Category: Moreton Bay

Children, Cycling, Kids, Lawnton

Exploring with Dad

by NeilEnnis 25 September 2009 3 Comments Shortlink

“Dad, when I get older will you get me a real bike?”

“Sure, Lilly. What sort do you want?”

“One of those cool bikes like what Harrison has with gears?”

“Yeah, why not!”

Lilly did really well today on her pint-sized bike as we went up and down the hills near our house and checked out some of the local parks near the river, including the “secret” park.

“Hey Lilly, I think it’s good this park is secret, don’t you?”

“Yeah, so that means the bogans won’t find it”.

I think “bogans” are on the lowest rung of the social ladder in our kids minds.

Thanks for a great lunchtime bike-ride, Lilly!

Aboriginal Australia, Cycling, History, Lawnton

Exploring on Sunday

by NeilEnnis 20 September 2009 No Comments Shortlink
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Steve G and Harrison out exploring with me this morning. We found some really quiet trails and ended up doing a leisurely 25km.

Thanks for being patient and going slower than normal for this old warhorse, Steve!

That’s Yebri Creek in the photos. It’s about a kilometer upstream of where John Oxley came ashore in 1823 with shipwrecked convict John Finnegan (who mistakenly thought it was the Brisbane River).

It’s at this creek in 1824 that some convicts from the new settlement at Humpybong on the Redcliffe Peninsula came for timber. They encountered some Aborigines, one of whom tried to take an axe from one of the timbergetters. Tragically, the Aborigine was shot and killed in return – a single act of violence which tarnished the relationship between Aborigines and Europeans for decades.

Forty-five years later in the 1860’s, Tom Petrie, a local pioneer and friend of the local North Pine Aboriginal clan, built a stockyard here.

Cycling, Lawnton, Life

On yer bike!

by NeilEnnis 5 September 2009 No Comments Shortlink

I took Steve and Harrison on a bike ride this morning, along the North Pine River, up to Lake Samsonvale, and then back along the North Pine River.

It was a hoot! A little bit slower than normal, because Harrison is only 9 and his bike is a bit worse for wear. But it was fun all the same.

And I got to try out a new program for my Nokia N95 mobile phone. Nokia Sports Tracker Uses the inbuilt GPS on the phone to record speed and height info. While you’re cycling, your N95 acts like a speedo, and odometer, showing you all the vital stats. But when you get home, you click the button, and upload the data to sports tracker.

The really cool thing is that if you take any photos with the phone on your journey, it will upload and geotag them.

So the map on the left here is where we went. You can drag and zoom it if you want more detail.

But the fun part is that the data is also uploaded to the Sportstracker community. Here’s a link to the data for our ride today. If you tick the “altitude” box, you can see every hill, and how fast we were going.

The thing I like most about this technology is that it adds to the fun of getting out and exercising. At times I’ve found it hard to overcome my inertia to regularly exercise. In regards to exercise, if it makes me think “Oh yeah! I want to do that again!” then I think it’s a great thing.

Oh – and you can use Sports Tracker for running, walking, skiing, rowing – whatever floats your boat.

P.S. I’ve ordered a mounting bracket to attach my phone to my handlebars. Till that arrives, I’m using some of Lilly’s hair ties 🙂

Children, Kids, Lawnton

Fun with genetics

by NeilEnnis 17 May 2009 No Comments Shortlink


Party sparklers on steroids. Lawnton on a Saturday night 🙂 – 12seconds.tv

“What’s a sparkler bomb got to do with genetics”, you ask.

Towards the end, after the “sparkles” there’s a whispery high pitched laugh, a bit like “Mutley” on 70’s cartoon “Whacky Races”. That’s me. But what’s wierd is it’s how my Dad laughs too, especially at something “Naughty”. I’m sure if he had popped over here last night, we both would have been laughing like this!

I love Dad, so it’s always fun to discover something else I have in common with him.

Oh, and by the way, well done on the fireworks boys! The neighbors probably think we’re forcing down the price of real estate in the area, but you demonstratred a good grasp of physics and chemistry to pull off such a spectacular display.


Part time models – Youtube

And Jonno, my son, I’m really proud of your most recent bass guitar performance on this video. Nice to know we share some music genes, although yours seem to have mutated from Jazz into Heavy Metal.

I should mention that your bass guitar broke shortly before this performance, so you were playing on a totally unfamiliar instrument.

Well done mate.

Genetics can be nightmarish at times, but I think these two videos demonstrate that it can be fun too!