Filling in time between meetings

Garry and I have just completed a business trip to New York.  It’s been almost five years since I was last there and even longer for Garry.  We scheduled our visit to the Big Apple as part of a stopover while en route to the annual toy fair in Nuremberg.  The two suppliers we caught up here weren’t going to be in Germany so we did well to kill two birds with one stone.

Garry was excited to finally see New York in winter.  He was praying for snow while we were there but the best we got was freezing rain.  He was rather miffed when the city subsequently experienced one its biggest snowstorms in more than a decade less shortly after our visit.

In between meetings we also managed to see a few of New York’s famous sights.  We spent Saturday afternoon visiting the Statue of Liberty.  I took my parents out to Liberty Island in 2012 but Garry had never been out there.  We picked a good day to go as the crowds weren’t too bad and the weather was relatively mild on the island.  

We then finished our afternoon with a stroll through the High Line park.  This is clever location.  The park is built over the derelict structure of an abandoned elevated railway.  It weaves its way for more than a dozen blocks along the west side of Manhattan.  It even passes through the middle of several high rise buildings.

We also booked pre-breakfast tour of the new 9/11 Memorial Museum.  This is a private tour conducted before the venue opens to the public.  For almost an hour seven of us, plus a guide, had the entire place to ourselves.  It was very special to experience this poignant place without the bustle of a crowd.

The museum is very well done.  It strikes the perfect balance between recording history and capturing story of individual lives impacted by this tragic event.  We found it very moving.  For me it added another dimension to the events I’d witnessed live on TV from a Hong Kong hotel room all those years ago. 

Perhaps the most extraordinary artifacts are the impact zone pillars.  These mark the location where the hijacked aircraft hit each of the twin towers.  It was astonishing to think that these pillars were ultimately identified from within the mound of debris that smothered the site to a depth of 15 metres or more. However, one of the most spine-chilling images in the museum is that of a lone woman waving for help from the gaping hole that surrounded these mangled pillars.  She did not survive.

During the weekend, Garry and I found time to catch a train up to Greenwich, Connecticut to join my former Text 100 CEO and her family for dinner on Saturday evening. Aedhmar and I haven't seen each other for several years. I was touched that three of her adult children came home especially to see me. It was also my first opportunity to see the amazing renovation Aedhmar has completed since my last visit in 2012. Let's just say we ate too much, drank too much, and enjoyed an unscheduled sleepover on one of her sofas.

Garry and I were also entertained by our suppliers.  Their generosity allowed us to enjoy dinner one evening at a fantastic restaurant and take in a Broadway show.  We saw Josh Groban perform in the Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at the Imperial Theatre.  We had seats on the stage itself which meant we found ourselves immersed in the drama itself.  It was a wonderful experience.

The Wonderful World of Hong Kong

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've visited Hong Kong many times over the last 15 years. Its been a regular destination for business trips and a convenient stopover for numerous long haul flights between Europe and Australia.  Over the years its become harder and harder to find anything new to enjoy in the city whenever I find myself stuck in a hotel room for days on end.

I recently flew to Hong Kong for three nights to attend the annual Hong Kong Toy Fair. It was literally a flying visit to catch up with several key suppliers and search for new products.  I flew to Hong Kong via Melbourne on Saturday morning.  This rather unusual route let me to take advantage of a discount Premium Economy airfare and save the company several hundred dollars.

I use to fly to Hong Kong via Melbourne regularly for business. For many years this route offered the only night flight into Hong Kong with Qantas. However, it was never a very pleasant trip. The Qantas lounge in Melbourne is the worst of any capital city in Australia. This meant that the late night transfer was never much fun regardless of whether you sat it out in lounge or at the departure gate.

I had originally planned to have dinner on the Sunday evening with one of our suppliers.  However, the meeting was rescheduled shortly after I booked my ticket. As a result, I found myself in Hong Kong with a day to spare.  After a few hours of pounding the laptop in the name of customer service I finally ventured out to explore two local venues I'd never visited.

My itinerary for the day included Lamma Island followed by an evening at Hong Kong Disneyland. These are probably two of Hong Kong's most well known tourist traps so its probably not surprising its taken me so long to finally visit them.  Lamma Island is famous for its seafood restaurants.  The island has two clusters of dining establishments; located on opposite sides of the island.

The smaller of these two locations is Sok Kwu Wan. Boats from Hong Kong island dock here less frequently which means its often a quieter, less crowded place to dine.  I decided to give it a try rather than head for the crowds at Shue Wan. However, upon arrival I must admit I wasn't overly impressed by any of the dining venues. On a whim I decided to walk across the island and try my luck in Shue Wan.  

The cross island walk takes about 1.5 hours and covers a distance of about 8km. Unlike most "bush walks" the track is actually a concrete paved trail for most of its length. Much of the track is shaded which makes it a less arduous trek in Hong Kong's often steamy climate.  It also offers plenty of scenic vantage points which by Hong Kong standards are relatively free of humanity's visual clutter.

As I reached Shue Wan I found myself equally unimpressed by the dining options available.  I'm sure if you're a local you know which restaurants offer the best seafood.  However, for the uninitiated its main street filled with ramshackle venues simply felt like the perfect breeding ground for a nasty dose of botulism.  I decided to skip a late lunch and try my luck with an early dinner at Disneyland.

They say Hong Kong Disneyland is the Disney Corporation's smallest theme park.  However, my visit seemed to be perfectly timed as the crowds were relatively light.  Waiting times for rides were generally less than ten minutes and I never felt jostled by the surrounding crowd.  I had a wonderful evening reliving some of my favourite Disneyland rides. The only disappointment?  It's A Small World was closed for a private function. I simply love this uber kitsch ride with its stereotype cultural figurines and clunky robotic icons. 

I stayed in the park until the night time parade down Main Street, followed by the popular firework's display over Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was an iconic experience that left me with a childish grin from ear to ear. I still remember watching the opening credits for the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings. Tinkerbell use to fly around the castle setting off fireworks with a wave of her magic wand. Disneyland's display does a pretty decent job of bringing this cartoon overlay to life.

Riviera Living

Last year Garry and I stayed a night at the Ramada Resort Hotel in Ballina while on a short business trip to Mullumbimby. We loved the venue so much it was the obvious choice for a return visit during our Pacific Highway road trip. It was also a convenient place to base ourselves again as we had a follow-up meeting scheduled with the previous owner of our thriving toy company. 18 months into this venture we'd agreed to sell back a small product category that's no longer core to the business.

We spent three nights in Ballina.  This gave us ample time to spend a full day in Mullumbimby meeting the former owner of Artiwood.  The 42km journey had improved significantly since our last visit.  A new dual carriageway section of the Pacific Highway had opened a few weeks before our arrival making the journey easier than ever.  Then, with our paperwork signed and a review of the business completed, we finally headed back to Ballina in the last afternoon.

The last night of 2016 was spent enjoying delicious local fish and chips while looking over the Richmond River. Sadly there were no fireworks scheduled in Ballina so midnight passed without celebration.  However, the following morning during my leisurely breakfast on our riverfront balcony I was entertained by a pod of dolphins chasing a school of fish up the river.  It was magical moment!

We then spent two nights staying with friends on their lifestyle block near Alstonville.  It was a delight to catch up with Adam and Liz. We kicked back with a leisurely stroll around their property and a refreshing walk along the local beach. Adam and Liz really are living the dream. Before we knew it, the time had come to head back south. I also had to be back in Sydney by Friday as I had flights booked for a business trip to Hong Kong the following morning.

We decided to drive as far south as we could then stop for a couple of nights to rest and relax before tackling the traffic heading into Sydney. On a whim we decided to book ourselves into the Ibis Styles at Harrington Waters near Forster. This proved to be a clever decision. It took more than six hours of driving before we finally reached the venue in the early evening. Garry and I were both over it by the time we arrived.

However, the long day meant we'd put behind us all of the Pacific Highway that's yet to be converted to dual carriageway.  We were also excited to watch the car's odometer click over 4000kms.  We drove the vehicle off the lot 15 months ago with less than 5km on the clock. We still think its the best vehicle we've ever owned.

Harrington Waters was truly idyllic. Our hotel room looked out over the Manning River where pelicans and other bird life spent their time fishing directly opposite our first floor balcony. Harrington Rivers was a hidden gem.  Its been quietly transformed into a upmarket retirement community with some superb facilities and features some amazing waterfront homes. Our hotel was next door to a lively Irish Pub where we ate a complimentary breakfast.  A compact nine hole golf course was also within walking distance.

We loved the location so much we actually spent time talking with the local real estate agent about investment properties in the area. We're clearly use to Sydney house prices.  The cost a very decent homes in the area was barely a fifth the cost of our Sydney apartment.  While we're not in the market for a retirement property just yet, the location and its facilities have probably set the benchmark for anything we might consider in the future.

My way or the Pacific Highway?

In 1996 the New South Wales State Government announced plans for converting the heavily used Pacific Highway into a dual carriageway highway between Sydney and Brisbane.  The original plan called for completion of the upgrade by 2016.  Twenty year later less than 70% of the route has been upgraded.  However, construction on the remaining 230kms is finally underway.

The completed works have dramatically transformed the highway.  A once hair raising drive along the nation's Pacific coast has been transformed into a relatively relaxing long distance journey.  I last drove the highway to Brisbane in 1991.  It was an exhausting experience. Sections of the highway were truly terrifying. An endless procession of large articulated trucks crowded the road and swept past in the opposing lane with a proximity that left your heart pounding.

For the New Year period Garry and I decided to take our "new" car on a road trip. We mapped out an itinerary that took us as far north as Ballina and Mullumbimby.  Our trip saw us make two overnight stops while going north (and one extended stop when we head south again).

We began our journey on Boxing Day. Garry decided an early departure was critical if we were to avoid being caught up in post-Christmas traffic chaos.  As a result, we found ourselves on the road shortly after 7am.  Garry's strategy proved the right one. Our passage through Sydney's northern suburbs passed faster than expected.  In fact we didn't encounter a single line of crawling traffic until we reached the inevitable bottleneck crossing of the Hunter River near Hexham.

Our first night was booked into the delightful Eco Cottages at Bombah Point in the Mydall Lakes National Park. This place was a real gem. The complex consists of a series of brilliantly designed boutique eco-friendly cottages nestled among gum trees on a sunny hillside. It a luxurious bush escape that made it the perfect place for resetting our watches to vacation time.

Despite the remote location we found plenty to do.  We enjoyed brunch on the water's edge at the Tea Gardens Boatshed before heading further up the coast to spend an afternoon walking to the Seal Rocks Lighthouse. At dusk we ventured out to watch bush wallabies bounding around the cottage complex's small orchard.  However, this wasn't the only wildlife on show.  We also received daytime visits from a very fat, happy goanna and a bush turkey.

Our second night was spent in Coffs Harbour. We booked ourselves into the Big Windmill Comfort Inn. This was another highlight. We enjoyed dinner in beer garden at the motel's German themed restaurant. The food was excellent but the portions were small for the price we paid. We walked the boat harbour and climbed to the summit of Muttonbird Hill for a wonderful vista along the Pacific Coast.

The following morning we spent a couple of entertaining hours at the local Marineland complex. Where else can you practice playing "catch" with a dolphin?  It then time for a classic photo at the Big Banana before we headed for Ballina, our northernmost destination.

Click here for highlights from our New Years Eve in Ballina.

Work, work, work

Loyal readers may have noticed that I haven't posted regularly for over a year. The reason for this is simple. In June last year, Garry and I acquired Artiwood, a boutique toy importer and wholesaler with a strong eco-friendly philosophy. It took five months of intensive negotiations, starting in February, to finally do the deal. Since then we've been working crazy hours including most weekends.

It took us three years to find the company. I’d almost given up hope of ever finding a truly well-run small business that, (a) Garry and I could afford, (b) that we liked enough to buy and, (c) that played to our collective strengths and passions. Artiwood is probably about as close to ideal as we could have imagined.

In the three years before we acquired it, the company grew more than 40% annually. According to the previous owner, he wanted to sell simply because it had become too successful. As he tells the story, the rapid growth adversely impacted his laid-back, alternative lifestyle. At the time, he lived in a communal rainforest retreat in the hills near Byron Bay.

However, despite his remote location, he’d set the business up with a highly outsourced infrastructure.  The warehouse function was outsourced, as were marketing, IT and accounting activities. It could basically be operated from anywhere in Australia (or overseas). As a result, it was relatively easy for Garry and I to transfer its operations to Sydney. We now run it remotely from a home office in our apartment.

We also put the former owner on contract for a year to help get up to speed on the toy industry, transition existing business relationships and help source new suppliers. Hiring him part-time also enabled us to negotiate a better selling price and reduce our stamp duty. He ultimately decided to exit the business early, and left in March, thus saving us a few additional dollars.

It’s been an intense period, to say the least. In year to 30 June, we grew Artiwood another 29%, with record growth in nine of the previous 12 months. We’ve also launched a new CRM system, added a new accounting system, and introduced new product safety procedures. We're now hard at work developing a new, modern e-commerce website, and refreshing its corporate identity.

If that wasn't enough, we’ve also published a new catalogue, built in an entirely new application, (and added 20 pages to it), exhibited at three Melbourne trade shows, plus another in Sydney, kicked off a monthly email marketing program, added a new part-time salesperson, and done all of this while enduring the usual learning curve that comes with owning a new business.

UPDATE: 20 July 2017

Almost a year later than planned, we've finally launched our new website. The initial response from retailers, suppliers and industry colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive.

The vanishing man

I’ve been quietly transforming my health this year. In March I received an early-stage Type 2 Diabetes blood sugar test result. I’m sure regular readers of this blog have quietly noted the weight gain that Garry and I experienced while living in the UK. In time, this weight has taken a toll on my health including bouts of Gout. However, the early-stage diabetes diagnosis was still a shock. Grand illusions aside, it’s clear I’m no longer bulletproof.

I decided I wasn’t going to roll over and accept defeat. Instead, I began an intensive web search to map out my options. By chance, I stumbled across research recently published by Newcastle University in the UK. It was discovered that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed by an extreme low-calorie diet.

In an early-stage clinical trial of 11 people conducted in 2011, all reversed their diabetes by drastically cutting their food intake to just 600 calories daily for two months. And three months later, seven remained free of diabetes. In essence, participants who rapidly lost approximately 15% of their initial body weight restored their health.

Given these stunning results, I decided to undertake my own clinical trial. I was also encouraged to learn that my personal circumstances put me in a sweet spot for success. That is, my diagnosis was recent, the weight I needed to lose was within an ideal range and my age correlated with the best results reported by the Newcastle trial. In other words, my chances of successfully reversing my recent diagnosis appeared high.

I reviewed their research findings in detail and gathered as much information as possible about the diet program used in the clinical trial.  This included a helpful book based on the study's findings by Dr Michael Mosley published last December. However, I made one key change to my diet plan. In the study, participants substituted one daily meal for a weight-loss protein shake. I decided this wasn’t sustainable and reworked the diet to include three normal meals.

Every week I prepared a weekly menu spreadsheet, tracking the calories in every food item. I tried to average 750 calories daily as defined by the food labels on the products I bought (or calorie counts I found online). I also managed my intake to ensure I ate at least 67-70gm of protein daily - the recommended daily minimum for an adult male. My spreadsheet also charted my weight and Body Mass Index (BMI). I then officially weighed myself before breakfast every Sunday morning and recorded my weight for the week.

I trialled the diet for seven weeks, plus an additional three weeks transitioning back to normal eating. Over ten weeks I lost 18.6 kg, or more than 19% of my body weight. My BMI went from 30.2 (Obese) to 24.3 (Healthy). I lost 13cm (5 inches) around my waist (nothing fits in my wardrobe anymore). My blood sugar reading dropped from 7.3 mmol/L (7+ is considered diabetic) to 5.5 (the top end of normal). In other words, I’ve successfully reversed my early-stage diagnosis. I'm no longer diabetic.

In all honesty, if I’d known that a diet like this would be so effective and be so easy to do (I didn’t really feel all that hungry after the first 4-5 days) I’d have given it a go three years ago. My results were better than the Newcastle patients and six weeks after finishing my transition to normal eating my weight remains stable. This diet really works!

My weekly menu planning took several hours to prepare on a Sunday morning. However, it really kept me focused on the program and challenged me to identify creative substitutes for keeping meals interesting and varied. This exercise kept me honest and made last-minute changes to the diet plan easier. I could quickly work out how to shuffle my eating plan if the day got busy or a social event cropped up.

For example, I travelled to New Zealand in June but still managed to maintain my diet. Planning my menu also got easier as I went. Within a fortnight, I had a two-week eating plan that I could start to cut and paste daily menus, making it easier to build next week’s menu.

I also got very good at reading food labels and identifying substitute products or brands that allowed me to either have larger portions of the same food or use the calories I eliminated to add another tasty item to my weekly diet plan. For example, I found a whole grain bread with 8 calories less per slice. This meant I could increase the amount of avocado or yeast spread on my breakfast toast, or let me grate some parmesan cheese over my scrambled eggs.

Likewise, some types of fish have fewer calories than others. Choosing the lowest calorie fish (with a reasonably high protein count) let me increase the weight of steamed vegetables I could include in the same meal. I soon learned I could fill a plate with healthy vegetables and end up with a large meal of tasty food with surprisingly few calories.

I also discovered plenty of low-calorie meal ideas that stopped my food from feeling bland or monotonous. For example, I started roasting capsicum and asparagus at dinner time for a tasty addition to the plate (coated with sprayed oil to keep the calories down). I found a very low-fat Feta cheese to add to salads to give them a salty/savoury favour burst (and increase my protein count). I swapped real balsamic vinegar for a diet dressing version – same flavour but fewer calories (or more spoonfuls for the same calorie count making for a moister salad).  

Since ending the diet, I’ve continued avoiding white carbs (including white bread, pasta, potatoes etc); especially at dinner time. I'm not only keeping the weight off but it may be helping me lose a few more pounds. I weighed myself before breakfast today. I was shocked to see my weight at a new low since starting this whole exercise (76 kg). Five months ago, I was almost 95 kgs (and this was down from a peak of at least +100kg last year).

UPDATE: 7 December
Five months after completing the Newcastle Diet my blood sugar levels remain stable. My latest test results show a level of 5.6 mmol/L. They’re basically unchanged since my last test on 28 June.

UPDATE: 2 April 2017
I've done another round of the Blood Sugar Diet to strip off a little more fat. I repeated the diet for another three weeks in March. As of today, my weight has dropped to 73kg. I feel this gives me a little more margin for ongoing weight maintenance while maintaining a healthy BMI.

UPDATE: 17 May 2017
My blood sugar levels hit a new low this month. My latest test results show a level of 5.2 mmol/L. I've also stopped having gout attacks. I have more energy and I'm sleeping better at night. Garry says I've also stopped snoring. I’m living testament that the Newcastle Blood Sugar Diet really works. My doctor cannot believe the results I’ve achieved.

Belated birthday brunch

Garry and I have enjoyed brunch at the highly acclaimed Icebergs Dining Room & Bar on Bondi Beach this month. Our meal was funded by Hamish and Matt. They gave me a dining gift voucher for my 50th Birthday last year. After much talk and little action, Garry and I finally got our act together and booked a meal before it expired.

This was the first time at Icebergs for both of us. The restaurant has long been on our "must-do" list as it's received rave reviews since opening its doors in 2002. The venue sits on the top floor of the Icebergs Surf Life Saving Club overlooking iconic Bondi Beach. The location alone is worth the experience.

Sadly, Icebergs didn't wow us.  The service was a little sterile. Likewise, brunch probably didn't show the kitchen at its best. We also discovered that our brunch package included just one barista coffee each. This wasn't disclosed up front. As a result, we were stunned when we were hit with a bill for almost $30 for two additional coffees we'd ordered during our meal.

Despite the disappointment of a petty coffee bill, we couldn't have picked a better day to visit Bondi. The winter sun was dazzling, and the beach looked spectacular.  After brunch, we made the most of the weather and did the coastal walk to Bronte and back before making our way home.

Frigid Melbourne

We’re back in Melbourne for business this week. We've flown down in August for the last two years to spend a week exhibiting our company at the AGHA Gift Fair. This event is split between two venues; some exhibitors are based at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) in town, while the rest, including Artiwood, are based at the less salubrious Showgrounds near Flemington Racecourse.

Several contractors have joined Garry and me to help set up and staff our stand. This includes Gaby and Robbie whom we fly in from Mullumbimby, plus Emily and her Mum who coordinate our organic plush toy section. It’s a busy week that sees us spend the entire day on-site at the showgrounds before returning each night to our Airbnb apartment. Gaby and Robbie are also staying with us.

For this event, I’ve rented a three-bedroom rooftop penthouse in Brunswick. The apartment features a massive outdoor balcony. However, it’s bitterly cold in Melbourne (and we’ve discovered that there’s no gas in the BBQ) so we’ve spent very little time enjoying this spectacular outdoor space. 

I must admit that the two days we spent setting up our stand weren't much fun either. The venue's loading dock doors remained open during set up. As a result, the ambient temperature inside the building was as cold, if not cooler than outside. It was a bitter 5C when we arrived on site shortly after 9:00am on Friday. The daytime high then briefly hit 13C, before dropping to 10C around 5:00pm.

This apartment is the first Airbnb rental I've booked. I finally yielded to market forces and registered with the app in April. Last year I booked us into a tiny serviced apartment that wasn't memorable by any stretch of the imagination.