As some of you know, my blog was hacked a couple of times last week by some mindless, oxygen wasting little twerp.  I managed to get it sorted out quickly, but the first time, I missed some hack code that allowed them in for another bite of the cherry even though I had changed passwords etc. It baffles me how they originally broke in when I had a 12 digit random password.  Who knows how the feeble brain of a cretin works.

I run my blog from WordPress.org where you download the necessary files to your own hosted server and manage them yourself and this gives one far more flexibility than the freebie WordPress.com.  The negative side seems to be the propensity for hack attacks.

After the second go, I nearly chucked the blog in but thought they’d only win.  I think I’ve cleaned the junk out but if it happens again, I’ll have to delete the blog and rebuild it from scratch.  It’s not as hard as it sounds as I have database backups but I could be off the air for a day or so or until I find time to do it.

If that happens, I’ll run temporally from my old blog so go there if you see anything untoward.  At the moment, it still only has the redirect page but I can reactivate it with the flick of a switch.

For some good news, we’ve had some of the best rains for 5 years this week which boosted our storages by 5% in just 2 days.  My gauge recorded about 40mm in the last week but some areas in our catchments in the Otway Ranges got 200mm.  Johnny Wuhu (aka DB Junior) nearly got washed out to sea as his cabin is on the flooded Barham River at Apollo Bay which got a real soaking.

More rain is forecast this weekend so it won’t be long before the farmers are whingeing.  We only whinged because we couldn’t get out on our bikes this week but this arvo looks promising so might get a ride in.

Time to move on.  Had a great walk with our friend Tanya yesterday and she’s had similar issues with cretins recently so it was a good therapy session. 

I wrote to the Council last week about the variation in standards on the Rail Trail between Geelong and Drysdale and then from Drysdale to Queenscliff.  The former 19k section is maintained by the Friends of the Bellarine Rail Trail under the auspices of the Geelong Council who do a great job and the latter 17k section comes under the management of the Bellarine Steam Railway who don’t give a rats clacker for it’s maintenance.

This is a portion of the reply from the council.  Bear with me as you’ll be amused near the end.

……..“Firstly I would like to say thank-you for your feedback.  It is of great assistance to receive the thoughts of regular trail users to assist us in our future planning.

In terms of updating you on Councils current plans for the improvement of the Rail Trail I can confirm that we have allocated a significant amount of money for track improvement works during the 2010-11 Financial Year.  These works will focus on sealing several sites that have been identified as maintenance/safety issues as well as extending the existing sealed sections of the trail further towards Queenscliff.  In an attempt to make this money go as far as possible Council will also be apply to the Regional Development Victoria grants programs for supporting funding.

In relation to your comments about the variation between the trail west of Drysdale, and then east of Drysdale, I must advise that Council’s land management authority between these areas varies and this effects our ability to develop the trail to the same standard.  This is a result of the existence of the Steam Railway and their management rights over the majority of the lands within the Rail Trail/railway line corridor.  We do however support the efforts of the Bellarine Landcare Group in the revegetation / weed eradication works they undertake.  I do appreciate you comments regarding the need for additional seating/toilets etc. on this eastern section of the trail and will look at funding these works if the opportunity arises”……………

Mention was made of the Bellarine Landcare Group, and lo and behold, we came across about 100 of them on Friday planting 5000 trees at the old Marcus station site at Banks Rd.  They were heading off for lunch as we arrived but I got chatting to Nickie who gave me insight to the great work these people do and high on their agenda is weed eradication and replanting work all along the Rail Trail. 

Great stuff but having the Bellarine Railway dudes responsible for the Trail’s upkeep is about as a good as a fart in a spacecraft. They have no interest in maintaining the track and I was told the only thing they do is slash foliage for fire prevention each summer which usually involves slashing all the trees they have just planted.

And here I was thinking that I was moving on from from talking about cretins.

We’re handling 60-65k bike rides with ease except for last Wednesday.  For some reason, we both laboured over the final stages of the ride along the Rail Trail and the quads were screaming on the rises.  I even had to stop at one stage and go for a walk to stop the legs cramping which never happened before.  I’d be immediately booking into the aged care home except that MP felt the same which had us puzzled.  At least our coffee man was still there at Drysdale for a welcome break on the return journey.

We went for a run in the Nature Reserve yesterday morning and I ended up getting the fright of my life.  Our NR only has wallabies, the smaller cousins of the kangaroo.  Or that’s what we thought!

I was a bit ahead of MP and got to an internal gate and cyclone fence.  I run with a peaked cap and had my head down and bum up as I approached the gate and wasn’t watching but I suddenly heard this loud thump and the cyclone fence rattling.  This huge ‘roo had seen me coming and had panicked and was thrashing himself against the fence about 3 metres from me before he decided on a different track and bounded past me standing there like a stunned mullet and I could feel the wind as he passed within centimetres of me.

He stopped about 20 metres away and then turned to look at me and rose to his full height and this boy was way taller than my 178cm ( 5”10”), and I know this might sound like the fish that got away story, but this guy was a huge Eastern Grey.  Although attacks by kangaroos are quite rare, they have been known to get pugilistic especially when cornered so for a moment I thought I might end up like this.

We suspect he may have been a stray or an injured one and recently released into the Nature Reserve for his own safety.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for this lad in the future.

Sorry for the hiatus but we’ve been busy in the garden with retaining walls, paths, lawns and veggies etc.  Looking good if I don’t mind saying so. 

Also managed to get a 60k bike ride in and that was most enjoyable except for the ruts and loose gravel on the downhill section of the Rail Trail battered by the rains last week.  Tends to give the old ticker a flutter when you hit loose gravel at speed.

MP is heading west to stay with her sister for a week and I’ve been given a list of chores a mile long.  Tongue-in-cheek she reckons.  MPS’s partner is away on a course and she needs company in the big mansion.  MP is taking the car and leaving me with my trusty bike to get around but she’s a bit worried about where she is going to park when she visits her sister.  Maybe here or even here I suggested. 

I’ve just discovered Google’s News Archive site where they have digitised newspapers from around the world going back eons.  I searched our local broadsheet, The Age, and discovered this is what happened in Melbourne the day I was born. 

Tram strikes and train fares going up.  Nothing has changed.

I love the ads………………………..

Weetbix is my favourite brekkie cereal and it’s still around. I even have a rare special edition retro Weet-Bix tin.  So is Nescafe coffee and the price quoted (we were pounds, shillings and pence then) is the equilevant to $1.90 for a 500 gram tin which is around $23 now when it’s not on special (about $14). 

And how about the indispensible biro.  I thought they didn’t emerged until the 1950’s but here we have one on sale for 8 shillings and 9 pence.  That’s 88 cents which would have been expensive in those days.  The nuns only let us use pens we dipped in an ink well and 8 shillings and 9 pence would have been a whole year’s budget for the catholic school I attended.

All us oldies would remember the big radios with the glass valves we sat around and listened to the serials.  Nowadays you’d have trouble getting that in your top pocket with a set of white ear plugs attached. 

As they say, chatting endlessly about nostalgia is the first signs so I’d better go and wipe my dribble and eat my strained prunes.

Back from a few pleasant days with MPS and partner in Warrnambool.  Will post some pics later.

You have probably gathered that the summer holidays are over and the kiddies go back to school today.  Yippee, life returns to normal and we have the place to ourselves again.  We drove past the Spit camping ground yesterday on the way home and it’s completely empty as they have to be out come the end of January.  Usually, some stragglers have to be prized out but they all got the message this year. 

We have a bit of work to do around the place this week but we’ll be off in the camper soon and visit some lonely, secluded spot to enjoy the peace and tranquillity that this country has to offer.  We have to visit the travel agent today and get our China Bike ride in October organised.  We were going to use our Qantas Frequent Flyer points but flight schedules get messy and it means coming through Sydney airport and that’s a nightmare.  Hence, we’ll go with Cathay Pacific and spend a few pleasant days in one of our favourite cities, Hong Kong.

We’re just about to head out the door this fine morning for a run finishing at the beach for a swim.  It so happens we pass the local primary school around 9am and the kids heading to school are usually puzzled but two old codgers high fiveing one another as the pass this fine seat of learning.  MP for one is delighted as this starts her 3rd year away from the edukachon establishment. 

Cruel aren’t we! 

Driving through Geelong on Sunday and came around the Bay to see a yacht race finishing.  Stopped to have a sticky beak and the Roulettes suddenly arrived and put on a show. More of the same tomorrow when we celebrate Australia Day and get all patriotic and proclaim our independence and nationhood and wave lots of Aussie flags.

The ones with the big Union Jack in the corner!

Well that was a fizzer. Ended up with one heavy shower and about 2mm.  A mass of rain swept across the north of the State and NSW but managed to miss us as per usual.

It’s been a sad start to Christmas with the death of a running colleague.  Another one killed while out riding his bike and mown down by another arsehole who had a complete disregard for other road users.  Unfortunately, the roads are full of them and it happened in broad daylight on a straight stretch just out of Ocean Grove.

Like MP and I, Rex didn’t run competitively anymore but we had some great friendly battles over 20 years with the Geelong Cross Country Club.  We both started in the Club with Rex about the same time back in the 80’s and he ended up with 380 runs to my 370.  He was a gentleman and a great guy and his loss is such a waste.

Anyway, I hope all my readers have a good Christmas and enjoy whatever you are doing and hopefully 2010 is a good year for you all.  And everyone, please take care on the roads and respect the rights of bike riders.

Here is an update for the cyclone that crossed the north west coast and heading our way and we have some bad news.  This satellite image for today has just come through with the projections for Santa’s sleigh and it doesn’t look good.  

All I can say Santa is I hope you have a sturdy seat belt and you’d better get some decent rain gear as you’re going to need it.

Forget the Bah Humbug from my last post.  There is a Santa after all and I love him/her! 

It’s all due to this photo.  Check out the cyclone crossing the North West coast of Oz taken today and that’s the reason for my merriment.  That’s going to cause “heavy, heavy rain” for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as quoted by the weather forecaster as it streams across the country.  In fact, 30mm to 50mm is being mooted for the biggest day of Yuletide.

Tought titties if you get stuck inside making small talk with the inlaws and the rubbernecks flooding into town get, err, flooded. 

Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la.
’Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la.

I know I bleat on when it rains here but bear with me because good rain is such an unusual occurrence.  The UK might not be so enthusiastic about rain at the moment and we were wishing for some of it too and then we got this.  43mm to date but a long way to go before we get off the water restrictions which have been around for 5 years now.

The water you see pouring out of the downpipe is a diverter and usually has a piece of hose attached running into big wheelie bins but they had overflowed.  We got a quick 7mm yesterday afternoon and the diverter became blocked with silt and muck from the gutter which was overflowing.  Here I am standing in the pelting rain trying to disconnect the diverter which was stuck.  I was pulling and tugging and it gave way in a hurry and I was covered from head to foot in a ton of crap that poured all over me.  I didn’t bother with the sealing cap and went inside for a shower and left it to run out.  A lovely sight.  The water pouring out, that is.

I’ve been called up for jury duty and have to front Court at 1:45pm tomorrow.  An odd time because they usually have people report at 9am.  At least I won’t have to hang around all day.  I’ll probably end up with some massive corporate crime that will last for months.

I’ll probably get dumped when they have one look at my face. More on that tomorrow.

The Barwon River starts in the Otway Ranges and courses it’s way through Geelong and then empties out to sea at Barwon Heads.  It separates Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads and most of my regular readers will know that our two towns are linked by a old wooden bridge that is way past it’s use-by-date but is now in the process of a rebuild.

The planning for a replacement bridge has been subject to much controversy in the community with many interests wanting their say on how and where the bridge should be replaced.  Many consider this bridge to be an icon since it was immortalised in the ABC TV series, Sea Change, which finished production in 2000 and they want the bridge repaired and to be kept in it’s original flavour.

The bridge was built in 1927 and it beats me how people consider this to be of historic interest.  My opinion was to pull the whole thing down and replace it in a similar style and build a temporary Bailey Bridge for cars  in the interim.  When I was with the army “ginger beers” we tossed up a Bailey Bridge in a river wider than the Barwon and they had tanks rolling over it in three hours.

Anyway, the Planning Minister has given the green light to a new car bridge made from “new and salvaged” materials and a seperate bridge for pedestrians and bikes.  Separating the two isn’t such a bad idea.  The smaller bridge will be used for the cars while the main one is being rebuilt and the whole project is expected to be completed by Christmas next year.

So works are well underway and the sensitive flora on the Spit is getting a hiding while they widen the road on the approach to the bridge but here’s hoping it will all look good when finished.

VicRoads have a web site here detailing the construction.

So I’ll post some before, during and after photos and we’ll see where it all leads.  If you hit F11 on your browser and then click on the first photo, you can click through each photo or slideshow them in full screen.

[smugmug url="http://dogbait.smugmug.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=10308867_sYS88&format=rss200" imagecount="9" start="1" num="9" thumbsize="Th" link="image" captions="true" sort="false" window="false" smugmug="false" size="X3"]

Three defining moments in the AFL Grand Final won by the mighty Cats on Saturday.

Our second Premiership Cup in three years after a drought of 44 years.  For my uninitiated overseas readers, Geelong is the only regional country team in the Australian Football League and they did the town proud.

The defining moments…………………………..

A Snappy Chappie………………..

The Finish…………………….

The Cup Runneth Over……………………….

We’ve had lots of rain this week, Geelong won the AFL Grand Final for the second time in three years and we took a trip out west to visit MPS and MPSP.

Have plenty of photos and video of the wild weather at Warrnambool and the mighty Cats win but too tired to post much more than this.  Maybe tomorrow.

An old running mate of ours went to bed the other night and didn’t bother to wake up.  Not a bad way to go but only 5 years older than me so he was short changed somewhat.  The funeral tends to put a dampener on ones own moaning and bitching.

One thing I don’t think he ever did in his life.