2013 – The Year of Adventure

December 31, 2013 by Brad

2013 has been great. It’s been a year of fantastic fun, growth and personal achievement.

At the start of 2013 I laid out some goals for the year, they were:

Learn German
- I did far better at this than in 2012. I am still very much a beginner, but I am learning.
- Duolingo has been great for this.
Summit Mt Kosciusko
- Once again this goal was elusive.
Go on a holiday for at least a week without internet access
- I didn’t end up away for a whole week without internet, but there were a few weekends of digital silence.

An additional personal achievement was reading 12 books over the year – four histories, three science, three theology, and two novels.

There are also a number of highlights from throughout the year:

The Control Centre – 2013

December 21, 2013 by Brad

For the past seven years, every two years, I have posted a photo of my “control centre”, aka my home computer setup. Only this time, by mistake, it has been three years since I last posted. So below is the control centre in 2013.

The changes since the last post have been the addition of a 23in monitor, new keyboard and mouse and a new main system.

Euro Trip: Part Six – London

December 2, 2013 by Brad

The final part of my Euro trip began on the Eurostar train from Paris to London. After racing through the French countryside we went though the Channel Tunnel and finally emerged in London.

Once I had checked into my hotel for the weekend, I caught up with a former flatmate for the evening. By convenient coincidence there was a Science Uncovered late night at the Natural History Museum which we explored before making a late night cafe visit in Kensington.

Euro Trip: Part Five – Paris

November 10, 2013 by Brad

After two fantastic weeks in Germany, it was time for the next part of the Europe adventure.

After staying the night in Frankfurt, I caught a train to Paris. Having been all over Germany on IC, EC, and DB Regio trains – all of which leave NZ/AU trains looking very old and slow – the ICE train was another level of speed (and comfort). The trip from Frankfurt to the French border went through small town after small town, in very thick heavy fog. We then went into a deep valley between mountains and came out in France. Once into the French countryside we blasted along the tracks at 300kmh+.

Euro Trip: Part Four – Munich and Bavaria

November 9, 2013 by Brad

The final portion of my travels in Germany was visiting friends in Munich.

By pure coincidence I arrived in Munich for the start of Oktoberfest. The biggest fair in the world begins with a massive street parade where each brewery brings its beer into the city. This was a rather interesting parade to watch, where marching bands that I would normally expect to see at a Santa Parade played between each brewery’s float.

Euro Trip: Part Three – Koblenz and Cologne

November 2, 2013 by Brad

After a great weekend in Heidelberg, I caught the train to Koblenz. The first part of the journey involved in a “simple” trip from Heidelberg to Mannheim on the S-Bahn where I would have ten minutes to wait for the connecting EC train to Koblenz. However, despite the S-Bahn train arriving in Heidelberg on time, it then sat on the platform for 8 minutes waiting for another train to pass. Once we finally got moving, it was obvious the train running on a parallel track to us was my connecting train! After arriving on the wrong platform in Mannheim, I had to do a mad dash to get across to the connecting train with only seconds to spare.

Once I arrived into Koblenz, I checked into my hotel and then went for a walk around the city. This city was very different to the cities I had been in over the past few days and felt like what my poor knowledge of European history would have suggested that Eastern Germany/Europe would have looked like – lots of bland concrete buildings. After having a sausage from a market stall, I found a street concert, and finished the day off by watching the America’s Cup on an Austrian TV channel.

Euro Trip: Part Two – Heidelberg and Mannheim

October 26, 2013 by Brad

I spent my first weekend in Germany in the area around Heidelberg and Mannheim.

After spending the day walking around Frankfurt with random friends, I caught the train from Frankfurt to Heidelberg. After checking into my hotel, I went for a walk around the city while waiting for my friends to arrive from Munich.

The town of Heidelberg is incredibly pedestrian friendly. The core area is one long narrow street that runs from the centre of town through to the base of the ruins of the Heidelberg Castle. Once my friends arrived, we had dinner at a local pub.

Euro Trip: Part One – 24 hours in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt am Main

October 25, 2013 by Brad

In September I went to Europe primarily to present some of my doctoral research at a conference in Germany. The next few blog posts are compiled from notes I wrote while away and will feature highlights of the trip.

Photos: Bathurst 1000

October 16, 2013 by Brad

On Sunday, I went to the V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama. Despite living in Sydney for nearly four years and being a crazy V8 Supercars nut, until this year, I had yet to make my way to the mountain for the great race. To just go for the Sunday race, a special train leaves Sydney just after 5am and returns just before 11pm, making for a very long day.

The race itself was an awesome event to attend. I found the atmosphere different to the previous V8 events that I have been to in both Sydney and Auckland, the fans were more passionate but also more friendly. Also despite the 100,000 odd people on the mountain there are so many places around the circuit to watch the race from. Additionally, the view from the top of the mountain is good on TV, but even better in real life.

Sydney International Fleet Review Photos

October 5, 2013 by Brad

I’ve been out all day walking around Sydney Harbour taking checking out the Sydney International Fleet Review. The morning wasn’t as exciting as expected, but the afternoon air displays and then fireworks were incredibly impressive. Below are some of the shots from the day.