Wednesday, July 28, 2010

International Driver's Permit - RAC rort

Going overseas?
Intend driving whilst overseas?
Naturally you would want to be a responsible Australian Tourist and make the appropriate arrangements to ensure you are legally able to do so.

The cost of doing the right thing is going to depend on where you live in the country.

The only places which are authorised by the Australian Government to issued International Driving Permits are the Royal Automobile Clubs (RAC’s)

An International Driver’s permit in Queensland will cost any applicant $25
Victoria will cost any applicant $32.50
South Australia - $30 for any applicant
Northern Territory - $30 for any applicant.
New South Wales - $31 members and $46 for non members
Tasmania - $25 members and $35 for non members.
Western Australia - $30 members and $50 for non members.

The RAC preforms no other duty or service other than to fill in the document and process it. Obviously this is harder to do in some states than in others.

It should be a regulated set fee across the country and as it is only a "one off" standard processing fee I can not see the justification in the discrepancies other than selective abuse of their authority.

Fortunately you can download the application and send it off to the RACQ. (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland) They obviously are more concerned about responsible driving rather than rorting travellers.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Decisions. Decisions

I've finally bit the bullet & made what I think is a substantial investment with Copic Markers.

I chose Copic Sketch Markers as opposed to the Ciao & Originals. I'm hoping they will be more versatile for paper craft. However choosing which colours was a more arduous task. I printed out the entire colour range & then tried to decide which basic colours I would use the most. From there I decided on getting at least 3 shades in that colour range. In the end I bought 43 markers including a blender marker but am missing a “red” range. (They didn’t have the reds I wanted in stock).


I scoured the internet both locally & internationally for the best price & found http://www.oozak.com/ to beat them all. Together with the delivery charges (which is determined by weight) I managed to justify the purchase to myself.

Rusty at Oozak’s was very patient and extremely helpful with my enquiries and all my questions were addressed within 24hrs (Take into account the time difference in the US). Very impressive.

Can't wait to use them.....



Sunday, July 25, 2010

Copic Markers

For some reason, I've got it into my head that I may need Copic Markers. I've always thought that Copic's were similar to Marvy La Plume markers - wrong! They are very expensive but when I see results others get by using them..... I'm thinking maybe it's the way to go.
If you want a really great run down this is the best explanation I've found to date that covers everything in a logical and objective manner check this site out. Makeesha did a great job :
http://www.makeeshabyl.com.au/index.php/category/tutorials/copic-markers/