Great new novel product is now available to BBQ gurus, which just spice up an ordinary BBQ into a glamour pro chef. Inventor  Leslie Haywood, inventor of  the Grill Charm, is extreme passionate about her product, and i reckon this great product, and has a home in any BBQ enthusiasts cook set.

Grill Charms™ are a dime-sized solid stainless steel charms are placed in your food BEFORE grilling. The stems are serrated to hold securely while grilling, moving and flipping. Grill Charm™ your food PRIOR to cooking to distinguish spices and flavors, steak temperatures, or to avoid health or allergy issues. When dinner comes off the grill everyone knows which one is theirs!

• No more cutting into 5 steaks to try to find the rare one
• No more offering only mild BBQ because too few guests like it spicy
• No more confusion with health or allergy concerns
• Serrated to stay in securely while grilling, flipping and moving
• Made of high quality heat conducting stainless steel
• Food cooks evenly around charm
• Stress free grilling for grill master and guests
• Works with Burgers, Chicken, Steak, Pork, Fish and more!

Took demo units down to Cape Town, South Africa to check out the new H2O Audio Amphibix Armband and Surge Headphones.

Location: Big Bay, Blouberg, Cape Town / Langebaan, Cape Town.

Equipment test: H2O Audio Amphibix Medium Armband and Surge Headphones

iPod: iPodtouch

Summary:

Armband was very comfortable, but getting orientation on arm, bit of playing around. Resolution through plastic screen was good, however turning iTouch on and off proved to be a bit tricky. Clearly smaller iPods this would be easier. Installing iPod into casing was dead easy and simple.

Surge headphones were comfortable, and sound great. Testing sound under water, over 2-3 feet in depth, becomes a bit crackled.

Swimming is very comfortable, however need to get orientation on armband and headphones to suit your own particular swimming style.

Kite Surfing, was great and alot of fun. However probably not the best activity to use with, only due to fact that you loose all sound of wind. Amazing how this effects your coordination!

Got a few other mates to give them a whorl, and all impressed. Got some funny looks on the beach thou, always prone to breakout it a song or boogie while your favourite music is playing.

All in all great gear, novel, and quality wise – big thumbs up.

p.s. The picture is not of me, cannot surf without a kite, and I have no hair! Courtesy of H2O Audio.

From February 1, Australia wide, existing analogue EPIRBS (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons) will no longer be monitored by global Cospas-Sarat satellite system.

Only by chance aircraft will pick up old beacon signals.

It will now be compulsory for mariners traveling more than 2 nautical miles offshore to carry new 406 beacons.

Australian Marritime Safety Authority say that switch over to 406 beacons was made by International marine authorities some 8 years ago. Reason for switch is that it is smarter, faster and safer with a global accuracy
within 5 km. If your EPIRB has a built in GPS, your location can be pinpointed to within 120 metres.
An EPIRB’s digital signal identifies its owner and may be detected within 3 minutes of activation.

Problem in the industry thou is that supply off new 406 beacons has been very slow, with retail stockists only really having reasonable stock numbers mid season 2008.

Registration stickers are issued by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and provide EPIRB owners and marine inspectors with proof of current registration. The sticker will note the HexID/UIN of the beacon, its registration expiry date (two years from date of issue) and boat name or owner’s name depending on type of beacon and use. This registration sticker must be affixed to the beacon.

The HexID or Unique Identity Number (UIN) is the unique code programmed into each 406 MHz EPIRB and transmitted when the beacon is activated. When registering an EPIRB, this code must be included on the registration form as it is the only code that links the individual EPIRB to the registration database. Without the HexID the beacon cannot be registered. The HexID is 15 characters long and is made up of hexadecimal numbers (0-9) and letters (A-F). The code can be found on the label of all 406 MHz EPIRBs.

Registration of new EPIRB can be done at Australian maritime Authority

Popular 406 beacon brands are GME and new Kannad. Units are pricey, and with current exchange rate free fall, units have increased in price in 2009. Would it not be lovely if Marine Safety ran an initiative and subsidised are rebate..

Good Skippers know the importance on EPIRBS, so best all you old salty dogs don’t get caught out and get on board with 406.

World leader in travel, Tripadvisor, surveyed 3000 American travellers and one trend and fact has become more clear – more people are getting out and experiencing the outdoors.

73% of respondents indicacted that they plan to visit or go on some level of outdoor or camping trip.

53% intended to go hiking or trekking, while 47% plan to embark of some adventure type activity or extreme sport.

These percentages and numbers are a large increase on survey done the previous year.

2007 results were:

Visit camping resort: 62%

Go hiking: 50%

Outdoor Activity: 40%

Go cycling: 28%

Extreme sports: 8%

This is good news for outdoor and camping retailers, and companies in outdoor accommodation.

With the world now more green focused, not surprising we starting to notice our great outdoors.

FHM model Erin McNaught shows of the H2O Audio and Aquapac waterproof range.

H2O Audio is becoming extremely popular, as people become addicted to their ipods, itouch and iPhones. Casings are made for all mp3 and ipod range, with all cases having a universal jack, so any H2O headsets will fit any case size.

Aquapac is also a remarkable product. Truly 100% waterproof, and come in wide range of case and pouch sizes to suit a wide range of equipment. Aquapac is true quality, as there is a lot on the market that is waterproof, but does not have ruggedness and durability of the Aquapac.

These days, kitesurfers are finding these two products the real rage, and making the experience even more thrilling.  Give these producst a go, you will love it!

Yes, another new word derived from the current world economic crisis we face. “Staycation”

Defined by Wikipedia as:

A staycation (or stay-cation, or stacation) is a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions. Staycations have achieved high popularity in current hard economic times in which unemployment levels and petrol prices are high.

Common activities of a staycation include use of the backyard pool, visits to local parks and museums, and attendance at local festivals.

With the Aus dollar been hammered and increased unemployment looming, people are looking at just staying local, and spending hard earned money at home.

Trouble is, what do we achieve by this, staying at home? Well, yes, we save money and enjoy and experience local attractions. The problem being that in our modern world that we live in, mobiles still ring, emails get sent and answered, cable tv still looms as our ultimate distractions. Not very relaxing and enjoyable after a while.

Our country we call Home – Australia or for any country which you call home, these tight economic times afford us a great opportunity to explore our local wilderness and outdoors – in our own backyards, that is natures backyard.

Camping is relatively still inexpensive activity, and brings family, and friends together.

Camp it up I say, you never know, you just might discover you own little “Camping de rêve”

When you’re headed into the backcountry or traveling abroad in unfamiliar territory, pack the SPOT Satellite Messenger for worldwide satellite tracking and emergency alert capabilities.

Instructional Video for Spot Owners.

Spot Satellite Messenger is a product you are going to want to look out for. This device allows you to communicate from anywhere in the world.  A must for outdoor adventurers, sportsman and campers.

Never has the beach been so comfortable….

Owner of Sand Wedge, Kath Drayton from the Gold Coast has come up with a unique product for the summer beach market, The Sandwedge Bean Bag.

This is no run of the mill bean bag either. The Sand Wedge is compact and light made from heavyweight 100% polyester microfibre, ideal for the beach as sand simply taps off and if wet, it dries in no time at all. It’s a back pack, a beach bag, beach seat and sun lounge all in one. It makes a fantastic gift for anyone who loves the beach and outdoors, and its uses are only limited by your imagination.

Comes in a great assortment of colours and can be purchased with of without fill.  It has handy back carry  straps so is dead easy to carry around.

Should be a hit this summer.

Went away a few weeks ago camping to a stunning location, North of Perth WA, Moore River – Guilderton. We set off up river and set up camp about 3km upstream.

Three dads, and three Six year olds….and a few bottles of red wine. Day one ended with evening fish with kids, and the bream were all over the place. Great reflection of the health of this river system. As the stars appear above, melted marshmallows and red wine were in full force.

I woke the next morning and peered outside my tent, to find our boat high and dry. Initial thoughts were too much red wine again…refocus, but alas,  the Moore River had burst its banks and poured itself into the ocean. We had lost about 1.5m of water height..

Anyways, back to the point of the post. One element prominent in all camping ventures i have embarked on in Aus, those damm FLYS are everywhere. From Sunrise to Sunset, the old Aussie Wave – back and forth the whole day. The are immune to any spray, and they can literally drive you wild.

I thought is had learnt my lesson from last trip up North, but alas.

Take a Screen house or Screen Dome!

They are very portable, easy to erect and man, make you feel like you are in LA-LA land. Scouts honour this is now, second to my oztent and red wines, the next essential must take item on my pack list.

You can dine in peace, creates shade, great ventilation, and even fly options for waterproofing. Will not ever leave home without it again.

Take that you Fly!