Mad-Eye the Owl...jawaproThu 15/09/2011 04:31 PM
Chasing down the G60 (see below) wasn't the only excitment on the way home on Sunday.
Meet Mad-Eye, a Tawny Frogmouth.
For those who don't know, a Tawny Frogmouth is a type of owl, and is often thought to be ugly - but I think they look awesome.
Anyway - as we were heading over the Lakes Highway on the way home, Mad-Eye swooped at something and collided with the windscreen on Chris's car.
While we might not worry too much about the occasional possum etc, an owl is a totally different story, so we turned around and went to have a look to see if he was ok.
He was sitting on the road looking rather dazed, and Chris was able to pick him up. It didn't look like he'd suffered much real damage, other than being knocked around a bit.
I rang my sister as she is rather addicted to owls and is a Devil carer, so was the most knowledgeable and usefull person I could think of to call.
On her instruction we found a box (donated from my Lego sets) and put Mad-Eye inside. Emma said she'd meet us down the road a bit.
Chris took Mad-Eye in his car because mine was full of lego, but apparently Chris's driving scared Mad-Eye a bit and a rather nasty smell came from his box. It was bad enough that Chris had to stop and air his car for a while before continuing.
Emma met us at Deloraine and took Mad-Eye to look after him. On Monday he was moved to a proper Owl carer to be checked over before being released.
So that was the tale of how Mad-Eye the owl met Chris and his Excel.
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Chasing down a G60 Ute!jawaproWed 14/09/2011 04:41 PM
On the weekend I was in Hobart to attend a Lego convention and was headed back up on Sunday evening.
I crossed the Bridgewater bridge and as I approached the second round-about I saw a ute stopped on the left hand lane, disrupting traffic badly.
It couldn’t be could it?
Sure enough it was a G60!
The ute was on a trailer which was being towed by a Commodore wagon, and the wagon had it’s bonnet up and a less than pleased looking owner staring at the engine.
There was nowhere to pull over, so I went around the round-about, down the road, around the other round-about and back to find somewhere to stop. I’d offer what support I could with and take some photos - but by the time I finished my loop-the-loop around the round-abouts, the G60 had moved on.
Disappointed, I headed up the road and caught sight of the G60 being towed around a corner ahead of me - but I was now stuck behind a horse trailer which was taking things very steady so I lost sight again.
As I approached Brighton I saw the Ute and Commodore (and escorting High-lux) heading up a side-road, so I charged after it. There was a nice long straight, so I floored the Subaru and passed the G60 and trailer and got a little way ahead, and pulled over and grabbed my camera. If they didn’t stop, I’d at least get some photos...
But just before it reached me, it turned off again!
Chris and I jumped back in the car and roared up yet another country road, and caught up with the ute as they stopped to open a gate to get it in their driveway.
I finally got out of the car and grabbed my camera and took a couple of photos (with the owners permission). They clearly thought I was nuts for chasing them down like that - and weren’t very talkative because they were clearly worried about the state of the Commodore and just wanted to get home. But all the same it was good to see another G60 getting around, even if it was on the back of a trailer.
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1st Hobart Lego ExpojawaproMon 12/09/2011 10:41 PM
Welcome to the 1st Hobart Brick Expo!
It was organized by a few of the other Tasmanian Lego fans (mainly Brent) and was just a weekend to display part of our collections to the public.
I loaded up my Viking and Dino Attack sets (I own both complete themes) and a few other odds and ends.
You know - after I loaded the car it occurred to me, it’s possible the lego inside the car was worth more than the vehicle itself! Probably not - but it’d be fairly close.
Aaron brought his legendary Spirit again.
The captain is still being chased by a sharkman! You’d think he’d have gotten away by now.
Don’t try this...
Aaron’s other displays were candles and candelabras! That blue bird is both a candelabra and a castle! It’s modelled on the Black Falcon’s logo (the Black Falcons are a faction of Lego’s classic Castle range).
The Forestmen and evil candelabras
And the classic castle version.
And this one which is a cross between the original Lego Yellow Castle and a spaceship.
I still think this bird/castle/candle idea was awesome.
Francis and Martin bought some of their Technic range. These things are awesome and some are worth $1000 on their own. They also had photos from a quarry where the quarry owner had positioned the actual vehicles for comparison shots. Awesome stuff...
Francis bought a small train layout which included a church based on one in Sorell (where she lives).
This ancient train was a drawcard for the crowds. It has a microphone and will start and stop when you whistle or clap loudly. It’s from the 60s and still runs perfectly - Francis’s ebay score of the decade!
Brent bought some Star Wars lego and a collection of vintage sets from the 80s. Behind them you can see the modular buildings which Brent and Francis bought. I spend most of the two days demonstrating how the floors come apart and the detail inside.
My complete collection of all 5 series of Minifigs was highly admired.
Batman made an appearance on the second day. This one has been modified to be remote controlled.
This was only 5 or 6 people displaying Lego in a small venue - so we weren’t sure how it'd go. Some people were expecting 50 visitors a day etc. Well - the crowd proved that Lego displays have a place in Tassie after all.
The first day had an estimated 500 people through the door. There wasn’t really a lull all day.
Personally I hoped the Sunday would be quiet so I could talk them into making it a Saturday only show next year (I’d rather not do things on Sunday) but there’s no chance of that. We had about 1000 people through the door on Sunday.
While nothing like the queues in Melbourne - there was still a decent line of people waiting to get in. Yep - that’s how small the venue was this year. It’s going to be bigger next year - we know the idea is certainly not a flop! The nay-sayers have been put well and truely in their place.
It may have been very small and low-key compared to the Melbourne events, but for a first attempt it went off brilliantly.
Next time I’m taking another day off though - the trip back up on Sunday night after packing up was rather tiring.
And to wrap it off - everyone always asks how the Spirit is held together - well here’s a shot as Aaron was taking it apart.
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FrankeNissan - dual-cab G60jawaproTue 06/09/2011 12:37 PM
It's not often you see a G60 on the road anymore - so I was excited to see this one on Sunday. Dad spotted it on the way to church and took me back for a look afterwards.
It's called Frankenissan and is a Duel-Cab ute with a camper on the back. G60s never came as dual-cabs so it's a complete custom job.
It's also been around the place a bit with stickers from WA. She's been touring!
Looks like she's all kitted up for another adventure too. Pity the owner wasnt around and I didn't have anything to leave him a note. Would have been awesome to have a chat.
For more details and photos (as I realise some of my readers aren't interested) you can head over to my post on the RMP&O forums.
http://www.rmp-o.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3527
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