Despite the fact it had been raining all morning, and we had to run to the car in the middle of a heavy downpour, we still decided to go climbing. It was a good decision, even without the yummy Malmsford bakery it would have been a good day – and dry too.

The attempts to find Wabbit Wocks were in vain, so we just headed to Dog Rocks – we had the place to ourselves all day, except for the man who wandered past just before sunset and told us he ‘admired our spirit’.

My road bike all kitted out in it’s fancy new panniers, dressed up in their little yellow raincoats. Steering with the weight at the back takes a bit of getting used to, but it certainly makes riding to work a lot easier.

New thesis deadline: In a couple of weeks. Well a couple of weeks after the current deadline. So mid-May. Or by the end of May definitely anyway.

Excellent, well I’m glad that’s cleared up. Meanwhile, finally, some feedback. So a major thesis overhaul is now in progress.

The King River near Lake William Hovell

Darren, Vashti, I’ve just had the most fantastic idea.

Can you call them both Bruce?

There is a meeting next Thursday. Me and my supervisors. After which I will probably know for sure whether they’ll let me hand in my thesis at the deadline at the end of this month, or insist I need to include yet more things (including data which has been promised as arriving soon for well over a year now), and thus need to apply for an extension.

*works madly*

I’ve spent the last five years going through a series of cast-off, semi-broken phones (aside from my 9 months in the US, where by the time I was leaving I’d managed to break the phone I bought at the start of my stay anyway) . The final straw was when a certain friend came to visit earlier this week, and absconded with the phone charger for the phone I was currently trying to use. The phone charger had been eaten by a rabbit in three places, was poorly repaired, and only worked occasionally. But it certainly did a better job of charging the phone than thin air. The phone was flat within a couple of days, and I began to question the whereabouts of the charger. Having no luck finding it (unsuprisingly, as it was in Canberra), I turned to another old phone. Apparently you had to turn it on by sticking something in a hole. I managed it once, and it got a message, which was enough to startle it into turning itself off. My second attempt at sticking something in the hole led to me breaking the button in there (allegedly) and all future attempts to turn the phone on were futile. With all phone shops conveniently closed on Good Friday, I spent 36 hours carrying around a conveniently sized SIM card holder.

But now I’ve finally succumbed, entered the modern age apparently, and bought a new phone. It’s apparently impossible to get a new phone without also getting a camera, FM radio, mp3 player, coloured screen with little animated displays, sickening graphics, and sickeningly annoying ringtones.

At least it seems to stay turned on though, and all of the buttons work.

Sunset, and the black clouds that rained on me afterwards.