The Beetle experience

In the morning we went car hunting again. It had been disappointing so far but that turned around today! The first dealer we went to was the Volkswagen dealer. We looked at the Golf and the new Beetle. I could drive the Golf but it was still not too big. And then I entered the Beetle. It was a sensational experience. I can actual stretch my legs almost completely in the passenger seat. In the driver seat I have no real problems either. The sales rep. told us we could take it for a test drive immediately since it wasn't booked for that time. So we took it for a spin and the drive was just really, REALLY good. It's a diesel and it took us up in to the hills in fifth gear (the Hyundai can't use 5th gear when going up in the hill, it would die) and still had enough power left to take over slower cars. It also stuck to the road like glue which made handling very enjoyable.

The inside only has the most common features, which results in a uncluttered design (see above photo). I do like it a lot. I can only say that this car was very enjoyable. And if a Mercedes A180 CDi would not exist I would have already made the choice.

Hence we also went to the Mercedes dealer. We forgot to take pictures there unfortunately. I did sit in the A180 and the driver's position felt even better than in the Beetle as I can totally stretch my legs in it. I was almost perplexed. Also the seat is higher up so getting in, even with its smaller four-door was super easy. Actually it's the only car I know so far that allows me to sit down first and then swing in my legs. In all other cars (including the Beetle) I have to actually step inside with one leg first, sit down and then pull in the other leg.

Today I will make a comparison chart and look up car insurance prices for the Beetle and the A180. One difference is that the Mercedes is $10,000 more expensive. But you can see where that goes.

When we drove home we passed parliament house where protesters were protesting against plans of the Australian Federal Government to install mandatory internet filters to be able to filter 'bad' content. It makes me feel I immigrated to China. I will write letters to members of parliament today and send them out soon. They have currently budgeted $44,000,000 for this and it's a total waste of money to spend it on something that people do not want and need.

When we came home I took Mason for a walk. For one third of the walk I also took Mason's shit for a walk until the first bin.

Some amazing plants are flowering at the moment. Stuff you don't see in Europe really.

Bottle brush flowers.

In the evening we went over to Deb and Richard for a BBQ. Here we see (left to right) Debbie, Greg, Debbie's mom, Gianna and Nicole.

The BBQ master: Richard.

Nicole and Gianna.

We played 8-ball and later on a 'small' version of snooker. Here we see Greg doing complicated things at which he is quite good ;-)

Richard also knows how to handle a que quite well. We had a most enjoyable time and had a lot of laughs.

The lunch crowd

During lunch I thought I'd snap away a few times. It's more fun if you look at them in a fast sequence. Please ignore my finger in the first few photo's...





































And I received my new driver's license in the mail today!

The birthday / The driver's license

Yes my friends. Today, I got my driver's license. The King can now legally (with minor restrictions for 2 years) drive his own ass around town without guidance.

I kept my test a secret because I didn't want extra pressure. Being 35, I feel more pressured than if I would be 17. Call me silly, I don't care :-P

The above picture shows me and my instructor, Chris Fisher (also Olympic runner for Australia in Munich, 1972). Thanks Chris!

This is what I need to display now. Bye bye L, hello P.

I scored 90 points out of 100. I lost 8 points because the examiner didn't see me look in the rear-view mirror enough. I'll not argue this but I have doubts as to how well he can actually judge that. If it wasn't for this I'd have 98/100. He said that apart from the rear-view mirror thing I was totally a very good driver.

For lunch and birthday celebrations Nicole and I went to the Uleybury winery again. The view from their parking.

The food here is of exceptional quality. This is our starter. The prosciutto was so fresh and soft it felt like having fluffy wool between your fingers. The Rosé wine was excellent.

I told them it was my birthday. Apart from the fact that my wine was free, while nibbling away on our little platter all of the sudden all three adorable waitresses on duty showed up holding a sliced sausage (traditional Italian and freshly made by main waitress' father) with a candle in it and they sang me "Happy birthday". We were so stunned that we forgot to take pictures. It was just the nicest thing they did. We only started remembering making pictures again once half the sausage was gone...

This was the view during our lunch.

These lovely people are Salvatore, Natalie and their brother who's name I don't know but who makes THE best pizza's in the world. They run the place together with their mum(English) and dad(Italian).

And this is the cellar door. A "cellar door" is a place where you can taste and buy wine.

It was a fantastic day. Thanks to Nicole who thought of going there and the people at Uleybury I had a most memorable birthday.

And in the evening I Skyped with my parents for the obligatory birthday chat. It was nice talking with them again.