November Review

The monthly review, nearly done for the year.

The lockdown / lockout notes.

• The Melbourne Cup with a crowd was described as 'the race that restarts the country'
• We're still getting over 1000 cases a day, almost no decrease from improved vaccination rates
• There's no sign of long term plans that don't require continual covid tests and isolation periods
• Particularly for airline travel - even just interstate
• Really slow progress towards 90% second dose target
• The government changes rules at the last minute - masks for yet another month indoors
• Due to 300 hospital cases - down from 750
• Any interstate travel requires private PCR tests - not the public test sites
• $150 but supposedly funded by the government
• A new omicron African variant arrives
• Hotel quarantine returns
• General panic

Finally got to participate in a running event, the Sandy Point 10 kilometre race. It hadn't been a good month prior to that, due to increasingly delayed afternoon running and not much opportunity for training sessions. Leading into the race I did eventually have one good training session and got back to the track for the first time in about six months.

The parkrun events are back too, but being the same weekend as the race it was a good opportunity to volunteer again. The race went well and I finally managed to get under 37 minutes, mostly thanks to a good second half with a slight downhill.

The shares were quite stable for most of the month, until the omicron virus showed up and then there was significant daily changes. I've participated in a couple of additional share purchase plans, but they are becoming increasingly pointless since the public share price ends up dropping to almost the same amount anyway.

Just the same for another month of sports - NFL and premier league. It's looking like another year of underachievement for Manchester United and the manager has been sacked again. Some daily Big Bash league will be starting soon for something a bit different.

The to do list doesn't really have anything this month, just some house maintenance - more bills. Even interstate holidays for the end of the year are hardly worth the effort / risk at this point. Even a weekend trip for a parkrun doesn't work well this year as Christmas and New Years Day are on Saturday.

Things are starting to settle down at work again for the approach to Christmas. The problem now will be having nothing to do at the beginning of next year.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None - maybe back to the cinemas soon
• Music
• The Killers - got a ticket but it's not until December 2022
• TV
• None - just a lot of regular shows in progress
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare
• Purchased the game - finally arrived in the mail
• Confusing name since they've had four others already
• Xbox 360
• Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare 3
• Veteran difficulty was tough but fair
• Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare 2
• Veteran difficulty was more difficult and sometimes annoying
• Call Of Duty - World At War
• Veteran difficultly was probably the worst experience ever
• The bullet damage was bearable, but not the grenade storm

October Review

 The monthly review a bit late again, fast running out of time in the year.

The lockdown notes are definitely close to an end now.

• Introducing mandatory vaccinations for many industries
• However we're already past 80% first dose - minimal impact
• Different regional areas keep going in and out of lockdown
• No curfews however
• Don't need to reach zero to end lockdown - just a random assessment
• Revised world record for days in lockdown
• Get to celebrate reaching first place a second time - or last place
• Over 1700 cases in a day to beat the NSW daily record
• Continued to increase up to almost 2300
• NSW residents allowed into regional Victoria while metro residents remain locked down
• Outrage !
• Got upgraded from 15km to 25km at least...
• Changes to the 70% rules
• 10 visitors in home
• 20 people for indoor dining
• No metro travel limit
• Reached 70% five days ahead of schedule
• Starting to do more than 1% per day for double vaccinations
• TV shows running countdown clocks for the end of lockdown at midnight
• Media continues overusing the word 'freedom'
• Media also too enthusiastic about the 70% milestone being reached - minimal changes
• 90% rule details announced
• For 12+ instead of 16+ should only be a couple of days later
• Reached 80% early during the Melbourne Cup 'long weekend'
• Most entertainment and retail now open with limits
• No masks outside
• No travel limits in Victoria
• Can't really travel anywhere else
• Going to be required to do multiple covid tests for every trip

Not much happening in running again, just lots of general soreness. I did something to cause another stomach muscle strain again, but it only hurts with any sharp, sudden movements. I've still been feeling really sore on Sunday long runs although it has been getting a little better each week. There's still nothing definite in the race calendar although Melbourne Marathon in December looks almost certain, and perhaps another Sandy Point event in late November.

I tried out a new pair of Nike Zoom Fly 3 which is like a cheap version of the super shoe range. I was expecting at least some benefit from it, but didn't get much at all. It definitely feels much better than the original, but still seems a little heavy underfoot. I've also order the training version of the New Balance super shoe, but it's taking weeks to be delivered and hasn't arrived yet.

For once I don't have much to complain about the sharemarket, as it's gradually going up without any major reversal - but that can't go on for much longer. I have had four companies all launch share purchase plans during the month, I tried to participate in the Aussie Broadband one but only ended up get 18% that I applied for - about the same as usual.

It's been about the same in sports, my main interests are the NFL weekly highlights and Premier League match of the day. I don't feel like I have the time for full matches, so the highlights are a good substitute.

The to do list is still a bit short on content, after being shut down for three months the list will be a bit different this time.

• Dental appointment at last !
• Haircut at last !
• Tax return
• Going to be paying back $10,000+ a month for a while
• Vaccination second dose at last - six weeks later

I've been super busy at work lately including the weekend, not helped by some people leaving the team. There will be close to three weeks shutdown over Christmas which would be a good break after such a long time, but there's going to be so few options to do anything at such short notice. In particular international travel still feels like it will be all too hard right now - somehow you're expected to organise a virus test in a foreign country before you return home.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• Old
• A good idea but the pace was just a bit slow
• 6 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• Rosehaven season 5
• The final season unfortunately
• 9 out of 10
• SAS Australia
• Better than expected, although some people didn't belong on the show
• 8 out of 10
• Squid Game
• Set a high standard, just hoped for a bit better ending
• 9 out of 10
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch
• Metroid Dread arrived
• Xbox 360
• Diablo 3
• Normal mode
• Nightmare mode
• Hell mode
• Inferno mode - doesn't seem to get much harder

September Review

The monthly review is a bit late, forgot for a few days.

The lockdown diary is still going strong.

• Supermarkets have become the new risk setting - but only after 18 months
• Approaching the world record for days in lockdown - currently in second place
• The new phrase is 'a pandemic of the unvaccinated'
• The old phrase 'we'll have more to say' is another favourite
• 75% of daily cases in northern suburbs - but same rules for the whole metro region
• Reporting cases in 0-9 and 10-19 age groups - mostly irrelevant due to the impact
• Another 'blitz' - for vaccinating the northern and western suburbs this time
• Increasing into 300, 400, and 500 cases
• Reached 70% - upgraded to 10km travel and 4 hours exercise
• Yet another roadmap
• 80% - 15km travel
• 70% double - not much
• 80% double - still masks indoors
• Increasing protests due to the frustrations from an ongoing lockdown for a second year
• Richmond
• City - construction workers
• West Gate Bridge
• Shrine
• Made an unachievable goal to reach 80% by the last weekend in September
• It was obviously impossible due to the daily average
• It was shrugged off as an ambitious target that was just missed by a few days
• Continue to get less information via Twitter as the cases increase
• First change - no numbers in isolation
• Second change - no numbers linked
• Third change - progressively less exposure sites published
• A new 90% target appeared - when restrictions really start getting removed
• NSW will have the same rules for vaccinated and unvaccinated from December - no incentive
• Victoria breaking records each day - nearly 1500
• Blaming the protesters moved on to blaming AFL grand final parties

Lots of minor running injuries to work through this month, every day I have to find out if something else has become an issue - right foot, left shin, left foot. I'm also feeling more beat up than usual after weekend long runs. I think it could be partly explained by running earlier in the day, as I don't have any issues doing more than 15 kilometres in a much faster training session during the week.

The Melbourne Marathon has been rescheduled to December, so I can probably start preparing some time in November if it is still looking likely.

The shares have been all over the place this month, down 2% one day, up similarly the next - but never recovers the full amount. Then repeat the process a few days later. The end result was something like a four month low - it's really frustrating when you have months of small gains, then it all goes back to the beginning again.

The AFL finals have completed, just without any matches in Melbourne again. The best possible outcome eventuated in almost every match - with Victorian teams beating those from interstate. And Melbourne beating Western Bulldogs in the final was a long overdue premiership. Hopefully that's the last we have to hear about how great Perth and night grand finals are.

The NFL is back again, this year with more crowds. It usually takes me until Thursday or Friday to get through all the match highlights from YouTube - 10 to 15 minutes for 16 games is a lot.

I'm not sure I have anything left in a to do list right now:

• Tax Return - putting off having to pay many thousands of dollars

Been running a bit short of things to do at work, although the timeline stretches out until the middle of next year.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None - but have a few to watch
• Music
• TV
• Dr Death
• A good short series based on a real story, with a good cast too
• 8 out of 10
• F1 Drive To Survive season 3
• Some good stories but they jump around a lot
• It's hard to follow how the season is progressing - much better than race reports though
• 7 out of 10
• Survivor AU season 8
• Being allowed to hand off an idol after getting eliminated was the worst rule ever
• Having four urns to avoid an elimination was also a stupid idea
• Even worse when the next episode still has the three remaining urns
• Had a good ending at least
• 7 out of 10
• The Stranger UK
• Another good UK short series with a lot of characters and side stories
• 7 out of 10
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch
• Metroid Dread pre-ordered
• Xbox One
• Mafia 3
• A good story but the missions were incredibly repetitive
• Just drive to a location and kill a few guys
• Only a small number were any different
• A great soundtrack at least
• 6 out of 10
• Xbox 360
• Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns
• Hadn't played in 2 years
• Had to remember how to play the game and then what I was up to
• Seems like I was trying to complete a few achievements and a different game ending

August Review

 It's the monthly review, still nothing to look forward to.

The lockdown diary:

• About two weeks between lockdown 5 and lockdown 6
• Starting with a one week 'short, sharp, snap lockdown' this time
• Soon extended for a second week
• NSW numbers keep increasing
• 400+
• 700+ approaching the Victorian record
• 800+
• 1000+
• Daily reminders the numbers will get out of control without this lockdown
• Daily reports of illegal gatherings and parties
• Continuing to record 20+ cases each day, not decreasing
• More exposure sites
• Most linked to childcare or schools
• Playgrounds packed full on the weekends
• Another 2 weeks of lockdown
• The famous curfew is back
• The playgrounds are closed again - not surprising
• Still a lot of daily cases not in isolation, different to the previous few lockdowns
• Cases slowly increasing, apparently a higher percentage of children
• NSW well ahead in vaccination rates, and getting more than an equal share
• NSW also passed Victoria for total number of cases
• New outbreaks in ACT and New Zealand
• Low numbers but still present after a few weeks
• Confirmation the current strategy is still appropriate and numbers are stable
• Two days later the strategy is basically abandoned and we're just waiting for 70% vaccinations
• Meaning another three weeks of lockdown
• Nothing of value coming after the target is reached anyway
• 10 kilometres and 3 hours of exercise - who cares
• Exposure sites being released 10 days after the event
• Not specified if it's due to delays getting tested or delays in contract tracing
• Probably both

As usual not much to report for running - no parkrun and most remaining events are either postponed for later in the year (good luck) or cancelled. A random collection of injuries on separate days - right hip, right foot, left hip, both small toe nails not looking good. Tried out some new cushioned Nike Invincible shoes to manage some of these injuries, but that coincided with the new left hip injury, perhaps a coincidence. Otherwise just doing one 10-11 kilometre session per week as there's no point doing more.

I thought I was due for a good month in the sharemarket but then got reminded that two days can erased two weeks of gains. At least after 2-3 years I'm roughly back to break even for my investment loan.

The Olympics were a good distraction for a couple of weeks, some of the highlights:

• Athletics
• Marathon men - Kipchoge
• Marathon women - Kenyan, Seidel, Australian
• 800m men - Bol
• 1500m men - McSweyn
• 5000m + 10000m women - Hassan
• 10000m men - Tiernan
• Basketball
• Australia vs USA
• Australia vs Slovenia - 3rd place and first medal
• USA vs France
• Swimming
• 4 x 100m women freestyle relay
• 4 x 100m women medley relay
• McKeon - 50m, 100m freestyle
• McKeown - 100m, 200m backstroke
• Titmus - 200m, 400m freestyle

The AFL finals are underway, and of course no matches will be in Melbourne again this year. Provides a big advantage for Brisbane and Port Adelaide in particular, to have home games and home crowds.

There's nothing to do right now:

• Running Calendar
• Just removing all the cancelled events
• Tax Return
• The first attempt came back with a $75,000 bill owing !
• I had calculated more like $25,000 - $30,000 so that was a shock
• Have to review the capital gains tax section again
• Vaccination
• Got first dose of Pfizer, just a mild sore arm for 36 hours

Still doing the same things at work, finally we'll have a public holiday in a few weeks - but nowhere to go and nothing to do, maybe 10 kilometres will be allowed by then.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None - got a few Stephen King to catch up on
• Movies
• Fear Street Part 1 1994
• Like a bad Scream remake with younger high school kids
• 3 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• The Equalizer
• Most time is spent on the new mission of the week, rather than a long running story
• Quite similar to Person Of Interest, but less technology
• 7 out of 10
• The White Lotus
• Something a bit different, well written and produced
• Good story except the older woman part was boring
• 8 out of 10
• The Wilds
• Like a less complicated version of Lost, with stranded teens
• Didn't achieve much at the end of the season, but at least a second season is coming
• 8 out of 10
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch
• Metroid Dread pre-ordered
• Xbox One
• Mafia 3
• Just started, ok so far but seems a bit repetitive
• Xbox One - Xbox 360 compatibility mode
• Call Of Duty - Black Ops 2
• A better story than most and gameplay was also good
• Veteran was challenging but not impossible
• 7 out of 10

July Review

 It's the monthly review, the second half of the year must be better than the first.

The lockdown diary:

• NSW numbers keep going up, other states watching curiously
• NSW finally sign up for the lockdown strategy
• VIC back to no masks in the office after 6 weeks or more
• For one week...
• VIC two outbreaks from that escalating NSW outbreak
• Both reported to be caused by people doing the wrong thing
• VIC 5th lockdown for 5 days
• Or longer...
• Called 'lockdown 5.0' for some reason
• Lots of apartment buildings and entire schools being shut down
• Lucky not to be living in an apartment right now...
• Every day the news reports people waiting in line for several hours to get tested
• Every day is a 'critical' next 24 or 48 hours
• VIC lockdown extended for another 7 days
• SA also in lockdown at the same time
• NSW numbers past 200
• Looks like they are headed for months of lockdown, which impacts everyone
• VIC lockdown finished but usual restrictions remain
• No AFL crowds for two weeks or more
• QLD lockdown just in time to replace SA and VIC
• All the sports leagues conveniently relocated before the shutdown

Nothing to be excited about for running. Gold Coast restrictions were removed right in time for the proposed marathon weekend, the event was already cancelled but rugby league games were back at 100% capacity...

Managed two more parkrun course PBs before they were shut down in Victoria for the rest on July and beyond. Similarly the Run Melbourne event for late July was cancelled and Run 4 The Kids in late August. The only big event left for the year is Melbourne Marathon in October and it's impossible to predict what the situation will be - making it almost impossible to commit any serious training. I was going to be eligible for the preferred start due to older age group, but then they made the criteria like three minutes faster !

I'm finally due to retire a few pairs of shoes, which coincided with another trip to the Nike Outlet to buy even more shoes - also got lucky to miss being at a covid exposure site by one day. Got a pair of Infinity Run 2 - which look quite similar to version 1, and some very cushioned Invincible - not sure if they are best suited for weekend long runs or daily running.

Lots of injuries this month - sore left shin once again, which has been recurring for several years, sore right foot, have to verify if it was being caused by a narrow pair of Pegasus 37 I started wearing, and some strange stomach pain for a few weeks of various severity, hopefully it's some kind of muscle strain rather than anything internal.

Still nothing exciting happening with shares, just grinding out a slow recovery since the big dip in March, not sure if I'll reach my target by the end of the year.

We reached the end of the Euro 2020 competition with a bit of an uneventful final, decided by a penalty loss to England. I think every news report had the same headline - 'Football's not coming home, it's going to Rome' which wasn't even clever the first time I heard it. I only got to watch a little of the NBA finals, the most I saw was from game five which seemed to resemble an all-star game with no defense. Anyway it was my preferred outcome that the Milwaukee Bucks won.

A similar issue with trying to watch the first week of the Olympics, a lot of the medal events are during the day but I'm either busy with work or running during my lunch break to see a lot of the competitions. I should try to make the most of it as the next two won't be in favourable time zones - and maybe we won't be stuck working from home by 2024.

There's not a lot to do at the moment:

• Galaxy A52 upgrade
• Loaded all data from Galaxy A50 using Samsung Switch app
• It was fairly seamless but had to do a lot of reconfiguration:
• Login to all mobile apps again
• Reconnect Garmin device
• Reset 2FA authenticator codes - very painful to get the QR codes again
• Running Calendar
• Generally cancelling all plans is my current activity
• Melbourne Marathon registered
• Run Melbourne registered but cancelled within a month
• A few other Melbourne possibilities, nothing exciting

Just back working at home five days a week again. Had a bit more focus on development this month which was good for a change.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• Fear Street Part 1 1994
• Like a bad Scream remake with younger high school kids
• 3 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
•  Clarice
• Started promising, but the main story for the season wasn't very good
• 6 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa season 4
• Just an average season
• 5 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Console factory reset
• I think I had a bad upgrade as the desktop wasn't working properly
• Took a long time to load, couldn't login and half of the items weren't rendering
• It's annoying that you keep game download data but lose all saves, lucky I had none in progress
• Call Of Duty - Infinite Warfare
• Just finished off some achievements
• Call Of Duty - World War 2
• A much different gameplay with limited health supplies
• The story was much better although a little short
• Just annoying you can't skip the story on the second playthrough
• 8 out of 10
•  Xbox One - Xbox 360 compatibility mode
• Call Of Duty - Ghosts
• An older game but still good gameplay
• 7 out of 10

June Review

 It's the monthly review, half year over. This is shaping up to be one of the two best years on record.

No shortage of lockdown news for this month, as we went into media overload.

• New claims you can catch the virus just by brushing past someone on the street
• So much for that 15 minute proximity with the COVID safe mobile app
• Several days later most of those scenarios were determined to be false positives !
• A second week of lockdown for Melbourne
• The seven day 'circuit breaker' didn't break the circuit
• Another Melbourne hotel outbreak to overlap with the Adelaide hotel outbreak we imported
• Of course both remain unsolved mysteries
• We still haven't got another word for 'jab'
• My favourite was people with both doses being referred to as 'the fully jabbed'
• Instead of daily cases the media started reporting the daily exposure site count
• They must like the higher numbers
• Massive outrage from NSW and Queensland because one family drove out of Victoria
• Thousands more would have arrived in the days before the borders were closed
• After two weeks the 'lockdown is over' apparently
• Except for all those restrictions that remain
• The new phrase from the state government is 'run this to ground'
• I don't even know what the means, into the ground maybe ?
• Still banned from most states for additional weeks even when our lockdown is over
• Just as Victoria restarts another outbreaks begins in NSW
• For about one week the country was looking good, except for NSW
• Wait for it...
• Queensland
• Northern Territory
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Simultaneous shorter lockdowns in every other state besides Tasmania

A dramatic month for my running plans would be a fair description. No parkrun for four weeks was just a minor disappointment. Besides that interruption I kept to my usual routine and one weekly training session, although found it hard to be particularly motivated as the Gold Coast marathon became less and less likely to include Melbourne residents.

There was about a week when everything came together and the Gold Coast marathon was likely to run with everyone except NSW, then Brisbane got a couple of cases and decided to shut down Gold Coast in the process, even though they never had any cases before or after the announcement. Then states such as Victoria declared South Queensland a red zone and the dream was over. So the marathon had to be cancelled during the race week, annoying as I needed to cancel my hotel booking seven days prior to get a full refund, at least the flights can be rescheduled and the race entry rolls over to 2022 - or 2023...

The parkrun events came back at the end of the month, I managed a 6th consecutive PB and 20th different even in a row - just something different to keep things interesting. My five kilometre times haven't been the best though, generally in the 18:20 - 18:30 range.

Just an ordinary month in shares, still down for the year but not by too much. A bit annoying that Afterpay went up shortly after I sold the last of them, but they have levelled off since.

A few more things happening in the sports world.

• AFL
• At some point we started referring to ankle injuries as syndesmosis injuries
• Euro 2020 / 2021
• The daily highlights have been good, my favourite games were:
• Netherlands 3 - Ukraine 2
• Germany 4 - Portugal 2
• Germany 2 - Hungary 2
• Switzerland 3 - France 3 (penalties)
• England 2 - Germany 0
• NBA
• Brooklyn was my hope for the playoffs, but couldn't overcome multiple injuries
• I haven't been able to watch many games due to work and lunch time running
• Most series have been ruined by injuries
• NBL
• Melbourne had two close away wins in Perth to start the series, then finished them off 3-0
• It's always good when Perth doesn't win

A few more things happening in the to do list also:

• Holiday
• Gold Coast - planned and cancelled within a month
• Laptop
• HP Omen 15 - main purpose was to replace slow old Galaxy tablet
• Mobile Phone
• Galaxy A52 - haven't done the upgrade yet, hopefully it's painless
• Other
• Spending 2020-21 - have good data of annual spending to review now
• Running
• Booked Run Melbourne for late July - surely that won't get cancelled

Like usual nothing too eventful happening with work, just a small pay rise I think coming next month. Should be heading towards a busy time later in the year. It's not like I have any holidays planned or anywhere to go.

That's it for this month, went a bit longer than usual - it takes much longer to write and check than it does to read.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None - cinemas are starting to open again, but nothing good showing at the moment
• Music
• None
• TV
• Manifest season 3
• It's been cancelled now, apparently they had a goal for six seasons
• Feels like a waste of our time when there isn't a conclusion
• 4 out of 10
• Mare Of Easttown
• Better than expected, really well produced and written
• 9 out of 10
• This Time With Alan Partridge season 2
• The episodes felt a bit long but still some good moments
• 7 out of 10
• Video Games
• NES
• Zelda 2 Winter Solstice
• Fun 'hack' game but quite difficult
• Couldn't be bothered with the last palace maze
• 7 out of 10
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Black Ops 3
• Starts very slow almost like a tutorial for two levels
• Confusing and slow story
• Much harder when replaying just one difficulty setting higher
• 6 out of 10
• Call Of Duty - Infinite Warfare
• Shorter campaign than the previous two games
• Never ending shootouts, not sure if you are supposed to wait or forge ahead
• Poor story and limited character/weapon upgrades
• Missed a lot of optional missions as they can be skipped from the map
• Hated the plane missions, and being in space
• 4 out of 10

May Review

 It's the monthly review.

And we're back with plenty of material for the lockdown notes once more.

• The focus to start the month was the backlash to banning flights from India for three weeks
• It seemed like the media was very one sided and looking for drama
• However banning people from returning home is even something we've done between our own states
• Following the WA hotel problem becoming a Victoria problem, now another case originating from SA hotels
• No problems for the first two weeks...
• The government increased policing of wearing masks on public transport
• Even though it's not a requirement anywhere else in the country
• The wrong Woolworths being listed as a priority exposure site was found out two weeks later
• Soon followed by a explosion in positive cases, coincidence or not...
• A few days of increasing case numbers and we're back in a seven day, five kilometre lockdown
• Somehow this was the reminder some people needed to get a vaccination, others just recently became eligible
• When the lines are six hours long though, I can't blame them
• How hard would it be to take a number and get an estimate return time instead
• The media were already discussing the 'road out of lockdown' after one day
• To be continued next month...

So running was doing good until we entered lockdown again. A few good times at parkruns although I've been too tired to travel to any new locations which are all more than one hour away now. Instead continued a streak of different events (19 in a row) and set some new course best times (5 in a row). The hopes of going to the Gold Coast marathon are reducing by the day, I'm at about 25% now. I also registered for the 10 kilometre at Run Melbourne in late July which should be more possible, but hardly something to be excited for.

A miserable month for shares, going down 10% one week and 5% the next. I finally had to give up on Afterpay, still made a profit but could have been much more. My investments are a bit more diversified now at least, but not sure what kind of tax bill I'm going to be due for in July. Once more I tried to register for a capital raising and only got 25% of the allocation - it's hardly worth the time when it takes a month for your refund to show up - in cheque form this time!

I was able to go to one AFL match before all matches were moved interstate. Carlton vs. Melbourne at the MCG and the first time sitting in level two of the members I think. It was surprisingly not freezing cold at the football yet in the middle of May, however the match was decided early in the third quarter. The NBA playoffs are underway but so far I haven't found an interest to watch any games, maybe by the second and third round I will get a bit more excited.

A few small items on the to do list:

• Holiday
• Gold Coast
• Booked but now have to play the waiting game
• Should be able to get credits or refunds still for most expenses
• Queen's Birthday weekend
• Jumping ahead to early June, apparently we're banned from leaving Melbourne already regardless
• Running plans
• Got the yearly schedule mapped out a bit better
• Didn't find many interstate events (if not banned) that were worth the money
• Spreadsheets
• Parkrun
• Made a schedule of locations / event numbers I haven't done yet
• Spending
• I have no idea what my expenses are - might need to know for a mortgage one day
• Still in the middle of going back through a year to get some estimates

I spent some time doing weekend work again, not like there's anything else to do at the moment. However I think I'm back on schedule now so shouldn't become a regular thing.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies - finally
• A Quiet Place 2
• Disappointed as it was quite slow and didn't achieve much
• 5 out of 10
• Spiral: From The Book Of Saw
• Bit more like a crime mystery compared to the previous Saw movies
• 6 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• The Challenge All Stars
• Just a shame it was only 9 episodes
• 9 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Advanced Warfare
• Finished the single player campaign
• The story jumps around a lot, with very linear maps
• Replayed on both of the higher difficultly settings, weren't excessively hard
• Don't even get the zombie survival mode without paying for the expansion
• 6 out of 10

April Review

 It's the monthly review.

Starting to run a bit low on the lockdown notes again, which is generally a good thing.

• The blood clot issues finally surfaced locally
• It's a low risk but 'better than getting coronavirus' is probably not the best argument
• Still focusing on the slow rollout until it didn't become interesting news anymore
• Abruptly abandoned the AstraZeneca for under 50's
• Provides a great excuse for not meeting those targets
• If it means getting a more effective vaccine I guess it's a good result
• Still lots of small errors around the country but no major outbreaks by incredible luck

Starting to wear down a bit from running but have still managed to run daily since March 2020 for the moment. At one point I had a sore hip, sore foot and then triggered some lower back nerve pain while bending over - it usually happens once a year and I can't move for about a week. Got a couple of new parkruns in at Campaspe (Woodend) and Sunbury.

Also had a race at Run The Rock (another trip to Woodend) which went much better than 2019, when I had blisters and ended up losing a couple of layers of skin off the bottom of my foot. So this year I was about 2 minutes better on the 13.5 kilometre course and finished in the top 5.

I might need a new section for running shopping - got a pair of Zoom Fly 3 and rain jacket on the way back from Woodend, and ordered two pairs of shorts and a singlet from Nike online.

Nothing much to report in shares, the usual two good weeks and two bad weeks. I sold off a little of Afterpay and Points Bet after losing patience with a downward trend, of course they both went straight up afterwards.

I didn't get to watch much of NCAA March Madness since it was on during the day, there wasn't a lot of excitement this year it seemed. I got the wrong day for the semi finals so missed out on those. I haven't got any interest in the NBA until playoffs start, just too many uncompetitive games and players missing with injuries or rest.

Just a couple of items on the to do list:

• Holiday
• Took a bit too long to make any plans for Queens Birthday weekend
• I was thinking about Brisbane or Hobart, but maybe somewhere local instead
• Running
• Gold Coast
• Booked flight and hotel for the half marathon
• This will be the third attempt at running the event without an injury
• Launceston
• Probably not worth it for a 10km a month before Gold Coast

Nothing much to report in work either, currently we were scheduled to finish around July, but imagine that will be extended for quite some time.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None - maybe soon !
• Music
• None
• TV
• Last Chance U Basketball
• Long episodes and not much basketball action in some episodes
• I think the football seasons were better
• 5 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa 3
• Much better than season 2 although I don't like the celebrity seasons usually
• A better host and a little bit more strategy this time
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Advanced Warfare
• Playing through the single player campaign, it's alright so far
• 6 out of 10
• Final Fantasy 15
• Finished all the achievements

March Review

 It's the monthly review.

The 'lockdown notes' have a little bit of life left still, but might need a new name.

• The media declares each day as the 'biggest day of vaccinations so far'
• It's hardly an achievement with those numbers
• The slow start to Victorian vaccinations is being described as 'clever' and 'safe'
• The media show up to film wherever someone is getting a vaccination
• Everyone states the obvious that it doesn't really hurt
• Europe pausing the AstraZeneca vaccine due to possible side effects
• Of course it's the only option we have put all our hopes on
• The media describes the AFL restarting as 'an important step in our COVID recovery'
• Delays in restarting the hotel quarantine because they are 'reviewing' the 'new' virus strains
• These are strains from the last year which have been reviewed extensively elsewhere
• The slow rollout continues, nowhere near original 4 million target
• This the new favourite topic of discussion
• The government got very lucky to be able to use international shipments an an excuse
• I'm not sure what happened to that 150 million doses we supposedly negotiated

A grind month of running with no races coming up and various small injuries. The only highlights were a few new parkruns at Altona Beach, Point Cook, and Cascades On Clyde Wetlands - a couple of seconds and a first place, just various times in the mid 18 minute range.

I was looking at the possibility of doing the Canberra half marathon, and started doing some longer training sessions, but in the end there was a bit too much uncertainty with additional injury issues - and last minute organising.

Rain running at Studley

My shares had a terrible month with no highlights, like six weeks of losses in a row. I've had to finally give up on A2 Milk and sold down some Afterpay to get a better balance. So now they'll probably both recover within the next six months. None of this helps with planning for a house deposit.

Not many highlights in sport other than the AFL starting, and Carlton back to losing again. The other major event was the NCAA March Madness basketball which I had on in the background while working from home, but wasn't really concentrating on.

The to do list:

• 2021 goals
• Bills - won't be saving any money this month
• Car service
• Health insurance
• House repairs - must be around 20 years old so things start breaking down
• Garage door motor replacement
• Gas central heating replacement

Still just doing one day of work from the city at the moment. Lots of people moving off the project but I'm happy to be around for a while longer.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None - some options at the cinema coming up soon
• Music
• None
• TV
• Survivor South Africa season 2 - 2007
• A very basic season - but not overloaded with stupid hidden immunity idols
• No strategy from most contestants
• 4 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Final Fantasy 15
• Such a terrible story and linear second half of the game
• 3 out of 10

2021 Goals

It's early April but these are intended to be from the beginning of 2021.

The topics are similar to previous years as I haven't thought of anything else. I might revisit this half way through the year.

• Blog
• 25 posts - won't be many holidays again this year
• Fitness
• Bike
• 10 bike rides - a modest goal
• Run
• 5km - under 18:00
• 10km - under 37:00
• 21km - under 1:22:00
• Total Distance - over 4000km
• Parkrun - 15 new events
• Races
• 5 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 0 international events
• Weight
• 70kg - again
• Holiday
• A big achievement will be to travel interstate without getting trapped
• House
• Hoping to buy this year - prices have already begun increasing significantly
• Money
• Shares
• Depends on house deposit requirements
• Hopefully reach a milestone number - roughly gain 10% from the end of 2020
• Super
• Seems to be a linear increase at the moment
• Music
• 2 events - another modest goal
• Reading
• 5 books - been a while since the last one
• Sport
• AFL - should be able to attend games again this year
• NBL - if Sydney make the finals
• Study
• 1 exam - depends on work projects
• To Do List
• House improvements / repairs is the only major item
• Video Games
• 5 games completed
• Work
• Hoping to finish current project and get another good opportunity
• Won't be in consideration for another promotion for some time

February Review

 It's the monthly review.

After an unexpected resurgence the lockdown notes might be near another end.

• 1 community case in Victoria originating from an Australian Open facility
• And we're back to masks everywhere indoors including offices !
• Many more community cases from a separate hotel outbreak
• Three different hotels in about a week
• The cases quickly went into double figures
• And we've got our own 'snap' lockdown
• Also known as a 'short, sharp lockdown'
• Also known as a 'circuit breaker'
• Combined with ridiculous unproven claims the virus is spreading so much quicker now
• Also known as 'hyper speed'
• Also known as 'light speed'
• The first vaccinations started being given out
• The media has to cover who is the 'first' person to get a vaccine in each state and city
• The exact time of day is also an important detail
• The two week outbreak panic period is over, we're just back to the same old summer restrictions

A bit more than usual to report for running activities. Some good times in the low 18 minutes at parkrun, other than the week they were cancelled again, and I spent a week doing volunteering before the Sandy Point 10km race. I tried out the Pegasus Turbo 2 in the race and they went well, I had a consistent speed and was feeling good until the last kilometre, just missed out on a sub 37 minute official time. My next goal is to beat my 36:58 result recorded on a significantly short course - 30 seconds worth. If several small injuries clear up then maybe look for a half marathon opportunity as well.

I mentioned the Pegasus Turbo 2 as I purchased a pair of the Vaporfly Next% 'super shoes' helped by some gift card discounts, but I wanted to set a new baseline in a more common pair of shoes first. The next 10 kilometre race I can hopefully do in similar conditions and compare the result. The bonus good news was that I ordered one pair of these shoes and they sent two pairs !

It was not surprising to have another mediocre month for shares, I don't think my investment loan is ever going to recover to zero. My main account was going great for six weeks, then lost it all and more in under two weeks.

It feels like a while ago the NFL superbowl was on now. A great result that Tom Brady again managed to win 'just one more', unfortunately I was a bit distracted with work and didn't get to watch the game in full. I didn't have much interest in the Australian Open tennis this year, quite predictably the winners came from the preferential quarantine group that were able to arrive separately in Adelaide before everyone else.

The to do list:

• 2020 review
• 2021 goals - not done yet
• House repairs
• Some various things unrelated to house hunting
• Might need a temporary new 'house hunters' section for the blog

Had a couple of days doing work from the office after nearly a year away, the worst part was definitely having to wear a mask all day. I'm not too concerned about doing 'some' work back at the office, without a mask, but not really looking forward to the possibility of having to do five days a week.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• The Mole NL season 14
• The cast wasn't as good in this season
• 5 out of 10
• The Mole NL season 15
• Better that the previous season
• Still impossible to work out who The Mole is
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Final Fantasy 15
• Limited battle system
• Never ending side quests
• Doesn't feel as much like previous Final Fantasy games
• 5 out of 10 - so far

2020 Review

The middle of February seems like a good time for a goals and yearly review.

These were the goals I put down before ten months of quarantine happened, so this will be interesting.

• Blog (25%)
• 16 out of 50 - there wasn't much to write about...
• Car (100%)
• The old Mitsubishi Lancer engine died before I got to offload it
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• For much of the year we had a 5 km and 1-2 hour outdoors limit, so not ideal to start bike riding
• Run (25%)
• A good year in running given the circumstances
• I have a daily running streak still going from March 3 to February 14
• 5 km - around 18:00, not sure I can claim sub 18 minutes though
• 10 km - around 37:30 in a race, best time with an accurate course distance
• 21 km - no races
• 4300+ km - well ahead of 3000 km
• 5 of 10 new parkrun events - got halfway there before March
• 1 of 5 new race events
• 0 of 2 new interstate events
• 0 of 1 new international events
• Weight (20%)
• 74 kg all year instead of 75 kg, not getting much closer to 70 kg
• Food (0%)
• Haven't really made any changes
• Too many lockdown donuts - actual donuts
• Holiday (5%)
• This will be on hold for a while now
• 0 of 1 interstate holiday
• 0 of 1 international holiday
• Managed to reach South Australia just before the end of the year
• House (1%)
• You'd think this year's business and job impacts would slow down house prices, but no
• I have some preferred locations, not much of an achievement
• Should be able to manage a deposit and home loan with the current ultra-low interest rates
• Money (100%)
• Shares
• A rollercoaster ride
• Lost 40% in 4 weeks
• Back where it started in another 12 weeks
• Somehow finished with a 50% gain
• Investment loan would be negative overall, was forced to sell some
• Super
• Up about 10% including new contributions, a bit less than the previous year
• Hard to really make sense of that given the extra amount invested
• Music (20%)
• 1 of 5 events
• February - The New Pornographers
• Reading (0%)
• None
• Sport (0%)
• AFL - none in Victoria
• NBL - Sydney made the NBL finals
• But coincided with restrictions so it wasn't an option to attend a match in Sydney
• Study (0%)
• 0 of 1 exam certification
• To Do List (0%)
• Nothing of major significance besides this list
• Video Games (40%)
• Nintendo Switch
• Setup and finished some games
• New Super Mario U Deluxe
• New Super Mario U Deluxe - Luigi U
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Zelda - Breath Of The Wild
• Zelda - Link's Awakening
• Xbox One
• Finished some games very slowly
• Fallout 4
• Forza Horizon 3
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Work (75%)
• Got a promotion finally
• Spent the whole year on one project, but generally enjoyable
• Not being expected to travel to work 5 days a week was a good side effect
• Currently undecided about long term goals, with the same company or elsewhere

A few favourites from the year:

• Movies
• Knives Out - the only movie I got to watch at a cinema
• TV
• All Or Nothing - both Philadelphia Eagles and Tottenham
• Better Call Saul
• Fear The Walking Dead
• Rosehaven
• Ted Lasso
• The Last Dance - great NBA footage
• The Last Man On Earth - sometimes great, sometimes not
• Utopia

That's it for last year...

January Review

 The monthly review is running late already.

The lockdown notes.

• Some lockdown fun for everyone last month
• Brisbane 3 day lockdown
• Western Australia 5 day lockdown
• Victoria 0 day lockdown
• Some other rule changes instead - but no panic buying at least
• The immediate changes were each due to one case of the virus in a hotel quarantine worker
• Just starting to discuss regional quarantine locations now - seems a bit late
• Constant media attention on the Australian Open situation
• I don't see it's much different to other international 'travellers' returning home
• Some dramatic differences in crowd sizes and rules for cricket and tennis
• The government just say 'based on health advice' and provide no further explanation for anything
• Every event or situation is still described as 'like no other'

I haven't had the best start for the new year of running, with a sore right hamstring hanging around for a few weeks now. I was going well just prior to that with some new parkruns, and even managed an 18:03 on a slow course with several u-turns. I finally managed to finish a parkrun with 58 seconds on the clock to complete the 'bingo' set - there's still lots of other challenges to do next. For once I didn't buy any new shoes, just got some more socks and running sunglasses, but it hasn't been a very hot summer this year so I might not get much use from them for a while.

For the first time in a while I had a reasonably good run with my shares, rather than the usual up and down and ending up in the same spot. I also temporarily reached a major milestone for my account, although that is before considering any loan and tax deductions. Once again I tried to participate in a capital raising, only for it to be oversubscribed and only get 25% allocation.

It looks like the Manchester United run might be over in the premier league, and be more likely to finish second at best now. In better news at least Tom Brady has made it to the NFL superbowl with Tampa Bay, although I don't like their chances. I'm not sure yet which team I will support after Brady retires.

The to do list:

• 2020 running review done
• Haven't done the other 2020 + 2021 articles yet
• Running Calendar
• Nearly impossible to even plan interstate events right now
• So far just registered for one Victoria event

Been busy at work again as we approach a return to the city offices. The best situation will be if we aren't forced to be back 100% or thereabouts, and if we don't have to wear a mask the entire time. It seems a bit pointless going to the office just to wear a mask all day, not sure how that helps anyone.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• Cobra Kai season 3
• Not much happened compared to previous seasons
• 6 out of 10
• The Mole Netherlands season 13
• I might have mentioned my thoughts on The Mole previously
• It's always a bit frustrating as other contestants can also fail on purpose
• In addition, the show will purposely avoid including anything too incriminating
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• NES
• Zelda 2 - Resurrection Of Ganon
• A good quality 'hack' of the original game
• 6 out of 10
• Xbox One
• Final Fantasy 15
• Haven't played much so far, but don't really enjoy the battle system
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Finally finished
• The long epilogue with another character was good

2020 Running Review

A unique year in running, 2021 is similar for now but with a bit more hope.

All events and parkruns were cancelled from March, and daily exercise was limited to one hour for some time also - not a problem except for the weekly long run. Being forced to work from home was much more convenient for daily running, definitely not looking forward to having to transition back to running from the office during lunch breaks.

The totals were well above previous years, and will be hard to match ever again.

• 4366.96 kilometres
• 3065.56 kilometres in 2018
• 333 hours
• ~230 hours in 2015, 2018, 2019

The few major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10km - 37:48 @ 3:49/km
• February
• Warburton - 10km - 37:46 @ 3:51/km
• March
• River Run Geelong - 10km - 37:40 @ 3:47/km

The Geelong race was roughly my best 10 kilometre result.

I just managed to reach 200 parkruns before that was suspended for the year - in Victoria.

• 13 events
• 52 in 2019
• 5 new events
• 13 in 2019
• 18:07 Birdsland Reserve
• 18:03 - Lilydale Lake
• 18:04 - Frog Hollow

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Newborough
• Churchill
• February
• Berwick Waters
• Grand Ridge Rail Trail
• Warringal Parklands

The same goals from 2020 will roll over to 2021:

• 5km 18:00
• 10km 37:00 - 37:30
• 21km PB
• 4000+ kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10-15 new events
• 250 total
• Races
• 5 new events
• 2 interstate events
• 0 international events - probably

SA 2020-21

A short four day trip to eastern parts of South Australia - mostly spent inside a car.

• December 30, 2020
• December 31, 2020
• January 01, 2021
• January 02, 2021

December Review

It's the December review.

I spoke to soon about being the last lockdown notes, although it's more like lockout notes now:

• The new summer 'covid normal' got revealed
• It's much worse than the one promised in September after 28 days virus free
• The new rules run until the end of January before any further review
• The first cases from hotel quarantine inevitably arrived
• The media wasted no time to incorrectly claim 'the streak is over'
• A new outbreak kicked off in North Sydney
• Borders starting to get shutdown again, Victoria probably too slow to react
• NSW response was very light compared to the recent SA response
• Only 'suggest' ideas like wearing masks
• While SA couldn't even leave home to exercise at one point
• NSW continuing with single figure cases but starting to spread to different locations
• The same headline in the news every day
• NSW fireworks
• Closely followed by the SCG test match
• NSW outbreak made it's way to Victoria - the streak is actually over now
• Many changing restrictions for people returning from various areas of NSW
• But if you get in before the deadline you often get to avoid the rules, defeats the point
• Massive delays for:
• People waiting at the NSW border to avoid getting locked out
• People waiting to get tested in Victoria
• Back to masks for all indoor locations, could have been worse

Back to the usual.

More of the same running, finally got back to do some track sessions instead of always doing a weekly long 8-10km training session. Depending on how this current outbreak goes we were on track to have parkrun start again on January 16. Other larger events aren't looking as promising, as some planned for February and March are being cancelled already.

At long last got to retire three pairs of shoes - 600, 700, 975 kilometres represents over six months of activities. Started on two fresh pairs, felt a bit more comfortable but not as much as I expected. Having the same clothes and shoes repeated every day can be a bit draining, so any change is still good.

More of the same for shares too, I was having a great week at one stage only to lose 6% of everything on Friday, pretty painful.

The premier league is pushing on despite escalating virus numbers in England and numerous breaches by players and staff. I haven't had any interest in the NBA so far over the first couple of weeks of the season, maybe after the NFL playoffs are done. Watching a few overs of nightly BBL is more practical given the time zone issues with American sports.

A small amount of action in the to do list:

• Holiday
• Did not plan in advance due to possible border issues - turned out to be a great idea
• Since ACT or NSW were not practical, decided on a short SA trip instead
• Running calendar
• Certainly haven't committed to any events, but had a look at some options for 2021
• Yearly reviews
• Made a start on those

It hasn't shown up in the corporate directory yet, but apparently got promoted to manager before the end of the work year, so that was a good result but should have achieved it sooner. It's probably going to take a while to move up to senior manager and beyond.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• Alice In Borderland
• Japanese show with English subbed voices, was a bit weird
• The story was good, not sure if a season two is planned, seems possible
• 6 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa season 6
• Good up until the end, then no deserving contestants were left
• 8 out of 10
• Survivor South Africa season 7
• Haven't finished yet, but frustratingly poor gameplay by most contestants so far
• 3 out of 10
• The Flight Attendant
• A good idea, but far too much going on
• I didn't like all the inner dialogue of the main character
• 5 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Finished the main story, but then it just keeps on going !
• I really didn't enjoy the constant negativity and downward spiral of the main story
• 6 out of 10

SA 2021, January 02

Such a relief to only drive 2 minutes to the Naracoorte Lake parkrun this time. The course was quite a lot tougher than I was hoping for, a few steep hills on a solid clay surface, but a good area for the event and the big lake / pool next to it would be convenient for a recovery swim. One guy exploded off the start and soon was out of sight, but I noticed at a turnaround point he was slowing down, caught him at half way and finished a minute ahead - a very strange strategy.

Naracoorte Lake parkrun - the 'lake' is on the right

I packed up and left the hotel at about 10am, this timing losing a half hour due to the time zones. I stopped in Horsham after a couple of hours for fuel and something for lunch, but kept going further to Ararat before stopping to eat.

It wasn't five minutes out of Ararat and we were being flagged off the main road by three guys in vests that didn't look like actual police. No indication where we were supposed to be going, but I had the GPS on so I figured I'd get back on track eventually. The first part of the detour was some crappy road with loose stones going about 40 km/h, before finally getting on to some proper back roads, the speed limit was 100 km/h but the cars ahead decided to drive under 80 km/h instead. 

After making the most obvious turns north, east, and south we were back on the highway further along. I did check later and it appeared as though the highway was closed for an extended period of time.

The unexpected additional driving time without a break was a bit of an annoyance, as I was desperate to get out and move around by the end. Sounds like a good reason for a short detour around the Western Ring Road and a visit to the Nike factory ! An exhausting day of driving, finally finished at about 5pm.

SA 2021, January 01

Had to set a 6:00am alarm for my watch to allow enough time to drive 1 hour and 15 minutes to Victor Harbor for an 8:00am parkrun. There was no accomodation available close to Victor Harbor otherwise I might have booked somewhere nearby, but I was coming back to Murray Bridge anyway.

The Victor Harbor parkrun was one of the few running on new years day east of South Australia, the other option at Strathalbyn was about 30 minutes closer, but the course didn't look as good, and as a bonus this is one of the few "V" parkruns. I was planning to spend a bit more time in Victor Harbor, maybe go across to Granite Island, but it just didn't look there would be enough time when hotel check-out (11:00am) and early check-in deadline (6:00pm which I didn't realise at the time) were considered.

Having not run a parkrun, or any kind of running event, since March 2020 this was a bit of a unusual experience, but I managed to run a bit better than expected in 3rd place about 18:25. My only goal was to finish in the top 10.

Victor Harbor parkrun

The bridge across to Granite Island

I drove back to the hotel soon after, then packed up and drove to Monarto Safari Park, at least that was only 10 minutes away. Had another encounter with wildlife when some bird that looked like a parrot crashed into the side of the car on the way there, made a big thump but no dent.

The main feature of the safari park is a bus tour, not ideal during these coronavirus times and on a very warm day. There was about three stops along the way where you could get out and walk around, but I didn't want to line up for the bus each time so decided to do a full loop to start with.

Giraffes don't like the sun either

Zebras were too far away

Lions all sleeping

There was a good selection of animals in each of the fields, but you don't get particularly close to most of them, although there was a few lions right outside the bus at one point. After getting back to the start and having some lunch I walked over to the two closest locations with the chimpanzees and wallabies.

There is some kind of walking track that seems to follow the bus route, but the problem is if you walked to the first spot and then decided to get the bus, you'd have to go back around the entire loop again and see everything a second time - they don't run in both directions. It's a pretty substantial distance between each stop, like 1-2 kilometres, so I decided that was enough for the day. In summary, it was good, but would be better if the walking option was a bit more practical.

So back in the car for the afternoon drive, stopped at Tailem Bend and then a long session until about half way between Keith and my destination Naracoorte, started to get a sore back again. Made it to Naracoorte before the hotel deadline, got some drinks, then walked over to the nearby Subway. Incredibly they were out of bread, the one thing you wouldn't want to run out of, so had to go the Hungry Jack's beside it instead. While there was another BBL game on TV it wasn't being broadcast, disappointing.