Australia Day in the Blue Mountains

Not just Australia Day in fact. A two night stay. Knowing full well how political it gets in Sydney on Australia Day I just had to get out of the city. 

For Australia Day itself (Friday 26th) we booked a ride on the famous Zig-Zag Railway. Finally after more than 3 years of trying we got to see that incredible feat of engineering. Then we stayed in Mount Victoria for a couple of nights.

The Zig Zag Railway

The Zig Zag heritage railway, is situated near Lithgow, on the western side of the Blue Mountains, It was opened by the not-for-profit Zig Zag Railway Co-op as an unpaid volunteer-staffed heritage railway in October 1975. This used to be part of the Main Western line between 1869 and 1910. The line literally zig-zags its way up the mountain to gain height. 

The railway has had its fair share of bad luck. It was suspended in 2012 following accreditation issues with the New South Wales government (bloody politicians eh). Then it was then severely damaged during the 2013 NSW bushfires and then subsequently by torrential rain. After years of repair work it was planned to re-commence limited operations in 2019, until the 2019–2020 bushfires caused more damage. Then our old friend covid-19 further delayed everything. Despite all of these calamities heritage train services resumed on 27 May 2023. And now in early 2024 here we were…

The Lithgow Zig Zag was constructed as part of the Main Western line and opened on the 19 October 1869. Between Lithgow and Clarence, the Main Western line needed to climb the western flank of the Blue Mountains, overcoming a vertical distance of 550 ft (170 m). The line had a ruling grade of 1:42 (~2.38%) on three inclines known as the Top Road (above Top Points), Middle Road (between the two zig zags) and Bottom Road (below Bottom Points). The route between these “points” zig zags to form a “Z” shaped line which includes several tunnels and viaducts.

Of course there was a similar set of zig-zagging tracks on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains to reach the first stop in the mountains at Glenbrook. We saw some remains of that old line on a mountain walk some time ago. Almost 3 years ago in fact, it was the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June 2021 – see here for that post. 

We then spent the next two nights in Mount Victoria, a small township on the western side of the mountain range and an absolute gem of a place. Look out for a future post on Mount Victoria.

If you enjoyed this post please  remember to “like” and subscribe. Also please feel free to share it with friends, family and colleagues. 

Curious Japan Arrives in Sydney!

Update on one of the things we found so curious in Japan… (click here for that post)

Those little white plastic (collectable) toy dispensing vending machines are here!!!

I took Dani on a ferry trip from Circular Quay in the centre of Sydney the other day and he spotted this machine. And got really quite animated about seeing them here in Australia…

A piece of “curious Japan” lands in Oz.

The machines in Japan cost 300¥ (or less). This one was $5 (about 500¥) and you have to pay by card! At the side of the vending machines is a token dispenser that gives out a token for $5. So no sign of a “cash is King” option in Australia…

Bad marketing that. It would make more sense if the token dispensing machine accepted cash. At least that way kids could save up their pocket money to spend on these things. Let’s see how long they last eh? Look closely and you can see that they have deliberately taped up the cash (notes) entry. Kids can’t even spend their notes here never mind coins.

I wonder if they will now spring up all over the Sydney and other towns & cities in Australia. 

 

Intro…

I originally wrote this article over two months ago but never posted it. Then today, on the TV news, there was a story of how a statue of Captain James Cook has been (literally) cut down and vandalised in St. Kilda (near Melbourne). Sawn off at the ankles no less and the base painted with the words “the colony will end”. So now, this post is even more relevant. Oh yes dear readers; I really can predict the future hahaaa…

The Voice Referendum – How to Divide a Nation

If you are not in Australia you may not have noticed. But a few weeks three months ago there was a referendum on something they called “The Voice”. No not that crappy TV “talent” show! This thing was basically going to be an Aboriginal/Indigenous “voice to parliament”. To discuss matters that concern indigenous Australians. Of course that was a completely stupid idea, as everything the government does already does concern indigenous people – as it should. And of course anything the government does also impacts (equally I might add) on every Australian, whether “indigenous” or only just receiving their citizenship.

Anyway I will leave it to you to research the finer points on “the voice referendum”. (Clue: there were none!) The result was a resounding “NO” from the people of Australia.

The problem is however that even without this divisive “voice” thing, there are already lots of crazy things going on in Australia and no sign of them stopping or even slowing down. Every week there is some news story about wanting to change the name of a place to its original (aboriginal) name. Or public access to some mountain or scenic beauty spot being removed – as that area is now considered to have some kind of “sacred aboriginal significance”. Most, if not all, are pure crazy. The most famous one is Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) of course. I managed to climb The Rock but that was way back in the mid 1990s. They stopped people climbing it in 2019 (I think). Personally I see no reason to go there if you can’t climb it but that’s just me. There are many other examples however.

Among all of this nonsense there have been regular calls to remove statues of Captain James Cook. At least one I know of has already been taken down (in Cairns) and they are even calls to remove the main one in Sydney city centre. Crazy right? Stalinist even? Well I think so.

Anyway why stop there? Once that first domino falls it is only a (very short) matter of time before these loons want absolutely anything to do with Cook’s name removed. As if he never existed. Trust me on this one. This kind of thing could be very close to happening.

So, dear readers, I have assembled as many things as I can find relating to the great sailor, navigator and explorer for you to go and check out before it is too late. Only in and around Sydney however.

Also I doubt this is anywhere near being a complete list (even with a Part 2 to come). If you know of others please let us all know in the comments. 

Statues of Captain James Cook

Surely these will be the first things to go. At east one (that I know of) has already been taken down. That was in Cairns – yes, barrier reef trip HQ. As I have already pointed out in a previous post – here – there has been talk of moving the Hyde Park statue of James Cook into a museum. In other words; take it down from its current prominent location and hide it away until such time as it can be totally “archived” in some basement or back-room, never to be seen again. 

As a good friend of mine recently pointed out; there is something very Stalinist about taking down statues. Regardless of any official “reason”. A very good point.

One side of the base has the inscription “DISCOVERED THIS TERRITORY 1770”. It regularly gets defaced. The loons claim; ‘how could Cook discover the place when there were already people living here?’ Yeah I kinda know what they mean but for goodness sake! It incenses them so much that they have to vandalise a statue. Well that is how petty these idiots are. It was unreadable the first time I photographed it. Then a couple of months later it had been restored (again) – see below. 

I fear at least one of these statues will be attacked and vandalised around this year’s Australia Day celebrations (or protests). 

Kings Langley

Up in northwest Sydney suburbs in and around the town of Blacktown there are a few interesting streets and parks that simply have to have their names changed:

James Cook Drive. Now there’s a name that needs changing if ever there was one. Yeah it’s a bloody long road with many signs both on the road itself as well as signs leading to it. But what does that matter eh? Scrap it!

Sitting on James Cook Drive is a lovely piece of green space currently called Endeavour Park. Now as we all know that was the name of Captain Cook’s ship. The one he sailed around the planet and in so doing discovered (tuh! that word again) New Zealand and the East coast of Australia. Well at least that is what we currently know. Future generations probably won’t be taught about all that but never mind eh?

Damn that ship! If it hadn’t been so well built then perhaps Cook would never have made it to the East coast of Australia. OK. Agreed! All traces of anything named after The Endeavour must also be resigned to the history-bin. We can just pretend it never existed eh? Who cares if it is one of the most famous ships in the history of mankind?

The pathways around Endeavour Park are painted with details of the ship’s famous journey from England to Australia. Two are shown in the photos below. The audacity of such historical context! All must be removed! Don’t you agree?

One of the roads just off James Cook Road in the Kings Langley area is another long road called Joseph Banks Drive. He was one of the botanists on the Endeavour with Captain Cook, so it naturally follows – guilt by association and all that – that anything relating to him must also go. Including the Banks Reserve, a park on Joseph Banks Drive. Let’s face it folks. Once these fools start doing what I predict, where will it end?

Blacktown

Further west into Blacktown itself there are a few examples. There are few streets with names that the loons will say need changing but I never saw them. There are also these two little public parks (see below) called Captain Cook Memorial Park No.1 and  (rather conveniently) No.2. I do believe there may be a No.3 and No.4 but really not sure. It really doesn’t matter however as both of these in the photo below will have to go. The very thought of kids playing in a park named after one of the greatest sailors and navigators the world has ever known is just too disgusting for words. Ugh!

A Few More…

Here are a few more places named after the great man. Or are they?…. One of them caught me out which was at least a bit amusing…. 

James Cook Island is a man made piece of land specifically reclaimed so as to build nice houses with boat access to the water. People with money will live here. Will that be just another reason the petty, jealous anti Cook crowd to go after it? Probably

This next one was funny. When I saw it on the map I naturally thought “Ah yes. That will be named after the old sea-farer”. I was wrong. Cook’s Paddock – aka ‘James Cook Reserve Playground’ – is actually named after a local baker who happened to have a very famous name. Still; will that be enough to stop it being vandalised by the usual suspects? Will they bother to read the sign? Time will tell. 

Then again, reading the sign, it seems the baker used images of the Captain with the same name as advertising. Ah, not good (for the fools). Guilty!!! Maybe this place will have to go too…

More to come…

There are several other Cook related places I want to capture – while I can – but for now I will leave it here. Watch out for Part 2.

As always please “like” and subscribe to this blog if you like the content. Also feel free to share this post with anyone you feel may enjoy it.
Better still share it with anyone that you think it will piss off.  Hahahaa ; )

Some Things I Found Very Curious, In Japan…

Visiting a country like Japan from a Western country was always going to be a culture shock of sorts. But some things I think deserve a mention as being very curious if not downright odd. In a nice way though. Here are some things that I thought were particularly interesting in Japan.

First of all I want to dispel a myth about Japan. One that I had long believed to be true. Many probably believe that Japan is an expensive place. It is not expensive. I am sure the cost of buying an apartment is quite high, what with land being at a premium and all that. But the general cost of living does not seem to be. Eating out was fairly cheap. Public transport was as fairly priced as anywhere I have been. Drinks (alcohol) are not too expensive. If you smoke, cigarettes are cheaper than anywhere in Europe I have been – including Spain. (More on this below.)

Hotel prices were as cheap or cheaper than Australia (my only guide this past few years). Yes, Australia is expensive, particularly Sydney (which is a f**king absolute rip off to be exact) but Japan is definitely not an expensive place to visit.

And on the subject of money, here is my first curious observation…

Cash Only! 

I am very pleased to shout about this: Cash is still king in Japan.

Oh yes; you see at least as many people paying with cash as you do using the plastic. And I love it! In fact I find it both sad and annoying that in places like Australia, people now use their cards (and even their mobile phones FFS!) far too much to make payments.

So what makes the Japanese favour good old fashioned cash? I believe it’s quite simple. They value their own currency. Forget exchange rates. They even keep and offer in change, the 1 Yen coins (1¥). One single Yen equates to half a penny (UK) or 1 Australian cent. Actually they are plastic tokens rather than copper or other metal coins.

Quite a few countries have dropped the small change coins (1 & 2) and use a system of rounding small change up or down to the five cent mark. Australia, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Sweden for example. But, unlike these countries,  the Japanese seem intent on keeping their currency and using it in the manner it was intended.

All of the vending machines – and they are everywhere; see below – take coins and/or notes. Including ticket machines at stations.

In the western world where cash is seemingly being driven out of fashion, and there is talk of moving towards a digital currency system, Japan is defying the trend completely. And I have to say I agree fully and applaud them for doing what they are doing.

So why is cash very much King in Japan? Truth is I don’t know, but I do have a theory.

I believe it is largely because of their distrust of China. A long term enemy or competitor (at least). The Chinese system makes it difficult for certain individuals to manage if their digital currency is (effectively) switched off. And the Chinese government can do just that. In fact this is the main argument (in the West) against moving to a centrally driven digital currency. It gives governments or even unelected bodies the chance to totally control your money and hence your life. Well that’s the case against a centralised digital currency – and I for one agree.

Vending Machines – Everywhere!

This one almost ties in with the use of cash. It seems that everywhere you look in the city streets you see vending machines. All kinds selling all sorts. Not only food and drink. In some places, whole blocks are lined with several layers of small machines selling cheap plastic (supposedly collectable?) toys. Clearly aimed at kids who are saving up their coins. As stated above, every Yen counts!

In busy commercial districts these little white machines sell all kind of crappy little (usually) plastic collectibles. The range is incredible. Some streets are literally lined with these things. But never stacked more than 3 high. The kids have to be able to reach their favourite collectibles, right? Plus of course you can buy all kinds of drinks, food and cigarettes (see below) from vending machines in Japan.

While vending machines still exist elsewhere in the world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find them accepting coins.

Smoking – Bucking The Trend

While on the subject of vending machines… For less than 500 yen (¥) you can buy a pack of cigarettes from vending machines. In the street !! (Imagine how long those machines would last in Europe etc.) That equates to $5 (Australia), about £2.60 or just over €3. That’s cheap! A fair bit less for the cheapest brands as well. Zoom in on the prices below.

They used to have cigarette machines on walls outside cinemas and such like in the UK when I was very young. Can anyone remember when they stopped doing that? Please let us know with a comment.

Maybe that’s why smoking is still fairly common in Japan. It is not allowed in most areas but they do have smoke rooms in many indoor places. They even have them on the high speed “bullet” trains. And when you pass a smoking area in a city it is usually crowded. No doubt the very cheap price of smokes is the main reason that Japan seems to be bucking the trend for reducing the number of smokers? Japan is one of the world’s largest tobacco markets.

Trains

This may seem and odd subject to add to a discussion about curious things in Japan. Well, I suppose it is more of a compliment really.

The trains are spotlessly clean when you get on them. Then when you arrive and everyone disembarks they still look completely clean! It’s incredible. That says a lot about the way people in Japan behave of course and generally respect their locale.

How do they run such an amazing and extensive high speed railway network?

It all began a surprisingly long time ago. Japan had its first high speed trains way back in 1964 (the year I was born). Around that time the UK was going through what can only be described as one of the most reckless and savage demolitions of infrastructure in history!!
(I intend to write a bit more about trains in Japan, as we visited the Railway Museum in Kyoto. So please look out for that one in the near future.)

For reference the TGV system in France (Europe’s first) started in 1981 (17 years behind Japan) and Spain’s AVE network of high speed trains first operated in 1992. China only jumped on the high speed train bandwagon as recently as 2008 – a full 44 years after Japan. So running such a network is nothing new to the Japanese.

More “curious Japan” to come in Part 2…

Please “Like” and subscribe to the blog. Also feel free to share these posts with anyone you think may enjoy them. 

Nihonbashi Brewery (and Japan in general)

We visited Japan over Christmas/New Year period. I have lots to report but before I put up posts about the many amazing places we saw, I want to give a huge shout-out to this place – The Nihonbashi Brewery craft beer pub.

Well, in fact it’s a big shout-out to all of Japan. I feel the whole country deserves praise for this one. Please read on…

Last Night in Japan

It was our last night in Japan. Tokyo city one of the biggest and most populated areas on the planet. Central Tokyo to be even more exact. Right next to Tokyo station. It was early evening after dark and office workers were pouring out of the many tall buildings in the area. Add to that a healthy mix of tourists, shoppers and huge number of commuters scurrying in and out of the massive Tokyo station.

We wanted something to eat and where better than a craft beer bar? (Any regular readers will know that we have visited many such establishments.) This place was right near the station and was almost empty when we arrived, so perfect.

The beer was very good – and interesting. By the time we left the place was very busy. But the real story is this:

When we were back in the hotel – all the other way across the other side of the city -packing our bags for the following morning’s flight, it hit me. I had left the camera in the Nihonbashi Brewery bar. Not just any camera but a fairly good Canon SLR camera. (Probably cost about $1000/€600+ new. OK, not the best but hey… good enough.)

Damn it! Maybe that beer was better than I thought. None of us realised while going for the train and travelling back. Over an hour had passed. Damn! How could that even happen?

What should I do? I decided to hot-tail it across the city in a taxi and try my luck. Even a return taxi fare would be worth it if the camera was still there. But that was the real question. Was it? We phoned the place and although (as we already knew) their English was not that good, it seemed that they did in fact find the camera when they cleaned our table.

Half an hour later I arrived back there and when I ran in one of the employees saw me and said “Camera?”. The relief on my face must have told its own story. She went into a room behind the bar and retrieved it. Outside the taxi driver was waiting and in just under an hour I had done it! Round trip and camera recovered. Must learn to keep a closer eye on my stuff though… Don’t you just hate it when you know you have been so stupid?

Compare…

So a huge thanks to the people at the brewery but also the people of Japan in general. The lady at the hotel who spoke good English and explained where I wanted to go (and why) to the taxi driver, and the driver himself. Generally very helpful, friendly people despite a huge language barrier. More on that to come of course in future posts…

In the end it cost me 8,000 Yen – only about $80 (Australian). That’s about £40 or €50. Imagine trying to do that in London or Paris and not being able to speak the local language. I doubt anyone would even bother. Would the camera still be there when you arrived? Most peoples’ immediate response to that question would probably be “No! Not a chance”. Even giving it the benefit of doubt I would have to say it would be fairly unlikely. In Madrid the camera would have been lifted off the back of my seat while I was still in the bar! Trust me. That has happened! And we lived there! Sadly, you don’t have to be a naive tourist to get robbed in plain sight in the big cities of Spain. Yet here we were in a city reported to be home to over 37 million people!

In Dublin – a much, much smaller city than Tokyo – it would cost you at least €50 to get from one side to the centre, never mind across to the opposite side of the city centre! Absolute minimum, probably more like twice that – doublin’ it. (See what I did there?)  Dublin taxis are a huge rip-off if you didn’t already know. Sorry Dublin (Ireland even), but I would not have bothered making a similar journey there; fairly confident that the camera would not still “be there”. 

I had no idea where I was most of the journey but felt safe and knew that I was not getting ripped off. But most of all the camera was there waiting for me safe in the back room of the Nihonbashi Brewery pub.

This really is a “feel good” post. It just shows that there are still mostly good people out there. It is a bit like my post about my son losing his wallet recently (you can read that one by clicking here.) Meanwhile, there will be lots more to come on our trip to Japan.

Please like and subscribe and feel free to share this post with your friends and family. Also feel free to leave a comment. 

How Much Longer Will Australia Day Last?

It is almost 4 years exactly that we came over here to Australia. We arrived here just before Australia Day 2020. Of course that dopey scamdemic took over the news (including this blog) shortly after. But I remember being very taken aback by the “celebrations” – or to be more exact the lack of genuinely patriotic celebrations.

Right now we have the biggest (or at least one of the top 2) supermarket in Australia – Woolworths – saying they will not be selling Australia Day merchandise this year. I will be shopping at the other big supermarket from now on. But then it is only a matter of time before they too

It was painfully obvious to me right off the bat that there was something going on in the psyche over here; almost an embarrassment to be seen celebrating Australia Day. The media – obviously – are awful for this. Falling over themselves to try and make it all about every Australian even when they know that some do not like it.

But it goes a lot deeper. Official celebrations such as they are (many have ceased to be in recent years – by order of the council/state politicians), are thin on the ground. They are also interspersed with apologetic talk etc…

Why? FFS WHY?

They already have an official “apology day”, even a whole week of it in fact. What the hell is going on?

Of course that is a rhetorical question. I know and we all know. The powers that be would love nothing more than to stop Australia Day altogether. I expect it to happen within the next few years.

It is not even about the date. Aboriginal rights campaigners and their supporters have talked about that particular date being too significant. They refer to it as ‘Invasion Day’ in fact. But you can bet if every other Australian agreed to change the date but still celebrate it as “Australia Day” they would come up with some other garbage. You can never appease such people especially by caving in to their demands.

It pissed me off within a week of arriving in the country (click here for my first post on the matter) and it has just gotten worse.

If it was up to me I would give away free beer/wine vouchers to every adult of drinking age in the country. Only to be “spent” (redeemed) on Australia Day in bars and booze sellers. Encourage celebrating the day. Not the opposite. The governments (both state and federal) wasted so much money during that covid crap I am sure giving out free beers once a year would be a drop in the ocean.

Come on you Aussies! Get out there and celebrate this Australia Day and make it the best ever. With or without free beer handouts. Stick up a big metaphorical two fingers to those that want to stop the day.

Right. I feel better for that hahaa… Now I have got that one off my chest I can concentrate on writing some posts about our recent trips…