New Wombat Website

I can now safely say that this will be the very last blog on this site. My grand little dream of having my very own website (as opposed to a blogsite)has come to fruition and it is now (the motorcycle part anyway) up and running. you can find it by clicking the following link.

www.wombatcorea.com

The blog has been great fun, but onwards and upwards we go. Most of the links are under construction, but if you click the photo of me and parky on Che Guevara's Norton Ponderosa you will be transfered to the Weiguks On motorcycles webpage.

I will however still be running the www.bonzotheweiguk.blogspot.com website, and that can also be accessed through the wombatcorea website.

Last Blog On This Site

I now am the proud owner of 23 web sites, 2 of them blogs, and in one very, very small step towards simplifying this time consuming monolith I will no longer be posting here. please check out

www.bonzotheweiguk.blogspot.com

Watch This Space

I am hoping that this will be my last blog on the “Wombat Corea” blog page. It may, of course, not be but I am hoping to get a professional site up and running. I have registered ‘www.wombatcorea.com’ as a website (don’t check it yet, it still comes up as empty) and will let you know what happens with it. I still have to learn how to make websites, I have no idea at all how it’s done (blog pages are a piece of piss, I’m guessing web pages are not).

The next Wombat Corea meet will take place on the 10th and 11th of March. Bill will be leading a Namhae ride, keeping it south and at sea level in anticipation of continuing cooler weather a mere 3 weeks from now. We could always take it to the 17th and 18th as well if the weather is looking to be too cool (let me know what you think). Lisa has expressed interest in reviving the Mungyeong ride which was immaculately planned and rooted by shitty weather in November. I am 100% sure a vote will not be necessary for it’s revival, but a vote will be taken on a date. I will be watching 황사 (or Yellow dust) and the long-range forecast and give my opinion on April or May at the March meet. Ultimately, of course, it will be Lisa’s decision when she would like to revive the concept.

It was discussed and decided upon at the inaugural Wombat Tongyeong Ride August 2006 that all discussion of memberships should be postponed until March 2007 when we have a better idea of where we are going with the club. The next ride will be March 2007 and, as forecasted, I am going to raise the idea again at the March meet. I believe it was a good idea to wait 6 months or so to re-raise the concept. I still love the idea, but my thoughts are with a much simpler format. Here is a sample of the (much revised) direction in which my thoughts are heading:
Same:
1) W20 000 a month for members
2) Any expenditure approved by 100% consensus vote (EU style)
3) Membership fees paid (members only) regardless of attendance at the monthly ride

The things I would like to propose as different to my original ideas are, first and foremost,
1) An absence of passive membership. You pay membership fees or you don’t, simplicity at it’s finest.
2) Continuing with simplicity, if you are a member you can be party to the expenditure (and votes thereon) of the club. If you aren’t, you aren’t. Although you would be still more than welcome to (paying your own way) participate in events where club money is being spent, of course.
3) No (compulsory) contributions at all for guests. Even people riding with us 12 months a year can choose to do so as guests. No compulsory involvement at any level, at all.

I think these ideas are (pretty much) what we have been discussing over the past six months. Some riders don’t want to be chained in to paying a monthly fee for something they could be doing for free anyway. That’s understandable. Some riders baulk at the idea of shelling out W100 000 for a ferry ride (with bike) to Jeju or an W80 000 night in the Tirol Hotel, Muju (should we chose to do it), and would much prefer to contribute W20 000 a month and have the club pay for it. Have a think about it and it will be discussed next month.

That said, Iceman is still keen to ridemeister a Jeju trip, I’m thinking August or September. I am also going to propose a Muju ride (with the fantastically expensive hotel) for June or thereabouts.

Another thing that I will raise at the March meet is the idea of having t-shirts and such made (Lisa, please keep that in mind, we may be asking you about details).

The last thing I would like to bring up is about the planning of rides and events for the coming year. Without being too wankerish about it, I would like to see a certain level of professionalism in the organisation of this year’s rides. Don’t get me wrong, I think everyone has done a bang-up job in the organisation of rides so far, more than that, I am quietly amazed at how well such a fledgling club has done in getting so many people on the road with such little drama for the last 7 months. But I would like to see some of the ideas implemented by Lisa in the preparation of the Mungyeong ride implemented in the statutes of Ridemeister preparation.

Firstly, preparation of alternative routes for people coming
A) From alternative destinations
B) Lost
C) Late
D) Stopping for personal reasons (Photography, biker’s arse crack, etc)

Predetermined points of contact for people succumbing to the above ailments.

Ridemeister’s guarantee of route planning. Bill and Lisa drove the Mungyeong ride in their Prideβ in preparation for the ridemeistership. I have driven (yesterday) the Muju route which I will be proposing, and it is mapped out in full. All rides (until winter, understandably) went like a charm. This is not a criticism, it is a desire for a continuance.

For the February ride, I instituted two separate times, one for meeting and one for departure. I think it worked a treat. It’s hard to say because only 4 people turned up due to the weather, but I think it’s a good idea. Meet at 8 and leave at 8:30. Or meet at 8:30 in Miryang, leave at 9. However it works, the idea is the same. In conjunction with the other ideas I have proposed (designated meeting points and alternative routes) I think it should clear up much of the hassle of getting the early morning thing going on.

Finally, I have a mate who needs a good mechanic in Busan. He needs a reasonably intricate weld done on a sensitive part his machinery. Please pass on any information if you know anyone who might fit the bill.

Bonzo

Post Camp Bliss

I am sitting here on one of my 4 balconies. It’s nothing near as special as it sounds, but I feel pretty fine all the same. I am typing this blog on a laptop in an apartment that have both been paid for (in full) by the last 3 weeks of work. Again, it is not as special as it sounds but I feel pretty fine all the same. 3 weeks doesn’t sound like much, even at 18 hours a day. I have worked more hours for more weeks at a time many times in my life. But I have never done it for any reason apart from the cashola. What we just did would never be done for the dollar value remuneration, you’d be a nut job just considering doing it for the cash, it is so much more than that. It is 18 hours a day, minimum, for 3 weeks. It is months and months and months of preparation, it is convincing parents to trust you with their 10 year olds for 3 weeks in a wide brown land many thousands of miles away, it is hundreds of hours on the phone. It is cleaning up a 9 year old girl’s spew and trying to console her after the plane hits turbulence. It is keeping kids from waking your nana after midnight because one week without sleep is about as much as you are willing to put her through, even though she has never complained, not even once. It is asking your parents to take annual leave and spend it doing everything apart from where nana and/or other family members take up the slack. But considering I am lucky enough to have family members from arsehole to breakfast time who are willing to do just that, I am feeling pretty lucky. It is asking your wife to take a month away from a business she has started only 10 months previous and begin it all over again when we return. But I am also lucky enough to have a wife who thinks that that is a pretty fine idea, and I feel fine. It is vorbei, Buju Banton is playing on the new laptop on the new balcony of the new apartment where I sit in my old couch in around 0°c, smoking Benson and Hedges, drinking red wine and feeling fine.

If you would like to know what makes it good, I’d like to tell you. It isn’t that cash. Parky and I are about $2000 up on what we would normally make in a month had we stayed in Corea. Had we paid any of the 11 family members who slaved for bugger all, we would be $5000 down minimum.

What makes it great is watching 13 children shoot a roll of film each in an open field and admiring how fast Corean kiddies have come to love wide open spaces. It is asking them a rhetorical question, for example “What are you photographing?” It is getting an answer like “KANGAROO POO! EVERYWHERE!” And realizing all of your assumptions have just been blown out of the window.

It is taking your kids caving and having the tour guide rehearse volumes about how dark it is going to be when she turns the lights out and how we shouldn’t be scared because she can turn the lights back on again anytime we like, we need only ask. It is about realizing at times like these, when the lights are out and you are to experience something unimaginably different/amazing/terrifying that one of your children has blue L.E.D. lights in his shoes. Not only that, but when the lights go out his tap dancing is 500% more exciting than an absence of light ever will be.

It is about having a pelican eat a child’s camera, vomit it back up and have your cousin collect it from inside the zoo cage. It is about not being there to see it happen. It is about hearing 13 different versions about how it happened when you return. It is about having an earnest 11 year old tell you that the pelican ate the camera, your cousin wrestled the pelican, put an arm into it’s beak, a hand down it’s throat and dragged the digital camera back from where it was lodged in the pelican’s neck. And having your cousin give the girl a postcard of a pelican on the day you leave. And seeing the look on her face when she gets it.

It is about waking up at 4:00am, going to the airport, 13 unimpressed children in tow, having your flight to Sydney cancelled, waiting 90 minutes to realize you are going to be diverted to Canberra then to Sydney. You are going to arrive 2 hours later than expected and you are going to miss your Darling Harbor Cruise and your whole plan is shot to shit. Thinking that the parents are going to ask for money back at best, you are going to have to deal with the travel insurance company at worst and you are buttered, shagged and far from home whichever way it turns out; and all with less than 24 hours to go. It is about having had it up to the back teeth, helping the kids empty their pockets and bags and put them on the conveyor belt as we travel though the departure lounge when our flight is finally granted. It is about filling their pockets and bags again and having a 10 year old walk through the airport security in Adelaide and ask “Are we in Sydney now?” It is about now being unable to answer her, because after all the shit that has just happened, she thinks the metal detector is a teleportation device and you can’t pick yourself up of the ground because hysterics have taken over.

It is about getting your wife’s birthday wrong and having 13 children sing her “happy birthday” at midnight on the wrong day. It’s about realizing due to the lunar calendar she also didn’t know when her birthday was and that she is happy that you remembered even when she didn’t.

It’s about realizing that her ‘real’ birthday is the day after you get home and making smoked salmon, Ementaler cheese and green olive bagels for breakfast and blending "pinya colda" with your bottle of duty free Malibu. Getting drunk before 10:00am just because you can and … I feel fine.

There is only one photo you need to see. One that sums up our entire camp and I will put that here; but if you would like to see more click the link below.

Cheers,
Benjamin

www.campwombat.blogspot.com

Iceman's Piccies

Its a wonderful day in blogger land when the Iceman sends you some piccies. You know they are going to be good. Stay tuned for some promised motion picture action taken on the Ice Breaker's Run.

Inaugural Ice Breaker's Run

Ride of the year (in its own special way)

Yesterday was the scene of many happenings Gyeongsangnamdo ‘wards. It was bollocking cold (+3°) and raining when Rick rang me at 6:42am discussing whether the inaugural Ice Breaker’s Run should go ahead. It was decided that it will, and at 8:20am we were gathered in from of the new Jangyu apartment in the spitting rain in a more modest +9° awaiting one of the most diverse motorcycle rides in history. With two Swiss pussies reneging on account of the cold and rain (sorry guys, but why the fuck do you think it is called the Ice Breaker’s Run) and Dear Leader Sean away on a Turkey Eating And Tequila Swilling emergency (hereafter referred to as TEATS) it was up to The Alabama Iceman, Bonzo the Aussie, Mustachioed Pat and Jose the Canadian/Mexican (Pronounced Hose-eh) to undertake the Run on their own scoots, respectively a 1400cc Intruder, 750cc Magna, 125cc Magma and a Hyosung Scooter. A more diverse bunch of bikers in such crap weather in such a weird land has, I am sure, never a forehand been assembled.


It was a marvelous trip to a very small island Gadeok-do (가덕도) in which the following events took place:

Magna never got out of third gear.
Intruder never got into third gear.
Car (Carrying Parky and Stacey) was endowed with brand new racing stripes whilst being driven on a walled and cliff-ed goat track.
Clouds and rain left after 11:00am followed by amazing sunshine.
Small Island was given a (warmly welcomed) lesson on Weiguks On Motorcycles.
The destruction of 1 extremely large and extremely delicious chicken along with a few beers.
My wife was refused entry onto the ferry on the grounds of being too sexy.
A FANTASTIC day was had by all.


It really was a magnificent day. But when you break it down into points it sounds a bit crap. And if you are in the extremely large section of the population that weren’t on the ride and simultaneously belong to the only slightly smaller part of the population that have never been on a WOMBAT ride you will never understand how much fun it was. We had a great day.


We topped it off with a massive house warming. Not a massive house warming by Australian standards (hardly an average dinner party by Aussie thought process) but 20-odd people in a Corean house at the same time was new, at least for us, (we had had 16 people in our house warming in Gangneung) a record. We drank wine, ate smoked duck and generally rolled through the magnificent night after a magnificent day.

(I am aware that no-one likes to read a super-positive blog, but the day was great, so to those that are wishing for something more negativeslashreadworthy; sorry to disappoint you)

The Ice Breaker's Run

 
 
  
This is not the Ice Breaker's Run, this was the prelude. The Inaugural Ice Breaker's Run will take place this weekend. Wombat Corea is having a December ride to Goje on Saturday. Meet at 8:00am at HomePlus in Gimhae if you are a sadist, masochist or simply a complete whack job. If you are a Big Girl's Blouse, simply stay tuned for the update on Sunday.

First Day In The New APT

Normally I would put this on www.bonzotheweiguk.blogspot.com but it seems to have gone tits up, so its here. parky and i have moved house today and we are SOOOOOOOO HAPPY about it. everything went like clockwork. removalists, wallpaper dude, everything new was delivered and that means everything we own apart from this computer. bed fridge microwave vaccumme cleaner table chairs coffee machine gas range rice cooker washing machine just everything. everything has always been contracually provided for us with the apartment in corea. but now we are on our own. in our own place, and i love it. it is over double the size of our old apartment. we have been catching sight of each other on one of the 4 balconies, cupping our hands to our mouthes and yelling "hello over there" and waving like mad like mountaineers catching sight of each other on facing slopes of adjoining mountains, and ringing each other from different rooms, JUST BECAUSE WE HAVE DIFFERENT ROOMS. anyway, this is the place just after moving in.

Wombats Go To Jirisan

Smashing weekend had by all. We had a HUGE ride up to Jirisan last weekend. Gathering at 8am saturday, leaving at 10:30am after some early shag-ups. We arrived at our destination at around 8pm sat night sufficiently tired and sore in that really nice "I just rode my arse off all day and I feel great but tired and sore" way.

We had lots of new people who were smashing company, everyone fitted in really well. Its amazing how it all gels. I think I speak for more people than me when I say that after two days of riding and one enormous piss-fest I feel like I have know every single one of these guys and gals for years. I guess we are all 'Weiguks In A Strange Land' and we share a common and quite serious addiction. That could go aways toward explaining how uncannily well it always seems to flow.

We had 13 bikes, which dropped to 12 straight up with one Kwaka vulcan shitting its nappy before the get-go and 17 people dropping to 16 with the vulcan episode. Unfortunatley, and to the chagrin of all, Aussie Dave and his Frankencycle will be making their last appearance for a while as he is chosing to accept a position on a sailboat heading from Bali to Australia next month. We hope to see him and his lovable (and perplexingly reliable) monstrosity early in the new year.

It has been decided by popular majority that the next ride will be on the 14th and 15th of October. We will be riding to Gayasan National Park in the peak of Autumn. It will be stunning. Sean Costello will fill the ridemeisters seat and I again am looking forward to filling the shoes of the Ridemeister's Bitch.

Don't forget to check out the Wombat Riders Introduction Website, click on the link to the right of here on screen and see you all in October.

Random Bikes We've Seen

This is a 1947 harley (above) that we found in Fukuoka and a 1939 (below) that has been converted into a ute.


This is a Triumph Thruxton from the place where we rented the scooter in Japan.

This is a Corean Fire Department Bike from Gangneung. Photo generously donated by our good Gangbuster mate, Nathan.

Wombats Get Burned

 
 
Have a bit of a squiz at $1100 worth of burnt plastic. My black box shit its pants. Not frikin' happy. Not really happy. Actually not happy at all. I'm trying to look at it from a funny angle. There isn't one. End of story.

But I tell you what is funny and that is the new apartment building going up somewhere around here. I could give you directions, but most of you (readers) are Australian so it wouldn't matter a little white pig anyway. first let me give you a quick Corean lesson. ㅇ is a silent consonant. ㅏ is A. 아 is therefore A. ㄴ=N. ㅓ=U. ㅅ=S. ㅡ is EO but more commonly used as a (semi-silent)consonant ender when transliterating foreign words into the Corean alphabet. The word "Villa" or Villas" in Corean is 빌.

The new apartment complex across town is called 아너스빌. You do the math.

The other funny thing that i saw yesterday was a girl (maybe 12) wearing a t-shirt that stated "I Love TB". I asked her (she is a student of mine) what TB is, apart from tuberculosis, she told me ... actually its funnier (for me) if I don't tell you. 

Video From Japan

  

Watch this one with the sound turned off, the quality is bad. Actually none of these vids are very good but give them a whirl anyway. For the full story on Japan go to www.bonzotheweiguk.blogspot.com

have fun

These Are Wombats (2nd edition)

The first ever WOMbat Corea meeting has taken place. It was not a resounding success, but it was pretty frikin' cool. We took a two day ride. Gimhae-Miryang-Changnyeong-Haman-Tongyeong-Mireukdo on saturday. rad rad rad rad rad. magnificent. top of the pops.
 
Let's start with the minutes of the first ever WOMbat Corea meeting. There are only two official positions in the WOMbat heirachy. Minister For Propoganda is the ever fabulous Sean Costello, look out for his newsletter. The second position is a rotating 'Ridemeister'. This position entails being 100% in charge of the organization of the next months ride, and ride from the front. I am unilaterally designating a third position in the heirachy of WOMbat and that is of 'Ridemeister's Bitch'. Ridemeister's bitch will have to be aware of all of the planning, route, destination, stop times and places, take responsibility equal to that of the Ridemeister but ride from the back and take none of the glory.
 
Having unilaterally created this position, I am also unilaterally designating myself for the position of Ridemeister's Bitch for the september meet in Jirisan National Park, at which Sean Costello has been designated Ridemeister.
Lisa has been designated Ridemeister for the October ride to Mungyeong.
  

These Creatures Are Wombats

WOMbats are to meet on the 2nd weekend of every month. This is up for discussion, and this discussion takes place at the previous month's meet. It was raised that special events, like festivals and suchlike might be up for attention on a different weekend than the 2nd, and also that they may fall on the second weekend and we may want to avoid them like the plague.

Lisa suggested having T-shirts made, it was agreed upon in principal. A logo has not been agreed upon, I have strongly suggested the one from our fridge and dad's permanent marker, but not having had a sample copy with me no decision was made. I will attempt to attatch a sample to this blog.

It was also discussed that if we were to accrue many new members that a back-up car could be organised on a rotating schedule. Said back-up car would carry our luggage and tools and be there in case of any emergency. I did raise the point this morning, and I think it is a vaild one, that bacon and eggs for breakfast were in such rabid demand today that it almost qualified as an emergency in its own right and should be dealt with by the 'Car Person In Chief'. The role of 'Car Person In Chief' could, in the future, be combined with the role of Ridemeister's Bitch (There's some food for thought).

Many beers and bottles of soju and gashiogapiju were consumed during the meeting over the course of a few hours, 2 dakbaeksuk and fresh mussles. According to my meticulous note taking there were three further points raised. 1) Dues will be postponed until next spring (April). At that time we will see how many members we have and try to attain a consensus on how much, when and what they will be used for. 2) May hurts videfaks kaesoct minister sleot ridemeister morth. And 3) a unilateral announcement that somebody named 'Building' was drunk and was unhappy that he had not yet that day had sex.

I am quite certain that the last two issues were discussed in the latter stages of the evening and as soon as i figure out what in hell they mean I intend to have them raised, discussed and dealt with at the september meet.

Today's ride was a rite-off. It was pure bullshit from go to whoa. It was so stinking hot and there was so much traffic on the road and everything just went to shit from wake up to put down. the less said about it the better. That said important lessons were learned, they will be further discussed. An A.A.R. (After Action Review) took place at which they were noted by the Minister For Propaganda. A repeat of today's shamozle doesn't look likely at any time in the near future. 95% for yesterday's ride, 75% for accommodation and food, -14% for today's ride . Everything duly weighted and arranged I give the inaugural WOMbat Tour a 6.5 out of 10. But I am a notoriously fussy prick when it comes to organisation, and as August's Ridemeister on my own shoulders it rests.

Big cheers to everyone who showed, double big cheers to Rick and Stacey who were last minute inclusions. I believe I speak for everyone when I say that we were all thrilled to have you guys, your experience, organisation, input and earthiness. Round peg in a round hole.

Last of all, my dream would have been entirely fulfilled had the old man been here. Get your arse and your big green BMW on a boat, this is your baby too.

Bonzo

Wombat Photies II

 
 
 
  

Wombat Photoies