Adelaide for a day

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.

Onward and Upward, North I Came and Went

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.

MYKI, Trams, Fares and Ticketing etc

1. MYKI

So it appears that MYKIi is full steam ahead, with the system rolling out across buses in regional cities. One revelation that had not occurred to me, but was revealed over at Melbourne on Melbourne on Transit (and here), is that short term disposable tickets will be smartcards. There is no printing on the ticket issued by the bus driver to tell you what it is or how long it will be valid, it just comes of a pile of identical blank tickets (much like they do today with metcards on buses). I had imagined that the system would be similar to Perth and S.E. Queensland where short term tickets(ranging from 2 hour / single trip and dailys etc) are printed on thermal paper by the ticket machine or bus driver. The reason I thought this was that I noticed that the ticket machines at Perth rail stations are the same as those seen in the MYKI discovery centre at Southern Cross.

Examples of short term cash tickets.
From L to R, Brisbane from vending machine,
Perth from Bus driver and Perth from vending machine.

Thinking about it though retail tickets will probably be pre encoded, and therefore will probably have some sort of text denoting what they are. Vending machine tickets could also have printing applied as they are issued. This leaves just the fact that there is no way to tell how long the ticket is valid without pringing, although tram issues probably could as they would be tagged on as they are issued from the machine. This leaves only the bus issues with no physical indication at all. Doesn't seem very consistent or user friendly to me.

2. Tram Fares and Ticketing

On Sunday I took a tram ride along Bourke St, having driven to the city (I know I'm evil but I had a car and I had to go somewhere else on the way) I didn't have a ticket and so attempted to buy a city saver. As it turned out the machine was just spitting out all coins fed in, so I got a free ride. As I was pondering the fare structure on the sticker above the machine it occurred to me that having trams in both zone 1 and 2 is too complicated when considering that by and large the tram network is in zone 1. I'm not saying that the 3 tram lines (or is it 4?) that extend into zone 2 territory should should be curtailed at the zone boundary, but that tram ticketing would be greatly simplified it if they were treated as a zone 1 service no matter where they are.

I think I just like the simplified idea of having a single fare system for trams. Either buy a daily or a 2 hour, adult or concession, no need to worry about zones. I don't think it would or could happen with the current zone system as it would be unfair on people connecting too/from a bus or train in zone 2 .

3. Sunday Saver

On a related issue, I still can't believe they couldn't find a work around for dispensing Sunday savers from ticket machines. Actually IIRC it was never intended if a certain poster to some of the public transport forums is to be believed . On the tram I noticed some people using Sunday Savers and I couldn't help but feel that those buying tickets on the tram (this was on my return along Bourke St on tram that had a working ticket machine) were getting ripped off. The seniors daily button is useless on a Sunday as all seniors can apply and use a free Sunday ticket. Why not program the tram ticket machines to dispense a sunday saver when that button is pressed on a sunday?

QLD Day 4 - Brisbane/Mt Coot-tha

Being my last day in Brisbane I decided to get up early and do a few things before checking out of the hostel. After battling with the crappy WiFi in the hostel and having seen an Officeworks store the night before on my wanderings, I thought I'd go down and investigate the prepaid WiFi that I thought they might sell there. The opening time of Officeworks was 8 AM so I timed it to get to the McDonald's next door for breakfast (I don't know why, but I like McDonald's breakfasts) just before then. As it turned out Officeworks didn't have any prepaid WiFi so I walked back empty handed. On the way I stopped at a supermarket to buy a bottle of water and a nectarine, which I consumed on the spot outside.

After packing up and checking out of the hostel I trundled down to Roma Street station and left my luggage in a locker for a few hours. Still on the hunt for prepaid broadband I ended up buying a Telstra prepaid kit from Target in the city. After buying a few more supplies I decided it would be a good idea to fit in a bit of sight seeing before moving on to the Gold Coast.

On the bus to Mt Coot-tha

I had seen a bus heading to Mt coot-Tha earlier and decided to go. I happened across an electronic public transport information booth and obtained a timetable for the route, the only problem was I didn't know exactly where to catch it. I went back to near where I saw the bus the first time and ended up on a free city circle bus (is there a city in Australia which doesn't have one of these?). Keeping my eyes peeled I worked out where I needed to get the Mt Coot-tha bus from and waited.

The view from the summit. Not sure what
the TNT courier truck was doing up there...

It was an interesting ride, as the bus went past the back of the hostel and through a whole area that I had been only a few hundred metres from the night before and that morning. After a windy trip up the hill, and the bus backtracking at least once we reached the summit. On reading the timetable I assumed the bus stayed at the top for a few minutes before heading back down. The plan was to jump off take a few photos and get back on. Upon asking the driver about this I was informed that he was going off duty, and the we had just passed the return bus (I remember seeing it too, but it didn't twig at the time). Looking at the timetable, it would be an hour until the next bus. So to make the most of it I decided to have lunch at the cafe at the top. This is one of the few places I remember visiting in Brisbane when I was 12, so it was a bit nostalgic I guess. I took some of photos of the view, and I reckon that I could almost see the hostel where I stayed. I sat down and had a nice lunch, Malaysian stir fry noodles. It was all very pleasant really.

The view again, this time my hosetel is right at
the centre of the photo

The view inland to the Great Dividing Range
west of Brisbane

Back on the bus down the hill and into the city. I alighted and decided to catch one of the underground buses to Roma Street station. Yes Brisbane has underground busways in the CBD, it's all pretty cool actually. These connect to above ground busways the go out into the suburbs. Something inside me wishes these were at least light rail if not a heavy rail metro system.

Adelaide - Day 3

(backdated to the day)

Mercure Grosvenor
North Terrace, Adelaide

I rose not so early, after a very good sleep, showered, dressed and headed to a different nearby cafe to yesterday for some breakfast. Having finished my Ham and Cheese Croissant and juice, and found out what horse I had in the work cup sweep (#2 Master Orielly, I'm still not sure where it came) I headed off for the Adelaide Central Market. Walking with the hordes of office workers I followed my nose through a number of back streets and alley ways following before emerging opposite the market.

The Adelaide central market is not so much like the Queen Victoria market, but more like the suburban markets such as Preston market. All the usual stalls, butchers, fruit, deli, bakers etc plus clothing and souveneer stalls. While walking around I also stumbled into Adelaide's China town which is a lane way next to the market.

Check out time was 11AM so it was time to head back to the hotel pack up my things and check out. As my flight wasn't until later in the day I left my bag in the hotels storage room.

Adelaide Station/Casino exterior

Not the best photo, as it was quite difficult to find photograph,
but it gives you some idea of the scale of the main hall of the old station.

It is now the main hall of the casino.

Looking up

I am not at all surprised that this building sent the state
bankrupt when it was bult in the early 20th century

After getting some photos of the hotel and railway station I took the circle line bus around the CBD. This like the tram was a free service (the tram is only free in the CBD), and serves much the same purpose as Melbourne's city circle tram, giving commentary about various attractions and landmarks as you go. It was a good way to see parts of the CBD I hadn't covered by foot, and actually made me realise the city is bigger than I thought. All up the circle line took about 30 minutes for the full lap.

After that I decided I had better get a Jet Bus timetable to plan my trip to the airport later in the day so I went to the Adelaide Metro shop. All I can say is that the shop is so much better organised and staffed than the Metshop in Melbourne.

One thing I noticed was a battle of chocolate shops happening on the corner of King William Street and Rundle Mall, between Haigh's and Darrel Lea. We have both of these in Melbourne too, in fact Andrew made a post about the Melbourne Haigh's outlet with "the tapping man last week.

In the red corner we have Haigh's chocolates...

And in the blue corner we have Darrel Lea

At lunch time I headed to Rundle Mall. While there I had a look at some of the shops, and had lunch in one of the food courts. I also bought some stamps and postcards to send to my niece and nephew, which I wrote out a bit latter. I found a nice quiet spot on North Terrace in a small strip of park that runs along side the road in front of Government House. It was one of those spots that you could sit all day and just watch the people, cars and buses go past.

I walked onward past the State Library, past the Museum to the Art Gallery of South Australia. It was here I spent my last hour or so of my time in Adelaide. The gallery has quite a good collection (not that I know anything about art), with lots of Australian paintings, probably the most famous (to me anyway) being Tom Roberts A Break Away!. Also of note was a Jim Bill Henson photograph in the contemporary section. After seeing it I fail to see what the big deal is about.

By the time I left the gallery it really was time I started heading to the airport, so I returned to the hotel to pick up my bag and made my way to the nearest Jet Bus stop. I waited nearly 15 minutes and then scored the after school rush 1 or 2 stops down the street. It seemed to take forever as we stopped at nearly every stop. I need not have worried as I arrived at the airport with over an hour until my flight. There was no check in queue to be seen and I got to quick check a pretty good seat.

With some free time my first port of call was the Coopers ale house. It was there while watching some subsequent races on the TV that I realised that I had missed the Melbourne cup. Oh well. After having only one Coopers Sparkling Ale. From a bottle as they had none on tap! $$$... I thought I'd have look around the terminal.

I was quite surprised by how big the terminal is, which all airlines share. For international flights it appears that they close off sections to allow for the customs etc. Since I have come home I have realised that the airport is featured in the latest Jetstar ad on TV.

Adelaide Airport, very brown... earthy perhaps?

Looking the other way, this is the part that gets
closed off for international flights. The duty free shops
are currently closed.

I walked all the way down to the Tiger gate where a flight was unloading and was about to load. I was glad I wasn't flying on that flight, the lounge was full of screaming kids (no offence intended to any parents who travel with kids).

Singaporean Tiger, her distinctive stripes are not
visible from this angle.

Then past the Virgin Blue gates.



While I was in the Coopers bar with all the suits a flight had arrived from Sydney, and soon flew back there.





In the mean time the plane that I would fly to Melbourne on arrived from Darwin.

My ride home, a 2003 vintage 737

The flight itself was quite uneventful. I managed to take a few more photos during the flight, but sun glare made it quite difficult towards the end. I'm unsure as to wether photos are allowed during take off and landing, cameras aren't specifically mentioned on the saftey card while video cameras are. What category does a digital camera come under?

I decided to take some photos during take off anyway.

As we turn toward MelbourneI got a good view
of Glenelg and the Airport

Also illustrates how dry Adelaide really is

We had just past the Grampians when we began our decent.

Spoilers deployed at the top of descent, the Grampians
are the greenish lumps towards the horizon.

We flew past Maldon and Castlemaine and for much of the latter part of the flight another aircraft was visible just ahead of us.

The aircraft that we are following flies over Mount Macedon

After turning on to our approach for the runway I realised I could still see the Grampians in the distance. I thought I took a photo of them, but I'm not sure now as it was really hard to see the LCD screen in the glare. I think the Grampians might be just to the right, out of this shot...

The tops of some hills that may or may not be the Grampians
stick out above the haze.

From here our flight path took us over the towns of Lancefield and Romsey, and eventually to the runway.