Traveling up north on the train today, I started reading Matt Taibbi’s Griftopia. It quite affected my perception of the new housing development north of Maitland. It was encroaching on old dairy farms, and I had this immediate impression of the estate as a new type of farm, where the farmers are in the mortgage business. The grass comes in… Read more →
I tried to book train tickets for Christmas holidays today 🙁 Obviously I’d forgotten how much of a pain it was the last time I did it (two years ago). Still, I didn’t have the issue with the service north like I did on that previous trip – this time it was the return service from Coffs Harbour at 12:27…. Read more →
The trip up was reasonable. Bobbie dropped me at the station at about 6:15; the luggage people asked what I was giving them for transport, and I said it was a bike – they said OK. At Coffs, I was walking along the station towards the luggage cart and didn’t see the bike bag, so I called out that there… Read more →
I didn’t see anything about this on the news tonight, but I guess that the current Great Depression will keep minds elsewhere in general. Of more pressing concern to me is that fact that all trains are out between Sutherland and Wollongong. Perhaps some bozo did something to cause the train derailment, but it’s more likely that this is due… Read more →
I’ve booked the time off at work. It’s almost 4 weeks – 15th of December to 9th of January. I’ve also booked the train tickets. There’s good news on that front. The woman I called (you can’t book on-line with a bike) said that she was aware of no restrictions on using bike bags. I told her of my reply… Read more →
I sent in some questions to CountryLink on their website regarding the BodyBag, and the rigmarole I went through in last year’s booking, where I had to make a booking to Casino and then vary it back to Coffs Harbour. This was their response: You will be pleased to know that our booking restrictions for the 7.15am Sydney to Casino… Read more →
I bought a Body Bag from GroundEffects, since I decided that getting boxes everytime I wanted to leave the city for a ride was wasteful. This bag folds up into an A4, book-thick size that can be strapped to the rear rack, and it’s only 1.15 kg. To get the bike in it, I removed the handlebars, the seat, the… Read more →
According to the Herald, Virgin Blue may be following the lead of Qantas/JetStar in dropping services on unprofitable domestic routes, including to Sydney to the Gold Coast. Since the trains only run as close as Casino, I may have little choice but to cycle the rest of the way at least (or move to using coaches and learn to live… Read more →
