Tooling About On The GOR

With the outlaws visiting from Blighty we hired a AWD and tooled on down the Great Ocean Road for a few days. Unlike everyone else I didn’t take many photos, choosing instead to make the most of those golden moments when I wasn’t behind the wheel.

Here’s a small collection of pics I took on my mobile:

See the full gallery on posterous

Ancestral Australia

I received some photos via email today of some distant paternal ancestors who moved from Yorkshire to Australia, a long, long time before I made a similar move from London.
They show the family on their way to Southampton (where they caught their ship to Australia), their farm at Arundel Grange, and their house at the Brown Coal Mine (Yallourn North, Victoria).

the pickard family on the way to southhampton

the pickard home probably at the brown coal mine

john jack pickard in his backyard at bcm c 1925 2

Waving, Not Drowning.

OK, so now I’ve got a Google Wave account; only I don’t know anyone else who does – so I’ve got no-one to ‘wave’ at.
Anyone want an invite ?

Today’s Horrorscope.

Pretty darned spooky for those ‘in the know’…

Wednesday, Oct 7th, 2009 – You are willing to accept the limitations placed on you by someone else today. You don’t feel a need to fight back or negotiate additional freedom. In fact, you might actually be relieved that your movement is being so carefully monitored. But don’t expect this peaceful, easy feeling to last. By evening, you could already be anticipating tomorrow’s action and are anxiously awaiting your moment to break free.

Something In The Post

A whole bunch of parts arrived from CIP1 yesterday  and were sitting at work for me when I got in this morning. I have

• rear gravel guards
• spare fuses
• a new horn ring
• a hubcap puller
• a pair of new sunvisors (with mirror)
• two new outside door scrapers with molding,
• and a new outside mirror mount to replace the one with the stripped thread on my car.

The good news: the delivery time from CIP1 was outstanding. I placed the order last week, received an email letting me know the order has shipped on Friday and the stuff arrived on Monday. All in, five days from ordering to delivery in Australia (from the US).

The bad news: the two outside door scrapers (or more specifically, the moldings) are made of thin metal and have been bent and pinched – I’m assuming in transport. As these are the largest item, return isn’t an option – so I guess I’m gonna have to live with them. They also look like a complete bastard to fit. Also, the “sunvisors with mirror, sold as pair” are just that: “mirror” singular. There’s no mirror on the driver side. In retrospect, this is probably a good thing: just not what I expected. [edit: there's no mirror on the passenger side - these are made for a left-hand drive car!]

Anyway, I expect I’ll have most of this stuff fitted in the twenty minutes I get for lunch (except the new scrapers!) – so she’ll be looking damn fine real soon.
Next stop: new rear seatbelts from Wolfsburg West and new door cards from BusnBug.

[update 30/09/2009: After showing CIP1 the photo of the damaged mouldings they gave me a credit note for the full cost of the damaged parts plus a percentage of the shipping cost. They dealt with the issue very promptly and courteously. I'll be using them again - after all, I have $80 in my account with them!]