I know I haven't updated for a while but I have a good excuse, well for the last week or so at least... Last Saturday I started a course to get my paragliding license with the Australian Paragliding Centre, who are based out at Murrumbateman.
I'm not going to attempt to get up to date with everything that has happened since the last post in one go, but hopefully it won't be so long until the next one.
This first video is of me starting the engine and running it for a while. The sound, though it came out a bit funny in the video, is really cool. At the end there's a shot of a set of scales, which measure the thrust being produced, as the engine is accelerated and decelerated.
This video is, I think, the more impressive of the two videos posted here. It's a video of me spraying a jet of water from a garden hose into the exhaust of the engine as the engine's running. The result gives a pretty good indication of the volume of air being pushed through the engine.
Whilst everyone was looking sharp Pinko was honoured with an invitation to take part in fashions on the field, which he gracefully declined.
The engine runs on LPG, same as your BBQ, and is controlled from the instrument panel shown in this photo. 
This picture points out most of the different parts of the engine and where everything's going. The engine develops up to around 35N of thrust, which isn't bad considering the size of the turbo. No doubt I'll have some more photos to post soon about this as I'll be spending the next couple of months finalizing the write up of the thesis.
First we went to Belgium, which I was pretty impressed with and probably deserves a bit more credit then it seems to get. 
Next was Germany, which was nice, although the people weren't the friendliest. Even getting this photo was a hassle. 
Next was Vienna, which I really liked. Not somewhere that would have been at the top of my list of places to visit, but definitely somewhere I'd recommend. I had the best cake I think I've ever had there. 
It was a really mild winter while I was over there, but in Switzerland we got to see some real snow! 
Venice was definitely one of the best places we went, there's just nowhere else like it.
Florence was a bit of a let down, although in all fairness we didn't get to spend enough time there to get a good feel for the place. This isn't the real David, but it's about as close as you get.
Rome was really amazing, it's crazy to be in the middle of a city and then turn the corner and be looking over ancient ruins. Being there at Christmas we got to get blessed by the pope too, twice!
Paris was really cool, but I reckon to you'd need spend at least a few weeks there to really see it. The Eiffel Tower is amazing by night. The Louvre was crazy, the Mona Lisa is surprisingly small, but I reckon managing to find our way out of there was the most impressive part of the visit. 
When in Rome.... Well, Paris in this case. Only problem was where we were you could only order these snails by the dozen. Frogs legs went down much easier...
Sydney's like a small country town to Tokyo, even London had nothing on it. Still the strangest place I think I've ever been... 
I did a six month exchange to Leeds University in the UK and lived here (well the buildings off in the distance to the left)
Spent lots of time on a bus very much like this one heading in and out of town. This is one of many trips into town of a night. My bus line ran until 3am most mornings which was handy.
You don't have to be studying engineering to realise that things were built differently a while ago. This is a photo of The Shambles in York, in which some of the buildings date back to the 1400's.
Edinburgh was only a couple of hours on the train and was probably the most impressive city I saw in the UK. 
Ireland was very easy to get to, especially from Leeds, but really from anywhere in the UK. This is a photo from when I visited a friend who I met in New Zealand, Judith, who lives in Belfast. I headed back to Ireland twice more, not paying more then about $60 return including taxes.
Jen, another Aussie studying at Leeds, and I trying to fit in amongst the locals in Dublin. 
The beers weren't quite as cheap, although admittedly I wasn't there on a Thursday, but they did a great lunch, and the Guinness is always good in Ireland. 
Who says drinking isn't a career... These guys get to drive around to all the pubs in Ireland and 'test' the Guinness to make sure it's being served right. Where were these guys at careers day in high school!
On the bus on the way in (the before shot...)
The first pub.
Ok, though my computer is still playing funny buggers I can now put up posts from other computers so hopefully soon I'll get a chance to put up a whole bunch of photos to put up from my travels. The above photo is from the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, cheers everyone!
