A day (and night) in the countryside began by heading out of Melbourne in the car. I learnt a lesson on the way, somewhere near Sunshine: if you’re going to try and overtake (well, “undertake”) a truck on the left from a standing start, be at the front of the queue at the lights AND ... [More]
In a couple of months I’m going to Singapore for a week, for my cousin’s wedding. Any recommendations? Things to see and do? (The wedding itself is on Sentosa Island, at one of the resorts.) It’s been ages since I’ve been overseas. What’s the best way to organise mobile/data coverage? What’s the shopping like? Is ... [More]
Each time I travel (which isn’t often enough), I note the things that are different, and the things we can learn from. From my most recent short trip to Sydney, here are some notes — not an exhaustive study, but just some observations. Central Station is a rabbit warren compared to Flinders Street Station, though ... [More]
Posted 27/11/2015. Back-dated. The third and final day of my obsessively-blogged short trip to Sydney, and it was destined to be pretty geeky. After breakfast and checking out, we caught a train to Penshurst (changing at Wolli Creek, which I assume is a pretty new interchange station), then a walk in the sun to The ... [More]
Sunday! And so we get to the main excuse reason for the trip to Sydney on this specific weekend: the Doctor Who Festival. I’ve been to Comic-Con in Melbourne twice, but this was a different beast: 98% dedicated to Doctor Who, with little bit of Sherlock (which has many of the same producers/writers/crew members/fans!) getting ... [More]
(Back-dated. Posted 24/11/2015.) Booking hotels When I book hotels, I treat location as the highest priority. I’m aiming to make it easy to get around the city we’re going to without a car. For this trip, I was aiming for easy access to: Hordern Pavilion, Sydney CBD, and the airport. Anything else was a bonus. ... [More]
A short trip coming up soon. Two nights away. Up on a Saturday at lunchtime, back on Monday evening. Options for getting to Melbourne airport and back, for the three of us: Train plus Skybus. About 70 minutes each way. Train fares each way $3.76 + 2 x $1.88. Skybus fares each way 3 x ... [More]
Almost all my photos from August 2005 seem to be from a three day Canberra trip (actually the only time I’ve been to Canberra). I remember it being cold but fun. And many of the photos are from around the Parliament Houses (old and new). Old Parliament House: New Parliament House. I think this was ... [More]
Backdated. Posted 17/11/2014. Day 4 — Sunday Not much to report. Breakfast at Darlinghurst’s Jekyll & Hyde — which was a bit meh. M’s order came with unwanted eggs, which I adopted. Afterwards I realised it was one of the breakfast places I’d ruled out because some of its Urbanspoon reviews didn’t sound that great ... [More]
Backdated. Posted on 16/11/2014. Saturday! The weather was warming up — have I mentioned how I’d jetted in on Thursday, a day after a huge storm passed through the city? Good timing (well, luck) is essential to any holiday, even a short one. After breakfasting at The Bunker in Darlinghurst, we caught the train across ... [More]
Posted 12/11/2014. Backdated to 7/11/2014. On the morning of day two in Sydney, after a sleep-in, we breakfasted. I’d looked at UrbanSpoon and concluded that every venue reviewed has its share of whingers — it’s a matter of identifying who is complaining about Real Stuff and who is complaining about trivia or a freak bad ... [More]
I couldn’t help but hum Paul Kelly’s “Darling It Hurts” almost constantly while walking around Darlinghurst on our short break in Sydney. Likewise “From St Kilda To Kings Cross” came to mind when in the Cross, and Australian Crawl’s “Restless” when catching sight of the Manly Ferry and Circular Quay. In the middle of Darlinghurst, ... [More]