Had a GREAT day today,
Andy, his brother Greg, Dad, and I went to the Toowoomba Ag.
We went to look at lots of things, saw most of them, but the show was so BIG it was impossible to see everything in one day. We saw the main things we went to see.
Here are some of the things we saw:
The first mill we came across was this one:
It's a Serra Bandmill.
Imagine my SHOCK when I was told it cost $170k. (that's over $130k USD).
I suggested that, instead, one might buy a yacht for $100k and sail it to the USA and buy a Woodmizer...
The next mill we came to was the Lucas Mill. They weren't milling at the time and weren't too interested in talking, so we went on a couple of tents further and found the Peterson Mill.
The two guys at this stand were really chatting it up with everyone standing around. One had a Kiwi accent, the other broad Aussie.
They fired the mill up and put it through it's paces.
This is a partly sawn log.
This is what they cut out of the log (off on the left), the Peterson Dealer (the bloke with the Aussie accent) has a market for these HUGE posts, this one was B-I-G. You can see how little was left of the tree!
This is the "guy with the Kiwi accent" checking progress.
So, anyway, proceedings go thus:
Mill stops.
asy calls Kiwi-guy over and says "Hello".
asy: "are you from NZ?"
k-g: "Yep"
asy: "Um, are you from Peterson?"
k-g: "Yep"
asy: (now suspicious) "Um, are you on the FORESTRY FORUM???"
k-g" (now very curious) "Um yeeeeeas"
asy: What's yer NAME on the forum?
k-g: NZJake!!!
asy: HAHAHA HOW COOL IS THIS!!! I'm asy!!!
Introductions all round, and away we all went, chatting like long lost cousins!
Here's a photo to prove we met:
It was really cool to put a face to the name.
Here's Jake telling Andy (and Greg) all about the mill:
(Either that, or they were talking about fishing in NZ, I think Jake was telling them about his last Trout catch, I couldn't hear properly, but it sure looks that way).
This is a photo of the log dogs Jake invented, they're really cool. Simple and easy.
Gotta say, ya couldn't meet a nicer bloke. We really enjoyed meeting him. He's got an invite for a famous asy-dinner any time he's in Brisbane.
Then, after that, we went back to the Lucas Mill area, they'd said they were going to fire their mill up in 15 minutes, over an hour ago, and we'd been watching out of the corner of our eye, and they hadn't fired up yet.
Well, it was pretty much lunch time, so we unpacked lunch and sat around their eating.
Finally they fired up. Here's a shot of the mill in ACTION!
I admit, I didn't get a really good shot, coz I was eating my salad, and sitting in a chair. But nevertheless, I got a shot!
I was really dissappointed at the guys running the stand, they just really didn't seem to want to talk. One of them came and stood beside me, and I said, The guys are interested in the mill (pointing to Andy and Greg) and all he said was "Oh, good!, Hey Lunch, that's a good idea, think I'll get mine" and went off to his car and got his lunch!!!
Now, don't misunderstand, I am sure they're a good mill, I know people who have them and are really happy with them, but geeeez, someone needs to tell these guys how to run a show display! (I am available on a contract basis, by the way
).
Aaaaaaaanyway... Onward:
Right up the other end of the show, I found this tent, I think they were waiting for da Boss to arrive, but he was busy being Bear-able.
I also found this book, in a book tent, it was pretty much the most magnificent book on horses I've ever seen. I'm going to keep an eye out for it on ebay.
Well, we walked and walked and walked. I'm sunburned and sore. It's nearly 2am (coz I was fighting with the gallery), and I'm going to bed now.
Hope you all enjoyed the little tour.
asy
