Categories
Consumerism Hobart 2006 Sydney 2006

How much are Frequent Flyer points worth?

I’ve been planning some activity for my many frequent flyer points, many tens of thousands of which were earnt over several years of paying for childcare on a credit card several years ago. It adds up, I can tell you. Firstly I’ll be jaunting down to Hobart for a few days in October with Marita.  ... [More]

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Travel

Sorrento Beach

Marita, Justine and I went down to Sorrento yesterday for a gallery opening. While we were there, we had lunch and took a walk down to the beach. (View it on Flickr) The traffic was pretty bad on the way down, making it a 2 1/2 hour trip from Footscray. (If the government was serious  ... [More]

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Canberra 2005

Canberra day 3

(This post backdated to the date it happened, not the date I wrote it.) Not much to day 3, but during breakfast a rather impressive hot air balloon sailed by not too far away. We caught a cab to the airport, the only notable thing about the trip back being that tea strainers bought on  ... [More]

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Canberra 2005 transport

Canberra day 2

(This post backdated to the date it happened, not the date I wrote it.) It might have been a negative-something night outside, but the bed was lovely and warm. We awoke, had breakfast and showers, and … Wait, I should mention the shower. Everything in the serviced apartment we stayed in was great. Except the  ... [More]

Categories
Canberra 2005 Culture Food'n'drink

Canberra day 1

(This post backdated to the date it happened, not the date I wrote it.) Marita, Justine and I got a lunchtime flight out of Melbourne, and got to Canberra, Australia’s capital city, a little less than an hour later. Straight off the plane, through baggage claim and into a cab bound for Kingston, and the  ... [More]

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Canberra 2005

Off to Canberra

I’m off to Canberra until Sunday. Be good, and don’t burgle my house. PS. 12:05pm. Courtesy of Justine, hello from the Melbourne Qantas Club. Woo hoo, free Internet! PPS. Sunday 12:40pm. Well I just flew back from Canberra, and my arms are tired. Will post about it soon. In the mean time, Tony and Rae  ... [More]

Categories
Travel

Snow!

Yesterday, Isaac, Jeremy, Marita, Adrian and myself piled into the car to head for the snow at Lake Mountain. It took about an hour to get past the Edge Of Known Suburbia (Lilydale), then about another hour via Healesville (quick rest stop) and Marysville to the slopes. Not as much snow present as last time,  ... [More]

Categories
Photos transport Travel

Adventure in Warragul

It started with an observation from one or both of my offspring: “I’ve never been on a sprinter train!” So I thought ah, one more week of holidays for me, I’ll take them on the train down to Geelong. They’re well-versed with travel on the suburban trains (it’s all part of my “Dad’s taxi”-avoidance scheme  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones Travel

She’s almost back

The three weeks is over, Marita and Justine return from Europe to the real world today. The airport web site says their plane is running an hour late, but hey, given the distance they’re coming, that’s not too bad. There will be photos and tales of the European summer heat, historic buildings and ruins, long  ... [More]

Categories
Travel

A call

She just called from Bratislava, Slovakia. She got there today. On Friday she called from Budapest. They’d arrived to find it was St Stephen’s Day and everything was shut. Both times the line was clearer than when talking to her on her old cordless phone in Footscray. I’m glad she’s having a good time.

Categories
Friends and loved ones Travel

I choose the apple

I think it was Billy Connolly who said the Queen must think the whole world smells of fresh paint. Going to the airport is a bit like that. It’s a clean, freshly-painted, shiny cocoon. There’s no litter. There’s loitering, but only by well-dressed people. There’s security everywhere. There’s international-standard signage pointing you to just about  ... [More]

Categories
Friends and loved ones Travel

While she’s away

While my girlfriend is away in Europe for three weeks, I will: finally tidy up the damn spare room and clear out all the crap from around the house (yeah sure Daniel. SURE.) do my tax and sort out my files (for one relies on the other) set my sister up with a blog of  ... [More]