Posted on 2008-06-04 21:00:00
Tags: Traffic, Australia
Everybody who knows me that I'm crazy with cars. At cars. "Mad at cars" is the more the right line: I have a love / hate relationship with them. I know that todays society can't exist without them, but also that they are the biggest curse in todays society. Anyway, that's not the story here.
The story is about the availability of driver licenses in Australia: The joke goes that you get them with a box of Weetbix. And todays experience only shows that it is true. And why I feel so scared when I'm on the road.
So I got my dutch driver license in 1996, when I was 25. Wait, that was seven years after I was able to get it. I know. I told you I didn't like cars. I got my first car in 2000, five years after I got my driver license. I told you I didn't like cars. I moved to Australia in 2001, so I got rid of my car after six months.
In Australia you need an international driver license which is valid for six months or get an Australian driver license. So after six months I wasn't allowed to drive a car anymore. In 2006 my dutch driver license expired.
So, where does this story go to? Today, in 2008, seven years after I last driven a car, two years after my driver license expired, I got my Australian driver license. How? Just go to the RTA, show your dutch license, show some ID and fill in a form. Expired license? Not a problem. Not haven driven a car in seven years? Not a problem.
And you wonder why I am so scared on the roads here...
Posted on 2007-12-15 15:02:00
Tags: Cycling, Cycling in Sydney, Australia
Cycling between Caringbah station and Kurnell is 13 kilometers, but you have to cycle back due to lack of train stations in Kurnell (but there is one in Cronulla and Woolooware).
From the train station, go to the Denman avenue because you will not be able to cross the railroad again until somewhere in Cronulla.
At the crossing of Denman Avenue and Gannoa Road, turn left. If you go straight, you unnecessary will go up a hill. Past Sharkies and the school and that's the last you will see from Cronulla.
The Captain Cook drive is a nice long road with only two minor hills but it has, despite that it is a beautiful natural area, one huge drawback: It is full with factories and industrial areas on the right hand side. I don't know who got the idea of putting all that industry here, but it surely is not the right place for it.
In Kurnell at the crossing of the Captain Cook drive and Polo street is a small milkshop which does do a very good milkshake. Take the milkshake into the National Park and enjoy it in the Memorial Park!
Posted on 2007-12-15 15:01:00
Tags: Cycling, Cycling in Sydney, Australia
Cycling between Helensburgh station and Stanwell Park is another nice size trip (10 kilometers) with a stop at Symbio Zoo and Stanwell Heights.
But there is one major warning: From the station till Helensburgh town center it is only hill up. And hill up. And hill up. For about three kilometers. But once you are at the Symbio Zoo you have two hours to recover from it.
From Symbio Zoo to Stanwell Heights is a nice refreshing trip through the foresty areas, and at Stanwell Heights an unique view over Stanwell Park and if you're lucky you will see some whales.
Down from Stanwell Heights to Stanwell Park is a drop of 250 meters over 2500 meters, making it an interesting experience for the brakes on the back of your bike. And at the bottom you can enjoy a swim on the beach.
Be warned, going back to the train station in Stanwell Park is an only-hill-up experience too.
Posted on 2007-12-15 15:00:00
Tags: Cycling, Cycling in Sydney, Australia
Cycling between Waterfall and Helensburgh is a nice size trip (10 kilometers).
You can go via the Southern Freeway but I would strongly suggest not to do this: You only have three hills, but these are horrible hills which don't give you any satisfaction. When you do it early in the morning you don't have too much hassle of the traffic going between Sydney and Wollogong.
The path you should take is via the Princes Highway, on which there are more hills but they are not that high. And it will give you more shadowed areas.
Posted on 2006-01-20 21:00:25, modified on 2006-01-20 21:39:12
Tags: Rollerblading, Sports, Australia
Oh boy... and you thought that the Australian roads were unsafe for cyclists...
Short background: All my life (until I moved to Australia that is), I have been a fanatic ice-skater and rollerblader. In the winter on the frozen water, in the spring, summer and autumn on the road and bicycle tracks. And life was good :-)
Then I moved to Australia, where there is no frozen water nor bicycle tracks... In the first years, I used my bicycle to go everywhere (within reason). And got a lot of abuse from it from the car drivers. So much, that when my bike got stolen, I didn't bother to replace it, and walked everywhere. Yes, it took three times as long, but it was a million times less stressful.
Recently I found my backpack with my rollerblades in it. This weekend my wife and baby went to Canberra for a bridge contents (she, not the baby) and I thought "let's rooooooooolllllll.". Oh dear.
In the summer in the Netherlands, it is easily light till say 21:00 - 21:30. In the summer in Australia, it is barely light after 19:30 during the longest day. In the Netherlands, on the roads you have on constant distances street lights. In Australia, you have street lights on corners. Now the problem with rollerblading is that you go fast (unintentionally) and then a little bump in, or rock on, or gravel on, or whatever on the road has to be anticipated. Not seeing them is the same as asking to fall flat on your face.
In the Netherlands, in general, outside suburbs, the cars are not parked on the side of the road but in parking bays which are not part of the piece of the road where car drive. In Australia, roads are two-and-half-times as wide as a car and these cars are parked on the outsides of the cars. With the result that on the left hand side you have parked cars and on your right hand side you have cars driving. And since the favourite car of the Australian citizen seems to be a four-wheel-over-two-meters-high-landrover-tank, you have absolutely no idea what is happening on the at the car ports.
Last but not least, the Netherlands is flat and thus the roads are flat. Rollerblading there means: if you put effort in it, you go faster. If you don't put effort in it, you will go slower and slower until you're standing still. This might take some time, but it will happen. In Australia, even if you find a long stretch of road which looks flat, it's not. It's never flat, it's always sloping. So even if you don't put effort in it, you will go forward. And faster. So if you see something which might take some caution, you will go faster and faster to it, and faster and faster. Even a little stretch of say 30 meters will give you a nice speed when you're at the end (and not able to see what is going on on that road due to the stupidly high four wheel tanks).
So... first attempt to rollerblade again in Australia has turned out to be a huge disappointment. Tomorrow I'll try the road to Kurnell and see if I can figure out the four kilometer track in Miranda...