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anthonysstupiddailyblog · 28 days ago

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Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (944): Mon 21st Oct 2024

I’m going to be off on Halloween for the first time in ages this year so I decided to get in plenty of sweats so that I can spend the entire evening at the kitchen counter watching scary movies / reading scary comics / listening to scary true crime podcasts and watch as the trick or treaters come up in the costumes so I can dish out the candy for them. I’m recent years I’ve always been working on Halloween or I’ve been occupied elsewhere and arrived back home too late to take part in the fun but thankfully this year I’ll be able to enjoy it. Tragically once again I didn’t follow through on the promise I make myself every year that once a month I’ll purchase a new Halloween decoration so that when it rolls around again I can do the house up to look like a genuine spook house. However Mam, mostly due to nagging from Luna has started putting up some Halloween decorations so at least there will be kids coming this year and I won’t have gotten in a barrel of candy that I’ve had to eat myself / feed to seagulls to see if they explode (they don’t. They mostly just suffocate).

The fact that I managed to make it to Kingy’s house the other night without being killed in a flaming car crash that I’m considering going off on my UK road trip a little earlier than planned. The original was to spend the first year only using the car for work and local hotspots but the fact that I have done sweet fuck all this year in terms of bucket list items has given me the itch to do this now so I can get it crossed off. What’s even better is that Googlemaps can give you with routes that don’t include motorways and most of the places I want to visit on this trip can be accessed in a reasonably amount of time without using a motorway. I could spend the first day of the trip travelling to see Mr Fitzpatricks the last temperance bar in the UK, then to see the Statue of Flora in Blackburn which inspired William Hope Hodgson to write The Goddess of Death. From there I would head down to Avebury home of the stone circle from Children of the Stones before going to Cornwall to stoned the night at the legendary Jamaica Inn. The next day I’ll travel to the cemetery where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is buried them up to the bridge where the Great Train Robbery took place and finally heading to Royston Cave before driving home. I know all these places look utterly random to a casual observer but they’re places I’ve wanted to visit for a long time and now I have the means to see them all in one weekend. I’ll have to get an actual SatNav first though because although my phone has Googlemaps the battery is shit and I wouldn’t use this useless thing to crush flies to death much less be my guide on a trip around the UK.

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elevenhoursinfront-blog · 7 years ago

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15th September 2017

We woke up around 0730. Well, I did but I woke Steve up trying to get out of the bed. I woke up starving because we had our "dinner" at lunch time. I had my muesli straight away outside on the bench in the courtyard area. Steve eventually joined me but he didn't have breakfast. He's not a breakfast person really. I was still having a pitty party. Why did this happen to us? Why couldn't it happen 3 months down the line. I needed to get out of my state of mind. The problem isn't that the farm shut down, really. We didn't want our second year and that's what farm work is actually for. We were going to keep the second year but just as a back up plan, in case we wanted it for a few years down the line. I like having options. We wanted the experience and we got it. Now that we've lost it, we're going to miss it, I'm sure. The actual problem is that I don't like unexpected change that I didn't create for myself. This wasn't my choice therefore I don't like it. I like to be in control and there was nothing I could do about it. I sat on the bed and completed the Seafarm application form. Steve did his after mine. I went to the office to collect the van keys so I could drive there and drop the forms off. I asked Cait if she wanted to come with us, but she hadn't done hers yet. I told Hugo and Donald that we were leaving and they jumped in the van with us. I had only been to the seafarm once yesterday but I have an excellent sense of direction and managed to get us there without any help. I was shocked when I managed to get us to Coles last week which is a 45 minute drive away, I had no Satnav or anything then either. That was by memory. I definitely don't get that from my Mum. We handed the forms in and the lady said it'll be about 6 weeks. Funny that. When I first rang, the guy said 3-4 weeks. Yesterday when we picked them up, the lady said 4-5 weeks and now it's 6 weeks. I don't think they know what's happening. The Seafarm will probably make Steve and I so miserable. It's 6 days a week, 14 hour days with 1 half an hour break. The only reason we want it, is because the money is brilliant. We'd save up what we'd need for the East Coast in 4 weeks... (The money is only good because we're there for 90% of the 4 weeks). We got back and I found an application form for the Banana Farm in Tully. I done my application and then Steve's, and sent them off. Tully is 40-60 minutes away so we'd be able to probably stay in Cardwell and drive there. I'm trying my hardest to stay here because we're so comfortable. I love our room, I love the area (as much as you can love being in the middle of nowhere with nothing). I love the pool and just how chilled out it is. I panic having to start again somewhere new. It started to rain. Like we needed any more reasons to be down around here. I got myself showered and chilled in the room. I started to get my blogs done. Steve came into the room after chatting away to Danny outside. He said that Danny and Fraser were going to walk down to the Aboriginal Museum if we wanted to join. We weren't doing anything else so we said yeah - why not. I put jeans on because I get cold easily. One bit of aircon and I've got goosebumps for the entire time. We walked the 10 minutes down to the 'museum'. It was a museum, but it was tiny. I'm not sure what I was expecting to be fair. We're in the tiny town of Cardwell after all. It was basically a house with two big rooms. One room had items from Aboriginal past with loads of information and the other had gifts and art you could buy. We stayed there reading all the facts, looking at the things they made from hand. It was really interesting, especially because it was mainly about Cardwell Aboriginals. There were photos displayed of their groups in 1940. We went outside and walked around their mini botanical garden before I found the weirdest looking spider we've ever come across. It was medium size, nothing all that big. It was the shape of an X with 4 legs. It's spiders web went in an X shape too but if you looked closely, they were in zig-zag form. It was beyond weird. I took a photo. We walked back after spending the best part of 45 minutes walking around. We got back to the hostel and I was sweating. It was cloudy and raining earlier but now it was blue skies and sunny. I wish the weather would make it's mind up. I got out of my jeans as soon as possible. I spent the next hour trying to catch up on my blogs. I went outside to see what everyone was doing and I found Steve, Danny and Fraser on the floor playing giant snakes and ladders. Men are so easily pleased I love it. I let them continue and hid back in my little den, right where the aircon was. I uploaded my GoPro photos and videos to my laptop, then continued with the pile up of blogs I had. Around 1500, I heard a knock at the door. I answered it and it was Lisa and Hugo. They said they were going to go fishing on the jetty and asked whether we wanted to go. Of course, big ears did so we put the laptop away and went outside into the courtyard. I stood around waiting for the boys to find the fishing rods and spoke to Mitch and Cait. The boys sorted themselves out and then we turned around to find Vicki behind us. I went over and gave her a cuddle. She was here to say goodbye to Cait and Mitch and pick up some books they were giving her. We stood there for 45 minutes chatting to her. We were able to get some photos together which was nice. Vicki said she'd spent the whole day crying. She woke up thinking it was a dream but it wasn't. Luckily, she has good links to other farms and one of them in Innisvale rang her. The guy said to her that he has no idea why he's ringing her because he literally has nothing to offer at the moment but, he knows... That's so lovely. She said hopefully something comes up in a month and he said that he should have something by then. Hopefully Vicki will be alright. She said that she'd never stepped foot off of the Australian ground so we said that she should 100% go to England, and other places obviously. She'd have so many people that would let her stay with them too. We had to say goodbye and she started to cry again. She said that it was a good job that the farm has closed because she couldn't keep doing this. See gets attached to the backpackers she hires and then her heart breaks when they leave her. I really hope she, and her family will be okay. Steve and I walked down to the jetty because the others had already left. I didn't want to leave mid-conversation with Vicki so I gave them the van keys. It was really windy out. We got to the end of the jetty and the two lads Donald and Hugo were fishing, or so what they called 'fishing'. I sat down and watch Steve get involved with a crab line or something like that. After a good, long, boring 10 minutes. I decided that it was time to go back... It was windy and very unenjoyable. Lexi joined us on the way home from work, so I drove her, myself and Steve back to the hostel. I said I'd pick the others up later when they wanted. Around 1900, I had my dinner which was cereal. We weren't that hungry so cereal would do the trick. I sat outside with Lexi who was having a meltdown about farm work. She said that she was running out of time to get her 3 months in to secure her second year which she really wants. This is the standard situation for the majority of backpackers. Although, you only have to do 3 months (88 days), backpackers spend roughly 6 months of their year getting these signed off. Waiting lists are ridiculously long and farmers take the p*ss because they know they can. Some aren't legitimate which is scary. I would only go to a farm that I know is safe because someone has already stayed here. Hence why we're here and we're happy. Thanks Emma! There are about 4 options a backpacker can have when it comes to farm work. 1) Do the farm work, if you're lucky enough to find a great farm. 2) Don't do the farm work and find a farmer to pay to lie for you about completing the 3 months. Usually will cost $300. The visa itself costs $440. 3) Try your hardest, work at stupid farms and then give up on the idea of a second year because you are hating on Australia so much (in the moment feel). 4) Lie about doing your farm work, apply for the visa and hope for the best. Only 1/5 visas get investigated. You put the application in, lie about your days, pay for it and wait. If it gets accepted, you're a lucky son of a mother. If not, you can just cancel your application so the investigation doesn't go ahead. Lexi said that she was thinking about just applying for it but she said she was scared. I said go for it because the only thing she has to lose is the money for the visa... That way, she'll know what to do with the rest of her first year. Naughty, but hey ho. Thousands do it. She came into my room and borrowed my laptop. The form took around 30 minutes to complete and she parted with the $440. Here's hoping... Lexi said she wanted to watch a DVD. I was sad that our room didn't have one - only some did. I remembered that Katie had one in her room and I was hoping it was still in there. Steve went and broke into the room and found it. BTW, we live in a tin can and you can get into anyone’s room with ease. It's not really breaking in. He took the DVD player and wires and put them into our TV. The TV then had a weird line across the front of it. He then decided to change our TV over so he went breaking in again... He's such a crimmie. We went to the office and it was shut with the lights on. Leonie was just sitting there. She's devastated that she's losing her backpackers because of the farm shutting. I feel so, so sorry for her and Rod. I don't really like Rod as a person, he's not very nice to English people. But still, it's not their fault and they give us as much as they can. We picked our DVD's and left. They have loads to rent for us which is great. We got into bed and ended up falling asleep without even putting a film on...

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grassroutes · 5 years ago

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Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D?

Our verdict of the Z-EDGE Z3D Dual Lens Car Camera: Looking for a dashcam with HD recording, GPS, and a parking mode that doesn't drain your car battery? Z-EDGE Z3D Dual Cam Dashcam should be top of your list, and at under $150 for two cameras, can suit a range of dashcam uses.910

Want to keep your motor insurance costs down? A dashcam is a great idea, but they can do more than save you money. With a dashcam, your car’s safety and security are always monitored. You can review your driving and check the details of incidents.

While many dashcams only provide forward-facing recordings, the Z-Edge Z3D Dual Dashcam has something more: a rear camera. But what value does this add to your dashcam experience?

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Unboxing the Z3D Dual Lens Car Camera

As with any dashcam kit, you’ll find all the cables you need in the box, along with the two cameras.

Specifically, the contents are the front-facing dashcam featuring a 2.7-inch screen, a plastic tool, two USB cables, a shorter USB cable, a GPS windscreen mount, adhesive cable clips, the rear-facing camera, and a cable for connecting the two cameras. There’s also a dual USB adaptor, warranty card, and user guide.

The user guide will prove useful if you’ve never installed a dashcam before, but it’s worth reading even if you have. Most dashcam kits don’t come with a separate rear camera. Instead, they usually incorporate the rear-facing cam with the main dashcam unit. The result of this is that the car occupants receive more attention than the vehicles behind.

While this might be useful in some scenarios (like making a carpool karaoke video), having a better appreciation of the road behind can improve your driving.

Dual Dashcam or “Dual Lens Car Camera”?

Most dashcams work in a pretty simple way. The camera is powered via the 12V dual USB accessory socket (“cigarette lighter”) and mounted in the windscreen or dashboard. Note that there is no option to wire the camera directly to the car battery.

Instead, the dashcam has a G-Sensor and adequate battery to detect and record while the car is unattended. This could be you returning to the car and unlocking, or someone trying to break in and steal your vehicle.

The footage, or stop-motion images, are then stored on an SD card for review later. For most, the standard forward-facing single-camera dashcam is adequate. Some units have an additional rear-facing camera but remain concerned largely with action at the front of the car.

The Z-EDGE Z3D device differs in that it has these two separate cameras, both capable of recording at Full HD resolution. This affords clear recording of events around the vehicle, from the activity on the road to potential car crime when parked.

Z3D System Specs

Dashcams are increasingly finding new ways to entice customers. The system spec of the Z3D Dual Cam Dashcam is one of the most impressive we’ve seen.

With dual cameras comes dual 1080p recording, giving you the Full HD experience when driving. Just as important is the frame rate—30FPS is available, ensuring clear capture. Meanwhile, if you opt for just the front camera, the Z3D dashcam records in WQHD 2560x1440p (also at 30FPS).

The two cameras boast a 150-degree wide viewing angle. Recorded footage should capture four lanes of traffic ahead and behind, with reduced blindspots.

Night vision can be a problem for some dashcams. To deal with this, Z-EDGE has employed WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) technology to compensate for light and dark areas and balance exposure. The six-layer glass lens and imaging processor are designed to aid in the capture of clear footage and recording of details such as license plates.

Footage and stills are saved to the microSD card. The Z3D dashcam supports up to 128GB, providing up to 720 minutes of recording time. Loop mode ensures that footage is prioritized, with notable events stored in their own folder and other material overwritten as space runs out.

Built into the dashcam’s windscreen mount is a GPS module. This accurately records your vehicle’s location, speed, and route, and the data can be reviewed when loaded into the Z-EDGE desktop software (for macOS and Windows).

Installing the Z3D Dashcam

How you install the Z3D is entirely up to you. The rear camera is entirely optional, letting you carry on with a standard forward-facing dashcam with WQHD. Alternatively, you might opt to add the second camera either as a parking camera. It’s also suitable for use as an interior camera, which may prove useful if you’re a private car hire.

We started off by attaching the suction cup mount alongside the rear-view mirror. This twists-and-locks into place, ensuring your dashcam is securely mounted. The GPS module is built into this (more on that later) along with a power socket and short cable to power the dashcam. A slow is provided to attach the dashcam.

Connecting the dashcam to your car can be tricky. The included clips are almost certainly necessary. These are self-adhesive and should be attached to the windscreen along the path you want the cables to take. Of course, these should be nowhere within your view of the road.

Placing a dashcam on the actual dashboard is not really an option these days. However, the thing to remember is that the dashcam and cables should not impede your view.

For the safest results, cabling should be run around the edge of the windscreen, and behind the rear-view mirror. Installing this device, I let the cables hang above the dashboard until the power cable was successfully routed under the steering wheel. Only then did I use the adhesive cable clips.

Z-EDGE has helpfully included clips that are big enough to route two cables. This is useful for connecting the rear/secondary camera to the front dashcam.

Installing the Rear Cam

If you opt for the secondary cam, prepare yourself to route the cabling through the furnishings and panels of your car. Above the door, below the door, perhaps under the carpet. How successful this is will depend on the design and size of your car.

The rear cam comes with a data cable which should be long enough to connect to the primary camera. Once hooked up, it can be used to simply record events at the back of the car, or even act as a parking monitor.

It’s wise to measure out cable length first; at 26 foot long, it could prove to be far more than you need. One option is to store excess cable within the car’s upholstery or paneling. For example, the MPV used to install the Z3D Dashcam has a removable panel around the rear window. I used this to store the spare eight feet of USB data cabling.

With the rear cam routed to the main dashcam and the system powered on, you should see instant results. The secondary cam will appear by default in picture-in-picture mode.

Setting Up the Dashcam for Daily Use

Dashcam set up is straightforward, enabling you to quickly get started with it. The controls are minimal too, with a simple menu button, up and down, and an enter/OK option. These can be used for various purposes, from enabling the camera (OK) to altering the settings via the menu.

Booting the camera for the first time, you’ll be prompted to set your location and timezone. Moments later, footage from the camera will be displayed. It’s that quick!

Default settings are 1080p and 30FPS, 3-minute loop recording, G-Sensor sensitivity normal, date stamp enabled, and motion detection off. All of these can be adjusted to suit, however.

Configuration can largely be discerned from the display, although it is wise to wait until parked to do this. A red LED illuminates when the camera is recording, but all other information is on the screen, including recording and resolution settings. Loop duration is found here, too, along with GPS status, the parking monitor, and video protection. This can be enabled while driving by pressing the menu button. The event will then be protected from overwriting.

Does Your Dashcam Need GPS?

Dashcams record the road, so why is GPS needed? Well, it’s not for doubling the device up as a satnav! Rather, the GPS feature, courtesy of a module in the mounting component, logs your location. A dedicated app is available from the Z-EDGE website, providing GPS, video footage, and Google Maps integration.

Versions of the app are available for Windows and macOS, which should let you easily review your footage. Location, speed, and route are logged with GPS, with this information then clearly presented alongside the video in Google Maps.

When reviewing footage, you’ll see a map in the top-right corner displaying your location. However, if you’re in a GPS blackspot, this won’t happen until the car moves into a more receptive location.

To view the files in the app, it’s necessary to access them directly from the microSD card, or by connecting the dashcam to your computer via USB. The app uses the MAP files created by the dashcam to chart your GPS position. You can capture screenshots via the app, too, which are saved to your default image folder.

If you don’t want to use the app—perhaps you have no need for the GPS data—you can simply browse the SD card in your desktop file manager.

Does the Z3D Good Enough Make a Reliable Dashcam?

These days, anyone can afford a dashcam. Available at so many different price points, they range in quality and reliability.

To judge whether the Z3D is good enough, we can consider the following:

Easy setup

Stable software

Reliable battery

Appropriate storage media

Easy to install in your car

Lightweight build

Lengthy power lead

In the case of the Z-EDGE Z3D Dual Cam Dashcam, we can consider the advantages above, with one exception. The device isn’t easy to install unless you’re planning to only use the front-facing camera.

Other than that, this is a great dashcam option.

Enter the Competition!

Z-Edge Z3D Dual Dashcam Giveaway

Read the full article: Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D?

Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D? posted first on grassroutespage.blogspot.com

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droneseco · 5 years ago

Text

Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D?

While many dashcams only provide forward-facing recordings, the Z-Edge Z3D Dual Dashcam has something more: a rear camera. But what value does this add to your dashcam experience?

youtube

Unboxing the Z3D Dual Lens Car Camera

As with any dashcam kit, you’ll find all the cables you need in the box, along with the two cameras.

While this might be useful in some scenarios (like making a carpool karaoke video), having a better appreciation of the road behind can improve your driving.

Dual Dashcam or “Dual Lens Car Camera”?

Z3D System Specs

Dashcams are increasingly finding new ways to entice customers. The system spec of the Z3D Dual Cam Dashcam is one of the most impressive we’ve seen.

The two cameras boast a 150-degree wide viewing angle. Recorded footage should capture four lanes of traffic ahead and behind, with reduced blindspots.

Installing the Z3D Dashcam

Placing a dashcam on the actual dashboard is not really an option these days. However, the thing to remember is that the dashcam and cables should not impede your view.

Z-EDGE has helpfully included clips that are big enough to route two cables. This is useful for connecting the rear/secondary camera to the front dashcam.

Installing the Rear Cam

With the rear cam routed to the main dashcam and the system powered on, you should see instant results. The secondary cam will appear by default in picture-in-picture mode.

Setting Up the Dashcam for Daily Use

Booting the camera for the first time, you’ll be prompted to set your location and timezone. Moments later, footage from the camera will be displayed. It’s that quick!

Default settings are 1080p and 30FPS, 3-minute loop recording, G-Sensor sensitivity normal, date stamp enabled, and motion detection off. All of these can be adjusted to suit, however.

Does Your Dashcam Need GPS?

If you don’t want to use the app—perhaps you have no need for the GPS data—you can simply browse the SD card in your desktop file manager.

Does the Z3D Good Enough Make a Reliable Dashcam?

These days, anyone can afford a dashcam. Available at so many different price points, they range in quality and reliability.

To judge whether the Z3D is good enough, we can consider the following:

Easy setup

Stable software

Reliable battery

Appropriate storage media

Easy to install in your car

Lightweight build

Lengthy power lead

Other than that, this is a great dashcam option.

Enter the Competition!

Z-Edge Z3D Dual Dashcam Giveaway

Read the full article: Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D?

Do You Need a Dual Dashcam Like the Z-EDGE Z3D? published first on http://droneseco.tumblr.com/

0 notes

cars4starters · 7 years ago

Text

What is it?

Wow. After all these years Subaru’s WRX still hits the spot.

I’ve been driving these cars since day one and 20 years later the turbocharged boy racer is definitely showing a new found maturity.

The biggest improvement is evident in the cabin which is now a much nicer place in which to spend time. All the tacky, hard plastics have gone bye-bye, replaced by premium, soft touch, higher quality materials.

In a way the car really needed to evolve in this direction to keep pace with its aging buyers. Most of the time you see a Rex on the road the driver is grey haired. Hell, my accountant is on his third or fourth WRX and he’s no spring chicken.

What’s it cost?

Prices kick off from $39,240 for the entry level sedan with a 6-speed manual. There’s no hatch anymore, but there is a wagon, although they call it the Levorg – but that’s another story.

It’s amazing Subaru has been able to keep a lid on the price for so long, given the fit and finish and levels of equipment fitted. Last updated around the middle of last year the current model has been “heavily revised” both mechanically and cosmetically.

In the go fast department, there’s better brake pads that provide superior fade resistance, with red brake calipers front and back and new dark look 18-inch alloys, fitted with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx RT.

The suspension has also been revised, with LED fog lights and heated door mirrors added.

The LED powered headlights follow the steering wheel.

The base model, the subject of our test, comes with cloth seats and two zone climate air, along with red-stitched sports seats, push button start, auto lights and wipers (but not rear view mirror), 6.2-inch touchscreen and 6-speaker CD audio.

The manual misses out on the latest advances in safety including Subaru’s version of auto emergency braking called EyeSight.

You’re asked to pay more for them with the Premium model.

There’s also no satnav, no digital radio and no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto — both glaringly absent. Doesn’t particularly worry me, but it does mean you can’t display Waze or Google Maps on the car’s computer screen.

Subaru says changes for Model Year 2018 are focused on creating an even more engaging interior design and raising quality, with more cohesive interior finish and a greater sense of performance potential.

Interior decorations with liberal use of piano black finish provide a sportier, more elegant feel.

What’s it go like?

Wayne? If you’re reading this? You’ve gotta come for a spin in this one mate. If you thought the BRZ was cracker, wait until I’ve taken you for a ride in this one mon ami.

I took my old mate Wayne for a ride in the BRZ and scared the crap out of him. BRZ will leave ’em gasping

Wayne’s a tough guy. Once a nightclub bouncer and gang member in his younger days, he’s not someone you want to pick a fight with — I’ve got a chipped tooth to prove it.

Mate. The WRX has got turbocharged engine with 197kW of power and 350Nm of torque, compared with the BRZ’s 152kW/212Nm — basically that means it can do everything the BRZ can and more.

It’s also all-wheel drive, rather than rear wheel drive, with torque vectoring and a limited slip rear diff in the manual to help the car corner flatter and faster. Do you hear that mate — faster?

Sure. The STI gets more power and torque again — 221kW and 407Nm — but trust me you don’t really need it.

That bloody great wing on the back must weight a bit because it’s 72kg heavier and the front spoiler is so low you’re going to have trouble on driveways.

The sports buckets in the STI are also damn uncomfortable, narrow with high sides that make sliding in and out a chore for big blokes.

Bottom line. The WRX is more comfortable and has all the power you need.

In fourth gear, with 4000 revs showing on the dial, it’s feels just about unbeatable charging up a mountain pass.

The dash from 0-100km/h takes 6.0 seconds, but it takes some practice to achieve this.

You’ll notice newcomers to the car grappling with the change.

Short shifting works best. Give it a squirt in first gear, then quick as you can get into second. Another squirt will take you to third and into the sweet zone.

Fourth gear is probably the place you’ll spend time, working the car from corner to corner, only needing to change down for really tight bends.

A CVT auto is available for an extra three grand and it is probably the best CVT we’ve driven, but the 6-speed manual falls so easily to hand and is so easy to use — why would you bother?

There’s no turbo lag in this car and the delivery of power is smooth and very linear, instead of coming in with a bang.

The seating position is higher than BRZ and that makes the car easier to get in and out of, with manual height adjustment for the driver’s seat.

There’s not a lot of audible feedback inside the car, but those outside seem to hear it coming.

Rated at 9.2L/100km we were getting 9.6L/100km after 400km.

What we like?

It’s a WRX

High quality finish

Comfy seats

Small stylish rear spoiler

What we don’t?

No satnav in base model

Dash too busy with three competing information screens

No EyeSight – Subaru’s auto braking system (only with auto)

Phone slow to reconnect (doesn’t connect at all after swapping phones)

Measly 3 Year/Unlimited kilometre warranty

The bottom line?

At less than $40K the WRX is still the best bang for your buck going.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Untitled #cars4start What is it? Wow. After all these years Subaru's WRX still hits the spot. I've been driving these cars since day one and 20 years later the turbocharged boy racer is definitely showing a new found maturity.

#BRZ #cars4start #Subaru #Wayne #WRX

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juniorformulamotorsport · 5 years ago

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Friday, 27th September 2019 – Waldkirch-Buchholz, Schonach, Triberg, Vaals

Most of the day was spent in the car on a variety of German autobahns, peering into clouds of spray and trying not to crash but before that we managed both a small amount of shopping and some sightseeing. First though, one more very good breakfast at the Hotel Schlossmühle, before a comprehensive repack of the car boot to make sure everything was secure and wouldn’t rattle too much, and that the grape vine I’d bought at Naturoparc, a Gewürztraminer, wasn’t going to get crushed or otherwise damaged.

After I’d done that I took a short walk into town and stopped off at the butcher’s to buy half a kilo of Black Forest ham, and a large pack of maultaschen that would go into the freezer when we got home. The lovely man behind the counter also handed me a present of couple of large slices of paté-en-croute which would do for our lunch for the first two days after we got home. From there we drove over to Waldkirch-Buchholz to Weingut Moosman to buy a couple of cases of the wines we had drunk the day before at the Alte Wache in Freiburg. And again I was given a present, a jar of local fruit jelly. I was going to struggle when shopping on my return home, because I’d be wondering why no one was giving me a gift along with my shopping.

I then spent a few minutes having a fight with the SatNav. Before we set off I had worked out how to add a driving route to its memory and was able to call that up and set it to navigate us along the way. What it didn’t seem able to handle was taking me to the nearest point on the route, rather than the absolute starting point, and as a result we ended up navigating round the centre of Freiburg more than once in several different directions before I gave up and entered a way point and told it to take us there! I had wanted to cover some of the Black Forest Road but we wasted so much time on trying to achieve escape velocity from Freiburg that we ran out of time. Instead we decided to head for Triberg and Germany’s highest waterfall.

On the way we were sidetracked, as we so often are, by Schonach, which is a pretty odd little place all told. It has around 4,000 inhabitants and is known for winter sports, with a number of famous athletes coming from the town, which explains why one of its advertised attractions is the Langenbach ski Jumping hill, which you can visit every Wednesday between 14:00 and 16:00 and climb up to the jumping point. It doesn’t explain the giant living advent calendar which of course we didn’t see, it being the wrong time of year. The Church of Saint Urban seems standard enough, but then there are two cuckoo clocks, and these are not just any cuckoo clocks. One is the world’s biggest cuckoo clock, and believe me it is big, and then there’s the first world’s biggest cuckoo clock.

This was built by Jürgen Dold and is 3.60 metres wide, 3.10 metres high, and 1 metre deep, and is housed in a small Black Forest style house. It’s open daily from 09:00 – 12:00, though we arrived just after 12:00 and were still invited in. It cuckoos on the hour and the half hour so we settled in on a bench in the garden to wait.

After that we headed into Triberg and parked up. Triberg as a name is first mentioned in any document in 1239 when Peter of Triberc is listed as a witness to a transaction, and in 1330 there is the first mention of an actual place called Triberg which seems to have had a castle as well. The Hohenbergs, who had held the castle for four generations, died our and the property passed in the hands of Duke Albrecht of Austria. It remained an imperial fief of the Habsburgs for around four centuries, and seems to have been a pretty miserable time for the townspeople. In 1654 they finally reached breaking point after years of suppression, poverty and being sold off to the highest bidders, and they raised 30,000 guilders to buy their independence. As a result Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria issued an edict that confirmed that the privileges of Triberg could never be pledged or sold.

By 1720 the town consisted of 422 inhabitants, living in 35 houses. By 1800 the population had pretty much doubled to 792. Shortly afterwards, the locals began to try and develop the waterfalls as a tourist attraction, setting up pathways to let the visitors get closer. A year later, after the Peace of Pressburg, 16 German princes joined forces under Napoleon’s military and political protection to form the Rhine Confederation, and Triberg became part of the new Grand Duchy of Baden. After Grand Duchess Stephanie visited the waterfalls in 1815 more and more visitors arrived and Triberg was established as a tourist attraction. A serious fire in 1826 burned down most of the town which is why it’s not packed with half-timbered buildings. The rebuilding was of course done in what was a contemporary style at the time. In 1864 further steps were taken to turn the town into a Spa, with the a beautification committee being set up. They were assitsed in their efforts when the Black Forest Railway opened a decade later. Modernisation continued apace and Triberg was the first city in Germany to erect publicly owned electric street lights.They were keen on the new in Triberg, and also set up the world’s first electric ski lift in the early 1900s, kicking off the area’s development as a winter sports centre.

We didn’t have a lot of time, but we wanted to take a quick look at the waterfall, especially as they would likely be at their best after a couple of days of heavy overnight rain. First though we found ourselves face to face with the second set of Easter island-inspired sculptures of the trip, after the strange ones in the Parc Malraux in Illkirch-Graffenstaden. These five sculptures on the waterfall path are the work of German-Brazilian multi-artist Woody Woodnock, also known as Michael Nock. They started life as the largest Douglas firs that could be found in the city forest, and weigh around 1.8 tonnes each, with a circumference of up to 2.70 metres. They were named Edekaner after a naming competition and they are just subtly insane, wearing, as they do, Bollenhuts, the women’s hats with red pompoms on the top that were worn by unmarried women from just three villages in the Black Forest but which are now regarded as representative of the whole area.

We crossed the road to the waterfall, thinking that the town looked attractive, for another time. The waterfall drops 163 meters down via a series of cascades and pools, as the River Gutach finds its way down to the valley floor. As with may German towns that have some sort of dramatic water feature, the locals will try and convince you that the water is good for your health, and that because it ionises the air, it is beneficial if you have bronchial asthma or a cold. That aside, they really are most impressive, and can be viewed at all times of year, including at Christmas when they are part of the Triberger Weihnachtszauber. They’re also lit up at night, so it would be hard to miss them!

The paths are steep, and slippery and the “easy” path was closed off so it was a case of slipping and sliding my way up about halfway, looking out for the friendly squirrels that are now so used to visitors that they just hang about begging for food. Maybe it was too damp, but I only saw one, and it wasn’t hanging about for a photoshoot, perhaps because I didn’t have anything to give in return.

We ran out of time so I scrambled back down again (which was a lot harder than going up had been) and we headed to the car to set off for the Belgian/Dutch/German border which was rather further away than I really liked the look of but would make Saturday a very easy day in comparison to today. We were staying just inside the Netherlands in a small town called Vaals, where I had managed to find a very nice looking place to lodge for a night. It was also just a short drive from the centre of Aachen so we could have a day there before we headed for the overnight ferry. Vaals is in the extreme southeastern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, in the southeastern part of the Netherlands and borders on both Belgium and Germany. The three borders meet at the Drielandenpunt, close to the highest point in the Netherlands, the Vaalserberg. Around a quarter of the population is actually German, and many of them work in the nearby German city of Aachen. Tourism is now a major source of income, though its fortunes were founded on coal and textiles during the industrial age. It seems to have been occupied by the Romans, and is one of a handful of places in the Netherlands with a name that comes from the Latin. Certainly the Limburg area was densely populated during Roman times, with a focus on Cologne (Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium).

Vaals is first mentioned in documents in 1041 when Emperor Henry III donated land to the Abbey of Saint Adalbert and made a distinction between the city of Aachen and this land by referring to it as “in Vallis” (in the valley). Given its geographical position it saw a lot of action during the various wars, including the time, in 1568, when the forces of William of Orange looted the church. In 1661 Vaals joined the Republic of the United Netherlands and as many wealthy citizens moved in, it became a prosperous industrial hub with numerous famous visitors. The Conference of Vienna assigned Aachen to Prussia and Vaals to the Kingdom of the Netherlands though when Belgium declared independence in 1830, Vaals became part of Belgium for 9 years. Afterwards it returned to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, sitting on four national boundaries (Prussia, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Neutral Territory of Moresnet). As a result of the less than nation-state of Moresnet, there was a Four-Border-Point, but not a Four-Country-Point although the Viergrenzenweg (“Four-Borders-Road”) still exists in Vaals. After 1919 Moresnet was absorbed into Belgium.

After 1840, when the various borders were closed, Vaals turned from a wealthy industrial town into a leisure and holiday destination complete with casinos. The Germans referred to the town as the “Vaalser Paradies” and a tram was built running to and from Aachen, via Vaals. During World War II the town was very isolated and post-war many of the townsfolk found jobs in Aachen legally while illegally smugglers’ routes across the border abounded as the “Owls of Vaals” plied their trade. Nowadays the town can best be regarded as Dutch suburb of a German city and it is even well integrated into Aachen’s transport system with rerular cross border buses.

We were staying at the rather swish Hotel Kasteel Bloemendal, built in the late 1700s for the Aachen cloth manufacturer Arnold von Clermont. A very rich man, with clients that included the Tzar, set about building a palace opposite his new weaving mill. In fact both Peter the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte have stayed in the castle, the latter much later on of course. Arnold died before the work was complete, and it was left to his son to carry on both the business and the building work. After the recession caused by the French Revolution the house was sold to the Aachen City Councillor Johann Wilhelm van Lommessen, who donated the building to the order of the Sacred Heart, a women’s religious order that his two daughters, Anna and Caroline, joined.

It became a renowned Catholic boarding school, both in Europe and beyond, with pupils that included Rose Kennedy. During the occupation of 1940-1944 it became hospital with 350 beds, but reverted to being a boarding school after 1947, continuing until the 1970s when the number of both pupils and nuns started to decline. In 1976, almost 130 years of monastic life came to an end and by 1978 the building was owned by the municipality of Vaals. After slightly more than a decade, the municipality, along with van der Valk hotels, in collaboration with the province of Limburg and the Netherlands Conservation Agency, decided to restore the complex and reopen it as a luxury hotel. It really is glorious and it would have been a shame if it had been left to decay! After a series of irritating delays on the motorways, and a number of detours to avoid it, we were later arriving that we had planned to be, so they moved our dinner booking back, giving us time to clean up. They also gave us an upgrade to one of the castle rooms, free of charge so we were very happy (and very comfortable).

Travel 2019 – Alsace and Baden, Day 15, Waldkirch-Buchholz, Schonach, Triberg, Vaals Friday, 27th September 2019 - Waldkirch-Buchholz, Schonach, Triberg, Vaals Most of the day was spent in the car on a variety of German autobahns, peering into clouds of spray and trying not to crash but before that we managed both a small amount of shopping and some sightseeing.

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juniorformulamotorsport · 7 years ago

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Sunday October 1st – Day 9, Piesport, Erden, Burg Arras

We were moving on so the morning was spent going round in circles attempting to figure out how to fit all the wine boxes and the luggage into the car, without endangering any bottles, and keeping our bags where we’d be able to get them when we needed them. We’d packed one bag per location and had a couple of bags each with stuff we needed everywhere, so at least there were no big heavy items to wrangle. Eventually it was all settled in to place and it only remained to see if it was going to rattle insanely or if everything was stable. Christiana, our landlady for the week, arrived to see us off and refused to charge us for the wine we’d drunk from the supply she’d kindly left for us, and then we were on our way into another lovely day.

Our first port of call was Piesport where we wanted to visit the XXVI. Römisches Kelterfest or if you will the 26th Roman Winepress Festival. We weren’t sure what to expect and what we’d find there. In fact initially we weren’t even sure we’d find the event at all, as we were on the wrong side of the river and there was no signage to speak of (again a common feature on this trip). The town is quite pretty but it was too hot to be wandering about ineffectually in the wrong place.

We went back to the car and battled our way over the bridge to the correct side of the river, where we were pleasantly surprised to find a parking space down by the river, near the church. It was under the shade of a tree too, which was good news for the wine. A small amount of exploration and we soon found the site of the festival, and decided that it was time for a glass of something local. The nearest cafe had a very fine balcony overlooking the river and with earshot – if not sight – of the festival if the brass band playing “Nice One Cyril” was anything to go by.

From there we wended our way towards the boat jetty, where the Roman wine ship was moored up. This could have been easier were it not for the number of people trying to push their bicycles through the middle of the festival! Really, why would you do that when you could park the bikes and go on foot, thus not causing yourself to become the target of abuse from numerous pedestrians, who had had the sense not to try and shove a set of wheels through a crowded thoroughfare!

That aside, we made it to the boat in good time, though we did have to battle our way through the crowd at the jetty who didn’t have tickets, but did feel the need to block the way. I’m blaming too much wine on a sunny afternoon. We were soon on board and settled and the boat cast off, the crew distributing wine to anyone that wanted it. We spent a lot of time waving cheerily at people on the banks, holding wine glasses aloft. It was a very pleasant trip, though there was a distinct shortage of brawny galley slaves, the ship instead being motor powered on this occasion.

After we’d finished we figured we needed to get a snack of some sort, especially if we were going to go to another festival later on. Unfortunately the stalls all seemed to be selling massive meals, and we really didn’t want that much that late in the afternoon. First, however, we needed to take a closer look at Piesport, starting with the small but glorious St. Michael’s church. We could only get into the foyer because there were bars across the main body of the church. I don’t know if it would always be like that, or if it was just to stop over-lubricated festival goers getting in and making a mess or causing damage.

After that we took a walk over to the Roman wine press where the locals would bring the grapes later in the afternoon. It’s massive and very well set out for those of us who wanted to figure out how it would all work.

We considered waiting to see what the procession would entail, but it was getting a bit crowded, so we walked towards the car. As we did the music struck up and it became obvious that we were well placed to watch the grapes being carried in. The procession was fun, with lots of Romans (some more authentic looking than others), and anyone who had one of the festival glasses (we didn’t) would find it being filled up by a passing soldier. I suspect you could end up extremely wasted if you weren’t careful.

Somewhat more decorous were the wine queens and princesses (every town and village appears to have one, and sometimes there are signs saying things like “Home of Wine Queen Elisabeth 1988” which made us wonder if they leave town to avoid the pressure of having to live up to their titles years later).

The procession was still going on when we aimed for the car so we went out through the vineyard road, which snaked up the hill in a series of sharp bends and twists. It wasn’t the sort of road that let you get any speed up, especially as there were dozens of little tractors, their trailers loaded with freshly picked grapes, chugging up the hills at around 2kph.

We headed for the festival that we had been told we must visit, in Erden, the Erdener Winzer- Wein- und Straßenfest (the Vintner, Wine and Street Festival). Erden itself is a very pretty, slightly straggly village which claims to be the oldest wine locale in the world. I’m pretty sure the Georgians would have something to say about that, especially in light of recent archaeological finds there. However, pretty much everywhere seemed to be making the same claim, and there has clearly been wine growing in the area since Roman times at the very least, so we may have to forgive them the hyperbole.

After snagging what might well have been the last parking space in Erden, we found our way in to the village centre, where pretty much every winemaker had set up a strausswirtschaft in a barn, or a cellar or just in a tent, and were serving zwiebelkuchen, things you can grill, and a selection of wines. There were some very creative setup including a winepress being used as a barbeque grill, and everywhere people were enjoying the sunshine and knocking back the wines.

We grabbed a zwiebelkuchen and a glass of wine each and felt a lot better for it. Several bands were set up throughout the streets, most of them Dutch for some reason (surely there are German brass bands?) and they were all letting rip. We considered staying longer, but we needed to get to our next hotel while it was still good and light. As it turned out, that was a good decision.

We followed the SatNav directions and eventually found ourselves at the bottom of a steep driveway leading up to Burg Arras. It was very pot-holed and twisty and with all the bottles of wine in the car I had to take it very gently indeed. In fact it might have been quicker to walk. 1.5 kilometres later we pulled up in the car park, and I was very glad that we’d booked dinner in the hotel. I would not have wanted to go back down that road in the dark, and I definitely didn’t want to have to drive back again after dinner.

There’s a small museum there and a woman was sitting in the doorway demanding the entry fee. We told her we were booked to stay, and she fetched a younger man, who we suspect was her son. He took us to our room, which had amazing views down the valley, and bags of room, although it could have been more up to date perhaps. We settled in and I spent some time staring out of the window at the surrounding vineyards and forests.

We’d booked for dinner and were told we could not eat later than 19:15, which seemed a bit early to us, but if the alternative was going back down that track to the valley floor, we’d cope. Actually, it was all a bit weird ans slightly Fawlty Tours, though the service was willing and friendly enough. We had starters with Lynne going for the beetroot carpaccio:

I ordered the pumpkin soup, which was fine though not thrilling:

It was solid cooking, the sort of thing you might expect at someone’s home, rather than a restaurant. The same applied to the main courses. Lynne went for the local sausages, and mash:

I had the venison with mushrooms and spaetzle:

And then we’d finished, and it was only 20:30. We wondered what to do for a few minutes, but then we decided that we’d test the lounge, which was on the upper floor of the building with amazing views down the valley. We sat and watched the lights for a while over an after dinner drink and then awarded ourselves an early night for once.

Travel 2017 – Moselle Road Trip, Day 9 Sunday October 1st - Day 9, Piesport, Erden, Burg Arras We were moving on so the morning was spent going round in circles attempting to figure out how to fit all the wine boxes and the luggage into the car, without endangering any bottles, and keeping our bags where we'd be able to get them when we needed them.

#Alf #Burg Arras #Cooking #Dinners #Drinks #Erden #Europe #Food #Germany #Hotels #Piesport #Restaurants #Rheinland-Pfalz #Sightseeing #Travel #Wine

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