Hobbies or Intrests

[RustyNails]

We all need something to do or work on to keep our sanity, what is yours?

When I am not working or sitting in a basketball stadium watching my kids I like to collect die-cast model cars. Haven't bought a lot recently but I still have a small collection (maybe 100-120 cars) of 1:18, 1:43 and 1:64 scale cars from Biante and Classics.
I love the older Touring Cars that were racing when I was a kid, particularly the Toranas and Commodores but I do have a Possum Bourne Rally car (very limited edition) and a few road cars.
I have quite a few Brocky cars as I was/am a big fan of Brocky, more for his willingness to engage with his fans and the kids thanfor his exploits on the race track. DJ is also in the same mould.
I like Skaifey too but I know it is nowhere near the man Brocky ever was and that heaps of people (mainly Ford Fans) hate him but he was very successful and was driving as I grew up so I like him.
I have a few milestone cars like Lowndes'first ford (the green-eyed monster), Brocky's first and last Bathurst cars, the all conquering 78 and 79 Bathurst A9X Torana of Brock, the Spiderman KMart Murphy Bathurst winning Commodore and of course Possum's Rally of Tasmania winning Rally Car (his last Rally win before his death).

I know The Dogman also used to collect but he did sell some of his cars at one time so not sure if he is still doing it.
Lots of people collect to sell and make money, I only collect the cars that I like and that reawaken memories for me so it is unlikely that I will sell any of them. Because I live in Perth and Biante is a Western Australian company we are lucky to have good access to these models and I know that some of the other states struggle. Because we get good access to moels sometimes there are surplas models that you can sometimes get quite a bit cheaper, every bit helps.

So that's is one of mine, what are some of your hobbies or interests?

Paul

[AB]

Nice story Paul, It's great to be so involved in a hobby that "to a point" no amount of money would see you sell them because of the history and memories they bring.

Went through a lot of collecting in my younger years been an extremely keen basketballer and footballer with the NBA cards, etc.

My latest hobby is quite labour intensive but love it!

Having lived in the suburbs for a few years i just couldn't handle the busy neighbours and local teenage hoodlims.

Every weekend you walk outside with a shovel and neighbour "Bob" walks out and says "hey Andy, what you doing there", not to mention the traffic and everybody getting involved in everyone's business.

Found the ultimate 11 acre bush block with a nice cottage and no one around.

Pretty close to the CBD and isolated enough to persue hobbies and building.

After the fires of Black Saturday my hobby and passion is to protect the family and turn this place into my kingdom.

I have cleared the bush (dead trees, shurbs, fire breaks, etc).

I have built a 10m x 6m shed to store the FJ fire truck, tools and machinery, etc.

My brother and I have started a side business building 105,000 litre concrete water tanks and about to install one next to the shed. The frame work alone cost a lot of money, 8m diameter framework with inner and out walls made from 25 x 25 SHS and 2mm aluminium sheeting so it can be reused. There was many things we learnt from Black Saturday and one of the main problems everyone encounted was lack of water supply or plastic and corrugated tanks melting.

So basically my hobby is keeping the family safe and making this place "home".

The soil around is poor. Clay rock and more clay. Bringing in soil from local cuts in the valley and landscaping like there's no tomorrow.

It's a great passion to have and adding value to your property whilst enjoying the exercise is a win win!

So like Paul mentioned above, what's your passion or interests?

[Danny]

My new hobby lately has been making rustic looking features for the house.

Using the old nibbler i made some corrugated cows left over from old corry and spraying them white and painting black marks, they come out great and look funky in the backyard. Oh yeah they don't eat the grass much but they don't moo and sh*it all over the lawn..haha

Also makng some rustic looking coat racks. I get an old slab of red gum, sand it back, get the oxy out and burn the grains in the wood and then stain it. You'll be amazed how great it looks when the stain goes over the burn sections of red gum. You can finish it off with standard hooks but i have been mounting horse shoes on with half a shoe welded to the main shoe which comes out for the hook. Not sure if anyone will understand that bit..haha

Nah it looks great and comes up a treat. Highly recommend anyone just to have a crack at building your own things around the house, good fun, cheap, effective and keeps me in the good books with the wife. :) ... jokes!

[IP-GQ]

Ive been getting into growing vegetables this year.

I had an old corrugated water tank that was leaking water so i cut in half, sprayed it and filled it up with soil and horse manure.

Just checked them this morning and everything is booming.

Beans, beetroot, spring onion, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot and silverbeet.

Winter vegetables are easy, just plant and walk away. There's nothing better than picking your veges for dinner straight from the plant to the fry pan.

Saves money, good for the kids and tastes fresh!

Anyone should give it a go, It's easy no matter how big your backyard is.

Also go out an buy the Burkes Backyard organic book. It's good to know what's in season in your area and shows handy tricks and growing times, etc :)

[DX grunt]

Wow. What a challenging question - for me.

I work in a high stress, shift working environment and am 'on call' without being officially 'on call', in a small country town. I enjoy the simple things in life.

We've moved onto a half acre block and have watched the missus set up the chook shed - with the 10 chooks providing us with between 5-7 eggs a day lately - and helped her set up a veggie patch. I've just bought myself a Stihl 311 'Farm Boss' chainsaw and go out cutting up wood for our open fire.

I love the wide open spaces, the bush, smelling wet gum leaves and listening to kookaburra's laugh - that's why I bought my Patrol Ute - to get out of town and enjoy life without being hassled - to blend in with the 'crowd - to be a 'nobody'.

I'm cheap to run, self sufficient and not high maintenance!

My favourite song is 'Born Free'

That's my story.

Take care out there.

Ross
DX grunt

[the evil twin]

My latest fad hobby is to lurk around Forums waiting for a keyboard fight to start and then throw another chip to the seagulls whenever they start to settle down until the Mod's ban 'em.

My long term hobby is "Exploring Oz" and so far I have managed to get around 90% of NSW, about 60% of Qld by road and another 30% by boat and about the same of the NT a goodly chunk of SA and Tas and fast getting WA sorted out. Victoria I consider largely irrelevant as they all moved to Qld didn't they?

[Timbo]

Wow. What a challenging question - for me.

I work in a high stress, shift working environment and am 'on call' without being officially 'on call', in a small country town. I enjoy the simple things in life.

We've moved onto a half acre block and have watched the missus set up the chook shed - with the 10 chooks providing us with between 5-7 eggs a day lately - and helped her set up a veggie patch. I've just bought myself a Stihl 311 'Farm Boss' chainsaw and go out cutting up wood for our open fire.

I love the wide open spaces, the bush, smelling wet gum leaves and listening to kookaburra's laugh - that's why I bought my Patrol Ute - to get out of town and enjoy life without being hassled - to blend in with the 'crowd - to be a 'nobody'.

I'm cheap to run, self sufficient and not high maintenance!

My favourite song is 'Born Free'

That's my story.

Take care out there.

Ross
DX grunt

Kind of sounds like a dating advert that you'd put in the local paper Ross! haha.

I'd like to go 4wd'ing more often but my mates sold their rigs to fund different things like houses and getting into business. I try to get away for a weekend here and there with the missus but I never try and tackle tracks by myself.. which is what I'd love to be doing, tackling the tracks.

I guess my hobby (re: life obsession) is in computers. I'm truly happy when I'm on my computer doing my own things. Whether it's playing games, surfing the web, designing things.. it's all good. I like techy things and gadgets, building computers and fixing them so I guess that's really my hobby. Hopefully one day I can use it to make some cash one day, whether it be designing graphics or building websites etc.

Like Andy, I also collected NBA cards. I still have all of mine. Plan on keeping them for a long time..maybe I can sell them all one day.

[MrsMav]

Well I dont actually have any hobbies, the other half however collects cigarette lighters he has about 200plus many of which are very rare and sought after. Well that is what Rod does. Me I like working in my garden, spending time with all my kids and grandkids. And I LOVE travelling, and always looking out for bargain fares to where ever.

Off to bali in September with my girlfriend to celebrate her 40th birthday just the two of us so that should be some good fun...

So other than working around the house spending time with kids & grandkids I guess my favourite thing is going off travelling seeing the way other people live and the way in which they live, I'm not really into the touristy stuff but much prefer getting in with the locals and backstreets of different countries...

Oh yeah I also like goin 4wd, when the opportunity arises, which of late is not very often...

[Woof]

Me, I have no life except for the Western Patrol Club......................and love it.
As Rusty said I used to collect diecast model cars but have not bought any lately, but I still have my collection and have not sold any of them.

[GQ-Nut]

Well I dont actually have any hobbies, the other half however collects cigarette lighters he has about 200plus many of which are very rare and sought after. Well that is what Rod does. Me I like working in my garden

There's your hobby right there MrsMav. Most people don't know they have a hobby until someone asks what they do in their spare time.

me....I like going bush away from everyone and just explore, whether its on my bike, car or even just walking. getting out of the busy city life is just gold for me.

Love to find new spots and places that few people have seen.

[patch697]

My hobby is fixing things. I love to tinker: rebuild, refurbish, repair, modify, customize, design & create all sorts of thing for almost any application. Its a childhood obsession & an itch I've never managed to scratch, just when I think thats it no more......... I've got my hands into something else. the only thing that really holds me back is money it can get rather expensive.....lol

[Timbo]

I'd like to have a hobby outside of my bedroom with the computer.. I mean i've the got 4wd and my VLT commodore (that just sits there) but I rarely get to go 4wd'ing. I'd like to join a club and go out every weekend but it's just too expensive and the missus would crack it. I also like to tinker around and fix things etc.. but you're right Patch, it can get expensive fast.

[GQ10]

Oh yeah nearly forgot, we've got the best beer in the country by far too!! hahahaha!

Isn't VB now the most popular beer in Australia.

The Queenslander's belovered xxxx has taken the back seat and the pubs in QLD and NSW are starting to get VB on tap.

[Nissan Kid]

Very Into Photography, Outdoor Activities like Rock climbing, Kayaking, water-skiing Ect
Here are some photos

This is a photo i took of one of my Mates
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/nissankid_308/DSC_0348-1.jpg

This is a photo i took of one of my Mates
http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/nissankid_308/DSC_0391-2.jpg

http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/nissankid_308/DSC_0526-1.jpg

http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt170/nissankid_308/DSC_0063.jpg
And other fun stuff. Mmmm Parities :)

[AB]

Great action shots at the top mate.

[Nissan Kid]

Great action shots at the top mate.
Cheers Andy, Its something that i'm rely into and have been thinking about continuing as a career once im finished school.

[IP-GQ]

That first shot is awesome. You should get into photography as a job somehow.

Definatly got skill there mate.

I did a course ages ago and theres a lot to know but you got skills mate.

[NickBGU4]

Most of my hobbies seem to revolve around the Patrol.
4 wheel driving, camping and fishing mostly, but i seem to spend a lot of time modifying or making improvements to the old girl. Other than that I collect and watch DVD's .

[mudnut]

Sorry to drag up such an old thread, but Ive been tinkering in the shed, because I'm loathe to drive the Trol off road until I get its tie rod replaced. My father gave me a small wood lathe he picked up at a garage sale for a few bucks. It was minus its motor, so I have fitted a washing machine motor and made the housing out of old computer cases and stuff. It looks stupid, but it works a treat. Now I can make the pieces for a wooden chess board I made at Tech school in the eighties. Has anyone got any suggestions for good lathe tools?

[BigRAWesty]

Sorry to drag up such an old thread, but Ive been tinkering in the shed, because I'm loathe to drive the Trol off road until I get its tie rod replaced. My father gave me a small wood lathe he picked up at a garage sale for a few bucks. It was minus its motor, so I have fitted a washing machine motor and made the housing out of old computer cases and stuff. It looks stupid, but it works a treat. Now I can make the pieces for a wooden chess board I made at Tech school in the eighties. Has anyone got any suggestions for good lathe tools?

Steel ones

Kallen Westbrook
Owner of
Westy's Accessories (http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15134-Westy-s-Accessories.-A-small-back-yard-builder.)

[mudnut]

Really? I thought plastic was the go!