SegwayAussie

Did somebody say leeches? After going through some rainforest country in Queensland my wife and I were driving out and she said... "look, there's a worm on the floor of the car!"... Now, she had never seen a leech before, but I had and so I said "that's not a worm, that's a LEECH!!" I look down and my sock is soaked with blood! (Screams from Mrs Ron, and demands of "stop this car right now...") So, we pulled over on the side of the road, and a quick check reveals several leeches on our feet, lower legs etc, quickly removed with glowing cigarettes... Anyway, I don't know if you've ever been in that situation but you just *know* that there are leeches crawling all over you, you can feel them infesting every nook and cranny of your body, so we head off down the road looking for somewhere a little more private... Couple of miles along we see a sign pointing down a dirt road ... "Cemetary", so we take it! The cemetary's deserted luckily so we rip our all our clothes off and we're checking each other for leeches, like chimps grooming! Luckily there weren't any more leeches but to this day we wonder what anybody would have made of it, if they had they seen us... Two people, tearing each other's clothes off furiously and jumping around naked in a cemetary ... Black Mass maybe? Cheers Ron

Well, I'm not so astonished at the first/last letter thing, but that checkerboard illusion!!! Wow!! I showed my wife and she refused to believe it until I did the cardboard cut-out bit... It works! Amazing! Cheers Ron

Oh yes, you're right! Vaguely interesting link I was working from memory, which is always a mistake at my age. Hey! I did a quote! My first one Cheers Ron

Does Aussie service count? We've fought alongside the USA in every conflict from WWI onwards, so I hope it does! I'm Army, RAEME (Royal Australian Electrical & Mechaical Engineers) Early Seventies. Motor Mechanic specialising in the M113A Armoured Personnel Carrier (Cavalry Vehicle). No overseas service, Vietnam ended just after I signed up... I don't know whether I was sad or glad... Cheers Ron

May I suggest that we standardise on links, chains, poles, perchs and furlongs thereby placing us all at equal disadvantage? Seems fair to me! Cheers Ron

Hi Nancy, I've got a feeling we've corresponded before, via Segwaychat (I'm TiVoAussie there, TiVos being another obsession of mine). At the time I was looking for a second Segway to buy... Any chance you might work (or have worked) for company not entirely unrelated to Segways? I wound up buying my second one from a guy called Scott at such a company, do you know him buy any chance? Sorry to hear that you haven't found too many Seg-friendly caches, I've spoken to the hider of the one that we plan to do first, it's a multi, and all on bicycle tracks around our big lake in Canberra, only prob is we'll have to do it in two goes, as it exceeds the range we can get on a single set of batteries, unless we can do some by car, which is not what we hoped... Never mid we'll give it a try! Hey Joe Frog! See, you're famous for more than just the marshmallow guns!! ... I don't know if we can get small enough marshmallows here in Aus, all the ones I've found are around 1.25in diameter, yours seem to be smaller? I don't know if you wrote the monkey story yourself, but if you did it's become a web legend! There are versions HERE in Pig Latin, Redneck, "Swedish Chef" and more. There are Segway tours in Paris and in Thailand, as well as London and sveral operating around the USA! I'm giving some thought to doing them in Sydney, but there are a lot of legislative hurdles, as always Howdy Bradtal, I've checked out the "home made Segway" before, and while clever it would be to darn scary for me to ride, there is an insane level of "redundancy" in a real Segway, and it needs it, imagine a sudden and total loss of power or wheel lock up at 12MPH, that'll be some face plant! His, by his own admission, has no safety features at all, whereas the real Segway is vastly over-engineered! No thanks, I'll pass on that one! Cheers All! Ron

Hi All Thanks for the responses and for making me feel so welcome! To answer the points raised, in random order... 1) Range: The range isn't too bad, about 10-12 miles or so, depending on how you ride. This can be extended by the simple expedient of carrying a spare set of batteries (US$600.00 a set, so a bit expensive, we have one spare set but could use another, at 20lbs a set it's heavy too!). Alternatively, if you're driving around between rides you can recharge in the car by hooking the Seg to a cheap inverter, a charging Seg only requires about 300W, so you don't need a flashy one. One tip if you find yourself stuck with flat batteries in a city is to find a multi-storey carpark with a lift, is to take the lift to the top and then ride down the ramps, repeat this a few times and you'll get a handy recharge frome the regenerative braking system! I've never done this though, I think I'd get tired before I ever ran out of batteries! 2) Never be a real success: Who knows? Not me! They've got a really enthusiastic user base but so far they've marketed very badly. They've just hired a new marketing exec from Harley Davidson, and a new CEO, and they are promising some "exciting new marketing endeavours" so maybe they'll get their act together? 3) Sticker Shock: Well, yes, they sure aren't cheap, but competitive with other high end toys like Skidoos and Jet Skis. They're pretty costly too! And you can use a Segway every day, whereas most people only use those toys a few times a year. 4) Don't know jack about them?: The easy answer there is to go to Segway or the Segway User Forum and have a read! Or just post your questions to this thread and I'll try and answer them. They really are quite amazing machines, the closest experience I can compare them with is skiing, but they're not really like skiing! They are different to anything else you've ever ridden! Like a magic carpet, some say, but sadly I've never had a chance to ride a magic carpet, so I can't confirm this! 5) As Mobility devices: A number of mobility impaired folk find them wonderfully helpful! A few weeks ago I gave a demo to a guy who'd had his leg amputated above the knee and he's resolved to buy one as soon as he can! There's a forum at Segwaychat dedicated to users with disabilities, and a website at DRAFT (Disability Rights Advocates For Technology) If you have mobility problems, or know somebody who does, check out the Segway, it might just change your life! Cheers, and thanks again for letting me play! Ron

Hi All There was one thread a year ago on this topic, but that's so old I think I'll start a fresh one, now all the "Segway hype" has died down. I'm Ron, from Canberra, Australia, new to geocaching, but keen to start! I've bought a Magellan Platinum, which seems pretty good now I've learned how to use it! I've been reading heaps of posts, and in my opinion this is a great site! People seem friendly, not too much flaming and a generally nice place to lurk, but I've lurked long enough! (In 3 months of reading nearly everything ever posted here I think the best post *has* to be Joe Frog's tale of the 200 monkeys quoted in "Ultimate Bad Trade" thread! Could well be the funniest thing I've ever read!) I'm hoping to do our first cache on the coming weekend, and we will be doing it by Segway! My wife and I own the only two Segways in Canberra (of the five we believe to be in Australia) and they're seriously fun machines! I'd like to stress that we're not simply lazy, my wife has a slight mobility problem and without the Segway she couldn't even attempt caching! I don't have such a good reason, I admit, but I bought one to keep her company, and because she won't get off hers and give me a ride! I know that the Segways will never take us all the places a good set of feet would, and that anything more than a 2, maybe 3, for terrain will probably be out of the question, but it's better than nothing! Once I've got a bit of experience under my belt I hope to set up some wheelchair friendly caches around Canberra and hopefully get some other disabled folks involved! I've got an idea for a multi that involves cryptic crosswords... By the way, the Segway has more ability "off road" than many might think, it's capable of handling 20 degree slopes according to the specs, but I've had it up ones that I think would have been closer to 30, it handles grass and gravel tracks with ease and even soft beach sand won't stop it. With the addition of the studded "mountaineer" tyres available here it becomes even more capable! Be sure to check out these pictures to see what it can really do! Well, that's me de-lurked! I'm looking forward to getting started! Cheers from Down Under! Ron