TRAVEL BLOG
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Dutch Orange Day in New Holland
Queen's Day is the biggest party of the year in the Netherlands, and on the day the streets resemble a huge market (vrijmarkt, or freemarket) as anyone can sell anything in the streets. Further info at Queen's Day: The World's Biggest Street Party.
Today I stumbled upon Dutch Orange Day, a little celebration the local Dutch community put on to celebrate Queen's Day in Melbourne.

Clogmaker - Queen's Day in Melbourne

Dutch Poffertjes - Queen's Day in Melbourne
Seeing the Dutch celebrating in Melbourne got me thinking what might have been. Not many people outside of Australia know that this continent was once known as New Holland (in fact probably not many Australians know that either).

New Holland Map - 1659 (from National Library of Australia)
When New York was still New Amsterdam (in 1644) the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman christened the continent Nova Hollandia. It wasn't until 1824 that New Holland officially became Australia.
The first recorded European sighting of the Great Southern Land was by the Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, who landed at what is now known as Cape Inscription, Dirk Hartog Island, on 26 October 1616.
Probably the most famous contact the Dutch had with Western Australia was when the Batavia struck a reef off the coast. It is a classic story of mutiny and survival, which can be read in detail at the Batavia Story.
British ships also sighted the coast but as the Western Australian coast is a vast waterless expanse it was never colonised.
Labels: australia, holiday, melbourne, netherlands
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Friday, April 25, 2008
Anzac Day
April 25 in Australia and New Zealand is Anzac Day. The day commemorates Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey on April 25 1915 during World War I.

Anzac Day - Melbourne
The day is a public holiday and it has since come to represent a memorial day for all war veterans.

Shrine of Remembrance - Anzac Day

City of Melbourne Liberators

HQ3 Aust. Div

RAAF Lancaster Squardrons

22 RSU RAAF

Air Command South East Asia

Ceylon Ex Servicemen

Tunnel Rats Vietnam

Catalina Flying Boat Units

The Rats of Tobruk Memorial
Labels: anzac day, australia, melbourne
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Tuesday, April 22, 2008
State Library of Victoria

Behind the library is an apartment block and the headquarters of BHP-Billiton, world's largest mining company.

Saint George and the Dragon at the Library Forecourt

The Domed La Trobe Reading Room

La Trobe Reading Room Desks

La Trobe Reading Room Dome

The library was renovated between 1999 and 2003. Before then the skylights were covered up as the roof was leaking. Without the Australian sun pouring in through the skylights the library had a more Gothic Northern European feel to it. Or maybe that's just my memory of it when studying the in my school years.

La Trobe Reading Book Shelves

La Trobe Reading Room Study Desks

Redmond Barry Reading Room
Labels: australia, books, melbourne
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Monday, April 21, 2008
Medieval Melbourne
On display at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne is The Medieval Imagination - Illuminated manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand.There are over 90 manuscripts are on display, dating from the 8th to the 16th centuries.
It's an amazing collection of work, and to top it off, it is free. I have found myself wandering into the library whenever I am in the city to have another look.
It's worth a visit to the State Library just to see the Domed Reading Room. It was opened in 1913 and it was the largest of its type in the world on completion. The reading room was built to hold over a million books and up to 500 readers.
The exhibition is on from 28 March to 15 June 2008.

The Medieval Imagination at State Library of Victoria
Labels: australia, books, melbourne
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Sunday, April 13, 2008
Manhattan in Melbourne
A large film set was on location in Collins St Melbourne today. While filming on location in the city on the weekend is nothing unusual, the shoot was for a film set in New York. The plaza in front of the AXA building was transformed into Lafayette St New York.

Lafayette St Film Shoot
The shoot involved subway passengers emerging from a smoking Lafayette St subway station. There were so many little details attended to, from a US and New York flag hanging in the plaza to US mail boxes as well as renamed street signs.

US Flag at AXA Australia

Collins Street becomes Lafayette St
Labels: australia, film shoot, melbourne, new york
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Friday, April 11, 2008
Tiger Airways Terminal - Melbourne Airport
Tiger Airways Australia has its home base at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. A budget airline like Tiger would seemingly be more suitable for Melbourne's other airport, Avalon, which is operating as a secondary low cost airport on the European model. Tiger have their own budget terminal at Tullamarine (terminal 4), separate from the main 3 terminals.

Tiger Airways Arrivals - Melbourne Airport
The Tiger terminal is set up to save costs rather than to pamper flyers. An airport spokesperson described the terminal as more like a railway station.
There are no aerobridges at this terminal so pasengers have to walk across the tarmac to and from the plane. When my flight landed the plane went to the end of the building then turned around so as the nose was pointing away from the terminal building. I presume they did this to save the cost of having the aircraft towed out from the terminal.

Tiger Airways Tullamarine
The arrivals hall is basically a shed built in a carpark and most of the walls are wire fencing. I don't have a problem with that if it's saving costs, but it does have an air of temporariness about it, which is not the message to be sending when trying to establish a new airline.
The most peculiar feature of the arrivals hall is the baggage carousel. The wall between the carousel and where the bags are unloaded is a wire fence, so you get to see the bags being unloaded from the trolley. There are some things in life you should never see, and seeing your bags being unloaded by baggage handlers is one of them. I prefer the mystery of waiting at the baggage belt, looking at each bag coming out of the hole. Instead here we get to see a couple of guys chucking the bags onto the belt. It is worse if you can actually see that your bag is on the bottom of the pile. I don't mind the budget hall, just please brick up or put a tarpaulin up to cover the baggage unloading.

Tiger Airways Baggage Carousel
Melbourne Airport was recently voted in the world's top five best airports for its size. This voted would not have included the new budget terminal. Other than the baggage carousel, I'm all for this terminal. It is good for Australia to at last have more than two domestic airlines operating on the continent (counting Jetstar and Qantas as one and the same).
Labels: airport, melbourne, tiger airways
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Tiger Airways Flight Review - Singapore to Melbourne
Flight: Tiger Airways TT 7567 Date: 28 Feb 2008
Tiger Airways is a low cost airline based in Singapore, with its primary hub at Singapore Changi Airport. Tiger Airways began operations in 2004 and has since set up Tiger Airways Australia in Melbourne and plan to launch Incheon Tiger Airways based in Seoul in 2009.

Tiger Airways at Singapore Airport
Tiger Airways fly from Singapore to Melbourne via Darwin. The flight is with Tiger Airways and Tiger Airways Australia on separate aircraft. Unlike other low cost airlines Tiger facilitate the booking of these separate flight segments in the one booking.
Go to Flight Combo on the Tiger Airways website and you can book two segments in one go. It is important to note that this is two separate flights so your bags are not checked through to the final destination.
Another good feature of the Tiger Airways booking procedure is that you can pick your seat when you book your flight. Oh how I loath the mad scramble for a seat that occurs on low cost airline flights with unallocated seats.
Singapore to Darwin
The entire Tiger Airways fleet consists of Airbus A320 aircraft, thus Tiger only fly within a five-hour radius around Singapore. The flight time from Singapore to Darwin is approximately 4 hours 20 minutes.
As Tiger Airways is a bare minimum no frills airline the onus is on you to keep yourself entertained. There is no TV entertainment and no complimentary meal and drink service.

Tiger Airways Uniform
Darwin Airport
In Darwin you must claim your bags and clear Australian customs. Then you must check in again for the Tiger Airways Australia flight from Darwin to Melbourne. Darwin Airport is small enough to make this a simple transfer and there is about 2 hours between the Singapore arrival and the Melbourne departure.
With a population of just over 110,000 people Darwin is a small capital city, even by Australian standards. When you look at a map though of Australia and Southeast Asia Darwin is well situated to be a major hub of air traffic between Australia and Asia. Jetstar have floated this idea recently with a plan to make Darwin a springboard into Asia, and I will revisit this idea in another post.

Time to spare at a laptop bench - Darwin Airport
Darwin to Melbourne
The second leg of this flight is with Tiger Airways Australia. Flight time from Darwin to Melbourne is just over 4 hours, leaving Darwin at 2.20am and arriving at Melbourne Tullamarine at 8am. I always forget what a big and empty continent Australia is. Asia seems so far away and exotic to us Aussies. Exotic certainly, but Darwin is much closer to many Asian cities than most other Australian capitals.
Like the flight from Singapore this is a no frills service. Drinks and snacks are available to purchase. Here is a price sample (in Australian Dollars):
Muffins $3
Pot Noodles $4
Coke(250ml) $2.5
Coffee $3
Beer (VB/Hahn) $6
At the moment Tiger Airways Australia only operate in and out of their Melbourne base. They are scouting around for new Australian hubs which should be known sometime in 2008.

Tiger Airways - Proudly Calling Melbourne Home
Labels: airlines, australia, darwin, flight review, melbourne, singapore, tiger airways
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Friday, February 08, 2008
Jetstar Flight Review - Melbourne to Bangkok
Jetstar is the low cost airline brand of Qantas. They operate flights from Australia to popular destinations in Asia as well as New Zealand and Hawaii.

Jetstar at Melbourne Airport
As Jetstar is a low cost airline it doesn't have the usual frills of a full service airline such as free food and drink and personal entertainment units.
If you are used to flying long haul flights with full servive airlines like Qantas or Thai Airways then flying with a low cost is a step down in the travel experience. What you need to remember is that you are paying for the service of a cheaper flight.
Before you Fly
If you want extra frills onboard you can pre-purchase the following items online when you buy your ticket:
- Buy before you fly and drink free $30 (2 meals and unlimited drink)
- Blanket and amenity pack $7
- Video on demand with headsets $10
If you want to save money on the flight come prepared before you fly. Have a big meal before you go and bring some snacks and you wont need to buy anything onboard.
Onboard
If you didn't pre-purchase you can buy onboard. A selection of prices include:
- Cadbury Chocolate $3
- Sandwiches $6
- Light meal $10
- Full meal $15
- Beer (375m) $6
- Coffee $3
For entertainment there are video screens onboard that show tv programs and a movie during the flight for free. If you want your own personal video screen with movies on demand then you can still rent it onboard if you didn't pre-order it online.
Labels: airlines, bangkok, jetstar, melbourne
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Friday, January 25, 2008
Banksy in Melbourne

Banksy - Melbourne
Labels: art, australia, banksy, melbourne
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Thursday, January 24, 2008
Everybody Loves Roger

Bryan Bros - Margaret Court Arena
Not only do you see tournament games, but you can watch players practicing on side courts. I found one small court with more people surrounding it than at some of the games in progress. It could only mean one thing - that Federer was there. The world's number one tennis player is such a popular figure that he could have practiced on one of the show courts and filled it.

Roger Federer Practicing
Labels: australia, melbourne, sport
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Friday, January 11, 2008
The Fourth Busiest Air Route in the World

For the record, here is the top 10.
Top 10 Busiest Routes Worldwide by Weekly Number of Flights
Barcelona (BCN) <> Madrid (MAD)
Sao Paulo Congonhas (CGH) <> Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont (SDU)
Jeju (CJU) <> Seoul (GMP)
Melbourne (MEL) <> Sydney (SYD)
Cape Town (CPT) <> Johannesburg (JNB)
Mumbai (BOM) <> Delhi (DEL)
Sapporo Chitose (CTS) <> Tokyo Haneda (HND)
Jakarta Soekamo (CGK) <> Hatta Surabaya (SUB)
Honolulu (HNL) <> Kahului (OGG)
Fukuoka (FUK) <> Tokyo Haneda (HND)
It will be interesting to to see the changes in list for 2008. A high speed train line has just been built between Barcelona and Madrid, so they may drop from the top spot eventually. Also watch the rise of the Mumbai and Delhi route.
Labels: airlines, australia, melbourne, sydney
Posted by James Clark - editor of itravelnet.com
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Friday, December 28, 2007
The Boxing Day Test
Boxing Day Test

Australia v India - MCG
Labels: australia, cricket, india, melbourne
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Saturday, September 01, 2007
The Amazing Human Body Exhibition
The show is a display of real human bodies that have undergone plastination. Basically water is replaced with plastic at death, with willing donors of course, preserving the body forever.
The Amazing Human Body Exhibition is on at Melbourne Docklands from 30 June to 1 October 2007. I have seen similar show advertised around the world ( a similar exhibition featured in the latest Bond movie Casino Royale), so highly recommended if this circus comes to your town.
amazinghumanbody.com.au

Labels: australia, melbourne, the amazing human body
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Friday, August 31, 2007
Sea Shepherd
seashepherd.org

Labels: australia, melbourne, sea shepherd
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Tall Ship Enterprize
I just found out about Melbourne Day as they have been advertising the fact that the replica tall ship Enterprize will be at the Melbourne Docklands and open to the public.
The Enterprize was the original schooner that brought the first European settlers to Melbourne in 1835. This Enterprize is a replica and was launched in 1997.

Labels: enterprize, melbourne
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Thursday, August 23, 2007
Gates of Hell - Laneways of Melbourne
Gates of Hell
Heather B. Swann
Degraves Place (off Degraves Street between Flinders Street and Flinders Lane)
20 July - 9 March 2008

Gates of Hell

Gates of Hell - Degraves Place Melbourne
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Saturday, July 28, 2007
"I'm from Batman" - What might have been.
Sometimes I wonder though what might have been if Melbourne was named after one of the first European exploroers to land on the Yarra river, John Batman.
Us Melburnians could have been be saying that "I'm from Batman". We might have been known as "Batmaniacs".
As it stands I'm happy with the name Melbourne, and I'm grateful that we were founded in his time. Melbourne just as easily could have been called Peel or Disraeli. "I'm from Peel" or "I'm from Disraeli" just doesn't roll off the tongue as eloquently as Melbourne.

John Batman - Melbourne
Labels: australia, batman, melbourne
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Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Good to be Home

Flinders St Station and Melbourne Skyline
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
A touch of Europe in Melbourne
Relay have now come to Melbourne at the magnificent Southern Cross Station. Whenever I walk past this shop I am reminded of train stations of Europe.

Southern Cross Station
Labels: europe, melbourne, train station
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Saturday, February 24, 2007
Melbourne to Mumbai
The Age today had an article about the hubbing of international Qantas flights out of Sydney. It is a fair enough business decision to do this, but I would have thought Melbourne is big enough for more direct flights. It seems that Indian Airlines thinks so as they will soon be operating direct flights from New Delhi to Melbourne.
Labels: india, indian airlines, melbourne, mumbai, qantas
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Sunday, November 05, 2006
Round the world on a motorbike
If you are in Melbourne around Swanston Walk you can meet him and his well travelled bike, or follow his progress on his website: yarets.com

Labels: belarus, melbourne, minsk, motorbike, vladimir yarets
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Thursday, April 06, 2006
Amma "the hugging saint" Australian Tour
Labels: amma, hugging saint, melbourne
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Friday, March 17, 2006
W-11 Karachi to Melbourne Tram
As part of Festival Melbourne2006, which is running during the Commonwealth Games, a team of Karachi vehicle decorators have transformed a regular Melbourne tram into a W-11 Karachi style mini-bus. The W-11 is running along the city circle route in the CBD of Melbourne. The tram ride is free.

The tram is decked out in flowers and layers of cut out vibrant vinyl patterns and covered in flashing LCD lighting. Then there is the music. Loud popular music from Pakistan complement this amazing project to complete the W-11 experience.

W-11 Karachi to Melbourne
Labels: australia, melbourne, sport, tram
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Saturday, January 28, 2006
Kangaroo Karnival

Kangaroo Karnival in Melbourne
Labels: australia, cow parade, kangaroo karnival, melbourne
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Spiegeltent - Melbourne

Spiegeltent - Melbourne
Labels: australia, melbourne, spiegeltent
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