Another active weekend
I'm going to try a bit of a new format for these posts to make things a bit more anecdotal and easier to digest. As most of my posts now focus on a few things each week, I'm going to break things down into a few distinct stories. After all, with the majority of my week taken up with work, there's only a few things to share of interest.
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On Saturday morning, I headed down to Royal National Park (a sprawling area that stretches from some low mountains to the coast, south of Sutherland) via rail replacement bus, thanks to trackworks on the south coast line this weekend. The journey to Waterfall, usually the terminus for the city train line, took about an hour and 15 minutes by bus. Once at the station, it was a short walk to enter into the park.
The six-hour journey along a few tracks at the western edge of the park cut a cross-section through a range of landscapes, from bush to forest, up hills and across plateaus, and along the Hacking River. Along the way, there were a few amazing glimpses of the city (some 40km/25mi away).
After a few hours of walking, it was time for some lunch I had brought along for the journey. The banks of the Hacking River made a nice setting for the break. While eating, a flock of cockatoos appeared, with one bold bird making its way over to check things out. I expected the bird to be skittish around people, or perhaps go after my lunch, but the bird got very close without hesitation, but stayed away from the food. What struck me was just how big it was!
Once lunch was over, it was back to the trail for a few hours. The second half of the day brought on larger hills than the first half of the journey. The end goal was Loftus, a few stations and nearly 14km (8.7mi) north of Waterfall, where the return to Central was via bus to Hurstville and train back to Central.
Overall, the journey covered about 25km (15.5mi), and was a great way to spend a day outside the city. With many more parks to explore around the Sydney region, I look forward to seeing more in the coming months and years.
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Covering 14km (don't ask me why it is that long, it is a strange distance, I know), the race is akin to Atlanta's annual Peachtree, and actually started the year after. But while the Peachtree may be the world's largest 10K race, City2Surf actually has 20,000 more participants!
As I've mentioned before, since moving down here I have gotten back into running. I figured the best motivation is signing up for something, so a few weeks back I got a spot in the race. Before I run it next week, I figured it would be a good idea to get a run covering the same distance under my feet.
With obligingly beautiful weather, I covered 14km this morning, starting in Haymarket and Chinatown, wending my way up through Darling Harbour, into the CBD, out to Barangaroo, along the waterfront and under the Harbour Bridge, back south down George Street and across to Pyrmont via the old Pyrmont Bridge, before turning back south and heading home. I was quite happy with the run, finishing in 71 minutes—one minute longer than what I hope to do next week.
After cleaning up from the run, I headed over to Enmore for my bi-weekly brunch with my friend Soph at a popular spot along Enmore Road. As always, it was good to catch up, and as we had both done long runs to start the morning off, we both enjoyed our meals that much more.
After brunch, it was back to reality for a bit, dealing with some "life admin" type stuff: laundry, cleaning, etc.
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Late in the afternoon, I decided to fill some time by taking the last remaining public transport mode in the city that I had yet to venture on: the light rail. Linking Central Station to the Inner West suburb of Dulwich Hill, the system has become the catalyst for the construction of a far more robust system in the city that is slated to open in the next few years.
I was surprised at just how many people were riding today, with the train pretty packed as we pulled out of the forecourt of Central. The entire journey took about 40 minutes—far longer than the journey takes by train, explaining why I was likely the only one who stayed on for the entire trip. The first few blocks of the line runs in mixed traffic, before breaking free into a dedicated right-of-way and picking up speed between stops as it follows a rather circuitous route that was built in the mid-1800s as one of Sydney's first freight lines serving the harbour.
While I can't say I learned too much from the journey, I always derive some enjoyment from taking public transport, checking out new neighbourhoods and the stations along the way, and people watching. I opted to transfer to the train at Dulwich Hill for the quick ride back to the city.
Now I can say that I have taken Sydney trains, buses, ferries, and light rail. And even the now defunct monorail. And next year, I (and the rest of the city) will get to take a journey on the under-construction metro (subway) system.
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A crash course in dialing
In addition to sharing my adventures outside of work—which as I get more and more into life here are likely to be fewer and farther between, relegated to some weekends and whatever trips I go on—the aim of this blog is also to share a bit about life in Australia. I have a few topics that I plan to cover at some point when the opportunity presents itself. Today was one such instance where an experience here made me do some investigation as to how life in Australia works, and I will now share my findings with you:
As I was walking home this afternoon, passing near Central Station, I witnessed a relatively minor car accident. I was on the phone with my brother at the time, and didn't think much of it at first. However, as the dozens of other people on the footpath continued to go about their business and one of the drivers involved sped off, I decided it was probably best to call the police as I didn't really see anyone else doing it and the driver who remained on the scene was preoccupied with find help to get the car off the light rail tracks that run through the intersection.
The emergency number in Australia is 000, which I thankfully was familiar with before this all transpired. Interestingly, it seems Australia is the only country in the world (except potentially Fiji) that uses that as the emergency number. It turns out emergency calls are handled by a call centres within the state (or potentially nationally—I couldn't quite get a clear answer from the internet), which is administered by Telstra, one of the private national phone and internet providers.
As calls are redirected outside of the city you call from, you have to start by telling the operator what state and city you are in. I found that interesting, as that wasn't really the first thing on my mind. Considering emergency services, including policing and fire response are handled by the state, not by the city, the structure does make some sense. Though, obviously, a state police officer from within the city will be the one to respond to a call coming from the city.
After I gave the city and state, the call was redirected to a second person where I was then asked what the nature of the emergency was, and whether fire, police, or paramedics were needed. Once I clarified that it was a minor accident and that there appeared to be no injuries, I was redirected to a police dispatch centre where I explained the entire situation and gave description of the car that left the scene. Easy enough.
The dispatcher took all the information and by that time some others had helped push the car out of the way of the light rail, so things were pretty much squared away. The dispatcher requested that I stay on the scene if I could, and since I was in no rush, I waited the few minutes until the police arrived. During the wait, another witness who got pictures of the accident and aftermath shared the photos with me before she had to go.
Once the police arrived, I reexplained the situation, shared the photos and contact information of the person who had taken them, and provided my information in case I needed to be contacted in the future. It was a pleasingly easy process, and I was even able to directly email the photos to the police officer, which I was quite impressed with. Having not had a similar experience in the States, I can't say for sure whether or not you can e-mail evidence to the police after an accident, but I was impressed with the ease of it all nonetheless.
Given the fact that there were photos, security footage from a nearby cafe, dashcam footage from the other car that was involved, and a witness statement, I'm optimistic I won't have to go to court to give evidence if it ends up going to trial.
All in, not a bad experience and more streamlined than the few times I have had to call 911 in the US, though I don't hope to make a habit out of calling 000.
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Visiting Royal National Park
While winter may not be over yet, the weather the last few weeks in Sydney has been ideal for being outside. And after a busy week at work, a bit of respite from city life was in order.On Saturday morning, I headed down to Royal National Park (a sprawling area that stretches from some low mountains to the coast, south of Sutherland) via rail replacement bus, thanks to trackworks on the south coast line this weekend. The journey to Waterfall, usually the terminus for the city train line, took about an hour and 15 minutes by bus. Once at the station, it was a short walk to enter into the park.
The six-hour journey along a few tracks at the western edge of the park cut a cross-section through a range of landscapes, from bush to forest, up hills and across plateaus, and along the Hacking River. Along the way, there were a few amazing glimpses of the city (some 40km/25mi away).
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| The city skyline from a high point on the track. |
After a few hours of walking, it was time for some lunch I had brought along for the journey. The banks of the Hacking River made a nice setting for the break. While eating, a flock of cockatoos appeared, with one bold bird making its way over to check things out. I expected the bird to be skittish around people, or perhaps go after my lunch, but the bird got very close without hesitation, but stayed away from the food. What struck me was just how big it was!
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| The very friendly cockatoo. |
Once lunch was over, it was back to the trail for a few hours. The second half of the day brought on larger hills than the first half of the journey. The end goal was Loftus, a few stations and nearly 14km (8.7mi) north of Waterfall, where the return to Central was via bus to Hurstville and train back to Central.
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| The national park is a mix of bush, scrub, and forested mountains. Further east, it meets the coast in cliffs. |
Overall, the journey covered about 25km (15.5mi), and was a great way to spend a day outside the city. With many more parks to explore around the Sydney region, I look forward to seeing more in the coming months and years.
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A well deserved brunch
Next weekend, Sydney will be overtaken by one of the largest races in the world. Nearly 80,000 runners are expected to take part in the City2Surf, which, as the name suggests, follows a route from the heart of the city to the coast.Covering 14km (don't ask me why it is that long, it is a strange distance, I know), the race is akin to Atlanta's annual Peachtree, and actually started the year after. But while the Peachtree may be the world's largest 10K race, City2Surf actually has 20,000 more participants!
As I've mentioned before, since moving down here I have gotten back into running. I figured the best motivation is signing up for something, so a few weeks back I got a spot in the race. Before I run it next week, I figured it would be a good idea to get a run covering the same distance under my feet.
With obligingly beautiful weather, I covered 14km this morning, starting in Haymarket and Chinatown, wending my way up through Darling Harbour, into the CBD, out to Barangaroo, along the waterfront and under the Harbour Bridge, back south down George Street and across to Pyrmont via the old Pyrmont Bridge, before turning back south and heading home. I was quite happy with the run, finishing in 71 minutes—one minute longer than what I hope to do next week.
After cleaning up from the run, I headed over to Enmore for my bi-weekly brunch with my friend Soph at a popular spot along Enmore Road. As always, it was good to catch up, and as we had both done long runs to start the morning off, we both enjoyed our meals that much more.
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| Our (very predictable) sunny Sunday Shenkin brunch. |
After brunch, it was back to reality for a bit, dealing with some "life admin" type stuff: laundry, cleaning, etc.
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Light rail ride
If you're reading this, you already know that I am a transport nerd. After all, I am getting a PhD in the subject.Late in the afternoon, I decided to fill some time by taking the last remaining public transport mode in the city that I had yet to venture on: the light rail. Linking Central Station to the Inner West suburb of Dulwich Hill, the system has become the catalyst for the construction of a far more robust system in the city that is slated to open in the next few years.
I was surprised at just how many people were riding today, with the train pretty packed as we pulled out of the forecourt of Central. The entire journey took about 40 minutes—far longer than the journey takes by train, explaining why I was likely the only one who stayed on for the entire trip. The first few blocks of the line runs in mixed traffic, before breaking free into a dedicated right-of-way and picking up speed between stops as it follows a rather circuitous route that was built in the mid-1800s as one of Sydney's first freight lines serving the harbour.
While I can't say I learned too much from the journey, I always derive some enjoyment from taking public transport, checking out new neighbourhoods and the stations along the way, and people watching. I opted to transfer to the train at Dulwich Hill for the quick ride back to the city.
Now I can say that I have taken Sydney trains, buses, ferries, and light rail. And even the now defunct monorail. And next year, I (and the rest of the city) will get to take a journey on the under-construction metro (subway) system.
________________________________
A crash course in dialing 911 000
In addition to sharing my adventures outside of work—which as I get more and more into life here are likely to be fewer and farther between, relegated to some weekends and whatever trips I go on—the aim of this blog is also to share a bit about life in Australia. I have a few topics that I plan to cover at some point when the opportunity presents itself. Today was one such instance where an experience here made me do some investigation as to how life in Australia works, and I will now share my findings with you:As I was walking home this afternoon, passing near Central Station, I witnessed a relatively minor car accident. I was on the phone with my brother at the time, and didn't think much of it at first. However, as the dozens of other people on the footpath continued to go about their business and one of the drivers involved sped off, I decided it was probably best to call the police as I didn't really see anyone else doing it and the driver who remained on the scene was preoccupied with find help to get the car off the light rail tracks that run through the intersection.
The emergency number in Australia is 000, which I thankfully was familiar with before this all transpired. Interestingly, it seems Australia is the only country in the world (except potentially Fiji) that uses that as the emergency number. It turns out emergency calls are handled by a call centres within the state (or potentially nationally—I couldn't quite get a clear answer from the internet), which is administered by Telstra, one of the private national phone and internet providers.
As calls are redirected outside of the city you call from, you have to start by telling the operator what state and city you are in. I found that interesting, as that wasn't really the first thing on my mind. Considering emergency services, including policing and fire response are handled by the state, not by the city, the structure does make some sense. Though, obviously, a state police officer from within the city will be the one to respond to a call coming from the city.
After I gave the city and state, the call was redirected to a second person where I was then asked what the nature of the emergency was, and whether fire, police, or paramedics were needed. Once I clarified that it was a minor accident and that there appeared to be no injuries, I was redirected to a police dispatch centre where I explained the entire situation and gave description of the car that left the scene. Easy enough.
The dispatcher took all the information and by that time some others had helped push the car out of the way of the light rail, so things were pretty much squared away. The dispatcher requested that I stay on the scene if I could, and since I was in no rush, I waited the few minutes until the police arrived. During the wait, another witness who got pictures of the accident and aftermath shared the photos with me before she had to go.
Once the police arrived, I reexplained the situation, shared the photos and contact information of the person who had taken them, and provided my information in case I needed to be contacted in the future. It was a pleasingly easy process, and I was even able to directly email the photos to the police officer, which I was quite impressed with. Having not had a similar experience in the States, I can't say for sure whether or not you can e-mail evidence to the police after an accident, but I was impressed with the ease of it all nonetheless.
Given the fact that there were photos, security footage from a nearby cafe, dashcam footage from the other car that was involved, and a witness statement, I'm optimistic I won't have to go to court to give evidence if it ends up going to trial.
All in, not a bad experience and more streamlined than the few times I have had to call 911 in the US, though I don't hope to make a habit out of calling 000.
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