Have Wheels Will Travel.

Our little bike tribe. the 2 bikes missing are laws(getting a tune up) and mungent (in east timor, long story)

Spent a couple of hours riding with the boys today, did a little stint in the late morning after our early morning attempt was foiled due to rain. In the afternoon while the young-uns were playing in the jungle trail the two üncles went for a nice comfortable ride on the "uncles" trail. The ride back home was rather nice with some aggresive peddling.

Frodo's fist and Russels wounds. Thats why gloves are important.

My new bike set up, the new frame is a Tomac Automatic, with a very plush 4inch rear suspension which i have to say is plush. Winson at L and T did an awesome job setting up my ride. Spent more then a bit of time helping me tune the suspension and stuff.

Above my recently serviced Fox Float front shocks, i got it set up at 120mm of travel which works well with the rear shocks, it can go to a maximum of 140mm.

My XT power train seems to fit rather well with this bike.

Winson slipped on some nice Odi Ruffian lock on grips for me, very swish i thought lol.
I havent given up my GT Avalanche (Black Betty) frame yet, i reckon i will take my time and build a nice bike around it for a lil someone. by the way, the new frame is called Sharona.

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Depth.

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Its been a weird week. I havent had much chance
to do anything worth blogging about..but the weekend
is almost upon us and i hope i can get some shots in.

a nice day

Nice day today. nothing else needs to be said.

Mowgli

She thinks she is Mowgli, never mind that Kipling's Mowgli was a boy. Never a dull moment with this one I tell ya

Books Galore

Borders. You gotta love it, got 5 great titles for half their price!

A fallen old friend.

I picked up a piece of wood from a fallen tree on sisters island(above- its been edited). Our campsite was always located in the shade of this big casuarina which stood head and shoulders above the others in the grove. Anyway in May as we turned the final bend on our approach to camp i was really taken back to see my old friend with only part of its trunk left standing, struck down by a sumatran squall on the eve of my birthday no less( so i was advised by the island cleaners). Anyone who has gone to sisters island with me will know the tree i am talking about.
Things change. everytime you blink and open ur eyes things have changed its in the nature of this world of ours that always from the old must spriing the new and i'd like to think thats what has happened here. If i could thank the old bugger i would say thanks for , thanks for stopping a large portion of rain from drowning us and thanks for keeping us safe in your sheltered embrace.

Radom Photographs.

RANDOM PICTURES
Side shot of my helmet.

Pepper, her medical bill was $230.00. She is fine now but for that price i expected a bionic leg or something

1 very dirt XT shifter due to 1 very muddy fall.

1 tired dude making the mistake of having a smoke and enjoying the view.
1 not so tired dude also making the mistake of having a smoke and enjoying the view.

Sisters Island

Steaks and Marks now famous Lap Cheong(smoked sausage) with shrooms and baby spuds. try it at home. (look for our sisters island recipe book coming out soon, :)

Sisters Island. Its my haven from the stress of reality(mainly work). From the moment i get off the boat at the jetty I feel the stress just lift off and i can relax. From that first step the mainland becomes just a vision of beauty to be admired when chanced upon during my wandering. This year we went twice, once each in May and June and both times were wonderful.( If you click on Russels link you will see more pictures from both trips.) This time though due to many many factors we really didnt know if we were going to go till probably the afternoon before and even then we spent only 30 short but happy hours away . These days our goal is to do as little as possible, mind you where as food used to be an after thought these days its the primary function for most of the gang. Steaks, pork chops, crab, tom yum noodles these were just a few of the many culinary delights prepared by our chefs. With Mark playing the role of Gordon Ramsay, the rest of us were reduced to mere kitchen helpers, although i will say sherwin and i did pretty good with the fire on day 1.

As always a great trip and a fine send off for Mark( he left for a 4 month trip to east timor to do social work, we can all be very proud of him). Joining us for the first time were, my father in law, Ben and the one that excited me the most, my nephew Philip (though it seems all the gang refer to him as baba). When we woke up on saturday with the sun twinkling through the leaves, my nephew turned to me and said "Uncle Edward, I want to come back here again" to me finer words have not been spoken on the island.
(Shout out to the moo who braved traffic and Caitlin in the car to pick us up many thanks! sorry about the smell :{)




Its 10 years since we first went to Sisters Island. 20yrs since i first started taking my altar boys camping on Pulau Ubin and 25 years since my brother took me camping at east coast for the night. I cant wait till i can take Caitlin. I dont know how many nights i have spent camping, i dont know how many people i have brought along and i dont know when we are going next but bloody ell it gets better everytime.

The above picture is of Gerald, who does not like his picture taken. He is off to Cambodia for a couple of weeks of adventure and photography! Be safe ju or if you prefer Raj and dont forget to come back!

June 2005 - June 2009 4 years of blogging

How quick it has been, 4 years of blogging. Life, death adventure and boredom all reflected in 48months of random input. Lately i haven't been doing as much blogging as i used to, its not cause there is nothing to post, I've just been lazy. Since Vietnam i really haven't gone shooting, and my trigger finger is itching. Its been quick, 4 years gone by in a flash. The blog restarts today.

Rodents.

So we got two hamsters, blame it on Leni. :) Above is fatty Ratu and below is speed demon Angie. They are femals, names are girl names but i just cant stop refering to them as boys.

Somedays you just want to fast forward your life.

Sunday 19:45hrs and its just hit me, its Monday tomorrow. I don't normally suffer from Monday blues or as we used to call them in the army book in blues but today it has suddenly come home to me. After the hectic work of last week and the long meeting yesterday, that feeling I had of for want of a better word, euphoria has dissipated into the Sunday night sky and I am left with the very energy sapping knowledge that I got to do it all over again this week.

As a person who is 1/3 and optimist I know this feeling will pass, the part of me that is 1/3 pessimistic tells me that surely there is no way out of this dark state. The last bit of me the 1/3 realist? well that bit says it doesn't matter if I am optimistic or pessimistic all that matters is that i get the job done. Such a bleak outlook eh for a Sunday night? after a really good day as well maybe its the weather, maybe its the sad family history that has past this week that forces me to look in these dark and depressing corners of my mind. Whatever it is lets hope it fades away with rising of the sun.

Life goes on
though never the same
sunshiny days
and some heavy with rain.
In the east the sun still rises
in the west it still sets.
Pain is still pain.
Regrets still regrets.
Life goes on
though never the same.


i havent forgotten. I carry the pain with me on a daily basis.

Reworking.

random

just some random stuff

planets

Subtle difference in the shade of the birds...i couldnt chooose

:)

trees and flight.

The above is for a newly minted pilot.

As you can see trees are my current theme. i like the second one with its crushed look.

return of the...

Copper Tree

Flare

Batik Splat.
Now i havent done any wallpapers in a long long time. So if you dont like them...too bad lol/

Caitlin

My daughter turned 3 on the 23rd of May and we had a week of festivities for her, with little trips, gifts galore, lots of swimming with family and friends all of which culminated in a party for her. This year we booked a chalet at the Safra Golf Club, and Caitlin being a big girl was allowed to sleep over, much to her enjoyment. I would like to thank family and friends who came together to give her a really great time as well as really great gifts. From the great pics taken by Sherwin you will notice that she spent of alot of time in the water! I would like to quote Caitlins birthday speech "Thank you everbody for coming to my party".