog without some photos of the cool stuff i saw. i'll try to make up for that with some words.

riding a dragonfly
the air was bumpy
turbulent draft from a mountain
lifting the wing
small gusts pushing me sideways
that's not where i steered
mountains of light and shadow
steep rock slabs cold and frozen
ancient weathering
green trees clear pools of water
a crocodile swims below
golden beach foaming surf
throttle dieing plane falling
swooping soft landing
perfect touchdown

hopefully that allowed you to make up your own images to go with the words and hopefully it was more interesting than hearing me ramble on. it was a great morning. there are so many things to see and never enough time.

when you wake up in the morning
a life full of potential
absence of prejudice
a basic education
good friends
and fun times

an audi v10 diesel engine race-car has won the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race.
that's a first for a diesel car. it beat many petrol engine race-cars, using less fuel and putting in faster lap times. rudolf diesel would be very happy.

i have finished my coursework requirements at uni
i have met the assessment criteria
i will have passed or better in all subjects
and now i go no more to uni lectures or tutorials
i have to work
i have lots of fun to catch up on.

well i've got 3 days to go till i finish my teaching degree
i've got a paper to finish for the end of course conference
a talk to prepare based on that paper
and a poster on another assignment yet to prepare
then it will be all done.
i can't wait. i should get back to work.

winter blows
food grows
warmth goes
friends chose
hearts froze

http://www.windside.com/ has the coolest wind generators i've yet seen.
i'm going to buy one one day
hmmm.... my 'one day' list is growing longer

i hope there is no pinocchio-like correlation

hey guess what, I saw my old van the other night driving past me at about 3am! it is good to know it found a good home, and it's still on the coast somewhere. just in case you don't remember what the van looked like, here is a photo of it on google.earth
it's the white rectangle in the right of shot