Off the rails in St Kilda

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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...

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

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

...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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.