In the last few months we made too many pictures but we have not updated our photo gallery so often.  To solve this problem we had the idea: why not regularly post one of our pictures on the blog?

Today we were very sad: Attila`s bike was stolen last night from the staircase. He went to work but came back very soon with the lock -cut across- in his hand and said calmly: `at least we do not need to sell it anymore  (when we move)`…

So what to do? Write a message on the wall like `hello, do you know who has taken my bike?`, as that `Germany-fan` guy did from the house some months ago searching for his jacket? It was stolen from the car park where he left it and it was a very important jacket for him because he had sewn the German flag into it after some kind of German football victory in the past…

Or call the police to ask them making a research in every flat in this district? Hello, haven`t you seen anyone in the dark last night during the heavy rains with a stolen bicycle? It doesn’t make much sense.

I wrote a message on Twitter, but at this stage it did not help.

So I made a quick research on Internet and found this website of Bicycles Network Australia and its forum about stolen bikes which seems to be the only effective solution. We can register our bike there and see what happens. Maybe somebody will find it or at least if the thief wants to sell the bike maybe the buyer checks this website first. Who knows? But if you have a better idea how to find this bicycle, tell us, we would be very pleased!

When something is stolen from you - whether it is an important object or not - it is very frustrating and makes you nervous but also very empty for a while. It was yours!

Sydney is not a bad place to live and we are lucky because in this suburb we don`t feel the public safety or security to be as bad as it is said to be in some westerns suburbs. But being naive and leave the bicycle in the open staircase was not so smart.  After this we will not leave things in `unsecure places` ever. And maybe we will also tell this story to our friend who uses to leave his kayak sometimes on the street on his car, saying that `a lot of people use to have kayaks in Sydney, they won`t steel mine`…

But for now we upload this photo about the Ferris wheel from Luna Park in Sydney. It symbolizes some kind of nostalgic feeling. Ups and Downs…Generally I do not like fun-fairs.  And this park called Luna Park in Sydney also has not changed this feeling. It was almost empty every time we were walking by-maybe just because it was always raining as well…But the view must be scenic and nice from the cabins: the Luna Park is located on the harbour side in the north, just next to the tremendous Harbour Bridge, and you can see the Opera House on the left as well. Great place to visit!

We will also post a picture of the bike, in case you might see it somewhere, just let us know ….

So about the bicycle:

Type: Merida Dakar; Colour: black; mountain bike, 26 inch wheel, 21 inch frame.

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In the last few months we made too many pictures but we have not updated our photo gallery so often.  To solve this problem we had the idea: why not regularly post one of our pictures on the blog?

So here is the first ‘picture of the day’ in the series:  this golden orb-weaving spider. It is often seen in parks or in bush area in Sydney during summer time. This season - late summer/ beginning of autumn - is the time for her female to lay her egg.

These spiders are a bit frightening for the first time but they bite rarely. They use to weave a web with a golden colour, which is especially apparent in the sunshine.  The web is so big, that it not only catches insects for food, but sometimes small birds as well…Yeah, it is a bit funny when you are going on the footpath and the orb is just only a half meter above your head… The female is much larger than the male: her body has the size of a knuckle and with the black legs with golden bends it reaches the size of the palm of my hand. This and this websites contain more information about these spiders.

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We made a trip on Saturday again by car: this time to the south of Sydney to Kiama, where we were very lucky and could see the blowhole working very hard))

Kiama is about 120 km to the south from Sydney, located at the coast. ‘The name Kiama is from the aboriginal word Kiaram-a, to which some sources give the meaning “Where the sea makes a noise“‘. It has two blowholes - a bigger and a smaller one. They were discovered ‘by George Bass on his voyage of coastal exploration on December 6, 1797‘, but it was known by the local Aboriginals before, who called it ‘Khanterintee’.

I discovered only after the trip on Internet, that there is a smaller blowhole as well, not too far from the other one, so we just missed it this time…But no worries, the bigger one made us amazed already.

So what is a blowhole exactly? It is a kind of hole in the rock at the coast, from which the water is blown out under high pressure. It becomes first vapour and falls back to the ground in big drops. There was a board with a good picture and text explaining the phenomenon:

`The Kiama Headland is composed of volcanic rock called latite. A volcanic extrusion, known as a dyke, cuts through the latite. The dyke is composed of a softer rock called basalt. Over millions of years the softer basalt has eroded faster than the latite creating a tunnel under the headland. Eventually part of the headland collapsed creating the Kiama Blow Hole.

As each wave surges through the tunnel, air is compressed in the rear chamber building tremendous pressure. As waves subside, pressure in the chamber releases forcing the trapped water up the blow hole with loud `whoomp`.`

If the blowhole functions at full capacity, the spout comes up about 20 m high- maybe sometimes higher-, and it makes a tremendous noise, so you even feel the energy under the rocks. It is nice to watch it for a while and waiting for the biggest launches. Believe me, it surprises everybody. And it is worth waiting because the spouts are not standard high, neither in frequency nor in `quality`.

It is said, that the success of this phenomenon depends on a lot of things - the height and the direction of the curls and the height of the sea. For the bigger blowhole for example the waves coming from the south-east are the most prosperous.

There is already a safety fence built around the hole after many accidents. This blog from a Hungarian guy tells a story about three unlucky persons who wanted to have a shower in the water vapour. Unfortunately the shower was not the best idea, because a sudden enormous break took all of them under the rock, and

they had to be taken in away in a coffin. Sad story. I am not sure if it is true, maybe it is only an urban legend, but it is true, that somebody in the NSW Parliament had already asked for this fence in 2000 because of the many serious accidents earlier. In that speech there were mentioned other true and sad stories.

So there is a smaller blowhole in Kiama as well, and it is good because it is said to be working more balanced. It prefers the surfs coming from the north-east.

A white lighthouse has been standing behind the bigger blowhole majestically since 1887, where young couples like posing for wedding photos. I share their opinion, it is a really romantic place.

I read that around 600 thousands visitors arrive here every year, which means about 11 and a half thousand people a week. It is a huge number, isn`t it? As I remember there were about 100 visitors already together

with us at the same time on Saturday -an hour before sunset. Luckily, the place around the blowhole was not overcrowded, so it was fine.

Anyway, there are blowholes in other places in the world as well, for example in New-Zealand I would be very curious about this one. And about any other ones of course. Have you seen other blowholes? Do you want to share your story and pictures? It would make us very happy!!

But until then watch this funny video about the blowhole working in tough times!)))

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A few weeks ago we got a little brochure called Epping Community News. Fortunately Attila had a look and showed it to me -otherwise it would have been thrown away almost immediately. There was one thing which was already interesting and made a little smile on our face. There was a box with some facts about the new railway line construction project in Sydney: what was promised and what is the reality…

This new line was built between Epping and Chatswood, and was opened not so long time ago, in February. We have made a few rides with it already as we are used to go to the Macquarie Shopping Centre sometimes, especially when we need something with good quality and not from the `hot dollar` shops nearby.

You can even smell the rock flour of polished surfaces, and the whole construction is so big, that it almost seems empty; however it is used by more and more people every week. Maybe this was the original reason to let people use this line free of charge for a while (till 8^th June), I mean, to attract more potential travellers.

One of the most interesting things about this line for me is the way they designed the space for elevators and escalators in the three middle-stops. It seems unusually big, high/deep, and wide, so really `airy`. The power of the air conditioning is tremendous. Any way, it is not designed for people, who are afraid of heights, I am pretty sure…

Check out this video, it gives a good impression about the stop at Macquarie University, which is similar to the other two stops:

Here you can see that the escalators are not in a so called channel, but in a huge hall. Next to the escalator there is only a transparent plexiglass wall, so you can see pretty nicely the deepness around you or the other escalator above you. I recall how my legs were shaking for the first time when we were `travelling` up to the surface: I was scared a bit, so I had to catch the handrails on both sides. Attila who was standing behind me was laughing on me, of course))) It was a kind of adrenalin rush, so we decided to go down immediately -just for fun and adventure -, but this time with the elevator. This has a glass wall as well. We can tell you, it is also a nice experience to stand in front of the glass very closely, and the way up to the surface is even better, because it is going relatively fast and you can feel the deepness again. So I think, it is a challenging construction. I am just wondering how others feel themselves for the first time arriving at these stations…

But these are only our personal feelings, so here are the facts about the project itself!

After a look in the brochure I felt I had to check out the information on other websites on Internet. So I made my short research, for example on Wikipedia and I read some parts of the Action for Transport 2010, and I put the information together. I think there was a little difference between them, but the main issue did not change.

About the railway line between Epping and Chatswood, I can tell you, that this is a `link` between two lines running from south to north, a few stops before they reach each other in Hornsby.

This kind of `link` was already designed by Bradfield in the 20s, but the project was postponed because of the Great Depression. Then, a few decades later, the plan got being discussed again in the 90s. It was announced in 1998 that a new railway line would be built between Chatswood and Parramatta, through Epping. This was planned to be ready in 2006, it would be 28 km long and cost 1.4 billion dollars.

This was the shiny start…But in 2003 it became clear, that they could only build half of the line, ending in Epping, which means a 12.5 km long railway. That is the same line we have now. It was planned for old Tangara trains as well, but in 2007 it was revealed that these types can not operate because of the `steepness of the tunnel`. That is why OSCARS (Outer Suburban Cars -you see, Aussies really like acronyms) trains are operating now.

Then, in 2008 -two years after the railway should have been opened - during the first tests they realized that the sound in the tunnel is so loud -” sound levels on the train were 90 decibels, as loud as a 737 plane coming into land” - that they had to relay the “mats, connected to the rail tracks and concrete slabs to reduce noise “.(Wikipedia) This doubled the costs up to 2.4 billion dollars.

So briefly about the project: half of the line was built three years after planned and from twice as much money…But I definitely like it)))

Source:

Epping to Chatswood railway line

Action for Transport 2010

Railway-technology.com

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