Now for something completely different

[Blackduck59]

How long ago Leigh? I'm told that the V6 Turbo Hybrid power units they use now are quite a bit quieter than the Normally aspirated engines they used before. Many race fans complain that the new cars are too quiet. I have never been to an F1 race but I have been to the Indycar races in Vancouver back in the early 90s. They were loud but sweet music to a gear head. I'm told the F1 engines where quite a lot louder. I enjoy racing and was actually in Belgium 1 year during the race weekend and between tickets and the ridiculously jacked up prices for accommodation it would have cost us $2,500.00 more for the 3 day event. That's a little rich for my blood, considering we were already on the ground in Belgium.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Blackduck59
typo

[Blackduck59]

We had the best couple of days, Lynn's nephew came from Kelowna with his wife and 4 kids (under age 11), what a great visit. Yesterday evening they arrived after a 6 hour journey. I bought some Coho and Sockeye salmon and planked it on alder wood on the barbeque. I also got some Ahi tuna and seared it on my special searing burner. I made a nice potato salad with baby potatoes that I roasted on the barbeque in foil pouches. Tonight it was take out Halibut and Chips. Our nephew and his family don't eat meat or poultry so fresh fish is a real treat for them, Kelowna is a long way from the sea. Such a pleasure to have them here for a couple of days.

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by Blackduck59

[Docker123]

The Grand Prix is always hailed as bringing financial benefits. Except there is no full disclosure of costs and benefits. Everything is commercial in confidence and/or exempt from freedom of information. One piece of information that slipped out is that attendance can be highly over-reported. It seemed everyone working onsite had to scan in and became part of the official crowd.

 

some of the impacts relate to the closing of large areas of community sporting fields for 3 months for the set up and takedown. Plus repair of subsequent damage to the grounds.

 

Noise remains a significant issue. Local schools close, impacts on business etc. On the map below, I live in Williamstown. The track runs around Albert Park Lake, shown on the right. Nothing but open water in between. I can assure you, the one day of practice this year was well and truly heard, and not appreciated.

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Imagine what it must like in Monaco, where the houses and apartments rise steeply up from sea level. From memory the Grand Prix route runs along that line of palms at rhe bottom of the picture.

Edited July 5, 2020 by OzKiwiJJ

[possum52]

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

How long ago Leigh? I'm told that the V6 Turbo Hybrid power units they use now are quite a bit quieter than the Normally aspirated engines they used before. Many race fans complain that the new cars are too quiet. I have never been to an F1 race but I have been to the Indycar races in Vancouver back in the early 90s. They were loud but sweet music to a gear head. I'm told the F1 engines where quite a lot louder. I enjoy racing and was actually in Belgium 1 year during the race weekend and between tickets and the ridiculously jacked up prices for accommodation it would have cost us $2,500.00 more for the 3 day event. That's a little rich for my blood, considering we were already on the ground in Belgium.

Perhaps 20 years Lyle. 

[Blackduck59]

Our Nephew and family have gone home and there is a strange quiet in the house (even while I watched the F1 race). Now that our flock of fish eaters have gone home, time for some nice steak. Certified Angus Beef strip loin, I will grill them on the Barbeque along with some corn on the cob and re-heat those baby potatoes I didn't use in the salad. Yummy

Edited July 5, 2020 by Blackduck59

[lyndarra]

F1 is something that could easily be done with CGI. Would anyone notice the difference?

I'm looking forward to the MotoGP restart 19/7 in Spain. Now that's racing!

 

[Blackduck59]

1 hour ago, lyndarra said:

F1 is something that could easily be done with CGI. Would anyone notice the difference?

I'm looking forward to the MotoGP restart 19/7 in Spain. Now that's racing!

 

 

It's a little hard to find MotoGP for me. I do find it fun to watch when I can find it. I always marveled at the side car GP riders that takes a special kind of outrageous to do. Do they even do that anymore? My favourite is Unlimited Hydroplanes.

[Blackduck59]

Hey Les, watching water rats. Nemesis features prominently.

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

Hey Les, watching water rats. Nemesis features prominently.

Yep, Launch Nemesis, been a few Sydney police launches by that name in the past 100 years. I had a couple of jaunts on the Nemesis pre Olympic planning and during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.  I did not like the Water Rats show much, watchable but not great.

[lyndarra]

5 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

It's a little hard to find MotoGP for me. I do find it fun to watch when I can find it. I always marveled at the side car GP riders that takes a special kind of outrageous to do. Do they even do that anymore? My favourite is Unlimited Hydroplanes.

When the MotoGP is on in Europe we only get the main event live. It usually has a 3pm start and adding another 8 or 9 hours to that means we get in the wee small hours.

I've only ever been to one which was at Donning Park UK near Utoxeter I think. It was fantastic to watch a fellow Aussie, World Champion Casey Stoner riding for Ducati, blow the opposition away. However trophy presentation left us with a bad taste in our mouths when the Pommy crowd booed Casey. The pommie's  favoured rider (Towsland was his name IIRC) crashed in practice, crashed in qualifying then, to top it off, crashed in the first corner of the main event. Poor losers me thinks.

[Blackduck59]

Well a 6 week lock down for Melbourne seems a bit harsh. Leigh I hope you and yours are okay, be safe and healthy. For any of the other friends on this thread who may be affected be healthy and safe. 

[possum52]

11 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well a 6 week lock down for Melbourne seems a bit harsh. Leigh I hope you and yours are okay, be safe and healthy. For any of the other friends on this thread who may be affected be healthy and safe. 

Thanks Lyle, unfortunately it needed to be done. We can still exercise thankfully so we will go for a walk to the park later when it warms up a bit. I'm glad it is the middle of winter and not summer.

 

Not seeing family is the hardest part, it will be back to video calls. We had a last visit from our little granddaughters and daughter in law yesterday which was great. We kept social distancing which is so hard as all I wanted to do was hug them.

 

Leigh

Edited July 9, 2020 by possum52

[NSWP]

1 hour ago, possum52 said:

Thanks Lyle, unfortunately it needed to be done. We can still exercise thankfully so we will go for a walk to the park later when it warms up a bit. I'm glad it is the middle of winter and not summer.

 

Not seeing family is the hardest part, it will be back to video calls. We had a last visit from our little granddaughters and daughter in law yesterday which was great. We kept social distancing which is so hard as all I wanted to do was hug them.

 

Leigh

Stay safe Leigh, the covid will not last forever.

[By The Bay]

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Well a 6 week lock down for Melbourne seems a bit harsh. Leigh I hope you and yours are okay, be safe and healthy. For any of the other friends on this thread who may be affected be healthy and safe. 

Why 6 weeks for lock down? That is a question I asked myself. Today this was reported by the national broadcaster, ABC.

 

""The life cycle of this virus is about the 14-day period," he said.

"The six weeks means we have three of those full cycles."

A six-week lockdown would allow for the lag between being exposed to the virus and getting a positive test, according to infectious diseases doctor Trent Yarwood." Full article here.

Edited July 9, 2020 by By The Bay

[Blackduck59]

So now we are starting to think postponing our trip is inevitable. That really sucks, especially because we had secured the best seats for in premium economy for our flights and had some nice accommodation booked, Now we are wondering when is the best time to travel down under? I wonder if November 2021 is better than late January 2022 as far as weather is concerned? We need to discuss our options with our TA as far as moving the booking, we have some good perks as well as a really nice cabin for our current reservation so want to try and keep those.

Please give me your thoughts on best time of year to do a down under adventure. The original plan had 2 days in Auckland with an 11 day cruise and about 16 days in Oz mostly in Victoria and a few days in NSW.

[lyndarra]

November or January will be equally hot IMO. Remember the recent bush fires? This year I found the NZ weather Jan/Feb was excellent. That's what I would aim for. NZ first then Oz.

Edited July 11, 2020 by lyndarra

[possum52]

13 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So now we are starting to think postponing our trip is inevitable. That really sucks, especially because we had secured the best seats for in premium economy for our flights and had some nice accommodation booked, Now we are wondering when is the best time to travel down under? I wonder if November 2021 is better than late January 2022 as far as weather is concerned? We need to discuss our options with our TA as far as moving the booking, we have some good perks as well as a really nice cabin for our current reservation so want to try and keep those.

Please give me your thoughts on best time of year to do a down under adventure. The original plan had 2 days in Auckland with an 11 day cruise and about 16 days in Oz mostly in Victoria and a few days in NSW.

Lyle, November is probably a better time to visit NSW and certainly Vic than January. It won't be as hot then. NZ will still be coolish in the south but in the North probably similar to Melbourne. If you still want to travel in January, why not think about 2022? Unfortunately you may lose some of your perks as many of us will.

 

Leigh

Edited July 11, 2020 by possum52

[Blackduck59]

Thanks Lyndarra and Leigh, I thought that the late January early February time frame we were on was good, I just got to thinking if we need to postpone is it better to stay in that time of year (moving into your fall) or change up to your spring season. Here in Victoria (Canada) the trees are in bloom in spring and we are moving out of winter which is quite mild here. Still wet but lots of flowers. Summer never gets really hot here so I'm concerned about the heat in Australia and New Zealand.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I would suggest late February / early March if starting in NZ. The weather is usually at it's most settled then. By the time you get to Australia it will be starting to cool off in Victoria and NSW.

[Chiliburn]

After mid February the kids go back to school and everyone is back at work.

But I like November,it can be cool. It’s the silly season and the mood is high. 
The kids are doing their exams and people are busy getting ready for Christmas So there’s a bargain to be had with accomodation ,airfares and cruise.
 

Forget about in between those times ,it’s madness.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The downside to November is there seem to be more ships that miss getting into Milford Sound etc at that time of year as the weather patterns that bring high seas to that part of NZ haven't stabilised by then. 

[Blackduck59]

As I see it the fjordland part of the cruise is probably the highlight, so I think that should be a major consideration.  We like the Eclipse so I think will try to stick with her. Unfortunately she is showing Sydney as her home port so we may have to change the order of our Oz adventure. The new plan would have us fly into Auckland and cruise to Sydney spend a few days there then fly to Melbourne and do our self drive tour then fly back to Auckland for the direct flight home. Of course this all depends on Air New Zealand reinstating the Vancouver to Auckland direct flight.

[Blackduck59]

Just checked itineraries, there is a 14 night Auckland to Sydney with pretty much the same itinerary as the original but adds Bay of Islands and Hobart and misses Melbourne so that would be a fly to after Sydney. This may be the solution depending on what I can do with pricing and perks. It starts January 14th 2022

Edited July 11, 2020 by Blackduck59

[OzKiwiJJ]

You have to be flexible with the Celebrity one way itineraries. At least they've gone back to 14 day ones - most of the 2021 Solstice itineraries were only 10 days and missed ports we wanted so we booked Cunard instead.

 

January isn't ideal. Do they have anything a bit later?