Panaustraliana Tour - Celebrating 2014 Chinese New 'Horse' Year at Sanctuary Cove with the Davosa

Okay, here is my first non-PAM watch post.

In May last year, Panaustraliana Tour was kicked off by one of the most respected watchmaker in Sydney - Nick Hacko.

It is about sending a watch (Davosa) on an Australian Tour and we (the mailing list members) have given the opportunity to be part of the journey. Last week I received an email from Nick asking if there is anyone who are interested to host the watch for end of January/early February. I expressed my interest to host the watch for Chinese New Year celebration during the weekend and I got a prompt reply saying the watch is on its way to Brisbane - wohooo!! :)

Here is a quick snapshot of the Davosa! a Vintage looking watch :)

On CNY eve, I took the watch on a Brisbane city sightseeing tour with me as the tour guide :)

The Davosa beneath the red lantern stars at Queen St mall!

The main gate entrance of Queen Street mall in Brisbane CBD

Outside of the Conrad Treasury Casino heritage building

The watch met the recently upgraded Brisbane City Hall!

CNY eve dinner at Little Nyonya restaurant

On the CNY day, we (the watch and I) visited the lovely Sanctuary Cove Marine Village for a celebration and watch the famous lion dance.

Before the lion dance start - lion's head "helmet"

The yellow golden lion entertained guests at the Dragon Cove restaurant

The lion "jumped" and ate the cabbage

The lion was so hungry and tried to eat the davosa :P

The green lion turn to dance in front of the crowd

Green lion busting some moves!

The lion loves hong bao (red packet money - placed on the ground)

Full of energy!

The sleepy move!

Tandem dance - what a cool stance!

Both lions bow to the crowd to show respect and say thank you.

The famous Guan Yu's Guandao dance "Green Dragon Crescent Blade" (青龍偃月刀)"

Yes that is me! :)

The lion dance music crew

Lastly - The crowd!! So cheerful!

I really had good days with the watch and looking forward to spend more time with the Davosa in near future :)

Brissy Boys Last Minute Mini GTG at Crankstar - 30th January 2014

It has been quite a while since we (the Brisbane Ristis) get together and chat to one another about their life stories. So, thanks to Win and Wayne for organising today's lunch!

The lunch took place at a cool bicycle/coffee shop in Woollongabba called Crankstar. 

First off, the shop has some cool full-of-history bicycles displayed in the shop. Some of these custom bicycles costs more than $10,000 (easy!). 

Front entrance of the bike shop

I think the owner told me that one of these was used in the Olympics???

This bike tyres cost around $4000!

Bike apparel

2008 Beijing Paralympics BVI 4000m Pursuit Bronze

Crankstar t-shirt for sale! & custom bike frame

Okay I think that is enough for the shop tour! :) 

So the attendees for today's lunch: Winston, Wayne, Sunny, Hammer, Grant (short lunch no photo - next time?) and myself. Unfortunately Kevin W couldn't join us otherwise we'll be hearing some stories from his recent trip to SIHH 2014!

Wayne, Me, Hammer, Sunny - Winston was the photographer!

Oh there is Winston! :)

Look at Wayne with his exceptional camera awareness! :)

Okay, now into the watches!

I brought my regular 359, Wayne got his 104 on, Win wore the base 0, Sunny had his new second edition "FU" 498 and Hammer brought his 532 prototype, 140 and the ceramic sub 508!

The table shot - 532, 104, 498, 000, 140, 359, 508

508 - look at the very yellow patina dial! very gorgeous! I LIKE!!

140 - 18k yellow gold with carbon dial! sexy!

532, 359. 508 resting on a very good read book Vintage Panerai

We spent about 2.5 hours talked pretty much everything - the usual mates talk! we talked about watches (obviously), how to fix scratches on a plexi, watch restoration process, sport cars, bicycles, iphone cases with military grade material, Hammer's new bike, how Hammer got lost because of his new high-tech Sat-Nav in his car (hehehe lol), talked more about work, kids, family stuff and bunch of other random stuff that need to be rated :)

Overall, I think it was a great meet up. It was a good way to step out of the office, get fresh air and catchup with mates! Looking forward to another one soon!

Just want to share this story to all Ristis! Mates Gr8!