Month: January 2016

Phillip Island

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Phillip Island

I decided to visit Phillip Island. It is so long since I had been there I could not remember the place at all.

Being carless, I had to get to the Island by public transport. This involved a V Line bus. Apparently there has been some recent problems with some wheels on V Line trains. This resulted in disruptions to services. For some reason it was decided, “as an act of good faith”, to make all V Line services free between the 23rd and 31st of January. This is included the bus services that, I assume, were not effected by the train wheel problem. It was all very odd. However, it did make the trip than using the Seniors’ Card.
The bus left from Southern Cross Station and stopped at Koo Wee Rup. What top name for a place that is. You then get another bus that goes on to Phillip Island.

Hostel

My hostel was in Newhaven which is the first place you come to after crossing the bridge on to the Island. The hostel is relatively new and very comfortable.

Free Bus to Penguins

The girl at the reception told me that the best way to get to the Penguin Parade was by the Island Explorer bus. She told me the I would have to make a booking.
As it turned out, I was the only person on the bus. The driver told me that it was a new service provided by the private bus company on the Island, and it was funded by the various tourist attractions. He told me that “it had been slow to take off”. That seemed to be a bit of an understatement.

I arrived at the National Park, where the parade is, before sunset. A large complex has been built to cater for all the visitors. It has displays that provide information on the penguins. The place was packed.
There is a short walk from the complex down boardwalks to the beach where the penguins arrive.

Apparently the penguins can be at sea for between 1 to 17 days. They leave and return to the land at dawn and dusk so they can’t be seen by predators such as sea eagles.
The seats overlooking the beach were packed. There are two sections. One is closer to where most of the penguins land. You have to pay a premium for those seats. Many of the tourists were Chinese, presumably from China itself or Hong Kong, Taiwan or elsewhere in Asia.

The Rangers spoke a loudspeaker about the penguins and what we would expect to see. They said on numerous occasions that photography was forbidden. These announcements were repeated several times in other languages including Chinese.
After the penguins land on shore, they head to their burrows. The trails that they take run past and parallel with, the boardwalks. It is possible to get very close to the penguins.

Some People Don’t Listen

It was amazing the number of people, nearly all Chinese, that took photos. A Ranger near me challenged on particular Chinese guy whose video camera shone a bright light at the penguins. Clearly this upset the birds. He spoke to the guy in Chinese. He late told me that they had been taught to say “stop using your camera” in Chinese for obvious reasons.

However, he said that a lot simply ignore them. He told me that he “had learned to say f&&k off in Chinese, and only wish he could use it”.

Big Rock and Antarctic Experience

The next day I caught the bus to end of the Island to see Nobbies. This is a big rock separated from the Island itself.

A large complex has been built overlooking the rock. The complex has a cafeteria that serves very good food.

It also houses that Antarctic Experience. This has been developed by the World Wildlife Fund. It is really good. It has displays on the wildlife and other aspects of the Antarctic. It also has a very good audio visual display with videos taken in the Antarctic. Check out the Flickr Link.

Motor GP Circuit

Next stop was that Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.
After the penguins, the Island is probably best known for this circuit. It is the venue for the World Moto GP and Superbike Championship races. There are also a lot of car races and classic races for bikes and cars.

As well as these races, the circuit is also used by car and motorbike manufacturers for promotional ride and drive days.

It is also open for the riders to ride their own bikes on certain days. The day I visited the place was one of those days. There were over a 100 riders giving their bikes a run.
There is a motor museum at the circuit. It is very lame. There are also go-carts. They didn’t seem to have too much ‘go’.

Surf Beaches

The bus also takes you to the two main surf beaches on the Island. The place is famous for its surf beaches. Likes Bell’s Beach, they are face the Southern Ocean and the waves and big and relatively consistent.
In the morning before I left to go back to Melbourne I visited the surfing display at the Big Wave next to the hostel. It is only small display and takes about 20 minutes. It has a very video on four walls which worth seeing.

Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/gp/twwilko_photos/cwJ61d

Bus Site

https://www.phillipislandcircuit.com.au/family-fun/771-island-explorer

A Bit of Cricket in Melbourne

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MCG
While I was in Melbourne I took the opportunity to see some Twenty 20 Cricket (T20). I have not been a huge fan of this short for of the game, but I am warming to it.

The First ODI

I digress for a moment.

I have mentioned in pervious posts that during the late sixties and early seventies, I visited Melbourne with my parents over the Xmas and New Year period. My Grandfather had moved back to Melbourne and my mother wanted see him for Xmas. Also, at that time my father played in the Australian Veterans Tennis Championships which were played as part of the Australia Open.

As well as going to Kooyong to watch the tennis, we also went to the Test Match cricket which was then played from the 31st of December each year.

In 1971, the Australian Open was move to Sydney and played later in the year. The Veterans still played in Melbourne.

The cricket that year was 1970-71 Ashes tour. The first 3 days of the Melbourne Test were washed out. So they could make some money, the ACB and the MCC decided to hold a 40 over a side (8 ball overs) one-day match. This turned out to be the One Day International (ODI) ever played. I can recall the game quite well. Under Dad’s influence I actually supported England in that series. They had a very good team led by Ray Illingworth. Geoff Boycott was in the team and the English fast bowler John Snow was at his peak.
As it turned out, Australia won the game. It is interesting to hear the players’ comments.

Check out the YouTube link.

The Growth of One Day Cricket

One-day cricket started in England in the late sixties. It was a way of the county clubs to make some more money. The attendances at the four matches had been falling. The one day game was also more suited to TV. It wasn’t long before the one day games was also played at the international level.

In Australia, the one-day game really took off with Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. It continued to be popular after cricket was reunited.
T20

Like one-day cricket, twenty/20 cricket also started in the England. The county club were looking for a game that would attract supports of Friday afternoons. The short format was ideal for the English summer evening with the long twilight. The games could be completed in natural light.

The game was taken up in India in a big way. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is huge. The teams are privately owned. The teams include both Indian and overseas players. There is an auction system wherein the teams bid for the players. The top player ‘costs’ over USD 1 million. This is very good money given the season only lasts 6 weeks.
The T20 games as introduced in Australia 5 years ago. It is known as the Big Bash League (BBL). There are two teams based in Sydney and Melbourne, and one team from Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart.

There are a mixture of players. Some are drawn from the interstate Sheffield Shield teams, some for lower grade cricket and some ‘marque players’. The ‘marque players’ are typically overseas players. Example include the West Indian Chris Gayle, the South African Jacques Kallis and the former England player Kevin Pietersen.

I went to two BBL in the second and third years of the competition. The first game was at the Olympic stadium in Sydney. This turned out to be a bit of a fizzer due to rain. The second was at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That games was much better, however that crowd was relatively small.

For the first three years, the BBL wasn’t broadcast on ‘free to air TV’. In the fourth year Channel 10 started broadcasting the games. This brought the competition to a wider audience and the attendances at games started to increase.

This year the spectator support for the games really took off. There have been close to capacity crowds at the smaller grounds and over 80,000 at the MCG.
It went to the semi-final game between the Melbourne Stars and the Perth Scorchers. Kevin Pietersen played a great innings for the Stars and they won relatively easily. There was a reasonable crowd, however is was undoubtedly impact by the weather. There was rain all through the day.

I also went to the final between the Stars and the Sydney Thunder. It was a close game. Peitersen again scored well for the Stars. However, Usman Khwaja got the Thunder home with 70 0ff only 40 balls.

The crowd was over 60,00o and they really got into the game, despite the Melbourne was beaten.

Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/gp/twwilko_photos/58S156

 

 

To Melbourne and the Australian Open 2016

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Melbourne
After spending a few days in Sydney, it was time to move on. I had booked a train ticket to Melbourne. I am really getting into this senior travel caper. The 50% discount on NSW Trains is not to be sneezed at.

The train left Central Station on time at 7.29 a.m. That is an interesting time. Why not 7.30 a.m. Whoever sets the time table must have sense of humour.

The XPT

The XPT train is quite good. The acronym stands for Express Passenger Train. The ‘Express’ bit is a misnomer. The locomotive is the same as the diesel electric ‘125’s built for British Rail between 1975 and 1982. They have a maximum speed of 238 klms per hour. However, as the name suggests, they were designed to operate at 125 miles (200 klms) per hour. This is possible on most of the tracks in the UK.

In NSW, most of the rail tracks have the same alignment they had been they were first built back in the 1880’s. There are a lot of curves. This means that the XPT can rarely travel at over 100 klms per hour, let alone 125 miles per hour.

As the train headed off of received a Facebook comment from a Senior Executive of NSW Rail. He said he “enjoy the 11 to 12 hour trip”. It made me remember that in Switzerland you can set your watch on the departure and the arrival of the trains. In NSW you can confirm the day in your calendar.

Albeit that train is getting a bit long on the tooth, the carriages are quite comfortable. There is also a reasonable buffet, with simple but OK food. One failing is that there are no power points.

At various points the track passes through the countryside, a long way from the Hume Highway and any other roads. This is actually quite interesting and much better than being in a car or a bus on the freeway.

Once past Wagga Wagga the track is fairly straight and the train picks up speed.
Most of the passenger in 1st class are my vintage or older.

I won’t comment on the passengers in 2nd class.

As it turned out, the Senior Executive’s rather vague estimate of the time for the journey was prescient, we ended up over 45 minutes late. This was “due to the heat”, which upset the track. I am not sure where the train could have gone faster.

I Like Melbourne

I really like Melbourne. My mother was from Melbourne. She met my father in Melbourne and they were married in the city. I often visited city when I was growing up. I also visited that place frequently when I worked for Caltex, TNT and GE. Latterly I have been visiting the place for pleasure.

The Open

The main reason for this visit was to catch some the Australian Open Tennis. The Open is a great tournament. The Melbourne Park facilities are first rate. They were built in the late 1980’s to ensure that the Australian Open retained its status as Grand Slam tournament. It has three main show courts with retractable roofs that can be closed if rains, or it gets too hot. There lots of outdoor courts with various seating capacities.
The complex is located next to the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It can easily be accessed on foot from the CBD and is well served by trams and trains.

One the best features of the facility is the large open spaces between the Centre Court (Rod Laver Arena) and the 3rd Show Court (named after a sponsor) . When the Open is being played, this is set up with bars and food outlets and hundreds of deck chairs. There are also large TV screens showing the matches being played on the Centre Court and the other show courts.

In the afternoon, bands play in this area. In the past these bands have included Cold Chisel and Paul Kelly. This year the big star is James Reyne.

Hewitt’s Last Match

I bought a ground pass with the intention seeing if I could score a ‘returned’ ticket to Centre Court. There was a bit of wait in the line, but I was lucky – I was able to get a returned ‘Corporate’ ticket for the night session. The main match was Leyton Hewitt against Spain’s David Ferrer.

As I walked away from the ticket booth, a bloke who was also in the line approached me. He said that he overheard that I had bought a ticket for “tonight’s session”. He said “how does that work?”. “They told me it was full”. I told him that “I was just lucky”. As we were chatting, three Emirates Air Hostesses walked up. One of them asked if they could take a photo of me with the other two. I obliged and asked her to take a photo with my camera.

About a month ago an ex APEC Taskforce colleague put a photo of a group of Emirate Air Hostesses on his Facebook page. He asked the viewers, “what is the collective noun for a group of Air Hostesses?” I suggested – “An Opportunity”. I know that that is a bit lame, but he thought it was funny.

The above is the explanation to my comment on the profile picture I put on Facebook, if anyone is interested.

The match was OK. Hewitt tried hard, but was well beaten in straight sets.
I won’t comment on the Bruce MacAvaney interview with Hewitt after the match. Check out the video.

Actually I will comment. Now is probably a good time for Bruce to also retire.

Flickr Link

https://flic.kr/s/aHsksjV59H