Month completed: July 2008

Ages ago (at least two years now) I was reading a magazine that had a feature on a variety of different ninja forms. Most of them seemed similar, and held no appeal for me. And then I read about ninjutsu.

What is ninjutsu, you ask?

Quite simply, ninjutsu is the art of invisibility.

The art form seemed to be more focused on stealth, and remaining hidden, rather than fighting techniques. And given that I like to sneak up on people and give them a fright, and that I am not too keen to get whacked with a sword, this seemed like the ninja form for me.

Last week I went along to my first class, in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD. It was a two-hour session, and I initially thought it would be a very long two hours. I was very wrong.

The first thing we did was meditation. Excellent. Hard to fully concentrate though, as I had just come from work.

Next we worked on weapons training. Cool. I had a long stick called a Hambo, and I was partnered with Mr Beattie (everyone was addressed as Mr, so I was Mr Tully - very Matrix-esque) who had a plastic sword. We did a series of moves that involved Mr Beattie coming at me with a sword, and me dodging the sword and then whacking him with my Hambo. He invited me to whack him pretty hard, which was fun. Less so when the roles were reversed, and he did it to me though!

By the way, Mr Beattie has a black belt in ninjutsu. Also by the way, the picture below is not of Mr Beattie, but just a random ninjutsu image I included to break up the text. Just thought you should know.

After weapons training, we moved onto street survival techniques, and specifically using our elbows to knock someone out (plus a bit of reverse kicking, for when the enemy is behind you).

Most people wear a groin guard during the class. Being my first class, I didn’t have one. Mr Beattie forgot this, and kicked me not once, but twice in the groin. Both times it hurt heaps (remember, he has a black belt).

I did survive street survival, which was lucky because the final part of the class was on reflexology, which is a technique of massage based on the belief that different parts of the sole of your feet represent different parts of your body, so massaging that part of the sole will ease any pain in the related body part. Not sure about it, but happy to go along with it if it meant a free foot massage.

Until I realised that after my massage, I would become the massager. Luckily, I only had to use my feet to do the massaging, but regardless I am not a big fan of massaging another man’s feet!

Shortly after, I looked at the clock. We had run overtime, and the two hours was over. I was impressed; the class had run quickly and that probably had something to do with the variety of things we went through.

When I land in London in late August, I now plan to find a club to join, and continue a new-found interest in this very interesting form of ninja. I would highly recommend it to anyone - after just one class, I already feel that I could better defend myself in combat.

After much anticipation, the Project 183 magnets have now arrived, and I will start putting them into the mail today.

For those of you who have sent me your mailing address, you should soon receive your magnet. Each is individually signed and numbered.

For those of you who have not put up your hand to get a magnet yet, make sure you get in quickly. There are only 183 magnets in total, and so far I have requests for over 100 of them.

When you receive your magnet, it will be time to get creative. I look forward to seeing what sort of photos you come up with using a humble magnet. And don’t think you need to restrict yourself to putting it somewhere magnetic. I didn’t.

I have set up a Flickr account to organise all the photos that are sent in. You can access the collection by clicking here.

A weekend away with the guys, combined with a shocking cold and sore throat, meant this week was never going to be good.

Amazingly, I still managed to lose 200g. I am now 74.2, and still managing to head in the right direction.

Month completed: July 2008

A boy’s weekend in Noosa last weekend gave me the opportunity to head to what is probably Australia’s most world-renowned zoo - the Australia Zoo. Perhaps better known as the home of the Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin.

The day we went was a little wet and rainy, which was a bit annoying but good for keeping the big crowds of people away.

It was fantastically laid out, with really simple information plaques that didn’t drown you in facts, but instead just gave you some interesting tidbits about the animal you were looking at (there is an example below).

The only thing missing were animals. It just felt like, for the amount of space in the zoo, and the $52 entry fee, there could have been many more animals. And maybe one lion (there were tigers).

Overall though, well worth a visit. We still had a really great day.

In the style of Bindi Irwin, here is the highlight reel of my big day at Australia Zoo:

At Australia Zoo, I patted a koala! How cute!

I posed with a wedge-tailed eagle! Scary!

I drove the Crocodile Hunter truck! Vroom vroom!

I went to the Crocoseum! Snap goes to crocodile!

I avoided the dangerous Hose monster! Watch out!

I read interesting facts! Wow!

I watched my friend make a fool of himself! Funny!

I saw one of my favourite animals - the tortoise! Look at that shell!

My friends Isaac (middle), Andy (front) and Johan (right), and I (left) met the Irwin family! Excellent!

Crikey, we had a great time at Australia Zoo!

Want to know my favourite place to eat in Melbourne?

Well then, have a read of an interview I did recently with Miss Sandi, a Melbourne-based freelance writer. To read the full interview, click here.

Month completed: July 2008

Sometimes the nicest gifts are the ones you don’t expect.

So this was on the list for that reason. To surprise and delight someone.

My Mum is the best Mum ever, so who better to be the recipient of the gift than her (Nat might have a case to put forward though!)?

And flowers are always a winner.

I went for the most colourful ones, as colour always brightens a room. Judging by the photo, I think she was happy with them.

A nice bouquet of flowers - under $100.

Being the favourite child - priceless.

Month completed: July 2008

Last Christmas Nat and I received vouchers for doing the Bridge climb. With an expiry in November, we had to find a weekend to use them prior to us leaving for London at the end of next month.

Sometimes things just fall into your lap.

When Sunrise set me the toilet challenge, I saw an opportunity to get us up to Sydney for free. And amazingly, it worked.

Sunrise paid for Nat and I to fly up, and they also paid for us to stay at the Hilton for two nights. Go Mel and Kochie!

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to the bridge for the three-hour journey up to the top and back. We were able to do the twilight climb, which means you go up during the day, watch the sun set, and then climb back down at night so you can see the city lights.

How about that view!

Here is a Sydney Harbour bridge fact to finish off with - Paul Hogan (a.k.a. Crocodile Dundee) used to work as a rigger on the bridge.

Two weeks in, and I thought I would struggle this week. Had a card night, involving lollies, chips, coke and beer, and then a trip up to Sydney, which involved eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I cheated myself a couple of times, once with a delicious chicken parma, and once with a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and sausages.

But I did keep up the walking, including a long walk in search of toilets on Saturday (as mentioned in a previous post), and a climb up the Sydney Harbour Bridge (to be mentioned in a future post).

End result - a weight loss of 1.2kg.

Which brings the total loss after two weeks to 3.1kg.

I expect the losses of under 1kg will inevitably start next week, so I am glad to have made such a solid start.

Just for something fun, I am going to get some Project 183 magnets made.

183 of them, to be precise.

And I want you to have one. For free.

If you would like to put your name down to get one of these free magnets (and when they run out, that’s it), please leave me a comment and I will send you an email to get your mailing address.

What do I ask in return for this free magnet? All I ask is that you take a photo of wherever it is you put your magnet, and then email it to me.

I will then put all the photos together into a funky collage of magnets on-line for everyone to enjoy.

So, if you want your free Project 183 magnet, leave a comment below.

As you will have seen on Sunrise, I have found what I think are the top ten toilets in Melbourne (and if you are here just to see the worst toilet, scroll down to the bottom of the post!)

But I am not satisfied.

Although I searched high and low, it seems that creativity is not a criteria when designing public toilets. As long as it gets the job done to allow you to get the job done, that is sufficient. Which is fine.

So perhaps it is not the best PUBLIC toilets that the list needs to be, but the best toilets in general.

If you know of any great toilets in Melbourne, whether they be at a restaurant or a nightclub or an art gallery, I’d love to know about them.

For the sake of finishing off this goal though, here are my top ten public toilets in Melbourne, from ten to one.

10. Fitzroy Gardens - gets bonus points for the half flush function it has (which most of the top ten did have), and also because of the beautiful gardens that surround it.

9. Central Pier, Docklands - a modern public toilet that would have fared much better if not for a slight lack of cleanliness and no bins.

8. General Post Office (GPO) - Although it wasn’t very clean, and you felt a little unsafe as you walked down the stairs, it is in the top ten because this toilet in Elizabeth Street is an icon of Melbourne public toilets.

7. Royal Park South, Parkville - this toilet had THE BEST smell I have ever smelt in a toilet. It was a fruity aroma that totally drowned out any smell, and I could have actually sat in there with a book for an hour and been fine.

6. Shed 2, Docklands - this I call the public toilet for adventurers. To get there you need to conquer the equivalent of a four-wheel drive track, or walk for a few kilometres. It was the only toilet that also had shower facilities, and the sign that said ‘No Fish!’ guaranteed it a top ten finish.

5. Melbourne Town Hall - not often thought of when listing the icons of Melbourne, but these 100-year old toilets would have to be up there. Relatively clean for what they are, these were the only toilets I found that offer a baby change-room.

4. QV - this one is in because of the sheer size of it. You will never be waiting in a line to use the toilet, which is lucky because so many people use it. It also made it very hard to take a picture in the bathroom, as there was always someone there giving me weird looks. They had the best sinks of all toilets as well.

3. Corner Exhibition and Collins Street - this toilet played music when you entered (Burt Bacharach, so extra points for that too), had a button to allow you to lower the toilet seat, a button to automatically release the toilet paper for you to use, and you didn’t need to flush, because when you started washing your hands, the flush function would start automatically. The only thing letting it down was the hand-dryer was busted, and there was no hot water available. But great fun regardless.

2. Royal Botanic Gardens - the cleanest and greenest of the toilets, with a lovely coconut aroma. It was the only one that had an alternative to the urinal flush, which was to have little tablets that did the same job, but without the need to use water. Also had a door separating the bathroom from the sinks, which was good.

1. Federation Square - it had a video playing on the hand-dryer, and the doors to enter were kind of like secret doors hidden in the wall. And it had everything else a great toilet needs - warm water, soap, good toilet paper. So it was a pretty easy choice as number one.

My one big finding - graffiti artists tend to steer clear of public toilets, as there was almost no graffiti to see, even in the toilets that didn’t make the top ten.

And as promised, here is a picture of THE WORST public toilet I found, on the corner of Albert and Nicholson Streets in the city. Pay close attention to the urinal on the left. Sorry if you are eating right now (but just imagine me having to take this photo!).