mY fuRSt viisit too Ostraylya

From here on it gets hotter and more humid... June is probably
the best time of year in Sydney if you don't like humidity. And do wear
that sun-hat and -cream, Bond!

Sydney gets about <50" rain/year IIRC -- Byron Bay gets 100"!
Watch out for the tail end of cyclones (hurricanes) turning into rain
depressions as they come down the coast in summer, but the vast majority
move inland before they get as far south as NSW.

Where did you end up renting, porl? And how does Oz domestic
broadband compare to the UK? I fear I need to get it laid on for Mum
as dial-up is giving her a hard time at present -- but I'd really need
to travel home to sort out her computer, which would make it an expensive
upgrade!

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

YM /contract/ PM Shirley.

 

Have to admit it was all tongue in cheek. No one would actually want to read
a crappy happy "I love it here" type of post. The city itself I think is
amazing and I haven't even done anything yet.

 

OTOH the first cab I took was brilliant. They guy didn't say a word until I
asked him something and then I was treated to a 20 minute history of the
places we were passing through on the way to Woollomolooloomololllooo. I
think I accidentally called him "dad" when I got out.

Will check it out.

 

They seem pretty much the same for new bikes AFAICS. 2nd hand though, and
they hold their prices much better, unfortunately. Plus they have some weird
extra payment for transferring ownership which is a percentage of the value.

 

In Bondi Junction. My conn doesn't get sorted for a while and I'm using my
mate's who's in the unit upstairs. Closer to the city people are getting
free upgrades to something like 12 Mb speeds but I'll be on 1.5. The killer
of course is the hops back to Europe rather than the bandwidth.

 

Don't think that's too wise unless I'm planning on not coming back ever.
They a list of tenants and their viability held on record.

 

"Project Manager"

 

Get porl to shoot round and do it. The broadband, not your Mum.

 

"Think about the barnet"

 

What needs sorting out, Ivan?

 

I really am not loaded. I'm in a completely different position to where I
was a couple of years ago. House equity notwithstanding.

 

Well that is about 170 quid which wouldn't cripple me, you're right. But add
the costs of furnishing an apartment from scratch to buying a bike ('04 R1
btw, 1400 kms on the clock) and it doesn't leave much of a safety net I can
tell 'ee. Any equity tied up in the flat in Twicks is just that: Tied up in
the flat. It's not really practical or desirable to dip into it (anymore
than I already have)

 

Given that it's approx 800km from Sydney to Byron Bay, that's quite a
"shoot round".

 

"It doesn't work." The chappy she has working on it doesn't seem
any more knowledgeable. I've suggested she get in touch with an old school
mate of mine who used to work in IT for the NSW Gov't and whose brother
used to work in a computer store. I wouldn't expect you to do anything
about it porl, Byron Bay is 550 miles north of Bondi Junction!

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Were you going to Harry's cafe de wheels?

I guess it's always possible.

 

That'd probably be your Stamp Duty, the Gov't's cut of every
financial transaction.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD, DT175MX "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO# 003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Decent long weekend away though, and Byron's worth the trip, as long as
the sewers there are working.

 

<punches air>

Yes! Beat Ivan to a post containing Australian factual content!

 

Another line for the new CV then.