Spy Journal 3.0 Filtering the web for you

a simple uncomplicated post, a stream of consciousness, im still here

photos, children, pool filters and Christmas shopping, work, clients and responsibilities, deadlines and staff, immediacy and urgency, little time for rest, sleeping on the lounge floor where my wife couldn't wake me even after standing on me, riding with my mates - the wind and energy and creation and freedom of being out on the bike, the effort of keeping up when they go fast, the rush of speed, the burn of lactic acid, the taste of vanilla coke and a nice latte, the kiss of a 6 year old at night time, the laughing of happy children filling my ears, the fragrance of incense, the sudden splash in the fish tank as one fish attacks another

the interruptions, stress levels rising, the feeling of panic as to do lists spiral upwards

doing things for other people that makes them happy, the rush of seeing someone's world interrupted with joy because of your thoughtfulness or the words you spoke, the thanks you receive

food, necessary yet a pleasure, those who prepare it for you thoughtfully and carefully with love and tenderness

simple things

im still here

For those who haven't caught up with the news, we have sold the Jethro businesses to IT Integrity and are now working for IT Integrity as a Business Manager. As a salaried employee again for the first time in 15 years (although I am part owner of the business) it means I now get to have publics holidays and annual leave. I have also continued with my scheduling of family time in my diary.

Yesterday I took the kids up to the park  behind our house while Jude went shopping. Jade and I decided to go on a bit of a photo hunt while Erin and Mercedes took their paper planes to fly. Miranda lay down on a chair and watched!

The following pictures tell the story of what we did at Cockatoo Crest Park.

I liked the shot I got of Mercedes about to launch her plane. Erin loved to run and launch herself into the swing stomach first. Then Jade and I took some water shots, the dribbling tap, followed by the three kids collaborating to produce water anklets. Erin ended up standing on top while Mercedes pushed the button so Jade and I could get shots.

This will be my last article about the sailing trip I just went on in – sailing on the yacht Kioni.

Of course navigation was a huge part of what we were doing. As this was the skippers 16th trip down the east coast he was very experienced with bot the conditions and the navigational aspects including the hundres of islands and shoals we had to avoid. We had plenty of charts, a plotter, depth gauges and so on as well as a hand held GPS unit that Hylton brought with him. We used this for night time navigation and also instant navigation on deck without having to go down to the plotter or charts below.

Hylton kindly gave me the GPX track files from the GPS which I converted to Google Earth KMZ files using the GPS Visualiser website.

I have loaded the results into Google Earth and then screen shot using One Note the various legs as well as the whole trip.

For those who want to do this themselves I have included the KMZ files here as attachments. Note there is a little bit missing from one day as we left Yeppoon and also the last little bit into Southport. Total distance sailed was around 680 nautical miles.

My last day sailing on Kioni was spent mostly not sailing. The wind was 5-9 knots and most of the time we motored on this leg. I did a lot of helm work while others caught up on sleep or reading. I also managed to shoot some whales and tried to get dolphins but they proved too fast. We also saw a sea turtle but by the time I got my camera up it was gone.

One of the funniest photos was this first one of the rocks outside Mooloolaba – there was a boat up on the rocks.

The last bit of the trip into Mooloolaba was interesting as we crossed a bar with some good surf running as we came into the Southport channel. Then it was down to the dock and tying up before heading to the Palazzo Versace where I had a room booked and my wife waiting for me!

The next morning we headed back to the boat as we were doing a photo shoot with Cheryl and Courtney to promote Kioni as well as get some great shots.