I got the idea of this thread by looking at the "Post a picture of yourself!" Thread, to get to know each other a bit better.
I'll start out.
Other than amatuer astronomy, I collect old bottles. I often go out on the weekend to house sites or old dumping grounds (as long as permission is granted) that date pre-1900 and use a probe to find old rubbish holes. I then proceed to dig up to 15 foot deep by hand to extract old bottles. Some worth a good amount of money and others that are lemons. Back in the day, most towns (even ones with populations of less than 200) had their own cordial factories, chemists etc which all had there own embossed bottles. I collect bottles that come from around me (warragul, korumburra, drouin, morwell, traralgon and bunyip) from Warragul alone, which was a town of around 100 back in 1880, there are around 30 different bottles.
I also go out metal detecting, looking for pre decimal coins and Jewellery. My oldest find dates to the year 1797, which is a Cartwheel Penny. For this activity, I use a Minelab CtX3030, which will set you back around $2,500. It is however, the most technologically advanced unit you can buy. You can pick up a good starter unit for around $350.
I have attached an image of a bottle from Korumburra that I recently dug. It is my favourite bottle at the moment. It is a Codd patent or marble bottle and dates to the 1890s. The embossing says "J. Lawrence Korumburra" and has a picture of a Lyrebird on it.
I've recently got into storm chasing and constantly have the Stormtracker site open on my iPhone and have become a lot more cognisant of the weather, and reading what's happening with the clouds. It's actually quite fascinating. I have started taking all my gear in to work in the off-chance something happens during lunchtime or after work.
I'm also a photographer. Couldn't imagine my life without a camera.
And I think buried somewhere in those threads I may have said something like "I have too many to list!"
I may have also muttered something along the lines of "not enough time and money!" too
Edit:
Expanding my reply:
Home brewing (All-grain) & collecting beer glasses and beer/brewing nostalgia
Home machining (lathe/Milling machines)
Storm chasing
Photography
Surfing (real, but yeah, web too )
Driving (I just enjoy going for a random drive sometimes)
Bonsai
Electronics
Model planes/boats/cars
loudspeaker design/building
Also, combining the above is very enjoyable... Astro+Photography+driving+machining +electronics(+beer)
or Models+photography+machining+electr onics(+beer)
the list goes on... many of these interests get neglected for long periods, like I said, not enough time or money
Apart from astronomy and photography, music is another passion of mine. My wife and I have a large collection of musical instruments - keyboards, drums and percussion, electric, acoustic and bass guitars, and brass. We both play in the local town band (me on drums, my wife on bass and vocals) which is lots of fun - music styles include jazz & blues, latin and big band swing, classic rock and even some contemporary pop.
We've also recently set up a home recording studio, but now the trick is deciding what to practice and record and then finding the time to actually lay down the tracks!
Did you ever come up against a close friend of mine Bronson Butcher, Alex? I used to help him and his Dad at many Go-Kart meets around NSW and Vic. He is now over in the states trying to crack into Nascar.
Hey OP, gemstone fossicking is a minor hobby of mine. I have found 9 sapphires with minor flaws this summer near Beechworth. Jeremy
Quote:
Originally Posted by obsidianphotos
Well apart from Astrophotography/astronomy, I like to fossick for and collect gemstones, and I do a spot of storm chasing from time to time.
Did you ever come up against a close friend of mine Bronson Butcher, Alex? I used to help him and his Dad at many Go-Kart meets around NSW and Vic. He is now over in the states trying to crack into Nascar.
thats a great hobby jeremy i can relate to that..... and have wanted a saltwater fish tank for the last 10 yrs after having lunch at ciccerellos at freo harbour, they have the best salty tank ever!
i am a keen wine collector and i love collecting old wine glasses.... anything vinous at all
my latest glasses are from the 1920's and are the old fashioned champagne "goblets" supposedly designed to fit ms antoinettes lady bits..... but instead of the bubbles going flat because of the huge surface area they have hollowed stems and so the bubbles stay effervescent throughout...... rather exhilarating to drink from
love my hifi and vinyl records
pat
Main main non astro hobby is dancing, mainly rock'n'roll with a bit of swing/lindyhop and some balboa for good measure. Also read a lot (and I do mean a lot)
Have done lots of bushwalking but not so much in the past 10 years, did target archery until my shoulder packed it in.
Photography and fiddling with computers are also interests.
I play a range of sports; cricket, squash, football (soccer), golf (now that's an expensive hobby!).
I love my hifi gear, tinkering in PCs and I try to find spare time to play some games (currently playing through Asura's Wrath on PS3 and Faster Than Light on PC).
To round out the potentially expensive hobby collection, I am a coffee snob though luckily have settled with a sensible machine that didn't cost a fortune (Rancilio Silvia). But every time I see a heat exchanger machine on sale or second hand for sale I begin to wonder...
Having the kids and living in Belgium has really knocked any hobbies on the head including astronomy(more to do with the weather than kids here).
-I have a small meteorite collection that I'd love to expand on and ideally would want to go out hunting myself.
-I was pretty big into coarse angling too and fishing in general and now I am starting to gather some kit together again.
- I also have a fairly big Muse collection and some others too, lots of vinyls and rare promos etcetera but I have completely fallen out of love with collecting music and am looking to sell some of it off soon.
-Travel
-Family, not so much a hobby but they do take up most of my time and it's very enjoyable.
Been a serious amateur photog for about 35 years. Killed more cameras than I can remember.
Into Motorsports as a photog and rally driving till money ran out
Was into boats bigtime but got too expensive, add fishing to that.
Cooking good food, good red wine, good beers .
Collect Single Malts but the evaporation factor is apalling !! Same goes for the red wine.
I don't collect 'things' anymore, they just take up too much room.
Steam Punk gear and themes
Music and sound systems
DIY not only for astronomical but all sorts of things.
Astronomy - mainly astrophotography - of course, but:
Collecting and shooting military firearms up to 1945. Predominate focus is on German military firearms 1898 to 1945. Bayonets feature as well.
Photography of all genres, but especially portraiture.
Scale Model aircraft making and collecting - more collector than maker seeing I have no time for the past 7 years! Well over 7000 kits, 90% of which are 1/48 scale.
I loove camping and 4WDing, that'd have to be right up there on my list.
I like to snowboard as well, however after moving to Adelaide the chances for this have dropped a fair bit, it's always a massive effort to get to the snow.
Umm shooting and hunting, photography, electronics (although that's part of my job as well, so it's becoming less and less of a hobby). I also like to fix up cars and do a few other things.
I keep on getting more and more hobbies, and they always seem to be the expensive ones, and the missus doesn't like that very much haha. She loves to camp though so I consider myself lucky.
Casual hobbies: WWII aircraft modeling (mainly 1:72 scale), computer gaming (air combat flight sims, World of Warcraft), a bit of electronics tinkering
