Ben's Adventures

World's Shortest Commercial Flight

2011-12-21T23:51:00.005+11:00

Believe it or not, but the honour goes to the roughly 2 minute flight from the island of Westray to the neighbouring island of Papa Westray all the way up in the Orkney Islands off the northern tip of Scotland. There is no time for a meal or a movie, let alone a quick visit to the lav. Being such a short flight means the whole thing has been captured on video and put on Youtube.

The flight is operated by Loganair a regional airline in Scotland that provides essential air services to the remote islands. According to the timetable (PDF download from Loganair website) the flight takes place roughly six days a week.

The aircraft used as shown in the video is a Britten Norman Islander, which is a small twin engine aircraft with seating for 8 or 9 people depending on how many pilots there are. It seems they only use one pilot for this run.

This is what a Britten-Norman Islander BN-2 looks like from the outside.

(Photo by Wikimedia user JJ Harrison under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

I found a video taken on a much nicer day and from a better angle to show the scenery and illustrate how short the flight really is.

Back in Australia

2011-11-25T22:38:00.007+11:00

I really did love Japan, I'd love to go back. Saying that I think I would take Japanese lessons before going, as that would make communication with the locals so much easier.

Tokyo was, as I wrote in my earlier posts a bit overwhelming at first. I soon got into swing of it though. I don't think I would want to live there, but it was nice to see how all those people live. I was amazed that amongst all those grey buildings there were large green spaces. In fact at one place, the Meiji temple at Harajuku it was hard to believe that you were in the middle of one of the largest population centres of the world.

I loved the electronics stores that were around Ikebukuro, never seen stores with a staff to customers ratio that was probably close to 1:1, and it was packed with customers! A department store I found called Tokyu Hands was great. It's slogan was "The Creative Lifestyle Store". You name it, if you make it or do it with your hands you can find it there. I found Tokyu Hands in the other cities I visited as well, but the one at Shibuya in Tokyo was the best.

Osaka was an interesting place, with some great food and shopping streets. I also visited Kyoto and Nara for day trips. Kyoto I found draining as I tried to fit so much into one day. I was really over temples by the end. Nara was quite the opposite, it was very relaxing walking around the beautiful park. I saw the big Bhudda too. The only downside to Nara was that I was bitten by a deer while feeding them.

Hiroshima was a surprise. The A-Bomb dome, and memorials and Museums, were as I'd expected. The Museum in parts was definitely confronting. As for the city itself, you'd never know that the place was wiped off the planet nearly 70 years ago, it is every bit as vibrant as Tokyo or Osaka. It even had trams, which in a way made me feel at home.

The nearby island of Miyajima was a great day trip as well.

I plan on doing a few features on a selection of the places I visited, rather then a blow by blow account of my days. I think it's less boring that way, and easier to do now I'm at home.

I arrived home over a week ago now, last Wednesday at 10pm, almost two days later than I'd intended. The extra stop over in Hong Kong was great, albeit rushed. I think I managed to do everything I wanted to do. I was a bit shocked when I walked into my hotel room and thinking there must be a mistake, I can't possibly have all this space to myself.

Even though it's only been 5 months since I was in Hong Kong, I still did the touristy things I did last time. Those being, the Star Ferry (2x's!), Peak Tram, and Nathan Road. I also visited the the ICC building in West Kowloon, which is something like the 4th or 5th tallest building in the world. I decided not to go to the top as it was way too hazy, but spent some time walking around the shopping centre at the base (as you do in Hong Kong). Even though it's crowded, hot, dirty, and sometimes smelly, I really like Hong Kong for some reason. I mean, it is really just another city, but it has something else about it.

I can't really fault Qantas on how they have handled the refund process. For an action that was so blatantly pre meditated, I wouldn't expect any less. As I had made payment by BPay I to make special arrangements, but it all went smoothly. I can definitely use the free return flight to anywhere in Aus/NZ.

Japan - The Plan

2011-11-07T02:41:00.003+11:00

Day 1 - Arrive in Tokyo
Day 2 - Tokyo/ANA 787 flight to Hiroshima and return
Day 3 - Tokyo
||
\/
Day 7 - Train to Osaka
Day 8 - Osaka/kyoto area
Day 11 - Train to Hiroshima
Day 13 - Train to Fukuoka/Hakata
Day14 - Fly to Tokyo, Fly back to Australia

Ammended plans due to the joyce factor

Day 14 - Fly to Hong Kong
Day 15 - Hong Kong
Day 16 - Fly back to Australia

I couldn't resist adding a day in Hong Kong. Also meant I didn't have to go via Adelaide (the only flights I could book straight through from Tokyo involved a stopover in Adelaide), and could take a daytime flight home. Suits me fine.

Japan - The First Day AKA Culture Shock

2011-11-03T23:13:00.011+11:00

What a nerveracking weekend it was. Just two days before I was due to leave Alan Joyce pulled the carpet out from under my feet. At 1am on Sunday morning I was on the Cathay Pacific website making alternative arrangements.

I made it, although via Hong Kong rather than Sydney, can't say I'm upset though. I thought Cathay Pacific provided great service, although I kept missing the water runs, because of being in the window seat on the Melbourne - Hong Kong leg. The Hong Kong to Tokyo leg was a "red eye", leaving Hong Kong at 1:15am and arriving in Tokyo shortly after 6am. As it was a four hour flight I only got about an hour of sleep. It wasn't too bad though as the flight was nearly empty so I could at least stretch out.

The rising sun welcoming me to the land of the rising sun.
Could't think of a better way to arrive in Japan.

What can I say about arrival in Tokyo. Complete culture shock comes to mind. After clearing customs I bought a train ticket and got the train to Tokyo proper. By now it was the middle of the morning peak hour and as the train filled up very quick. I thought I was on the Narita Express, but it was actually a local train taking commuters to work. Eventually we made it to Tokyo station where I needed to change to the Yamanote line. I just followed the signs and all was fine. Another 20 minutes later I was at Ikebukuro, the neighjbourhood I am staying in.

I arrived at the hotel about 2 hours after leaving Narita. Talk about a hard slog. Being so early, it was still only 9AM, I was told to come back at 3pm. I left my bag at the hotel and set off to find something to do.

I decided to take the train to Shinjuku and go to the free observation deck at the Tokyo government office. I found my way and spent about an hour up the top. On the way back to the station I got lost as I couldn't find the way in to the platforms (it is in a different spot to the exit).

Just how big is this city?
It goes as far as the eye can see in every direction.
The view from the 45th floor of the Tokyo Government Building.

Fujisan through the haze (and reflections). I seem to reacall
it is rare to actually see Mount Fuji all the way from Tokyo.

One thing I knew I was going to like even before I left are the trains.
This is a Yamanote line train arriving at Shinjuku.

By now it was all of 11:30 am and all I wanted to do was sleep. If only I could go back to my hotel and check in. Maybe something to eat might help. No that's not going to happen. Looking at the restaurants I had no idea what I was looking at, and in my hazy state of mind I wasn't in the mood for trying. So I resigned myself to going back to the hotel and waiting.

So I waited in the lobby for about 3 hours, too tired to do anthing and too timid to try anything too adventurous. Eventually I decided to go for a wander and stopped at a convenience store to get some water. What are they yelling at me? I don't know, I made my purchase, nodded a lot and got out of there.

Finally I checked in and went up to my room. So small (I knew that when I booked), but just right for me. Oh god, a Japanese toilet!

My small but entirely functional room. Perfect for the salary
man or office lady on their travels.

That's a single bed, desk, chair and TV. Out shot to the bottom
are a small fridge and kettle. To my left is the small bathroom,
and behind me is a small space for luggage and the door.
All in all an efficient use of space.

After resting for a few hours I decided to out and face the world head on. Come on Ben you need to get over it, just go and buy some food. I should mention the last thing I had eaten was about 2 am that morning on the plane. No no good, lots of looking , but I couldn'tdo it. Oh well I'd have to starve.

"Irashimasu!" I went back to my friends in the family mart and bought some western style comfort foods, a bottle fo Coca Cola and a bag of potato chips. Eventually I decided to give room service a chance. The hotel's restaurant is and italian restaurant, so that's what I had. I ordered a Pizza, Capricciosa. Not really like any Pizza I've ever had.

That is day one in Japan. I think I spent it in denial more than anything. I blame tiredness. As I write this it is the end of my third day in Tokyo, and I must say I am really liking it. I've seen some wierd sights in the last few days. Sometimes I have to stop myself from laughing out loud, but often I'm just walking around with a massive smile on my face.

Sydney Transport

2011-10-11T20:01:00.004+11:00

First we have the much disliked monorail.

I was standing in Pitt street and just made a quick grab. I dislike riding this thing very much. Reminds me of the rides at Wobbies World... I remember one day I was eating in one of the fast food places in Pitt street near where I took the video and watching a curtain of water go down the street. It was raining, but the wall of water was of course the monorail going past overhead pushing all the water off the track. I wish I'd taken a video of that. From memory it was actually raining quite heavily and the street was more or less a river of water.

Now the polar opposite, the Manly Ferry. This is by far my favourite.

I'd rate this crossing as moderate, I've had calmer, and only hope for worse one day. Perhaps not quite as bad as the in the videos that Highriser found on Youtube. As fun as the ride is I am always glad to get off though. A land lubber by nature I guess.

Everest Web Cam

2011-10-03T19:16:00.004+11:00

Thought this was interesting. Mount Everest now has it's own web cam.

So if you're stuck in base camp and can't be bothered poking your head out of the tent in the morning, here is your answer. Just whip out your device and check the Mount Everest web cam, then make your run at the summit.

What's been going on then?

2011-09-28T22:53:00.002+10:00

About time I put in an appearance.

I have no life. Pure and simple. Not even a fake digital one...

Having said that, I am very much alive.

The near future is looking pretty good as in a few weeks I will be visiting the land of the rising sun. I am really looking forward to it. It is only a 2 week trip. The first week will be spent in Tokyo. The rest of the time I will be travelling around. First off to Osaka and basing myself there for a few days, also taking in Kyoto and Kobe before heading on to Hiroshima and Hakata (Fukuoka). The closest I hope to come to the areas affected by the nuclear melt down is Narita airport!

I guess I will attempt some sort of blog updates. I know. I know

Ben's Ash Alert Center

2011-06-20T23:22:00.004+10:00

or BAAC for short...

I was just looking at the Bureau of Meteorolgy's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre web page (here). They have a page set up explaining a bit the current events with Chile's Puyehue-Cordón Caulle erruption. Most interesting is an animation of satelite images showing the ash plume circulate around Antarctica.

A quick look on Wikipedia shows that this pair of volcanoes have erupted about 7 times in the past 100 years, so they are fairly active in the scheme of things.

I'm just thankful that all of Victoria's volcanoes are no longer active, with the last eruptions happening about 7500 years ago.

Shunted QANTAS Style

2011-06-15T22:00:00.005+10:00

It was pretty annoying (now that's an understatement) to realise that of the flights that left Singapore on Sunday evening ours was the only one that diverted (the Jetstar direct flight was delayed by 8 hours, but I couldn't think of a better airport to be stranded at than Changi). On one hand the three Qantas staff that were on hand to organise 400 odd passengers from our Airbus A380 did a great job. However I have no sympathy for Qantas management and in particular CEO Alan Joyce.

While I had read about the problems with the ash on the internet, we didn't find out that Qantas had cancelled all flights into Melbourne until we approached the check in desk at Changi airport. We were informed that we would now be going to Sydney. Well at least we were going to Australia. In hindsight, a few extra days in Singapore would have been nice too, although we had already extended our trip. That is why we were now returning on Qantas after leaving Australia on Singapore Airlines.

We landed at about 6:40 am and we were actually dealt with fairly quickly and efficently, at most it took 20 minutes from stepping off the aircraft to get through customs, this included a bus ride from our remote stand to the terminal. Once inside the terminal the three staff members dealt with the crowd efficiently, taking down details and handing out hotel and bus stop details. Immigration was again very quick. Our bags were already on the conveyor and we got to go through the green customs lane with nothing to declare.

Eventually after nearly a two hour wait in the cold we got on a coach and and drove to our hotel. The hotel was the Four Point's Sheraton on the Darling Harbour side of the Sydney CBD. By the time we were nearing the check in desk for the hotel the manager informed us that Qantas had sent too many people and that there were no more rooms available. To his credit he arranged a coach to take all 30 or so remaining passengers to a sister property and full use of the breakfast buffet which they kept open for us while we waited. By now it was about 11:30 am.

After around an hour we were taken to our new hotel, the Sheraton on the Park, overlooking of course Hyde Park in Elizabeth Street. This was clearly a much higher class hotel. After checking in we had to wait about 2 hours until the rooms were ready. So we eventually made it to a hotel room at about 3pm, about 8 hours after landing.

And what a hotel room it was, the best of the whole trip. The best bit was that it actually had a view of the park!

I should add that the last we heard from Qantas was two of those same staff members telling us which coach was going to which hotel at the Sydney Airport coach stops. It was very much a case just getting us out of the way. From then we heard nothing, and if I hadn't done what I'm about to tell you about, I fear we would still be there. I tried calling Qantas that night and the next morning on their regular phone number 131313, but it was so busy it played a message and hung up on me.

Rather stupidly I had left my phone on the plane, which was latter found by a cleaner and handed to the Qantas found property office. Luckily my brother was trying to get in contact and someone in the baggage services office heard it and answered. When talking to my brother that night he gave me the details I needed to pick it up the next morning.

So the next morning I left Mum at the hotel and caught the train to the airport to pick it up.

After retrieving my phone from the baggage services office on the arrivals level I ventured upstairs in search of someone I could talk to about the situation. In the end I found the Qantas sales desk and managed to get us on to a flight latter Tuesday afternoon. It seemed effortless.

So it was back to the hotel to pack up get mum and head back to the Qantas domestic terminal. I hate to think what the others did, although we met one woman who was on our flight in the hotel lobby and I told her what I'd done. I think the best bet for her was to find a Qantas sales office in the Sydney CBD and organise the flights in person.

We left straight away for our 5:15pm flight, arriving at the airport about 2 hours early, as I thought the place would be chaotic . I was wrong, the place was deserted.

Check in was a pain though as we couldn't use the self serve kiosk and the old style check in desks are gone. Now you print your own baggage tags and put your luggage on the conveyor yourself. We did find a staff member to help and she managed to get the system to work. Apparently it was something to do with the way our onward flight was booked. While she was great and helped us out, once again we feel Qantas as a company let us down.

Once through security we could relax, had a bite to eat and went and had a look around the Qantas Heritage Collection (which I do recommend going to have a look at if you ever have time to fill in Sydney T3) before going to wait at the gate for our flight.

We were back on the ground in Melbourne about a day and a half late.

How long is long enough?

2011-04-27T23:20:00.004+10:00

Normally I'd love a five day weekend, but this time it is also my pay week. I'd rather get paid. My pay usually goes in on a Wednesday and my savings go out on the Thursday. This week the pay run is late owing to the extra days public holiday.

My main problem is my direct debits all seem to fall at the end of the month, which just happens to be over the next few days. I only have enough money to cover either the direct debits or the savings, but not both. If I'd realised earlier I would have stopped the money going to my savings account this week, but I only realised my predicament this morning, and banks need days to change things like this. Here's hoping I get paid tomorrow.

Perhaps I lack some basic financial skills? This has never happened before though...

Oh and the garbos are backed up because of the extra long break. I hope they get around here soon to take away the rubbish.

In case of emergency

2011-04-24T22:51:00.006+10:00

On a recent flight I was lucky enough to get an exit row seat. The comfort of the extra leg room far out weighs the small possibility of having to open the door in case of an emergency.

It's now much easier to get an exit row with Qantas' new seat selection policy. It was covered in the media, but they only focused on the fee being levied for seat selection on international flights, it is however free for domestic flights.

From now on non premium frequent flyers (ie bronze and non frequent flyer members) are able to select seats from time of booking right up until check in. As a bronze myself the initial seats available were rather ordinary, row 19 and back on the 737 I was booked on. In the lead up to the flight gradually more and more of the plane opens up and any seats not taken by higher status FF's (silver, gold and platinum) or chairman's lounge members (almost no mention on the Qantas website, it's common knowledge it is a tool used to suck up to Canberra and mainstream media) are up for grabs, this includes such desirable seats such as the two exit rows. I think the time frame is 72 hours prior that these better become free for all.

Anyway, I found this amusing diagram on the instruction sheet for the emergency exit.

Does the fact this guy is able to shoot laser beams out of his eyes have anything to do with the fire and damage to the wing?

Another month gone...

2011-04-24T22:05:00.001+10:00

...Another year older.

And it was a big one, starting with 3 ending with 0! I can't be thirty already, that's old! I don't feel old. I've had a few weeks to get used to it and I think I am coping.

I am not one for making a fuss so I was happy enough with a family dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant turned out to be not so good, shaped like a shoebox with hard furnishings, it was also packed meaning no one could hear what anyone else was saying over the noise of everyone else. The food was pretty good though.

What you see here is the speciality this particular restaurant has created to celbrate diners birthdays. An XL banana fritter flanked by two scoops of fried ice cream covered in caramel sauce. It is set alight with candles and sparklers, and is brought out to the table while "happy birthday" is pumped through the restaurant's sound system to make sure every one in the restaurant turns around and looks. All in good fun, but perhaps not really to everyones taste.

Present wise I think I did rather well. I got a new bedside table off mum and an electric toothbrush from my older brother and family.

South Eastern Australia crazy day trip

2011-03-18T22:15:00.000+11:00

All the way back in November I did something that some people will say is slightly loopy. The plan was to fly Melbourne, Sydney, Coolangatta, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne. Five flights in one day.

All the flights were bought a couple of months in advance. The first three legs were on Jetstar and last two were on Virgin Blue. All up the cost was $350, averaging $70 per flight which to me is pretty good value.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

This post was really intended to be posted on an aviation forum, which I haven't done yet (although I will soon), so there may be some abbreviations or bits of jargon that don't make sense. I hope it does make sense. FYI OOL is the IATA airport code for Coolangatta airport.

This is how the day unfolded unfolded.

That morning I was up after 5 and well on my way to the airport by 6. I parked at the long term carpark and caught the bus to the terminal. Having checked in online I joined the rather long (by Australian standards) queues for security straight away. Once through I sat down in the food court for a few minutes and watched the aircraft movements out the window. After deciding not to buy anything to eat I made my down to the gate lounge area used by Jetstar and Qantaslink. At this time of the morning most of the bays were used by overnighting Jetstar aircraft. Of note was VH-VGP in Powderfinger livery.

The Powderfinger plane awaiting it's first flight for the day.
Airbus A320 vh-vgp, one of Jetstar's more recent aircraft

MEL-SYD
JQ502
Jetstar
Gate 30
STA 0710 ATD 0725
STA 0835 ATA 0910
A320
VH-VQG
Seat 4F

Boarding was announced a few minutes before it was due to start and people immediately formed a long line. I waited until a few minutes after boarding was under way when things died down. I then joined a much shorter version of the line and strolled out to the aircraft. On the way out I took a few snaps of the aircraft, only to be told off by one of the ground staff manning the flag tape. I made sure they weren't refuelling first, but it seems they don't like it either way.

Walking out to my first ride for the day.
Jetstar A320 vh-vqg

On boarding and after saying hello to the cabin crew I immediately found my seat at 4F. I usually sit a little further back so this mornings flight would be a bit of novelty. I chose this seat due to the worry that I need make the connection to my next flight. If I make this connection then the whole day will be fine.

The view from the window, Qantas 767-336 vh-zxd, one of 7 former
British Airways 767 aircraft in the fleet.

Eventually people stopped coming through the door and it appeared we were ready to go. Only that the door stayed open and the crew were just standing around. After a few minutes the captain came on the PA and announced that due to ATC delays in Sydney we couldn't depart for another 15 minutes. At the time I didn't know what this would mean, but I still had plenty of padding to make my next flight. Soon enough the doors were shut and we taxied all the way around for a runway 34 departure and took off at about 0725.

A very full looking Lake Eildon.

Just passing Canberra, you can sort of make out a built up area
to the right of the image, Lake George is the large lake in the middle

It was an uneventful flight until just after we passed to the north of Canberra the engines spooled back and we began to make a right hand turn. The F/O announced that due to weather we would need to hold for half an hour. And so I became very familiar with the landscape of the southern highlands. I noticed that a DJ 737 was chasing us around the holding pattern.

My patch of the Southern Highlands.
We flew over this spot aboutfour times.

Eventually we continued descent towards Sydney and landed on runway 34L. We arrived in to gate 53 at 0910 only ten minutes before my next flight was scheduled. Lucky for me I had checked gate allocation the night before so I knew that my OOL flight would leave from gate 55 the next gate along. When we pulled in there was no aircraft next door.

Better late than never, one last shot of my first ride for the day.

Escaping into the terminal I made my way to the nearby FIDS to confirm that the inbound flight that forms the OOL flight had not arrived. It seems all arrivals were subject to the same half hour delay.

A Japan Airlines 777-200ER in One World alliance livery.

Both JAL and Qantas are members of One World
along with airlines such as British Airways, American
Airlines, Iberia and Cathay Pacific among others.

The Qantaslink/Jetstar/Tiger side of T2 at Sydney airport.
My next flight is departing from the gate just to the left.

Looking the other way, not quite as busy.

I wandered around the Jetstar gates for a while and watched my next ride pull up at gate 55. By now the gate lounge was overflowing and there was nowhere to sit so I went up to the end of the pier to wait for a few minutes. When I came back another long line had formed even before the previous passengers had finished disembarking. Again I waited a few minutes before joining the queue. While waiting though I noticed the clientele on this flight were quite er... different to those on my previous flight .

SYD-OOL
JQ404
Jetstar
Gate 55
STD 0920 ATD 0950
STA 0940 ATA 1015
A320
VH-JQX
seat 6F

Jetstar a320 vh-jqx, will fly me to Coolangatta.

Close up of her nose. The silver paint on the nose
cone is quite different to the body.

On boarding I found both my neighbours were already seated and a full overhead compartment. The woman in the aisle seat was reluctant at first but was eventually kind enough to remove a piece of her families luggage (a tiny child size backpack that was occupying a space much too large for its minuscule dimensions) so I could fit my backpack in.

Once seated, this was the view out the window.
There are at least 7 long haul aircraft in this shot.

While Taxiing out first we passed this Emirates A380

Then we passed this Singapore Airlines A380.
As this was a few days after the QF32 incident at Singapore I
later learned this aircraft was being recalled to Singapore
for checks on it's engines.

Soon the doors were shut and our full load was on it's way too OOL. We taxied all the way to 34R which is the furthest runway from anywhere all the way out in the middle of Botany Bay.

After driving all the way out to the middle of Botany Bay
we had to wait while this Qantas 737 landed before lining
up for take off.

Take off was accompanied by screaming kids, but otherwise the flight was pretty unremarkable. I enjoyed watching the scenery out the window the whole way. We had an interesting view of Sydney's eastern suburbs and flew out to sea for some way before coming back inland from somewhere on the Central Coast.

Climbing out over Bondi Junction and past Bondi Beach.

Passing overhead Watsons Bay.

North Coast of NSW. I think this is Forster.

We touched down on runway 14 at OOL after a scenic approach past Surfers Paradise. This time the women behind me nattered through the whole thing. Myself I like to sit back and take in the experience, rather than talk. Each to their own I guess.

Approaching Coolangatta, past the high rises of Surfers Paradise.

Passing Broadbeach, you can see where I stayed in Feb 2009.
The shiny gold building glinting in the sun is Conrad Jupiters Casino.

Gold Coast urban sprawl.

Burleigh heads.

Houses close to the runway. I bet they have a great view of the
ocean and of course the passing aircraft.

Touchdown! On the runway.

On de planing the first thing I did was have a bit of a look around the terminal as the last time I was here it was still under renovation. It really is quite a big airport now. Having found a toilet and relieved myself I could now concentrate on my main mission. The mission being that I promised myself I would walk over to the beach. So I followed my nose across the car park and across the highway to the beach.

Not really beach weather. Looking North.

Looking South.

The beach was deserted other than myself and the surf life
saver looking after the water between these flags.

These trucks are shifting sand around the beach.

I remember reading about this in 2009. All the sand builds up
here because they dredge the entrance to the Tweed River just
behind the headland in the background. The sand builds up here
and ruins the famous Kirra surf break which is approximately
where the trucks are working further down the beach.

Getting back to the terminal I was somewhat hot and sweaty, so after passing security I sat down and enjoyed the air conditioning for a few minutes.

From memory my flight back to Sydney was formed by an arrival from Newcastle. I didn't see it arrive as it was at the farthest bay which is hard to see from the terminal. Judging by the number of people around this flight would have considerably fewer people on board.

OOL-SYD
JQ409
Jetstar
Gate ?? The leftmost one?
STD 1115 ATD ?
STA 1345 STD ?
A320
VH-VQL
seat 9A

It's an engine. Trying not to think about what happened to
QF32 a few days before. I would not like to be sitting next an
engine when fan blades start flying about.

After the short walk across the apron I could see I was about to board VH-VQL. I was quite pleased to see a light load, and the middle seat in my row remained free. It was apparent that many of the other passengers were connecting from the A330 which had arrived from either Tokyo Narita or Osaka Kansai earlier that morning.

We seem to be sharing the apron with only one other aircraft, a
Virgin Blue 737-700.

With the Virgin Blue 737 gone, we can now see a Jetstar A330
about to return to Japan.

Going out the same way we came in.

Somewhere in NSW. The southbound flight went a lot
further inland than the northbound flight did.

This time we took off on 32, retracing my tracks back past Surfers. Again this was a quiet flight, and once again I enjoyed the scenery pass by out the window. I particularly enjoyed the approach into Sydney for a landing on 34R, as it is not an approach I've done before. We came in from the north over the Hawkesbury River and across Sydney's northern beaches heading out to sea overhead Manly. I was on the wrong side to see any harbour/city views, but it was still good. Eventually we turned around and landed on 34R the same runway I departed from earlier in the day. After a long taxi we docked at gate 56.

The Hawkesbury River

Sydney's Northern beach suburbs.

A lone cloud.

Overhead Manly.

On final passing the beaches near Kurnell and Cronulla.

On the runway and slowing down (hopefully) with everything hanging out.

Leading edge slats at the front, spoilers on top, and unseen
at the rear of the wing the flaps will be fully extended.

Reverse thrust? Check.

The black grid at the rear of the engine are the ducts that
direct the thrust forward when the engine cowling
slides back to produce reverse thrust.

At the gate. Next door is a Qantaslink Q400.

A closer look reveals it is VH-QOB, which I
later flew on in February 2011.

This was the my big break of the day, I had a few hours to get some lunch, take a rest, and just watch some planes for a while. I made my way to food court and had some food and then I wandered down the Virgin side of the terminal and sat in the lounge at the end overlooking the airport. It is here I noticed but totally discounted the clouds building to the west. Eventually it was time to move to gate 35 for my next flight, DJ654 to Canberra.

My ride from ool to syd, VH-VQL again.

On checking I found out that I had previously flown on
this aircraft in August 2008 from Melbourne to Launceston.

A Virgin Blue 737-800 at the gate in Sydney.

SYD-CBR
DJ654
Virgin Blue
Gate 35
STD 1535 ATD 16 something
STA 1430 ATA 1715
E 170
VH-ZHF
seat 9F

That's my plane. The jungle jet that will take me to
Canberra. The bald man is the chief
cabin crew member on the flight.

Then it began to rain, and there was thunder and lighting, and
somebody's bag got wet.

Sitting in the gate lounge I noticed the dark clouds gathering and realised it was about to rain. Boarding went ahead on schedule and we were all settled in and almost ready to go when we were informed that a thunderstorm was passing over the airfield and that all activity on the apron was suspended. Sure enough the guys loading the luggage all sought shelter, leaving the convener in place. After a few minutes a passenger nearer to the front rang the call bell. He told the cabin crew that he could see his bags had been left beside the conveyor and were getting very wet. The captain then came back and spoke to the passenger before returning to a locker at the front of the aircraft and donning a fluro yellow raincoat. Out the window I saw the captain retrieve the bags and take them away under cover with the rest of the yet to be loaded baggage. On returning to the aircraft the captain was quite visibly angry about the situation, and suggested that the passenger make a complaint. Cudos to the captain as that sort of thing is not really his responsibility.

Looking a bit brighter, maybe we can go soon?

Our departure time came and went and the storm still hadn't cleared. By now I was stressing about not making my connection in Canberra, it was a tight one with only half an hour between arriving and departing flights. I was considering asking to be let off, but I stayed, hoping we would go soon. Eventually the lightning cleared and activity on the apron resumed. We took off well after 4pm. I was hoping that my outbound flight from Canberra was delayed too.

Glad to be in the air again.

The E170 landed at about 1715 and docked at one of the aerobridges. At an adjacent gate to us there was a 737 that I was really hoping was my flight to Melbourne. Unfortunately this was not the case, it was going to Sydney. As my flights were on separate itineraries I was doubtful whether Virgin Blue would do anything other than issue a new ticket at great financial cost. So I set about finding internet access in order to weigh up the options, one of which was hiring a car and driving back to Melbourne. Alas this was during the dying days of the old terminal and there was no working internet kiosks or wifi available. So in the end I approached the Virgin Blue service desk.

Really I was a bit embarrassed about my situation and was reluctant to say why I'd missed my flight, although when I handed over my boarding pass and they checked my booking, they knew straight away. Much to my surprise they said it was a mis-connect (even though it was two very separate bookings) and offered to rebook me and waive the fare difference. I was however re-routed via Sydney as the flight I was meant to be on was the last flight of the evening to Melbourne. All I had to do was pay the $50 change fee. I was extremely grateful. The bonus for me was that I got to fly an extra leg.

One last shot of "Little Miss Sunshine Coast" the E170 that
flew me down to Canberra.

Once again this is a double for me, having flown on this
same aircraft in March 2010 between Canberra and Sydney.

CBR-SYD
DJ669
Virgin Blue
Gate ?
STD 1900 ATD ?
STA 1940 ATA ?
E 170
VH-ZHE
seat 13C

The one problem with being stranded at Canberra right before the new terminal was to open was that there was virtually nothing to eat or drink in the old terminal, even less than usual. I was looking forward to getting to Sydney's T2 and wider selection of food. After watching what seems like and endless stream of Qantas 737s departing and arriving, DJ669 to Sydney was eventually called for boarding.

It really did seem like there were a lot of Qantas 737s
coming and going while I was waiting. This is one of them.

A dash 8 Q400 on the runway.

My saviour, another E170. Ironically after proclaiming my love for

these aircraft Virgin Blue has begun withdrawing them from service.

They are being replaced with ATR72 turboporps from around April
I believe. It's not all bad as Virgin Blue is still taking delivery
of the larger E190 which are just as nice to fly on.

I was glad to see another E 170 at the gate, the E jets are fast becoming my favourite aircraft to fly on. This would be my 3rd flight on an E 170, and I've previously had two E 190 flights. I was in 13C, my first time in an aisle seat all day, but by this stage I didn't really care. Compared to the last flight I was super relaxed and think I managed to nod off for a few minutes, between catching views of the sunset through the large window to my left (even though there was one occupied seat between me and said window, try doing that on a 737!). All too soon we landed on 34L and taxied into gate 33.

Dinner time! I went straight to the food court to get something to eat, not that the selection is very good, certainly better than Canberra though. Tried to find a table near the window, but all the seats were taken or people had left all their rubbish behind. Actually the place was a mess. Clearly the cleaners had their job cut out for them.

Heading back to gate 32 where I thought my next flight, DJ 894 to Melbourne, was departing from I noticed it was no longer listed. Just as I began looking for a departures screen an announcement was made about the gate change to gate 31 opposite.

SYD-MEL
DJ894
Virgin Blue
Gate 32
STD 2115 ATD ?
STA 2245 ATA ?
B738
VH-VOM
seat 15F

My sixth and final (and unplanned) flight for the day.
Virgin Blue's 737-800 VH-VOM to take me home.

It was a full gate lounge again, and I managed to find a seat far away from the door. Once again a massive line formed well before boarding. I'm not sure why people are so keen, all seats are pre allocated and the flight will still only go on time. I waited a long, long time for the line to go down before joining it. I say line but there was a time when it deteriorated into a scrum about ten people wide, with many more experienced looking travellers seeming to just cut the line completely. It was When I boarded it was apparent just how full this flight was. I was lucky enough (or not as it turns out) to score an exit row window, but as space in the overhead compartment was non existant by the time I got on I reluctantly took my bag to my seat knowing I would get pulled up for it in an exit row.

Now I'm not sure what the correct etiquette for exit rows is, but the two suits already occupying the row refused to stand, and so I blundered on through to my seat. I tripped on the first suits foot and landed with full force on the second suits foot. I would have thought it was polite to stand up and let someone in, but then that would mean putting down your iPhone for 30 seconds, and we can't do that, can we? Looking back I was probably quite tired and emotional by that stage, which is probably why I tripped, but I still don't think that excuses these men from standing up to let someone in .

Eventually the flight attendant came around checking things and noticed my bag (and that of the man next to me I might add). I can't recall where she put it, but I know it was no where near where I was sitting. As the flight attendant went through the emergency exit safety drill it appeared that the more experienced fliers around me were totally ignoring her instructions and continued swiping at their iPhones. Again during the general safety demo no one around me was watching, just swiping their fingers around on their screens. If anything it is a courtesy to watch even if you've heard it a thousand times before. Besides I don't want some dope who doesn't pay attention to be the difference between myself, friends or family getting out of an otherwise survivable event. Again the suit on the aisle kept his iPhone on the whole flight, including during take off and landing.

I guess I needed to rant about that. The rest of the flight was pretty good. Although the guy next to me didn't look too well. I'm sure it wasn't a broken foot though. He spent most of the flight with his head between his knees though, which isn't a good sign.

I have no idea what runway we landed on, as I was totally beyond it by now. We landed a little bit ahead of the scheduled time of 2245. Being a rather quiet night that would be expected. On disembarkation I was one of the last off due to being in the middle of the plane and found my backpack in an overhead bin somewhere towards the front. Within minutes I was on the bus to the car park.

Driving home was pretty bad however as I got caught in the road works on the Western Ring Road, in theory the journey should have been just as quick as that morning, but I walked in the door just after midnight.

Gone

2011-03-12T20:02:00.003+11:00

On Thursday Morning the house was gone...

Not sure what is going on at the back though. The area been left as is and fenced off from the cleared area. It is far too wide to be an old laneway. There is a shed and what looks to be a cubby house that can be seen from the street. A check of nearmap reveals the uncleared area at the back to be about a third of the whole block.

And I think that answers the question as to what will be built there. If it were to be units the whole block would have been cleared, so I'd put my money on a new house going up.

Home Wreckers

2011-03-09T22:43:00.004+11:00

Is this what happens when you answer one one of those A4 Sheets stuck to electricity poles that say "I buy houses call 0414 123 456"?

I pass this house regularly on the way to and from work. It has been looking run down for quite a while. Then last week they started tearing it down. The garage on the end always intrigued me, too small for a car except perhaps a Morris Minor. This house was finished in a Tudor style, and even though the cladding has been ripped off it still looks the same with the bare frame and plaster walls visible.

It's a nice big block of land. Looking at other developments in the same street the options are to either build a massive two storey McMansion or cram in three or four units. So far I haven't seen a planning permit application board (that's not to say there hasn't been one before I started going this way)...

Trip to Toowoomba

2011-02-24T22:22:00.014+11:00

As I explained in an earlier post my brother's wedding was postponed due to the floods in Queensland. It finally went ahead on the 5th of February, only three weeks after the floods.As the wedding was in Toowoomba I was expecting the worst, but really, it wasn't that bad.

On the Thursday before the wedding Mum and I flew to Brisbane and drove from there to Toowoomba. We had also arranged to pick up my 14 year old niece at the airport, as she attends boarding school in Sydney (on a scholarship to a very, very exclusive school. Very proud of her we are). We found her at the baggage claim with a huge box of Krispy Kreme,that were apparently in her words "to share with everybody". The empty box was found hidden under a bed the day we checked out of the motel.

To get to Toowoomba we had to drive through Brisbane and out past Ipswich and up the Lockyer Valley. We had to take a road which I can honestly say is the single worst road I've ever been on. The Inner City Bypass (on a map, it's the orange road running diagonally across from top left to lower right), which bypasses the The Brisbane CBD. First of all the speed limit is constantly changing, and there are pretty much constant lane changes necessary to keep driving along without getting funnelled off it. It is twisty and turny, and quite scary, which has led me to dub it the Inner City Mad Mouse. Once we made it to the Western Motorway I was able to relax as the from here it was a much more straight forward and relaxing drive.

Along the was we passed through some areas of Brisbane that flooded including Milton (we went right past the XXXX brewery) and Goodna.

In the Lockyer Valley, the highway bypasses most of the towns that were devastated by the flood so the worst could not be seen. There were still some road works on the remaining damaged areas of road, although it seems they had been very quick to repair the road. We only encountered a few very minor delays while driving through the area.

The damage to property in Toowoomba itself didn't seem that bad. The flash flooding was confined to the creeks that run through the town. The only noticeable damage were the closed shops along one of the streets and a lot of debris in places it wouldn't normally be. Other things I saw include a water tank that had floated away during the flood and lodged itself on a fence, and perhaps most telling a large piece of steel girder bridge that had obviously floated down stream. The ~~town~~ city seemed to be getting on with life.

We met up with my brother and 9 year old niece latter that night at our Motel room, as they had driven up from NSW during the day.

Friday we met up for morning tea with the new in laws at the shopping centre. The girls went shopping for dresses and jewlery, while we men went looking at mens things...Actually we just walked around for a bit. That night we went to the brides place for Pizza and to meet the extended family.

The wedding itself was simple and quick. It was held in the Baptist church that my brother's new wife attends. As they have both been married before there was no need for the nonsense of bridal parties. I got to be a witness so now I know what happens during the boring bit of weddings.

There was a short reception held in the adjoining indoor basketball court at the church, before photos were taken in the garden of the church. Finally we had one giant group photo taken back in the basketball court. As it was a morning wedding, we all went out to lunch afterwards.

We had lunch at a restaurant called Angelo's House. I suspect it really was Angelo's House, because it was, well, a house. The food was delicious, I would go back for sure.

On Sunday, the day after the wedding we got to do a bit of sight seeing around the town, which was good.

On the Monday Mum and I drove back to Brisbane airport. On the way we stopped for an hour at Mt Coot-Tha and had lunch at the cafe overlooking Brisbane. My niece had been given a ride back to the airport the day before so we didn't need to worry about her. We arrived back in freezing cold Melbourne at 8 pm that night.

I completely forgot to take my camera to the wedding, so there are no photos of that, but I did snap a few on the day after the wedding, and on the way home.

The view from Picnic Point in Toowomba looking
out over the Lockyer Valley towards Brisbane.

And this is what the lookout looks like...

Looking towards Toowoomba

We found this tree while driving around. At first
we thought it may have been a Boab, but we have
since worked out that it is a Queensland Bottle Tree.

Another View of Toowoomba

Our hire car, a Mitsubishi Lancer, which has been
driven half way around Australia to be with us
judging by the Western Australian number plates.

View of the Brisbane CBD from the Mt Coot-Tha lookout
I love how all the buildings are squashed up close
together in the tiny Brisbane CBD. High density,
almost like a mini Manhattan.

A very dirty looking Brisbane River, it could give the
Yarra River a run for it's money in the brown department.

Our ride home, a Qantas Boeing 767.
We flew up there on a smaller Boeing 737.

We are number three for take off. We also waited
for a planeto land, before lining up on the runway.

The small one is a Beechcraft King Air, I'm pretty sure it belongs
to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The jet is a Boeing 737-800
No need to guess the airline...

Leaving Brisbane in golden light.

Taking a "smart" bus to the airport.

2011-02-10T23:48:00.002+11:00

Yes I did it, I took the Smart Bus to the airport. I am of course talking about route 901 which goes all the way from Frankston to the airport via Dandenong, Ringwood and other places. I did not travel all the way to the airport from Frankston though. Even though the bus actually runs through my suburb (Greensborough) I did not just walk the 1.5km from home to catch it, because even from here it takes a circuitous route through Plenty, South Morang, Epping and Roxburgh Park. I could have, had I wanted to, caught the other Smart Bus route that runs through Greensborough (the 902 which runs from Chelsea to Airport West) to save some time, and changed over at Broadmeadows rail station, but I did not.

Had I the time I most likely would have done the final option above. Not having as much time as I would have liked, instead I drove to Coolaroo station and parked the car and continued by bus to the airport from there. Part of the reason for this is to try and see if it is possible to avoid car park charges for one day trips.

Back at good old Coolaroo station

As I was walking from my car to the stop two more passengers turned up, a pair of Indian students.

While waiting for the bus a very large plume of brown smoke erupted from the housing area across the road, on checking google maps later I am fairly sure it was in a park. Those kids with matches caused a number of fire engines and police cars to go speeding past.

All of a sudden there was a lot of smoke

Then the fire trucks and police cars came.
All within a few minutes of the smoke.

Ten minutes or more passed before a bus arrived at the stop. The bus was either really late or really early as it did not arrive at the timetabled time, and there were no real time info screens at this stop for this direction.

This was the first time I have used my myki on a bus so I was apprehensive as to whether it would work or not. I had no problems although it seemed a little slow to scan on and off. There were probably only 8 or 9 people on the bus including the Indian guys and myself. One of the passengers was clearly going to the airport sitting with a large suitcase in the low floor part of the bus.

On the bus.

From there the trip was rather quick. What slowed us down though was a shortish but time consuming detour taken to serve the Broadmeadows shopping centre. The bus also stopped at the Broadmeadows station. I would rather the bus just stop at the station. From there we headed towards Gladstone Park, where in Mickleham Road we stopped to change over drivers. The new driver also brought his wife along for the ride.

Having just gone through the shopping centre we are
waiting to turn into Broadmeadows station.

By this stage there were fewer people on board, perhaps four or five including myself, the suitcase guy, one or two airport workers, and the drivers wife.

From here the bus turned on to the Tullamarine Freeway and sped towards the airport. We took the first exit which takes traffic to the taxi holding area and freight handling areas of the airport. I use this exit myself when going to watch aircraft from operations road on the western side of the airport as you avoid most of the terminal traffic. The bus went past the long term car park and then proceeded into the freight handling areas of the airport. As we got close to the Tiger Airways Terminal, T4, things literally took an unexpected turn when we did a u-turn and stopped next to a grassy nature strip far from even T4. The guy with the suitcase didn't even realise this was the end of the line, in fact I wasn't even sure if it was, but I got off anyway and headed up the road towards the Tiger water tower.

The stop had no signage that I could see, and certainly no timetable information or realtime info display. In fact if it wasn't for the pair of silver and orange buses, you wouldn't know it was the stop for the major regular public transport access to the airport. I am fairly certain that the buses existence is not even acknowledged at the main terminals. So if you didn't know about it before hand, you wouldn't use it. The whole situation is very poor.

Somewhere in the distance you can see two Smart buses waiting.
Not very inviting...

As I couldn't see where the path ended up on the side of the road the buses stop on I decided to cross the road early before reaching T4. I walked along the freight terminals and after a few minutes I came to T4. This proved to be the right thing to do as there is no pedestrian crossing closer to T4.

T4 itself seemed to be overflowing with many people sitting outside at the outdoor cafe on the concrete in the blazing hot sun (it was new years eve, which as I recall was a quite a hot day in the mid 30's). As per the Airways TV show, there was a Federal Police car parked out the front, with the officers no doubt settling some dispute between passengers and staff.

Beware the Tiger that bites you back...

I decided to take a look in the main terminal before heading back, so continued on the path to T3. I actually went upstairs and through security to the gates. I finally got through the security checkpoint after being held up by the unprepared traveller in front of me dealing with the metal detector.

I just headed straight to the end of the pier to the seats that face the runway and watched all the comings and goings for about twenty minutes. As time was getting on so I began the walk back to the bus stop. Before leaving the terminal I bought a paper (it was a Thursday therefore I needed a Green Guide!) and a drink. I just made it to the stop in time for the next bus and about half an hour later I was back at my car at Coolaroo station.

Overall the journey itself was fine. Bus frequency is pretty good by Melbourne standards and seems a reasonably reliable service. The whole thing is undone by the terminus at the airport. Is in a remote location (as in a good 10 minute walk from the Qantas terminal, as far or further than the nearest bus stop for the long term car park shuttle bus) with no facilities other than the single seat at the stop and little or no signage or other information that I could see.

The disgrace is that the service is not at all acknowledged by the airport directional signage for ground transport options for arriving passengers. The service does get a mention on the airport's website, hoswever it is near the bottom of a long list of airport shuttle style buse. Presumably the reason the route is not acknowledged or provided with a decent or convenient terminus is that the route does not pay an access fee or provide any revenue to the airport operators (and is probably forced on the airport by the Department of Transport)

The location and amenities of the stop has been touched on in articles in the papers over the last few days about ACCC investigations into airport parking. I am hopeful, but doubtful that there is enough in this to get the stop moved to a more convenient location. (I've been writing this review for a while now, since before the articles)

Gratuitous plane pics...

Virgin Blue Boeing 737-700.
Not going anywhere soon...

A 737-800 pulling into the gate.

Stops right on the mark.

Ready to unload...

Melbourne's Newest Station

2011-01-27T23:57:00.015+11:00

It is of course Coolaroo on the Craigieburn line. For me this station has always been an enigma as it had always been marked as a future station in the Melway street directory. When the rail line between Broadmeadows and Craigieburn was electrified back in 2007 it was however ignored in favour of a station at Roxburgh Park instead (itself built on the site of the closed Somerton Station) Due to public demand the government finally built Coolaroo Station and it opened for business in June 2010. I stopped by on a sunny Sunday afternoon all the way back in August to take a look.

It surprised me that the landscaping was nice but simple. Also amazing was the fact that none of the plants had been pulled out! (also note the clearly marked and very well situated disable parking)

Nice big shiny letters and seats to sit on while waiting to get picked up. I would think the seat would be unusable on a hot summer afternoon as it faces due west. The metal would be scorching and the heat radiating off that wall unthinkable. I hope they keep the water up to that tree, it will be needed in the future. There are a number of these trees in this area out the front, they appear to be a native Sheoak/Casuarina, so should handle the conditions well.

This is one of the stairways. Disabled people are catered for by an elevator (you can just see the top of the door). Also a track for pushing bicycles up/down the stairs is provided

This is the city bound platform. It's pretty barren, but at least there are quite a few seats and some shady areas to wait under.

The passenger information display or PID on the city bound platform.

The Craigieburn platform. Pretty much the same deal as the other.

Station sign, and example of the building materials used. Very basic, some would say cheap.

Looking towards Craigieburn (Roxburgh Park is the next station though), and ultimately Sydney, Although with a change of gauge in Brisbane you could go on Mount Isa, Cairns, Kuranda and Forsayth. The interstate standard gauge is the track on the right.

A Siemens train approaches, bound for Flinders Street.

On each platform are some basic necessities for travel, including both Metcard and Myki vending machines and validators. There are also the usual posters showing maps, timetables and fare information.

A better view of the approach to platform 2 and the main station "building". The words plain and boxy come to mind.

The only design flourishes seem to be the red colouring on the stairs and a collection of words on the side of the overpass. And more Sheoak trees.

A close up of the interesting collection of "feel good" wording on the side of the overpass.

Interesting to see a water tank as well. It will be needed to keep those trees alive.

There is also a very large car park.

Just as I was leaving this V/Line sprinter bound for Seymour passed through.

A few notes:

Not pictured is a dedicated kiss and drop are which is a good touch, there are a number of short term (5 min parking spaces and an area to turn around in.

In terms of pedestrian access residents of the residential area on the western side have to cross the four lane Pascoe Vale Rd at a set of traffic lights. Pedestrians from the residential area on the eastern side have direct access via the station overpass. The 901 smartbus also serves this station from a pair of stops on Pascoe Vale Rd. As such people changing between the Frankston bound bus and train or vice versa also need to cross at the traffic lights.

Overall Impresions

My impressions are that the station is quite windswept and desolate. On the outside it just feels like a concrete oven. Although they have tried to counter this with some plantings. This really is a case of function over form, so you can't really complain.

That's one ghost station down. In all there are four new stations expected to be built on the existing Melbourne rail network over the next few years. Of those Lynbrook is one which has also been marked in the Melway Street Directory for many years and so also has that ghost station appeal about it. Lynbrook is to be completed some time this year...

Updates

2011-01-11T23:26:00.003+11:00

I've posted a couple of New Zealand Posts in the last few days. They are posted on the days they happened they can be accessed by the direct links below or the New Zealand tag and links in the sidebar.

New Zealand Trip: Rototua
New Zealand Trip: Rotorua - Auckland - Paihia

Possibly Postponed

2011-01-11T22:42:00.004+11:00

Definitely...

The wedding I mentioned in my previous post was to be this weekend. In fact it is my brothers wedding. As it is his third and (I believe) her second, so it's not such a big deal.

Why is it postponed? Due to the fact it was to take place in sunny Toowoomba. Clearly doing anything in South East Queensland at the moment is a bit difficult, so a wedding is definitely out of the question.

The plan was to fly to Brisbane, where we would hire a car and drive the 2 hours or so to Toowoomba. Given we need to drive through the flood waters to get to Toowoomba from Brisbane, I doubt we'll even make it if it were to go ahead.

My brother however still has some hope, and wont let us cancel our flights to Brisbane (Qantas is quite reasonably willing to waive all fees in light of the situation too). Never mind the fact that he is at his current home in western NSW and the roads between there and Toowoomba are cut. Last we heard he is still trying to contact his wife to be to see what's going on.

I guess we'll just wait and see...

New Years Resolutions

2011-01-08T22:20:00.003+11:00

I'm not one to make new years resolutions, but this year I will make an exception.

For this blog

1. Make more blog posts
2. Finish New Zealand Trip posts. (boy I really lost the plot there...)
3. see #1

Personal

1. Eat less, exercise more, loose some weight.
2. Take public transport to work at least once a week
3. Get out more looking at things and taking photos (helps with #1 in both lists)

That should about do it, don't want to overdo it.. Will review this latter in the year.

Christmas/New Year Goings on.

2011-01-08T21:49:00.002+11:00

This year we spent Christmas day at my brothers house. As my New South Wales brother wasn't down this year it was just a small turn out of my mother, brother, brothers wife, niece, nephew, brothers wife's parents and myself. Brother cooked a turkey in the webber, and we had had a pretty good meal. Present wise I was more generous than usual, (I think). I bought my niece and nephew Mario Kart Wii (they got a wii off santa, he sent me a note to tell me) and a remote control aeroplane each.

I think I did pretty well present wise as well. My stand out present from mum is a ticket to see Billy Connolly in a few weeks. I also got a beach towel and straw beach hat, and some chocolates.

I didn't drink too much or get into too much trouble (both bad), although I managed to fly the remote control plane I bought my nephew on to the neighbours roof. He spent the rest of the afternoon complaining. I'm still not sure when he got it back. Lucky it was a cheap one. I bought myself one a few days latter and broke it a few days after that. Isn't that always the way though.

I really didn't do much between Christmas and new year's eve. One day I went to see a movie with mum. We saw Little Fockers. It was OK but pretty predictable if you've seen the previous Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers movies. Another day I took the 901 smart bus to the airport (write up on that coming soon).

New years eve was again a pretty low key affair. I really don't like new years eve (I think I've mentioned it before) so I'm not that fussed about what I do. Once again like last year I went to my mums sisters house for dinner with some of the family. After dinner until nearly midnight I played pool and watched some movies with my cousin. As they have a two story house in Thornbury with good views of the CBD we got a very good fireworks show at midnight.

That raps up the Christmas New Year period really. Unfortunately after the one week off I was back at work on the 4th. Really could do with a few weeks more. A few days in Queensland for a wedding latter this month will have to do for now. I hope it stops raining.

Receding Flood

2010-12-03T20:22:00.007+11:00

I decided to have alook and see what the rains had brought on Tuesday after work. I should have gone on Monday or the weekend and the water would have been much higher at both spots.

Yarra River: Fitzsimons Lane

Directly underneath Fitzsimons Lane. The things dangling over
the water are gates used by kyakists (I have no idea what the right
word is) in competition. There was a fair bit of wet, very slippery
mud overa meter above the water line, so it had been higher.

This is the view looking upstream from an observation lookout just near the carpark.

Plenty River: Lower Plenty

Taken at Lower Plenty. It was obvious that the river had been much higher due to all the flattened grass and mud everywhere. Today when driving over the bridge I noticed the river was much lower again, well inside it's defined banks.

The view downstream towards the Yarra.

Upstream.

Once again there is a lot of wet sticky mud.

Looking upstream under the Lower Plenty Road/Main Road bridge.

Looks like there has been a lot of water through here recently.

This is the old bridge, no longer open to road traffic but used by
pedestrians and cyclists. I took the first two photos from here.

To get to school I had to cross this river, but further upstream in Greensborough. It flooded on a number of occasions, often above the bridge that was most convenient meaning a long detour. In year 12 a flood actually wiped out the bridge. The bridge was about 1.5 metres wide with steel I beams and a concrete surface and steel cable hand rails. There must have been a few trees floating down to take that out.

In the end it took the council about 6 months to build a new one, meaning I had to go the long way to school for far too long. The failing of the bridge is that it is too low. In that section the Plenty River has very steep banks. When it floods it fills very quickly, and for this reason, all the other bridges over the plenty river in this area are much higher, most actually arch over. For some reason the new bridge (now 11 years old) was built in the same spot and is almost identical to the old one. I wonder if it has been destroyed again. Something to check out on the weekend...

Novembers Updaters Timers

2010-11-18T23:30:00.003+11:00

I haven't really been in a blogging frame of mind lately. I just can't be bothered really. I intend to start up again soon though. I've got a stack of stuff I could cover. Plus I need to get out more.

Added to that, I've been sick for the last few weeks. First on the cup weekend/or the weekend before the Melbourne cup (the Melbourne cup is on a Tuesday so it's not really a long weekend) I came down with gastro and that knocked me out until Oaks day. Then last weekend I got a bad cold which I am still trying to shake. I went to work today for the first time this week and mostly regretted it.

I have started remembering what I did on my New Zealand trip. I was trying to make it brief, but the long winded day by day descriptions are coming along. Sorry about that. Lots of photos to resize for those.

Last week I also did something blog worthy and am working on that as well. Again with photos.

It's the story of my life really, I start lots of things but rarely finish them.

Parking

2010-09-09T23:01:00.003+10:00

Now that I drive to work, things such as parking interest me. My workplace is in a major suburban centre that has all kinds of businesses and is a transport hub for commuters to and from other places. Most Office buildings, like the one I work in, have on site parking. Some have enough parking for all employees, some don't. Lets just say that I don't think mine does, because my company charges about $100 a month for the privilege, deducted from salary. Being a contractor I don't think I'm even eligible. A friend of mine who works for a different company up the road a bit gets free parking.

Now this forces most people to seek parking elsewhere. The council in their wisdom has created a buffer around the area ranging from maybe 500 metres to nearly 1 kilometre in some cases that is either metered, time limited or both. The time limit ranges from an hour in our street, which is also ticketed, to two hours in outlying residential streets. Often it is unlimited parking on one side of the street and 2 hour on the other. No matter which way you look at it the council rakes in the revenue.

This forces people like me to park in residential streets far away. I've walked upto 2 km in each direction between my car and work in the past. I don't mind the walk so much as for me it is pretty good exercise. I've become lazy lately and will drive past work in order to park nearer. I used to park in a spot that was on the way to work and walk the rest of the way, sometimes 2 km as mentioned.

Another effect is that the lack of parking also creates situations where people will squeeze cars into the tightest spots as shown in the above image, and I've seen this same car squeeze into this space on more than one occasion.

Back from NZ

2010-09-06T22:35:00.003+10:00

Tonight I have only just returned home from a 12 day trip to New Zealand. I only went to the North Island though, so managed to stay away from any earth quakes. I Visited Rotorua, Bay of Islands, Auckland and Wellington. It was a great trip, can't wait to get to the South Island in the future.

I took so many photos it is ridiculous. I will select some to post very soon.

New Zealand Trip: Rotorua-Auckland-Paihia

2010-08-30T22:31:00.006+10:00

Monday 30th August

This would be a long day. Not having time to muck around before checking out and getting the bus I went around the corner to McDonald's for breakfast again. Quick and easy.

I checked out from the hostel and rolled my bag up the street and around the corner to the tourist info centre, which is also the town bus stop. I tagged my bag and showed the driver the print out of my ticket, stowed my bag underneath and went aboard. This bus would take me to Auckland, where I would change to another that would take me to Paihia. This was the final leg of my travel pass.

All the front seats were taken so I went about 3/4 of the way back on the right, this was to be my home for the next three and a half hours. I just looked out the window listened to my iPod most of the way.

Cows! One seems to have her way up a hill.

It was on this leg that I had one of those freaky coincidences of life. I had my iPod on shuffle meaning any song could come up next. So one of the songs that came up was "Mean to Me" by Crowded House. At the time we were just coming into the town of Cambridge ( I think) and passed by a road sign pointing to a town called Te Awamutu. At the exact time we passed the sign the line of the song that mentions Te Awamutu played. It just so happens that Te Awamutu is the birth place of Tim and Neil Finn. Anyway, that was a strange moment.

After about 1.5 hours we reached Hamilton where we stopped for about 25 minutes. I made a point of getting off and stretching. I ended up buying a sausage roll from the cafe at the bus station. When I got back on more passengers had got on the bus, which was now very crowded.There was a woman in my seat. I showed her that I had left my things on the seat and in the pocket and she went and found a seat elsewhere.

When we stopped in Hamilton I took a photo of the coach.

Crossing the Waikato River on the outskirts of Hamilton.
She was just about breaking her banks at the time.

Onwards to Auckland we followed the Waikato River, and stopped at a small town before crossing the hills to south of Auckland and that is when we landed in downtown Manakau city. Actually we stopped outside a Westfield shopping centre, it was like Auckland's version of Paramatta. There was also a theme park called Rainbow's End nearby, which we passed on the way in. Back on the motorway through suburbia we eventually emerged in the CBD and parked at the bus station under the Sky Tower. I had only about 45 minutes to do whatever I needed to do in Auckland.

I can't remember what I did with my bag in the meantime but I know I didn't drag it around. I decided to try and find some lunch so went around to the front of the casino looking for a food court of something like that. Only I found nothing except more expensive restaurants. I ended up walking all the way around the block and back to the bus station. I decided that the best bet was a ham and cheese toasted sandwich from the bus station cafe. It wasn't too bad, although it had processed sliced cheese in it, which as a rule I don't eat.

Boarding the new coach was interesting, some young girls (European backpacker types) attempted to get on first in front of some older people. The driver took exception and pulled them aside and made them wait until the older people had got on. By the time I got on there were very few seats and the back of the bus had been blocked off (to save cleaning?) I was disappointed as the only rows on the right had the pillars between the windows. I was pretty sure there would be good scenery on that side and wanted a full window. I was quite annoyed actually as all the "good" seats i.e. those with a full window were taken by euro back packer types.

We began driving and were soon back on the motorway. We crossed the harbour bridge, which although it bears some resemblance to the Sydney Harbour Bridge actually looks nothing like it. The locals however assure you the two are identical in every way shape and form.

The poor cousin.
Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Auckland city skyline from the Harbour Bridge.

Mesmerised by clouds.

Woken up by helicopter.
A Robbinson R22.

For some reason the euro backpacker types in front of me moved after a few minutes of driving to the other side of the aisle. I immediately moved forward to the better window. Later I think they regretted moving. I sure didn't, as the various beaches, rivers and mountains we passed were fantastic. It really did seem tropical, up here in the "tropical north".

Beach scenery just north of Auckland.

Scenery A bit further on

Yes more scenery, a bit further north.

Once again dairy cows ruled the countryside, and it was at the Swinging Cow cafe that we stopped for a break. Like a lot of places in New Zealand, it was self serve. Open the door and pick what you want with the tongs. I chose a home made spring roll, which is simply the best I've ever had.

The sign says it all really.

Not a bad place to stop.

signs

Oh look, more scenery.
Getting closer to Whangerei

The largest town we stopped at was Whangerei, where most people got off. The bus driver made a detour to a service station here to fill up with fuel. Another hour or so up the road and we wound our way in to the sleepy town of Paihia in the Bay of Islands.

Filling up.

I took a few minutes to find my bearings and then went and found my hostel. This time I picked the YHA. Once again I was the only person there, actually there was one other guest but I never saw them. After settling in to my room I went back into the town for dinner. The whole town was deserted, but it looked like it had a large carrying capacity for the summer holidays. There were a lot of choices to be had, any type of restaurant really. I picked a Thai place and had a Massaman Curry.

My lodgings for the next thee nights.

I got some supplies from the Four Square. Typically overpriced for a tourist oriented town (in a few days I discovered that the locals shop at a large supermarket on the outskirts of town). And returned to the hostel. I watched some TV before going to bed.

Paradise?
Needless to say I was blown away when I got here.

Across the waters.

The old church in Paihia.
I can't recall the denomination, niether catholic or Anglican though.
To me it looked no longer used.

New Zealand Trip: Rotorua

2010-08-28T18:02:00.009+10:00

Saturday 28th August 2010

Rotorua Museum, the former bath house

So for my second day in Rotorua I visited the museum which is the original bathhouse on the shores of Lake Rotorua. It was more or less like a hospital that used the various different spas for treating patients. Inside there was a bit of history about the baths, the local history including the volcanic eruption that buried a nearby town. The other part was on the local Maori tribes.

Closer View of the Rotorua Museum.
It really is an interesting looking building.

One of the baths inside.
Needs a bit of a clean before I climb in.

One of many steaming holes in the ground.

Steaming road.
It had just finished raining and the sun was out.
Just in the right place at the right time I guess...

Finished with the museum I headed to a park on the lake and bought a hamburger from a small take away shop for lunch. From memory the hamburger wasn't too good because the bun was too soft, I like my bun toasted.

A float plane resting on Lake Rotorua.
It is in fact a de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter.

After lunch I walked back to the centre of town and caught a bus out to the gondola. The gondola goes up the side of a hill on the outskirts of town. While the view is nice, the main attraction is the luge.

Going up, looking back

Looking forward, still a long way to go.

The lost world is in fact half located way up this hill.
Not sure why they are there though...

Not knowing exactly what the luge was when I got on at the bottom I only bought a return trip on the gondola, on getting to the top and watching for a while I wished I had have got one of the packages that included both. So I went and bought three rides on the luge.

Great view, the luge track.

While lining up for my first go

All I can say is wow. That was so much fun. Lucky I bought three rides as there were three tracks, a beginner or "scenic", intermediate and expert. So I first tried the scenic. Sure enough it was a scenic drive through a pine forest, and as I would later discover very long in comparison to the other two tracks. It allowed me to get a good feel for the luge. Eventually I got to the bottom and jumped on the chairlift back up to the top.

On the way back up.

The chairlift also transports luges back to the top.
(notice the luge hanging off the chairlift in front)
I thought this was quite clever.

The top luge station

Next was the intermediate. There I got a taste for speed. Finally was the expert track, where I am pretty sure I managed to get airborne. Surprisingly I didn't hurt myself. For safety they do provide helmets. The trick to not coming off is to lean into the corners. One wierd thing I noticed was that along the track there were discarded helmets and even a one point an abandoned luge, with no sign of it's lugist.

It really is as fun as it looks.
These are the two faster tracks near the bottom

After all that excitement I went and had a drink in a cafe and then got kicked out at closing time. Once again on the way down I had a gondola all to myself. Knowing that the buses run every half hour I knew one wouldn't come a long for a while , just as well as I had to walk a fair way just to find a bus stop.

One last look at the view before heading back down.

Once again I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back to my hostel. I just played games on my computer before heading to the kitchen to make some dinner at about 9 pm and watched a movie for a while. Once again I was pretty much alone. Well that is apart from the girls in the adjacent rooms who made a lot of noise coming back from some pub or nightclub at some hour of the night.

Sunday 29th August

This day I was going up to Matamata to visit Hobbiton,the hobbit village from the Lord of the Rings films. My ride which I organised the day before was picking me up from the tourist info centre at 1 pm.

From memory I had McDonald's for breakfast as it was more or less the only thing open on Sunday Morning. I walked up and down the shops a bit but they were still closed.

I headed to the town shopping centre, which was quite small by big city standards, but it seemed all the locals were there this morning. The main attraction was "The Warehouse". I remember there were "The Warehouse" stores in Melbourne a few years ago, but they were nothing like this. It is more like a Big W, but a bit more down market, from what I could see you could pretty much buy anything from hardware, camping gear, clothing, washing machines, toiletries, cd's, books and groceries. I bought a bottle of water and a bottle of coke.

By now it was getting on for 11:30 and not being sure when I would get the chance to eat during the afternoon I bought some Asian take away for lunch in the small food court. Big mistake. It was pretty awful. The other choices didn't look much better either.

I wandered back through the centre of town towards the tourist info centre. By now there were a few shops open. I stopped in a bookshop and newsagent. For some reason I also went into a Khatmandu store. Turns out their goods are more expensive than they are worth in New Zealand as well.

When I got to the tourist info centre my ride hadn't turned up, so I sat and waited. Soon enough a mini bus with Hobbiton written on the side pulled up and I went and introduced myself to the driver. He told me to get in and wait, and that I might be the only person going today from Rotorua. After a few minutes of talking to some one he came and got in the van and said that we would go past a few of the hostels to see if there are any other passengers.

The driver was a Maori also named Ben. He told me a lot about the local area and a bit about his family. The drive to Hobbiton was mostly back the way I had come two days previously but eventually we turned off the highway and went across the back roads. We pulled up at a roadside cafe, which was opposite the gate to the farm we would be entering.

Inside the cafe I had to sign a waiver. The reason is that they are rebuilding Hobbiton for filming of the upcoming Hobbit movie. Basically we were allowed to take photos for private use, but are not allowed to post them on the internet. So no photos of Hobbiton sorry.

Eventually another mini bus rolled up outside and this was the actual tour. On board were two couples, both backpacker types from Europe. We wound our way down the road past the electric fence and all the warning signs, they are serious about security here. Before we knew it we were in Hobbiton, it was all very familiar (even if you've only seen first film The Fellowship of the Ring you'd know it)

Basically we walked around looking at the various features of Hobbiton such as Bag End, the party tree and the lake. On the opposite side of the lake were the mill and the inn as well as the bridge. It was very muddy, my new shoes got very dirty. The tour guide urged us to take an umbrella, and it boy were they needed as several quite heavy showers passed over while we were walking around. She told us tales of groups who ignored her advice.

After a good 45 minutes of walking around we cleaned the mud off our shoes and piled back into the bus. Back at the cafe we were given the obligatory New Zealand sheep shearing exhibition in the adjacent shearing shed. We also got to feed some lambs. I managed to get the milk formula all over my shoes (they still have the stains on them some four months later)

Sheep show part 1: Shearing.

Sheep Show part 2: Feeding the Lambs

I got back in my bus with Ben, and back to Rotorua we went. On the way Ben was telling me about the Polynesian Spa, and convinced me to go when I got back. He also told me that Tamuera Morrison from 'Once Were Warriors' and the Star Wars prequels was his cousin. While possible, I'm still not sure about that...

After dumping my stuff at the hostel and resting for a bit I headed down the Polynesian Spa. I didn't bring anything to swim in. Luckily the spa will rent you a pair of shorts and a towel. Sold!

Don't let rented shorts put you off. They were actually clean as far as I could tell. I just tried not to think about it.

The spas are laid out so that the water cascades from hottest pool to coldest and eventually into the lake. It was a fantastic feeling to be sitting in a hot spa out under the moon lit sky. I mean it was probably only 10 degrees C, but that didn't matter.

I don't know how long I spent going from pool to pool, but I felt so good. So relaxed and so warm. Overall my favourite spa was the one closest to the lake. You could lie on your stomach and peer out at the lake. I should mention it was drizzling the whole time too, which just added to the atmosphere.

When I got out,dried myself and put my clothes back on, I returned my shorts and towel and wandered through the steamy streets back to the hostel. On the way I came across an Indian restaurant and decided to stop there for dinner. From memory I had a really nice butter chicken.

Needless to say I slept really well. Lucky as it was a travel day the next day.

New Zealand Trip: Auckland - Waitomo - Rotorua

2010-08-27T18:34:00.000+10:00

Friday 27th August

After an early night I was up early again for an early start again. I had to be out the front of the hotel for a 7am pick up by Intercity bus lines. That means I rose at 6 AM which is 4 AM Melbourne time. Such an early pick up meant that I missed the hotel breakfast which I had pre paid for. So I ate the banana and yoghurt I had bought the evening before, and then headed downstairs.

After waiting for a few minutes one of the staff at reception approached me and said that the bus company had organised a taxi for me. Soon enough a taxi arrived and I was on the short drive to the Sky City bus terminal. As it turns out I could have walked it quite easily in the time I spent waiting. On arrival the taxi driver insisted I pay, but I told him the bus company said they would pay, so we went to the office and the great staff there arranged payment with the taxi driver.

Before leaving Australia I went online and bought a bus pass from the intercity travel pass website. The idea is you buy the pass, which is valid for a year, and then call the company to arrange the travel closer to when you travel. All in all it is a pretty good deal. The pass I bought was the "Geyser Glow worm Getaway" which entitled me to return coach from Auckland to Rotorua, with either of the legs going via the Waitomo Caves . So the previous night I called and arranged the travel. Travelling down the next day, Friday the 27th via the Waitomo and returning direct to Auckland on Monday the 30th.

The only problem was that the person I spoke to on the phone forgot to book the Waitomo Caves tour which is included in the pass. However the friendly and helpful Intercity Coach ladies soon sorted me out. The bus driver even approached me and offered to take my bag to the coach, and I obliged and went to get some drinks from the cafe before boarding the coach.

Generic New Zealand Scenery on the way from
Auckland to Waitomo. It is just so Green.

Soon enough all 5 of us, yes 5 were aboard and were making our way out of Auckland. I sat in the second row, in the first row were two girls from Houston and on the other side were a French speaking mother and son. The others were all on a one day tour from Auckland to Rotorua and back, I was the only one stopping in Rotorua. The bus driver seemed to have an intimate knowledge of each tree and bush on the Motorway South. Actually like all good tour guides, he seemed to know his stuff and I'm sure we all learnt quite a bit about New Zealand along the way.

After about 2 and a half hours driving we arrived at Waitomo at roughly 10 AM and immediately started the cave tour. For a cave it was pretty well appointed with stairs and low power lighting. The guide, a nice Maori girl explained a bit about the history and formations in the cave, as well as the life and times of the Glow worm. I correctly answered the question about what sort of rock the cave was formed out of, Limestone. No photography is allowed, due to camera flashes having the ability to kill glow worms so I can't show you what it looked like.

The Entrance to the Waitomo Caves

The story goes that the old entrance burnt down
a few years ago and this was recently opened.
Quite different, the roof is made of clear plastic.

As the guide explained, glow worms are the larval stage of a fly like insect. The larva cling to the walls and ceiling of the cave and drop a silk thread to catch any insects that happen to fly past (often the adult glow worm) using their glow as a lure. They spend most of their life, up to a couple of years, in this state before turning into the the adult, mating and dying in a matter of days.

After going through a few caverns, we made our way into the part of the cave that had a river running through it and boarded a boat. For this part of the tour we were made to stay silent as we glided along the water under the canopy of stars/glow worms. It was quite surreal. Occasionally we would crash into a rock, and at one point had duck to avoid hitting our heads on some stalactites. Above us I could make out the cables strung up in the cave that the tour guide used to guide the boat. When we emerged from the cave and got out onto the landing the tour guide dissapeared back into the cave with the boat and she was never heard from again.

The boat disappearing back into the cave

The river after it leaves the cave

The scenery at Waitomo, more green...

For the final leg onward to Rotorua, around another hour and half, we picked up an English girl who had come to Waitomo on the bus travelling in the other direction from Rotorua to Auckland. On reaching the outskirts of Rotorua we stopped to let of the day trippers at the "Agrodome", which is an agricultural display centre, where visitors can see things such as shearing, sheep dogs etc. We continued with the driver into town.

Passing through the small town of Cambridge.
Hometo some large animals and other
things made of corrugated iron.

A sheep

Cows!

As it turns out the English girls was staying at the same backpackers as I was and she gave me a few tips of what to do in town. Kindly the bus driver dropped us off right outside the hostel. One thing I noticed while driving into town were the random steam plumes around the place, the smell while slightly annoying wasn't too bad.

The hostel was called Astray. On the booking website (Hostel World) it seemed to have the best location, right in the middle of town, and a pretty good rating on the website. From the outside it appeared to be an old motel. The biggest downside as I found out the next morning was the construction site next door. Other wise my single room was tiny, barely enough room for the bed, but more than adequate. I was on the top floor and I hared a hallway with 4 other rooms. We all shared two toilets and two showers. The kitchen was also on the top floor which was handy. Wireless internet was available but quite expensive.

After checking in and dumping my stuff in my room I decided to find the tourist information centre which was just a short walk around the corner. Right outside the hostel I found the main bus stop for the local town buses which was handy to know. At the information centre I decided that I wanted to see the TePuia Maori Cultural Centre and Geyser park. This was also where the tour I was on that morning was continuing to. I worked out that I could catch a local bus there.

I walked back to the bus stop and waited for a number 1 bus which runs every half hour. After only a few minutes it arrived. I followed a middle age couple who were obviously tourists on to the bus. I decided that if I was unsure I would get off when they did. The bus drove through some back streets and eventually to TePuia on the outskirts of town. Yes they got off there too. I decided to do both the Maori Cultural show and tour, it was quite expensive, but when I figured why not. I had half an hour before the show started so I had time for a wander around.

The entrance to TePuia

I found the Kiwi house but couldn't see any kiwis in the dark enclosore. I followed the path further and looked at a mud pool which was overlooked by a large hotel. As time was getting on I decided it was time to head back to the main area for the cultural performance. On the way in to the show after a traditional welcome I bumped into the two American girl's off the bus from that morning.

Steamy landscape

A pool of boiling mud

The hotel overlooking the above pool of mud.
I am pretty sure this sign once said "Royal Geyser Land Hotel",
I'm not too sure exactly what it is trying to say now.
I guess it's seen better days...

The start of the cultural show was quite an experience, we were given the full welcome, including the haka. Our chief, an older man picked out of the crowd had the honour of performing an official greeting. I'm glad it was him, I probably would have done it wrong and started a war.

Entrance to Meeting House

Gateway to the entrance

Our welcoming party

Our "Chief" making contact.

If you break eye contact the deal is off.

The performance took place in the meeting house and consisted of a series of traditional dances and songs. It was quite good, although shorter than I thought it would be.

Dancing

I forget what these are called but they are throwing
sticks, which I believe is a type of game.

A closer up view of the meeting house

A store house
Valuables, weapons and food were kept in these

A canoe

After the performance was the tour. The guide took us to the Kiwi house and mud pools I'd already seen, before we went down the valley to the Geysers. There was a lot of steam, but no Geyser. Unfortunately those who were going back to Auckland had to leave before it went off. The park was actually closed by the time it went off, but a security guard was kind enough to let those who were there stay to watch.

Alien looking landscape

The geyser pre going off

Steam everywhere

Is that it?

Thar she blows!
Now that's more like it.

On my way back to the exit it began to rain. Of course they make you walk through the gift shop to get out so after having a bit of a look around but not buying I went out to the bus stop. The next bus was due in about 20 minutes. Soon the tourist couple that I followed out here on the bus came and sat down next to me at the stop. The man promptly pulled out a pocket microscope and began looking at some seeds or something like that he had colleted. He also had an Oxbridge something or other backpack, so I guess he was an academic/botanist of some kind.

The rain got heavier, and it became quite miserable and cold in that tiny shelter. Eventually the bus arrived and we were on our way. This particular bus route goes in a loop, so we continued further out of town through a residential area and past the "polytech" (I'm guessing it's the equivalent of a TAFE) where many Indian students got on board. From there we went back into town more or less direct.

Remembering I needed to go shopping I got off near some supermarkets. Looking like a drowned rat I drew a few looks entering the "Pak'n Save", which as the bus driver had informed us that morning, is New Zealand's cheapest supermarket. It was certainly busy on this Friday night. It reminded me somewhat of a Bunnings more than a Woolworths or Coles.

The one thing I had forgotten to pack was a towel (I'm not a hoopy frood who listens to what the HHGTTG says), essential if I wanted a shower at a backpacker hostel. So my first task was to find some towels. Having secured a very reasonably cheap, yet quite soft, pale blue towel I set about getting some food. Bananas, some soft drink and water, some nibbles, and some pasta and sauce for dinner at some stage.

After finding the express lane and then packing everything into my backpack I set out into the rain. The glow from the adjacent golden arches was too much and I surrendered to temptation (the pasta could wait until the next day). Exactly the same as everywhere, but it was warm and dry, better than the walk through the cold wet streets. Surprise surprise, more netballers. I also made use of the wireless internet although it wasn't free, but still quite cheap. I had at least two people come up and ask if my Asus eeePC netbook was a real computer. I'm not sure if this reflects the population of Rotorua or the nature of McDonald's customers, possibly both?

Thank goodness for shop canopies, I made it back to the Hostel without getting too wet. I locked myself in my room and watched a movie on my computer before calling it an early night after two very big days.

New Zealand Trip: Melbourne-Sydney-Auckland

2010-08-26T21:17:00.000+10:00

Thursday 26 August

Yes I went the long way. My day started with a domestic flight from Melbourne to Sydney.

My first ride for today. Qantas 767 300 VH-OGN

My aircraft for this leg was the venerable Qantas 767, when I booked it was supposed to be an A330. I was allocated a seat in the forward economy cabin with all the important business people off for a days work in Sydney, usually I have to slum it down the back. It was an ordinary flight although we took a slightly different route to what I am used to. From what the pilot said we had to slow down due to congestion in Sydney. We made an early left turn and then turned right and headed straight for the coast some way south of Sydney. The usual route is to fly straight past Campbelltown and then commence an 'S' turn over Lucas heights to the Royal National Park and out to sea to line up with one of the parallel runways somewhere off Cronulla (Usually looks a bit like this).

In Flight en-route to Sydney

One highlight for me was watching a Virgin Blue aircraft slowly overtake us, must have been at least 10 kilometres away.

Virgin Blue 737 overtaking us

Arrival at the gate

In Sydney I took the domestic transfer bus to the international terminal. This involves heading to a desk near gate 1 scanning your boarding pass and heading down an escalator to a lounge where you wait for a bus. For Domestic to International transfers on Qantas or from Qantas to a One World partner airline there is no need to collect any luggage and re check it. Having done the trip in reverse last year I knew the ride over would be interesting so I got my camera out. Its like a private tour of Qantas' maintenance hangers. Sadly there were no A380's to be seen anywhere.

Once over at the international terminal you are deposited "landside" and have to pass through passport control and security like any other passenger. That is when I entered shopping world. Not only do you get routed through the Duty Free shops before you reach the gates, you get to walk through what could pass for a Westfield shopping centre if it didn't have aircraft instead of cars in the car park. All tax free of course.

I slowly made my way to the gate which was right at the end of one of the concourses. As I got closer I could see the aircraft hadn't shown up yet. Strange as there was only about 10 minutes to go before boarding. The aircraft for this flight was meant to be one of Qantas's new trans Tasman 737-800s with AVOD (Audio Video On Demand). At the adjacent gate I spotted just such an aircraft, a New Zealand registered Qantas 737-800 but it didn't look like it was going anywhere soon.

Not going anywhere, Qantas 737-800 ZK-QXC
This aircraft should be taking me to Auckland

Sure enough a staff member soon appeared at the desk and soon made an announcement stating that our departure would be delayed due to a faulty aircraft and that boarding would not commence for another 40 minutes. With that I decided to go for a wander, stopping at a window to watch some comings and goings when I spied an aircraft under tow. It was another 737-800, but a regular domestic one. And sure enough it was towed into our gate.

The substitute aircraft for my flight.
737-800 VH-VXP "Logan"
(named after the City of Logan in QLD)

Busy times, a Cathay Pacific A330-300
and Air Pacific 747-400

Unloading containers from the hold of the
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330

There is no mistake here. The classic lines of the Boeing 747

In the background the tail of an Aerlineas Argentinas A340

After wandering a bit more I arrived back at the gate just in time for boarding. I had selected a window seat and thankfully it wasn't a full load, so the middle seat next to me was empty. Soon enough we pushed back and began our taxi. While I was waiting I noticed that a lot aircraft were using the east west runway and we would be no exception. So we taxied back past T2 (the Domestic terminal used by Virgin Blue, Jetstar, Tiger, Rex and Qantaslink) to the end of runway 25 and took off to the west. Our route took us over some familiar Sydney landmarks before heading out over the Tasman.

A quick right turn after take off.
The airport is still visible in upper right.

Sydney Olympic Park.

Also visible are the Flemington markets, the large
sheds in the middle right. Just bellow that are the
Flemington rail workshops, and in the lower right
hand corner is Lidcombe station. The Sydney CBD
is also visible at the top of the photo.

General view over the inner west of Sydney towards
eastern and southern suburbs . Botany Bay and
the airport can be seen as well.

Cool view directly overhead the CBD, the main landmarks
visible are Darling Harbour and Hyde Park.

Approaching Auckland. Typical green

hilly Kiwi North Island countryside.

The flight went really fast and in fact we "made up time", a great piece of airline captain speak that. (Reminds me of the Jerry Sienfelds take on it 5th paragraph). We didn't even get to finish the movie. The flight couldn't have been more than 2 hours. I was off the plane and walking to immigration in no time. The smart gate is a great invention. You don't need to go to a desk and deal with an official in a bad mood, instead you just go to a kisosk, scan your passport, answer some questions and take a ticket Then you approach a gate, insert your ticket, smile for the camera, take your ticket, walk through open gate and away you go. The best bit is that so far it is only available to Australian and New Zealand passport holders. Apparently you can go to a kiosk to get pre clearance before you fly, but I didn't see them in Sydney, or in Auckland on the way back for that matter...

I arrived at the luggage carousel only to find my bag was one of the first off. Can't argue with that for service. Sadly they weren't filming Border Patrol in Auckland that day, but then I didn't do anything wrong so breezed through customs. And with that I was out in public in Aotearoa. First order of business was finding an ATM for some cash. Next was to find the bus to the Auckland CBD.

In a matter of minutes I was on the bus heading for the City. The fare was NZ$18 which compares pretty well with what you would pay in Australia (I worked on approx NZ$1 = AU$0.80). I love that first ride from the airport in a new place always eye opening. Things I noticed were firstly:

English style pedestrian crossings black and white stripped pole topped with illuminated yellow bulb. They are classic.
Speed limit signs, same as ours except ours are rectangular with red circle painted on. Theirs are just round to start with.
Lots of wierd Japanese cars, particularly Toyota and Nissan
Bunnings Warehouse, Mitre 10.
Countdown supermarket is the same as Woolworths.
Saw at least one "The Warehouse - where everyone gets a bargain"
Lots of small bottle shops in local shopping strips.

After getting off the bus at the right stop I was quickly checking in to my hotel. The All Seasons Auckland. Conveniently located in Wyndham Street just off Auckland's main drag Queen Street. Up a very steep hill, right next to a sex shop. Great location. Don't be fooled by the name, the All Seasons was a Motel Formulae 1 in a previous life, I'm not sure why Accor changed the name. The photo of the room on the website makes it look a lot larger than it really is, a common problem with hotel websites. However the room was more than adequate for my short one night stay. I would be back latter in my trip for a further two nights, that would be the real test.

Anyway after dumping my stuff I was keen to get out into the fresh Auckland air after spending all day in a/c environments. Deciding to walk down towards the waterfront the first thing I was confronted with was a fight about to break out in front of a bar. Great first impression there. I quickly slipped past

As it was after 7pm by this stage all the shops were closed, and there was very little in the way of food apart from Subway and Burger King. Down at the waterfront I walked around for a while but the area was dead quiet and none of the restaurants really appealed to me. I went back up Queen Street and got take away from Burger King and bought some supplies for the following day from a convenience store. Back in my room I sat up in bed and watched some TV before calling it a night.

Adelaide for a day

2010-06-18T21:50:00.003+10:00

In early March I made a day trip to Adelaide. Inadvertently I booked it for when the Clipsal 500 V8 Super Car race was on, but that really didn't affect me. I didn't go near it and only heard the cars.

Awkward shot of my ride for the day.

Waiting to line up for take off.

For a change, instead of flying on Qantas I went on Virgin Blue. I was impressed with the Embraer 190 (AKA "Jungle Jet" due to being built in Brazil) very much, being smaller than a 737 it only had 2 seats either side of the aisle. The best bit was that we left from a gate without a jet bridge so we got to walk out on the tarmac. As my seat was more than half way down the aircraft I was told to use the back stairs, which I did gladly. Theoretically it speeds up boarding if the front half boards via the front and rear half via the rear, but only when people do what they are told. I ended up having to battle through people sitting further back than myself that boarded at the front, quite frustrating.

Wind turbines between Ballarat and Ararat

Crossing the South Australian coast and Coorong.

We were dwarfed by this Airbus A330 destined for Singapore
on arrival in Adelaide.

A better shot of my ride for the day.
Embraer 190 VH-ZPG "Ella E Jet".

Instead of taking the bus from Adelaide Airport in to the city I decided to go the other way to Glenelg. On exiting the secure area of the airport I noticed that there are now signs pointing to the bus stop, I'm sure they weren't there last time I was here in 2008 and got lost looking for it. I planed my bus journey the night before using Google Maps. I had to take the Jetbus to a nearby shopping centre and change there to another bus that was going to Glenelg. We almost didn't even make it as far as the shopping centre as the bus driver missed a turn and had to do a 3 point turn to get back on track.

When driving into Glenelg I noticed this old fashioned garage about a block away from Jetty Road, couldn't help but walk back and take a photo.

Curb side petrol bowser. I bet they have driveway
service as well!

As you do in Glenelg I walked out on the Pier (Jetty?)and watched the fishermen for a few minutes. Not much biting, but there were a surprising number of fish swimming about under the pier, some of them quite large. According to signs, the pier used to be much longer, with a breakwall running parallel to the beach. Now as you can see, it is quite short.

Looking out.

Looking in.

Beach

Wandering back on to dry land I realised that an old H class tram was parked in the tram terminus that hadn't been there 15 minutes earlier. AFter talking to one of the guides present I decided to hang around for 20 minutes to take a short ride to the Morphetville racecourse and back. It wasn't very far but far enough to get a feel for these old rattlers. Most puzzling to this whipper snapper was the arrangement for opening and closing the window using a leather strap which was also used to hold it closed or open. Ingenious, who needs push buttons.

H class no. 367, the only one left in Adelaide.

H class drivers control stand.

Passengers in the passenger compartment.

After returning to Glenelg, at the suggestion of one of the tram conductors I went and had a look at the Glenelg Museum which is in the Glenelg Town Hall overlooking the pier. Not a large display, but there were some interesting things to look at for about 15 minutes.

You know you are in Adelaide when you see
one of these signs. I counted at leas three
in Glenelg alone.

By now it was approaching lunch time so I made a quick stop at an Asian take away. Lesson learnt there. No photos it tasted bad enough without being reminded of what it looked like.

Modern Bombardier Flexity tram.

From there I got the tram into the Adelaide city centre and alighted at Rundle Mall. I don't know if it was because of the V8s or what, but the tram was packed, even more so in the free area between the outer terraces of the CBD grid. I took a walk up and down Rundle Mall. The main reason for this was to look for some batteries as my camera had died. I remembered there was a Woolworths supermarket here but it was now closed for renovations, so I resorted to searching farther afield before finding a Tandy store tucked away in one of the arcades.

Sick of the Rundle Mall I headed north past Government House and the SA state Parliament and over the River Torrens into the wilds of North Adelaide. I didn't make it very far, as the afternoon was warming up and I really couldn't be bothered going any further. I stopped for a rest under a tree in a nice green park (the sprinklers were running while I was there) for about 20 minutes. I couldn't help but notice how deserted the area was, I think I only ever saw 2 or 3 people in the half hour or so I was there, meanwhile the traffic on the nearby main road was very busy.

King William Road in North Adelaide, with one
of Adelaide's famous churches.

Having a water crisis of my own, ie my bottle was empty. I decided to head back towards the city. Spying a bus stop I thought I'd wait and see what turned up. A good 10-15 minutes later I gave up and started to walk. Sure enough within a minute of getting up a bus went past.

Along the way I took a detour around the Adelaide Oval and along the river.

Somewhere behind this pile of dirt is the Adelaide
Oval, which is currently getting new grand stands.

Oh there it is. The Adelaide Oval.

Adelaide's skyline from the river.

A bridge over the river.

The river, well more of lake, formed by a weir downstream.
Last year someone let all the water out by mistake.

I then went in search of water and air conditioning before catching the bus to the airport. My oasis turned out to be a bottle of water from a convenience store, along with a sundae and abundant free soft drink refills from Hungry Jack's. Refreshed and full of sugar I set about finding the Jetbus stop. After waiting for what seemed like hours but was probably more like 20 minutes one turned up, and 15 minutes later I was back at the airport. I was much too early, but had a good wander around before arriving at the gate just in time to board my flight back to Melbourne.

My plane landing, turns out to be Ella E Jet again.

It was exactly the same aircraft as on the way over, VH-ZPG. Once in my seat I found that someone had done the crossword in the magazine, so I quickly swapped my magazine for that of my yet to arrive neighbour, they would never know. I really like these Embraers. While my seat neighbour was a bit on the annoying side (that's another story) it was a good flight. I was hungry, so I bought some cheese and crackers to nibble on and a can of Sprite to drink. It was really dinner time, but decided to hang on until getting home.

Ready to go.

Nice engine.

Just after take off.

A shot showing the layout of the cabin.
Despite being only 2x2 seating it is very roomy.

We landed early and taxied straight to gate 13 which is near the REX gates and a long way from the main concourse. However not having any luggage I was on the bus to the long term car park in no time and was home within an hour of landing.

Landing in Melbourne.

Off the rails in St Kilda

2010-04-23T19:18:00.006+10:00

This is what happens when the Scenic Railway at
Luna Park breaks down.

In the school holidays I took a day off work to take my niece and nephew out. We ended up at Luna Park in the afternoon. The first thing my nephew said when we walked in was that he didn't want to go on the Scenic Railway as it will break down. He obviously knew something I didn't because this happened about half an hour later. I guess it happens all the time. And it was back up and running in a matter of minutes after the last people walked back down the track.

Actually my niece did ride on the Scenic Railway, but before this happened.

When I showed the photo to one of my brothers he mentioned that perhaps Luna Park should up sell the experience as Melbourne's version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. He may be on to something there.

April Updates

2010-04-23T19:02:00.006+10:00

Wow it's been a while. Time has gone so quick this year, must be getting old. Which is funny because I just had a birthday. Not quite out of my 20's but the "Big One" is looming as people like to remind me. Oh how much time I have wasted in my 20's, I think I need to have a 1/3 life crisis and go wild.

Well I havn't really been doing much in the way of my so called "adventures". I've been living a dull suburban existence and haven't been any where near the city for nearly a month, and for a at least a month or two before that as well. This is what happens when you stop relying on public transport, as before when it was convenient to just hop on a train and go to the city to do what I needed to do, now I just drive around the north eastern suburbs.

I sort of lied about not having adventures, as since my last post about my trip to Canberra I've been to Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra again, Sydney and Brisbane. I just have so many photos to go through and I am to lazy to do a write up. But I will get something up about some or all of my trips as time allows.

And another thing, a person on a forum that I lurk around has signed up and is posting under the name "Ben's Adventures". While most probably a freak cooincidence, I feel like someone has stolen my identity. "Ben's Adventures" is not a name I use on forums and such, I have other identies for those. If it is anyone reading this, leave a comment.

January Canberra Trip

2010-03-11T21:16:00.001+11:00

Back in the middle of January I spent a weekend in Canberra. Not having been there since I was about 11 I had no idea what to expect. In the end I think I liked it. I ended up hiring a car to get around after discovering that the weekend buses weren't so good, and I ended up staying at more expensive accommodation than I normally would after leaving booking too late.

My gigantic hotel room, I'm sure they put me in a better room than the one I paid for.

I found driving in some ways easier than I thought it would be, the roundabouts and circles aren't as bad as I remembered. Parking was a pain in Civic, but was free at all the "attractions" I went too. Forgot to ask for a Street Directory at the airport so I bought one for $10 from Big W instead. Food wise Canberra has a quite a range of foods, which I guess is owing to all the embassies and consulates. Although that didn't really help me, travelling alone I don't feel comfortable sitting in a "real" restaurant on my own so ended up getting take away for most meals. Food also seems more expensive in Canberra.

My car for the weekend, a Toyota Corolla, almost
identical to mine. I ordered a hatch when I booked
beacuse it was cheaper but got a sedan instead.

My impression of the city of a whole is that it feels strange, especially in the more government oriented areas. The parts of the suburbs I did venture into seemed like any other city in Australia though.

This water jet in Lake Burley Griffin was screaming.
I know I read some impresive stats about it somewhere.
People in Canoes and paddle boats were going through it

The main things I wanted to do were:
-Parliament House
-Old Parliament House
-National Gallery of Australia- Masterpieces from Paris Exhibition

In addition I had a bit of a look around the National Library, drove past Mrs Bryce's house at Yarralumla, went to the top of both Mount Ainslie (during a thunder storm!) and the Black Mountain Telstra Tower, and a few other bits and pieces. All in all it was a good weekend.

Black Mountain in the distance

The Telstra tower on top of Black Mountain. There was a sign in
the carpark stating something along the lines of "remote locking
systems for cars wont work due to strong radio interference". They
weren't kidding I had to lock and unlock my car using the key.

By far Old Parliament House was my favourite place. It has recently been turned into the Museum of Australian Democracy, and as well as the building itself has information on how government works and the history of government in Australia. What I found most interesting were the various offices in the building which have been left as they were back in the 80's, particularly the Prime ministers and senate leaders offices as well as the press gallery which is situated on the roof of the building.

Famous steps on the wedding cake. Aka Old Parliament House.
Aka Provisional Parliament House.

View from Commonwealth Place across Lake Burley Griffin
to The Australian War Memorial and Mount Ainslie.

The weather was fine, and high 20's most of the time apart from a thunder storm on the Saturday afternoon. Monday was cold and windy, as was Melbourne when I got home later that day.

The Australian Governor General's Residence at Yarralumla.
Originally a homestead for one of the farms in the area.

High Court Building

Flights were with Qantas and I can't complain about either leg. Although we had a gate change/aircraft swap on the way back to Melbourne which delayed the flight leaving, and yet we managed to land in Melbourne on time (once again at gate 9, I always arrive into Melbourne at gate 9!).

My plane home, Qantas 737 400 vh-TJR "Cockatiel".
I became quite familar with this plane as I also rode on it
only a bit over a week later coming back from Sydney.

Crossing over the Sunbury Road while landing at Melbourne Airport.
(This is a screen grab from a video I shot which can be seen here.)

I have included a few photos here but I have more on my Picasa and Flickr accounts.

London City Airport

2010-03-10T20:28:00.003+11:00

Many people may not realise that there is an airport in the heart of London. Well not quite in Piccadilly, but close by in East London, North Woolwich to be exact. It is of course London City Airport. The airport website claims it is only 22 minutes from London City by the Docklands Light Railway from Bank station. It is certainly much closer than Heathrow and Gatwick.

London City Airport caters mainly to the business market and flights go to many cities throughout North/Western Europe and Britain. Having only a 1508 metre runway generally only small regional and business aircraft are allowed in out. The one exception is Brittish Airways service to JFK (as in John F Kennedy airport in New York) using specially configured Airbus A318s. The flight reaches JFK via a stop for fuel and US Customs pre clearance in Shannon Ireland. The most common aircraft using the airport include the Fokker 50, Bombardier Dash 8 and Avro RJ/BAe 146 series.

The video above shows the spectacular approach Following the Thames over the West End, London City and Docklands. This video is a time lapse showing a typical period of 90 minutes at the airport.

Gecko Time

2010-02-08T23:26:00.005+11:00

This is so cool! There is currently a Gecko on my wall. Geckos are not uncommon around here, but they usually seem to hang around the front door rather than my bedroom. I've never seen a Gecko down this end of the house. Actually I lie, I should say I've never seen a living Gecko down this end of the house. There was one that drowned in the bucket of water in the side way that was catching the overflow from the leaky toilet and another one that got squashed on top of the back door when it got closed. I only noticed it a day or two later when I saw this little foot sticking out as I opened the door.

I feel kind of honoured to have a Gecko on my wall, not sure why. Not going to move him, they are too hard to catch. The trouble is, 1. capturing them in the first place as they run when they see you coming, and 2. keeping hold of them as the squirm for their life. Not worth the worry at this time of night, although it couldn't end worse than the guy who tried to catch the Huntsman on his ceiling.

Un Deletable Icons (Boring geek post)

2010-01-23T18:43:00.002+11:00

So you have an icon on your desktop that can't be deleted. An example of this is the "My Bluetooth Places" which set up camp on my desktop of my netbook after using bluetooth to get some photos from my phone. I didn't want it there and it had no delete option when I right clicked it. Dragging it into the recyling bin yielded no results. Dragging it anywhere else just created deletable clones. The hive mother was still undeletable. What to do?

For Windows XP I did this.

Right click your desktop >> go to Properties >> select the desktop tab >> under the general tab click customize desktop >> under Desktop Cleanup click the Clean Desktop Now button >> click Next.

Now appears a list of desktop icons. Give a tick to all the ones you want to delete and then click Next and Finish.

Now all the icons you want to delete will be in a folder called unused desktop icons. Delete this folder from the desktop and any problem icons will be gone.

December Updates

2009-12-29T21:15:00.000+11:00

December has been going well.

My car is unreal (well it's my first car). Needs a wash though as it looks like a panther with yellow spots.

Work managed to renew the contract with the government. So I am still employed.

Christmas was good. All of my family were together, a bi-annual event. My brother and his two girls are down from NSW. Can't believe how tall my oldest niece is, she is 13 and is calling me old! Youngest niece is growing too, but is still a little girl. They both got Ripsticks and Nintendo DSi for Christmas and that is all. I like that approach to presents, two big things, one from each parent (they are divorced) instead of lots of little things.

Christmas dinner itself was at my other brothers (who still lives in Melbourne) wifes parents house. That was a bit awkward with our mob invading their house but it all went pretty well.

Boxing day I spent hanging out with my brothers and 8 year old nephew while my brothers wife and three nieces all went shopping. Mum and brothers in laws came to brothers for BBQ that night.

Yesterday I went with brothers and nephew to the cricket at the MCG. I have never been to a cricket game before, and I thought it would be pretty boring. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Nephew was hanging over the fence for autographs, got two, Siddel and someone else. Ended up taking nephew for a walk when he began to get really bored towards the end. I made him walk all the way to the top of the Southern Stand and the Ponsford Stand and back down again to tire him out. Again all the girls went out together, apparently they had Max Brenner at QV and then went up the Eureka tower. Nephew ended up at our place to sleep the night, while the three nieces had a girly sleepover at my brothers place. We played some Mario Kart on the Wii before nephew crashed last night.

Today I woke up at 7:15 to turn the Wii on for the nephew, then went back to sleep for a few hours. After I got up, showered and dressed we played some more Wii, then went out for a game of cricket in the driveway. Brother and sister in law finally turned up at 3pm to get nephew. After recovering I finally got the chance to do some shopping for myself. I decided to go to Westfield Plenty Valley rather than Greensborough or Doncaster. Good move as it wasn't very busy at all. What I really needed was some shorts to replace the pair that got ripped in the washing machine the other week. I wasn't happy about that. In the end I got a pair of shorts from Colorado for half price and a shirt from Target as well.

All in all things are pretty good at the moment.

Myki is finally here. Well sort of...

2009-12-29T19:12:00.003+11:00

Today at 3pm Myki was turned on...

...for trains only!

What the?

Turns out there are issues with getting the mobile equipment on trams and trains talking to the rest of the system. Apparently Ms Kosky is not amused. Excuse me Ms Kosky, but you've had how many years to get this working and now you are shifting the blame to DoT people. They are probably the same people who might have told you it was unrealistic to tell the public that it would work before 2009 was out.

Also supposedly you can get the Myki for free (instead of paying for the card) if you order it online. I tried to get a card with Myki money but the session timed out before I could finish.

Melbourne Laneways

2009-12-29T18:47:00.004+11:00

So in the name of Geocaching a friend and I did some exploring of some of Melbourne's laneways a few weeks ago. Some I had been to before, others I hadn't. One I had been to but didn't realise it was AC DC lane. On some drunken stupor a few years ago I remember getting refused entry from a number of clubs around here.

Anyway this day we visited AC DC lane in search of a cache. It was a Sunday so there was a distinct odour of Beer, piss, spew and rubbish. We found the cache eventually after scouring every likely looking place in the lane. Geocaches are always very obvious once you know where they are.

Next stop on our tour was Degraves followed by Bank Place. I like Bank Place and the Indian restaurant there looks great too. We also visited Hardware lane and finally Hosier lane. But the lane that most interested me was Langs Lane that runs between Bourke and Little Bourke in the block between Spencer and King. At the Little Bourke end it is wide enough for vehicles to enter, but at the other end it is only wide enough for a footpath.

Langs Lane

My question is this. Is Langs Lane Melbourne's Narrowest?

Hip to be square

2009-12-11T21:15:00.005+11:00

...and other songs by Huey Lewis and the News such as, The Power of Love. (Although I like this fan video with all the Back to to future footage better. And here is hip to be square as mentioned earlier just to be consistent.)

Speaking of Hueys. I happened to be at Borders at Doncaster tonight and Ian Hewitson owner of various pubs and restaurants (although I hear his last restaurant didn't go so well) and the long running Huey's Cooking Adventures TV show (Channel 10 at 3:30 pm weekdays IIRC) was signing his new book, Bloody Good Recipes.

It was funny because he was at his table and everyone was standing back, not sure what to do. So then he whipped open a salad (recipe in book) and offered everyone to help themselves. Can I just say it was one of the best salads I've had in my life. It was a called Thai Slaw, and it had a great Thai flavour (I reckon it is more Vietnameseish, but I'm not a chef so what would I know?) with lots of chilli and coriander. That was enough for me to buy the book. Well first I had a look to make sure the recipe was in there. Plus I got him to sign it. So in one go I got both my first cooking book and first book signed to me by the author in one go. So I guess the moral of the story is if you want me to buy your book, give me some food first.

Although next week no food will be necessary because one of my favourite authors will be signing at Borders Doncaster. That is none other than Matthew Reilly and this latest book The Five Greatest Warriors. If you are unfamiliar with his work then I would say that he rights the kinds of books that Dan Brown wishes he could write. His books are usually a mixture of myth, legend, history, science fiction, action and comedy. Matthew Reilly is known for his meticulous research, in his last book The Six Sacred Stones he even included a bibliography. The current trilogy I would say is pretty close to a melding of Indiana Jones, Stargate and Tom Clancy.

Who knew publishers made video trailers for books?

Docklands-South Wharf Wander

2009-12-05T19:57:00.018+11:00

A few weekends ago I went for a wander around Docklands specifically because one morning on the train on the way to work (yep it stopped in no mans land between Jolimont and Flinders Street) I watched a route 48 tram turn out of Wellington Parade into Spring Street. A bit of digging revealed that route 48 trams now run down Collins Street instead of Flinders Street to a new terminus at Victoria Harbour. I have no idea when the change happened but it is an interesting development. So after a quick lunch in the food court in Australia on Collins I caught a route 48 along Collins Street.

Waiting...

waiting...

Almost here...

Soon enough we were crossing Spencer Street and passing the Southern Cross station. Then we travelled down hill to the new terminus amongst the giant new headquarters for Myer and the ANZ Bank.

New Myer building

It was interesting to see the the tram terminus is clearly temporary with a small single track stub going off beyond the island tram stop. I guess it will finish up right at then end of this sliver of land eventually.

Funnily this part of Melbourne is how I imagine Dubai to be. All these new and shiny buildings built in a desert. The docklands do remind me of a desert, almost no one walking around in the hot sun/freezing cold wind. There are probably more Mercedes in Dubai though. I hear a lot of people leaving Dubai just dump the car at the airport on the way out.

Leaving...

Shunting into the stub to wait to head back to North Balwyn.

From here I walked over to the river. Skateboarders were already making use of the new urban space and furniture. I'm sure the suits next door will disapprove. Looks like a good fishing spot too, but there are signs saying that is banned.

The New

The old

Boats everywhere

ANZ has imposed a ban on fishing along here. I guess
they don't want smelly bait littering the smokers area.

I set off along the river outside the ANZ building and crossed the river at the pedestrian bridge and then found my way to the new South Wharf complex.

I've got to say that I'm not terribly impressed with the new DFO, it has a huge ground level car park and very indirect access to public transport. Strangely all the shops are underground. As fro the sheds along the wharf itself, they seem like they are destined to be yet more overpriced restaurants that I will never eat at.

While there I also had a peek inside the Convention Centre. There seemed to be some kind of event on, as there were a lot of families around. I didn't like the interior of the foyer though, I think it will age very quickly. The huge glass wall is great. Somewhere in here is the Hilton Hotel as well.

As a whole, the area seems contrived and desperate, more so than docklands.

From there I crossed the new bridge and edged my way towards Spencer Street. As I crossed a helicopter arrived on the adjacent heli pad. Not a bad way to go shopping at DFO South Wharf.

I wish I could do my shopping in a Robinson R44. A great
parking space as well.

The helicopter is a Robinson R44, the most popular helicopter in the world (the company's website even says so!), it carries 4 people including pilot. It is based on the R22 which seats 2 people. This particular helicopter has also been seen at Ayers Rock.

The always photogenic robofish.

I then walked over the Clarendon Street bridge and back again, before heading up the hill to Southern Cross. On the way I passed this apartment building which has been built on the tiny sliver of land between Flinders Street and the railway viaducts.

Good location, close to public transport.

Not sure I would like to live here.I get a good view in the window of the first floor apartment on the end from the train. Sure being close to Public transport is good, but being this close is bordering on the ridiculous.

From there I made my way up the hill to Southern Cross station passing the new Age building on the way.

pretty self explanatory.

Oh what a feeling - Yes I bought a car

2009-12-03T20:39:00.009+11:00

After much uming and ahing I finally bought a car. Nothing very special, but it is my first car so I am quite proud. It is a 2008 Toyota Corolla sedan. It's the Ascent model, so just the basic equipment level. Call me lazy, it's an automatic.

Safety wise it has 2 airbags and ABS, but no stability control. Fuel wise at 1.8 litres the engine promises to be quite fuel efficient. I filled it up the night I got it and it took just under $50 worth of petrol. The petrol needle is still sitting above the full mark after driving over 70 km since the refill (I expect it to start dropping fast any day now). If I can be bothered I will check the fuel efficiency and usage stats on the car computer at some stage.

So far it has left a good impression on me. After mostly driving more powerful cars (albeit heavier too) I didn't know what to expect. It accelerates very smoothly and likes climbing hills more than the Subaru Liberty I was driving earlier in the year. The steering at fist seemed a bit iffy, it has a different "road feel" than I was used to, but I'm getting used to it.

I think I'll get rid of the car dealer number plate thingys and sticker on the back window as they clash with the black theme going on with the car.

Pictogram Man Strikes Again

2009-12-03T19:59:00.004+11:00

Daniel posted about a poor unfortunate pictogram man he found. This guy is one I found in the streets (with rather bumpy footpaths!) of Vancouver.

He was outside the court buildings, so I guess they don't leave themselves open to litigation. I guess we could call him Mr not looking where he is going.

This reminds me that I really should post some photos from my trip.

The art of riding the cable car

2009-11-06T19:46:00.004+11:00

So you are in San Francisco and want to go for a ride on the cable car, but you take one look at the lines at the terminus and decide you don't want to wait around that along. What to do?

The secret is knowing that most of the people who get on here will take a seat and others behind them in the line will pass on a spot on the foot board and wait for the next cable car.

If you think you can hang on, and dont mind hanging out the side, then the answer is to walk to the next stop and jump on the foot board of the next car. While I expect it is different in the middle of vacation time there are usually spots on the foot board available.

But if you do wan t a seat people do get on and off along the route so if you are waiting at an intermediate stop you are likely to find a seat. The conductor will usually shout what's available when the car comes to a stop.

Either way riding the cable cars are fun.

This advice mostly applies to the Powell/Hyde and Powell/Mason lines. When I was in San Francisco the California line was much more lightly loaded, and in a way I found it a more interesting ride.

As for fares, a one way trip on the cable car is $5. However you can buy a muni pass. These are available for 1 day, 3 day, and 7 day periods from Muni ticket booths. Prices range from $6 to $21, and allow travel on any muni operated service, be it muni metro, buses, the F Line and of course the cable car. Interestingly they use a scratch off system like the infamous Met "scratchie" tickets in Melbourne.

Free Game

2009-11-06T19:37:00.004+11:00

Saw this in Jason Hill's excellent Screen Play blog today.

As part of Wallace and Gromit's 20th aniversary, game developer Telltale Games are giving away one instalment of the Wallace and Gromit game series, "Muzzled" for free here. Don't know how long this will last. for a limited time only.

I've been meaning to try these games out for while so what better opportunity. Currently downloading now. I'm still kicking myself for not picking up World of Goo the other week when it was on "name your own price" special...

Notes on the art of USA air travel

2009-11-04T21:16:00.002+11:00

Security

In my journey I became very adept at the US air travel security procedure. These are my tips

Always take your shoes and jacket/jumper off and place them in one of the tubs provided.
Do not leave heavy metal objects in bags (such as padlocks), but make sure you stuff everything you can in as it makes it easier when getting dressed again on the other side.
Don't wear a belt unless you really need to. (Actually the belt thing is a conclusion I came to in Australia a few years ago)
Most of all allow plenty of time for the formalities at security.

Luggage

Most airlines in the US charge for any luggage when you check in.

Some airlines have reduced bag fees if you check in and pay your baggage fee on line. For example United gave me a $5 discount for doing this.

In Flight Service

In a short it does not exist. For example, in Australia I am used to showing my boarding pass to the flight attendants at the door of the aircraft and they will usually tell you which way to go (even when there is only one option, "down the aisle to the right"). In the US they just wave you on. While it's not rocket science for most people to find the right seat, it is just a difference I noticed.

There are no meals provided, even on full service carriers. However you always get a free drink, even on low cost airlines such as Southwest. You also usually get a small packet of peanuts or pretzels.

Flying with Southwest

This airline really deserves it's own category as it is the weirdest flight I have ever been on.

When you check in it is advisable to check in online the night before or arrive at the airport very early. The reason for this is, Southwest has free seating and instead allocates each passenger a number. This number is their order for boarding, therefore early check in means a lower number and a better choice of seat. There are three categories A B and C. There are only a small number of A, a large number of B and a smaller number of C.

At the gate they call boarding by letter group and passengers are expected to line up in order. So when they call A all the As line up in order from 1 to 20 or whatever. Then when they have boarded the call all the Bs up and get them to line up in order. And so it goes with C.

On our flight we were B twenty something, but it was quite empty and so got a row between the 2 of us.

As we checked in late, we got special "late" tags on our bags, which must in some cases give the baggage handlers the ok to "forget" loading certain bags on the plane, we were lucky however. The woman who checked up is also did her best to put our bags on the conveyor upside down. Nice one.

The rest of the flight on Southwest is relatively normal. It's just the boarding process that is really strange. Unlike Jetstar, Southwest seem to have got the unallocated seating thing to work. Although it's probably a cultural thing with Australians...

Back in Real Life

2009-10-30T20:40:00.002+11:00

Well I got back last Friday, and went back to work on Monday.

I can 't believe how slow time drags at work and yet seems to pass so fast otherwise. Back a week already! Time on holiday seems to pass at a normal rate, I like that.

I have started posting parts of my trip. I wrote most of them while in the US, but didn't post at the time. Posts are backdated close enough to the time they occurred. Should get most of it up over the weekend.

As for a lack of photos. Yes I acknowledge that, just so many of them to go through. I will do something about that soon.

Sun, Fun and Priceless Treasures in LA

2009-10-21T23:00:00.002+11:00

Wednesday, my last day. I set my sights on the Getty Museum. Checking out of the hotel and putting my bags in storage I took the bus north along Sepulveda to Westwood where I stopped for breakfast/lunch before taking another bus to the Getty.

This time I was there to see the art. I managed to see the paintings and the Irving Penn, Small trades photography exhibition. The paintings were mostly from medieval and reneisance with a few examples from the later artists impresionist like Van Gough (Irises no less) and Degas. J Paul Getty seemed to dislike modern art. The photography exhibition just made me smile for some reason. just plain portraits of working class people who do crappy jobs. But mostly they appeared very proud. I recommend a visit to the Getty to see the photographs alone.

Having taken in some art I made my way back down to the bus stop and when the bus came back to Westwood. Here I had an argument with a man on the street who "didn't want any money" but said that by talking to me he could "help people". My stance was that I didn't have the time, really, I didn't. It ended up with him telling me it is no wonder I spend my Saturday nights alone. Thanks buddy. Eventually after stopping at an ATM to extract some final US dollars I was on a bus heading towards Santa Monica.

The idea behind going to Santa Monica was that it seemed a logical location to find a store selling Paul Frank stuff. I was looking for a birthday present for someone, a T shirt I had seen in San Francisco. Do you think I could find a shop selling Paul Frank? No. I ended up conceding defeat after finding the local shopping mall was under renovation.

I had an interesting dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express. The same Wolfgang Puck who I seem to recall opened a restaurant at crown in Melbourne that closed down not long after opening. The food was actually pretty good, although it is hard to go wrong with Spag Bol. The Caesar Salad was a bit weird though, no fetta. My last meal was washed down with a Heineken, my safety beer in the US. Sitting on the outdoor balcony above the street was quite pleasant, but I needed to make tracks.

An hour bus ride back to my hotel at LAX followed. It was interesting note at one of several car yards that used Mercedes are quite plentiful and cheap. You could get a 2003 C class for $12000. Back at the hotel I made a phone call home and then collected my luggage.

Southward Bound

2009-10-20T23:11:00.002+11:00

So on Tuesday I flew back to LA. I took the ever reliable Canada Line to Vancouver Airport (or YVR it's code and the name everyone calls it by) and found the Alaska airlines check in.

The thing with flying from Canada to the US is that you pass US immigration while still on the ground in Canada. In fact flights to the US get their own segregated area of the terminal. So after going through Canadian security and border control I was ushered to US immigration. This is where it all seemed to go wrong.

The US border security officer took my finger prints and photo then stamped my passport before deciding that there was actually something wrong with my fingerprints. "Just go through those doors there and they will help you" he said. Well they did, but not before I began to think I was an illegal alien or something. After waiting 10-15 minutes with some shifty looking people I was called up to the desk, a few questions asked, everything stamped and I was allowed to enter the US. I asked why I didn't need to submit my finger prints again, but didn't get a clear answer. I'm not one to complain.

As I had allowed time for stuffing around with customs, I still had nearly 2 hours until my flight. at 1pm. I decided to grab an early lunch and make use of the free WiFi. Still having some Canadian money in my wallet I raided the vending machines for some water and a packet of chips as well. All remaining Canadian penny's (and there were a lot of them) were thrown into a charity collection near the gate.

I was dismayed to see that the aircraft, to be used on my flight, a Boeing 737 400 similar to this one. How embarrassing. Walking down the aisle it became apparent that this aircraft had seen better days. Worn carpet and upholstery were the order of the day. It got worse when I went to sit down in my seat and the whole row moved like it wasn't bolted to the floor properly. Luckily however the flight was empty, so I had that row to myself. Alaska Airlines is very basic service wise, although at least you get a free drink. There is also no IFE so I had to make do with Good Game vodcasts on my iPod between just staring out the window at the scenery.

The flight was very uneventful. We took off out to sea and turned south, hitting land near Seattle and then taking the inland route across Washington, Oregon and California. I saw the snow capped volcano summits of Mount Ranier and Mount Shasta (we went straight over St Helens!), Lake Tahoe which also already had snow on the ski slopes surrounding the lake, and the snow capped Sierra Nevada stretching off majestically to the south east. We landed at LAX on schedule.

After collecting luggage and taking a shuttle (they love their shuttles, there is a shuttle for everything) I arrived at my hotel, the Radisson LAX, the closest hotel to the airport. I would have had a good view of the runways had the windows not been so dirty.

For the second time on my trip I took a fantastic hot bath. Both times the bathtubs were too small, but it had the right effect. I really think the Romans were on to something. Refreshed, I watched TV for a few hours.

That night I got the bus to a near by shopping mall, Westfield Culver City. I drooled over the prices of electrical goods in Best Buy, things are so cheap, coupled with a high Australian dollar meant I could have bought lots of stuff if I had the will to carry it home. Which brings me to the reason I was there, to buy a small bag to put some of my purchases in. While not heavy, mostly clothing for myself and family, they really bulked up my bag which looked like it would burst. I found a suitable bag in Target.

Back at the hotel I caught up with Jay Leno for one last time.

Out and About in Vancouver eh?

2009-10-20T16:50:00.004+11:00

Well it is the last night of my short 3 night stay in Vancouver.

It is beautiful here. The city is really gearing up for the Winter Olympics The squirrels in Stanley Park are really cute, especially the black ones. And the air is really fresh.

The bad thing about this place is there is very little choice in food. For example I went to Chinatown last night thinking I would be able to find a goodChinese meal. Given I had read something somewhere about it being the 3rd largest chinatown in North America, I thought I would have a good chance. There are no Chinese restaurants in the Vancouver Chinatown. well I saw one, but it was "east-west fusion" and seemed expensive for what it was. Then I took a turn down a street thinking China town was more than one street. Wrong.

So I walked back to the city and ended up having two slices of really bad pizza. As long as you like pizza or burritos you are set. I don't want to see another hamburger or french fry for a long time. Oh and the Pizza gave me bad indigestion through the night.

Yesterday I took the "sea bus" ferry over to North Vancouver and to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. The bridge is a 400 foot long and is 200 feet over the river at the bottom of the canyon. There is also a forest walk canopy walk which was quite cool. It was good, but way overpriced. I also considered taking the gondola up Grouse Mountain (1400 meters high) , but I really didn't want to pay the $39 to get up there.

This morning I took a bit of a ride on the Skytrain and Canada Line light rail lines. Think Dockland's Light Railway and that's pretty much what it is like. The services are very frequent on both, about every 2-3 minutes. The Skytrain, which is over 20 years old has 3-4 car trains, while the brand new Canada line, built for the Olympics to link the city to the airport has 2 car trains. The Vancouver translink fare system is a zone system like Melbourne, although tickets seem to be valid for odd periods of 1.5 hours. A 1 zone ticket is $2.50 and will get you most places you need to go as a visitor. To cross to North Vancouver, either by bus or Seabus you need a 2 zone ticket. From what I have seen, there is no ticket checking at all, and there are no fare gates at stations.

In the afternoon I visited Stanley Park which is a huge park just to the west of the CBD, totally free. I walked through the park from the bus terminal (actually a trolley Bus, after 3 cities in a row with trolley buses I'm now a big fan) and around the water on the edge. I only did about a 4 km walk, but the whole shore line goes for miles around the park. I also visited the aquarium, which is in the park. They had marine mammals such Dolphins, Beluga Whales and Otters. They also had local fish, and an array of tropical fish. I have come to the conclusion that animals should be free in the wild, the Beluga Whales especially looked very bored.

Tommorrow I'm starting my journey home, flying to LA. I will be back in Australia by the end of the week.

And if you are wondering, I do have some drafts almost ready to go from earlier in my trip.

Further North to Canada

2009-10-19T18:04:00.006+11:00

On Saturday I took the train from Seattle, Washington, USA to Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. ( see previous post) While it was overcast and raining, it was a very scenic trip up the coast. Along the way we passed mud flats, swollen rivers, rocky shorelines, industry and suburbs.

The train itself was very comfortable and quite smooth. It was about a 3 hour journey, although we were a bit late because we had to slow down because there was water on the track (Did I mention it was raining).

In Vancouver you arrive into a caged platform and you pass Canadian Customs when you go into the station building. Luckily the train was lightly loaded and we did not have to line up for long. As usual there was a sniffer dog inspecting the line, although the dog was more interested in biting the toy the handler had for it.

After clearing customs it was a matter of finding the Skytrain station and getting to the hotel.

Seattle - Boeing

2009-10-19T17:00:00.005+11:00

The main thing I wanted to do in Seattle was visit the Boeing factory at Everett about 30 miles north of Seattle. I found a tour ran by Gray Line, which was quite good. It was just the five of us, 2 middle age american couples, me and the very talkative driver in a small van. Although it was expensive, entry to the tour is only $15, but the tour cost about $50 all up, a nice little profit there.

The factory tour was fantastic. You drive out in a bus from the visitor's center across the airfield to the production building. There everyone get's out, goes dowin into a tunnel and then an elevator up to an observation deck.

Imagine a building big enough to fit a Boeing 747. Now imagine standing on the observation deck looking down on 5 747's in various states of construction, then looking up and seeing the ceiling far above. And this is just one of several production lines in the plant, the largest building by volume in the world. At the Everett factory they also produce the 767, 777 and the new 787, basically all the twin aisle Boeing's. From memory the building is 1km long and 500m wide.

The 747's we saw were the first examples of the 747-8 which is replacing the 747-400, which is now over 20 years old. The -8 has many improvements to aerodynamics and new engines borrowed from the 787. It is also stretched in length compared to the -400.

We also got to see the 777 and 787 production lines. I'm sure you've all read about the delays of the 787 in the paper. The guide was adamant that it would fly by the end of the year. We'll see... Of the 777, the ones that we saw under construction were going to Emirates (2) and Fed Ex (1). Emirates is the largest customer for the 777, the ones we could see were the 61st and 62nd for the airline.

As with all good tours, this tour ended at the gift shop. Being a plane geek, I was tempted to buy a model, but the bus driver was hurrying me up. I ended up being content with a t shirt and playing cards. The drive back to Seattle was slow, due to bumper to bumper rush hour traffic.

Seattle

2009-10-19T16:30:00.003+11:00

Well it lived up to it's reputation, it rained most of the time. (As soon as I started writing this Frasier started on the TV!) It was also cold, but in a refreshing way. I can imagine winter is very cold here.

Yes there are Starbuck's everywhere. The original Starbucks is at the Pike Place market. It doesn't really look like a Starbucks that the world knows, just a small coffee shop. Pike Place market is where they throw the fish around, I missed that part, but the seafood did look very fresh.

...There are actually other coffee shops everywhere too.

Being the home of Boeing there is a lot of aviation related things to do. On the first day I visited the Museum of flight at Boeing Field about a 20 minute bus ride south of the city. If you are at all interested in aviation I highly reccommend the museum. There is also the Boeing Factory tour which I did the following day, also reccomended and detailed in another post.

Seattle actually has an interesting history, basically the whole reason for the founding of the city was to make easy money from timber. This latter expanded to ripping off miners on their way to the Klondike. This was revealed to me on the underground tour I did of the "old city". Basically the city burnt down one day and they decided for various reasons to build one level higher. not the least of which was the fact that anyone who flushed the toilet at high tide often found themselves with a geyser in their outhouse. The raising of the streets led to a labyrinth of tunnels under the sidewalks of the old part of the city. It is a really interesting part of the city's history.

In Seattle I also went up the Space Needle and rode the monorail. Both of which are leftovers from the World's Fair of 1962. The theme of the World's Fair that year was the 21st century.

Other than that there wasn't a lot to do in Seattle. The area I stayed in, Belltown, was quite cool though. There were lots of small cafes, restaurants and bars. I ate a a diner/bar called Hurricanes one night, and I've got to say the burger and fires were quite tasty. I also ate at a Thai restaurant which was quite good too.

Public transport in Seattle is very good too. The city buses are frequent. They have both trolley buses and conventional buses. Some of the conventional buses use alternative fuels and/or are hybrid electric powered. There is also the new light rail linking downtown to the airport, and there is a short streetcar line, which goes to Lake Union. Fares are a flat fare of $2.50 for 2 hours.

Onward and Upward, North I Came and Went

2009-10-17T23:00:00.002+11:00

So I never made it to Alcatraz, it was pouring with rain that day. I just stuck to the city, did some souvenir shopping and had one last ride on both the F Line and cable car.

On Wednesday the 14th I said goodbye to San Francisco and hello to Seattle. I flew a dirty old United airlines 757 like this one. It was cloudy the whole way so I couldn't see much. The flight was standard for the us. You get a drink, everything else you pay for. This aircraft didn't have fancy personal TV's so it was back to screens over the aisle. Once again I was watching 2 and a half men on an aeroplane, just like Qantas.

One interesting feature of the audio system on United Airlines is channel 9, which is tuned to air traffic control. I listened at take off and landing, which as I said, was interesting. We were warned of turbulence on approach to Seattle, but this wasn't related over the PA until the last moments before we hit it.

The landing was quite exciting, with not quite as much turbulence as we were lead to believe, but judging by the swerving on touchdown, quite a strong cross wind. On leaving the aircraft I couldn't help but notice the mismatched seat cushions throughout the cabin. It just looks odd.

On the ground in Seattle we arrived at a remote terminal meaning we had to go down a set of escalators to a train station and take a sort of rubber tired train. Eventually the luggage appeared and my bag was once again one of the first off, happens nearly every time.

Now it was a matter of finding my way to the city of Seattle. After a wrong turn I eventually found a bus. It was a normal bus but went express on the freeway most of the way. Cost was only $2.50. As of December the Seattle light rail will link to the airport, right now it stops one stop short, there is a shuttle, but I didn't want to mess around.

When the bus reached down town Seattle it went through the transit tunnel, which is shared by both buses and the light rail line. I got off at the station nearest my hotel and walked the remaining 4 blocks. Easy.

Compared to my last few hotels this one seemed like luxury. It even had a bath in the bathroom, which I was very quick to make use of. I haven't had a bath for years.

That night I went wandering around the city, most stores were closed. Eventually I decided on small Thai restaurant for dinner.

Still in San Francisco

2009-10-13T16:33:00.006+11:00

So I'm still in San Francisco and have one day to go before heading to Seattle.

So far I've pretty much exhausted most things that I wanted to do except that I still haven't been to Alcatraz. On the first two days I didn't venture very far, I just stayed around the central city or Fisherman's wharf, Rode the F line and cable cars, as well as having a look at the Ferry Building which is now a market of sorts. I also visited the F line museum and the Cable Car Museum, which also happens to be the car barn and winding house for the cables.

On Friday I ventured down to the Monterey Aquarium about 3 hours drive south of San Francisco. I was on a bus tour so I didn't really have enough time to see it properly, but I got to have a good look at the main exhibits, which were the Sea Otters and the Kelp Forrest.

The actual tour was pretty interesting too. The driver knew all kinds of little factoids of information, particularly the natural and human history of the area. The coast was quite spectacular, a bit like the Surf coast and Great Ocean Road in Victoria. I got so interested in the history of California that I bought a book on it tonight.

Monterey itself is quite historic, originally being settled by the Spanish hundereds of years ago. It was also home to author John Steinbeck, who set many of his novels in the area. We also visited Pebble Beach golf course and saw some very expensive real estate, including one of Clint Eastwood's former houses. The final stop on the tour was the town of Carmel, which is a very exclusive and beautiful town. Clint Eastwood was mayor for a while a few years back.

Saturday was a bit of a rest day, and moving day from hotel to hostel. I couldn't book all the nights at the one place so I decided to spend some time at a hotel and the rest at the hostel. The hotel was really good. It was cheap and the rooms were tiny, but it was more than adequate and very well located. So if you come to San Francisco I would recommend the Mosser Hotel if you are on a buidget. There is nothing wrong with the hostel either except needing to flash a bit of paper at reception every time you walk in for "security reasons". You could flash any old bit of paper. The other upside is free wifi which seems standard in hostels over here. In both hotels I've stayed at, it has been pay for use. The private room I am in is also about twice the size of the one I was in at the Mosser.

Yesterday I got the bus to the Golden Gate Bridge and then walked across. I picked a good day for two reasons. The first being it was overcast, which meant no fog, which was a big plus for visibilty, the second reason being that the Blue Angels put their airshow on when I was going across, so they were flying all around the bridge almost the whole time. The bridge is pretty long, 4200 feet or so on the main span I think I read.

When I got to the other side I stopped at the lookout overlooking the bay and the bridge for a while before continuing down the side of the road (with no footpath) to the town of Sausalito. While the walk was bit hair raising walking beside a windy road with cars only a foot away and no footpath it was probably worth it. Sausalito is a town that literally clings to the hillside in order to get the best view of the bay (reminds me of Sydney in a way). One house I saw even had it's own funicular to get from the garage at street level to the house high up on the Hill. Sausalito is very exlusive, the main street is line with expensive cars and boutiques. From here it was a short 20 minute ferry ride back across the bay to fisherman's wharf.

Today I decided to seek out Lombard Street, "the worlds windiest street". That is the street that zig zags down the hill. It turns out that the Powell-Hyde cable car line drops you off right at the top. I really like riding the cable car on the footboard, lots of fun. It just wouldn't happen in Australia, mind you the maximum speed is only 9mph.

After that I walked some of the way to Coit Tower before luckily coming across a bus that would take me there. Public tranport is fantastic in San Francisco. Coit Tower was bequethed to the city by the well known, rich, tomboy Lillie Hitchcock Coit when she died. Inside are murals painted by out of work artists during the great depression depicting every day Californian life. The views from the tower ($5 to go up plus tip to the elevator driver).

Leaving Coit tower I made my way to Fisherman's wharf and after walking around a bit I decided to visit the Aquarium of the Bay. What a disappointment. while it was interesting to finally find out what type of fish all the pelicans, seals, cormorants and fisherman I had seen catching, the overall display looked a bit run down. They had a touch pool where you could pat a Leopard Shark as well as some small skates and rays. The collection of other animals was a bit random though, as they also had tree frogs, Chinchillas (yes Chinchillas) Tarantulas, Tortoises, and what caught my attention, a "Blue Tongue Skink". I really felt for my Aussie mate, the poor thing looked very bored in its small enclosure. They also had the african Hedgehog, which according to the sign also inhabits New Zealand as well as the continents of Africa and Asia.

So that's what I've been doing so far. Maybe tomorrow I will visit Alcatraz.

Great American Chocolate Taste Off

2009-10-13T16:08:00.001+11:00

So once again here we are in the City by the Bay, the town that Dirty Harry once got lucky in (or something like that), San Francisco, for the Great American Chocolate taste off.

Actually I thought it would be interesting to compare American chocolate to something I am familiar with. This is all based on my assumption that American chocolate is mostly sugar with less cocoa. Let's see if my assumption is correct. So I have 3 bars of chocolate to try.

From Left to Right: English Cadbury Dairy Milk, American Cadbury Dairy Milk
and Hershey's Milk Chocolate

Contender Number 1: Cadbury Dairy Milk

This is the original made in Bournville Birmingham England, that I found in a candy store at Fisherman's Wharf the other day. I've already had a bit and it is very good, like how I remember Dairy Milk tasting before they started playing with it a few years ago.

Ingredients as listed: Milk, Sugar, Cocoa, Cocoa Butter, Vegetable Oil, Emulsifiers (Ammonium phosphatides, Polyglycerol, polyricinoleate, Vanilla.

Appearance, Smell etc...: Typical Cadbury Dairy Milk, bits start flaking off as soon as you break it. Smells of cocoa.

Contender Number 2: Cadbury Dairy Milk, manufactured in the USA.

Manufactured under licence by the Hershey Company in Hershey PA it comes in the original foil pack with paper label wrapped around, it even carries the royal seal and the words "By appointment to H.M the Queen..."

Ingredients as listed: MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR; MILK; CHOCOLATE; COCOA BUTTER; LACTOSE; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR; EMULSIFIER; NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR).

Appearance, Smell etc...: Looks and smells just the same as the English variety.

Contender Number 3: Hershey's Milk Chocolate

As far as I know this is the default chocolate for the US I could be wrong though, as Ghiradelli Chocolate is everywhere in San Francisco. (I bought some Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa dark chocolate the other day and it is pretty good. See not at bottom)

Ingredients as listed: MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR; MILK; CHOCOLATE; COCOA BUTTER; LACTOSE MILK FAT; SOY LECITHIN; PGPR; EMULSIFIER; VANILLIN; ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR).

Appearance, Smell etc...: Darker in colour than both Cadbury's, but smell's not too sweet. Reminds me of Easter egg chocolate a bit.

And now for the moment of truth. I have clensed my palate with a good swig of the Sierra Nevada's finest natural alpine spring water, and will do so between tastings.

The Taste Test

English Cadbury Dairy Milk:

Makes a nice snap when you bite through the piece, the creamy texture fill's your mouth and you get that first burst of cocoa. Leaves a nice milky cocoa aftertaste.

American Cadbury Dairy Milk:

Starts well with that nice snap sound on the first bite, but then you hit the granular texture and sickly sweet taste. The after taste is sugary.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate:

The snap is barely noticable, the texture is sticky and a bit mushy. The taste is too strong and very sweet. The aftertaste is unpleasant. I didn't even finish the piece I bit into.

The Verdict:

English Cadbury by a mile. I don't know if I was just confirming my subconscious prejudices, but the American chocolate was awful. I was surprised that even the Cadbury made by Hershey's was not closer to the English version. I should get some English Cadbury when I get home and compare it to the Australian made version. The Hershey was just too sickly sweet, just all wrong wrong wrong. There is very little chocolate there. Looking at the ingredients it is clear that there is something wrong when you see that "artificial flavor" is listed. Also telling is that the first ingredient on both USA made bars is sugar, assuming ingredients are listed by percentage.

I think I will bin the American ones and continue to nibble the English Cadbury.

Ghirardelli Chocolate

As I said, the Ghirardelli Chocolate I had was very good dark chocolate. It is made right here in San Francisco, which probably accounts for its popularity here. It seems to be made to a higher standard than Hershey's. If you come here I recommend buying this over other American chocolate.

Still There

2009-10-11T14:30:00.000+11:00

Hi all, greetings from the city by the bay. San Francisco. I've been here for four days now and I've got to say I like it. SF reminds me of Melbourne, a lot. First thing I saw when I emerged into the street after taking the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train from the airport were tram tracks and wires, then I realised I was standing next to a Westfield shopping centre. Market Street could easily pass for Bourke Street or Collins Street. It was uncanny.

This city is really cool. Both figuratively and literally. Firstly the people have a certain laidback attitude (that's cali for you), but they dress really well. There is definite arts scene a lot like Melbourne too.

Secondly the other reason the city is cool is beacause it is. The weather here is really deceptive.It turns out the first couple of days I was here it was unseasonably warm. A quote sticks in the back of my mind, I'm not sure who said it, someone like Charles Dicken's, Mark Twain etc said something along the lines of "The coldest winter I have ever endured was a summer in San Francisco". Even though it is October, into the "Fall", I highly agree.

The reason it is so cold as I have found out is that the water current off the coast comes straight from Alaska, this is also the reason it is so foggy here at any time of year. Warm air on land heats up and rises, which in turn suck in cold moist air from the sea, when it gets near land it fogs up. I've only seen the whole Golden Gate Bridge really well once. Then it got foggy.

In SF this week it is fleet week, which is an anual event when the navy is welcomed into town. I've been watching the US Navy practicing for this weekends air displays over the past few days. only today the display was canceled due to fog.

That's about it for now gotta go find some dinner. It's about 830 on Saturday evening.

USA I'm there

2009-10-03T17:42:00.002+10:00

Just a note to say I'm here in LA and all is going well.

More detailed posts coming...

USA LA

2009-10-03T17:00:00.004+10:00

Well I've been in LA since Wednesday morning (at time of writting it is about midnight Friday). The flight was long, about 13 hours, but was made just that bit more comfortable by the diverse range of TV shows and movies on the in flight entertainment. The aircraft was an Airbus A380 ( VH-OQB Sir Hudson Fysh). I actually quite enjoyed the flight except towards the end when it became unbearable.

On arrival in LA we passed customs easily and collected our luggage. We then managed to find a shuttle bus to take us to our hostel in Hollywood.

We walked up hollywood boulevard to Hollywood and Highland were the main tourist atractions are, with a German guy we met at the hostel named with Moritz (don't know how to spell his name). We ended up spending most of our time with him and for one day with an English guy named Gavin.

In the afternoon we got the metro and a bus to the NBC studios in Burbank for a filming of the Jay Leno show. That was really interesting as my only other experience with live TV was a taping of Spicks and Specks a few years ago. the main difference being the number of times the audience was counted before entering the studio (at least 10 times) and the very tight security, including a walk through metal detector and wand.

The show itself was great, the main guest on the show was Steve Carell from "The 40 Year old Virgin", "Evan Almighty", "Get Smart" and the US version of "The Office". He also completed a lap of Leno's race track out the back of the studio in an electric car. He managed to secure second place behind Cameron Diaz.

After the taping we got the bus and train back to Hollywood and i basically crashed after being awake for 30 hours straight.

Day 2

we arranged to go to Universal Studio's with Moritz and Gavin (the English guy). Again it was a short ride on the metro to Universal City and then ou get a shuttle "tram" up the hill. It was better than I remembered, although a number orides have been replaced since I last went in 1994. Most interestingly the Back to the Future Ride has been replaced by the Simposon's ride, only you still clearly ride in a Delorean. ET was gone and replaced by the Mummy rollercoaster, and one "new" ride was the Jurrasic Park ride. Overall it was pretty good. We also did the backlot tour, the backdraft experience, and the special effects tour. We saved the best to last which was the Waterworld show, lots of Jetski action with lots of explosions. One hint I have is to not sit in the green seats if you don't want to get wet.

Day 3

We said goodbye to Gavin who was leaving for San Francisco, and then we got the bus from Hollywood to the Getty Centre. That Getty Centre is amazing, a great collection of art and some fascinating architecture. We then got the bus via Westwood to Santa Monica. Mike and Moritz went for a swim. We walked on the pier and up the beach before heading back to 4th street for dinner. Out of all the places we visited in LA Westwood and Santa Monica probably had the best

Still Here

2009-09-29T00:10:00.002+10:00

Still in Australia, only a few days to go and I'm off. I have been busy organising things, not much time for blog reading or writing.

I watched the grand final at a mates place on Saturday, was going for the Saints, but it was so evenly matched. The best team won on the day.

I will miss my brother and family by hours, they get back from 6 month around Australia trip the day I am leaving. Well it's really a half Australia trip as they went up west coast and down the middle. Still sounds great. I guess a few weeks won't make much difference after all that time away.

I Don't know how they will cope living in a house again after 6 months in the caravan. Mum went up to Darwin a few weeks ago to meet up with them and they took her to Kakadu and Lichfield national park. They continued on their trip and left mum in a hotel in Darwin for a few nights. Mum reckons sister in law flipped out when she saw all the space mum had in her hotel room.

Seattle to Vancouver by train

2009-09-07T23:34:00.003+10:00

While researching this online, I came across the fact that this route is part of the growing trend back to public transport in America. The full route runs from Eugene south of Portland in Oregon, all the way through Seattle, and over the border to Vancouver. The route has been opened to passenger trains in stages since the early 90's (the tracks are primarily freight tracks owned by Union Pacific and BNSF). Known as Amtrak Cascades, the trains run multiple times daily, mostly between Portland and Seattle, but a few go north/south from this main spine.

To me the most astonishing thing is that the carriages used are articulated tilting trainsets manufactured by Talgo in Spain. Think of the French TGV (or Spanish AVE)and that is pretty much what they look like. The only difference is that instead of the sleek electric locomotives found on trains in Europe, they use a diesel locomotive (an EMD F59PHI) at one end and at a an unpowered locomotive at the other. The unpowered locomotive looks exactly like an EMD F40 locomotive only the "locomotive" parts are missing and it is filled with ballast instead (concrete or something heavy like that), but still allows the train to be driven from that end.

Despite being designed for higher speeds, the trains travel at the regular speeds of North American trains.

I almost forgot, the scenery looks like this! Not that I will be there in winter, but still...

USA A-OK

2009-09-07T22:48:00.004+10:00

I guess I should tell you all about my upcoming overseas trip. Taking advantage of the airfare war across the Pacific I will be travelling too...

The United States of America.

Maybe it is a bad move to go to the home of saturated fats, but I've been wanting to explore the west coast for a while now and this is my chance.

I'll be flying over with and spending the first week with my mate Mike who is beginning a 6 week trip of South America. Together we are going to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and back to Vegas before we go out Separate ways. He is off to Mexico city, and I'll head north for 2 weeks. I plan to visit San Francisco, Yosemite, Monterey, Seattle. Since I will be in the area I thought I may as well head up to Vancouver before flying back to LA for my flight home, which may be a waste of time due to the few days I will have there, but I'm going anyway.

So much to do in so little time, I wish I had longer. Originally I wanted to do a tour from San Francisco to Seattle, but the tour companies finish up for the "winter" just before I get there. So instead I am going it alone for 2 weeks. Did I mention there is so much to do in such a short space of time. I have no idea how I will fit it all in. Already I feel like I am missing stuff, but then again you can't see everything.

Only a few weeks to go now and getting excited... a bit, the reality of it hasn't hit me yet (seem common for overseas trips). Basically all I have is a return flight to LA and a vague idea of where I am headed. That's a bit of a lie actually, I have also booked some domestic flights and a hotel room at LAX the night before I come home (hoping to do some shopping on my last day in LA before the flight). But other than that it seems I'll be busing and hostelling around the place.

Oh and I plan to take the train from Seattle to Vancouver, I am looking forward to that. Now that's an interesting train I will do a separate post on that.

It's been how long?

2009-08-30T19:11:00.002+10:00

Thought I should put in an appearance for August. Can't believe it has been over a month since the last post. What can I say except that my attention has been elsewhere. Mostly on planning my upcoming overseas trip. Only a month to go now. I'm completely over it really. Just get me there already.

Was pulling out some weeds at my brothers house this afternoon. The back lawn is full of them, like thistles. I was going to mow the grass, but it is all weeds. Decided it is my brothers mess to sort out when he gets back. My Brother, sister in law and kids are on an extended trip to Western Australia and Northern Territory. sounds great but there is no one in the house.

While I was there pulling weeds every so often I could hear a steam train whistles in the distance. I had totally forgot about the Wattle Festival at Hurstbridge. Usually a steam train comes out for the day and runs short trips between Diamond Creek and Hurstbridge. I have taken photos in previous years (here), but it all starts to seem the same after a while.

Also to do with my brothers trip, I have been "minding" one of their cars while they are away. And so I have been driving too/from work since April. I am sort of looking forward to taking train/bus too from work again. Don't know how I will go without a car now that I have been indoctrinated to the world of driving, but I'm not going to get one until after my overseas trip.

Speaking of driving, I got my full licence back in July after 3 years on P plates. So glad to be off them. P platers do get "special" treatment from more "experienced" drivers, but not as bad as some of the things I have seen happen to learners. Learners really cop it, they get cut off, overtaken in suburban streets when travelling at 50, and when they try to overtake on Freeways, the car they are trying to overtake will often speed up so they can't. I've seen it all. Be nice to all drivers, don't treat learners badly, it could be your kids getting this treatment one day in the future when they are learning to drive.

Wii Sports Resort + Wii MotionPlus

2009-07-23T22:21:00.005+10:00

Picked up Wii Sports Resort at JB HiFi tonight for for $79, including the Wii MotionPlus dongle. Normal RPP is $99 for this pack at places like EB Games.

The Wii motionPlus comes integrated into a Wiimote jacket , not what I was expecting at all. When you start up the game for the first time a video plays detailing the process of inserting the Wiimote into the jacket. I managed to do this before viewing the instructions, so it can't be that hard.

The intro to the game involves all your Miis skydiving on to the island. This is a nice touch, and you get to control one of them on the way down. The game itself a wider array of sports to choose from than the original Wii Sports. Of the sports available only two old favourites remain in the game, bowling and golf. New sports/activities include frisbee, archery, wake boarding, air sports, jet skiing, table tennis, canoeing and fencing.

The addition of the Wii Motion Plus allows for very sensitive controls making sports much harder to master. Bowling in particular I found much more difficult than on the original Wii sports games. While I haven't had a chance to sample all of the sports, from what I did though, I can say that the Wii MotionPlus is a big improvement over the sometimes hit and miss controls of the Wiimote on its own. Bowling in particular!

Of the sports that I tried out, probably the most enjoyable I found were archery and flying the plane around the island. All I can say is that the controls to these sports seemed very natural. With flying you hold the Wiimote horizontally in front of you, tilting it to turn, climb and descend, I could have spent ages just flying around the island if there wasn't a time limit. The archery made use of the Wiimote and nun chuck but in reverse to normal. So if you are right handed you hold the Wiimote upright in your left hand representing the bow with the nunchuck in your right representing the end of the arrow.

As to the bad controls, there were a few namely the jet ski and frisbee. The jet ski left me with sore shoulders due to the way you hold the Wiimote and nunchuck, which is as if you are holding the handlebars of the jet ski, it just doesn't feel very natural at all. As for the frisbee, lets just say I'm not too good at frisbee in real life, so I have little hope of aiming one in the game. The dog is cute though.

Is Wii Sports Resort worth buying? Yes it is. In fact I would go so far as to say that this is probably how Wii Sports should have been made in the first place. If you do not have the greatest hand eye coordinated like myself, then the addition of the Wii MotionPlus will definitely add a challenge to all the sports on offer. No more bowling Turkey's and serving aces. That frisbee really could go anywhere. Then increasing the sensitivity of the Wiimote, which often does not register my backhand in Wii tennis can't be a bad thing.

Keeping my adventures to myself

2009-07-10T23:04:00.000+10:00

I'm good at keeping things to myself. This is probably not a surprise to people who read this blog, but I do keep stuff from you. Stuff I should probably blog about. Let me tell you a bit about my adventures that haven't made it to the blog yet.

In the last year I have been to every state in Australia (not counting the territories, ACT or NT).

I have been to Perth twice in the last year, once for the footy trip last September, and once on Easter Saturday this year. Yes for the day. The latter I will blog about shortly.

I have been to Sydney twice in the last 2 months. The first time in May I bored you all with a blow by blow description of the trip. The second time was a weekend trip last month, that was kind of last minute. I may as well blog a bit about that too when I get the chance.

Actually I have been to the ACT. I flew to Sydney the second time via Canberra. Stayed in the airport for an hour, but I did see the flagpole on top of parliament house while we were taxiing from the runway. That leaves only the Northern territory and a few outlying islands to go...

In August last year I took advantage of very cheap airfares and flew to Launceston for the day. Very cold day it was, but was a fun random thing to do.

I now have a reputation at work for flying to random places whenever it takes my fancy. This is far from the truth.

My final confession is that latter in the year I will be going overseas. My first overseas trip since I was 13. More on that later...

Tianjin Gardens

2009-07-02T21:25:00.002+10:00

On the corner of Spring and Nicholson Street in Melbourne there is a small Chinese garden over the entrance to Parliament Station. This is the Tianjin Garden. I've been past it a many times, but barely taken any notice of it, until a few weeks ago...

According to the plaque the gardens were a gift from Melbourne's Chinese sister city, Tianjin. It was designed by experts on such matters from Tianjin. (A short City of Melbourne word document about the garden is here - I think this is what is written on the plaque)

The entrance to the garden is guarded by a pair of lions.

The large boulders you can see around the garden are local Tianjin granite.

Bendigo Day Trip

2009-07-01T22:32:00.007+10:00

On the Sunday of the Queens Birthday long weekend I went for a drive with my mum to Bendigo. Been meaning to post this one for a while, there's nothing like other bloggers posting on a similar topic to spur me into action.

Somewhere under all that cloud is Mount Macedon

We drove there along the Calder Freeway (it's all Freeway now) as far as Elphinstone where we turned "inland" towards Sutton Grange, Mandurang and Strathfieldsaye. Along the way we stopped to do a Geocache by a creek near Sutton Grange, and then went on all the way to Strathfieldsaye just outside of Bendigo.

The next stop was Kennington Reservoir, where I found a second Geocache.

Kennington Reservoir

Next was lunch, had in the car by Lake Weeroona. Sandwhiches from home along with hot jam doughnuts bought from one of two caravans beside the lake.

One of the main reasons for the trip was for mum to visit Bendigo pottery to top up the dinner set. After getting some plates and bowls it was back on the road and into the back blocks of White Hills to look for a house where a relative used to live. Successfully found, we continued on and made our way to Eaglehawk before heading back to Bendigo proper via a round about sort of route.

Shamrock Hotel

Old Buiding, now a museum and tourist
information centre.

I should know what it was originally, but can't remember.
I suspect it was whwere the kept the gold Does anyone know?

I had two more Geocaches on my list for the day, so we went back to lake Weeroona to look for the first. It was really busy on this side of the lake and had to wait ages to get a car park. Then I had to be extra sneaky to retrieve the cache without being seen. While I was waiting for my chance I made friends with a swan.

Lake Weeroona

Black Swan

Tram crossing creek

The Bendigo Creek, now a drain

The final Geocache I found before heading home was near the Bendigo station.

The functional side of Bendigo rail station

We stuck to the Calder Highway all the way back to Melbourne.