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Europe 2017 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇧🇪🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter

European holiday: Escaping the winter

(I am prone to do long overly-detailed blog posts about my holidays, perhaps more for my benefit and enjoyment than yours. Here’s the first instalment. This post is backdated. Published 26/7/2017) This holiday was a long time coming. Co-ordinating with my sons (including university holidays) and work and M and relatives, let alone getting the  ... [More]

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Europe 2017 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇧🇪🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter

UK/Belgium holiday in planning

Very busy the last few weeks, which is why the blog has been so quiet. Long-time readers would know that I like to write about my interstate and overseas holidays in almost excruciating detail. Well brace yourself for another one – I’ve got a European holiday in planning for later this year. It’s looking like  ... [More]

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Brisbane 2017 Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Gold Coast Light Rail: tram priority far better than anything in Melbourne

The Gold Coast Light Rail, also known as G:Link opened in July 2014, making it Australia’s newest completed tram/light-rail line. I was very impressed when I rode it last week. As you would hope and expect, they’ve put a lot of thought into the design, and there are a number of things Melbourne can learn  ... [More]

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Brisbane 2017 Toxic Custard newsletter

Melbourne from a 737

Early start. If all went to plan, I was going to be at Melbourne Airport to meet my offspring at 12:30, assuming they made their connection in Sydney at 11:15. Being there at 12:30 meant flying out of Brisbane by 9am, as the flight is a little over two hours, and in summer there’s an  ... [More]

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Brisbane 2017 Toxic Custard newsletter

Brisbane bound

Day two of my quick trip to Brisbane. Memo to myself: when in Queensland in summer, make sure the blinds/curtains are closed properly before going to bed. Given no daylight savings in the Sunshine State, you can expect the sunshine to come through the window at about 5am. I found myself awake at about 5:20,  ... [More]

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Brisbane 2017 Toxic Custard newsletter

Gunzelling on the Gold Coast

The plan was to head up to Queensland for a couple of days. For a short break, but also to visit my Dad’s memorial bench at UQ, and see my uncle Frank. I devised a plan to fly into the Gold Coast so that (given nobody else was coming) I could have a look at  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter transport

What can Melbourne learn from Singapore’s skyrails?

While I was in Singapore for my holiday, I had a good look at the MRT, and I wanted to specifically post about the MRT’s elevated sections. I’m not the only one to ponder a comparison to the proposed Dandenong line skyrail… Channel 9 recently featured this story, which is worth a look: .@andrew_lund speaks  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬 transport

Things I learnt about the Singapore MRT (and a comparison with Melbourne)

See also: my other posts from Singapore This post pulls together some things I saw on my on my holiday, together with information gleaned from a briefing with the Singapore Land Transport Authority (organised by chance courtesy of the Victorian Government when some of their people discovered they’d be in Singapore at the same time  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬

Singapore day 7: heading home

Our last day in Singapore. After breakfast we headed for the pool for a while. It was warming up but not too hot, and very nice in the water. Then a moment of panic. Where had I put my room door key card? It was in my bathers pocket, and… oh. There it is. On  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter

Singapore day 6: cable cars, giant lions, and lazing on the beach

We awoke in the resort on Sentosa, with one more full day before heading back to chilly Melbourne. Breakfast buffet. I totally ate too much, and I didn’t even get to have an omelette (made fresh by chefs in the buffet area). But anyway, time to explore! Sentosa island has two cable car lines. One  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter

Singapore day 5: Boring tunnels and resort islands

About a week before leaving for Singapore, I’d been in a meeting with some people from the Victorian government, talking rail tunnels and level crossing removals. I mentioned I was going, and asked what I should look at. Turned out they were about to send some of their people off overseas to exchange ideas with  ... [More]

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Singapore 2016 🇸🇬 Toxic Custard newsletter

Singapore day 4: the zoo, the prang and the architecture

We were meeting my sister and her family (also in town for the wedding) to catch a shuttle bus to the Singapore Zoo for breakfast. Not just any breakfast – breakfast with the orangutans. Yep, you get to eat a buffet breakfast while apes frolic nearby. Have I mentioned that Singapore is the land of  ... [More]