Gunnedah, Melbourne and stuff
Time for another blog post. This time, however, I have some travel stories to discuss that involve something other than mines (although...I do have some of that to talk about too).
Trip 4 – Sydney->Tamworth->Gunnedah->Tamworth->Sydney
I was up early last Monday to travel again for work; you’ll never guess where I went this time. A coal mine! Surprise surprise. By the time this secondment is over I’m going to be a coal mining expert.
We flew into Tamworth on Monday morning, which is about a 45 minute flight from Sydney. It’s north west of Newcastle, but farther north and west than Gloucester (where I was last week). After that, it was supposed to be a 50 minute drive to Gunnedah, but of course nothing is ever easy. There had been heavy rain that weekend and the road had washed out. So we ended up having to take the long way around and drive about 2 hours to get to the client. We were lucky though… the other team of people who were going up to the other mine site, were up at 4:30am for a 6:30am flight, which eventually got cancelled at 8:30am and so didn’t end up arriving until that evening on a different flight. I don’t really understand how the area floods so easily…. its flat as a pancake and full of fields. I guess the flatness is why it floods, but I didn’t exactly see many rivers around, so its not like they burst their banks. The floods seem to be from sheer volume of rain alone, which is surprising.
Otherwise nothing of much interest happened during my 4 days in Gunnedah. We did 2 short open cut mine tours on the Thursday which was good, but there wasn’t much activity as they were still recovering from the aforementioned flooding. Gunnedah itself was the best of the mining towns I’ve been too so far. Its got a population of 10,000, so there are actually some decent motels and a few restaurant choices. Its also the koala capital of NSW (or something). Apparently there are lots of koalas in the wild there! They even have road signs indicating that you should watch out for koalas crossing. I was really hoping to see one, but I didn’t. I still haven’t seen a live kangaroo yet either!
Trip 5->Sydney->Melbourne->Sydney
Finally, on Thursday night, I got to go on a trip for play and not for work. I had already booked a day off work last Friday to go visit Emma in Melbourne, so when I got asked to help with the job in Gunnedah, they were nice enough to accommodate. I flew from Tamworth to Sydney to Melbourne, so it actually turned out to be a long trip including the drive from Gunnedah to Tamworth.
My initial impression of Melbourne was not good. I took the “skybus” from the airport to the main bus/train station in town with the intention of getting a taxi from there to Emma’s. The skybus was easy, but when I arrived at the station, a concert had just let out which made the area a nightmare. There were 30,000 Eminem fans everywhere around the station. Streets were closed, trams were packed, taxis were MIA. It was nearly 11, I was exhausted with a suitcase and not in good humour. And of course, it had to be an Eminem concert; you can imagine the classy and mature individuals that he attracts to his shows. After walking way off in the opposite direction, I was able to get a cab, but we sat in traffic forever. What should have been a 10 minute ride turned into 40.
Emma’s place is very nice. She just got all of her shipped furniture last week, so I (luckily) had a bed to sleep on! She hadn’t had the time to unpack everything yet, but she did have the worlds smallest TV out of her boxes. It must have been about a 12 inch. I honestly didn’t know that they made TVs that size anymore.
Emma had to work on Friday, so I slept in and spent the day doing touristy things. I took the tram to the CBD and then walked around to get a feel for the place; walked through some shopping arcades which were nice. After that, I went up to the Queen Victoria market to take a look around. It was mostly just junk. Reminded me of a lot of the crappy markets I was at in Asia, only without the ridiculously low prices. There were lots of Australian novelty items (think boomerangs, shot glasses with kangaroos on them, etc), which I don’t like. I did manage to find some Reese’s peanut butter cups though, which was a big win. Peanut butter chocolate is my favourite, and it is not easy to find here. I don’t think the Aussie’s are big on peanut butter in general (which is crazy – especially since they eat that terrible vegemite stuff).
When we were in Perth last year, we did an awesome tour of an old jail in Fremantle, so I thought I would go check out the old Melbourne gaol as well. Its where Ned Kelly was hanged, so I thought there would be some interesting history. It was OK, but I was a little disappointed; it was self guided so it was mostly just reading. Definitely not as good at the Freo one. I actually thought that the more interesting part was the old police holding cells that you could also visit (with your old gaol ticket). Right next door was a jail used to hold people waiting for trial (or to be released) for a few days at a time; it was used right up to 1994. They give you a little alias and they pretend like you have just been arrested and lock you up and such. “I” was arrested for possession of illegal drugs. They “booked” us and then locked us in some of the holding cells for about 5 minutes. I think the whole thing was a fun idea, but it could have been done way better. The “guard” could have been a little more convincing. The most interesting part for me was reading the graffiti on the benches in the cells. I guess when you are in there for a few days, there isn’t much else to do but carve your name (and cuss words) into anything you can.
I made my way back to Emma’s place mid afternoon and went for a run down to her local beach; its quite close to her place. It was OK, but the Melbourne beaches really don’t have anything on the ones here in Sydney. Melbourne is on a bay, so the water looks a little more recycled then here at home. Still a nice run though.
Went and met Emma on Friday night for drinks when she was done work. We went to 3 places and in our typical fashion, didn’t find our way home until sometime after 3. Might have been closer to 4. Not sure. Of the 3 places we went, my favourite was the second; called the Emerald Peacock. It was a cool roof top place, with a good after work crowd. Melbourne does seem to have a better restaurant and bar culture than Sydney does. Sydney is catching up I think (some areas like Surry Hills are helping) but in general, everywhere you go in Melbourne has cool looking restaurants, pubs, patios, etc. Its really a city for eating, drinking and shopping, so it suited me just fine!
Saturday that is just what we did; ate, shopped and drank. Had a nice brunch before heading up to an area of the city that Emma hadn’t been yet called Brunswick Street. I find it pretty crazy what a different feel Melbourne has from Sydney; it almost doesn’t feel like an Australia city. It felt a bit like Montreal to me. However one thing that Sydney and Melbourne do have in common is that the CBD is not the place to be on the weekends. On Saturday and Sunday, you need to get out of the city, into the surrounding suburbs and check out different areas. So we headed North and had a wonderful day shopping. Brunswick street was great – a really good mix of designer, vintage, eclectic, up and coming and the like. We both had some good purchases.
Saturday night we went out close to Emma’s place (Albert Park/Port Melbourne). The place we went to was unusually quiet (apparently), but it was a really cool bar. I really liked it. Kinda felt like an old house; sofas, artwork, a patio, etc. It was probably for the best that it wasn’t bumping, as I didn’t really feel like another massive hangover.
Sunday we went to check out St. Kilda; the famed backpacker/tourist spot. It was alright. Quite close to where Emma lives, but definitely rougher around the edges. We visited the Sunday market there and then went for a walk. It was freezing. Sydney definitely has the better deal in terms of weather (although this week since I’ve been home, it has been miserable so far). We walked out along a pier (which was absurdly cold) and I had to drink a hot chocolate after to warm up (its supposed to be summer!). After that we went and met two of Emma’s friends for lunch at a place along the water. It was a good spot with a huge patio… once again set up for the Melbourne culture of eating and drinking.
Famed Luna Park at St. Kilda:
We went to an outlet shopping mall in the afternoon, which was quite a bit cheaper than everywhere else, but really the prices were just more similar to what they are at home. I’m definitely going to need to do some stocking up on certain things when I get home for Christmas.
So that was about it for Melbourne; I headed to the airport after and came home Sunday night. I’ve got two more weeks of work now before we have a mandatory 3 weeks off for xmas. I’m going to head up to a beach town for the week before Christmas (with some friends) and then I’m home to Vancouver on the 23rd. People better make time to see me, since I’m flying 8,000 miles to visit!!!
Cheers.
Trip 4 – Sydney->Tamworth->Gunnedah->Tamworth->Sydney
I was up early last Monday to travel again for work; you’ll never guess where I went this time. A coal mine! Surprise surprise. By the time this secondment is over I’m going to be a coal mining expert.
We flew into Tamworth on Monday morning, which is about a 45 minute flight from Sydney. It’s north west of Newcastle, but farther north and west than Gloucester (where I was last week). After that, it was supposed to be a 50 minute drive to Gunnedah, but of course nothing is ever easy. There had been heavy rain that weekend and the road had washed out. So we ended up having to take the long way around and drive about 2 hours to get to the client. We were lucky though… the other team of people who were going up to the other mine site, were up at 4:30am for a 6:30am flight, which eventually got cancelled at 8:30am and so didn’t end up arriving until that evening on a different flight. I don’t really understand how the area floods so easily…. its flat as a pancake and full of fields. I guess the flatness is why it floods, but I didn’t exactly see many rivers around, so its not like they burst their banks. The floods seem to be from sheer volume of rain alone, which is surprising.
Otherwise nothing of much interest happened during my 4 days in Gunnedah. We did 2 short open cut mine tours on the Thursday which was good, but there wasn’t much activity as they were still recovering from the aforementioned flooding. Gunnedah itself was the best of the mining towns I’ve been too so far. Its got a population of 10,000, so there are actually some decent motels and a few restaurant choices. Its also the koala capital of NSW (or something). Apparently there are lots of koalas in the wild there! They even have road signs indicating that you should watch out for koalas crossing. I was really hoping to see one, but I didn’t. I still haven’t seen a live kangaroo yet either!
Trip 5->Sydney->Melbourne->Sydney
Finally, on Thursday night, I got to go on a trip for play and not for work. I had already booked a day off work last Friday to go visit Emma in Melbourne, so when I got asked to help with the job in Gunnedah, they were nice enough to accommodate. I flew from Tamworth to Sydney to Melbourne, so it actually turned out to be a long trip including the drive from Gunnedah to Tamworth.
My initial impression of Melbourne was not good. I took the “skybus” from the airport to the main bus/train station in town with the intention of getting a taxi from there to Emma’s. The skybus was easy, but when I arrived at the station, a concert had just let out which made the area a nightmare. There were 30,000 Eminem fans everywhere around the station. Streets were closed, trams were packed, taxis were MIA. It was nearly 11, I was exhausted with a suitcase and not in good humour. And of course, it had to be an Eminem concert; you can imagine the classy and mature individuals that he attracts to his shows. After walking way off in the opposite direction, I was able to get a cab, but we sat in traffic forever. What should have been a 10 minute ride turned into 40.
Emma’s place is very nice. She just got all of her shipped furniture last week, so I (luckily) had a bed to sleep on! She hadn’t had the time to unpack everything yet, but she did have the worlds smallest TV out of her boxes. It must have been about a 12 inch. I honestly didn’t know that they made TVs that size anymore.
Emma had to work on Friday, so I slept in and spent the day doing touristy things. I took the tram to the CBD and then walked around to get a feel for the place; walked through some shopping arcades which were nice. After that, I went up to the Queen Victoria market to take a look around. It was mostly just junk. Reminded me of a lot of the crappy markets I was at in Asia, only without the ridiculously low prices. There were lots of Australian novelty items (think boomerangs, shot glasses with kangaroos on them, etc), which I don’t like. I did manage to find some Reese’s peanut butter cups though, which was a big win. Peanut butter chocolate is my favourite, and it is not easy to find here. I don’t think the Aussie’s are big on peanut butter in general (which is crazy – especially since they eat that terrible vegemite stuff).
When we were in Perth last year, we did an awesome tour of an old jail in Fremantle, so I thought I would go check out the old Melbourne gaol as well. Its where Ned Kelly was hanged, so I thought there would be some interesting history. It was OK, but I was a little disappointed; it was self guided so it was mostly just reading. Definitely not as good at the Freo one. I actually thought that the more interesting part was the old police holding cells that you could also visit (with your old gaol ticket). Right next door was a jail used to hold people waiting for trial (or to be released) for a few days at a time; it was used right up to 1994. They give you a little alias and they pretend like you have just been arrested and lock you up and such. “I” was arrested for possession of illegal drugs. They “booked” us and then locked us in some of the holding cells for about 5 minutes. I think the whole thing was a fun idea, but it could have been done way better. The “guard” could have been a little more convincing. The most interesting part for me was reading the graffiti on the benches in the cells. I guess when you are in there for a few days, there isn’t much else to do but carve your name (and cuss words) into anything you can.
I made my way back to Emma’s place mid afternoon and went for a run down to her local beach; its quite close to her place. It was OK, but the Melbourne beaches really don’t have anything on the ones here in Sydney. Melbourne is on a bay, so the water looks a little more recycled then here at home. Still a nice run though.
Went and met Emma on Friday night for drinks when she was done work. We went to 3 places and in our typical fashion, didn’t find our way home until sometime after 3. Might have been closer to 4. Not sure. Of the 3 places we went, my favourite was the second; called the Emerald Peacock. It was a cool roof top place, with a good after work crowd. Melbourne does seem to have a better restaurant and bar culture than Sydney does. Sydney is catching up I think (some areas like Surry Hills are helping) but in general, everywhere you go in Melbourne has cool looking restaurants, pubs, patios, etc. Its really a city for eating, drinking and shopping, so it suited me just fine!
Saturday that is just what we did; ate, shopped and drank. Had a nice brunch before heading up to an area of the city that Emma hadn’t been yet called Brunswick Street. I find it pretty crazy what a different feel Melbourne has from Sydney; it almost doesn’t feel like an Australia city. It felt a bit like Montreal to me. However one thing that Sydney and Melbourne do have in common is that the CBD is not the place to be on the weekends. On Saturday and Sunday, you need to get out of the city, into the surrounding suburbs and check out different areas. So we headed North and had a wonderful day shopping. Brunswick street was great – a really good mix of designer, vintage, eclectic, up and coming and the like. We both had some good purchases.
Saturday night we went out close to Emma’s place (Albert Park/Port Melbourne). The place we went to was unusually quiet (apparently), but it was a really cool bar. I really liked it. Kinda felt like an old house; sofas, artwork, a patio, etc. It was probably for the best that it wasn’t bumping, as I didn’t really feel like another massive hangover.
Sunday we went to check out St. Kilda; the famed backpacker/tourist spot. It was alright. Quite close to where Emma lives, but definitely rougher around the edges. We visited the Sunday market there and then went for a walk. It was freezing. Sydney definitely has the better deal in terms of weather (although this week since I’ve been home, it has been miserable so far). We walked out along a pier (which was absurdly cold) and I had to drink a hot chocolate after to warm up (its supposed to be summer!). After that we went and met two of Emma’s friends for lunch at a place along the water. It was a good spot with a huge patio… once again set up for the Melbourne culture of eating and drinking.
Famed Luna Park at St. Kilda:
We went to an outlet shopping mall in the afternoon, which was quite a bit cheaper than everywhere else, but really the prices were just more similar to what they are at home. I’m definitely going to need to do some stocking up on certain things when I get home for Christmas.
So that was about it for Melbourne; I headed to the airport after and came home Sunday night. I’ve got two more weeks of work now before we have a mandatory 3 weeks off for xmas. I’m going to head up to a beach town for the week before Christmas (with some friends) and then I’m home to Vancouver on the 23rd. People better make time to see me, since I’m flying 8,000 miles to visit!!!
Cheers.
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