Photography, Books, Food, Cars
I often find cool Ipad / iPhone apps and think, I must buy that. Then I forget the name. Shuttersnitch when coupled with a wireless transmitting SDCard from Eye-Fi means most Digital Camera’s can wirelessly shoot photos and send the result directly to my iPhone or iPad for viewing. Which helps as photos look much better on the iPad than the tiny little screen on the camera.
As with most people, if only they made a Compact Flash version 
Or I could afford
When going on a ride, after suiting up with all the right Safety gear, set the choke and firing up the FT, it pays to check the fuel tap. Otherwise you get a couple of streets from home before the beast stops, for no reason. Sure it ‘may’ be disguised as stalling from being cold and the idle set low and that constant cranking will see the battery flat. Its also very difficult to push start a bike on a wet road. After pushing the bike home, stripping off of the gear and then running 10 minutes late to a meeting, you realise you had turned the fual tap off on the last ride and forgot to turn it on Stupid 1 day of the permit down for about 500 metres of riding.
Many years ago, whilst working for Creative Factory, Vince, the Passionate guy who sat in the opposite side of the room to myself, and had a whole heap of cool kit (mixing desk, high end pc, multiple super fast SCSI drives) was working on a Movie. We got invited to the Premiere, in Carlton. The movie was quite cool. Funny at times, and worth woatching for a decent locally made Aussie Comedy. It was on the same night, directly after watching Ralph, I saw what has become one of my all time greatest movies. Chopper. Chopper was also premiering that night with an interview with the Director and Vince Collosimo. It was a great night.
I recently found that Ralph has been sliced up and placed on Youtube. So enjoy it.
I won’t lie. The FT500 has terrible consumption. After doing about 3-4 decent long rides I have realised the fuel consumption is woeful. Something I need to address.
After hitting the reserve a few times, I decided to carry some fuel. I had the option of strapping a 5 Litre plastic fuel can on the pack rack. Its big enough to get a fairly decent range. Instead I 0pted to use my 1 litre MSR fuel bottle and the second 375ml Fuel bottle. Not a lot of fuel but enough to ‘get me out of trouble’ Securing these to the bike was a pain. I tied them on with a length of Paracord then duct taped them to the pack rack to secure them. Not elegant but functional.
Chatting to a mate about carry fuel on the bike showed how a lot of people don’t know about the fantastic invention and product, Rotopax.
These 1 & 3 gallon fuel cans are secured to the bike using a simple mounting system. Available in a series of colours to cover all fuel types, water and even a storage version for holding important items such as a first aid kit.
I think its time to order a pair of Fuel Rotopac and a water & storage pack for the back of the FT.
Cut up some Pumpkin (I use half a Kent/Jap or Butternut) and chuck it in a pot.
Add a chopped up potato (or 2) to the pot.
Finely slice an onion and whack that in too.
Options: I have put in roasted Red (peeled) capsicum / carrots / sweet potato with great results.
chuck in a 1/2 teaspoon of Keens Curry Powder and cover with water and bring to the boil then simmer until all the potato / pumpkin becomes very soft. I then turn it off and leave it to sit. Place the veg in a blender and blend until smooth adding enough liquid to get the consistency required. Season to taste. Serve with a dash of sourcream or Riccotta cheese 
Mix some Tandoori psate with a little yoghurt in a bowl. Cover it with pieces of chicken (mixture of Breast and Thigh) and leave for a few hours.
Brown the chicken in a hot pan then place the pieces in an oven and bake for about 30 mins until cooked.
Whilst the chicken is cooking fry some ground cumin seeds, coriander seeds and turmeric in a fry pan. add some onions and garlic in fry pan until the onion is soft then add a few tins of tomatos, a tin of tomato soup. Return the chicken to the pan from the oven and cook through the sauce. Just prior to serving stir through a bottle of fresh cream.
With the lease on our 2010 Toyota Aurion AT-X drawing to an end, it wsa time to order a new car. Over the years, having a sweet deal on leasing Toyota’s and turning them over often (6-9 months) has meant we have had a few Toyotas. 2 Corolla’s, a Starlet, another Corolla, Echo, 2 x Camry Sportivo’s, then an Aurion SportivoSX6, Rav4 Cruiser, Aurion AT-X x 3 and a couple of ‘loaner’ Camry’s whilst the lease car was in the ‘shop’
We were happy with the Aurion. Its a comfortable car for driving to work, around town. Its big enough for 5 people and economical to drive (was pulling 7.6l / 100 when we had the consumption guage in the SX6). Since we upgraded the second car from the 2001 Corolla to the Rav4 ZR6, the extra power and comfort was no longer required and the lease car’s duties changed slightly.
Upon inspection of the current list, there isn’t much left in the way of ‘fun’. Initially we looked at the Corolla Range although with the import price increase, we could get a Camry for similar money thats a tad bigger and a little more practical. Although, I do miss the Corolla Sportivo. Toyota really do need to get back in the Hot Hatches and a high Kw, AWD Corolla Hatch would be a addition to the lineup would be awesome.
The Camry range have 9 models to choose from, 2 being the newer Hybrid. It would be nice, but i don’t think we have access to these on the lease. We have a Grande as a loaner whilst the last AT-X was in getting the petrol cap repainted, and I must say it was a nice rig. The pop up sun shade, whilst being useless, gave the James Bond feeling when cruising down the highway.
We settled on the Ateva, whilst missing the sun shade, leather, sat nav and sunroof, it keeps the much needed climate control, cruise and rear camera to make things easier when driving around town.
Although, at $46k, an FJ Cruiser was tempting but I would have taken a Hot Hatch Corolla if Toyota would hurry up and bring back the similar spec, Toyota Corolla Sportivo of the past, possibly turbing it under the TRD banner.
Its been a few years now, but I haven’t bought any Lamb of Beef from anywhere else other than Little Creek Cattle Co (Little Creek Beef).
Not only is the meat of a fantastic quality its also priced very very well. At only $9.99 per kg for a side of beef, which is roughly 60 kgs. It can be a little daunting at first to get such a large volume of meat, but when divided up with a few friends, family or neighbours, its a very attractive and cheap way to buy meat.
We have for the last 4 orders had divided our bounty up 5 ways. which fills just over 2 drawers in our upright freezer full of meat. Upon delivery, we are always stuck for choice on what to eat first. Whislt the tasty 30mm thick eye fillets are a premium steak, the flavoured sausages are to die for. Roasts are perfect on a cold winters day, as well as diced beef for beautiful stews and casseroles as well as slow cooked curry. If you have thought of getting quality meat, talk to Little Creek, its well worth it and you won’t regret it.
Don’t forget to tell Craig Steve sent you 
Its been 7 months wince we took delivery of the Toyota Rav4 ZR6. Overall, the car is fantastic. Its performed its job with ease and is a very comfortable vehicle to drive. Its has plenty of power on tap and the driver assist features of Downhill Assist, Hill Start assist, traction control and the centre diff lock all work wonderfully.
The extra features of the ZR6 are worth the extra investment in my eyes, Whilst having the sunroof fully open in summer does little but baked the interior to an unbelievable tempreture and give you sunburn, tilting it up slightly helps the vehicle with a bit of fresh air flow. Its main value is in allowing natural light into the car. The Heated seats whilst a little useless at first appearance are a welcomed relief each morning when gazing down and seeing its 4 Degrees C outside. The climate control is a feature that once you have it, you can never live without it. Setting the tempreture to 23C and leaving it alone to do its stuff is what motorists want. Hassle free driving.
The Sat Nav is fairly simple to use and the integrated phone system works flawlessly. Being unable to ‘download’ my Apple iPhone address book is a pain. Also the inability to stream music via Bluetooth, as I can in my Poverty pack Aurion ATX is also a major pain. We do leave a 3.5mm jack cable in the centre console for this purpose.
The front and rear parking sensors are handy (well the rear are), I cna’t say I am overly impressed the Front Parking sensors button is backlit in Green when the rest of the dash is Orange. A complaint to Toyota revealed whilst this complaint is common, there is ‘nothing we can do’.
The lack of a Distance till Empty / Fuel Consumption gauge on a vehicle costing over $50k is a little dissapointing also. Especially when so many other vehicles in Toyota’s fleet have this feature. Maybe its a deliberate ploy in hiding the at times, woeful economy of the V6 and the lack of fuel capacity. I’d gladly trade my underfloor storage area for a decent fuel tank. I reckon I could get another 80 litres in there giving the rav a decent range.
I would be tempted to look at upgrading the suspension as it feels a little soft for my likeing and a little more lift would be welcomed offroad.
Overall its been a fantastic vehicle and I have no regrets in buying it. Even if the Toyota Prado Kakado looks like a Fantastic buy. If your interested in one, why not pop over to Discount New Cars. Its the site I go to to compare specs / features and getting an upfront discount to start your negotiations with dealers is a welcomed start for me.
Its been about 3-4 months Since the Honda FT500 lived again, was registered at Vicroads under the Club Permit scheme. The Bikes done about a thousend kms and the only issue to date (touch wood) was the internals of the speedo self destructing. This wasn’t a big issue as I use a Magellan GPS which I have permenantly mounted to the speedo and wired directly (through a FUSE!) to the battery.
Since the earlier post I have fitted a pair of Metzeler tyres, purchased, fitted and balanced by Pablos’, who I can’t recommend enough. They did a fantastic job and the prices were on par with importing a set directly from the US and who can be bothered both waiting and the hassle to then get the tyres fitted.
I have also installed a new Cam, Cam chain, Gear Selector Rubber, head gasket, front andrear sprokets (both stock gearing) new Olink 530 chain, new oil and oil filter and a set of valves from the US. Peter Stevens supplies most of my new parts and most are again cheaper and easier than importanting from a lot of the overseas sites such as thumperstuff.com and Davidsilverspares.co.uk.