Reflections on New Adventures 2023

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I started out 2023 with the idea to do something new each week, make new memories, try new things.

And now at the end of the year I look back through the posts I've written, the photos I've taken and the experiences I've had.

I think it was okay. 

View from Hastings Pier.

I didn't achieve totally what I had set out to achieve, I barely made a dent in my 'stuff to do' list, along with a spreadsheet of places to go, things to research and other blog and other ideas. I don't think this is a bad thing, I've been constantly updating it throughout the year, building on it so I have choices, and have lots of things on the 'to do list' to work through.

But looking back through the year I'm happy I did something. I feel better having achieved those things. Having gone places, done stuff.

It's weird looking back at the posts, and looking through my photos, and thinking 'was that really then?'.

Blue Rock Lake, dead trees on shore.

If I'm honest attempting to walk all the piers of the Peninsula was ambitious, I realise that now. I did actually intend to try again during the winter and never got around to it (maybe 2024 will be the year I succeed at that?).

Lake Glenmaggie and Mount Sugarloaf don't feel like things I did at the start of the year, those places still feel recent in my memories, I can still feel the texture of the rock wall at Glenmaggie, the car park at Mount Sugarloaf. Still recall the smell of the steam, oil and fire at Steamfest.

Agnes Falls was a long drive out there, and then up to July after that it really does feel recent.

But I think this is good, they're new memories, new experiences.

I didn't do as many road trips as I had intended, although did do a Canberra road trip twice. The first of which didn't go to plan, but it still taught me some things, and failure is something to learn from. The second trip was more successful.

Ikea Springvale car park.

There's stuff I did, which I haven't written about, just because it's more mundane things, like weeding in the garden, going to a nursery or trying to find something in Bunnings or Ikea. Times I went out and did stuff, but it's just not stuff that needs sharing, and/or it's something I didn't think I could spin into content.

What has happened though is through some of these new adventures it's inspired me for other road trips and other research projects.

2024 will be some more adventures, new and otherwise, more road trips, and more attempts to have some experiences out and about.

Melbourne Airport Terminal Parking

When you park at Melbourne Airport to pick someone up you have a couple of options; the Melbourne Airport Wait Zone, which is free, but you have to contend with the 'Public pick up' which, while free will test your patience quite a bit.

Through the trees, the front of Melbourne Airport

The next realistic option is "Terminal parking" which is the car park located opposite the airport terminal. I've parked here on a number of occasions when picking my dad up from the airport.

The occasion before I parked in the wait zone parking I did just so, parking in the Terminal parking. I discovered that you could pre-pay parking to save some money. (Something I was not aware of prior to that.)

On this occasion I did pre-pay, you get a QR code to scan upon entry and exit, at least that is how it is meant to work in theory.

Melbourne Airport Public pick up zone

In order to book the parking you need to state a time that you're going to arrive and depart, the latter is easy enough; time of flight arrival plus 40 minutes in case of problems. 

Time of arrival, in theory is also easy enough; travel time plus 25 minutes. Because Melbourne traffic is so variable sometimes an accident or incident can quickly add up to mean that you're not going to arrive at your destination at the right time. 

So I'd set my arrival time for 2:30 pm. 

But due to the traffic not being terrible I actually arrived near the airport at 2:00 pm, I knew (because I read the T&Cs) that there was 15 minute leeway for entry, so I went for a drive past the airport.  (This 15 minute leeway window applies to booking of under 4 hours according to their T&Cs, over 4 hours and you get a 2 hour window)

However, in writing this post up I looked through their FAQ at the bottom of the 'Parking refunds' page which states that you can arrive 2 hours before your booked entry time and not incur a fee.

As I'd arrived early, and not wishing to incur a fee, I instead drove past the airport parking turn off, driving past the airport and heading for Sunbury on the Tullamarine Freeway. Then I did a U-turn at the Oaklands Road roundabout, that's also where the aircraft viewing area is for runway 16. In hindsight I should've just parked up there and watched the planes come in.

Ramp up the levels of the car park

I did the U-turn and drove back, turning off at the exit that's simply labelled as "Airport", which takes you past what I'd assume to be the aircraft fuel storage, and around and under the Tullamarine Freeway, pushing you out near the BP and Maccas at the exit of the airport.

I drove up to the entrance to the Terminal car park entrance and scanned my QR code to enter the car park, a little awkward to get your phone under the scanner on the parking machine. But easy enough, to enter, exiting would be another thing however...

View from car park

I elected to go up to Level 3 - the roof, or up to there and then more parking atop that, as in the past that's where people haven't parked, and therefore was easier to park.

Nope, not this time, it was quite full. 

At first I thought it was just that there was building work going on that was using up spaces in the car park. You reach level 3 by going up the circular ramps on the side of the car park (that is if you enter from Arrival Drive).

Level 3 - Section L

I ended up parking in Level 3, section L, with a pleasant view out south east out of the car park. It's under cover of the second part of the muli-storey car park.

First thing I needed to find were toilets, of which there are few within the car park itself, I did briefly consult the National Public Toilet Map app, but it wasn't helpful. I headed towards the terminal, but found that the car park does have toilet facilities. They're located on the ground level. They are functional, but not big, one male, one female and a disabled toilet and each door just goes straight into the toilet, so it's a combo toilet, sink and Dyson airblade dryer. 

Terminal car park toilets

The men's toilet (as they tend to do) smelt of urine, so unsure how often they're cleaned. These car park toilets certainly had an air of being less cared for than those within the terminal building itself.

Terminal car park map in lift.

Having relieved my bladder I went back up to level 3 to time how long it takes to walk from the lifts to the edge of the terminal car park, where I'd parked. Because my dad loves to complain and I knew he'd find any opportunity to complain about stuff. So I set a timer and set about walking back to my car to check how long it would take. 

2 minutes 30 seconds.

The car park spaces are of a decent size, especially if you park next to a support column where there is extra room on one side of the space.

US-style pick up truck in spot.

But even if you're driving a large American-style pick up truck, they will still fit relatively well. 

All that I saw were reversed in, which I used to do when I had my Ford Ranger, as it's the most effective way to get the vehicle into a tight spot and fit it properly.

On Level 2 of the car park there is "Premium" and Valet parking, where the car park appears to have been renovated, with paint on the concrete and a more fancy walk way painted blue that is separated from the road with barriers.

Interior of Melbourne Airport

After waiting around for about and hour and a half or so until dad's flight landed, it was time to exit. I had my phone and the QR code held on it ready to scan at the exit and the screen said "Ticket Not Valid". I tried again, and again and then it said I needed to pay a further $30. 

Which means essentially I had paid twice and it ended up costing me about the same as I would have paid had I just rocked up and paid to get in.

Immediately upon returning home I submitted a refund request on Melbourne Airport's website, submitting both the booking number for my QR code entry and a photo of the receipt from the machine upon my exit.

The processing time for this, as listed on their website is 8-9 business days, which is a surprisingly long amount of time, not even 7 business days, but 8-9.

After 10 business days I sent another request with the reference number, and was issued with another "A case has been opened for your request".

14 business days on from sending the first parking refund message and they refunded the money I had to pay to exit.

The result of all this? 

Well, I probably won't pre-pay for the parking, as it seems to be fraught with mistakes, and by the time you want to exit, you just want to leave. And at the ticket machine there's no apparent option other than to pay the additional fee.

Maybe if I get there early I'll go and sit in the aircraft viewing area?

Or maybe I'll drive out further to Bulla or something. 

I won't park and wander the airport, and I'll just adjust my time to arrive accordingly. 

I'll obviously still need to park in the airport, but it'll be a much, much shorter time.

Noojee Trestle Rail Bridge

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It would have been a nice set of driver's roads, had I not been stuck behind a Hyundai SUV, who seemed to slam on the brakes every time they approached something that might vaguely be considered a corner.

There's something odd, in an interesting way about Neerim South and the area around it, it's all got a very designed feel in a weird sort of way. It made me think of a British town, not a fancy old one, just a newer one, I couldn't quite put my finger on what made it feel like that. Perhaps it was the well kept 1970s-style houses, tree lined streets, and a lot of European trees around leading up to Neerim South and other towns nearby.

To get to that point I had to go along the South Gippsland Highway, which feels like it gets worse each time I'm driving on it, and therefore there's not really much to say about that part of the journey, it is what it is.

Although whenever I'm on the South Gippsland Highway I'm always tempted by the donut van at the Koo Wee Rup observation tower. Have yet to actually stop, as it often feels like it's at the start of my journey and my adventure is the journey to the destination as much as the destination, and I shouldn't be stopping anywhere on the way there as that's a sort of delay to the goal of the day.

But I also think that if I'm going to have a doughnut it needs to be great as a treat sort of thing, and a lot of them are just okay. Growing up there was a doughnut van at Frankston trash and treasure market, and I'd always remember how yellow the dough was, how oddly shaped they were and how molten the jam was within, and crispy on the outside. A lot of doughnut vans their doughnuts are so perfectly shaped, industrially produced uniformity.

Anyway, the rail trestle bridge.

The car park.

Driving into the trestle bridge car park the road weaves around a few trees, there's parking for probably 10-12 cars, although the day I went there were only 4 cars parked quite spread out.

There are three paths to the top of the bridge, standing looking at the bridge there's the left path, that crosses a creek and then goes up a set of stone stairs that are set into the hill, this is undercover of the trees and ferns around 

Then there's the right path which is much more open, and also goes up stone stairs.

And a third which weaves its way around the landscape up to the top.

I took the left path because there were some people taking the other right path. 

I think I chose right, both paths have steep stairs, but going down the more open set of stairs is better than the darker path of ferns and trees.

The bridge itself is impressive in its size and construction. There is a disconcerting 'Bridge Capacity Maximum 10 Persons' sign, and walking along it, you certainly feel the age of the bridge. Or at least below my feet, wearing skate shoes the wooden panels certainly felt old and well worn and a little loose in sections. I could certainly appreciate you wouldn't want more than 10 people on the bridge's surface larking about.

There are two picnic tables at the bottom opposite the car park, one accessed via some steps and also a path that would let you access the two.

Yallourn Power Station

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I drove past Yallourn Power Station earlier in the year on my way up to Lake Glenmaggie and intended to come back and take some photos.

Yallourn Power Station from John Field Drive

There's something picturesque in its own way about it, especially on a sunny day. 

Or perhaps it's just that I have an odd sensibility for old industrial buildings. 

The roads that lead up to the power station are quite over engineered, there's a little underpass and everything, it's got a very 1970s road design aesthetic to its design.

The location where I parked was the Graeme Edwards Memorial Garden.

It seemed to be a decently used garden / park, judging by the bin, which I chucked some of my Instax film cartridge into when I was about to leave. I expected the bin to be empty, but it seemed about half full.

The garden is beside Yallourn W power station. And it is picturesque and interesting in its own way. It's very 1970s-style. It's different shades of brown. 

Not that anyone is building a coal-fired power station in 2023, but if they were, I doubt this is the colour scheme that you'd be going for if designing a power station. 

It's surprisingly noisy as you get closer to the cooling towers, a noise of water is the overerwhelming sound.

I noticed when I was there three guys going up on a lift up the side of one of the cooling towers on a lift like window cleaning lift.

The power station is meant to close in 2028. <source> I think it's something to look at, a piece of Victoria's history that will unlikely to stick around, Hazelwood didn't – that was levelled, I saw it in its latter stages.

One of the cooling towers (not the one the guys were going up) looked like it had a few repairs over the years, with a less than uniform structure to the tower.

The garden itself has some barbecues, picnic tables, and shelters. The grass was well cut, seemed to have been cut a few weeks ago judging by the clippings that remains on the ground. 

Same with the grass around the roads and other areas around or near the power station.

Is it worth making a trip out to have a look? Probably not, but if you're passing or in the area, take a little bit of a detour. It's not aesthetically pleasing in a traditional sense, but big industrial elements, be it construction, architecture or even earth moving can have an awe and wonder to it, then Yallourn Power Station also has an element of it. Much like other examples of "era"-architecture, it's very 1970s in its styling and no one is ever going to build something remotely like this again. So in that sense it is worth visiting because once it's gone, there'll be few examples of it standing anywhere else.

Upper Yarra Reservoir

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Upper Yarra Reservoir

I went for drive up to the Upper Yarra Reservoir, heading up Eastlink it was surprisingly busy for a week day. The route up was basically the same up to Mount Donna Buang that I did a few weeks ago.

Except in Warburton I continued along the C511 - Woods Point Road. Which continued to be a nice driver's road.

Then the road splits off with Woods Point Road continuing on the left and Upper Yarra Dam Road continuing straight ahead. 

There is a gate as you approach the reservoir with some speed humps also.

Sign: Upper Yarra Drinking Water Catchment “No People, No Dogs, No Fishing, No Swimming, No Shooting”.

You can tell you're approaching a dam that was built in the mid 20th century because you first see some sculpted grounds and well established European trees, the Maroondah Dam also has this feature nearby of mature non-native trees. Although there are fewer here than there.

I didn't realise there were camp grounds next to the reservoir, and basically in the shadow of the dam / reservoir wall. There were some people, maybe half a dozen people max with tents set up around this area. 

It was nice, there was big sign saying (amongst others) "No People", that this was a drinking water catchment area.

There's a concrete spill way, which apparently is not the source of the Yarra, but kinda feels like if the Yarra River is separated by a large reservoir that would make it a different river, or a tributary or something like that. But I'm not a hydrologist.

I took some photos, had a little bit of a look around, and then departed.

Ford Ranger 2018 2.0 Bi-Turbo

I'd had my Ford Ranger Wildtrak 2018 since new, and I'd previously had a first generation Ford Ranger the "PXI", which was great. It was the vehicle I used to go to Woomera, to go along the Eyre Highway to Perth and back, I did the Western Explorer road in that Ranger. It was comfortable, easy to drive and predictable.

But it was also a little bit of a 'parts bin job', that first generation didn't have CarPlay, didn't have a digital speedo, the centre console area was from the Transit, while the dash was from a Focus.

So I decided to upgrade to in 2018 to upgrade to the 2.0 Bi-Turbo, thinking that more efficient, plus that 10-speed auto would make things better.

It...wasn't amazing.

I'd been on a road trip to Tasmania before the pandemic in 2019, and Canberra in 2021, and in 2022.

But there were some issues which manifested shortly after I bought it, the 10-speed auto was somewhat indecisive, it seemed like it didn't like you driving the vehicle in some circumstances. I got used to as soon as I was on a freeway or highway of putting it in cruise control, because letting it do its thing was much easier for me than having it hunt around for the gears if I was the one in control of the throttle.

I had become accustomed to this issue, the foibles of the gearbox, I'd learnt how and when it would do its weird gearshift.

But then on a recent trip up to Ikea, I was sitting in the middle lane on the Princes Highway and as I went from a standstill at the traffic lights and put my foot slowly on the accelerator pedal it just seemed to rev up through the rev range and then really, really hesitate and then it was a thump and it changed gear. Almost like it was ready to stall. It didn't, but it did worry me. 

After stopping at Ikea, turning it off and waiting 10 minutes I restarted to see if there were any warning lights or any indications that there was anything wrong. There wasn't, so I went about my day's intent and bought some reasonably priced flat-pack furniture and returned home.

Turned out that reasonably priced piece of furniture which had poor reviews because it was hard to put together, was not an exaggeration, it was really hard to put together, nigh on impossible. So I was back up on the Princes Highway the following day to return it, and while on the way there I experienced no transmission shifting issues this time. However, I did not feel as comfortable as I had done so. 

I went on to drive it a bit, did my failed trip and another trip to Canberra.

It went in for a service after that trip and I mentioned the gearbox problems to them, and they did a software update. 

Which turned out to be one of the worst things they could have done. Yes, before the software update it was a little unpredictable at times, it was a little weird, but like an old car I'd worked out how to work with it, how to live with its problems. 

But now, it was just worse. 

Instead of changing gears smoothly, it would hold onto the gears for a moment or two too long then jerk and gear change. And the most annoying thing is that it was in the 40-60 kilometre speed range, the speed where you're most commonly going to be doing that around and about, or when you're driving off at the lights.

I went back to Ford and mentioned this, and asked if they could downgrade the software, at least I knew how it worked, even if it wasn't great. I didn't expect they would be able to do that, downgrading a computer's operating system or a phone's is a bit of an ordeal, doing it to software in a vehicle's subsystem like the gearbox control I suspected was something that they wouldn't be able to do. And no was the answer, but I had to ask.

They did take it under warranty for a day and checked it. When I got it back they said there was nothing wrong with it, that it was functioning as expected. They topped up the transmission oil though.

This...improved things? For a time, but it still wasn't pleasant. It was okay.

I had lost trust in the vehicle to be consistent and therefore safe. I didn't ever want to be in traffic and it be shifting unpredictably, and that was one of my concerns with its unpredictability.

There were other smaller, though no less irritating things that also contributed to this decision to change it for something else.

There was a rattle / buzzing noise around the start stop button, it was from one of the plastic panels not sitting perfectly fine, and only started to make this noise when the ute had been in the sun for a while. I narrowed it down that the temperature had to be at least 22ºC exterior temperature as indicated on the dash before it started to make this noise. I did mention this when it went in for a service, and they said they fixed it...however while it happened less, it would still happen, and thumping it with my leg (which had previously stopped it) no longer did anything.

There was also a noise, a buzz / rattle noise from...'somewhere on the passenger side' of the cabin, I thought it was somewhere near the A-pillar. But with passengers, who could hear it, but couldn't work out where it was coming from. It was much more of an intermittent fault, and therefore hard to explain.

There was also a buzzing from the centre of the dash, near the windscreen only when the windscreen de-mister was on heat and on a high temperature – so if in cold weather and de-misting the windscreen. Again I suspect that was just the plastics reacting to the heat.

I dealt with these by either having audio playing loud enough not to hear it, or to have the aircon on high on a hot day to cool the cabin down so these things plastic things didn't do their buzzing thing.

But as someone who wants a good road tripping vehicle, many of these things added up, and made me think that a Ranger wasn't the best vehicle for me...or so I'd thought.

CarExpert Open Day

Today I went to the CarExpert Open Day, at Docklands. 

I didn’t really know what to expect, being an online/YouTube-based meet up. The last purely YouTube thing I went to I think was in 2011 out at Birrarung Marr and was quite uncoordinated.

I've been to various live podcast recordings which is a slightly different genre of 'internet-based things occurring in the real world'.

It was held on the top of The District Docklands east car park, on a very cold spring day. Apparently there was a coffee cart, but as I’m not a coffee drinker, and a disposable cup with a random tea bag slipped into it is not my idea of a wonderfully pleasant drink I elected not to imbibe.

Only about a quarter of the roof top car park had cars on it, and there were a couple of dozen people wandering around.

The Ineos Grenadier looks like an old Land Rover on the outside, but the inside has a fabulous amount of buttons and switches inside, and unlike most cars which are automatic which have a small place for your left foot, in the Grenadier there's actually a sizeable place for your left foot to sit.

The Renault Megane E-Tech looked the most 'movie future' car of the cars there. Like it's got the general idea of what a car looks like now, just pushed into the future a little bit.

It was certainly better sized than the photos and videos I've seen of it in online. Inside it was fine, has a similar airy layout to others like the MG4 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. I'm not sure if I prefer this or the more 'cockpit' style that cars like the Polestar 2 have (this wasn't on show, but I've had a look at them in the past).

The Porsche Cayenne was surprising as they often look quite big on the road. The interior was nicely considered, two large screens, the one in front of the driver had analogue (albeit digital) dials on display. I'm not really a fan of alcantara which was on the steering wheel, but it felt nice and soft, although I do wonder how well it'd wear with day-to-day use.

Interior of Porsche Cayenne.

The second infotainment screen was bright and clear. There were some shiny additional controls on the centre console.

Sitting in the Cayenne was perfectly fine, however getting out of the car I whacked my thighs on the seat bolsters, as they're sporty seats. But that could become irritating very easily if you had to live with that day-to-day.

The Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 was huge. I've seen these and the other US imported utes out on the road and they've looked huge. But actually seeing one in person, just standing in front of it, it's huge.

Also, I went to get into it, like I do my Ranger ute, which is step up, grab the inside door handle and slide in, pulling the door with my momentum to close.

When I tried to do it with the Silverado I almost fell backwards. It was just so huge and big, I realised I had to stand on the side skirts and then step into the cabin and sit down. And then grab the door and close it.

The interior is nice enough, it's very big and US-style, a very chunky gear selector. 

I don't know how anyone manages to drive these in anywhere built up, it's just so big.

The BYD Dolphin was interesting. A similar sort of floating design language as the E-Tech and Ioniq 6. A smaller screen ahead. But the interior isn't as odd as the BYD Atto 3. It's functional enough and simple enough. It's not quite the car for me, but I think it'll do well. The Atto 3 has already sold very well in Australia.

The MG4 was likewise fine. It also had a small screen ahead of the driver, compared to the E-Tech and others it's a very small screen. But it's a different market class.

The screen was okay, swiping across on it was smooth enough, but not as smooth as you'd see on your phone or whatever. But it's better than using the touchscreen on my Ford Ranger (although my Ranger is now a few years old). I think this will be a great EV for people, the get around and do stuff. The Camry of the i30 for EVs, something cheap and functional.

The Ioniq 6's interior was very similar to sitting in the Ioniq 5's interior, it's got more of a centre arm rest / cup holder area than the Ioniq 5. Like the 5 it had the camera pods and digital mirrors. I'm not really a fan of them, there'd be a learning curve I guess to look at or around the A-pillar rather than out the window when checking mirrors.

The Ioniq 6 was also running in V2L (vehicle to load) powering the sound system that they had on site.

The BMW iX1 was alright. Like the other electric cars it had a smilier floating open design inside. What seemed to be smaller than the E-Tech screens inside. 

Well considered and placed controls for the media on the arm rest. 

And on the doors a wood, or wood-effect panel. Although it was a lot of different textures and materials inside the BMW, brown leather and leather highlights, brushed aluminium, plastic, and on the door these plus two textured materials (one over the harmon/kardon speaker) and then the aforementioned wood.

The Nissan Patrol Warrior was the oldest, and inside really looked it. Given that this vehicle is around $100,000 it's a lot of money for a terrible interior. 

The screen is absolutely tiny, and the rest is a lot of grey plastic buttons surrounded by some piano black to tart it up a bit.

The buttons on the steering wheel too just make it look dated. 

Like the Silverado it's got a petrol V8, so it's not exactly going to be economical. 

Mazda CX-90 front.

The only car I didn't sit in, mostly because people seemed to be constantly in it was the Mazda CX-90. It had an interesting third row of seats, which looked like it would be almost impossible to have anything other than a baby seat in it.

I departed about an hour after arriving as I watched (and then felt) the rain slowly make its way towards Melbourne. The combination of the exposed site and the wind was making for a pretty cold adventure out. There didn't appear to be anything else that was going to happen.

I spoke to many members of the CarExpert team; Paul, Jade and Jack, along with Anthony Crawford (the co-founder of CarExpert) about cars, which was nice to do.

The District Docklands east car park

I went here for the Car Expert Open Day. I've never been to this car park. I don't think I've ever actually driven to the Docklands either. Have been to the Docklands in the past, but have usually come in via the tram. It's just an area of the city I've never found I've needed to go to.

Getting to the car park itself is very easy, coming off the CityLink going over the Bolte Bridge it's the first exit onto Footscray Road where there's significant roadworks going on. 

Then it's the first right onto Waterfront Way, and then I used the Waterfront Way entrance, but there is another entrance around on Little Docklands Drive.

The height limit is 2.17 metres, which should be fine for all passenger vehicles on the road at the moment.

You need to stop at boom gates and push a button for a ticket, the machine prints your numberplate on the ticket, and it is reading your numberplate into the system as well as I'd find out upon exit.

The passage in is a little, not confusing but basically if you're in there for 90 minutes it's free, which is presumedly to cover people who are going shopping at the Woolworths which is on the same site, and there are defined 90 minute parking bays again I presume for this purpose.

Then you continue through until you locate a ramp up for 'staying longer'. I went up to the staying longer level as I wasn't sure how long I wound be staying at the Car Expert Open Day. 

View of the city from the car park.

As I made my way through the car park I did briefly glimpse at a parking ticket machine in the middle of one of the levels. 

However once I made it up to I think the third level I didn't see another ticket machine, not at the lifts and stairs where I walked up to the roof where the Open Day was being held. 

I did notice once I wandered up to the Open Day area that there was a second lift area which might've held a ticket machine, but I didn't explore that.

The car park itself looks new and well kept, the bays large enough for my ute, although I reversed in to get the maximum use of the space there.

Upon departing I had not spent 90 minutes, I'd only been in there a little over an hour, but I had the ticket ready and my wallet ready just in case. And I was looking around for a ticket machine just in case.

There were a few A-frame signs placed directing towards the exit which eventually led me to hard to line up for exit.

As I slowed down and readied to insert the ticket the machine showed an animated smiley face / thumbs up emoji and the gate opened allowing me to exit. Which evidently meant it was reading the numberplate as you entered.

Little Docklands Drive and neighbouring car park.

The exit was on Little Docklands Drive. I realise now looking at the map I should have just gone straight ahead, as that would have led me to Footscray Road and turn left onto it.

Instead I made the mistake of going down St Mangos Lane, which led me back to Waterfront Way, but meant I had to do an awkward u-turn in front of Observation Drive. 

Which was...inelegant, I at least was going slow enough that when I hit and mounted the curb it wasn't too bad. I should've just gone around the block again and gone out on Little Docklands Drive.

Melbourne Caravan & Camping Leisurefest 2023

Having entered off of the Princes Highway and parking on the grass near that entrance there was a little bit of a walk to one of the gates and entrances. I think in the past I came in from Springvale Road. I paid for a ticket at the gate there is no difference in price between paying online or at the gate, and if you pay at the gate it’s one less site with your contact info.

I'm not really into caravanning, I'm more a curious observer from the borders of this oeuvre of adventuring. So my observances are from this perspective.

Wombat

There were several caravans with two single beds in them, with cupboard in between, which is an interesting solution to the problem of bedding in a caravan.

I'm not really a fan of the pop-top caravan, I feel that if I were out adventuring I wand a protective space from the outside, especially when sleeping.

It was nice to caravans with double beds, and a nice kitchen area plus bathroom, and several had a toilet and basin area and also a separate shower area. Others combined all this together, but I think day-to-day living that little bit of separation would really help with living within the caravan.

There's two main options on display the caravan and the motorhome. The latter built into a van or onto the back of a small truck. Both are a compromise and I'm not sure which one I would go for, were I in the market for one.

I can see the perspective for both, the van means you can go basically anywhere a van would go, and they're a lot more subtle than a caravan and a tow vehicle. But they're a lot more compromised in terms of space, power of the engine and things like that.

If I was going to buy one for myself, I think I would still go for a caravan, albeit a small one, much as in 2019 when I saw one then, I think I still like the Lumberjack Sheoak (Series II). The one I saw back then was the first generation one, but this is more updated one. It's also gone up in price by by 10 grand on that one to $31,990. 

It's got a sleeping area and then a separate kitchen area. 

It's still not totally perfect, at least for how I would use it, it still uses gas. I'd have an induction hotplate in there running off a battery system. I watched a few YouTube videos comparing gas vs induction as a camping option a while ago, and it made a very compelling argument for induction. If you've got solar panels on your camper, and a power station storage system or the like then it's basically free cooking fuel when the sun's out.

Ultimate Campers was the only one that I saw that had what appeared to be an induction system for cooking.

The Stockman Rover has a similar idea to the Lumberjack Sheoak, being a pod-style camper trailer. Their prices however are higher at a hair over $50,000.

I bought a bag of jam doughnuts, which were kinda disappointing. They were hot, freshly cooked but just lacking kinda.

Melbourne EV Show 2023

I wouldn't bother. If you're interested in a particular EV brand, seek them out in their respective show rooms or where ever, but don't bother here.

View as you walk into the Melbourne EV Show 2023

I'm relatively interested in EVs, read about and watch YouTube videos about them (and internal combustion engine cars too), not exactly a "motoring enthusiast" as the Shannons adverts go, but I'm informed enough. 

I saw an email a week or so ago from the RACV about the Melbourne EV Show at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre (or Jeff's Shed as I still think of it as). I did look at the website before going, so was aware that there weren't going to be all of the major car brands there, but still hoped that there would be something of interest.

For starters it's not exactly cheap to get in $32 for an adult. Back in the day that might've been a showbag of promotional stuff or something, but now that gets you nothing except the ticket. 

The show itself was in the end of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, and took up maybe a quarter of the space. 

Of the major car brands there was; Peugeot, Hyundai, Kia, Polestar, GWM, Audi, plus Zagame which had; McLaren, Cupra and Fiat and Abarth on show. There was also car clubs like the Tesla Owner's Club present as well. Along with other EV things like scooters and bikes which I'm not really that interested in. Plus JAC Motors had two trucks on show.

I had a look around all the vehicles that were on show and had a sit in several of them.

One which I was interested to have a look at and sit in was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, as it's a design which has fascinated me since it came out, and because I had wanted to have a test drive in one. However according to Hyundai you can't, you have to pre-order one and then they'll let you test drive it. 

But there was one here so I thought I could sit in it, and have a feel and see how the switchgear and everything felt.

So I was sat in one and put my foot on the brake as I sat in it (habit mostly), and it prominently said in the dash "key not in vehicle", so I felt safe switching the driving modes around just to see how the dash responded and how the display changed in the different driving modes. Then I thought I'd try putting it into drive to see if any of the animation changed or something, and nothing happened, obviously because the key was not in the vehicle, so I moved to get out of the vehicle, taking my foot off the brake...and then the car started to creep forwards. I pushed my foot quite quickly onto the brake and fumbled around with the gear selector to put it back into, well I couldn't find park but I put it in neutral in the panic.

Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

Suddenly a rep for Hyundai appeared and I explained what happened, he hunted through the glove box, and couldn't find the key and then someone brought the key over from a locked box somewhere. He seemed as puzzled as I was, and I kept apologising for what happened.

He couldn't work it out how it managed to move without the key inside it.

But he explained "the Minister was here earlier and it must have been left in an on position". Which I guess was fortunate discovery by accident that I did it and they discovered it, and that it wasn't a child or something that was messing around with it, because it could have ended very differently.

So I guess I have test driven an Ioniq 5, all of about 5 centimetres. 

So that gave me a rush of panic and adrenalin.

After that I wandered around to the other brands. 

I quite like Peugeot's 508 PHEV Sportswagon, it's got the added practicality of a wagon, and is from a European car brand, and a little bit left of field being a French car brand. 

Also the e-208 PHEV was also a nice looking small hatch. 

The Peugeot Partner Van which I also had a sit in, that did not have a comfortable driving position. I think were I looking for a van the Ford e-Transit would be a better van. It perhaps might be okay for short drives.

Polestar 3

There were a lot of people at the Polestar stand, there was only their upcoming vehicle the Polestar 3, which is due next year. The Polestar 2 you need to go to their 'Polestar Spaces' to see.

The Polestar 3 is a small SUV type design, from what I could see it looks nice. Although from a design perspective I think I prefer the Polestar 2.

One stand that had a lot of people at it was the GWM Ora, known in some markets as the 'Ora Funky Cat', although here it's just called the Ora, but it keeps its logo of an exclamation mark. It's one of the smaller EVs and probably one of the cheapest on offer, it looked quite popular with the older people at the show.

Talk with headphones

There were talks going on at the show, with an interesting format that it was all done with wireless headphones, so you could sit there listening to the bloke and there was no loud speaker sort of arrangement, just the bloke on stage talking into a microphone and everyone sitting there watching him with headphones on. It was nice. Although I really hope (but kinda doubt) that they clean the headphones after each performance.

I was surprised by the Kia stand, the EV9 and EV6. I'd seen the EV6 before in a Ford / Kia dealership area and didn't think I lot of it. But seeing the GT-line version and sitting in it in person really changed my perspective on it, it's actually quite a nice looking vehicle. I also appreciate what Kia are going for with their EV9 SUV, it's a much more boxy sort of look, in the same sort of realm as a traditional Land Rover Defender or a Jeep Wrangler.

Audi RS e-tron GT

I was also surprised by the Audi RS e-tron GT, which I had seen in reviews both video and print, but it always looked really big in those. But in person, it's large, as it's a four-seater car, but it's not huge. There was a Porsche Taycan nearby and that did look big.

The interior of the Audi is like all Audis, it was well considered, everything and how it works for the driver has been considered. 

The screens are a little smaller than some – like Polestar who go for a large centre screen and then a screen in front of the driver. But it lends itself to a driver-focused car in the Audi. 

EV Land Rover

There were some interesting stands on conversions of internal combustion engine cars – Land Rovers and a conversion for a Mini. 

However, having walked around the show for about an hour, I felt like I'd had my fill and it was a little bit underwhelming.

If you're interested in experiencing or looking into an EV in more detail go to that brand's car dealership or show room, 'space' as Polestar call them or 'experience centre' as BYD calls them. I think you'd get a better experience than at the EV show.

Chadstone Car Park C during early 2023 works

EDIT: Information below is no longer valid as of November 2023, as the layout of this car park / its entrance has now changed.

My preference for parking when I visit Chadstone is Car Park C, what has often been known as the "Coles Car Park", this is accessible from Warrigal Road, via Middle Road and City Circuit. 

It's my preference as I'm usually getting to Chadstone from the Monash Freeway, so am exiting onto Warrigal Road for Chadstone.

Currently there are building works and road works ongoing at Chadstone and will be for the next 6+ months moving forward. 

At the moment all traffic on Middle Road is funnelled either left or right at the traffic light intersection, there is no forward traffic allowed. 

If you're visiting Chadstone and intending to park in Car Park C; when turning onto Middle Road from Warrigal Road turn right from the farthest right of the right turning lanes and keep to that lane as you go around the corner. You'll be next to the median strip as you get onto Middle Road (and inevitably be sat waiting at the traffic lights).

First entrance, do not enter here, but exit here when you leave.

Turn right from the far right lane onto City Circuit. Don't be tempted to get into the left lane and do not try to enter the car park from the first entrance. That's what everyone tries to do.

Don't panic, it does look like the other entrance of Car Park C (there used to be two one after the other on City Circuit) is blocked, that's because it is. 

One way road - City Circuit. Car park entrance is just after this bend.

Additionally the road becomes one way as it goes around the corner. 

Follow City Circuit around the corner and there is a second entrance into Car Park C. Turn left here (around the road works barriers) and then immediately turn right and go up the ramp to level 3 of the car park. 

It's generally not as busy up here because everyone goes in on the lower level, does several loops and then, and only after a few more loops do they get up to level 3. 

Level 4 used to be accessible but has been blocked for building works.

Car Park C ramp to level 3.

Also, if you're driving a 4x4-type ute or SUV don't panic...too much, I drive a Ford Ranger and it fits into Car Park C. It doesn't look like it, especially when you're driving up the ramp and looking at the scratches on the roof, but it does. However always double check the height of your vehicle and the height of the car park (2.0 metres). 

Note, when exiting do not go out the way you came in as that will deposit you back onto City Circuit and you can't go back around that one way section. Instead at the bottom of the ramp turn right, then left and then follow the car park around to right and then left you can exit, there's signs or you'll see cars coming in. This will let you exit out the first car park entrance, the one everyone was using to get into the car park. Then you can depart wherever from there.

Mount Donna Buang

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There wasn't much to see from the viewing platform, it being a cloudy day. But it was still bracing to get to the top.

It was a surprisingly easy drive from EastLink to Warburton. Along Canterbury Road for a lot, then York Road into Mount Evelyn, through the slightly awkward roundabout in Wandin North and onto the Warbuton Highway, then it's just on that all the way to its namesake.

It was about 15ºC in Warburton, but as I drove up the road the degrees started to come off the temperature, until when I reached the top it was 5ºC with a decent breeze dropping the temperature even more. 

Donna Buang Road is in good condition, about 3/4 of the way up there was road works, it was pretty significant road works as well. It reduced the road to one lane, controlled by traffic lights. It looked like they were rebuilding the road from somewhere at least 5 metres below the surface of the road, as there was a digger at what I assumed was 'ground' level and its arm barely came up to the road surface. Once you turn on to what is listed on Google as 'Rd 2' and is marked as being the road to the summit, the surface remains good, and the speed limit is 80 kilometres (as is most of Donna Buang Road), however some sticks that had fallen onto the road, nothing huge, but you'd certainly notice it in a non-4x4 type of vehicle. Given there was no traffic it was easily avoided.

About half way up the road there was a huge parking area, and a toilet block.

After that it's a short drive up to the lookout itself. 

The lookout is a set of stairs up to where you can (presumedly) see the view all around the mountain. Unfortunately today was cloudy, although it still afforded a bracing view.

The climb up was easy enough, although the wind and temperature at the top was quite brisk.

I met some cyclists at the bottom of the lookout, they'd cycled all the way up there, I took their photo for them holding their bikes in front of the sign. According to Wikipedia it's a challenging route averaging 6.2% climb over 16.6 kilometres.

I had a little bit of a wander around, there's a toilet block up there, with a large LPG tank beside it, I wonder for hot water for the toilets? I walked and nearly tripped down the stairs that led to the (closed) toboggan run. The stairs' treads are very shallow, not sure if that's so if they're covered in snow they're easier to transverse, but I elected not to explore them further.

In Warburton I stopped to take a few photos of an older building located at 3475 Warburton Highway. It's clearly a 1930s style building, from the look of it I thought it might be a government or council building, or perhaps a former hospital, it had this practical sense to it. Upon writing this up it seems it was a Weet-Bix factory – 'Sanitarium Health Food factory', the factory closed in the 1990s, and in 2016 it was supposedly under development to become accommodation, but had been hit with delays.

When I stopped and took some photos today there was some evidence of some demolition out the back / side of the property which had been fenced off with temporary fencing and the windows, at least on the first level had been boarded up. 

The driveway hadn't been blocked, I could drive in, although I kept to the front area of the building.

It's got a great many older trees that have been planted out the front and even a garden bench for sitting under the trees. This was why I thought it might be government or medical in history rather than a factory. 

I also took some photos with my Instax camera, both the wide one (still loaded with black and white film) and I've also bought a new one which takes square film. I quite like the quality the camera and film gives the images.

Canberra 2023-08 -4- Return

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I awoke and remained in bed, having gotten to bed pretty early the previous night, but not quite ready to arise at whatever o’clock it was (it was about 5 am), and decided to roll over and try to sleep or watch some YouTube or something.

Eventually I dragged myself out of bed into the quite cold space of the guest house. The fire had gone out I'd messed up the air intake on the fire; closed it a little bit too much down it seemed, leaving a bit of an unburnt log within. However the small oil-filled bar heater was only just keeping back the worst of the cold.

The previous night I had already tidied away everything I could. I have a separate dirty clothes bag to my clean bag, so that was waiting near the door for my PJs to go in before being chucked in the back of my ute. I'd boxed up my snacks container that contained snacks, biscuits, tea, sugar, my mug and emergency trangia as well. My remaining clean clothes were in my Big Bull roll-up bag.

Quickly dressing and re-packing everything I made ready to leave, getting my bags and other stuff out into my ute I firstly marvelled at the frost that was on my ute’s tray, and then realised the large amount of frost on my ute's windscreen would actually need melting before I left.

Starting my ute I sat with the windscreen de-mister / heater on full power for more than 10 minutes as I waited for the frost to melt to enough depart. According to my ute it was -3º outside. 

I think this might be the coldest I’ve begun to drive in.

When I was in Tasmania it definitely got cold enough to snow while I was driving, but not so still and cold. 

It certainly felt quite cold as I waited for things to start to defrost. 

Then after enough time had passed to warm the vehicle enough to get the wipers to free the frost I departed. 

Within Canberra it wasn’t too bad, I’m not sure if that’s what passes for peak hour, but none of the traffic had gotten to a stop, or stop start sort of position, all of the traffic was moving pretty well.

I had to get from Beltana Road, Pialligo to the start of the Barton Highway in Lyneham.

The route (the same as I took to get to the AirBnB on Monday) was Fairbairne Avenue, past the War Memorial and onto Limestone Avenue, along that past some nice examples of Australian inner-surburbia architecture and then left at Wakefield Avenue. Crossing the tram tracks onto Northbourne Avenue and then north up to the Barton Highway.

Then it was just a case of following the Barton Highway all the way until it met the Hume Freeway.

However, leaving Canberra on the Barton Highway I encountered one of the least comfortable conditions to drive in; fog. Thick fog.

Can’t really do anything about fog, and especially on the Barton Highway which is undergoing upgrade, so there’s very few safe places to pull over.

And really unlike really heavy rain, which you can pull over and wait for it to pass (I have done so in the past when I’ve not felt safe), fog isn't going to disappear quickly, unless there's a breeze or a sudden burst of sunshine to get it moving, and there was not a lot of either this morning.

As got further along the Barton, thankfully the fog did start to lift.

And once the Barton became a separated road with a median strip it had pretty much entirely lifted. 

Entering onto the Hume I stayed on it for long enough to get to Yass, where I stopped at the McDonald’s in Yass for breakfast. 

A little over 180 kilometres later I stopped at the Little Billabong Rest Area, to pee and have a little bit of a walk and stretch. Without having taken photos and it being geotagged I’m not sure if I’d actually be able to say where it was that I stopped. 

I had decided that I would not be driving to the end of the Hume Freeway, and would not be using the Western Ring Road to come home. Given the experience of my last return from Canberra and my general dislike for the Western Ring Road I elected instead for the B300, the Melba Highway and other related roads.

The B300 is rougher, I think it’s gotten worse since the last time I drove on it. It is a much more visually interesting drive however, going through townships, past paddocks, abandoned farm houses. Driving past bodies of water, and changes of elevation. 

I stopped at Bonnie Doon, mostly as I was stuck behind someone doing just under the speed limit, although not quite enough to overtake safely.

I took some photos, stretched a little bit and had a bit of a snack and a little drink of water before returning to the drive home. 

On the Maroondah Highway, approaching Ringwood was the only place were the traffic got really heavy, which was surprising as I didn’t think it was quite peak hour time just yet at around 4:00 pm ish.

If you're on the Maroondah Highway heading for EastLink at the turn off for the Ringwood Bypass stay in the left-most right turning lane when you're turning on and stay in that lane. Otherwise you'll have to get from other lanes into that to get onto EastLink, in heavy traffic that's going to be more tricky. 

My day finished, at home, having left Canberra decently well rested, I hadn't needed to take any power nap breaks like the last time. Yes, I was tired after the drive, but not as much as I had been the last time. And especially so, that I hadn't needed to contend with the Western Ring Road, and associated roads in the midst of peak hour upon my return.

Canberra 2023-08 -4- AirBnB Pialligo Guest House

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After my rather terrible experience in a tiny house on my last (attempted) trip to Canberra I knew when booking for this trip what I didn't want was a tiny house, or a the very least not a clinical almost hotel set up of tiny house thing.

Located within an orchard this AirBnB was located in Pialligo, a suburb of Canberra seemingly wedged between the Molonglo River and Canberra International Airport.

I did harbour a little bit of concern for the aircraft noise, it being so close, but it was hardly a concern.

The AirBnB host provided detailed instructions on how to get there and how to find the guest house.

Fire lit, on the second day.

Arriving in the late afternoon I entered the guest house, knowing that there would only be heating provided by the fireplace and a small column heater. But was pleasantly surprised, especially compared to the tiny house, because inside was surprisingly warm, especially compared to outside. Even though it had concrete floors (covered by cow hide rugs), it managed to not feel freezing underfoot.

In the photos it had looked bohemian, and in person it did, but in the best possible way. Quirky interiors, along with considered curios and the furnishings made this place feel loved and lived in at the same time.

The bedding on the bed had this soft, well used feel to it, kinda reminded me of the table cloths and other stuff I've got at home that was my mum's. That's been through the wash hundreds of times and has this really soft texture to it. Made me feel welcomed.

I really wish I’d come here first than going for that tiny house experience on my last attempt.

Wifi was provided and a decent speed, over 50 mbps down.

My first task was to light the fire, knowing that the column heater was not going to heat the space, it did heat the bedroom space decently well.

But the wood burning heater would be the only source of heat while I was there.

I’d not lit a fire myself for a long time, although my dad used to have a wood burning heater a lot growing up, so I do know how to do it (and when I was in Tasmania I had one there). But doing it growing up was always with newspaper and sticks. 

Here all that was in the wood burner was sticks, a pine cone and a fire lighter. I think dad never went for fire lighters because they cost money, and the newspaper was free.

Anyway, I lit it, messed around with the wood burner’s controls to get the air flow right…and almost didn’t get it lit. I had to chuck in an extra pine cone and an extra fire lighter. But eventually got it lit and it warmed the room up.

I’d brought meal I'd frozen with me, and along with a microwave rice tub and some frozen veg that I’d brought with me, sat down for an early meal before having a shower and bed.

Wonderfully large shower head.

I'd ensured to bring a bathrobe with me, just in case it was really cold, given my past experience out at the Lake George tiny house. But showering that evening the shower head was large the water gloriously hot and and I slept perfectly fine. The noise of the aircraft barely a worry.

On day 2, the second full day of being there I awoke to a fairly cold room, the column heater, which I'd left on low overnight, aware that while I'd chucked a bit of wood on the fire and set it to low, was pretty sure it wasn't going to stay lit. 

I could hear the aircraft at Canberra airport this morning and it was noisy, but not terribly so. 

I found it weirdly comforting for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. 

After being out at Old Parliament House and buying some food I returned to the AirBnB guest house in the afternoon to write up my thoughts of the day.

I made myself a cup of tea. There was tea provided, a pretty good assortment of herbal and regular teas, instant coffee (and I think ground coffee in the fridge). But I always travel with my own tea bags, and sugar. So many places just have brown sugar on hand. 

The main living space and edge of kitchenette.

I've found that there's something comforting to have your own tea with you when travelling. I've also got a collapsible kettle in my ute, but it's all sorts of terrible, I had it with me in Tasmania. Motels are especially bad for terrible condition electric kettles. But at this guesthouse it was in perfectly fine condition.

As the afternoon wore on I knew I'd need to light the fire before afternoon transitioned into evening.

Stacking up the fire with a pine cone and sticks around it I thought I had done a decent enough job of having enough sticks and other combustable things around to get the fire going in order to take a log that was provided. 

And...not quite, it wasn't terrible but I did have to chuck in more sticks and an additional fire lighter in order to get things to properly take.

I was lamenting the lake of any paper that I could properly build a fire around, just having the fire lighter to get things going felt a little...I dunno. 

As the evening continued I was quite pleased with myself, had a good roaring fire going and it felt nice and warm within. I did have to open the exterior doors to the portico to actually grab some more wood, as the only bits that were left within were huge, and seemed far too big for the remaining of the evening before I retired to bed.

On the third day it was also quite cold, so remained in bed for a bit before throwing myself out of it once the sun had risen suitably enough for a chill to slightly come off the air.

In the afternoon having returned from my explorations, and again began to write up my thoughts I turned to lighting the fire once again. 

Wood burner on third night.

This time I put in two or maybe three pine cones, put the sticks around the pine cones to ensure there was enough fuel to get everything going properly...and still managed to screw it up a bit, but only needed a second fire lighter before I could get larger logs into it.

That evening I ensured everything had been washed up and was on the drying rack after dinner (of course I'd been doing this every evening also). 

I had put the food scraps in a container as the instructions said they had chickens, and had intended to put it outside on the portico for them to collect, but forgot and realised after looking through my photos I'd left it on top of a half eaten packet of terrible jam rollettes.

Leaving on my fourth day was the most frigid and cold, and while I had put a sizeable log into the fire, it seemed I had turned down the air intake a little too much and it had gone out while not quite having totally burnt the log within.

Canberra 2023-08 -4- Woolworths Ready Meals

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I bought Woolworths' ready meals, mostly as I wasn't sure if I wanted to cook anything extravagant at my AirBnB accomodation, although there were plenty of cooking appliances to do so. Perhaps if I go back I'll feel more comfortable doing so.

Having browsed Woolworths (Canberra Airport) for a while, I was going to do lamb shanks, because they could be microwaved to reheat, and then maybe a steak, because there was an induction hot plate. Do potatoes with both because I could pre-boil them before doing the steak and they could sit in their water while I cooked the steak. But then there was the question of a sauce, would I buy some garlic butter, or try and do a sauce in the pan? 

As it was just a single induction hot plate I knew I'd need to juggle what I wanted to cook.

However, then I found the ready meals area of Woolworths and decided this would be the way to go, at worst I figured it'd be okay.

Day 2 - Chargrilled Sage & Onion Stuffed Chicken Breast with honey glazed carrots (plus Brussel's sprouts)

This was surprisingly good, only a passing resemblance to the picture on the box, but it was good. It did need salt.

I'd bought some sugar snap peas and asparagus to have along side it, as these could be halved without too much problem.

The vegetables that were included; the Brussel's sprouts especially were a surprise as they maintained their texture really well, the carrots too had flavour.

The chicken was slightly overcooked, but not inedibly so, and the sage stuffing was a little stodgy.

All up fairly decent.

Day 3 - Wine Infused gravy cracked pepper rump steak

Plated up. (Forgot to take a photo of the box).

This was less good than the chicken, still okay, I would say it's like a fancy airline meal. It was perfectly edible, a flavoursome sauce, and the mashed potato was surprisingly flavourful and textured. The included mushrooms in the sauce was a surprise. But it needed the addition of the vegetables I had on the side.

Canberra 2023-08 -3- National Museum of Australia

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While I was in Canberra I thought I’d head to the Museum of Australia and visit the ‘Feared and Revered’ exhibition about female spiritual beings in cultural traditions and beliefs across the world.

Unsurprisingly I guess there were lots of women in the exhibition space looking at the exhibits, but it was hardly busy.

It was interesting. It wasn’t the a sort of exhibition that the children outside were being taken to, for starters this was a paid ticket exhibition instead of the free thing that the other parts of the gallery were.

Also there was a statue with a breasts and exposing her vulva so probably not the sort of thing that primary school children would be exposed to.

There was also some Greek pottery with gay acts being displayed.

And a wine cup which amused me greatly, that you’d be having your bacchanalian party and be given this wine cup to drink from, and as you tipped it up you’d see an image of hetaira pleasuring herself with a phallus.

It just seemed like one of those ultimate sort of amusements at a party.

After wandering through the museum, being disappointed that the Landmarks display was closed, from above it looked interesting but I guess something to see next time.

Then having walked around for about 6 hours or so combined between the two locations I decided to return to my Airbnb lodgings, kinda tired and done for the day.

Canberra 2023-08 -3- National Arboretum

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I have been intending to come to the National Arboretum for more than 5 years, and every time I’ve come to Canberra I’ve done something else, and not got around to it. I think it’s like the Strathgordon Dam in Tasmania in that regard, somewhere that’s been on my to go to list for ages, yet each time I'm nearby have not gone to.

So today was the day to actually go there. It was a pretty easy drive from my AirBnB out to  the Arboretum. 

I’d woken early and decided not to get up because of the cold really early, but spent the morning trying to find somewhere to eat breakfast.

In the end I had a little fruit pot from my travelling snacks container for breakfast before leaving, then at the Arboretum I would have…a second breakfast.

Upon arriving I took the longer road up to the arboretum, going to Dairy Farmer's Hill.

Inside the arboretum's visitor centre was a cafe, where I had an egg and bacon roll. Yes, similar to yesterday, but this one was made out of more fancy ingredients. But was less fresh and piping hot than yesterday's offering, with bottled juice.

I sat in the visitor centre for a little bit, just having my breakfast and juice, there was barely half a dozen people in there in the morning.

After this I had a bit of a wander around the bonsai area. 

Then I went down to the STEP (Southern Tablelands Ecosystems Park) area. Having paid and parked near the Arboretum entrance I was going to walk down there. But instead decided to drive around to the car park nearby, the ‘overflow car park’. After wandering around here for a bit - I chose this because it was one of the shortest tracks to walk along.

I then went around to the Himalayan Cedar forest.

This was majestic in an odd way, tall forests is not something I see a lot of, so to wander around one, and be safe in one, despite all of established folklore telling me that it’s not safe to wander a path in a forest like this. Here be monsters, or people in red cloaks, or wolves or whatever. Regardless of the fact that the most scary thing likely to be encountered would be a magpie.

I didn’t even see any of those, only saw a handful of people.

It was early-ish in the day.

Notable here is that there’s a toilet and a barbecue area as well, although it’s a decent walk down hill to get to it, but you’re rewarded with a nice view.

I proceeded to walk up to hill towards the 'Wide Brown Land' sculpture.

I took a few more photos around here for a bit before returning to my ute to return to head onto the next destination; the National Museum of Australia. 

Canberra 2023-08 -2- Queen Elizabeth II Island

Returning to my ute from Old Parliament House I briefly considered exploring the tennis courts and nearby parliamentary gardens, but it was currently being utilised by some of the school children that were having lunch. I decided no, I didn’t want to wander around while they were doing that. I remember (very vaguely) being that age and seeing other adults in space that you think you’re inhabiting can be weird. I also didn't want to be confronted by them, children en masse are like ducks en masse. Fine in small groups, but a flock can be intimidating.

So returning to my ute and dropping the windows, as despite the cool weather it was surprisingly warm in the sun.

I had a list of places that I intended to go today and had intended to go and wander the National Gallery. But after 3 hours or so wandering around in Old Parliament House, I was kinda done in the ‘looking at stuff’ mood. 

So instead decided to go to one of my ‘secondary’ options which was Queen Elizabeth II Island and the carillon. Which Google seems to state is temporarily closed, I dunno if the carillon was ever actually open to the public. But it was tolling while I was there.

I’ve also never been on this side of Lake Burley Griffin. Never really wandered around the lake much when I've visited in the past, just went and looked at it from nearby to the National Gallery or elsewhere nearby to there when I've visited previously.

I wandered around the island for a bit, went to the end of it, took in the Kings Avenue Bridge. Sat down for a little bit to enjoy the atmosphere, and seemed to immediately attract magpies, they all came running over. They’re obviously used to people sitting down and eating, one hopping up on the table barely an arm’s length away from me and giving me some bird song.

Australian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae)

I moved on and sat at a different location and sat on my phone for a little bit enjoying the sunshine which at times was almost a little too warm.

I did kind of wonder if I was just a bit more used to the cold, I saw some people in puffer jackets, beanies etc. I had a sherpa lined jacket on that's mostly synthetic with something like 5% wool. 

I was looking through my list of places in Canberra that I wanted to visit, but none really grabbed my attention at the moment. Sitting there I was just kinda tired.

I’m not really good at the ‘doing touristy’ things, in the past on my road trips it was all about doing one thing, and focusing on that one thing, the West Coast Wilderness railway in Tasmania, MONA, etc, doing multiple things is a lot more of an outlier for me. 

I’ve always been about going places as the journey being the thing to do, not going to places to go to places and do stuff.

So after returning to my ute I looked again at my list and decided as I was close I’d go and see the Eagle aka "Australian-American Memorial". 

As it was just up the road from Queen Elizabeth II Island, but upon arriving at the car park (to the left of Kings Avenue) I realised it was unlikely that I’d be able to get a parking spot. There was an older Hyundai already doing loops, aggressively so, they tried to block me from driving through on side, then sped off when they saw someone walking through the car park.

I realised pretty quickly that I wasn’t getting a spot, and it wasn't worth hanging around.

Nonetheless it was interesting driving through this car park, which is for or related to the government's Defence-related operations, lots of different vehicles in the car park, more than two Jimnys, some Hynundai i30 Ns in pale blue, some Teslas and a variety of other interesting vehicles. If I’d been able to stop, it would have been interesting just to stop and take photos of the vehicles, which I imagine is probably frowned upon, especially given the where I was in Canberra was for defence-related stuff.

Hitting the hazards on my ute so I could look at my phone I decided to go for my fall back, doubly so place to go and check out some of Fyshwick’s antique shops, only one of the collection actually open today Dirty Jane’s, no matter I thought, it was something to look at that didn't require too much cognitive engagement.

It was interesting enough, similar stuff on offer to that which I’ve seen in Victoria in similar sort of re-purposed old industrial buildings. 

There were the similar ranges of dealers; book sellers, mid-century, garage-alia, clothing, garden etc. Not too much in the realms of older furniture.

Not sure what the building used to be, decently high ceilings, lines painted on the concrete floors.

Leaving Fyshwick I went to the Woolworths at Canberra Airport, wandering around for something for dinner. I’m not one for going out, unless it’s convenient to where I’m staying. In the past I liked to stay at pubs because it was a quirky place to stay, and you just walked down stairs to get a meal and could have a drink without any worries, although that sometimes burned me, staying above a pub. Going further out it’s still a great option to experience the life and culture of a town.

In buying food I was somewhat limited by my airbnb’s cooking offerings, it’s listed as a kitchenette, but there is an oven built into the wood burning fire place. Not quite something I wanted to try and mess with. There’s also an induction hot plate and microwave, and there’s also a sandwich maker and bench top convection oven (the one with the glass bowl). It’s not something I’ve used in the past, so instead I went for a ready meal for tonight and tomorrow, but bought some additional vegetables to go with it that I can cook quickly in the microwave or in hot water quickly and easily. Some asparagus and some sugar snap peas. 

Canberra 2023-08 -2- Old Parliament House

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Leaving Fyshwick I continued on to Old Parliament House.

Parking around on the east side, next to the parliament tennis courts.

There were busses parked along this side, and it seemed there were school children coming in and out of the building throughout the day.

For car parking, I had brought a bag of coins with me as there wasn’t a lot of info on if the parking metres accepted tap to pay parking, or even cards at all. Some things suggested they accepted payment via an app, but thought I’d use up my coins I had knocking around in the house. Upon approaching the machine I discovered yes it does take cards both insert and tap, as well as coins.

As I had brought coins, I put in $10 worth of coins, and that yielded me not a great deal of time, and I used most of that time wandering around Old Parliament House.

It’s free to go in, they just want your postcode, that mine started with a 3 seemed to make the guy entering the numbers stumbled. Which was odd, it’s be more unusual if I was from Western Australia or something, not the neighbouring state of Victoria, 

Old Parliament House isn’t just a museum, I’m not sure if it’s even accurate to describe it as that. It’s wonderful that it still exists. 

It’s an education tool, teaching kids about democracy and what our parliament and government is, along with all the history of the building. 

I think that’s something that you don’t appreciate until you see it from the outside, overhearing kids being educated about it, and seeing the ways / paths that are taken to educate and engage with the subject matter.

It’s not just stuff you read on the walls and information provided like that. There’s panels to open and close, drawers to open and shut and touch screens to interact with.

It’s all very well thought out to engage people. 

I wandered through some of the other parts of Old Parliament house, which it seemed weren’t covered by the school tour groups, and therefore were a lot quieter than the other areas of the building.

There’s a whole room dedicated to referenda and how they in general fail, it’s hard, deliberately so to get a referendum to pass, and this area explains how it works, what ones have been done in the recent past, and how that all unfolded. 

There is an area just on the furnishings of Old Parliament House, I didn’t see anyone in this section, but I found it thoroughly interesting. 

That they kept it all, and how so much of it was specially designed for Parliament House.

Also, the overhead lights are so fabulously Art Deco and beautifully produced, it looked like turned aluminium, they’re very nice pieces. I wonder if they were produced for anywhere else? They’re probably worth a bit now.

The museum curators or whoever it is who has ‘dressed’ the rooms have done an amazing job capturing an area in their dressing of the rooms that show off different areas of Old Parliament House. 

Mostly set to the 1960s through to 1980s, it’s the little details that make it look amazing. In one room which is the copier room, complete with fax machine and small kitchenette, there’s a half finished cup of tea or coffee that’s been propped next to the copy machine, so it looks like you’re peering into the past of this room and seeing everything caught as it was. The shelves are still full of the various things a copy room might be filled with.

Then as you make you way through there’s receptions for the Prime Minister, which are also dressed as though they would have been, and it’s so perfect, it’s just as though you’re looking back in time, there’s white out, computers, a ‘thank you for not smoking’ sign, it’s all so wonderfully period correct.

In other rooms there’s a full ashtray of cigarette butts, a book of matches sitting beside it. 

I just really appreciated the set dressing, the mood was just really and properly set.

At times wandering around Old Parliament House I did think I was going to get lost, even though I had a map with me. 

There were some places that I just didn’t explore, in part because I didn’t want to wander, but in part I’m more interested in actual things in-situ rather than being presented lacking some of their context, so the Howard Library, which seemed a large indulgence for out past PM, I walked in and had a brief look and then left. It’s down a long corridor at the back side of the building which it feels like you have to go looking for it.

The Prime Minister’s office was pretty low key considering it was the PM’s office. What I loved however was the PM’s kitchenette, and in particular the jars for the tea, coffee and sugar, which are old instant coffee jars. I know this because I’ve got them at home, inherited from my late mother, and we used them growing up. It’s just kinda lovely that even in Parliament House, and in the PM’s kitchenette, they’re not using fancy coffee, tea and sugar canisters, instead they’re glass jars that have been recycled.

After getting a little flustered in the cabinet meeting room as people started to come in as I was trying to leave, and I become a bit of a stuttering mess needing to interact with people, I made my way down stairs down to the ‘Truth, Power and a Free Press’ exhibition, which includes the original ABC offices, buried down in the bowels of Old Parliament House. Including where the sound recorder would work in what was essentially a corridor, nicely carpet lined to sound proof it, but still a corridor.

Interesting thing was how warm it was in the building, and that's because the building's hydronic heating was still working and was on. It's fantastic that those old radiators in the rooms are still functional and still heating the building. 

Eventually I made my way out, exiting through the gift shop, it has a lot of books on politics, but nothing really in the realms of souvenirs that are specific to the building itself, otherwise I might have bought something. Instead I left empty handed.

Canberra 2023-08 -2- Breakfast

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I’m not great at doing touristy things, I had these plans for doing a bunch if things today and ended up managing 2 and a half things, or maybe two and two halves of a thing depending on how you’d measure it. I’m measuring it as two and two halves of a thing.

Today was Old Parliament House. I think the last time I saw the big touristy things in Canberra was when I was a kid, and even then it's sort of a half memory. I only really sort of remember the Australian mint, and that might only be a sort of memory, as in it’s the sort of memory you have based on other things. Like I have a souvenir coin that came from the mint and maybe I remember something of the mint, but it’s very vague. 

The morning started with a need for diesel and for breakfast, both sourced in Fyshwick. Coles Express, followed by a cafe around the back of the industrial estate. It’s interesting looking at Fyshwick using maps, because you are always reminded that Canberra is a planned city, so everything has meaning even if it’s not always apparent. 

All the streets in Fyshwick are named after industrial and port areas around Australia; Wyalla Street, Yallourn Street, Geelong Street, Lithgow Street, Lyell Street, Isa Street, Pirie Street, Townsville Street, Wollongong Street, Albany Street, Kembla Street just to name several. 

Vacant land opposite cafe in Fyshwick.

I had intended to have a big breakfast at 8T8 Cafe , but I ate a little too much the night before and was still feeling a little bloated this morning, so just went for an egg and bacon roll and an orange juice (freshly squeezed). It seemed like the cafe was pretty busy, but mostly people coming in and out, there was only one bloke sitting inside, aside from myself.