Wimbledon

It's a bit tough having a tennis fan in the house while Wimbledon is on.  Tennis is OK, but personally, a little bit goes a long way.   And I'm not good with the late nights.


At least it's now over for another year, and my sleep won't be interrupted when play finishes in the early hours of the morning!

They like Djokovic in Belgrade!

Manly to The Spit Walk

I was unsure whether to start at The Spit or at Manly, but it turns out that my decision to start at the Manly end was a good one.  The section of the track from Sandy Bay to the The Spit is closed, and although an occasional shuttle bus is provided from the Clontarf Reserve, it apparently goes back towards Manly.   What provision is made for people who arrive at The Spit looking for the path, I don't know.

Starting at the Manly end, the walk from Manly to The Spit is a sealed path along the beach front and past quite dense housing, but further along the track ranges from scrambling over rocks at Forty Baskets Beach (I wasn't sure that I was heading in the correct direction but fortunately was able to ask), up and down quite steep steps in parts of Debroyd Head national park and along bush tracks of various types. Signage is a little inconsistent and while it's quite good in parts, in other parts, even with my map, I took a couple of wrong turns and at one point missed a whole section, walking instead along suburban streets.

The views are very good, as I had expected, and in parts of the Debroyd Head park, you could be in the middle of remote bushland (save for the occasion intrusion of beeping from reversing construction equipment in the distance).  A lot of the vegetation is coastal heath, including banksias and the like.    Even in June, there were some wildflowers in bloom (not too many, though).

As mentioned, the section of the track from Sandy Bay to the The Spit is closed, so I took quite a lengthy detour along the streets to come out on the main road above The Spit, where I was able to catch a bus.    There was an hourly free shuttle from the Clontarf Reserve back to somewhere, but I didn't bother with this as it would have involved a 50 minute wait.

I had hoped to stop for a coffee along the way, but if there are any coffee establishments at the beaches I passed, they're off the track and I didn't see them (I ws later told I ought to have looked harder!).   The walk took a little over 3½ hours, which was definitely time well spent.

On the path near Manly

Manly ferries passing  just inside the heads

Steps in the Debryd Head section

Harbour view

A train to the Airport

Well, we've had an announcement that there's going to be an announcement about a rail link to the airport. It's all vague at this stage, but we keep reading that lots of Melbournians want a train to the airport - and there's an election coming later this year!   Daniel Bowen was quick off the mark with his as-ever sensible comments (although that's not to say I agree with everything he says) 

Yes, a rail link would be nice, but, really, is this the best use of our urban transportation dollars? 

The starting point has to be the existing Skybus service.   Unfortunately, it isn't perfect, especially when compared to services such as Narita airport's "Limousine Bus".   We haven't been to Tokyo for some years, but when we did, there was an counter inside the terminal with helpful staff to assist (instead of a booth outside on the pavement), and you were allocated a set departure time for a bus service that often took you directly to the part of town where you wanted to be (including a number of major hotels).  

Wouldn't fixing up Skybus be a lot cheaper than a new rail line?  Crikey thinks so.  Additional buses could add to the frequency and if there are delays at certain times of the day at the airport end of the freeway (which I'm told is the case), then a dedicated roadway (elevated if necessary) for buses as they neared the airport would be a lot cheaper than a rail line (even if it's now going to be elevated instead of underground).

Yes, Skybus costs $18 one-way (cheaper if you buy a return ticket).   But does anyone seriously think that there wouldn't be a premium charged at an airport railway station?   And let's not forget that the basic Heathrow Express fare is now £21.

Skybus operates 24 hours a day.  Would a train do that?   Further, Skybus is door to door (via a connecting shuttle) if staying in the city (6am - 10.30pm Mon - Fri and 7.30am - 5.30pm weekends).

Monorail?

Another issue in relation to a train is the route.   Public Transport Victoria has recommended the so-called Albion East route - but in their report it was integrated with the Metro tunnel, and there's no sign of that happening.   It now seems that this isn't a requirement (and in fact, my hunch is that an airport rail link is likely to squeeze out funding for the Metro proposal).  Perhaps we'll end up with a service into Southern Cross via the new regional rail tracks.  A 10 minute frequency to the airport would run the risk of creating congestion on this line, although Daniel Bowen seems relaxed about this.

At least the proposal for a monorail that briefly flickered across our TV screens a little while back seems to have flamed out.  Hopefully we've heard the last of this.

Olympic Sports

Well, the Winter Olympics are over.    It's interesting that, every time the normal Olympic Games, or the Winter Olympic Games, occur, we often end up watching sports that we just don't bother about the rest of the time.

Yes, they're usually fast-moving and entertaining, but so often the rules and scoring systems are just a mystery!

And just how do people start off in sports like bobsledding, curling and so on?  Perhaps these sports are encouraged in Nordic countries, yet we find Australians participating at an elite level in events that we rarely hear about and for which there would seem to be few, if any, facilities here.
















True, some of the skiing and bobsledding events are indeed truly amazing, and the ice hockey is fast and furious, and, yes, these sports are not often televised at other times.   However, even if they were, would we actually watch them?

I guess it doesn't matter if the "pull" of these sports, at Olympic standards, is that we know we're watching them at the "elite" level, and perhaps that in itself is enough!
 

Tennis

We were given tickets to the Australian Open (thanks C! ) and had an excellent evening there.  Perhaps it's a couple of years since I've been, but the there has been a lot of development in recent times.

Our seats were for the Rod Laver Arena, and although in the 2nd tier, they were in a corner block.   Having sat over the years in various locations, it now seems to me that corner seats are very satisfactory, particularly if you're not in the lower rows, because you can take in all the action without turning your head.

Azarenka

There was a delay getting into RLA because the day matches ran over time.  In particular, the Sharapova match earlier in the day had apparently gone on for a long time (I see in the paper this morning there's some controversy about the hot conditions most of it was played in).  So we had a few minutes to look around the outside courts, and saw a few games by Dimitrov who is apparently an interesting guy.    On the centre court, when play started (shortly after lightning and even a little rain had resulted in suspension of play outside), we saw Azarenka and then Andy Murray.


Their opponents aren't well known, but both played some good tennis just the same and the matches were interesting to watch. Murray's opponent was a French qualifier, who had possibly had never been on a centre court in his life, but the crowd warmed to him (as it had to Azarenka's) and by the third set he was lapping up the attention.

Murray

Outside court

Dimitrov

Rod Laver arena

The jigsaw

One of our Lorne "traditions" is to complete a jigsaw puzzle (often a Christmas gift!).    This year, the last parts of the puzzle were rather challenging.

Note that the sky is complete!

However, we put in a team effort, and finally managed to complete it at 10.30 pm on the evening before our departure.

The Mixer tap

The mixer tap in the laundry was leaking.  The plumber came and replaced the "cartridge".  A couple of weeks later, it was leaking again, so we rang up another plumber.  "Have you got a replacement tap for us to install?"    No, we didn't, so we took ourselves to the local mega-hardware store, where we were confronted with a choice between the economy tap, the mid-range tap, or the top-of-the-range tap.  They all looked quite similar, but.......?  Anyway, we settled on the "mid-range" model (isn't "compromise" great?)

Before calling the plumber, I thought I should check the contents of the box, just to make sure that everything was there (imagine, the plumber arriving to find out a vital bit was missing!)    I also ran my eye over the installation instructions.   Ummmm, although they were written in plumber-ese, the task of installing the tap didn't look too complicated.   This was verified by inspecting the existing tap.

Sooo....20 minutes later, the new tap was installed!   There was some luck involved, in that amongst my random collection of spanners, there was one that was just the right size to tighten the nut.    I only got a little damp (!), so we took ourselves out to dinner with the money that would otherwise have paid the plumber (and there was change left over!)

Getting used to a new camera

My new camera is the same brand as my previous camera, so it was quite straight-forward to operate, at least in "point-and-click" mode.  Of course, it has quite a number of additional options, which I am gradually familiarising myself with.   But one early action required was to be adjust the size of the file.  I quickly found out that the default file size of the images is quite large (some are over 5 MB!), being the price you pay for high-resolution images.   However, they take a long time to upload to the internet (as I need to do, for example, when inserting an image into this blog), so for everyday use, I have contented myself with a lesser size.

Another early impression was that  the battery life is pretty woeful.  The reviews had mentioned this, so it wasn't a surprise, but I had been living in hope.  Presumably use of the zoom in particular  shortens the time between re-charges.  I turned the GPS function off, but this didn't seem to make much difference.   I quickly got  a spare battery so that I'm not left short. This is a "compatible", which although it cost $30 is more reasonable that the Canon battery (nearly $80).   Even if it doesn't have the same capacity as a "genuine" battery (notwithstanding the sales talk when I bought it!), it ought to be sufficient to get through the rest of the day until I can re-charge.

I was interested to read a review in Choice magazine of various cameras in the category that I bought.  Isn't it so often the way - this information only comes to hand after you've made the purchase?     The one I bought was somewhere in the middle of the field.   One of the things I have noticed with my purchase is that the controls can be a bit "fiddly" at times, but I notice from Choice's review that none of the cameras in this category rate highly in this respect and that in fact my purchase is rated significantly higher than some of the others.

In hindsight, based on a combination of the features I was looking for and the price,  I think I would still have decided on this camera even if I had read the review before I bought it (although I am still waiting for the "cash-back"!)

Buying a camera

I have had my current camera for a few years, and it has served me well.  I know that my photos aren't always great, but that's probably due more to my lack of skills than to the camera.  Also, for the record, some of my photos are taken using my phone, which isn't great but I don't always have a camera with me when I need it.

There have been significant developments in camera technology since I acquired my present camera, and you certainly get "more bang for your buck" now.  Just the same, I have stuck with my present camera because I have become reasonably familiar with its controls, and have been able to utilise its various features.

However, it has also meant that I have become aware of its limitations, and with that in mind, I have been intermittently researching what's now available. There's an enormous range of cameras available, at least on the internet. It's very important to know what features you need.  For me, while the quality of the image is obviously an important factor, other considerations included the amount of zoom, the ability to control the aperture and exposure settings manually if desired and the size/weight

But just because a particular model is reviewed and available on-line doesn't mean that the stores stock it.   With the exception of the speciality shops (at least to some extent), the range available in each category in the stores is nearly as great as might be assumed.  It's not a lot of use looking at the reviews and setting your heart on a particular camera if it's only available on the internet (not my preferred method of purchasing).

So, when after several months of casually watching what was happening in the market and reading numerous reviews, one of the cameras that was in fact on my short list (offering a reasonable balance of the features I had in mind) was promoted by a well-known retailer at a good price, plus the distributor had a "cash-back" offer,   I made the decision to "go for it".   Result, a new camera that I now have to get used to, and a wait - potentially 60 days! - for the "cash back" offer to materialise (this is deserving of a post in itself).

Derby Day - and hats

We watched a little of the Derby Day action at Flemington on TV.   Of course, it's not the same atmosphere as being there, but it's less hassle and you do see (and hear about) what's going on - and there's nothing to stop you having a drink in your hand!

Of course we admired the ladies' headgear.    Not far from us, there's an establishment where designer headgear can be hired!    Sounds a great option!

A chook stamp?

I was fascinated to receive a stamp featuring a chook at the post office.   Perhaps "chook" isn't the internationally-favoured word, as I see Wikipedia states it's mainly used in Australia and New Zealand (although sometimes also in Britain).   However, it's the term I was brought up with, and I see that even Australia Post uses it (see line 3 of their blurb).

But I digress!    My point is merely that it's an interesting subject for a stamp.

Spring (2)

Spring must indeed be nearly with us.....the TAB is advertising odds for the Caulfield Cup!

Golf?

I suppose it had to come but I was impressed when I saw someone hitting a golf ball into a screen in a tent-like structure inside the lobby of a city building! 

Apparently golf simulators aren't new, but, not being a golfer, I hadn't seen one before. 

It certainly was fascinating to see the screen change to reflect the flight of the ball.

1000 steps

I was taken to the 1000 Steps walk at Ferntree Gully in order to get me in form for walking in Europe in a few weeks time.   The path up was muddy in places, and I had to pause for a few moments at times, but I made it.    It has now serves as a Kokoda Trail memorial.  

After returning via the Lyrebird Track (which runs parallel, and is wider), we headed to Pie in the Sky up the road at Olinda.  The pies were nice although the atmosphere wasn't quite as rustic as at Wickedly at Monbulk that we visited last time.

Betting on the footy

Walking past the TAB last week, I see that you can bet on just about anything!

Gold Coast for premiers.....????

Australian stamps

I've previously mentioned that I'm in the course of selling my father's stamp collection.  The process is on-going, and for the time being I'm holding on to some parts of it, in the optimistic hope that, if I sort it out a little, I might get a slightly better return.

One part that I've retained is a lot of post-decimal currency (that is, after 1966) Australian stamps.   These are unused, and in good condition.  My Dad obviously bought these up from time to time, perhaps in the expectation that, over time, they would rise in value.    But it seems he wasn't the only person with this idea!   I've been reliably informed that, if most of these stamps were to be sold, we would be lucky to achieve half their face value.  For example, in a current auction catalogue,  one lot containing thousands of stamps is described as "two large folios of mint decimals with values to $2...." [including some particular items].   The face value is given as approximately $1000.   The auction estimate is a mere $450.  

Mis-prints, as above, can be valuable

Yet these stamps remain valid for postage purposes in Australia!    In other words, the best way of realising the value of these stamps is to stick them on to letters (which some people do)!

I'm told that there are particular stamps that are reasonably valuable, and of course, if you wish to buy almost any individual stamp from a dealer, the retail price will be more than the face value - but it's a different story if you're a seller!
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The "State of Origin" match

We had had a great dinner with S at a nice French restaurant and were walking back to our accommodation.   At several of the bars and cafes, crowds were gathered and loud roars were to be heard.   Apparently we were in the very small minority of people in town who weren't pre-occupied with the "State of Origin" match!

Next morning, I saw at least one person out and about in a maroon jersey, and certainly the snippets of discussion I overheard in the coffee places was to the effect Queensland's win was in accordance with the natural order of things.

Wimbledon

Some who know us well may have thought that our household would have been supporting Novak in the Wimbledon final.    But Andy is a really nice guy too, and won a place in our hearts earlier this year.  So, we were relatively relaxed about the outcome .......

Southbank

There are many occasion when I don't agree with Bruce Guthrie, but recently in the Sunday Age he addressed the issue of the speed at which many (but certainly not all) cyclists travel along Southbank Promenade.  The article's heading concerned a different matter and there was a bit of anti-Doyle rant (both of which I will pass over), but he stated  that there's a bike speed limit of 10 kph for cyclists along this strip and that it seems to be regularly exceeded.  

Looking across the river when eating at Southgate in the evening

At times, we eat at the outside tables next to the Promenade, and I have certainly thought to myself that the mix of heavy pedestrian traffic and bikes travelling at speeds of way more than 10 kph in this area is surely a recipe for trouble.

Vilification

I won't enter the controversy as to whether a 13 year old girl ought to be sanctioned for the use of the word "ape", or comment on whether the AFL's response to such matters depends on whether you're Eddie McGuire or only a mere mortal.  I recognise the political imperative for the AFL to toe the line in such matters.    However, I do wait with interest for the day when they take a stand against the vilification of umpires - and in particular the amount of obscene language used in this regard at football matches.