Bankstown Helicopter

Here is one of the planes being pulled out for repair and John, the pilot that taught me how to raise the collective and push the pedals.

Helicopter Pilot..

Today thanks to the generosity of the Alcocks and Rileys I was introduced to the joys of flying a helicopter. The Red Ballon gift package that I received from them for my 50th ..[yes that was more than a year ago now] expires in a few days so I decided to do the Helicopter Instructional flight with Bankstown Helicopters ... what a buzz... after a brief intro to the controls of the Robinson R22 Beta II... we took off from Bankstown Airport and after climing to 700 ft, I was given a gentle intro to the controls, climbed up to 1,000ft and then asked to head north to the M4.. followed it out to Prospect and then head on back to the landing area.

What a cool present from from kind people ... but i might have become hooked on an expensive hobby ... its only 50 hours to get a private license ...

Sorry, no photos of me flying the chopper ... too busy with the collective and pedals and horizon and attitude ahh... so much to learn.

mens gathering

The Mens Community Action Forum is an excellent place to exchange some ideas.. One of those ideas was the joint meeting between Sheds and OM:NI .. it even brought out another group, Mankind.

I had the unfortunate task of playing ringmaster for the night. After a sausage on a bun, we tried out a few of Geoff's introductory exercises and then spent some time in more serious discussion about the groups and how they operate.

Fascinating, the whole night and I think, and have been told also, that the guys are keen to have a joint meeting again at some time in the near future.

ONE-DAY WORKSHOP on - PUSH HANDS

(Also known as Sensing Hands or Sensing Energy)

SUNDAY 21ST MAY 06 – 9 am to 5 pm

YMCA HALL,
RIVER RD,
REVESBY

Conducted by Sifu Roman Czerniawsky – head of Australian Li Chi Hsiang School of Tai Chi for Health and Self Defence.

[For any tai chi practitioner who is interested to see how pushing is about being soft and sensitive to each other’s movements; is complementary to your form and can add vastly to your experience of tai chi.]

ACTing on Mothers Day

Mother's Day rolled around yet again and we had not ever visited the in-laws in Canberra for this occasion. We had the opportunity to do so this year, so we jumped in the car and took M4-M&7-Hume Highway route and arrived by 11 am.

.. we had lunch by 2 and were back on the road home before the sun set. With 3 hours travel time it now a day trip to Canberra.

Here we are with Pao and Amara celebrating Mother's Day in Woden at the "local" chinese restaurant outside on the footpath .. but with gentle enough weather to make it enjoyable.

celebrating at Blaxland Thai

A celebration with the gals for my Birthday .. at the Blaxland Thai ..since I was way too busy on the day.

Lil and Bob came up for the evening as well.

Tegan dropped in with Tim and had the surprise of her life to see Erin back from Perth ... the Bayliss gals all in one place again.

birthday boy

There is the cake Chand surprised me with on the day ... after 5 hours of Tai Chi ... an hour teaching the Seniors at Springwod, an hour teaching After School Care at Namatjia Centre in Werrington County and three hours training with Alex , Rosa, Renata and Marguerite.

Mind Body Spirit

Chand and Nic at the end of a long day at the Mind, Body & Spirit Festival at Darling Harbour.

I dropped in to see the gals after the Picton Reunion. Lil, Nic, Viv, Tegan and Tim were having a ball.

Find out when the next one is on .. here.

Cracknell Reunion - Picton

The Cracknell Reunion in Picton was attended by the usual suspects again this year. I am getting to be quite comfortable with the rels that I only knew by remote story before attending this event.

It was great to catch up with Bob and Shirley, just back from another stint of travelling from golf venue to golf venue.

Ron and Edna also turned up despite them both having had a stint in rehab for Ron's knee and Edna's back. They surprised me by brining John down to the reunion.

At least we had a chance to catch up, after his move to Asquith and he had the opportunity to meet up with more relatives than he ever knew that he had.

there is on this blog a previous cracknell reunion pic from ... 2003

Swimming Dragon

Alex leads Archie and Keith through the warming exercise of Swimming Dragon during the free Tai chi class in Carrington Place, Katoomba.

Segway comes to Lawson

Lunching at the "Two Front Doors Cafe" in Lawson, I spotted the first Segway in the local area. Parked behind the blackboard sign so as to not attract too much attention, the owner enjoyed a brew in the cafe.

"Two Front Doors Cafe" is the replacement for the Cafe Pazar now that the owners have moved to Tasmania.

Gloria Park

Back to walking after a long "ankle" enforced break. The autumn leaves of Gloria Park colour the otherwise eternally green surrounds of our regular walking track.