I noticed that the surf club live camera has been updated recently with one that auto-pans and zooms across the whole beach. Great idea! I send the link to friends and relatives so they can see how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful spot.

Check out the links page from the menu, it's on there.

July 29:
Feedback has been positive about the site but unfortunately (and this is all too common I'm afraid) it seems that very few people have the time or desire to make any contribution to the site. A pity, but that's the way it goes - people are happy to take information but not put anything back. On a brighter note, firstly, I found a weather forecast 'widget' to add to the pages to make it easier to see what the weather will be doing here at the 'Heads. Secondly, visitor numbers has nearly doubled since April this year which is great!

Apr 22:
Added lots of local links to the Links page today. If you have any to add please let me know.
The site is now getting an incredible number of hits (thanks in part to Google of course but a fair number of locals have 'found' the site thanks to a recent sponsored flyer drop. The screen capture below is from the site stats and shows the last week visits (actually only 5 days as it's just been installed). Note the number of unique visits is 1242 in 5 days!

Apr 03:
Had to modify the registration process due to the number of spammers and 'spam-bots' attempting to register on the site. Flattering in a way as it indicates that the website is getting a lot of visitors - just a pity that some are not wanted. Hopefully the extra security will keep them at bay (and reduce the amount of work I have to do to weed them out) for a while!
Mar 20:
Updated the home page today. So many features now that I thought it best to promote them in the one spot. Now I just have to tidy up the menus and put things into logical places...
Mar18:
New article section added tonight - Videos. So many great YouTube videos, so little time. I'll put the best ones I find up for your enjoyment.
Mar 11:
I decided to remove the Odiogo feature as it seemed to cause very slow page loading at various times of the day - presumably because it's such a popular service. I'll keep checking it over the coming months and put it back if it becomes better. I have also shifted the Photo Galleries page back onto the main pages menu. Not sure what to do with the media page yet, I'll see if I get any feedback about what content people want in there.
Feb 15:
Well, despite berating myself about adding too many 'wow-factor' goodies to the site, I couldn't resist adding an amazing new feature which should be very handy for visually-impaired or learning disabled visitors. If you press the 'listen now' button which is at the top of all articles and posts on the site, you will have (if your speakers are on) the article read to you.
The computer-generated voice is very 'american' but quite understandable anyway! Let me know what you think of the feature.
Feb 13:
Added some cool 'widgets' to the site today plus began putting together the Media page with News & Views feeds from various sources.
Feb 12:
Added the Games page tonight - I found a series of 'Flash' simulations of early computer and console games and incorporated them for a bit of light entertainment. Great for kids of all ages...

Yes, that's not a misprint. I just popped into my favourite local independent petrol station - Shoalhaven Ethanol Fuel
at 215 Kinghorne St and they have 'E85' Ethanol fuel on sale at $1.05 a litre (they also had E10 Unleaded for $1.63 which compared pretty well with Friday prices in the rest of the stations in Nowra today!). Now, E85 is 85% ethanol, 15% unleaded petrol and before you throw up your hands in horror at the thought of running your vehicle on 85% (or any mixture of ethanol) - get the real facts here.

The catch? Well you will need to get your vehicle fitted with a bi-fuel converter, which apparently will be a lot cheaper than an LPG conversion - around $400 depending on your engine. This clever device 'knows' when you are running on the higher octane E85 and adjusts the engine management system accordingly. The fantastic advantage of this is that if E85 isn't available when you fill up, no problem!

Currently E85 is not available in many towns in NSW - closest ones to us are at Albion Park and one in Nowra at the moment, but it will apparently be available nationwide soon.

As well as the substantial price advantage, the higher 105 octane means that your engine has more power and runs cooler - so what's the disadvantages? None that I can see and anything that reduces this countries dependence on offshore oil has to be a good thing.

For more info try these websites:
http://www.flexfuelkit.com.au * http://ethanolenhance.com.au/

Edit Aug'08 :
Has anybody else in the 'Heads noticed an improvement in the GSM service from Telstra? We are now able to hold a conversation if we sit in the lounge of our place without calls dropping out - amazing! I can't take any credit for this interesting development but I have heard that the NextG service power levels have been turned down a notch as it was interferring with the GSM service in some areas. Maybe the reason...

Well, my endeavours to try to get something done about our mobile phone 'service' here at the 'Heads hasn't borne any fruit. You might be interested in this reply we finally received from Telstra:

'Telstra's primary mobile technology in Shoalhaven Heads is Next G which provides good coverage in the township and surrounds. We also have GSM technology in the area but it is mainly for the Princes Highway with any coverage in Shoalhaven Heads considered fortuitous. Telstra has no plans to extend the GSM coverage footprint outside the urban centres however we are only one of several carriers who have GSM networks. These carriers may want to improve their mobile presence in the Shoalhaven Heads area.. '

So, essentially what they are saying is this - they want us all to switch to Next G and because of this, they have no interest in improving their GSM service coverage to the 'Heads. They are also saying that they never actually provided GSM coverage to Shoalhaven Heads - any coverage we got was just 'spillover' from the Princes Highway cell towers. Ok - if that is so, then why does their coverage map for GSM state that we are in the 'green zone' (ie: good coverage)? Try it yourself - here's Telstra's Coverage page (choose GSM / 3G).

Well, so now we are left with two mobile phones that are useless for making or receiving calls around the house - we'll just retain them for emergency use when we are out and use VOIP (voice over internet) for all our calls, to mobiles or otherwise. Our phone company (Southern Phone - who we are very happy with in every other respect) won't get hardly a cent from us for calls. I guess they aren't too happy about that, but they are reselling Telstras 'service' and if we can't use it then that's not our fault is it?

My advice to others is to do as we did - complain, loudly to as many organisations as you can. You probably won't get anywhere but at least your concerns will add to the growing unrest!