Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in the green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on that sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Now lecture over, thanks for coming to my ego massaging homepage. I don't really expect that many will purposely come here, but if you do stumble in, skip all the shit about me and go straight to the GLIDING and SKYDIVING pages. This is where the interest lies. The BERT HINKLER page has some interesting original photos for aviation history buffs. Yeah, I know they take a while to load and I'm working on that.

I'm an archaeologist by trade, but in previous lives, have been a turner and fitter/welder, Production Controller, Technical Representative and Sales Manager. I also had a spell of twelve years in the Australian Army during the 1960's. I served in 20 National Service Battalion, went to 3 L of C Signals Regiment, transferred to 3 Base Workshops as a drill instructor and following a course with the Education Corp was seconded to Officer Cadet Training Unit as a weapons and drill instructor. This was clearly a time when the term 'military intelligence' wasn't an oxymoron, as I was spared serving in Vietnam, but many of my friends were less fortunate.
My interest in ARCHAEOLOGY began in my more mature years and never have I regretted the career change.
Vonnie is a print maker/artist and was a drawing lecturer at Swinburne University until her recent redundancy. We both like living on the edge employment wise although I am now a pensioner which still means living on the edge.

My interests over the years have included Aikido, Kyudo, water and cross country skiing, organic gardening, Bonsai, beekeeping and beer/wine making, especially honey mead. Aikido and Kyudo introduced me to buddhism in the 1970's and during the 1980's I became interested in Tibetan Buddhism and joined the Kagyu Evam Buddhist Institute. Now, living in the country, I was a member of theSHEPPARTON & DISTRICT BUDDHIST GROUP, but now find that solitary retreats plus daily meditation at home suits me better. For anyone interested in Buddhism I recommend you look at several sites on the net beginning HERE. "The Perfect Mirror" was written by Adrian Feldmann and is my favourite buddhist text. I recommend it to all who have the slightest interest in Buddhism. There's plenty of deeper books if you wish, but I don't believe one has to read books to be a good buddhist, just being mindfull of ones actions seems to do the trick.

More recently I helped a friend build an RV6 aircraft which is now flying. YAAAHOO The truth is that I did all the hard bits while he just sort of farted around, stressed and panicked. There's a pic on the soaring page. The little blob is his head, but hey, did you go there to see him? or the rv6. Chris is now building a four seat RV10 which I look forward to working on.

Vonnie and I had timber house with a largish garden and a smallish orchard in Heidelberg, Melbourne, Victoria. We also had some chooks, some bantams, beehives and two dogs. We got sick of 'smellbourne' in 2000 so we all moved to Kirwans Bridge(pop.200), Central Victoria in 2001. Kirwans Bridge has the longest timber paved bridge in Australia, and it has a fifteen degree bend in the centre. The Strathbogie council were hell-bent on replacing it with a new you beaut concrete one. All 200 residents plus the National Trust fought this act of vandalism and we have retained our bridge.

Our new house is built of galvanised corrugated iron which caused a bit of a fuss in our little hamlet at first. It wasn't permanent - nothing ever is - and one wonders why it happened at all

I tried to practice PERMACULTURE with indifferent success, but since vonnie took it over in 2004 we have had splendid results
I first flew in 1960 at Gliding Club of Victoria - my first flight being with then club President Jim Barton, in a Kookaburrra RES52. We were both quite young then!!! After a 38 year break, punctuated by a short stint in skydiving I began soaring again, but remain involved as lurker with FREEFALL UNITED SKYDIVE CLUB. My most memorable skydive was a jump turned to poo at Commando Skydivers and I opened at 9000 feet. This was something I'd always wanted to do and twenty minutes under canopy brought back the beauty of motorless flight! Talking of Skydiving check out the PARACHUTISTS OVER PHORTY site to see the old farts who never learn about the 'danger' of jumping
Shortly after this jump I resumed soaring at MANGALORE GLIDING, and loved it so we now live far from Melbourne, or at soaring centres in our 1970 KOMBIVAN.

I'm often asked questions about flying gliders and I've put my THOUGHTS on it here. This page is targeted toward non pilots, but feel free to go there regardless.
Some hang glider pilots fondly refer to sailplane pilots as 'old farts in terry towelling hats'. Visit my OFITTH page for nostalgic sailplane and young ofitth pics. This page will always be under construction as I unearth new old pics.

You may care to go to NEWS for gossip from the dropzones, Lake and Glider field.

I'm currently working on a page of my pilgrinage to India in 2004/ 2005. It may be finished next time you visit. On the other hand...

Blue Skies and Fluffy Clouds,

Graham aka cirrus.

ps. Since moving up here for the 'quiet' life we have joined the Nagambie Rowing club, the NAGAMBIE LAKES SAILING CLUB and more recently I've joined the NAGAMBIE BOWLS CLUB. So much for a quiet country life!!!!