My Fear Share

A few weeks ago I became aware that there are bats in Sydney. This awareness came about when I observed a ‘bird’ land and clung upside down on a branch of a tree, only about 3 metres away from me. My first thought was that’s a bat and then I thought I’m too close for comfort. This was around about 8pm and was my first experience of what was to be a feature of my time in Sydney.

The following night, and at approximately the same time, I was able to count six bats flying in the same vicinity during a five minute period. I thought that was magic, despite the fact that they are very hard to photograph when they are in flight because the light is also fading.

Twice during two consecutive days later that week I counted over 20 bats within a 10 minute window therefore I decided to make it my plan to learn more.  As it turns out they are called flying-fox fruit bats and their typical wingspan is 1-1.2 metres. Further research told me that the reason why I was seeing so many was because there is a camp or colony of them less than 1km away from my apartment, so what to do, what to do. The following night I explored where you can properly view what is called the fly-out (which takes place approximately 20 minutes after sunset) and this turned out to be the Rosedale Rd Bridge over Stony Creek, just a few blocks away. During about 15 minutes from seeing the first bat I would have seen approximately 500 bats in the air, and apparently that is considered a quiet night due to this being near the end of the season.

It has become one of my highlights here in Sydney.

The third of the three activities that Tess, Adam and Lucy gave me to use during my time in Sydney was for a 90 minute tour of the SCG. The original booking that I made was for last Wednesday but they cancelled that day’s tour because they were setting up for Mardi Gras, which was taking place on Saturday. They rebooked my tour for the Sunday afternoon (within an hour of the Blackcaps beating the Aussies to win the T20 series). For the record not one mention was made of that fact.

We started in the museum before a wander through the Walk of Fame, which featured all the sports played at the SCG such as rugby union, NRL, AFL, and the Empire Games just to name a few. We were taken to the new members stand and this included a tour of the media rooms, radio commentary box, TV studio and the press conference room before we were then allowed access to the grass playing surface (but not near the pitch).

Finally the tour took us to the old members stand, and this included the cricket dressing rooms for both the home and the away teams. I got to see and sit in the cubicle were Steve Smith sits, and I wanted to leave him something to remember me by…but this is a family blog.

Did you know that the SCG was originally called The Garrison Ground until about the late 1800’s – I expect that will be a question to come up on The Chase Australia one day and now we will all know the answer…

Last Thursday I took up the opportunity to fly a Boeing 737-800 (albeit in a flight simulator) and what an amazing experience it was. Thank you Tess, Adam and Lucy for the gift. The simulator, based at Darling Harbour, is used by genuine pilots to get more hours towards their various qualifications, and it feels like the real thing.

The process involves pre-flight instruction re the controls before taking off and landing four times, a total of 45 minutes. The first airport was Queenstown, and the second option involved the two Hong Kong airports (the old Kai Tak airport and the new international airport) which were both much harder to land at. Overall 3 of the 4 landings were great and after the remaining one I’m sure the plane would have still been usable. It’s much easier to take off than it is to land!

Less than 48 hours later I’m climbing onto the real thing to get us from Sydney to Melbourne (737-800) and I believe I could have got the big bird into the air. I knew that the plane was sitting at 20% power at the beginning, when the shift to 40% started and when the park brake was released. I could tell when full throttle was made, wing flaps at 15 and also when the captain pulled the yoke towards himself for lift off at 20° and finally the landing gear tucked away. On arrival into Melbourne I knew when the landing gear was going to come down, that we were coming in at a speed of 150 with the nose up 2.5°, the wing flaps were at 30 and reverse thrust was engaged on touchdown. I also got to repeat it all again the following day returning to Sydney – maybe I should have been a pilot…

Sydney Drivers Vs Dunedin Drivers – I’ve been in Sydney for seven weeks now and have walked enough kilometres during that time to have developed an opinion on which city has the better drivers. I have observed things like lane changes, indicator use, the regularity and reasons for using horns and most importantly speed. These are very busy roads and my walking includes morning rush hour (school drop-offs and work commuters) and as you well know a very distracted time for drivers.

While walking I am often using zebra crossings, and these commonly result in a 50/50 situation regarding whether or not I can step onto the road or the car still has momentum and/or intention of stopping. At least 95% of the time the car, truck or bus is prepared to stop and will wave me across (and I won’t step out unless I can see the ‘whites of their eyes’) and I will always give a wave of acknowledgement even if the road rules compelled them to stop.

Overall I believe Sydney drivers are significantly better than Dunedin drivers and this surprises me especially when you consider the extreme cultures and ethnicities that make up the population here. Compare this to Dunedin where we would have possibly triple the percentage of Europeans making up our driver base and far less of an international flavour in the mix we are very poor drivers.

Unfortunately the same positive comments can’t be said for Sydney’s pedestrian and cycling behaviour. They don’t like to share the footpath, they don’t like to make eye contact, and if you have made an effort (often exaggerated) to step out of their pathway they seldom even give a smile to acknowledge it. I do give credit to the elderly Asian community who do seem more aware, and do move if they see you coming (I suspect that this is possibly more as a result of years of racial abuse and they therefore are avoiding conflict). They genuinely seem surprised when I give them the ‘right of way’.  

My conclusion is that Dunedin is a friendlier city made up of people who can’t drive.

Sydney Vs Melbourne – I have travelled to Sydney and Melbourne numerous times from New Zealand over the past five years or so, and I’ve gradually developed an opinion about their various nuances. Last weekend we travelled to Melbourne to see a stage show – Come From Away (I fully recommend it but this isn’t a review about that). My opinions are not totally balanced as they are not based on equal times spent in similar locations i.e. CBD and suburban areas, but they are gut feelings. I have created a comparison chart to assist in this:

	Sydney	Melbourne
Friendliness	Ok	Ok
Temperature	Good	Ok
Humidity	Too high	Good
Architecture	Excellent	Poor
Personal safety	Good	Poor
Road safety	Good	Ok
Covid prevention	Good	Poor
Public transport	Excellent	Average
Rubbish/litter	Poor	Poor
Weeds	Poor	Ok
Graffiti	Poor	Ok

Overall I have come to the opinion that Sydney is better than Melbourne to live in. I’m sure not everyone may agree but I could live here…

I haven’t been able to add to the blog recently because the internet here ‘fell over’. I have already blogged about the poor quality of the internet here and this certainly confirmed it. On the bright side I was quite impressed with the online process that I was put onto as a remedy for the situation and after about 30 minutes it was resolved. If I had been either less technically minded (or of an older generation) then this might not have been so successful, as it did require a level of knowledge similar to what I have used to configure the school’s server etc.

So I’ve been able to ask some people why it is that it is so poor here compared to NZ. In New Zealand the fibre optic cable is connected to each house, whereas in Australia if fibre is available it is installed in various ways i.e. fibre to the node or fibre to the curb. The closer to the home the better, however it still requires the use of the copper network to finish the job, causing slower speeds.

Again I say thanks for the common sense governance in NZ.

As indicated earlier I have been considering my milk options and I can now update the situation.  Remembering that this is neither scientific, nor a statement about trying to set some sort of vegan pathway into the future, but purely to see if my digestive health improves without affecting the taste and enjoyment of my breakfast etc. 

I can now say that I have been able to eliminate almond milk from the ‘experiment’ and it is now down to cow milk and soy. For me almond milk failed in the flavour department and that is a critical.

Another consideration is the ability to store the milk in the cupboard before opening and therefore a plentiful supply. Cow milk that has been UHT treated has a poor taste to it, and I will not go there, however the soy option does not appear to have that unpleasant treated taste and is quickly becoming a firm favourite. The next test might be how soy stacks up in coffee…

In previous years I haven’t been too bothered about when and what Chinese New Year is, and often only become aware of it as the fireworks go off at Lan Yuan, Dunedin’s Chinese Garden. This year our new friends in Terrey Hills made me aware of it and I thought…yep why not.

Last night was the Lunar New Year and there was a street food festival and entertainment at the St Ives Village Green (very similar to Pioneer Park in Alexandra) and so we decided to go. I want to experience various street food options instead of stuff that I can easily purchase at home in New Zealand i.e. when in Rome etc.

When we arrived it was still about 30 degrees at 6pm, but fortunately it cooled slightly as the cloud cover rolled in. We got there early and after this photo was taken the crowd increased in size by tenfold (the locals must have known better than to arrive while it was still so hot because there is little shelter there).

After thoughtful consideration Lucy chose to have a ‘fancy’ burger and I wasn’t going to battle her choices (I’ve learnt which battles are worth fighting) and I opted for three different varieties of Vietnamese bao: pork belly, chicken and beef and was really satisfied with the flavours, size and cost. It also left me with just enough room left for the ice cream treat for dessert.

The entertainment was meant to go until 9.30pm but we could see the signs in the changing cloud (and I can follow weather forecasts) and left before the rain started which it did at about 8.00pm. I felt sorry for the organisers because it was otherwise a very enjoyable event.

I mentioned Tesla in Part 1, and for the record I don’t really like the look of them. They are the only option of electric car obvious to me here, and in addition to that I have yet to see an EV charging station anywhere. At home in Dunedin I would see a Nissan Leaf at every turn, and at least 10 during an average journey from home to work, but in Sydney I have yet to see one.

I can only conclude that because of government incentives etc. New Zealanders are more keen than Australians to own an electric vehicle.  

In the past couple of weeks I have been out walking all over the place. I don’t have access to a car here in Sydney and the bus and train options are plentiful, however I aim to get fit while I’m here so walking is the go unless the weather craps itself, or I’m needing to go a serious distance like over the bridge and into the city. Most of the walking is along the A1 or the A3 highways and therefore 6 busy lanes of traffic and the walking gives me the opportunity to observe cars on the road.

Owning a Mercedes or BMW seems to be the popular choice here to demonstrate wealth, but the real statement is being made by the number of Tesla and Porsche on the road especially with the latter. Depending on the time of the day, you will see one or both options drive past every two minutes and at its peak it will be every 30 seconds!

Finally the ute, a personal favourite of mine. They are not as popular here as they are in New Zealand and hardly feature on the roads. Vans appear to be the vehicle of choice for tradies.