What do I do to past the time?

"Waiting sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos!"  Homer J Simpson

One of my all time most favorite lines/quotes.

Whilst waiting to talk to my love Xia via Skype or just on days off from work I find myself getting bored so quickly and just want the time to go by so fast.    I think everyone knows what I am talking about and has suffered from this problem at some time in their lives.

I do not drink much nor gamble so going to pubs and clubs is not my thing.  And as for TV well there is some shows I like but I can not sit there for hours on end watching the idiot box.  So for a hobby and to past the time I like to build wooden ship models and aircraft.

Here are a couple that I am working on at the moment and I will update them on here for all to see as I go along.

The first one is the HMB Endeavour.  This is a partworks model in 1/48 scale that means that she is going to be 916mm (37 3/4in) long 765mm (30in) high and 337mm (14 1/2in) wide, She is going to be a big girl.  This model is available in Australia from Hatchette publications and each new part comes out weekly to newsagencies, although I have a subscription with Hatchette Partworks so I get 4 parts once a month and it will probably take about two years to build, plenty of time for my Xia to get her visa and come here.  I have only just started building this so it is in its early stages at the moment.

HMB Endeavour

The other ship that I am building at the moment is the HMB Endeavour Longboat to make a display of the completed ship and one of her boats.  This model is a Artesania Latina model in 1/50 scale that means she will be 420mm (16 1/2in) long 270mm (10 1/2in) high and 90mm (3 1/2in) wide.  This will be about half the size of the big ship, perfect for the display that I want to build for them both.

HMB Endeavour Longboat

An update at last

Hey everyone, I am the first to admit that I have been very slack of late.  However it is my intention to post more frequently and keep everyone updated on my (mis)adventures.

I am back in Sydney now after my trip to Hong Kong and Shenzhen.  The look and smile on Xia's face was priceless when I arrived at HK airport.  This is certainly one memory that will live with me forever.

Xia and me at Hong Kong Harbour

After spending overnight in HK we went to Shenzhen to go and see her mother and brother and spend a couple of days with them.  Her mother treats me like her son now and although I can not understand a word she says to me Xia translates and says that her mother is very impressed by me.

Xia and her mum in Shenzhen

I am going back to see Xia in November but the final date has not been determined yet.  Hopefully we will get married this visit.  If not it will definately be in February when I go back on my annual holidays.

That is all for now will post another update very soon.

A warm welcome and some info about me

Welcome friends to my little piece of cyber space, please take your time to look around and feel free to leave a comment or two.


I am a 39 year old suburban train driver in Sydney, NSW, Australia and have been doing this work for the past two years.  It is a challenging and very rewarding job and I can see myself doing this for the foreseeable future.  Prior to starting training to become a train driver I was in the Royal Australian Navy for just over 20 years.  During this time I was lucky enough to be able to travel around the globe to a lot of countries and enjoy some of the local customs and cuisines and lets be honest here, a lot of the local beers as well.

Me during the 1st Gulf War

I have been married before and this marriage ended bitterly and that is all I will say about that.

In May this year I stumbled upon a website called Chinalove.com and through this site I firstly corresponded with Xia (pronounced Sha English name Wendy) and then went to Shenzhen China in July for 30 days and met the most wonderful woman in the world and we discovered that we were very in love with each other.  Now we are going to marry in February next year and take our honeymoon around China.

Xia the most beautiful woman in the world

So my intention is to provide a glimpse into my world as the next couple of months unfold and the wedding ceremony itself and then provide some information about the visa application process so that any fellow Aussies who may stumble across here might get an insight into the whole process from someone who has "been there, done that".

Enough for now any information or details you would like about me just ask.