100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

100% Locally Owned, Independent and Free

Ashley Robinson: city trip challenges patience and relationship with technology

Do you have a news tip? Click here to send to our news team.

Tourist park expansion approved with restrictions

A hinterland tourist park has been given the green light to boost its accommodation offering and add an eatery and wedding venue. Kookaburra Park at More

Council push to prioritise wastewater for data centres

Queensland’s rapidly growing data centre industry could provide a new market for treated wastewater under a local push to reduce pressure on drinking supplies. Noosa More

Seasonal dog ban starts at popular beach

Dogs have been prohibited from a section of a Sunshine Coast beach for seven months to give threatened migratory shorebirds space to feed and More

Work starts on new route into CBD

Construction has started on a transport upgrade that will provide another route into a town centre and ease pressure on a congested main road. Work More

New twilight market set to kick off

A new night market is launching on the Coast, offering visitors a chance to enjoy street food, live music and local creations in a More

Beachside bar claims national award

A Sunshine Coast cocktail bar has been awarded a significant accolade at the Australian Bar Awards. Mooloolaba's WAT Den won the Regional Bar of the More

I wrote a column the other week about AI and how we are reliant on it.

Last weekend, I lived that dream.

I had my Thunder netball hat on and I had to go to Nissan Arena at Mt Gravatt for the state titles.

On the way, I had to make a quick detour to Manly to drop something off to one of Old Mate’s friends.

I have never been to Manly, so GPS was in play.

I must say, Manly is an awesome spot. If I had to live in the big smoke, that would be where I would live.

Anyhow, the GPS worked great. I got to both destinations intact and on time.

Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.

Unfortunately, getting home was different – a great example of my stupidity.

When I left, I decided I didn’t need the GPS as it was memory-based travel from way back when the Broncos used to play at the arena. I knew where I was going.

Do you trust GPS? Picture: Shutterstock.

After a few kilometres and a few sets of lights, though, I started to have doubts.

I pulled up within view of what I thought was the motorway and the road home.

Just to be sure, I whacked in my address, and it told me to do a U-turn.

Thirty minutes later, I found myself on the Pacific Highway heading south. Bizarre.

The first chance I got, I pulled up and checked my destination.

Street name – tick. House number – tick. Suburb – Currumbin.

Massive fail, and another reason I need to keep a set of glasses in the car.

So, I put the right address in, and you guessed it, the GPS took me back past the exact spot I had sat 30 minutes earlier.

This is what I learnt last weekend:

Never eat the karaage chicken at Nissan Arena unless you want indigestion for 24 hours.

When stressed, never pull up at a service station and buy two bags of snakes because it is cheaper than one.  You’ll end up eating the whole lot and add a sore jaw to the indigestion.

And thirdly – and most importantly – never let IT override common sense to the point of knowingly being led south when your tiny brain is telling you that something is astray.

I wonder if GPS has a common sense app?

It seems it is certainly not common in my world.

Ashley Robinson is Chairman of Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.

 

Subscribe to SCN’s free daily news email

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
This field is hidden when viewing the form
[scn_go_back_button] Return Home
Share