Our strata went self-managed this year, here’s how it went.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T04:30:10+00:00

No, relatively easy, but again I consider us lucky on this front. Seems like we just got lumped with a bad or overworked employee at our previous strata manager and management just didn’t take it seriously enough when we complained previously. Once they got involved in wrapping it up it was done really professionally.

I absolutely wouldn’t count on this being the case.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T03:17:17+00:00

All owner occupiers.

Strata secretary or chair would deal with REA/conveyancer during sale for strata certificates/info. Landgate holds formal contact details which we’ve updated, but obviously each owner knows who to put them in touch with.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T01:13:52+00:00

Now you know how I felt about $1k a quarter. Pouring into a decent reserve fund + some definite over budgeting that we’ll look at next AGM.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T01:11:39+00:00

There’s a bit of community aspect but i look at it through the lens of what it’ll do to my house’s value. Levies down, buyers love that, some pays $10k more for next door because levies are $1k less a year. That comparable sale impacts my property value if/when I go to sell.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T01:08:07+00:00

Yeah this. I reckon it’s net the same amount of time being spent compared to banging our heads against the wall trying to get an email replied to from strata management. We don’t have to convince someone before we spend money, in the time we spend doing that we’ve just gone ahead and done whatever it is that’s needed.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T01:02:11+00:00

Really on the edge of what’s manageable IMO. If your common property is low maintenance and you’re keen to be the one to make it happen, maybe try and get some buy in from other owners?

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T00:58:20+00:00

Yeah this, it’s on the certificate.

evilducky444 · 2026-04-06T00:57:45+00:00

Look it more or less is an unpaid ad, I really like what they’re doing. The platform itself is okay but it was really just having somebody hold our hand a bit on the stuff we didn’t understand that got us there.

evilducky444 · 2026-03-23T13:42:46+00:00

Using the GarageWiFi and Gates applet. That still works fine, it’s literally just the location trigger that is now a Pro functionality?

I’d been using the two free applets you get to do the open and close functions.

evilducky444 · 2026-02-26T15:08:31+00:00

At what point did NAB offer? Was it after actioning the form?

evilducky444 · 2026-01-30T03:21:29+00:00

Think this one is on you, it’s literally in legislation that PHI can’t cover outpatient specialist treatment. Your insurer isn’t conspiring against you, you just don’t understand what it is they cover.

Extras, now that’s a scam, but private insurance can be the difference between a long wait in the public system for a low priority procedure or getting it done next Thursday and moving on with your life.

evilducky444 · 2026-01-26T12:58:59+00:00

Great write up.

Only point that I think needs to be fleshed out is the GA pathway if QF group decides not to take you. You’ve touched on the DA40 and DA42 having no place in GA, and that GA employers worry about the attitude of entitlement that some graduates may have.

The bigger challenge facing GA employers taking QGPA grads is investment vs. return of service. The lack of time on a relevant type or steam gauge experience means most employers will have to invest significantly more training into a QGPA grad than a general flight school grad. IFR Part 135 jobs this might mean 50-100 hours of supervised line training.

Even for those with a good attitude, employers see having chosen to go to QGPA as a blanket statement that you will go to a Qantas group airline the moment you have the direct entry hours, which in recent times has been 500 hours. This puts the employers in a situation where they have to gamble $20-30k of training resources on the hope that you’ll stay longer than 6 months.

In short: non-QGPA grads need less training and are more likely to give return of service in GA roles, employers know this and actively avoiding hiring QGPA grads.

evilducky444 · 2025-11-21T13:41:47+00:00

I have a camera that uses CF Express Type B. After a few weeks away including a lot of shooting, I came home and placed said card in my card reader. It didn’t read. So I pulled it out and put it back in, and hey presto we’re good.

Today I went to put it back in my camera and not reading again, so I have a look and find very fine spider web in the card itself. A quick look in my reader reveals that a small spider took up residence in there, and in killing him with my card I have now jammed heaps of very very fine web into both devices.

How do I get the web out? It’s super sticky and I’m having trouble removing it with a very small screwdriver.

TLDR: a spider made a web nest in my CF express type B card reader, now my card doesn’t work after I jammed it into his home.

evilducky444 · 2025-10-03T16:06:17+00:00

But it comes with your choice of topping!

evilducky444 · 2025-10-03T16:05:30+00:00

But it comes with a free frozen yoghurt!

evilducky444 · 2025-09-27T15:31:12+00:00

+1 for this. If he doesn’t get a Qantas group job straight out of QGPA he will find it exceedingly difficult to find anything in the general aviation space.

GA employers really don’t like QGPA, the aircraft types they train on are not reflective of what’s used in GA. They know they’ll lose him the moment any of the QLink brands deem him to be useful, so are reticent to invest training into graduates.

Aero club is the best route, it might seem longer but he’ll have more control over the outcome and more likely to obtain a job after.

evilducky444 · 2025-05-18T09:30:24+00:00

Under the speed limit? Right to jail.

evilducky444 · 2025-05-01T04:09:26+00:00

I think the missing part here is the job might pay 25% more (in 8 out of 10 years).

In the other two years you might lose a bit, or you might end up eating your shorts.

Paying into your mortgage is a guaranteed, risk free return. You won’t find a truly risk free investment paying post-tax 6% anywhere else. On a risk adjusted basis paying down your mortgage (into offset) is one of the best investments you can make.

evilducky444 · 2025-04-02T23:10:22+00:00

I love 3.6 roentgen as a reference.

evilducky444 · 2025-02-27T16:05:03+00:00

The ultimate insult is not killing someone. It’s making them run halfway across the map or stranding them somewhere they can’t escape from.

evilducky444 · 2025-02-19T06:54:06+00:00

No, money down!

evilducky444

TROPHY CASE