Category: Photos

Trebu…what?

/ Renae / 4 Comments

Question: What is a trebuchet?
Answer: A medieval military catapult for hurling heavy stones

Up until a few months ago, I had no idea what a trebuchet was until a good friend of my Hubsband’s (who should have known better and shall remain nameless) emailed around an ad advertising a trebuchet that was for sale. He did this as a bit of a joke, but Hubs thought it would be a GREAT idea to get a few mates to pitch in and buy the thing. Why? To fling stuff in the park behind our house of course!!

So the planning began and after a few false starts, a trip was made by one of Hubsband’s other crazy friends to pick the thing up. Upon arrival however, they saw how HUGE this contraption was and realised they had bitten of more treb than they could chew. Now when I say huge, I mean huge:

Click here for more information
The dimensions are:
Width: 2m
Length: 2.2m
Height: 5m (including the “throwing arm”)

After some negotiations, crazy friend instead purchased the prototype that the guy used to build the larger one which was much more manageable:

By around 2pm on that lovely Sunday afternoon, about 20 blokes (not including the original nameless friend who saw the ad in the first place!) in various medieval get-up had descended upon our back yard and were keen to fling! We headed to the park and proceeded to set up the treb as well as a target to hit. It has a range of about 30 meters so that was a bit less scary than the original 100m range of the larger model.

A fun time was had by all, and once the beer and bbq had wrapped up and the light was fading, of course it was decided to set fire to things and fling them!

Thankfully the police remained blissfully unaware of the event and the trebuchet is sitting quietly in Hubsband’s Mum’s garage.

Til we fling again….


The flingers

Ugg-ly!

/ Renae / 2 Comments


Now don’t get me wrong. I like Ugg-boots just as much as the next bevan, but come on people! Ugg boots are an INSIDE boot, not an outside boot. This fact seems to escape a LOT of people in our new home town.

Now I know residents of Brisvegas are guilty of wearing their Uggies outside the comfort of their own homes as well. In fact, I find it quite hilarious that it’s not cold enough in Queensland to wear Ugg boots with warm clothes as well, so people wear the Ugg in public with shorts and singlets! And the number of outside-Uggers increases, the further north you go!

But I have to admit, the number of outside Ugg-wearers I’ve seen since we touched down in Melbourne 4 days ago has astounded me. I can’t help but point and laugh.

I’ve seen Uggs over jeans, Uggs with stockings and skirts, Uggs popping out from underneath trousers, and of course, Uggs teamed with trackie-dacks. What a sight!

Now as I mentioned earlier, I AM a fan of the boot. I even had my parents ship my old Uggies over to Edinburgh when my little tootsies were freezing off in the Scottish winter. And boy they did the job. I had to retire them that winter after 11 years of service. And Hubsband (pictured) has Uggs that he has barely taken off since we arrived in Melbourne, except when he goes outside… (okay. So there was ONE time where he was caught out, but it was only brief and only witnessed by one person who swore never to speak of the incident.)

So if you are Ugg-lovers as we are, please respect the Ugg-rules and keep your Uggs indoors, where they belong.