Photos on The Broughall Shuffle

Counting Crows at the Enmore Theatre - 30 March 2026

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:46:14 +1000

Last night I got to see Counting Crows at the Enmore.

What a show! A beautiful experience, emotion dripping from every moment Adam’s performance.

Highlight was definitely Round Here/Raining in Baltimore - literally brought tears to my eyes. Same with Colorblind.

But nicely offset by the fun of Under the Aurora and Hangin’ Around.

Would definitely see them again.

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 22:14:45 +1000

Epic battle at Stadium Australia tonight for the Asian Women’s Cup.

Disappointing result, but brilliant atmosphere. So glad I got to be there.

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:41:50 +1000

Well, that’s one way to test a new feature, I suppose…

Damn.

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 22:10:14 +1000

Another year, another gingerbread house.

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:07:13 +1000

Merimbula holiday photo dump

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:35:57 +1000

So close.

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 20:58:45 +1000

Holiday food

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 17:29:03 +1000

I’m taking a nice week off down on the Sapphire Coast of NSW. 24 hours in and everything feels better.

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 14:38:59 +1000

Yesterday’s doughnuts were exceptional.

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:23:12 +1000

Initiate rage mode

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 14:43:40 +1000

Was not expecting this moment today. Glad I got it.

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 16:24:12 +1000

What an epic Father’s Day battle. I started off strong, winning the first two rounds.

Then she got Snape. She won two rounds quickly. It was all down to the final round.

The battle was fearlessly fought with spells traded on both sides. But in the end only one could be victorious.

And that was me.

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 12:11:04 +1000

Kids made me breakfast for Father’s Day. It was delicious!

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 09:25:43 +1000

Google is so bloody stupid now.

I don’t use a VPN and haven’t left Australia since 2019. But sure, change my account to “South Carolina” from Australia. That makes perfect sense.

Sat, 23 Aug 2025 20:11:41 +1000

Fun 2-player game of Ark Nova today with my wife. Kids went for a bike ride. Just a nice, relaxing day…

Except I lost 😬

Still a PB score though, so it wasn’t a total bust 🎲

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 18:33:09 +1000

The smell is incredible.

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 16:55:36 +1000

Today I made a “continental” loaf of bread in the bread maker. It was the first time I have ever used a bread improver, and it came out ridiculously tall. Can’t wait to eat it though.

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 15:05:53 +1000

Finally getting around to building Luke’s helmet

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 17:15:58 +1000

Saturday afternoon family time

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 11:55:19 +1000

Wow, Samsung. Only my closest friends call me “7613683d989a57d6abaa293bc039dbae”.

I experimented with AI to help customise my portfolio site, and I didn't have fun

Wed, 28 May 2025 10:18:36 +1000

I will probably end up writing it up for BTTR more comprehensively, but the past few days I decided to try and use Gemini to add features and update my portfolio site: nick.broughall.com.au.

I built that site earlier this year for a job application. I liked the idea of creating something I didn’t have to pay for hosting for, lol.

But originally it was just customising a template. I can’t code, have no understanding of node.js or React or anything that actually went into the site’s build.

As such, it was pretty stark. It lacked any customisation at all. So I tried to use AI to give me that versatility.

And it worked. The site now has things like an RSS feed on BTTR, and a subscribe box for the BTTR newsletter built in.

But the process? It was like pulling teeth. Every single instruction AI gave me created errors. I had to go over and over the process to systematically fix those errors.

Did it allow me to do things I wouldn’t have been able to do on my own previously? Yes, absolutely.

Did it do it well? Not at all.

If I had budget to hire someone to do the work, it probably would have taken them an hour. I spent hours working through the process of updating and fixing errors. It was exhausting.

Thu, 15 May 2025 20:43:09 +1000

I made bread today while testing the Ankarsrum mixer. It was incredible.

Fri, 09 May 2025 21:50:09 +1000

Just watching some football and reviewing a big-ass TV on a Friday night.

Sun, 04 May 2025 20:39:03 +1000

Multitasking effort for the day: making lunchbox snacks while testing the Ankarsrum mixer. Can confirm they taste pretty good.

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 17:38:31 +1000

First play through of Striga in The Witcher: Path of Destiny, and my first two player game. There was a bit of confusion on Lauren’s part around the secret objectives which meant she wasn’t playing for them properly. But I did, so I won!

Ended up with a higher score than what was on the board’s track, though.

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 22:20:16 +1000

Have enjoyed watching a bit of football this season. The Bulls didn’t make the finals and lost tonight, but at least we managed to get to the match.

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:49:23 +1000

Another playthrough of The Witcher: Path of Destiny today. Stuck with The End of the World story as I convinced the boy to play with us this time around, and wanted it to be simple for him to learn.

Things flowed much smoother this time around. In the end, three of us tied on the victory track, which meant absolute victory was based on the initiative track - which is something I don’t love about the game, to be honest.

But we ended up playing through a different storyline and it was a good time. Looking forward to cracking into the Striga story next time around!

🎲

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 18:00:08 +1000

At the behest of the boy, today we played Monopoly. We played the Avengers version, which adds some really interesting elements that made it the most interesting game of Monopoly I have played in a while. I lost, completely, but had some fun doing it. There were still tears (but not mine).

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 15:49:22 +1000

Chopper Lego.

I must have it.

Also, I want a bigger version. Maybe not life-sized, but make it 5,000 pieces. Let’s go, Lego.

Sat, 22 Mar 2025 18:45:59 +1000

Boy’s first trial soccer match today. The team came out strong. He scored the first goal of the year, and had a couple of extra shots. It looked like this year could be different.

Then he fell over and hurt his arm. Came off. Swollen and in a lot of pain. Team completely lost its momentum and conceded 5 unanswered goals by the time we took him to the doctor.

He’s had an X-ray, and it doesn’t look like a fracture right now, but we need to wait for the full results.

Friends, it has been a wild day.

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:46:28 +1000

Been a few weeks since the last board game play. Today we pulled out Wingspan, and I managed to demolish the family thanks to a collection of birds giving me extra bonus cards. Personal best score of 99.

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 19:57:12 +1000

Ended up in the Wayback Machine for the Giz AU archives today looking for something, but I wasn’t prepared for the grief seeing my old fur ball smiling on an article…

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:39:20 +1000

Played Harry Potter House Cup Competition today. Took much longer than needed because everyone was getting up and down.

But once we got into it, had some fun. The boy was grumpy at the end because he made a choice based on a misreading of a card’s symbol. But ultimately, I won. 😊😊🎲

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 17:53:27 +1000

Gorgeous day for a stroll around Sydney…

Sat, 04 Jan 2025 09:10:23 +1000

Had a quiet year on the board game front in 2024. Need to try and make more time for it this year.

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:21:31 +1000

My wife got Wingspan for Xmas, and we just played through for the first time all together. It was so good. Such a beautiful game. Can’t wait to play again.

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 18:11:52 +1000

I was not expecting this result. Absolutely for sure 100% definitely thought Jedi Survivor would be my most played game. Shocked.

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 17:19:28 +1000

Perfect gift for a middle-aged Star Wars geek, really.

Sun, 08 Dec 2024 18:00:58 +1000

Played Back to the Future: Back in Time today with my daughter. And just as we were getting a rhythm, Marty disappeared from the photo and we lost.

Next time.

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 20:24:17 +1000

Got concerned when I heard scratching at my back door today. Just this guy saying hello.

Sun, 24 Nov 2024 20:21:49 +1000

Got to head out to the women’s Sydney vs Melbourne City A-League match today with Ninja. It was a gorgeous day and a good match of football. Should try and get to more matches.

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:57:25 +1000

I have to laugh, because I did forget I had to vote that day. That is until about 2pm when our neighbours walked past and announced they were heading to vote. I swore, then quickly went and voted, before walking home with the neighbours and their dog.

Sadly, I was too late for democracy sausage.

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:32:45 +1000

I’m testing a robot vacuum at the moment that just won’t quit. It has been vacuuming my 3 bedroom house since about 10am. It had to stop and go to recharge, then it kept going.

I just looked in the settings and I think I found the problem: It’s programmed to vacuum until the end of time.

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 09:03:22 +1000

We’re getting one of our side fences removed today. Our neighbour needs to do some landscaping before the new fence goes in, so my desk is going to have a nice view of their backyard for the next week or so.

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:49:59 +1000

So here’s something fun: I took the data I collected from my massive SIM mobile plans comparison table and pivoted the info to look at some different angles.

Factoring in current discounts, this is the average price per day across all plans, by provider.

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 11:35:04 +1000

I’ve been struggling a fair bit recently, but managed a nice bushwalk down at Minnamurra on Sunday. It was a perfect day for it, and helped me manage my stress significantly.

But that was Sunday. Monday has a funny way of undoing Sunday’s good work…

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:41:03 +1000

I’ve been getting more and more frustrated with AI-generated slop recently, but these images produced by the OPPO Reno12 for my review have just pushed me over the edge.

Why does this crap exist? Who wants it? I can’t understand why companies are pushing it.

Here’s the source image:

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 10:52:59 +1000

Was playing around earlier this week and broke my BTTR email. Trying to get it back online – if you sent me an email in the past 2-3 days, I probably didn’t get it…

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:21:41 +1000

I’ve spent the past few hours listening to Nintendo Music and I have to say, the urge to go and play Nintendo is strong.

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:24:23 +1000

Holy shit Disney. I knew this was coming, but I still wasn’t prepared for a $40 a year price increase.

Not worth it!

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 23:30:13 +1000

Meat feast to celebrate the first-born’s birthday. The meat sweats are real.

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 18:15:15 +1000

Had my busiest day in ages today. Highlight was definitely having an intimate meal cooked for me by Rodney Dunn, the founder of Australia’s best restaurant, the Agrarian Kitchen, to showcase a new AEG cooktop.

It was delicious.

Ninja Woodfire event in Bundanoon

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 20:02:10 +1000

Got to spend a lovely night down at Bundanoon for a Ninja Woodfire event.

It was pretty impressive watching a professional chef use the Ninja Woodfire grill. Cooked up some delicious steak and then we enjoyed a super tasty dinner of smoked treats.

Definitely have some ideas for things to cook up when the weather warms up a little.

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 20:12:03 +1000

Had a nice week away in Orange last week. Here are some pics.

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 15:19:26 +1000

Went for a walk and a coffee in the Botanic Gardens yesterday. Just after we saw these kangaroos, we came across a guy holding a GoPro camera. He came up to us and asked us (with a European accent of some description) if we had seen any kangaroos, and when we told him we had and pointed out where we had seen them, he excitedly exclaimed, “awesome!”

I hope he saw them, I’m still thinking about him.

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 22:03:44 +1000

Went to the opening of the new Nepean river walk at Camden today. It was a really gorgeous day for it, and a really nice walk.

Got to watch the gliders come in to land at Camden airport as well.

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 18:02:53 +1000

I ate all of this. It was incredible.

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 14:28:17 +1000

Tried out a (new?) dumpling bar in Camden for lunch today and they were delicious.

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 13:40:35 +1000

Had to walk down the shops, and it looks like we had a fair amount of rain.

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 17:05:53 +1000

Had the hot water replaced today. Moved from gas to heat pump. Hoping it will save us some dollarydoos and be better for the environment.

Wed, 08 May 2024 20:12:46 +1000

After years of trying to work out where we could fit it and whether it was a worthwhile investment, we finally bought a piano.

It’s a little cramped, but it’s beautiful. Sounds so much better than the keyboard we had previously.

Sun, 14 Apr 2024 17:16:43 +1000

I reckon we saw almost 20 kangaroos and wallabies while walking around the Botanic Gardens today. Still such a thrill.

Google Search is shit

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 13:23:43 +1000

I have to admit that the inspiration for this post is anger. Pure unadulterated rage.

As many would know, last year I launched my own product review site, bttr.com.au. I’ve been working hard at trying to make it great, I’ve experimented with some things (including AI content), and have seen a reasonable level of growth.

Nothing worth getting too excited about, but enough to make me feel like I was moving in the right direction.

But this month, Google rolled out its core update, and has effectively wiped BTTR from its search results.

For the sole writer/proprietor of a small business, that’s pretty shit. Here’s a quick pic of what search impressions looked like over the past 3 months:

The end result is a very real question of whether I should bother to keep pushing with the site. I have to say that for a few days I was sorely tempted to give up.

But the thing is, I know that this isn’t my problem. It’s Google’s problem.

I’ve been doing some level of SEO work for the past 10 years, overlapping with journalism and writing. I’ve been using Google since 2002 at Uni when my tutor suggested its results were better than AltaVista.

And I can say with absolute confidence that the results that Google recommends are far, far worse than they used to be.

An example: I reviewed the Oppo A18 budget smartphone. I was one of the first Australian sites to publish a review.

If you search for “Oppo A18 review”, the first result is a review from Cybershack. This is a good result – I don’t particularly enjoy the Cybershack review style, but at least it’s an expert analysis based on first-hand experience.

The second and third results are news articles announcing the phone from Gadgetguy and Reviews.org.

Now, if there were no other actual reviews, that would maybe be okay. But if you scroll another 3 slots, you have Gadgetguy’s actual review of the phone.

So Google is somehow ranking a news article from a publisher above the review for that phone when someone searches for the phone’s “review”.

There are dozens of other random shit overseas sites with “specs” and “benchmarks” articles, plus retailers, before you get to another proper review.

And for the sake of completeness, right now, at P35, there is a link to my LinkedIn post sharing the BTTR review!

Like, in what universe is that good for users, Google?

(I understand that this really looks like BTTR has been penalised in some way shape or form. Fucked if I know what for or how to fix it though.)

Because I’m feeling especially ranty on this, here’s another example:

The search term “best phones Australia”.

Now this one is special to me because I’ve been chasing it for 10 years. I owned it at TechRadar, and I got to P2 at Finder. BTTR got as high as P8, which I thought was pretty good for a new site.

If you look at this result now, P3 is Finder Shopping, which is the page I created about 7 years ago and got to P2, before handing responsibility to my editor of the time, Alex, whose byline stills sits on the page.

The title of the page is “The 10 best phones in Australia in 2024”. The date in the SERP is February 2024.

But if you open it up, the first subheading states clearly in big bold writing: “Best Phones in Australia (February 2023 update).

That’s right, friends. Thanks to understaffing and cost cutting, nobody has actually updated that article for over a year.

The phones recommended here are at least 12 months old, pushing as high as 2 years in some cases.

Yet Google’s algorithm has deemed this page as the third best result for the query…

Even worse, if you scroll just four results lower, Finder appears again with its “11 best budget phones in Australia” page. This one isn’t as clear in disclosing when it was actually last updated, but it features phones well over a year old as well.

Go a little bit further down and you get articles like “What we liked and didn’t Like about the phones of 2022” from Gizmodo…

Now, no shade on the team at Giz, but please tell me, who the fuck wants to know about phones from two years ago when they are searching for the “best phones”? Current availability is implied!

What upsets me about this though is that I have literally reviewed dozens of phones and run research across ten leading review sites every single month since I launched BTTR to come up with a robust method to rank the best phones.

It takes me about an hour every month to rerun the research, plus dozens of hours reviewing, and yet BTTR no longer appears in search results…

So yeah, Google is shit.

But what makes Google’s shittiness stand apart is that in the fallout of this, most of my (meagre) traffic is now coming from DuckDuckGo and Bing,

And I have to say that DuckDuckGo’s results are much, much, much better.

For those two queries above: Oppo A18 review - you get Gadgetguy’s review, GSMarena user reviews and Cybershack’s review followed by my BTTR review.

For best phone australia, you get PC Mag, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, Reviews.org, Choice, PC Mag again (for Android phones), T3 then BTTR.

It’s still not perfect though. The Reviews.org result in there is from January 2023, so doesn’t include 2 generations of Galaxy S phones.

But I feel like the result set is a better match for the intent, and not just because I’m in the top 10.

A quick look at Bing shows that on the Oppo A18 review term, the results match DuckDuckGo’s. On the best phones, there’s a metric shit-tonne of ads - only 3 actual results on page 1 – but at least those three results are current (TechRadar, Tom’s Guide and PCMag)

I know this has been a long and windy rant, and I kind of feel better getting it out of my system.

I know it’s not going to change anything. Google is too big and too successful to even consider the rants of a small business owner.

But I’ve decided to make DuckDuckGo my default search engine. Hopefully some of you may do the same.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep plugging away, writing reviews and news and best guides and hope that eventually something will change.

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 09:32:34 +1000

What the hell are the people at LinkedIn smoking?

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 19:17:57 +1000

I went out to take photos of some review products today in the Botanic Gardens. The local wildlife did not seem enthusiastic.

Sat, 24 Feb 2024 11:41:37 +1000

How does a typo like this happen on a product’s box?

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:55:50 +1000

Making Beef Jerky for the first time in the Ninja Woodfire I’m pretty excited.

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 10:46:10 +1000

I am absolutely loving Lego at the moment. While I typically get most excited for the Star Wars stuff, this looks incredible!

I guess that’s the wife’s birthday present sorted…

Sat, 27 Jan 2024 18:41:47 +1000

Finished Boba Fett today. Really love how there are subtle construction differences for similar features across the helmets.

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 10:22:51 +1000

Work

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 22:08:16 +1000

Finished the year with an Outer Rim win. First time playing with the expansion, which was a lot of fun. The great pirate, Hondo Ohnaka, could not be defeated. 🎲

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 10:41:07 +1000

And because I love me a good “year in review” roundup, here’s my Apple Music Replay 🎵

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 10:34:30 +1000

And just like that, here comes the Nintendo year in review 🎮

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:01:02 +1000

Ooh, PlayStation 2023 wrap up is here. 🎮

No surprises for me this year.

Sat, 09 Dec 2023 18:46:50 +1000

Finished building the Boushh Lego helmet today. I love it. The way the mask came together with the last bag was fantastic. It’s so clever!

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 17:02:40 +1000

Started building Leia’s Boushh Lego helmet. Forgot to take a pic after bag 1, but I’m loving how the details and shape are coming together after bag 2.

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 09:51:55 +1000

Worst day of my life, right here

Our quick long weekend

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 07:43:44 +1000

We took a long weekend last weekend to Turon Gates, and it was spectacular.

We stayed in a nice little cabin by there Turon river, watched the kangaroos, echidnas and wild goats, went bushwalking and horse riding, and cooked dinner on the fire.

It was such a great opportunity to just stop and unwind for a bit. Need to do it more often.

Hogwarts Battle tonight with box 3 from the Monster Box of Monsters expansion

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 22:30:55 +1000

Started off strong. Thought we had it all under control, and then the last encounter appeared. We needed to play 6 spells to be able to remove it.

But that was hard. We hadn’t had a lot of spells appear on the board. And once Voldemort appeared, it became nearly impossible to impossible.

In the end, we removed the encounter, but it was too little too late. The third location was on verge of falling, which it did on the very next round.

I’m not 100% sold on the patronus over the proficiency. Think I may go back to proficiency next time.

Familiar Tales

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 21:52:16 +1000

Spent the past couple of days playing Familiar Tales, which my daughter got for her last birthday.

It’s a pretty epic campaign based game. We only finished the first chapter, but had a lot of fun doing so. We thought we were doing well on the last mission of the chapter, but then things changed suddenly and we had to fight through hordes of enemies.

The biggest problem with the whole game is that it’s so big, and we don’t by have anywhere we can just leave it set up to keep going back to it.

But the aim is to play a chapter a week.

Looking forward to the next round already.

Birds of Tokyo with the SSO

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 00:56:52 +1000

Home after seeing Birds of Tokyo play at the Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It was phenomenal.

The band were having lots of fun (for most of the show) and the SSO was amazing as always.

A couple of tracks gave me tingles, making the hair stand up on the back of my neck it was so powerful. They did a cover of Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN’s _Hurt_that blew my mind.

Personal favourite track My darling, my son managed to bring a few tears as well.

The only question mark around the whole show was that the guitarist had a bit of a clash with one of the trumpet players in the second half. I missed what happened to start it, but for a couple of songs the guitarist was fuming.

The music wasn’t impacted, but it did draw my attention away from the actual performance ace.

Overall though, probably one of the best shows I think I’ve seen. Certainly the most moving rock concert I’ve ever experienced.

Sun, 17 Sep 2023 20:39:06 +1000

Last night we went out to dinner to celebrate the boy’s birthday. We ate a lot of meat. It was incredible.

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 14:24:22 +1000

Finished him. He is magnificent.

The detail is incredible. The building was fun. I need more.

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 22:07:49 +1000

Really trying to savour every moment of this Lego build.

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 19:43:42 +1000

Started building my Father’s Day present tonight.

This is the way.

Sun, 03 Sep 2023 14:06:41 +1000

My Father’s Day is all about building a better zoo than my children.

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 18:59:43 +1000

Ingredients prepped to build up an epic pasta for dinner.

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 19:06:20 +1000

I’ve been neglecting the blog, so completely missed that there was a Micro.blog photo challenge.

I don’t know if I would describe this as abstract, but it’s the best I can do at short notice.

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 08:24:59 +1000

Yes.

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 07:30:12 +1000

First flight since about 2019. Heading down to Melbourne for the new job.

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 22:03:36 +1000

Last night the family and I went to see Beauty and the Beast.

It was amazing. It started a little bit slow for me, but it picked up. And both Gaston’s number and Be our Guest were among the most incredible musical performances I have seen.

The wife wants to go again, and she might just get her way…

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 18:20:02 +1000

Monday night soccer. At least tomorrow is a public holiday.

Mon, 17 Apr 2023 16:40:39 +1000

Took the kids to play some laser tag today. It’s one of the few things we do that’s just for dad and the kids.

Good to know I’ve still got it - I was the yellow team and the kids were the blue team 😂🎯🔫

Hogwarts Battle destroyed me this weekend

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 19:30:51 +1000

I hate losing.

This weekend, my wife and I played the Hogwarts Battle board game, with the Monster Box of Monsters expansion.

It had been a while since we last played, but I’ve been tracking our board game plays over the past year so I set us up to work through the second box of the expansion.

We played, got close to victory, but then ultimately lost.

Oh well. We had some time without the kids, so we set it up again.

Played it again.

Lost again.

It was late Saturday night, but we were both unhappy. We set it up a third time.

Played.

Lost.

It was so frustrating. We would defeat all the villains down to the last one, but we couldn’t attack him until we had dealt with the encounters, which required us to roll three lightning symbols. And no matter how many times we rolled, we never rolled lightning.

Today we woke up and decided to try again.

We did not win.

So we played yet again. This last attempt, we changed up the characters to try something new.

It started off really well. We smashed through villains and the first two encounters effortlessly.

But then, perhaps predictably, we lost again when we failed to roll more lightning.

It was devastating. 5 games. 5 losses. If I look back at all my stats for this game and expansion, we’ve now only won one out of 7!

We don’t have time to play tonight, but I’m already planning out our strategy for the next playthrough.

I hate losing. So I’m going to keep playing until I win.

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:19:39 +1000

Now that the old barbecue is toast, I’ve had to pull out the Weber Q from retirement and… it cooks like a dream.

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 13:48:10 +1000

I am really going to miss this TV when it gets collected.

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 15:20:28 +1000

A good friend - one of my old colleagues - built a game.

On his own.

While he was still working.

It’s call Chorus of the Night, and it is really solid. Costs $2.95 (AUD) on Steam. Here’s a handy link to help you buy it.

A summer bushwalk in the rain

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 14:15:01 +1000

This morning we got up early and drove to Thirlmere Lakes National Park to do a barbecue breakfast and then a little bushwalking.

The weather was a little drizzly, which made it interesting, but the scenery was nice and the air was fresh.

However…

My son was not a fan of the leeches.

Somehow they knew that, and went after him the most. He jogged and stamped his feet, even once we were back on the road.

Fortunately they didn’t really get him, just crawled on his shoe. But that was enough to freak the poor kid out.

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 18:42:47 +1000

The family wasn’t happy that I won the first game by taking the Ring of Power to Mount Doom, so they demanded we play again.

And so I bankrupted all of them.

There were tears.

Won Monopoly The Lord of The Rings Edition on 2023-01-08 with 4 players, winning score: 172 🎲

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 15:52:43 +1000

Won Monopoly: The Lord of The Rings Edition on 2023-01-08 with 4 players, winning score: 43 🎲

Sat, 07 Jan 2023 15:51:43 +1000

Won Munchkin Harry Potter on 2023-01-07 with 3 players, winning score: 10 🎲

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 21:15:42 +1000

I spent the first day of 2023 with the family, pounding the pavement of Sea World. Still a great day out, but for some reason it felt like there was less there in the way of marine activities now compared to when we last visited 10 years ago.

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 13:31:25 +1000

I don’t think I could ever live here, but I do love the walking track that runs up and down the beaches of the Gold Coast. Such a gorgeous view in every direction.

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 19:13:59 +1000

I guess I spent a bit of time getting ready for that David Gray White Ladder gig this year.

Sun, 20 Nov 2022 00:02:49 +1000

Just got home from a great day out with the family. Saw Wakanda Forever, enjoyed a great dinner and then saw David Gray play his White Ladder tour. Still buzzing.

Thu, 17 Nov 2022 14:20:30 +1000

Years ago I went on a tour of the Bundaberg Rum distillery. I came home with this barrel full of rum, but it was all absorbed into the wood or evaporated before I could drink it.

Now the barrel sits on a shelf drying out, unused.

Still looks good though.

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 19:23:30 +1000

A pretty spectacular moon over the house as I took the bins out tonight… 📷🌑

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 08:10:48 +1000

Day in the life: Mt Annan, NSW Australia. Still can’t believe all this space is less than 5 minutes from home.

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 18:51:54 +1000

Awesome trip out to Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo.

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 15:14:25 +1000

Happily defeated Ungoliant’s Spawn with a little help from Gandalf and Aragorn. Second play through was a little tougher than the first, but still fun! 🎲

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 11:38:03 +1000

Started my Father’s Day with some Boba Fett waffles made by my daughter. This is the way. 🧇🥞

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 17:07:56 +1000

Flashback to this stunning sunset at the Three Sisters.

1st Wedding Anniversary, Kangaroo Valley

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:02:25 +1000

Last weekend saw Lauren and I celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. I know - how quickly did that year go by?

We tossed around a few ideas of where to go to celebrate our first 12 months as a married couple, but with Lauren’s pregnancy and budgets, we decided that we would return to Crystal Creek Meadows in Kangaroo Valley.

It was an amazingly relaxing weekend spent pottering through the valley, enjoying some incredibly fine food at Cafe Bella and Jing Jo restaurants, and a little bit of bushwalking around the river.

I simply can’t recommend Sophie and Chris from Crystal Creek Meadows enough. There’s no wonder in my mind as to why they would win the National Tourism Award – everything about them is fantastic, from the friendly welcome to the cottages to the local tips. If you’re ever heading to Kangaroo Valley, do yourself a favour and stay there.

As for us – well, we know we’ll be back. Not sure when, but hopefully sooner rather than later…

My favourite Wedding photos

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:37:00 +1000

I’ve been going through the wedding photos, and trying to narrow down my favourite shots. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just too hard. So instead of actually choosing a few of my favourites, I’ve selected a few random pics for the blog. I’m also planning on uploading most of the photos to the Picasa page, but I want to confirm which ones Lauren' wants to publish as well…