Made by Mikal – Page 31

Two trigs and a first attempt at finding Westlake

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 6, 2015
Post category:Diary

I have to do HR paperwork for work at the moment, so I was looking for a quiet place to progress such things. I ended up beside Lake Burley Griffin working away on my laptop, which was quite pleasant. While in the area, it seemed like a good idea to have a quick first attempt at finding Westlake, which is the ruins of an abandoned builders camp from when Canberra was being constructed. I found some evidence, but I think I need to go further west in a subsequent wander. [kml: 20150205-1] There was a planned walk to Davidson trig by the Facebook trig sweating group this evening, so I went along to that. Beforehand I was killing time in Yarralumla and bumped into the cub leader for my kids' troop. She's interested in trig walks suitable for cubs, so I am going to have to keep an eye out for some. Davidson was a nice on-track walk, probably suitable for cubs. [kml: 20150205-2] Davidson finished about an hour earlier than expected, so I dropped in to walk to Mike on the way home in an entirely unplanned…

Geocaching in the evening

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 5, 2015
Post category:Diary

I went geocaching while the kids were at scouts. Overall, a very successful evening. [kml: 20150204-2]

Big Monks

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 3, 2015
Post category:Diary

I'm going to be honest here and say I got this one pretty wrong. Looking at Google Earth, Big Monks is about 1.7 km from the access road (which I got right), what I failed to notice is that it is super steep and that much of the walk is off the trail. So... A walk I thought would take 30 or 45 minutes took 2 hours. I didn't die though, so that's good. Fantastic views at the top, and found a couple of geocaches. There is obviously a lot of walking potential in Rob Roy Nature Park. [kml: 20150202]

Cooleman and Arawang Trigs

Post author:mikal
Post published:February 1, 2015
Post category:Diary

Doug and I went out to walk Doug's dog at short notice yesterday evening, and managed to sneak in two trigs while we were at it. A nice walk, although it took longer than I expected it to, with our average speed only being about 3.5 kilometers an hour. I wonder how much of that was the two peaks to climb, versus the puppy in tow. Along the way we found this super cool telegraph line, which appears to still have an active Telstra service on it. I wonder if we'll one day see fiber strung on these telegraph poles? [kml: 20150131]

First jog, and a walk to Los Altos

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 27, 2015
Post category:Diary

Today was a busy day, not only did I foolishly go for a jog 5 minutes after sunrise... [kml: 20150125-1] ...but then I went for a walk with James in the afternoon as well. [kml: 20150125-2] Let's just say my fitbit is very impressed with me.

A walk in the San Mateo historic red woods

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 26, 2015
Post category:Diary

James, Tony and I went for a little post long haul flight walk this afternoon in some red woods. Very nice. [kml: 20150124-2]

Harcourt and Rogers Trigs

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 23, 2015
Post category:Diary

I needed to visit someone in deepest darkest North Canberra yesterday, and there was an hour to kill between that meeting and the local Linux User's Group meeting. It seemed silly to have driven all that way and to not see a couple of trigs, so I visited these two. Both these trigs were easy to get to and urban. Frankly a little boring. Harcourt trig is in what I will call a cow paddock -- it doesn't have a lot of trees happening and feels a bit like left over land. Access to the nature reserve wasn't very obvious to me from the suburban streets, but the KML file below might help others to work it out. It wasn't too bad once I'd navigated the maze of streets and weird paved areas. [kml: 20150122-1] Rogers was similar, except access was more obvious because it is in an older suburb. This is a nicer reserve than Harcourt's, with a nice peak and some walking opportunities around the base of the hill. I think I'll probably end up coming back to this one as my wife is nostalgic about growing up backing on to…

Another lunch time walk

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 21, 2015
Post category:Diary

My arm still hurts, so no gym again. Instead, another lunch time walk although this one was shorter. The skies were dramatic, but no rain unfortunately. I found GC1DEFB during this walk. This walk appears in Walking Canberra by Graeme Barrow although I found it separately. The description in the book is accurate and helpful if you happen to own a copy. [kml: 20150120]

Lunchtime geocaching

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 20, 2015
Post category:Diary

Woke up this morning with a sore left arm, which ruled out going to the gym. Instead, I decided to go for a geocaching walk at lunch time. I found these caches: GC235FM; GC56N78; GC5B9WT; GC5F6G3; and GC5F0PE. A nice walk. This walk appears in Walking Canberra by Graeme Barrow although I found it separately. The description in the book is accurate and helpful if you happen to own a copy. [kml: 20150119]

Darts Cabinet

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 19, 2015
Post category:Australian Woodsmith Cabinet making

My most recent project is a cabinet for a darts board. This is based on a project in Australian Woodsmith. I tweaked the design along the way though because I wanted something more modern and some of the rigidity elements didn't seem to be required for strength. Here's how it turned out: Which I think is a pretty good outcome to be honest. The cabinet is solid Silky Oak, with a Jarrah veneer for the door panels. The handles are hand turned from Silky Oak to match the cabinet. I already posted a YouTube video of me finishing one of the doors, but I'll include it here for those who haven't already seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jguNlqiRTxw One final pic of the finished product: A big shout out to Terry and Russell who advised on various aspects of this project.