Holidays

At last some time off , well a week or so , can't afford much more lol
My Christmas is usually like this ........


Had to buy the nephew this massive Nerf gun ,it's full auto with a belt feed lol , despite his mother's and grandmothers wishes that he not be given "gun "toys.


I had to feel sorry for the little chap when I visited him at Mum's place a few weeks back , Mum had made him a Robin Hood outfit complete with bow and arrow to run around her bush block with.
By the time I had got there he had amassed 40 or so of these clip together pencils and built himself a large Halo type rifle.
Boys will be boys I'm afraid so I told him I'd get him a decent gun lol
Enjoy Tommy and fer christs sake don't shoot yer bloody mum !

While researching a bit more about Nerf I found there is the usual plethora of YouTube videos featuring Nerf gun modifications , Nerf battles and more I found this video which amuses me so



On another note...
No your car does not look like a fekking reindeer with those stupid clip on antlers mmmkay ?

Merry Christmas Spike and my other blog reader lol

December already

My how time flies , must be all this work , I've had little time to commit to anything lately , too buggered after work , too hot to sit near the p.c ( must get some free insulation )
Speaking of , I dunno whats going on here but someone broke into my brothers house and installed insulation in the ceiling about a week back , no one see who done it despite him being on a main road , I spose he will have to wait to see who tries to bill him or maybe some dodgy buigger has already worked out a way to scam dollars doing this = weird anyway...........
Been working at Palm Beach and Paddington for the last couple of months , hence my lack of blogging , a long day heading down the old F3 everyday , but after several years all 3 lanes are now open , hasn't made the traffic flow any better , dickheads still hog the fast lane and the bottleneck at Wahroonga reaches the Big Dipper every day now :|
Got bored last saturday nite it was so fucking hot so I downloaded some stop motion animation software and made this lol

Dammed if you do - dammed if you don't

Exhibit A



Case closed

iWankery

Had to have a chuckle a the recent attempt by Vegemite to call it's new blend iSnack 2.0 , massive fail all round as you may have read in the media , it's now called Cheesybite , I thought Cheesymite would have been a natural choice though
Anyway I've had enough of the iWankery that advertisers carry on with to sound hip and weblike to the younger set, but really nothing has changed over the years ,every decade has it's buzz word.......
The 60's - Fantastic was the most common used term to enhance a product , from cartoon heroes to vacuum cleaners
The 70's - Super was the word most commonly used to describe the latest hippest objects of desire like cars and rock bands
The 80's - Turbo was the in word , geez there was even turbo disposable shavers , and of course with the demise of the V8 temporarily due to the fuel crisis and recession , every little 4 pot jap car had one.
The 90's - Mega was the latest incarnation for this decade , it was street hip with the kids and fast food outlets.
The 00's - yes sadly after the ipod there was ifucking everything , still have a chuckle at the iVibe though ......gawd

Your tin roof ..............dusty !

Whoa mother of all dust storm hit us at dawn yesterday , sand blown all the way from inland smothered the eastern seaboard for most of the day , a hellish red dawn awaited us as we woke.



I was working at The Entrance and got these pics before we packed up and called it a day , I was going to get some local ones on the Peninsula but decided I didn't need the asthama attack and headed indoors.
Evidently some smart arse bought a box of paper dusts mask and was selling them for a nice profit at Woy Woy Station



The local car wash and house washing businesses shall do a roaring trade no doubt in the coming weeks

Best pies on the Peninsula

Been meaning to do this for a while now , I like a good pie and have tested all that are offered in the area several times over the years.
These ratings are based on the standard meat pie / and any other accruments available

2/5 Colonial Bakery - Woy Woy - Not a bad pie , the meat tastes a bit too gravyish to me , pastry to thin for my liking , they also make pisser jam donuts and are nice blokes to boot.

3/5 Umina Mall Bakery - Umina - Nice pies , consistant quality , mincey but not too much gravy , sometimes a bit salty, nice pastry. I find the cakes they sell are usually a few days old and getting a bit chewy

4/5 Umina Bakehouse - opp OB Hotel Umina - Good pies , nice chunks of meat and good flaky pastry. Nice selection of fresh cakes as well

4/5 Bremmens Patisserie - Umina - Big pies , lots of filling , nice pastry , but I find the fillings a tad bland and the filling to pastry ratio is outta whack. Award winning pastries but sometimes not up to scratch , especially my fave choccy donuts :|

5/5 Ettalong Pie Shop - Ettalong - The pie eaters nirvana , people travel from all over the coast to sample the wares , street crediblity is there as most pie lovers know exactly which shop we mean, the pies are tasty and big , pastry perfect and the ham and cheese puffs are the shitzbah
Ain't had a jam and real cream scones like these since grandmas , I could eat the whole shop
Service is great !

Found a new local site which is promoting an upcoming town event at Umina which includes some sort of pie eating comp , looks interesting hmmm go to www.uminabeachvillage.com.au

Flight of Fancy revealed ........

A while back when I first downloaded Google Earth I discovered a shot of a jet flying what appeared to be very low along Mooney Creek , I posted my find on the Google Earth community forum and it was identified as a cargo plane belonging to a courier mob ( DHL I think ) and I forget what type it is
anyway ....... to me it looked like it was damn low considering it's size compared to a nearby oyster barge it even looks like you can see its reflection in the water but after the forum post I was informed its some kind of digital imaging glitch , so I kept a copy knowing that one day the whole map will get updated and that scene will be gone , and it has a few months back.


* Note size of plane in relation to the oyster barge which could be at most 30 - 40 feet in length

While working one day at smoko break , I was talking to a carpenter who had been working on a house at Mooney recently , he mentioned one day at smoko time he looked up and spotted a jet flying at about 100 feet above the water ( if that ! it was level with the house they were working on the point there ) by the time hed had alerted his work mates it was long gone , it was then I told him about the pics , we were both relieved as both of our stories are now validated


* Plane located between Cheerio Point and Snake Island , Mooney Mooney Creek , Pacific Highway in lower left hand corner

Some bugger in a jet flying cargo into Sydney is flying low level ala Star Wars Death Star run style up Mooney Creek regularly ! and it's been going on for years it seems

Onya ya buddy thats one way to beat those working blues !

Greetings Ettalong

Well I'm back , finally online again after moving house in the last 2 weeks , as we all know moving house sucks and this occasion was no exception.
Firstly I had the flu and no bastard turned up to help me so I spent about 11 hours carting all my shit to the new joint , lucky I had the work ute.
After settling in on Sunday night I went to plug into the phone socket and it fell off the wall ! - the fucking thing wasn't even wired up or screwed into place , so after a week's arguing with the Real Estate biatch I finally hooked up on Friday , no ADSL for a few more days tho :|
On the bright side my new place is approximately 3 times the size of the last one , slightly more grubbier and expensive , a nice big yard for the mutt who seems to be relaxed in his new surrounds , close the the little midway store on Barrenjoey Rd ( $ 1.50 hot dogs expect to see more of me ) and within reasonable stumbling distance to the Ettalong Pub.
Technically I am now on the border of Blackwall , Ettalong and Umina , I have moved away from the bad side of town , no more train noises late at night , nor kids pelting the corrugated iron house across the road with eggs , or abuse from the old skrag who walks her dog down the road with a long neck in her hand.

and before I forget ....
A few weeks back this happened to me - I was driving home from Gosford and was sitting behind a truck carrying large sheets of glass , being trained as a glazier as an apprentice I took extra notice of the large panes secured to the A- frame rack on the back of the truck - something didn't look right I thought to my self and then remembering that scene from the movie The Omen , I then shook my head and said to myself why be so morbid , overtook the truck and headed on home.
On the way I stopped at the bank in Woy Woy , by the time I got to my street I could see a bit of commotion ahead and slowed down - the glass truck I had been following had dropped it's entire load right on the corner of my street !
I won't tell a lie when I tell you my heart skipped a beat !

Saturday Morning TV

Youtube has a treasure trove of golden memories from my youth , here are some of my faves

Classic - The Phantom Agents



The Banana Splits



H.R Pufnstuff



Space 1999



*Had to love this comment on the page
ooooOOOO0000OOOOoooo (1 day ago)
Well 1999 came and went. Still no moonbase motherfuckers. I guess you were to busy fighting terrorists or some shit.

Tanks for dropping by

Been a tad slack on the blog front lately , time gets by some times.
Last few weeks have been a drama as my landlord has decided to sell and I have to fucking move camp.
Some of the dumps I have looked at so far are terrible , I'm determined to get a nice place this time , this brothel I live in now is soul destroying.
I could even end up in Ettalong , things are that bad lol , I won't live east of O.B road ever again - promise ! I'd really like to get back onto the strip ( Trafalgar Avenue ) my karma is good there.

Computer blew up finally and I was offline for another week , I took it into the shop and expected to wait another week or 2 for it to be repaired.
2 hours later on a Saturday morning the shop guy rings up and informs me the p.c is ready to rock , they even cleaned all of the dog hair out of it !
Big thanks to Albatross Computers across the road from Woy Woy Station - highly recommended !

Small pleasure is the magazine I have began buying called Combat Tanks , each issue comes with a die cast model tank , evidently there is some 100 issues and about 60 or so tanks to collect , I joined the obligatory site forum and smartened some poms up for good measure ( hehe )







10 Points to my boss who decides on the 2 coldest days in fuck knows when , to waterblast a 2 story house on the edge of the cliff at Killcare.
/facepalm

Back probably after i move shop and go thru the dramas of waiting weeks to get back online - wish me luck

Also I'm after a cheap fridge :)

Ozi Cosy

Who in their right mind would buy one of these , I like to be warm , but these are so bad I'd rather freeze !
Sometimes I like to do photoshop , this time I couldn't help myself

Swine Flu

New pandemic hits town - part swine flu and part bird flu
I cannOt believe nobody has used this yet .........

Flying Pig Flu Outbreak !

You heard it here first ;)

Your parents are Bogans if .........

1. Your name is Harley.
2. You have a rats tail and mullet hair cut and mum thinks it looks cool , kids at school bash you .
3. They buy some new artwork for the loungeroom wall - a Jim Beam poster.
4. They wear fake Chinese made Harley Davidson gear , but don't own a Harley or even a car.
5. On Sunday night the whole family rides down to the Salvos store to scab through the donations left outside over the weekend.
6. You have spent more than 2 hours outside of Woy Woy courthouse on a Tuesday.
7. Lots of people come to your house at all hours and only stay for 5 minutes.
8. Your real father is in gaol ( or " working in Western Australia on an oil platform " as mum says )
9. You only have to clean your room when D.O.C.S visits.
10. They buy a pet for the kids - a pit bull x bull mastiff.

Australian Rhyming Slang Addition

After trialling it live in several venues I have declared my " live beta testing " complete.
My new addition to the Aussie rhyming slang dictionary -
Keith Urban / Bourbon ( I'll have a Keith Urban and coke thanks ! )

Here but lurking

Apologies to anyone who regularly drops by and has noticed a lack of posts , I'm sure you checked out all my links and old posts anyway ........
Work and the pain in the arse of having to change my business structure twice this year has kept me busy , the time I do make it to the puter is for relaxation only and I've been playing War Rock again ( or pwning nubs as they say ) and visiting Facebook and making silly groups like Bring back Cheese Um Pringles ! , Mirror photos - your camera has a self-timer dickhead ! and the most popular one so far - If you don't like Woy Woy .....Fuck Off back to Sydney !
Over 150 people joined it last week - feel the power lol

Bit of a hiatus on writing new articles for the Peninsula News or doing any local research of walks for now , but that will resume later on.

Some local gossip though from my man in the bottlo ...
Evidently there is some mysterious artist person living in the old Masonic building in Woy Woy Town , if you drive by you can see the occasional open window and the erection of steel concrete mesh inside the lower floor.
Wonder what he's up too ?

I always wanted to buy the place and turn it into a nightclub , my ingenious idea was to change the lettering on the building facade so it said Sonic Club instead of Masonic - clever eh ?
Ah dreams .......

Cheese Ums

Long ago you could buy Cheese Ums Pringles , you know those fancy chips that come in a cylinder all stacked on top of each other. Then for some reason they stopped importing just one flavour - Cheese Ums , the ones in the orange pack , why on earth they did this I will never know ( unless I mail them I spose ) , years passed and I missed my cheesy friends immensely , sometimes I would try the red packet or the green one in a vain hope they just changed the packaging but alas Cheese Ums were gone......
Then came the age of the internet and I discovered that Cheese Ums still existed in the real world , it's just that they weren't making to our shores.
Often I would get confused and ask myself " why why why ? " while wandering aimlessly in the snack foods isle at Coles in Woy Woy , surely this was a cruel and unusual form of punishment
A couple of week back I was in one of those cheap arse stores that sell cheap arse crap for 2 dollars , some of these stores also sell out of date or damaged food stock.
Then like a beacon I noticed a familiar shade of orange ......could it be ? yes like an Indiana Jones Lost Treasure there they were - a whole shelf full of Cheese Um Pringles
Trembling , I examined the container , for I would not be fooled again and get stuck with some weird ass Pringles flavour , the wording was in some kind of Asian language , I scanned the store for an Asian person to translate the text for me ..... no luck there.
Surely the orange colour was a standard Pringles colour that bounded all languages and denoted that cheesy heaven lay inside , I bit the bullet and decided that 1 dollar would be have to be invested in my search for the truth.
Later that night I opened the can of Pringles and was soon swimming in a familiar euphoria of cheese laden delight that I had not experienced since the mid 90's - nirvana at last !
I have decided to keep the location of such Pringles secret from those who would buy up all of my favourite fare , so just sit there and drool at the supplied photo - you ain't gettin buckelys out of me !

Feedback

A few weeks back I received an email from Esse Newman a descendant of the Davis family from Blackwall and Davistown. Esse had seen my article on Rock Davis the shipbuilder in a recent edition of the Peninsula News and was after any information I had. Esse was tracing back her family tree as a gift to her grandmother Rhys Davis and I passed on what I had , most of my story came from the memoirs of Ephraim Ward which were re told in Swancotts book Good Old Woy Woy , this book and others he penned are invaluable research tools.
My mother purchased these books in the 60's from the man himself , in fact she used to wheel me in the pram down to his house in Booker Bay and sit there and listen to his stories with me on his lap , the books I now use are signed copies and are very rare.

And last night I received an email from Dave Coggins who was researching his relatives, Jerry and Addie Mahony , funnily enough my last article for the paper mentions this colourful old Woy Woy character who seemed to attend every town event.

Dave also sent me a link to the website he has built which contains photos and stories about his family in Woy Woy in the 1900's , Addie Mahony had guest houses at Spion Kop and then Woy Woy Bay , the site is an absolute treasure trove of old time reminisences and photos of the old Railwayview guesthouse , definately worth a visit so do click on this link , you won't be disapointed http://www.mahony.id.au/

Thanks Dave

Commuter Blues

A lack of posting denotes that I'm working in Sydney and don't have enough time or inspiration to do so , basically getting up at 4.30 am daily stuffs you
This making me angry , especially more when a dickhead in a White Camry overtakes you on a blind corner on Woy Woy Road , just scraping past a line of 3 cars and lordy what comes by the other way about 5 seconds later - a front end loader with it's bucket down , I hope you realise what may have happened if you were a tad slower , I doubt I would have stopped to help you ( I've had to do this before on the same corner )

and to top things off

Something happened on Bulls Hill on Friday , coming in all the way from Kariong to the top of the hill the traffic was turned back and we had to head down the hill into West Gosford , it took me 1 and a half fucking hours to get home as every man and his dog piles into Gosford at this time of day.

Serenity now ( actually 4 bourbons done the trick )

Unlikely Heroes

As the death toll from the Victorian bush fires last weekend rises to near 200 , this amazing video emerged of a firefighter helping a disoriented koala , Sam the Koala and Mr.Tree his saviour are now international celebrities



For more detailed information on the fires check out This isn't Sydney

Another local history article for the Peninsula News has been submitted for the next edition , be sure to grab a copy

Smoke on the water

This weekend will be remembered for a long time , record temperatures in the southern parts of the country have resulted in devastating bushfires in Victoria , over 25 people have been killed so far and the count is set to rise.
The coast has not been spared and a large fire started in the Peats Ridge area on Friday afternoon , a wind change brought the smoke down from the hills and onto the coastal strip , so thick was the smoke that a game was delayed at Bluetongue Stadium on Friday night.
I took a drive towards Gosford to get this photo at Koolewong at about 6 pm

Spears Family - Gosford

Recently I recieved a call from Craig Spears , he had read my article on the Woy Woy WW2 airfield and in particular noticed the mention of the top secret Bombi radar installation.
Craigs family has been in the area since the early 1800's , they lived in Gosford and one of the decendants was the licensee of the Pier Hotel in the 1900's which was located next to the Police station.
Prior to that the family had lived where the railway line now passes through Gosford town , George Spears had passed away long before the line was put through , Mr's Spears would not be moved from their home and bluntly told all " I will not shift until I am carried out ! "
The navvies working on the track continued blasting the sandstone near the residence with her permission " they can blast " she said.
One day rocks came through her roof at landed at the foot of the bed , poor old Elizabeth Spears died not long after.
Over a cup of tea Craig told me about his father who had worked for the old Brisbane Water County Council as an electrician during WW2.
One day they were told to report to the Bombi Radar installation to work on the site , after passing a checkpoint with armed guards they made their way down a long track to the facility.
As for telling of what went on there you must understand that in those days it could be considered an offense to discuss in public matters concerning Bombi.
But being a small town , it was no secret and Craig recalls local kids saying to his father " Hey aren't you the guy working at the secret radar station ! "
Craig says that the radar did register an enemy presence on at least one occasion.
Craigs mother told of seeing a prisoner of war train pull up at Gosford station one day and she saw dozens of strange faces peering out of the wagons " they looked like little monkeys " she recalls.
She also remembers air raid sirens going off on at least 2 occasions during the war.
Thanks Craig for the interesting chat and insight into old time Woy Woy

Latest Models

I've made 2 more models for my Woy Woy Historical Buildings collection at Sketchup this long weekend. I'm finding the whole thing quite enjoyable as I get to use my intimate knowledge of old buildings to help me in my projects.
You see I've been a painter since I was 16 and have spent countless hours working on older buildings , years of sanding and painting barge boards and finials have left their distinct shapes and colours permanently etched in the old grey memory bank.
If a detail in an old photo is a bit blurry then I can usually guess what goes where and picking the old colour schemes are a snap



My first project for this weekend was Gilan's Refreshment Rooms , located in the Boulevarde at Woy Woy , now long gone I used old photos to rebirth her , originally a big old house it seemed to have been renovated once and was replaced by a brick building at some stage , though keeping the original facade.
I gave it a nice green period paint job , it could have been a pink or beige colour as well.



Gilans sold pastries and drinks of all kinds , as well as having a Tobacconist , Barber and Fishing Tackle store at one end of the building , noting the stripey posts on the left in the old pics.
As I finished that one fairly quickly and had spent a few hours working out the positions of the buildings in the Boulevarde , I decided to knock up the first Post Office recorded in Woy Woy.



Handily it is located right next door to Gilan's and it was also a test to see if I can get the models to sit side by side nicely in the correct location.
Again working from old photos I managed to build it in a couple of hours , I also used bits that others have made it this one.



The good thing about sharing with Sketchup is that others have made things that you can use in your own model.
I needed an old style gas lamp for the awning on Gilans and found one on the site , for the post office I nicked a tree and planted it in the correct spot according to the photo.
I painted the P.O a brown colour but for some reason it looks as though it could have been painted dark blue or green , both of these colours would make the model hard to view in detail so I've used a lighter period colour
I must say that painting the finished product is truly pleasurable like icing a cake , if only painting in real life was as easy as point and click !



All my models are here , you can download them and place them in Google Earth , all models should load into the correct location apart from the Picture Theatre and the Masonic Hall , you can locate them yourself and save the position in your copy of GE if you are handy with editing and right clicking , I may post a tutorial on this once I fully understand the process !
Interesting to note that in the 24 hours these new models have been up , they have each been downloaded by up to 10 people already

and..

Happy Oz day - don't get too pissed - good to see all the aussie flags in yards along O.B road today

Why not drop in and check out Grumpy Old Journo , another local , and Spike is always a good read

ah I just noticed demolition fencing being erected around the Masonic Hall , could this be the end ? I wonder if they will find any freaky shit in the long closed upper level like human leg bones ( this actually happened when they demolished another old Masonic Hall years back in Sydney , evidently it was used in ceremonies ! )

ooh and grab a copy of the Peninsula News with my article on Rock Davis that I wrote just before Xmas , will do some more soon once the shock of returning to work subsides !

Woy Woy Bay Walk

Today I took a hastily arranged hike with the members of the National Parks Association of NSW around Woy Woy and Phegans Bay , I spotted the details of the hike on Friday and rang up to get a place for Saturday.
Meeting at 9 a.m in Mr Della Bosca's front yard , we got ready and I introduced myself to all , I quickly noticed that I seem to be the youngest possibly and I was under- equipped , also everyone seemed to be looking rather fit ( fitter than me )
We set off straight up the hill at a cracking pace and I soon fell to the back of the mob as my asthama kicked in , luckily the hill climb was short and it levelled out as we headed around the top of the ridge overlooking Phegans Bay



Then we short cutted through some back streets and headed along the ridge above Horsefield Bay to a place known by rock climbers as Gnomelands , not finding any gnomes but spectacular views of the bays and Peninsula instead we headed off back tracking to the top of the road leading to Woy Woy Bay



We then went down an old track (now called a fire trail) which leads to the bottom corner of the bay , I could tell that this was a very old track by the rock works and that there would have had to been something worthwhile at the end for all this effort.
At the end of the track I found some old retaining walls from a garden around an old home site.
Old parish maps for this area show a few land holdings along the waters edge , the largest being of 40 acres at the head of a creek formerly known as Scotts Creek , this land was owned by R . J Scott.



Records say that R . J Scott was a health inspector for Woy Woy Shire Council in 1929 , I had been looking for Scotts Creek for some time after seeing an old photo



At the Scotts creek site we found the remains of an old wharf that I figure would have to date to the 1800's from it's construction , we also saw on old lemon tree nestled amongst lantana ( a sure sign of human habitation ) , evidently these lemons taste great still if you dare to wade into the scrub to get one



On the way out I examined a pile of cockle shells and what would appear to be clay lumps surrounding the pile , this would appear to be remains of a lime burning kiln , the clay being the kiln walls and the shells left over still inside , there also seemed to be fish traps made from sandstone blocks lying in the nearby mangroves.
Lime was produced for the building industry in the 1800's by gathering shells and burning them in large cone shaped kilns , shells were sourced from the many aboriginal middens and deposits around the waters edge , later on they were dug by hand out of the mud.



Further on we visited some more old home sites along the waters edge , someone had spent hours making sandstone retaining walls that led up the hillside , with the moss growing on them they looked very " Indiana Jones " apart from the odd concrete formed stairs , I date these sites at around the 1920's



We made our way around the waters edge across a small creek in a nice rainforest remnant and emerged into civilisation at the end of Taylor Street , a 7 k walk that took around 3 hours.
Thanks to the walkers of the NPA for having me along and I recommend that if you want to try bushwalking then go with this mob because they ran a professional operation.
Hopefully I will return to do future walks or possibly join up in the future , the next local walk will be to the Basalt Quarry Railway site so check the website in you are interested.

View all the photos

Post Office Model

My latest Sketchup model is the first official Woy Woy Post Office opened in 1922 , located in the same position as the current one today , it was demolished in the 70's.
I used an old black & white photo to model from and was quite pleased that I got all the roof angles done nicely , you can download all my models for use in Google Earth and Sketchup ( both free ) rite here

Belle and Billy's bees

I recently recieved an email from a reader who stumbled upon my blog for March 2008 titled " Shakespeare of Blackwall "

I am a grandson of the mentioned Belle (Margaret Isabel) Jaquet (nee Shakespeare) she only recently departed us, see this link. http://www.thepeninsular.net/News/03/03Jun17/Jaquet.asp

She and husband Walter (dec. circa 1965) lived in the family farm at South Woy Woy (all the land bounded by the golf course, mountain, Veron Road and the railway line) almost until her death, with her half-brother William or Billy. Billy built and owned the block of flats next to the church you mentioned,continuing to inflict bees upon his tenants from that location. It was previously the site of the Shakespeare family home that Billy inherited upon the death of their father. Given the proximity of that and the Monkhouse residences, you would have to suspect that your conclusions are very likely accurate
The history of the Shakespeare family going back is quite interesting. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110722b.htm.
Many of the Shakespeare resting places of choice can be found in the Point Clare cemetery.
The local history going forward is just as interesting. Belle and Walter had two daughters, Dawn and June. Dawn (my mother) is still hail and
hearty and living in Sydney. June married Norman Dillon (son of George, nephew of Lou) whose name continues in Dillon’s Farm; still owned by Norman’s son Kevin. June is still alive and living in Umina. Many of the Shakespeare/Jaquet and Dillon resting places of choice can be found in the Point Clare cemetery.
Best regards,
David Marshall

Thanks Dave !

New models for Google Earth

I've completed 2 more Sketchup models to be used in Google Earth and uploaded them to the site for public viewing , the Noonan building was recognised by Google and it now being reviewed by moderators , if it passes the criteria it will be added to the 3D database
While they aren't to scale one could say they are "artists impressions" , I just used old photos to model them from

The Masonic Hall was my second project and took 2 nights , I learnt how to do the curvy bit at the top , and was lucky in re-creating the fancy entrance with roman style columns , I couldn't be arsed adding all the side windows as they take ages to draw and are a bastard to align
I'll probably rebuild these early ones later down the track to be more accurate.





Reference Photo



The Noonan building was built in one night within a few hours , I'm getting used to the program and downloaded all the add-ons for it including a window maker ( yay ) I spent quite a bit of time on the top turret details and it paid off , also I painted it in what I think was a close period colour scheme
The shop front is also period , just a guess as I had no early pics of street level to work from





Reference Photo



You can download these models from my Sketchup page here , feel free to edit them or use them however

Holidays 2008 - 2009

Time for an update in the last days of my summer break as I slip into my old ways and assume the working position.
Christmas was nice and low key, a visit to mum at Branxston near Cessnock where a nice policeman relieved my wallet of 120 dollars for forgetting to bring my license along.

I affirmed to myself that yes my new neighbours were indeed of the feral variety and feel compelled to record the outbursts of F this and F that and place it on Youtube - just like I did to my last foul mouthed neighbour some years back

( Warning: this video contains very very foul language that may upset gentler folk and non residents )

Meanwhile I taught myself to build 3D models for Google Earth using Google Sketchup which is the best 3D design program I've come across , no headaches, just straight into modelling.

For my first model I decided to build the old Woy Woy picture theatre , using this old photo

and came up with this

The idea is to model all the old buildings in the main drag and around town to eventually have a 3D walkthrough of old time Woy Woy , of course you will need Google Earth to view all this. I'm starting off with the more basic looking type buildings as I hone my skills , I intend to build a re-creation of the Alecia Tearooms before the Commonwealth bank cut it into bits and am currently working on the Masonic Hall ( which is looking pretty fucking dandy if I say so myself lol ) You should also be able to download these models from the Sketchup site once I upload them

Big thanks to the folk in Gallipoli Avenue who left this washing machine out on the kerbside , yes it does work fine. Thanks for replacing my washing machine that blew up just before Xmas , another bill I didn't need !