Hairy Situation

Oh, did I mention I’ve had a haircut? I figured I’d had the ponytail for long enough – time to chop and change! Big thanks to Susie, hairdresser extraordinaire, for the new look. I walked into her salon without a clear view in mind and chose to trust her judgement. A lot of skill, patience and a bit of magic later and, well, the results speak for themselves. Here’s some fun trivia: Did you know that Susie, who is my Godmother Irene’s cousin, gave me my first haircut ever?

I’m really enjoying the short hair. So far I’ve saved a fortune on conditioner and I no longer live in constant fear of a hairband breaking and the embarrassment of being caught out without a spare. On the flip side, I do miss having my luscious locks float majestically on the breeze as I cruise along on my GS500…

In an odd twist, I’ve been getting a lot of compliments about my beard since the big snip. I mean, people – most people – have noticed the new hairdo, but there is a surprisingly high number of people who have instead noticed my “new” beard.

Here’s some more trivia for you: my beard is not new - far from it. In fact next month marks the fifth anniversary of that day I missed a sizeable spot shaving.

In other news, I recently happened upon two more pieces I wrote in Malaysia, Day Seven and Day Eight. I had originally planned to write one post for each day of the trip, but that was pretty ambitious. In the end I was simply too busy having fun on my holiday :)

Malaysia Day Seven: Room Service

We started the day off with a leisurely stroll on the motorway. Here’s a fun fact: motorways are much less fun when you don’t have a tonne of steel for protection – we felt quite exposed along that footpath! We were heading towards Kuala Lumpur’s famed Lake Garden which is walking distance from KL Sentral Station, as long as you’re not bothered by a little risk. With insurance papers clenched firmly in hand, we emerged safely from this human-sized game of Frogger.

After checking out the planetarium, some local wildlife and visiting the unimaginatively named ‘Deer Cage’ we decided we’d soaked up enough of the picturesque surrounds and headed to Chinatown.

Unlike the clean, upper class shopping centres we’d been frequenting until now, I found the dingy, bustling marketplace of Petaling Street to be more my style. I walked in and immediately bought two t-shirts. The others engaged Bargain Hunter Mode™ and quickly followed suit. I was once again able to flex my haggling muscle and use some of the tips and tricks I learned last year in Mauritius.

There were many bargains.

Once we’d bought more than we could sensibly carry we headed back to the hotel and pondered the Dinner Question™. I’m not sure if it was a lack of motivation to leave our 5 star accommodation or perhaps we were drunk off our new found sense of wealth and power (an excellent exchange rate will do that to even the most staunch travellers) but we decided to order a sumptuous feast from Room Service. We laughed heartily as we spent the last of our Ringgits on cheeseburgers and too many onion rings. We enjoyed the moment to its fullest, but there was one thought at the back of everyone’s mind. This was the last night of our Marvellous Malaysian Adventure.

Reasons I love my New Car

In March of this year I bought a 2003 BA Ford Fairmont; it had low kms, an LPG conversion, and, I have to say, the car was in immaculate condition - thanks uncle Mark! 

The journey began in Melbourne, where car was located, and it seemed a road trip was in order! I recruited my good friend Matt for assistance and we embarked on what would be one of the most memorable trips of my life.

Six months after that three day epic and the good times are still rolling. There have been some rather big changes in my life lately, but it's safe to say that I still enjoy driving Fairy today just as much as the first time. Here's just a few of the reasons why I love this car:

LPG

The dual fuel system allows me the option to run the car on regular unleaded petrol or the more cost effective and (sightly more) environmentally friendly Liquefied Petroleum Gas. Brisbane prices are rarely as cheap as those in Melbourne, admittedly, though sometimes it gets pretty damn close. The price does fluctuate and it dove to new depths earlier this year - I remember one week it was so cheap that I filled the tank for only $27. That same week my motorcycle cost $28.

Size Matters

Don't get me wrong, I loved driving the Barina - some of my best driving memories are at the helm of that little bundle of German excellence - but take it from me, bigger is better. I now have room to carry pretty much anything I need and my passengers have noted that there's loads of leg room. Most importantly though, I no longer bump my head getting into the car :-)

Lap of Luxury

Power steering, power mirrors, power seat adjustment, auto lights, electronic throttle control (with cruise control), dual zone climate control... the list goes on. The Fairmont is a luxury sedan and she came equipped with all the best toys, plenty to keep me occupied when stuck in traffic! And as if all that wasn't enough, I've recently had a Parrot ASTEROID Mini installed. It's early days still, but so far so good. I'll keep you updated on that, once I've had a little play around with it.

Only Milk Comes in a 2 Litre

The Fairmont is powered by a (quite frankly) enormous 4.0L straight six cylinder engine. The perfect example of overengineering! It's freakishly powerful when it needs to be; on the trip back to Brisbane we were travelling around 100-110 km/h and the engine was sitting on only 2000 rpm - it was basically idling! Fairy was quite happy to sit at that speed all day, and we managed the 2000 km cross-country trek with ease. I'm not even going to mention what happened the first time I overtook somebody... To top it off, the car is also very quiet and has a transmission so subtle it's barely noticeable. I take my hat off to the engineers at Ford.

Thank You

I think it’s about time for another blog update; before I slip into yet another unscheduled hiatus!

There is a sobering reason for this, after almost four years of building a life together Bek and I decided to separate in June of this year. This was a huge change and there was a very stressful and hectic transition from the life that I knew, to something entirely new.

I want to extend my thanks to the family and friends I've been leaning on for support the last couple of months. You've all been great and have really helped me through what has been one of my toughest challenges. Thank you.