What are your OTHER hobbies?

[madtuna (Steve)]

Parachuting, have 200+ jumps up. Had big plans on jumping on every continent I visited but havent jumped for approx 2 years now.

Metal detecting/fossicing. both go hand in hand with my other love of camping. My biggest nugget to date is a 2 1/2 oz beauty I found near Ophir.

Meteorites, fossils, rocks and gem collecting. Starting to amass a few, have always wanted to get into Lapidary..one day I will.

Gold coins. Have a nice collection I've amassed over a number of years, mainly soveriegns and half soveriegns but numerous ones from other countries. What started me was finding an old soveriegn with my metal detector on the gold fields near Hillend.

Wildlife photography mainly reptiles but will not pass up a good shot of any animal striking a pose.

A naughty hobby involving satelites which I can't mention here for fear of arrest and imprisonment

Have had numerous hobbies in the past.. some I'll go back to, some which are a closed chapter.

[spearo (Frank)]

wow
some of you have heaps!
i'll list the following:
archery: recurve target
spearfishing (hence the name spearo)
home theatre: if that counts as a hobby, otherwise movies i guess
hobbie farm: since I have a bit of arceage and 2 cows but that's about the extent of it...
motorcycle: Fireblade 929..need I say more...
Astronomy takes up the most time though and usually ruins my weekend daytime so the other hobbies suffer because I have my priorities straight! :]

frank

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Interesting thread. Here's a few of mine:

Photography

Like many here, I've had an interest in photography for quite a few years. Mostly landscapes (using Velvia transparency film in the old days, now digital) and a bit of macro stuff now and then.

Bushwalking

Goes with landscape photography. My favorite locations are in Tasmania where I lived for 10 years, but these days it's mostly short walks at Mt Tamborine or Lamington with my young kids. A bit of birdwatching is enjoyable too.

Cycling

I try and get out on my road bike a few mornings each week, although it gets a bit difficult on cold mornings and after late nights with the telescope. But as of this week I'm back in training for the 100km Brisbane to Gold Coast ride coming up in October.

Mucking around with my kids


And here's one that no-one else has put down...

Home Brewing

I've been brewing on and off (mostly on!) for about 15 years now. Mostly standard lagers, dark ales, wheat beers and pilsners, but also the occasional mead ale.



Cheers,
Stephen

[Dog Star (Phil)]

My two dogs - anything is automaticaly more fun if these two clowns are involved.
Photography - seems that an awful lot of us are into this one. I'm more of a landscape/nature photographer.
Bushwalking/camping - love being outdoors with the camera and the dogs.
Music - have a fairly eclectic taste in music and a huge range of cd's. Play a bit of blues harp and used to play a bit of fiddle too.
Reading - I love reading. I'll read anything. I've been known to read the Yellow Pages.
Alchemy - a wonderful blend of science and magic that engages me on so many different levels.
Hobbies that interest me but I haven't been involved in for a long time include weight training, touring motorcycles (BMW's and Gold Wings), fresh water lure fishing (not many opportunities to do this in Central Australia) and the Royal Antidiluvean Order of Buffalos.

[Ian Robinson]

Fishing .... actually a passion for me, just love it and can't get enough (when there are fish about).

Dancing - not been for a while , dammit my club folded when the caller retired and I've been not done much dancing since, I miss it .... getting old fat and lazy need to do something about that .... gotta find me a new square club that's handy and get back into it , maybe learn A1 and A2 to keep it interesting.

Did a bit of Ball Room when I was younger .... might hook back up with that if I can find a friendly club that's not too dammed focused on comp dancing.

Photography - need to get the 40D out the box and learn how to drive it, still procastinating on that EF 70-200 f2.8 L IS USM .

Lots of other things too , my problem is fitting it all in.

[garyp]

Here are the main ones I've got.

Aviation. I used to spend all my time at the local aero club flying areoplanes and getting involved in club competitons but not so much these days as I have a two kids now.
Also gliding and glider towing. I do more towing as I don't have to pay for that one

Photography. (Yes me too.) I like landscapes mainly and interesting types of weather. My wife is more into photography than I am. I have dabbled with processing my own photos in the dark room, but not for many years now.

Tramping/camping. There's nothing like getting out into the back of beyond for a few days.

spending time with my wife and kids. It's not a hobby of course but a way of life now.

That's about it except there is a guy at work who makes and flies radio controlled model aeroplanes so I sense another hobby coming on

Cheers
Gary

[timelord (Al)]

4W Driving been to the Cape twice and once around the Gulf of Carpentaria--just love travelling and seeing this great country of ours.
Clay target shooting.
Hunting and fishing sort of go hand in hand.
Knife making-- mainly forged blades have my own home smithy complete with homemade gas powered forge and anvil--what a joy it is to behold a forged Damascus blade! Hard work but extremely rewarding.
Home brewing beer.
Bowhunting and Field archery--barebow--that is with no sights just instinctive aiming what a buzz!
Banjo playing--just learning but love the sound --Bluegrass forever.
And last but not least time spent with my 2 grandaughters and watching them grow up and develop--PRICELESS!

[sheeny (Al)]

Great thread! I'm enjoying this. It's interesting to see the hobbies that are common and think about the ones that are not so often represented.

Al.

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

COMPUTER building and upgrading (takes a lot of my time)
WOOD AND METAL working, since I joined the local Mens Shed found I have a knack for working with wood, was a metal worker for 40 years.
GARDENING, growing vegies and flowers.
MODEL BUILDING, scifi starships from Star Trek, Babylon 5, etc.
ARCHAEOLOGY, mostly reading about it, but would love to go on a real dig one day.
FISHING, nothing like getting a lively trout on the end of a line, and if they not biting, well its a good day out (as long as them darn Carp stay away)
ELECTRONICS, building bits for the scope and repairing non functional stuff, great feeling when it works again.
PHOTOGRAPHY just getting back into it since I bought the 300D, still learning how to drive it.
DABBLER in many others too numerous to mention.

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

Quote from Timelord
Knife making-- mainly forged blades have my own home smithy complete with homemade gas powered forge and anvil--what a joy it is to behold a forged Damascus blade! Hard work but extremely rewarding.
Home brewing beer.
Bowhunting and Field archery--barebow--that is with no sights just instinctive aiming what a buzz!

Gee, must go with the Archery, I had a mate many years ago who shared the same hobbies, made the best brews and wines I've ever tasted.

Bill

[tornado33]

Some of my other hobbies have included
Bushwalking/Camping. Mostly in the Wattagan Mountains less than an hours drive from Newcastle, Id go there with some workmates, did that about 10 to 15 years ago

Hang gliding. (gaa_ian, I see you used to fly too) Started that about 1989, and got to Intermediate pilot rating, mostly flying the coastal sites of Newcastle though have flown off Middle and North brother mountains. Intersting flights include low cloud enveloping me above Mereweather, seeing my shadow like a black shaft through the cloud, alas I carried no camera, another was flying from Scenic Hill to Dudley, about 10 kms along the coast, a fairly rare event. havent flown for a while now, the federation membership fees that covered rego/insurance was getting a bit steep, also I dont own a car now. Still got my glider (Airborne blade race) though. Ive logged about 250 hours all up.

Mountain bike riding. That started when workmates convinced me to go on a few rides, I was hooked. I rode all the tracks around my area, did a lot of on road as well, bascically I rode everywhere. Did two Sydney to Wollongong rides, and a number of other 80 to 100km organized rides. One day on spur of moment I got up early,and from my place rode around Lake Maquarie. Increasing traffic puts me off riding nowdays.

Electric model plane flying. Got a few planes over time, they run on rechargeble batteries, endurance up to 15 mins. Latest ones are an Aerobird and a bigger Aerobird extreme, both of which Ive had so high I could barely resolve them, I couldnt afford to look away of Id lose the plane. Ive even had them in cloud that would be several thousand feet high. One flight was fun, the local magpies so hated my planes they started attacking even ebfore Id launched one. So one day, using a high performance battery pack, when magpie attacked Id go full throttle, it would give chace till it got tired, it would try and rest on a lightpole, but Id turn around and dive bomb it, it would immediately give chase again. Aster 3 goes at that, it was so tired and hot it sat on the light, wings open, panting. It was so funny to see

Stunt kite flying. Ive got a pretty fast flying stunt kite. One day I nearly did a Ben Franklin. Thunder rumbled, seeming not that close, strings were damp from the damp grass when I launched the kite, all of a sudden I felt a tingle and heard a faint zapping sound. I landed the kite, thought it must be imagination, launched it again, but the same thing happened. So I landed and packed it up, 10 mins later a hell of a storm broke, so there you go.

Model rocketry. My old mate Jeff (Theodog) got me into it, we had some fun days on Kooragang Island (sadly now fenced off). I used 1 and 2 stage rockets, one of which went off course and parachuted perfectly down....into the Hunter River!

So thats my hobbies.
Scott

[TrevorW]

Karate ( on and off for 20 years got to brown belt gave up at 40 when my arm was broken by someone a lot younger and fitter)

Iiado (Japanese sword kata got to 1st dan)

Kendo (Japanese bambo sword fighting)

Soccer (took up two years ago for the first time play in a social match every Wednesday lunch time for about 70 minutes

Bushwalking/ walking ( trying to get two sections of the Biblimum trek done each year for the last 4, walk 3 to 4 times a week up to 6klms)

Reading 1 book on average a week

Writing sci-fi (published online but haven't written anything for about 12 months)

Art (nothing shown don't do much at the moment)

Model Making (plastic kit and scratch built wooden boats on hold run out of room to display and need money for astronomy stuff)

Photography

Bike riding used to do road but too dangerous, now own a MB

Watching sci-fi movies etc

Fishing when time allows used to surf wave ski still like the beach.

Used to play golf but got to expensive, clubs are gathering dust.

Over the years I've done archery, pistol shooting, rifle shooting, tinkered with electronics, belonged to a cricket club, bike races, had model trains, model gliders.

Nearly forgot rock climbing did that for a few years

Sounds like I've wasted a lot of money doesn't it when you write it down like this.
me thinks

PS: reading them all it's amazing how many hobbies we have in common !!!!!

[goober (Doug)]

Boardgaming - I'm a judge on an international panel (International Gamers Awards)

Fitness - swimming, cycling, tennis, golf, walking

Reading - generally history books. Reading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose at the moment ... interesting but not in a good way!

Recently - baby shopping (how did the human race survive before the chains of baby stores? )

[Satchmo]

Music Play flute, Keyboard, guitar and bass. Do African and Middle eastern hand drumming in a few ensembles. Have a handful of vintage analog synthesisers and basic recoding set up. I also have a wide variety of tastes to listen too from Beethoven to contemporary Electronic.

Gliding Took up flying again three years ago after a 15 year break since my last hang-glider crash. Sailplanes are the ultimate toy for the closet speed freak.

Optics Reading about and tinkering with materials that bend and reflect light has always been a passion since I donned my first pair of spectacles at age 11

Bushwalking I try to walk around my area Berowra as often as time permits. Like to mountain bike on fire trails some times.

Kayaking I have some estuary kayaks and occasionally enjoy the Berowra waters area.

German Shepherds My two long haired shepherds Holly and Raj teach me so much about simple joys and keep me down to earth.

Chess Rediscovered after 30 years break and theres always a game available on line 24/7.

Fractals I've been exploring the Mandlebrot set at an artistic level for years and am stock piling my dicoveries of `mandala-like' dendrite fractals deep within. Though I am not religious in a traditional sense, I find the presence of these natural objects through chaos mathematics , with parallels to religious icons in Buddhist and other religions, deeply mysterious.
I'm going to create a web site for them and maybe a coffee table book.
See here for my newest discovery .

Like anybody, many secondary interests but ( beside Astronomy ) these are the things I'm most passionate about.

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent thread!

Great to see different sides of the people we see here every day. Keep 'em coming.

[bloodhound31]

Just about everything I used to do has been taken up by astronomy, astrophotography and Christian pursuits.

Happy with that though...

Machining (metal and wood)
Robotics
Artistic painting (all subjects and mediums)
Sculpture (wood, clay, plaster, whatever I could get my hands on)
Model making (Aircraft and spacecraft)
Caving
Canyoning
Abseiling
Freefall parachuting
Scuba diving (only go once a year now at Christmas)
Water skiing
Snow skiing
Horse riding
Archery
Shooting
Camping & bushwalking
Ornithology (Bird Study)
Bullet collecting
Lapidary (Gemstones)
Sci fi movies

Looking at my past, maybe it's time to slow down while I'm ahead anyway.

Baz.

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

1) Dog breeding (Pugs)

2) 4WD touring (my escape)

3) Photography (my passion)

4) Hiking & camping (my exercise - rare these days)

5) Being "Farmer Joe" at Omaroo

6) Metal/wood work - designing/constructing anything mechanical

I should have included 4wd touring - but been a while since the last long 4wd trip and I love the getting into remote areas . Even been a while since I took the trusty Pajero onto the beach.
The Kimberleys are fantastic !!!!

[Ian Robinson]

Originally Posted by Glenhuon

Quote from Timelord
Knife making-- mainly forged blades have my own home smithy complete with homemade gas powered forge and anvil--what a joy it is to behold a forged Damascus blade! Hard work but extremely rewarding.
Home brewing beer.
Bowhunting and Field archery--barebow--that is with no sights just instinctive aiming what a buzz!

Gee, must go with the Archery, I had a mate many years ago who shared the same hobbies, made the best brews and wines I've ever tasted.

Bill

Do you make your own strings ? arrows ?
Did that when I was a kid and a teenager. Wasn't impressed with shop bought bow strings and arrows so I borrowed some books and learnt how to make my own. Much better !!!

Much the same as my fishing rods , which are mostly home built . I can get a blank and the runners and a winchmount and sandspike , and do me a rod in under a day , two or three if you include time involved to put a few coats of two pack epoxy on the bindings. I am fancy these days , have a gadget that turns the rod automatically for me - great for getting even and smooth epoxy on the rod.
Works out lots cheaper than shop bought rods, and well you just can't buy the kinds of rods I use unless you get them custom built (costs lots of these $$$$) or you do it yourself (doing it yourself means you can get perfect runner spacing and have the rod built to suit) and it's not as hard to do as looks.

[astronut (John)]

There are other hobbies?

[TrevorW]

Originally Posted by astronut

There are other hobbies?

and your point

reading these it's strikes me how the amatuer astronomer appears to be the modern renaissance man/woman