Cool! I seriously considered e-Bikes but I don’t trust myself to do what you said you’re going to do, namely only use power when struggling on inclines. I just know myself and if the bike has a throttle, I’m going to use the throttle. Even if it doesn’t have a throttle, I’m going to put it on max pedal assist and lie to myself about how I’ll reduce the pedal assist next time. I really tend to take the path of least resistance when it comes to all physical activity. I prefer that wording to saying I’m as lazy as hell which means the same thing. I bought a non-electric bike so I wouldn’t have those temptations. It seriously limits me, however, as I am simply physically unable to do some rides. Vancouver is surrounded by mountains and those are just off limits to me because I am not fit enough to make it up to the top, whereas on an e-Bike they’d be easy to conquer.
Step-throughs are the way to go. Isa and I both have step-throughs.
Where in Queensland are you? Brisbane?
Ham Radio is CB for adults. CB is deregulated here so anyone can go buy and use one without licensing. As a result, the last time I listened to CB (about a decade ago), some guy came on and announced that that he was going to pleasure himself and, from the sounds that came out of my radio, it seems he delivered. You don’t tend to get that sort of thing on ham radio. It also has much better range. Some ham radios can reach Australia from here, conditions permitting.
I don’t own my own kayak. Right now we go down to the local kayak club and rent them for $8/hr. We’re still deciding if we want a two-person or one-person kayak and the nice thing about renting is that we can try them until we know for sure what we like better. I don’t like the idea of getting separated but on the other hand, it’s just easier to manage with a smaller kayak. The other thing about renting is that we don’t have to worry about where to put it. I don’t like houses. We live in a concrete skyscraper downtown. I have absolutely nowhere to stick a 14’ kayak. I could rent storage at the local kayak club but that all seems like a lot of work for something that’s supposed to be fun. For now, I’m going to settle on buying our own PDFs, which we still don’t own. I don’t like the rental ones, and we can fit PDFs in the condo, just not kayaks.
We kayak in an ocean inlet called False Creek so far, not out in the open ocean like you have in Aus. See photo below (not mine). We usually stick to this little inlet, avoiding the planes. It’s right in downtown Vancouver so it’s very convenient for us. I live in one of the buildings on the left side of the inlet in this picture. By the way, this is also where we cycle, around the Seawall, which is that little path on the edge of the water. It gets crowded so we’re looking for new places to explore for both kayaking and cycling which have a bit less traffic.
Where do you kayak, Kim? Are there sheltered areas and lakes or are you out on the open ocean? That’s a brave undertaking if you do. And do you still live in a house? Many people downsize as they get older but others just don’t share my taste for concrete and they like houses better. Now that I think of it, you must surely still live in a house if you have a two-person kayak.
Re being a tourist at home, we went to the Art Gallery the other day. Much of it was beautiful, but the modern stuff was totally wasted on me. Someone had stacked up some laundry detergent and taken a photo of it and that was art. Someone else had spilled paint on a Ford logo and apparently that was art. I don’t get it.
PS: Isa came over and saw my screen as I wrote this and asked in Spanish, “Why did you take a photo of that ugly thing? That’s not art in my opinion. Gringos are so weird.” Apparently she doesn’t get it, either.
PPS: Sorry for the absurdly long response. Nice catching up with you after a bit of time, though. 
