Railway Maintenance!

With all the controversy about the poor rail infrastructure in Tasmania I was surprised to see railway maintenance happening! Good on'um! On that note:

Future Transport Tasmania will be meeting this Tuesday next week
28th April at the New Sydney Hotel (HOBART!) in the conference room upstairs. Anyone who
wants to get involved in the nuts and bolts of the group and help us do stuff is
welcome.
Email Toby at futuretransporttas@dodo.com.au

Its
been a quiet week or two in the media regarding transport although the issue
always crops up. As you may have noticed today the Brighton Bypass has begun
construction, which will be fabulous for all those people who want to get to
Launceston and back five or ten minutes quicker! $164 million so that we don't
have to drive slowly through the Brighton shopping
precinct.

Might be worth considering what we could get
INSTEAD of a bypass for $164 million? Indeed, the rail network upgrade is
just $122 million -how good would our rail network be if we spent ANOTHER $164
million on it?

Please feel free to write letters to the
newspaper & ring up talk back radio and help us keep the issue of public
transport and rail in the media.

Many thanks,

Toby
Rowallan
Spokesperson
Future Transport Tasmania

Cycling hazards for men

Cycling with man-eyes render these rose bush branches invisible. On at least one occasion I rode straight into it with my hand! Idiot! At home I had to pull out one thorn. This is the bikepath (click on this GoogleEarth link and use your mouse to browse around!). I cycle along on the way home each day, up near the Devonport pool.

Formby Road

Probably the least exciting street in Devonport,... but here it is again, this time I got slightly moist. Notice the old diesel train. Tasmania's national railway is seriously lacking and no longer fit for any passenger service. So here you got the worst of the worst of Devonport!

TasRail's current locomotive fleet includes:-
Purchased from Tranz Rail:
12 DQ class locomotives;
3 QR class locomotives;
2 D class locomotives (similar to the New Zealand DXR class locomotives); and
1 New Zealand DC class locomotive.

How can I make a mess like this

This is just how it is... The big sofa-bed couch is where I do my nebulising etc. My big mucous cup is on its side (uh oh). The couch does put me in the right position to allow me to 'open my airways', and not sit crouched over... Anyway, I wish there was a more elegant solution. At least it is not in the bedroom anymore - where I used to do all the meds!

PS It is raining cats and dogs and I need to ride to work in 5 minutes time... Where is my rainbow now?

Secret Thai Chicken Curry

Katherine has found a new favourite Thai Curry sachet at Woollies, even I can make a good curry now! Of course the real secret is the fresh vegies that I use. The Scanpan helps too!

Formby Road

This is the main road off the highway into Devonport. It does look a little sombre for the odd tourist. I ride along here to work every day. Formby road is tagged for re-development; <read PDF from the council>. At least there is a rainbow at the end of the road... What? That is my work, my own pot-of-gold so to speak. Exactly where the rainbow points! Too funny!

Grass Seeding

K reckons something was wrong with the grass so she killed patches of it and is resowing seeds... We'll keep you posted! Notice the remnants of the vegie patch on the right? We are still getting tomatoes, and it is April now.

Don River Track

My usual run/walk... Haven't done it for a bit, but today was a gorgeous day and I had the iPhone to test! The above was tracked by the iPhone. I think it might be more accurate than SportsTracker on the Nokia N95. All pretty cool in any case.

See the Don Railway across the Don river? A little tourist train that runs on the hour...


This is the ti-tree (Melaleuca) forest around the Don track... It's all nice and flat here too, except for the bit from the pool up...

Transtrain and Austrips

My new office! I spend 20+ hours per week here now. Right above the Coles Shell petrol station, but I ride my push-bike! The silo grains across the road, and next to that is the Mersey River.

Messy Eatting

Life is pretty routine now. I cycle in and out of work regularly, adding up to about 20 hours per week. Perfect. I take the long way home for the extra exercise/cough. For lunch I ride out to a nice spot where the seagulls clean up after me!