Hobby Thread - February 8, 2025 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it was tired of the cold and wished it was summer. It said time for a travel theme to parts of the world where it is summer. It said AUSTRALIA. Good day, mate!

The theme is Australia. NOT Austria. Two different places.

Disclaimer: Proceed with caution. Everything in Australia is trying to kill you. The ant hills are gigantic and the ant are likely carnivores. There are snakes everywhere, kangaroos like to box, jellyfish roam the waters, the spiders are the size of sand dollars, and the wombats are wicked. Even the platypus is sketchy. This is where tasmanian devils live. Koala bears are not cuddly and cute. They are grumpy and stoned on eucalyptus branches. With that out of the way...

Australia is an enormous country with incredibly disparate geography. If you are located in the United States, it takes a long trip to get there. (You completely lose a day when flying there from the US and land before you took off when you return. Hurts my small dinosaur brain to think about.)

Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef get a lot of tourist attention, but there are lots of other places to visit. You could visit Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, Yarra wine country and barely make a dent.

Have you traveled down under? Where have you gone? High points? Low points? Surprises? Has anyone gotten into the outback? Been to Uluru Rock? Tasmania? The Hobby Thread is the place to share your travel stories or aspirations. If you have not been, what looks interesting? If you could wave your magic wand, what would you like to see or experience?

What are you hobbying these days? As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. Your participation does not need to limited to the theme. All hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. Pants, as always, are optional but be careful of spiders.

Miles and miles of beautiful and varied coastline:

Did I mention that everything in Australia is trying to kill you?

Nice that Australia puts car washes and dog washes in the same place:

Told you they were more dangerous than cute!!

Mandatory musical theme:

I still have not figured out the difference between a kangaroo and a wallaby.

Time for science:

If you visit, you will need to know how to speak like an Australian. Learn some Aussie slang here:

By coincidence, this happened on Friday at Arlington National Cemetery:

Australia's Shrine of Remembrance war memorial in Melbourne:

Iconic song and video from an iconic band. AC/DC is from Australia and the video was filmed on a flatbed on the streets of Melbourne in 1976.

Aussies pronounce the name "Acca Dacca" which is a little jarring the first few times you hear it. While AC/DC formed in Sydney, Melbourne adopted the band. If you visit downtown Melbourne, find AC/DC Lane which is overflowing with murals and graffiti (at least some of it references the band).

Hmmm....that may be ONT worthy content... (makes note).

As hobbies go, Tom Brown has a unique interest. He hunts down rare apple varieties and those thought to be lost. He drives thousands of miles in pursuit of Heritage Apples. Don't laugh. He has discovered (or re-discovered) over a thousand with an actual tree identified in each case.

Click here for his website.
Click here for a story about his "hobby."

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week with a theme of winter activities? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different theme next time. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. "Big Balls" is protecting this thread from unwarranted judicial intervention. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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