The NBN NTD
We were fortunate enough to live in the trial zone of the NBN in Brunswick. Today the NBN connection was installed. We have free 100Mbps broadband until October courtesy of iinet.
After some mind-taxing networking scripting, the server can now handle the 2 wan connections (ADSL and NBN). The speed is extraordinary. I don’t care what some people say, it is money well-spent by the government. It will raise Australia technological profile.
Check out the speed test.
Speed test result
The weather forecast for the day was excellent. Although afternoon cloud was in the forecast, there was enough sunny breaks to make it one of the best winter days in a long while.
We cycled down the Upfield Bikeway at about 3pm. That meets up with the Capital City Trail. We went past the Zoo until Flamington Bridge station where the trail joins Moonee Ponds Creek. From the Zoo to this point, it was mostly downhill which makes it easy. The hard part is in the return journey.
Moonee Creek takes us to Footscray Road. The bike path along Footscray Road takes up to Shopping Town in Docklands. We pushed our bikes to the waterfront where we stopped for some ice-cream and snacks to replenish our energy for the journey home.
While riding back to home, we realised that we were going past a recently placed geocache. We decided to attempt this cache since it was only a few metres from the Footscray Road bike path. It was a relative easy find although the GPS coords was a bit off.
Whilst the journey to Docklands was mostly downhill, the journey back require us to climb a few hills between Flemington Bridge Station and the Zoo. It wasn’t a difficult climb but we wished that the climb was in the first half of the trip rather than the second half.
We reached home at about 5pm – a 2 hour trip. The total distance travelled was about 16 km. Overall, a really pleasant bike ride on a lovely winter afternoon.
Today is the Queen’s Birthday holiday. In contrast with the past week, the sun was shining today. We decided to make a trip to the Melbourne Museum on our bikes.
We decided not to put on our cycling cloths. Instead we were in casual street cloths. We first took the Upfield bike path until it to connects to the Capital City Trail. Then we headed east on the Capital City Trail until junction of Canning Street and Park Street. From this point we headed south on Canning Street to Carlton Gardens.
Canning Street was once described by a friend as a freeway for bikes. This street is mostly flat and quiet. Furthermore, the bike lane is one of the widest we have seen.
When rode through Carlton as one of us was under 12 (a privilege of parents with young children). This got us right to the Museum’s door step.
The Museum was very busy today. We are members of the museum which allow us to enter the museum without fee. There was a special exhibition on the Titanic but we decided to give it a miss. Instead we visited the Dinosaur Walk, Bugs Alive and the marine exhibit.
As the sky start to become cloudy, we decided to head home on the same route we came on. The track was logged using a Garmin Vista HCx. As we did not allow the GPS receiver to settle before the trip, the elevation data was complete inaccurate. The entire trip was about 13km and the presence of the sun made it a thoroughly enjoyable cycling trip.
We decided to cycle to Docklands for ice-cream that afternoon. We had not been on our bikes for the last school term so it would have been a nice ride with a good distance. It would also be the first time the rest of the family would have cycled on the relatively new Manningham Street Bridge.
The weather was cloudy with the occassional sunshine which is good cycling weather. We left the house at around 2:30pm. The temperature was around 20C. Since it has been a while since we were on our bikes, we decided to take it easy and ride slowly.
It took us about 50 minutes to reach Docklands. We went to the ice-cream store at the waterfront. The kids had ice-cream on cones while the adults had ice-coffee with ice-cream. Yum!
We cycled to central to look for the cache Sea Dog Tales. There wasn’tmany people around which made the hunt quite easy and uninterrupted. The coordinates was excellent and the cache was soon found.
We headed off to the Bike Force cycling shop in Harbourtown but did find anything we want to purchase. We did some shopping at Costco before heading home.
The journey was about 18km which is a good introductory ride. From Brunswick to Docklands, the trip was mostly downhill. On the way back to Brunswick, there is a relatively gentle but sustained climb from Flemington Bridge Station to Parkville. We reach home before 6pm. It was a good afternoon of cycling.
It was already 12:30pm when we arrived at Chewton about 5km from Castlemaine. The weather was cloudy with occassional break of sunshine. The temperature was around 16C and there was light wind. It was coolish when the wind was blowing and the sun behind the cloud. We found a picnic spot near the town oval and had lunch before the walk.
The start of the walk is at the end of North Street. There was plenty of car parking spots. Apart from a family that was there before us, there was no one else around. The family soon left and we were alone for the duration of the walk.
Near the car park was the ruins of the Garfield Waterwheel. There was no wheel but the foundation appears to be mostly in tack. There was an information board close to the wheel but, as we found out later, the map does not appear to correspond to sign posted track on the ground.
The walking track was littered with quartz pieces. We wondered if it was remanants of the mining activities in the past. We soon walked by a sign that said Manchester Reef. Closeby is an enterance to an abandoned mine. Near the enterance is a shaft that went directly downwards. It was really exciting to have discovered a geniue mine that has not been prepared for tourist (ala Sovereign Hill in Ballarat).
Beyond the mine, the track was leading us further away from the car. We had expected a loop as was shown in the map on the information. When we approached the Pyreneness Highway, we decided to backtrack and return via the same way we came.
The landscape and ruins on this walk hides the story of mining in this area. It was a shame that there are no sign boards to provide us with information along the way.
The track was not exactly flat but it wasn’t terrible difficult either. Anyone with reasonable fitness should be able to attempt it easily. However, in many parts of the track, there were loose stones. It was a very relaxing day for us. We will definitely come back again.
The weather forecast for the day was 23C and isolated showers in the morning. As we drove to Bunyip State Park, it started to rain. Fortunately, when we arrived at the car park of the Buttongrass Nature Walk, the rain abated and the sun revealed itself.
The road from Gembrook to Mortimer Picnic Ground appears to have been recently sealed. The brochure of the Park from Parks Victoria indicated that it would be an unsealed road. The sealed road makes the drive (for a 2WD vehicle) easier.
Although a portion of the road is unsealed, the drive wasn’t too bad. The condition of the road is very good compared to some we have travelled on. When we reached the car park, there were at least 4 vehicles already parked. We thought that we might have some company along the walk. However, we did not see anyone else along the way.
From the car park there is a short walk of about 200 metres leading to the start of the walk. The waypoint for the geocache Grass Buttons # 1 is an information board for the walk. The final location of the cache was worked out from the information on the board and we were quickly on our way.
The walk to the final location of the cache was fairly long. The surrounds was typical of the Australian bush. The hide was fairly obvious to a geocacher. We were the first to find (FTF) this cache and there was a prize waiting for us! This was our first FTF after caching for one and a half year.
The kids also fancied a Geocaching Badge in the cache. We took a badge and left a Zebra, Camel and safety pin in exchange for the badge. We signed the log and continued our journey.
In this leg of the walk, we noticed that bush fire had recently ravaged this section of the park. This might have been the fires that occurred in February of 2009 (last year). It is also heartening to see that the recovery is very much on its way.
Our next stop was for the Geocache Grass Buttons # 2. While the previous geocache was a multicache, this one was a traditional cache. The cache was located quickly. Again we claimed the FTF prize and left a dog and an elephant in the cache. At this point, it started to drizzle lightly for a short while but it did not pour. We were still very comfortable continuing the walk.
Continuing our walk, we saw lots of Button-grass on both side of the track. It is quite a sight to behold. The next Geocache from the last one was only a short distance away. Grass Buttons # 3 was a bit more challenging then the other 2. It was difficult, if not impossible, to locate it by sight. We manage to get to it by touch with some degree of stretching. Again we collected the FTF prize and left a lion and a ram in the cache.
After rehiding the geocache, we make tracks back to the car. On the way, we saw mushrooms growing in the wild. Throughout the walk, wild flowers and butterflies can be seen everywhere. We wonder what this park will look like in spring. We suspect that it would be a very different experience in different seasons. We will need to make more trips to find out for ourselves.
We had a very different geocaching experience today. After a year and a half of geocaching, we had finally got our first FTF. To top that, we had 3 FTFs on the same day! The prizes were an added bonous. Many thanks to hi pressure for providing us with such a wonderful experience.
Some showers was in the forecast but the morning was only partly cloudy with moderate winds. It was inviting temperate for a bike ride and cache hunt. 2 new geocaches poped up nearby in the last few days, so we were eager to get on our bikes to hunt for them.
We travelled southwards on the upfield bikeway to Royal Park. We followed the path around the zoo towards Elliott Avenue but crossed the trams tracks to the car park of the State Netball and Hockey Centre. We took Brens Drive and that got us to the park where the Geocache Giant’s Lunchbox was.
The find was relatively quick. The container is a Chinese Moon Cake container. It brought us memories of last year’s Moon Cake Festival. We did not make any swaps. After signing the log box, we returned the container to the hide and head off to the next Geocache.
We continued on Brens Drive until it reaches Elliott Avenue and followed the bike path along this road for a few meters before crossing the road into park lands. Having mountain bikes gave us the advantage of being able to ride to the Geocache Girl in a Tree. This cache is fairly exposed and precariously perched. I had to execute an upward maneuver to get to it. The container was also a small Moon Cake case. We signed the log book and left.
From this location we cycled to the path on the boundary of the zoo to get us back to the Upfield Bikeway to go home.
An hour after the ride, it started pouring. We were glad that we took this ride in the morning while the weather was still good. It wasn’t a particularly long ride by any standards. It was only about 9km but is was very enjoyable. That’s what counts most.
We took this walk to hunt for the geocache …Springs Eternal. It was quite a lovely day for a walk. The total distance walked was about 2.4km. In one section of the walk, we turned into the wrong track and had to back-tracked a bit. It added about 50m to the walk.
When we approached the Geocache hide, we had to leave the track. The coordinates was about 10m off. We still managed to locate the cache by virtue of reading the description carefully. That helped narrowed the search somewhat.
The cache container was a lot larger than average. We did not do any swaps. That ended the last activity for the day on a high note.
We planned this cycling trip with some family friends. The plan was to ride from Southbank to Williamstown by crossing the Yarra River with the Westgate Punt. We took the train to Flinders Street station. As it was a Sunday, the Sunday Saver ticket came in handy. The Sunday Saver allowed the holder to travel on all public transport on both zones.
While waiting for our friends to join us, we decided to hunt for a Geocache at Southbank. It was still early in the morning, so there wasn’t much human traffic about. This made it easier to locate the Geocache. If you are a Geocacher in Melbourne, I highly recommend this cache.
When our friends arrived, we cycle along Southbank to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. By this time, there were more people about. From the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, we cycled to Normanby Road and followed the tram tracks. The tram tracks took us through a tram yard and through several parks in Port Melbourne. We rested at one of the playgrounds that dotted the parkland. The kids enjoyed themselves at the swings.
When we reach the Ferry Terminal, the Spirit of Tasmania wasn’t moored. We debated whether we should have something to eat at the nearby cafe or proceed to Westgate Park to take the Punt across the Yarra to Spotswood. As it was only 11am, we decided to press on.
Along the way to Westgate Park, we hunted for the second Geocache of the day. We found the predecessor to this cache not long ago nearby. The old cache has now been disabled. The hide for this cache is very innovative. We would not have guessed the hide if not for the hint left by the owner. Another cache I would consider a must-find.
As we approached Westgate Park, we found that the route to the Punt did not go through the park anymore. There is a cache in the park I would like to find, however, the others had cycled ahead. I decided against calling them back as I did not wish to break the momentum the kids had going then.
When we reached Lorimer Street, we weren’t quite sure whether to turn left or right to the Punt terminal. There weren’t any signs to guide us. We decided to ask for directions. Fortunately, one of the two men nearby knew the way and got us promptly towards the Punt Terminal.
After a short wait the Punt arrived. Our friends’ kids had never been on the Punt so it was a refreshing experience for them. Although we had been on the Punt in the past, it was still a highlight of the cycling trip that we always looked forward to.
After crossing the Yarra, we had to make a decision whether to visit the ScienceWorks Museum. Although one of our kids was willing, we felt that it was close to lunch time and the food at the cafe in ScienceWorks wasn’t particularly inspiring. So off to Williamstown centre we went.
We purchased some take-away and ate them at the park in Williamstown Centre. After which the kids played in the nearby playground. We spent some time at the park before going to the nearby shop for some ice-cream.
We continue to cycle along the shoreline of Williamstown. That’s when we had our third Geocache hunt. It was a relatively easy find. There was another nearby cache I would have liked to attempt but the others had already cycled on.
After reaching the Esplanade, we backtracked a bit to Thompson Road and head for Williamstown Station. This completed the cycling trip.
When we left home, the temperature was in the high teens. At the end of the ride, it was probably in the mid-twenties. It was mostly sunny and got a bit windy at the end of the ride. Oeverall, it was excellent cycling conditions. The ride was over 17km which is a great achievement for the young ones. This route is one of the most scenic Melbourne has to offer. I highly recommend it.
The weather was cloudy and threatening with rain most of the day. By the late afternoon, the cloud had mostly cleared and there were some blue skies and sunshine. The temperate was about 20C.
I was alone on this ride and decided to do something more substantial. My intent was to ride up to Upfield Bikeway and search for a track linking it to the Western Ring Road. The junction of the Western Ring Road and Sydney Road is near where the Merri Creek Trail begins.
At the end of the Upfield Bikeway, I crossed Box Forest Road and cycled up Sages Road. From satellite images on Google Map, I can make out a track leading to the Ring Road long side the train tracks. Unfortunately, when I reached the end of Sages Road, the track was fenced off. Determined to continue the ride, I backtracked to Box Forest Road. At this point, I realised that I have forgotten my water bottle. I realised that I need to get to water before the thirst sets in without forsaking the ride.
I cycled west on Box Forest Road and turned right into May Street. May Street eventually led me to John Street which connects up with the Western Ring Road Path. I travelled east on the path and cross Sydney Road to the start of Merri Creek Trail. My throat was a bit dry but I wasn’t particularly thirsty. I felt that I should be able to get to Coburg Lake without water. Fortunately, there was a cool breeze which helped to cool me down. At Momba Park, I circled a building looking for a tap but couldn’t find one. By the time I reached Coburg, I was in need of water and refreshed myself at a tap.
After a short rest, I decided to ride home via Merri Creek. I have originally wanted to complete the circuit by getting home via the Captial City Trail that connects to Upfield Bikeway to where I started but I have decided against it as it was getting close to dinner time and I was feeling a bit hungry. So I left the trail at Auturton Street and cycled home from there.
In total the ride was about 30 km (the track log above has been edited). It took slightly over 2 hours to complete. It wasn’t a bad effort but my average speed wasn’t great. I would have like to complete the circuit but I would have to leave it for another time.