Bart Bear's Blog

17 years since Mum rescued me from a shelf in the Teddy Bear Shop!! I don't feel that old and certainly am not going to act it. Not many small bears have the sort of birthday party that I had. It was at Government House, the home of Australia's Governor General (actually it was a fund raiser for an important charity that looks after orphan small kids, among other things, but it WAS my  birthday). I had special transport in the vice-regal golf buggy, and the Oldies dressed themselves in appropriate summer gear. I was allowed to explore the grounds and made a couple of interesting discoveries. First off, the sundial is not calibrated right, even after applying the date correction it still reads 20 minutes fast. Second was the royal water steps. When the Queen is in Canberra she stays here and sometimes travels to Parliament by boat. She lands at the wharf, walks up the steps and onto the lawns where the party was. The statue is, of course, one that any 17 year old lad would pause for a look at... Present? Well, the police lady who checked our ID on the way in said that I was now old enough to drive. I have wanted a Mustang for ages, so what a surprise.. A radio controlled Mustang!! Not quite perfect, but Dad says we can get a full-sized one when I grow tall enough for my feet to reach the pedals.

Labels: Canberra, cars and trucks

This post is a few weeks late. We have had a busy time with getting Mum's legs and feet working properly. She had to have big needles in her feet; it made Dad queasy looking at the monitor during the injections. However, she should be back walking OK very soon now. Just as well because the Oldies have been planning our next overseas adventure and we are all counting down the days until we board the aeroplane. So, April 25 is ANZAC Day, commemorating the service and sacrifice of Australian servicemen and women. We always go to the Australian War Memorial (AWM) to pay our respects on this day. This year the Oldies were not well enough to go to the Dawn Service, so we went in the early afternoon. We started the visit by watching a flypast by 3 RAAF FA-18s, and then found the names of family members on the Wall of Remembrance. I love the way that people put poppies in the wall next to the soldier/sailor/airman they are remembering. For a small bear some of the interesting bits are the vehicles and artillery on display outside the memorial. This year there were 5 that I hadn't seen before. There are also many memorial plaques and sculptures in the gardens. The AWM is something that all Australians should visit.

Where are we traveling to next? This small photo should give you a clue...

Labels: aircraft, Canberra, cars and trucks

Gosh, it has been a fortnight since my last post. Problem is that Dad is at the hospital every day for his radiation cancer treatment and I need him to check my spelling and grammar. So back to pictures from our last cruise. We usually use local tours rather than those organized by the ship. The standard of transport is not as good, but the local guides are usually very happy to show you their home turf and to tell you stories about it. At the Isle of Pines we took a round-the-island tour on this small bus. That's Mum in the seat by the door; the best views while traveling are from that seat if you can win the rush for it. Dad says that the most interesting thing about the bus, mechanically, was the way it managed with absolutely minimal suspension. Our guide/driver was Christopher, who has lived all his life on the island. He let me help start the bus and close the door before we started. He also has a small family of Aussie bears on the windscreen of the bus (OK, they are koalas, not real bears, but they do look similar to me and I am supposed to be a bear. The Oldies reckon there must be a fair bit of koala in my ancestry). We saw most of the special places on the island and I have some great photos to show you soon.

Labels: cars and trucks, cruising, Noumea, South Pacific

The Saturday before last we were invited over to Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki's for dinner. Talk about surprises! They were just back from a caravan trip around Victoria and parked in their driveway was a brand new vehicle. I am not sure just what sort of thing it is. It has four comfy seats like an ordinary sedan, but has a cargo back on it like a ute (for U.S. readers, a ute is what you guys call a pick-up truck). Unka Mark says it is a "crew-cab ute" so I guess that's what it is. Anyhow, he took Dad and me for a drive in it, mostly because Dad had left some stuff at home that he was supposed to have taken across, and like most sensible vehicles it has a small bear-size seat on the dash. I like it. The strangest thing was a cow they bought for us. It looks a bit like my cash cow, except for the big eyes, but in the dark it is kind of scary. The cow has a solar battery in it and the eyes light up in the dark. I put it out in our courtyard where the Sun can charge it up during the day. It sure scares the stray cats that check out the courtyard some nights. The small thing in the daytime photo? That is a small brass bust of Tutankhamun and, guess what?, it is actually a pencil sharpener. You never know what Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki are going to bring back when they travel.

Labels: animals, cars and trucks, family

If only Scruffy and I were bigger, we could have had great fun with this car. We found it during our last trip to the Gold Coast. There was a "Fashion, Food & Fast Cars" day on the avenue where we went for lunch. One of the cars was this little beauty. I am not sure just what sort of car it is, other than a race car. It is too small for F.1 and looks a bit different to an Indycar, but it sure looks fast. The owner was happy to let the Oldies look all over it, so naturally Scruff and I did too. There must be a standard size for drivers of these cars, Dad is too big around the middle to fit into the cockpit, and Scruff and I are too small to see out when we sit in there. If we tried to ride where we are sitting in the photo, we would be sucked into the big intake just above our heads. That leaves Mum, and at least she is speedway trained, so maybe she would be the best one of us to take the car for a run. The owner wasn't going to let any of us drive it anyway, but I would love to go for a run in a car like this. I will post more pix of some of the cars that lined Tedder Avenue that day, later on.

Labels: cars and trucks, Gold Coast, Queensland

I love cars, and of all the cars that I see on the Canberra roads I love police cars most. They are painted in the prettiest colours and are usually zooming around with flashing lights and sirens wailing. It must be great fun to drive one. I haven't driven one yet, but I had a chance to climb all over one at the Canberra Show last weekend. The police stall at the show is always staffed by the friendliest police people and the policewomen let me go anywhere I want. I checked out the motorbike and the water police boat as well as the car. There was also a very mangled car on display that shows what happened when a young guy drank too much and speeded; it was really gruesome and sad and when I get my drivers licence I will stick to the rules and common sense. There was a fun thing there where you could get your photo taken in a pretend police car. I was the pretend driver and Dad was the passenger. You can see that he doesn't trust my driving yet. He will probably be worse when he starts to teach me to drive, after my legs grow long enough to reach the pedals.

Labels: Canberra, cars and trucks, climbing

Isn't this the cutest little fire truck you ever saw? It is part of the Hamilton Island fire brigade. They have a big pump truck, but there are parts of the island where only a small and tough one can go. This one is not much bigger than the golf buggies that do most of the usual carrying on Hamilton, but it has a lot more power and is a lot faster. Actually, you can see a golf buggy converted to a toolbox carrier parked next to the truck. We saw the truck zipping around the island lots of times, but I never got a chance to ride in it. Next time.

Labels: cars and trucks, Hamilton Is, Queensland

This is one big golf buggy. I found it when we went across to Daydream Island one day during our last visit to Hamilton island. We had been using a small buggy on Hammo, but this one is at least twice the size and has a much bigger motor. It is the stretch-limo version of golf buggies. Naturally, Scruffy, Milkshake and I had to give it a real going over so that we could compare it to the smaller ones. Well, the first thing is that the brake and gear pedals are just as far away from the steering bear's feet, so it would be a combined effort to drive it. Given that the roads on Daydream are mostly right at the water's edge that would probably be a bit unsafe for us. Anyhow, it was all rigged out for a wedding and the real driver came and evicted us before we could get it started. And we had to run and catch the ferry back to Hamilton anyway. I hope the Bride and Groom and whoever filled the other seats appreciated the vehicle as much as we would have if we had got it going.

Labels: cars and trucks, Hamilton Is, Queensland

One of the things that I really like in the visitors centre at the Tidbinbilla space complex is this full-sized model of a Mars rover. One of the most impressive space missions ever is still in progress, with two rovers like this (called Spirit and Opportunity) trundling across the surface of Mars testing the soil, analysing the rocks, measuring the weather and sending back lots of pictures. When they landed on Mars in January 2004, the rovers were only expected to last around 4 months but they have been in business for over 5 years now and still going strong. I think the most exciting things they have found are rocks and minerals that only form in water, so Mars must have been a lot wetter in the past. I think it would be great to be on Mars driving one of these little buggys. With a small bear at the controls they could zip around a lot faster, and let's face it, the life support system required for me is a lot simpler than you would need for people. Let's get more bears in space.

Labels: astronomy, Canberra, cars and trucks

Great excitement late last week. Our new car arrived. A brand-new Mazda 3. I have been following it on its way from the factory in Japan, using the program that shows you where the big ships are, and getting just a little bit impatient. Anyhow, we collected it on Thursday afternoon and spent the weekend trying it out. What a beauty. Both Mum and Dad love the way the car handles, lots of power and it really hugs the road. Mum especially likes the colour, the room, the storage areas, the sensible way the controls are arranged and (most importantly) the way that her iPod plugs into the sound system. But the most important thing, the thing that I love about this car, is that it has a place on the dashboard that is just made for small bears. The oldies think it is a space for the screens that show all the data that the trip computer tells them, but I know better. The shelf bit is just the right size for a small bear's backside and the cowling that shades the screen is just right to tuck my feet under for balance. I now have a place where I can sit facing forwards and see everything as we travel. Mazda really got the design of this one right.

Labels: Canberra, cars and trucks

While we were in Perf we used the buses to get around. They have a wonderful system over there. Bus travel in the main part of the city is totally free. Naturally enough, Dad really liked that as an idea and says it should be done everywhere. The buses that go around the central city are called Central Area Transport buses, or CAT buses for short. Just so you can tell them from other buses they have big cats painted on their sides. The first one that I saw was in evening twilight and all I saw at first was this big black cat zooming towards me . Until I realized the white background was a bus I was a bit worried. A cat that size would make short work of small bears.

Labels: cars and trucks, Perth, Western Australia

I have been having a ball since Christmas, learning to drive the jeep that Santa gave me. I started off slowly, with Dad showing me how to steer and use the speed controls. I cruised around the tiled floor fairly slowly, learning how to get into tight spaces and sometimes getting stuck. Mum wasn't really happy with this stage because I sometimes bumped the furniture. Then Unka Mark and Aunty Vicki visited and Unka Mark took me outside into the courtyard. Lots more space and a chance to get up more speed. There is not much point having a jeep and only doing easy things, so I was soon jumping over the hose and then up and over a ramp that Dad and Unka Mark put up. It took a bit of practice to do the ramp jump properly and I had my first accident when I didn't get it straight and toppled off the edge of the ramp, but I am pretty good at jumps now. There was one embarrassing incident when I was giving Aunty Vicki's bear, Jessica, a ride. She just couldn't hang on and kept falling off. I ended up pushing her off the track. She wasn't happy about that and neither was Aunty Vicki. Now I am good enough to go out onto the real road and spend time doing wheelies in the lane outside our garage. Mum says that she doesn't want me to turn into a hoon, but I won't because the jeep isn't powerful enough for that. Maybe next year???

Remember, to see bigger images just click on the photos. And check out earlier postings in my archives; there is a lot of good stuff in there.

Labels: cars and trucks, Christmas, Santa

How does Santa know just what a small bear wants more than anything? He did it again this year. When I got downstairs on Christmas morning there was a huge bag there that just had to be for me. I managed to climb up and see what was inside and it was so exciting that I fell into the bag and had to get Dad to help me out. There was a jeep in there. Not just a jeep but one with radio controls! It had been modified so that a bear my size can get his backside into it, and controls that let me drive it even if I am not riding in it. I can even hook a tow rope onto it and drag Scruffy around in the race car I got two Christmases ago. Santa sure knows how to pick presents. I hope he did as good a job for all of you.

Labels: cars and trucks, Christmas, Santa

When I grow up I want to be a fireman and drive trucks like this one. You can see that I have to grow a lot because so far all I have managed to do by myself is climb as far as the front bumper. The door handle is a long way up from here. The truck was on display at the Canberra Show this year and I got lifted around to see all of the controls. It must be fun to be able to race through red lights with sirens blaring and to squirt water all over the place. The fireman in the truck wanted to keep me as the truck mascot but Mum wouldn't let him.

Labels: Canberra, cars and trucks, heroes