2015 – The Year of Challenges and Opportunities

December 31, 2015 by Brad

At the start of the year I set some goals which I subsequently completely forgot about, but looking back now I achieved four out of five of them. They were:

Continue learning German
- This goal ebbed and flowed, but in the later part of the year I completed around 90 days of continuous practice on Duolingo.com
Learn python
- I completed multiple Coursera courses on python and had to crash course myself through it to work on a Baxter robot in the middle of the year.
Go to Europe
- I went in February on a whim after finding myself out of work.
Read 20 books
- I read 33!

Each month of the year also had a number of highlights:

Exploring Henry Head and Cape Banks

December 30, 2015 by Brad

At the end of December I went with a friend to La Perouse in the south east of Sydney. From here we walked through scrub to the Henry Head Battery and Cape Banks. This is a great short (6km) walk really close to the city and we had a lot of fun exploring the old military tunnels underneath Henry Head.

Extreme Sailing Series Sydney 2015

December 9, 2015 by Brad

In mid-December Sydney hosted the final act of the 2015 Extreme Sailing Series. I went down by myself for a few hours on the Saturday afternoon and then returned for the entire afternoon of the Sunday with friends.

Below are a few photos of the racing near Farm Cove in Sydney Harbour.

V8 Supercars Sydney 500 2015 Photos

December 8, 2015 by Brad

In early December I went to all three days of the finale round of the V8 Supercars Championship at Sydney Olympic Park.

I was very fortunate to have won a competition for a hot lap in a V8 Supercar on the Friday afternoon. I was not told of which team or car I would have the ride in until a few minutes before the lap. The car I was assigned was the Erebus Mercedes Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercar. I’ve been lucky enough to have ridden in race cars before so I knew what to expect when the car was braking for a corner. However, what I had yet to experience was the sheer power that the V8 Supercar has while accelerating, it was far more powerful than any rollercoaster or ride I’ve been on before.

There are a few photos from the three days of racing below.

A Wedding in Bali

November 24, 2015 by Brad

In mid November I traveled to Bali for a friend’s Wedding.

Bali is not a place that I have ever wanted to visit and a raft of stereotypes held up quite strongly in areas of the Island. In fact when I first arrived I was a little surprised at just how poor some areas of the island are. However, the wedding was good and we did some sight seeing on a day either side of the wedding. During the three days I was there we had dinner on Jimbaran Bay Beach and Kuta, relaxed at Nusa Dua, and did a day trip to Ubud.

Photos are below.

Sculpture By The Sea 2015

November 17, 2015 by Brad

Below are some photos from the 2015 edition of Sculpture By The Sea. The highlight of the day was seeing a whale off the coast.

South Coast Adventures

October 9, 2015 by Brad

In late September I went down to the South Coast to Kiama for a day trip. Even though at times the weather was a little cloudy and wet it was a fun adventure.