I am not a regular attender of gigs, or concerts, or anything live that isn’t sport.

It’s something I wish I did more, but for some reason I just don’t.

So goal 78 is to see 10 live performances. This covers anything live that isn’t sport, so this could be band gigs, theatre productions or even Carols by Candlelight!

Hopefully this will get me into the habit of going to at least one live show a month.

Here’s the progress so far.

1. The Phantom of the Opera (seen at the Princess Theatre)
This was one of the best things I have ever seen. The singing was amazing, the set design even better and I would recommend it to anyone. And no, most of the singing wasn’t opera!
2. Spamalot (seen at Her Majesty’s theatre)
Classic must-see for any Monty Python fan. Should-see for everyone else. Very good.

3. The 39 Steps (seen at the Playhouse at the Arts Centre)
A murder mystery comedy based loosely on the work of Alfred Hitchcock. 4 actors played the roles of 130 different characters remarkably well. Laugh out loud funny.

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What’s that Heath? You already have a fan club?

I’d like to think so, but no.

The 183 Club is actually a Taiwanese Boy Band, named because the members of the band are all about 183cm tall.

Possibly their secondary reason for the band name was because of a keen interest in Project 183, but for whatever reason that hasn’t been mentioned on their Wikipedia profile.

They must have just forgot.

I like camping.

Perhaps it is the getting away from civilisation and technology that appeals to me, or the fact that there is nothing better than just lazing around by a campfire with a beer in hand.

Regardless, I like camping.

Since moving out of home, and not doing family holidays anymore, I have neglected to make the time to get away for a camping trip often enough to satisfy my passion.

So goal 74 is to go camping six times in three years, including one trip to the southern Grampians.

And so far, I am two trips down, four to go.

The Number 1 Heath Tully camping tip? Bring plenty of matches.

TRIP 1 – EILDON
Spent Queen’s Birthday weekend 2007 at Eildon in central Victoria, with Isaac, Johan and Andy. Johan provided the most humourous moment, by vomiting all over himself, and then on his pillow just after we put him to bed (we did tell him not to drink scotch straight!) A vomit basin would have come in very handy!

TRIP 2 – OTWAYS
Not taking the advice of the weathermen, Andy, Isaac and I decided to head to the Otways on the 2007 Melbourne Cup long weekend. Bad idea. We were met with an absolute torrential storm at about 6pm, and after it drowned our campfire at about 7.30pm, we all huddled into Isaac’s car until we were tired enough to head to the tent and fall asleep in our rain-soaked sleeping bags.

At 6am the next morning, we woke up to what looked like a war zone, so we just threw everything into the truck and drove home. On the radio we heard that 2km down the road from our campsite a tree had been blown over during the night by the wind, and tragically killed a camper as they slept in their tent. This was a very serious storm.

Below are pictures of the best roast lamb I have ever had (it was the highlight of the trip), and me as a drowned rat outside a very, very wet tent.

I am the first to admit that I am a real homebody. I love nothing more than hanging around at home at night, with a home delivery of fish and chips or pizza.

But given I live in Melbourne, the home of some of the finest restaurants in Australia, let alone the world, I really needed to get out and start to try some of them.

Thus, goal 124 is to dine in 30 Melbourne restaurants that I have never dined in.

I am not a very fancy diner. I can’t handle spicy, I don’t like tofu, and I tend to select the chicken parma whenever I see it on the menu. So this goal will not only force me to visit new restaurants, but also to try an array of various cuisine.

Below is my progress thus far. Ratings are out of 183 (for obvious reasons) – 60 points for the service, 70 points for the food/drink, 45 points for the ambience, with 8 bonus points available for anything extra special that was experienced.

1. La Camera in Southbank

Service: 42 (nothing special at all)

Food / drink: 49 (pretty good list of wines, but food was nothing special)

Ambience: 34 (table was too cramp, and it was quite loud)

Bonus Points: 0

Rating: 125 out of 183

2. The Point in Albert Park

Service: 50 (nice enough, reasonably quick)

Food / drink: 52 (my eggs benedict was nice but had a weird sauce on it)

Ambience: 39 (early in the morning for breakfast meant there was not many people, but you can’t beat a view of the lake first thing in the morning)

Bonus Points: 0

Rating: 141 out of 183

3. Hot Chilli in Flemington

Service: 39 (muddled up a couple of times, and I actually had to go to the front desk to ask for the bill after being ignored for a long time)

Food / drink: 49 (typical Thai. Nice but nothing I would rave about to anyone)

Ambience: 32 (once again, typical Thai restaurant atmosphere. Quiet enough to speak without yelling, so that is always good)

Bonus Points: 1 (we didn’t have to book ahead)

Rating: 131 out of 183

4. Bhoj in Docklands

Service: 53 (nice waiter who didn’t laugh when we fumbled the pronunciations of the dishes, and served us quickly)

Food / drink: 62 (before I ate, I didn’t think I really liked Indian. Now I do. That is a sign that this was good fare. The menu was varied enough to allow me to choose mild things, as I can’t stomach spicy food too well)

Ambience: 32 (we went at lunchtime, and there was only one other group of diners, so atmosphere was minimal. Being on the Docklands would mean that this place could have quite a good atmosphere on a busy Saturday night though)

Bonus Points: 3 (found out they were voted best Indian restaurant in Victoria for 2007, which was impressive)

Rating: 150 out of 183

5. The Water Rat Hotel in South Melbourne

Service: 51 (quite knowledgeable about the menu)

Food / drink: 61 (great specials, and cooked to perfection)

Ambience: 27 (bit too high-brow for me. The kind of place rich socialites would go. Not for me)

Bonus Points: -1 (because I swallowed my wine the wrong way and it came out my nose – definitely their fault!)

Rating: 138 out of 183

6. MOO (Money Order Office) in Melbourne CBD

Service: 52 (service how it should be. Only downers were that I had to ask for the bill and the food took just a tiny bit too long to come out, but constant water refills and great knowledge of the menu counteracted that)

Food / drink: 67 (exquisite. And wine list was amazing)

Ambience: 40 (hidden in an alleyway gets points in my book. Very intimate meant perfect for a dinner out with Nat)

Bonus Points: 4 (sparkling mineral was free, so 3 bonus points. 1 point also for the pen I used to sign the bill, which has a cool grip that was filled with a weird gel)

Rating: 163 out of 183

7. Tonik in Kensington

Service: 50 (bit rushed, but that was only to squeeze our order in before a table of 18)

Food / drink: 55 (awesome mashed potato, but they made the mistake of burning the marinade that was on my scotch fillet so it was a bit too charcoaly for my liking)

Ambience: 42 (really relaxed, and Nat and I spent an hour playing cards after dinner while having a beer)

Bonus Points: 2 (one for Mountain Goat Hightail Ale being on tap (this is one of my favourite beers of all time) and one for the board games available to play while having a drink)

Rating: 149 out of 183

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Month completed: July 2007

The Rubik’s Cube is one of the most iconic puzzles ever invented. If there was ever one puzzle I wanted to learn how to do, it was the Cube.

Given the nerdiness of this goal, I nicknamed it ‘The Square vs The Cube’.

But I thought I should take it to the next level – not just learn how to do the Cube, but learn how to do it pretty quickly. 183 seconds seemed like a reasonably quick time, and had a nice tie in with Project 183.

Before trying to do it in under the 183 second mark, I had to learn how to do it. Solving the Cube is done through completing in order a bunch of different moves (or algorithms, as I nerdily like to call them). You can learn the moves here but there are plenty of other places you can go, and even tutorial videos on YouTube.

During my trip to Europe in July I took my newly-purchased Cube with me (much to Nat’s displeasure). The first time I solved it was when we were waiting in line at Dubai airport passport control (BTW, Dubai passport control wasn’t a pleasant experience – but I digress).

After I could do it a few times by memory, I started the process of improving my time taken to complete it, from 15 minutes to 10 to 6 to 4. The first time I did it in under 183 seconds was in my hotel room in Paris, but since then I have done it quite a few times under the 183 second mark. Nat loves me nerdily playing with the Cube!

Below is a video of me doing the Cube in just under the goal completing time. This was a fun and very satisfying goal – and if you would like a personal demo one day, just let me know. I love showing off!

Footnote – I don’t consider using an instructional website as cheating. I had to practise for weeks to memorise the moves in order without looking at my notes, and then even more time practising to do the moves in under three minutes. I would love to hear from anyone who completed the Cube without any form of assistance, because in my books, you would have to be a genius.