Blag o' dkam

Went out driving our RC cars today with Josh. Took a bunch of photos. Here’s a selection.

First up we have Josh about to nose dive into the ground:

Next, we have Josh jumping my Baldre off the track.

I should add that jumping off the track was a very common occurrence. After the race track we headed back to the BMX track & half pipe. I really enjoy driving on gravel surface — very slippery and you’re often sideways. It could also be that it seems to be the only surface that I manage to beat Josh on. Josh has an edge over me on packed dirt and asphalt.

The Half-Pipes are so much fun, but a breakage is likely. Here’s Josh getting his car off the ground:

Not to be out done:

And lastly, I had to break my car. Again. Luckily I guessed this might happen and had replacement parts on the ready.

What I didn’t expect was the pin which holds that part to the car bending. After much straining with a Leatherman, we got the pin straight enough to put everything back together.

Had dinner in St Kilda the other night — beautiful night.

Well, not that new. Got it just before Christmas.

I picked it up on Wednesday after work ( The Wednesday before Christmas ), then returned it on Thursday morning. The camera didn’t detect the lens was attached. I took it into Michael’s on Elizabeth street where I’d bought it and was being helped by a competent sales assistant when his manager swanned over and said

“Ohhh, I don’t think a lens like that will work on that cheapo camera.”

Ha! Since I wanted what ever was busted replaced immediately, I took a positive approach.

“Oh I’m sure it does — I’ve read reviews on the internet”

He then proceeded to check with some other guys if the lens would work with the camera, to which they all said “Yes — of course.”. Turns out it was a faulty camera, which they replaced immediately.

Anyways, aside from that unpleasantness, I’m enjoying having an SLR. I upgraded my flickr account to a pro account, but it’s also spurred me to continue writing photoKing.

…is naturally opened by customs.

Sunset Christmas Eve.

With Riina’s family being in Finland and us not, Christmas will be in Nangiloc this year. Normally this means it’ll be a hot, dry Midwinter Solstice, but the drive from Melbourne to Charlton was enhanced with constant rain. ( I like driving in the rain — probably puts me in a minority I suspect ) About an hour before we got to Charlton ( the halfway point ), the rain really started coming down. Visibility was less than 100 meters and cars were pulling over to wait it out. At one point, cars with their headlights on would disappear until the wipers cleared some rain.
Then, suddenly, it stopped, and the sky cleared. There was debris all over the road from where water had flooded across bringing sticks, dirt and leaves. The road was completely covered in water in places.

As we approached Colignan, the sun was setting, making for some beautiful red/ orange / purple skies.

I couldn’t pick a favourite, so here’s another:

There’s another of dark skies and a wheat paddock on my Flickr page — taken at 110 km/h from the car. Worked out quite nicely. ( Riina took it! )