Green Power

I think I may be turning into a tree hugging hippie as we have just converted to "Green Power". After getting pissed off by the Australian governments absolute retardedness when it comes to greenhouse gas emission we decided to do something ourselves. So we have converted 100 % wind generated electricity. How it works is that for every kW hr of power we use Origin Energy (our new supplier) purchases the same amount from an accredited wind farm. The electricity that actually comes into our house hasn't in any way changed but we generate demand for wind power. If demand increases enough more wind farms will be built, competition will increase and prices will come down and more people will use it (well that is the theory at least). It is more expensive at ~15c per kW hr but it worked out to be stuff all each month and if we can afford it (being relatively poor) almost everyone else can. To find out more follow the link. In case you didn't realise over 90% of Australia's power comes from burning fossil fuels and most of that is coal.

Outback photos are up

My Dad and I just got back from a five day trip into the outback, well the start of the outback at least. From Sydney we went to Kanangra Boyd national park, Bathurst, Cobar, Gundabooka national park, Bourke, Mt Oxley, Walgett, Lighting Ridge and finally Warrumbungle national park. In all we thrashed our rental car for 2500km, not a bad effort for 5 days. We managed to see a lot of critters during that time but unfortunately still no Wombats.
I have sifted though the photos and have put up a few on the website.

Sunset from the top of Mt Oxley

I know where you are

Google has made some amazing free software called Google Analytics that allows you to track who visits your website. I installed it on my BLOG a while back and have been tracking where everyone comes from and whos site they used to visit mine. It also gives you lots of other info like what operating system people use or which web browser is used. Does anyone feel violated yet? I was glad to learn that 76% of people viewing my website use firefox and then shocked to see that some dirty Mac user also visited my site.

Canvas Prints on their way.

Aleisha and I decided to get a couple of canvas prints of photos from our Africa trip and I just got the email saying that they have been sent. This is a copy of that email.

Dear Simon Iremonger                                                                 

It is my pleasure to inform you that your brilliant print has begun its journey to you. You will be pleased to know that I personally supervised our production team as they delicately printed your image and hand crafted a fine timber frame from the very best of our timber stocks. 

I watched as they delicately stretched and wrapped your print around the frame, and meticulously inserted Italian made staples to secure your print. I took great delight in witnessing our highly trained hanging expert from Japan insert the hooks and cord that will be used to hang your print for all the world to see. 

Your print was then carried aloft to our packaging temple, where our white-gloved staff checked your work of art to ensure it met our sky high standards. 

I could only smile as your print was collected by six fine horsemen. The roar of 100 drummers drumming was deafening, as your print left our premises. The entire population of Brisbane lined the streets and cheered as your print traveled through our wonderful city to the very competent hands of our delivery fulfillment partners. Please be calm in the knowledge 
that I personally inserted one of our purebred carrier pigeons into your parcel. Should anything go wrong, he will fly immediately back to let us know of the problem. 

We are thoroughly exhausted, but cannot wait to serve you again. In the unlikely event that you are not completely happy with your masterpiece, I have 9 of our finest staff waiting by the phone to resolve your concerns as per our customer guarantee. Thank-you once again, we truly appreciate that it is you, our customer, that puts the food on our table.

Some people have far to much spare time.

Aboriginal Rock Art

Yesterday Aleisha and I decided to try and track down some Aboriginal rock art in the Royal National Park. As expected there were no signs indicating where it was and after asking numerous people for directions and accidentally stumbling upon a nudist beach we finally found the rock art. There were also a surprising number of critters about.

Jacky Lizard

Little Corella

Anyone want a used underwater camera housing?

I have spotted an excellent deal on ebay, a used but excellent condition underwater housing for dSLR cameras.