Here is a 10 minute collection of some of the best bits I filmed of the parade. Enjoy the madcap craziness of the Sydney Mardi Gras as the infamous 'Team leader' controls the crowds with her takedown shouting Megaphone skills, you’ll see what I mean:
One person that loved watching the whole parade was little Basima before she fell asleep on the ‘Lovesac’, I couldn't think of a more comfortable place to sleep:
This particular video was filmed during the Macquarie pass, a hill climb road just 30km’s South West of Wollongong in New South Wales. Its surface is silky smooth, benefiting from a fairly recent re-surface and the 7.7km pass features smooth sweeping turns with only 1 overtaking section near to the top.
The BMW M3 is a very neutral balanced car, which makes it a pleasure to be driven on roads like these. Just listen to the way the V8 engine loves to rev, as we make our way up the pass.
On a technical note, this was the first video I've completed featuring a accurate map overlay tracking the cars location as we progress up the hill. This proved pretty time intensive to complete in a accurate way but I am very happy with the tracking results and many thanks to friend Jay Ng for his assistance in this area.
]]>When this car’s turbo kicks in, its acceleration is as quick as the Lamborghini Gallardo I am not joking, but doesn't sound half as good.
I have to say that for me personally I enjoy driving the 997 GT3 over this car as it feels a little more nimble and the steering a little more like my own Lotus in its direct connected feeling. But I also have to say the Turbo impressed me MORE than I thought it would. The Turbo’s feeling of being able to accelerate out of a corner earlier than you can with the GT3 (due to the Turbos 4wd) is a great feeling on the road.
Click the video below to play, or you can watch it in spiffy High Definition by going here and clicking the HD button: http://www.youtube.com/mabedfo#p/u/0/7PhCyiW8ciI
We turned up and there really was a great view of the bridge in fact. After a few hours of drinking, eating, laughing and dealing with around 20 Irish guys trying to jump the security fence to get in our secure compound area we were in, our evening got even better.
With a big electric crane our hosts lifted 2 yachts into the water at 11:15pm and by 11:55pm we were on the front line drifting right in front of the bridge. We were jumping up and down on the deck like little kids. We were in the best city in the world for NYE and we were so lucky to have the BEST seat in the whole of Sydney.
Considering it was a very unplanned NYE, it was the best NYE we've ever had! Now have to deal with the ritual hangover the day after.
Happy New Year to all my friends
and family all over the world!
Me with Shawn and James who invited us to the waterfront get-together
Drinking eating and chatting looking over to the bridge in
the distance, Chris and Christina on the right
Out on the water just 300 metres from the bridge as close as you are allowed
midnight strikes out on the water as we hold onto the boats
boom to watch the spectacular fireworks
Sanna and me very drunk after midnight on our way back to shore
Shawn really drunk too and singing, which is good
as he's so funny when drunk
"A short movie of the Club Lotus Australia 2009 xmas Party/Concours at the Lovely Shakey Tables Restaurant in the Hunter Valley. It was such a windy day we picked up so much wind noise on the microphone, hence the lovely christmasy music. Enjoy! "
Cheers and HAPPY CHRISTMAS Beddy.
]]>BMW M3 E92 - Details and Australian countryside drive
Brendon and I take an example of the latest iconic BMW M3 out for a test on the great driving roads South of Wollongong Australia. We discover what a sweetly setup car it is and how it craves for even a little bit more power.
AMG 63 Black Series - product tour and drive, AU
What happens when you combine a German saloon with a muscle car, strip out the heavy bits and replace them with Carbon fibre, you get the AMG 63 'Black Series' of course. Brendon and I take the 'Black Series' out on the twisty roads of the south Hunter valley Australia and take in that gut-churning V8.
Video filming and editing quality is slowly improving I feel with each video. We are starting to eliminate things like camera shake and poor audio quality in the filming now. The next video is on the 997 Porsche 911 Turbo which was an amazing car, that video will be ready in weeks.
]]>Why do you say? well he got a very lucky drive of the car just last week as just one of the select chosen few as the car isn't even shipping to customers in Australia yet.
Would you believe it, the $2 disguise worked, it was that good and I managed to get a good 45mins drive of the Evora around the eastern suburbs twisty roads.
'intelligent' glasses and 'Qualified Dentist' stick on post-it note disguise
Ok so what did I think? Well you can really feel the Lotus DNA from the Elise/Exige/Europa shining through in spades. I can best describe the ride and chassis feel like an Elise/Exige with a bit more weight which allows the imperfections in the roads to be soaked up better, akin to a more German chassis setup.
What does that mean? Well there is all of the mechanical grip and feeling like you get from an Elise/Exige, but with none of the crashing when you drive over potholes or large joins in the road.
Outward visibility, I noticed the rear view is obstructed quite heavily by the plastic engine cover shroud. Although the side mirrors are much larger than on the Elise/Exige, and more than make up for the lack of view from the center mirror.
Steering is precise and communicative like in the Elise/Exige, if a little more weighted in feel, great.
The gear action is similar to the Elise R/SC/Exige's 6-speed but with a slightly less 'notchy' feel which suits the cars character better. The pedals are perfectly spaced like on the Elise/Exige for heel and toeing although I found the engine doesn't respond as quickly as the 4-cyliinders when carrying out a heel & toe change.
The 6 cylinder engine idles and plays out its song much more beautifully than the 4 cylinders we are used to in our cars. Its vocals over around 3000 rpm sound lovely, not throaty or raw, but rich and warm, defiantly nicer to listen to over the Elise/Exiges standard exhausts sound.
The performance, well I think I'm spoilt a little coming from a 4 seconds flat supercharged car but it was a little lacking for me in a straight line. There is more show of torque when flattening your foot in a high gear on a hill, but for me where the perfections of all other areas of the car excelled, it desperately needed more power.
Don't get me wrong though, as I said I'm a bit spoilt so if you came from a naturally aspirated Elise/Exige you would be happy with the performance until inevitably an official or 3rd party supercharger kit will come out for the car and you'll be laughing all the way to the track. =)
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On the train to the start line and still waking up
It was a early start at 6:00am to be up for a Sunday but we had our power breakfast ready that we always have before doing a big sporting event. It consists of 2 slices of wholemeal bread with a banana sliced up and lots of honey.
We got on the train to the start line at St Peters park from central station and we officially crossed the Start line at 7:25am.
The first hour was very congested with other riders, nestling on the road for a space in amongst the 9,998 other riders. While we were in the city also we were all stopped by a lot Red traffic lights.
In the first hour of riding and there was a lot of congestion
Once we were out of the city though the riders all broke up and distanced themselves a bit and we were free to ride at a good pace we were comfortable at. Sanna was doing really well and struggled on a few of the steep long hills a little of the royal national park but overall she rode much faster than I thought she would.
during the morning tea break quick break
We didn't stop eating through the ride, in the morning there was morning tea with a muffin with tea or coffee. Then we stopped halfway in the royal national park for a quick sausage sizzle in a roll with barbeque sauce. Then 3/4 of the way we stopped for Gatorade drink and fresh apples, oranges and bananas.
Lunchtime, quick sausage sizzle in a roll with barbeque sauce
There was a guy dressed up as Borat riding along the way which was grossing everyone out. I told him with that green man-kini up his bum if he farted he would whistle, he told me he know and he’s been holding them in all the way. :)
Borat on a bike! thank god he had the pink pants on!
We crossed the line at 1:00pm so we we did it in 5 and a half hours including all the breaks.
We made it together
Thank you gratefully for the 11 people who sponsored me for the days ride who were:
(in no particular order)
Antonio Santucci,
Greggy,
Barry Mather,
Cameron Long,
Paul Whitman,
Simon Caruso,
Rols,
Terry Bedford,
Damien Huet,
Mad & Loic
and whoever you are that just listed your name as ‘So close… - Who would do that?’
Next year I may attempt the ride again for a 3rd year but next time I may try to aim for a competitive time and ride as quick a time as my legs will take me.
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Brendan and I were in car heaven for the day.
If you click through to YouTube, you can load it up to enjoy in HD quality also > YouTube video
]]>This cars so new everyone wants to stare at the thing and in typical Fezza colours of Red and Tan interior it had wanker mobile to the max written all over it. It seemed fitting for the situation, there was only one thing to do, and that was to act like the biggest Ferrari owning tossers you could.
Roof down and air-con on full power of course was the first thing to register on the 'wank meter' (which is selectable from the colour LCD screen in the dash). Trying to wear the biggest pair of sunglasses you can find was the 2nd item of agenda to enhance our wanker status.
We did find guys in utes don't like noisy Red Italian supercars, with a few fingers hanging out their windows and obscene comments, oh well, at least we were getting the smiles from the ladies and being chased by some girl in a delivery van on Military road.
We stopped by at Lamborghini Sydney to annoy them by parking a shiny new Red Ferrari out on the pavement right in front of the showroom. This seemed to really annoy the staff, so they challenged us to a 'Rev-off'. The Ferrari Cali went first, then the LP560 screamed back. Back and forth the rev's went, V8 versus Lambo V10. In the end it was voted the Lambo won it with its deeper more menacing growl and we buggered off sharpish to not show our defeat and headed towards the hills.
Turning up to Lamborghini Sydney to park
right out the front of the showroom
During the 'Rev-off'
On the country roads of the RNP and in particular on a empty road going up the Macquarie pass we had simply an AMAZING drive. We put the roof down (which in itself is worth a big mention, amazingly clever and FAST) and the new DFI V8 engine was popping and cracking as if tree's were cracking from the exhausts sound wave. The engine sounded just sensational bouncing off the Macquarie pass rock faces, we were just laughing our heads off to the backfiring, it didn't sound right at all, it sounded like the engine was having a fit, it just made us laugh even harder.
The single most impressive item of the car though is without a doubt the dual clutch 7 speed gearbox. Stupendously fast doesn't even cover it, we swear you hit the paddle and the box changes gear BEFORE the LCD display showing the gear has had time to change. And it's not a jolting quick like a Lambo e-gear, oh no, if you've been in a GTR R35, you will know what it feels like just add more POWER.
Pausing in the Royal National Park on my favourite road.
Special mention has to be given to the new Manettino switch on the steering wheel which has some 'softer' settings more in tune with the cars 'style' and target market. The traction control off position (straight up position) had a warning 'Never use!', we were too scared to touch it.
The new Maranello switch for the California with its 'softer' settings
On the way back we had to do what every self-loving Ferrari owner should do and take it through the Maccers drive-thru.
This seemed to turn into a good idea when the Red Bull girls turned up and started using our car as a make shift photo booth, handing out Red Bull cans from the car. Soon we had a small possie of delinquents salivating over the $600k wank machine including a riced up Lexus owner with 20" mag' who didn't like us at all with the number plate 'IHATV8s'.
We told the Red Bull girls I would take them out in of my many boats and they gave Brenden their email addresse and left. Upon checking the Ferraris 'wank meter' it was now showing to near Max, but we were both done for the day and we started our journey back along the Hume Hwy.
And here are the Red Bull girls obviously enjoying the Ferrari...
um - is she wearing thong/boots ??? wtf ?
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It may be the new softer Ferrari but it was a hell of a fun drive being a Ferrari tosser for the day, I'll have the keys back to my Little Loti now please :-)
The interior felt like it sacrificed about 100 cows
P.S Happy birthday Brenden!
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View from our bedroom looking down Oxford St
There is thin layer of dust on everything from cars to pavements. Even indoors we could taste it a little in our mouths and our noses. It's now 11am and its cleared by about half and I can now just about see the buildings in the distance on the harbours edge through the Red fog. Very strange, Sanna said she's never seen it before.
View form our balcony looking over Darlinghurst towards the harbour
]]>Please help sponsor me for just $20 each to help me reach my $200 target for charity!!
Click the page below to go to my donations site and you can see how I am doing to reach my target.
The course is 90km in total and after you leave the flat parts of Sydney city you get out into the countryside and there are some good sized hills to get up and down. 10,000 people are taking part in the event this year starting at 6am on the morning of the 1st of November, its a great event to take part in.
Here is the course map:
Here is the course gradient map showing the hills that will be getting in my way:
First stop was Bangkok in Thailand. First time for me in Thailand so this was good for me to visit a new country and to experience it. Wow Thailand is cheap!
Here Sanna is relaxing by the lovely pool in the 5 star Marriott resort of Bangkok which by Western levels was very cheap.
We found some very strange food from what we are used to but we were game to try it. This was a cool snack that was made of ice and coconut juice and different jellies. Some of the jellies had the texture of what I'd imagine an eyeball to be like to chew, ewe.
Sanna was game to try it and it was actually very very nice, cool and refreshing with a mix of ice and the lovely refreshing coconut juice combined, great in the hot humid Bangkok weather.
Here we are off on one of the canal boats with the big engine on the back zooming along to the famous Bangkok floating markets. I always remember seeing these boats in one of the old James Bond films, where James Bond uses the propeller to chop through someone else's boat.
On the boat to the floating markets.
The Bangkok floating markets, it was very interesting and lots of cheap cheap tourist ‘tat’ and cheap fresh fruit.
Posing for a photo on the central bridge of the markets.
Back at the Marriott resort and while we were relaxing by the pool I spotted this small bird who seemed to be very sleepy and would hardly open his eyes. I could stroke it and it didn't even try to move away, it seemed very weak.
I nicknamed him ‘little birdie’ and felt a bit sorry for the little thing. Tried feeding it some scraps of bread but it didn't want to know. After watching it on and off over the afternoon I felt it might have been on its way out, poor little thing.
Next stop after a long flight was hot summery Europe! We flew into Rome, a busy, hot and slightly crazy city. So much history everywhere, lots of crazy drivers on the tiny cobbled roads and so many tourists everywhere.
Here we are approaching Vatican city, the hope of the Pope from our city bus tour.
Inside one of the passageways of the Vatican city.
Once of the most famous landmarks of the world, Rome's Colosseum
Inside the Colosseum and we took a audio guided tour who explained about the role of the Gladiators fighting the beasts in the arena.
One of the passageways to the central arena of the Colosseum.
Another famous Rome landmark the Trevi fountain, our hotel was just 200 meters from here so we visited the fountain several times.
We met up with a Sanna’s friends brother Aaron, who's an Australian working in Rome having a go at running his own tour company of Vatican city. He gave us some insight into living and working in central Rome.
We spent 2 days in Rome and then it felt good to leave the very hot and busy capital behind. Next we drove north to the famous city of Pisa to of course see the leaning tower, the most famous construction mistake in the world.
Here we met up with one of Sanna’s old friends from Southampton university Lara and her boyfriend. They were locals living just East of Pisa and over dinner and some lovely Italian Red wine they told us what it was like to be Italian. The country, Italian politics, food, culture and all about the mafia.
The famous cheesy photo of pushing the leaning tower of Pisa
and here's me being super cheesy doing it too.
Next day we were joined by our old friends Mad and Loic who flew into Pisa airport from where they currently live in Paris. They had come to join us for 4 days to explore the beautiful Italian Tuscan region with us together.
This is Florence and in particular the river that flows centrally through the city.
A photo from a lookout overlooking Florence
A strange lion wrapped in barbed wire sculpture we found in one of the Tuscan towns.
Me gazing out over the beautiful Tuscan countryside.
A beautiful photo Mad took of Sanna and I in a local sunflower field.
Loic trying to steal a new Red Fiat 500. There were lots of Fiat 500’s in Italy, it looks to be their next national car, the car for the people of Italy just like the old Fiat 500 was in the 1960’s 70’s.
I love Nutella! in fact I deliberately don't buy it when we go food shopping as I know I’ll eat it all the time. This has to the be biggest jar ever 4.5kg’s!! Nutella heaven!
Where we stayed on the converted farm they had bikes you could take out free of charge. We took the bikes out for a ride 2 days in a row to ride between villages. Both girls were complaining of sore bums on day 2, wimps :)
We said our goodbyes to Mad and Loic and they departed on the train from Florence station where we dropped them off.
On we went and we drove to the Modena city area, what is known as the spiritual home of the Italian supercar. We stopped at the factory's of Lamborghini, Ferrari and the little known but my favourite car in the world the Pagani.
Here I'm checking out the new Lamborghini Murcielago SV, hot off the production line as Lamborghinis flagship car, they have only just started making this model and none had left the country so far.
Another stop at the tiny Pagani showroom/factory, they only make around 5 cars a year and easily are the most prestigious, unique and most celebrated Italian supercar maker in modern history. This car I was lucky to find is the new Pagani Zonda Cinque and costs 1.5 million Euros + taxes, they are only making 5 cars.
After a long drive and a short train ride through some mountain tunnels we arrived to Cinque Terre (translates to 5 villages) on the coast.
A view of one of the villages looking down from a coastal walking track. I believe this was either Vernazza or Corniglia.
The same village but closer up, picture postcard perfect.
An aussie girl not used to having stones on her beach. “where's the sand!” she said
As viewed from the sea, the village of Riomaggiore where we stayed for 2 days.
After the lovely stay on the coast at Cinque Terre we headed North via hire car past lake Como and towards the mountain passes. Their was one mountain pass in particular I was keen to find which was the shown on a Top Gear episode as what they though was the best driving road in the world, it is called the Stelvio pass.
The Stelvio pass is the highest paved road in Europe at 2800 meters high and is made up of a series of the steepest roads you would ever see. We had the crapest Ford I’ve have ever had the miss-pleasure to drive with a 1.4 litre engine and it struggled to get up and down the pass, getting in 2nd gear whilst climbing the pass was a luxury that only occurred a few times.
Here we are approaching the pass from the South.
At the top and looking down, this is the famous angle to view the pass from you’ll see in magazines and TV programs. You could smell the brakes overheating on our crappy car when we were driving near the bottom. They used to do a rally stage driving up the pass, they may still do.
It was freezing at the top and there was permanent snow.
Travelling down the other side the roads and views were beautiful.
We dropped the car off on the Italian – Austrian border and caught a train to Salzburg, Austria where the Mosburgers wedding was. Here all the big family is together after dinner on the 1st night, the Bedfords and the Mosburgers, the ‘Bedburgers’.
Alex and Doro’s wedding in a small church in Salzburg. The local shooting club came and fired lots of old muskets off into the air for the wedding, you can see the smoke from the muskets in the distance.
Having a drink outside the church just after the wedding.
Here is the balcony from the guesthouse we stayed in, a very traditional Austrian looking building.
A partly dry riverbed on a short walk from our guesthouse I thought provided a lovely photo of Green living plants and dry rock.
After the wedding in Austria it was time to hop on a plane and fly over the ocean to the united states and New York City. It was the first time Sanna and I had both been to New York so this was exciting for both of us.
This is taken the day we arrived as we explored Times Square which is where our hotel was located. Its like Piccadilly circus in London but gone mad! It proved to be even more spectacular at night when the Neon's become even brighter.
This is the view from the top of the Rockefeller building, one of the tallest buildings in New York and gives a great view of the Empire State Building as you can see here.
Did you know originally the spire on the top of the Empire State Building was designed to allow trans-Atlantic airships to dock for passengers to embark and disembark. After the Hindenburg disaster in Germany 1937, airships poplarity dropped and the spire was never used for its purpose.
Transformers, Robots in Disguise!!
Ah the famous Statue of liberty, the biggest tourist trap I've ever been to and the tightest security for any tourist attraction I've ever been to also. It took over half an hour just to be security screened before you could get on the ferry to the island.
An interesting bumper sticker on the back of a Police car I thought. Would never see that in Australia on a police car.
We visited a trendy roof top bar which had great views of the city and the Empire State Building as the sun went down.
We caught up with Sanna’s Aussie friend Rumania who has lived in New York City for just over a year now. She loves living there and says its the best place to be to have fun as a young single girl. Cheesecake is famous in New York, the portions are large and the Cherry one I had was the best I've ever had.
Times square at night time, a buzzing place to be day or night.
Whilst Sanna was off shopping for some designer brands I went to a recommended museum by Rumania the USS Intrepid, one of the US Navy's most famous Aircraft carriers used in the 2nd world war and several wars and engagements afterwards. It floats in the water just West off of Manhattan island.
The main hanger deck is fitted out with lots of war planes and helicopters from the 2nd world war to present day.
Two Sidewinder Missiles hanging from the ceiling of the hanger deck. Growing up playing so many military flight simulators on the PC I knew these missiles well, short range air-to-air, it was amazing to see real life ones.
My favourite war plane from the days of playing all the military flight simulators, the F16 Fighting Falcon. It was so technically advanced for it’s time and is still in service with some country's even today.
A photo mix of the United States and the British concord of British Airways, a cool combination I thought.
Wall St and the New York Stock Exchange, the single place that has caused so many PROBLEMS affecting the whole world.
Wall St and all the security gates in place around the stock exchange, presumably to stop all the people who have lost all their money from attacking in spite.
Brooklyn bridge, a famous landmark of New York but not that much to look at really. Doesn't really compare to our Sydney harbour bridge does it.
Ground zero where the twin towers used to sit. Recently as enough years have passed they have started building and the massive site is one huge construction zone now, it was hot and dusty.
Cooling off in one of the city’s parks I made a couple of friends who seemed to like me splashing loads of water all over them.
then they chased me around with water to get me back, they were funny to play with.
Well that's New York over with and the end to our 3 and a half trip away around the world for 2009.
20 hours later we were back in good old Sydney and it felt nice to be back. There is nowhere in the world that combines the good career prospects and outdoors lifestyle like Sydney can. Home sweet home.
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I’ve never lived with someone outside my family (and of course Sanna) ever for that long so it will be strange to adjust. Moving to our first home when we get back from holidays will help the transition I think. I told Damien I will feel a bit like he is still living in 1 Boomerang place when we move just 500 metres away to our new home on Oxford St. Even though Sanna and I always moaned at him to clear up his crumbs from his food and to do the washing up when he didn't, we still loved him being our flatmate all this time and he always kept me company when Sanna was not around, being good friends.
Jane his *cough* friend came around tonight for an hour and talked about Damien lots, we think she really liked him a lot for the few weeks they were together at the end of his time here. Damien has talked about his decisions to return to France on his blog lenortien.over-blog.com. Google can translate it as best it can automatically from French to English, go here to have a read, Damien's blog translated to English.
Tonight It is raining hard, as if Sydney is cleaning away the French-ness ready for the next chapter in our lives here. I hope Damien travels safely and has a happy reunion with with loved ones and family, I know in 4 years they would have missed him and now its our turn to start missing him.
Ciao
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