The station is located in the middle of the Melbourne Central Business District on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Street.  The location of Flinders Street Station has been the central hub of rail transport in Melbourne dating all the way back to 1854. By the 1880’s the then existing railway station was getting too old and a replacement would be needed.  In 1899 a design contest was held for what the exterior of the new station would look like.  On May 22, 1900 the first prize was awarded to JW Fawcett and HPC Ashworth for their design of what the station looks like today. 

Flinders Street Station in 1910.

The construction of the new station wasn’t completed until 1910, but the station was well worth the wait as it is easily one of the most beautiful train stations in the entire world.  The people of Victoria definitely got their money’s worth for investing in the new station considering that the bright gold color and clocktowers of the station has been a Melbourne fixture for nearly 100 years now. 

Here is a look at the station from above as seen from the observation deck of the Rialto Towers.  The gold color of the station easily stands out among all the much larger buildings that surround it:

Here is a closer look at the station from above:

You can see Melbourne’s Federation Square right across the street from Flinders Street Station at the top of the picture.  I have always found it ironic that one of the city’s most beautiful buildings is right across the street from easily its most ugly building. 

Here are some facts and figures from the Victorian Department Transportation website on the amount of travelers this historic station still sees every day:

Each week, more than 10,300 passenger-carrying suburban train services operate to and from Flinders Street Station.

On an average weekday, more than 110,000 people pass through the station and its ten platforms.

At 708 metres long, platform 1 is the fourth longest railway platform in the world.

Just about every time I go through Flinders Street Station the place seems to be packed with commuters.  It is also quickly becoming the place to meet up to launch protests or as the 2006 World Cup showed a place to cheer on the nation’s sports teams.  If in Melbourne it is definitely worth a stop to take a look at the station and admire its beautiful architecture.  Here is a tip for everyone, definitely buy a Spanish doughnut from the guy on the Swanston Street side of the station; just like visiting the station itself, you won’t regret it. 

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The word Ningaloo belongs to the Gnulli people, traditional owners of the coast surrounding the North West Cape of WA. Ningaloo means promontory, but like everything about the stretch of coast between Carnarvon and Exmouth, the name is so much more than it first seems. Just saying Ningaloo conjures images of whale sharks and coral, wilderness and adventure.

magine a promontory shaped like a beckoning finger, nearly 200 km long and jutting into the Indian Ocean. Try to comprehend a landscape that is one of the driest in Australia – with a mere 226mm of rain and an evaporation rate of more than 2.5m annually. Some years, if there isn’t a cyclone, it doesn’t rain at all. On average, the sun shines 320 days out of 365.

Ningaloo is famous not just for its reef, surf breaks and fishing but also its soul-destroying winds, white-hot 45°C temperatures and frontier-like feel. The harshness of the landscape, the swarms of native wasps and bush flies, the fine sand that blows into every nook and cranny, and the burning sun make its gentler moments seem like epiphanies.

Standing sentinel over the northern reef is the Cape Range, a rugged upward fold of limestone packed with fossilised prehistoric marine life including countless perfectly preserved shark teeth that are embedded in the rock and visible to the naked eye.

Inside the boundaries of the surrounding 47,655 ha Cape Range National Park is Mandu Mandu rock shelter, part of a massive system of sinkholes and caves that underpin the peninsula’s weathered spine. Here, archaeologists have confirmed the oldest evidence of the collection and use of fish, shellfish and crabs by indigenous Australians – an astonishing 32,000 years.

Ningaloo Reef itself stretches from the skyscraper-high mili­tary radio antennas, just outside Exmouth, southwards for almost 300km. It’s the nation’s longest fringing coral reef and the name­sake of the 5218 sq.km Ningaloo Marine Park.  [Australian Geographic]

Make sure to read the rest because it is a good read as usual from Australian Geographic.

I actually was very close to Ningaloo when my wife and I visited Shark Bay.  We had the option of either traveling further up the coast of Western Australia to see Ningaloo or head back down south and see the southwestern portion of the state.  We decided to head back south because we figured we had already done a lot of swimming and sailing in the area and wanted to see a different part of the state, which the southwest of the state definitely is with the high peaks of the Stirling Ranges and the region’s thick karri forests.  We had an absolutely fantastic time exploring this area, but we both one day look forward to when we can spend time exploring Ningaloo as well.

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It is great being a home owner and my wife and I are really enjoying our home that we got at a great price from the seller who we talked down by $20,000 because he was so desperate to sell his home.  We have so far been enjoying our new life here in West Texas, which neither of us are from. I have lived outside the US for so long now that everything here actually feels new and fresh now.  So it is great to be back and I will be blogging about being back in the US as well as continuing to blog about Australia, which by no means is behind me as work commitments will ensure I remain involved with Australia and many other places in the world I get to travel to. 

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FOR 18 months it has been throwing a bevy of light jabs at its ominous opposition, punching well above its weight and attempting to niggle at its foes.

But today, Tiger Airways will land its first big blow – launching flights, with very low fares, between Melbourne and Sydney, the world’s third busiest travel route, reports The Daily Telegraph.

The Singapore-funded carrier will begin four daily services on the route, attempting to steal away passengers from rivals Virgin Blue and Jetstar and cement its place on the Australian aviation scene.

Its fare offering, starting at $39 each way, including tax and charges, is set to create yet another price war on the route, as the incumbents fight to protect their market.

Tiger Airways managing director Shelley Roberts said yesterday the airline expected to add more than 500,000 passengers to the route in its first year, before launching more flights.

Gate crashing Tiger Airways’ Sydney debut will be another new entrant to the city – the world’s biggest airline, Delta.  [The Daily Telegraph]

I have flown Tiger Airways before and they are able to offer these low fares because of cuts in cabin food service and a very low weight allowance for your bags.  If you are not carrying much luggage and bring a snack with you on the plane, Tiger can offer you some big savings.

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Via News.com

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I had never seen or even heard of this movie before, but after watching it I can understand why it is such a classic film to so many Australians.  The movie is about a family living near the Melbourne Airport who are being forced to move out of their home because of a runway expansion project.  The family is refusing to move and launches protests and legal actions to stop their eviction.  The movie is filled with laugh and the underlying theme that many Australians cherish of “a fair go”.  Incredibly this cult classic in Australia was filmed in 11 days and with a budget of only $500,000 AU. 

Since I first watched that movie I have now seen it many times and actually own it and show it to other Americans that have never been to Australia before.  The longer you live in Australia the funnier this movie becomes because you better understand Australian humor.  Something I really found surprising about this movie was that I learned that Eric Bana started out in Australia as a comedian and is now a famous Hollywood action actor.  

Anyway the vacation home of the family depicted in ‘The Castle’ is a place called Bonnie Doon.  For those that don’t live in Victoria, they may not realize that Bonnie Doon is in fact a real place.  It is a very small village about 115 kilometers northeast of Melbourne along the highway to Mansfield.  On one of my trips to Mt. Buller I stopped in Bonnie Doon to take a few pictures.  Here is the Wikipedia entry about the history of the town:

The township was established subsequent to gold discoveries in the area. It was originally named Doon after the town of that name in Ireland. The Post Office opened on October 1, 1866 and was renamed Bonnie Doon in 1891 coinciding with the arrival of the railway. ^[2]

Much of the original town of Bonnie Doon was flooded by the construction of Lake Eildon in the 1950s. The township was relocated; some buildings were picked up and moved, whilst others were able to remain in their original site, such as the churches.

The first thing people see in Bonnie Doon like in many small Australian towns is the ANZAC Memorial.  Even in a small village like this, they had town’s people who fought and died in World War I:

The memorial location was actually a pretty nice little park that many people stopped at to use the public restroom facilities there and take a break before continuing on down the road to Mansfield:

Bonnie Doon has a populatin of about 755 people and by looking at downtown you believe it because the place looked like a ghost town:

Just outside of Bonnie Doon are two large bridges that are supposed to cross part of Lake Eildon.  One of the bridges in the newer highway bridge for cars to cross and the other bridge is an old railway bridge that has now been converted into a walking path:

I walked out across the bridge and from there I had a great view of Lake Eildon:

As you can see the lake no longer reaches out this far any more due to the lack of rain fall and over use of water resources in Australia due to agriculture and a expanding population.  This now dry portion of the lake has now turned into a popular place for dirt or mort bike riders as there was a number of people on these bikes taking advantage of the open land. 

Overall, there is not much to see in Bonnie Doon, but for fans of the ‘The Castle’ it is worth taking a pit stop here if on your way to Mansfield anyway and picture Darryl Kerrigan singing to his family “Were Going to Bonnie Doon”.  

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Richard Wilkins from the Today Show must feel really stupid after getting conned with this story.  You can read more details about how this hoax came about here.

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The mystery of crop circles in poppy fields in Australia’s southern island state of Tasmania has been solved — stoned wallabies are eating the poppy heads and hopping around in circles.

“We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles,” the state’s top lawmaker Lara Giddings told local media on Thursday.

“Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high,” she said.

Many people believe crop circles that mysteriously appear in fields around the world are created by aliens.

Poppy producer Tasmanian Alkaloids said livestock which ate the poppies were known to “act weird” — including deer and sheep in the state’s highlands.

“There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles,” said field operations manager Rick Rockliff.

Australia produces about 50 percent of the world’s raw material for morphine and related opiates.  [Reuters]

I had no idea Australia grew so much opium, especially in Tasmania.  That explains a lot about the people from Tasmania. 

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Via Anthony Watts.

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They were tasked by the Australian Defence Department in 1919 to survey and leave supplies for aircraft participating in an air race across the states of Queensland and the Northern Territory[1]. Their experiences crossing the desolate Outback convinced the two friends that an air service was a more reliable form of transportation to connect the remote communities that resided in this formidable desert.

After completing their expedition the two friends immediately began to seek financial backing for their idea and were able to convince a wealthy cattle rancher they met during their expedition to find investors to fund their idea[2]. The wealthy rancher Fergus McMaster was successful in organizing enough investor to support Fysh and McGinnes’ idea. On November 16, 1920 the dream of these two men, that had been inspired just a year earlier, became a reality when the papers formally creating the Queensland and North Territory Aerial Services Limited (QANTAS) were signed at a Brisbane, Queensland hotel. Unlike other western nations, the country of Australia would end up having a reliable air service across their country before railways or even roads connecting the nation’s cities had even been constructed.

The airline began operations with just two war surplus bi-planes piloted by Fysh and McGinness. In their first year of operations the two pilots transited 871 passengers and flew 54,000 kilometers across the Australian Outback. By 1924 demand for their services had increased to include conducting mail runs. The two pilots purchased a DH-50 with an enclosed cabin which allowed passengers to travel for the first time without a helmet or goggles. That year Qantas would also make history by transporting the Australian Prime Minister S.M. Bruce for the first time on official travel by aircraft. 1924 would also be the first year that Qantas turned a profit by making $2,248 that year[3].

In 1926 the airline would make another Australian first when it produced the first domestically manufactured aircraft in Australia, the DH-50a that was produced under license just for Qantas in Australia. Qantas would also open the first flight school in Australia in 1927 with the opening of the Brisbane Flying School. The following year Qantas’ flight operations would expand even further when the airline signed a contract to provide on demand medical flight services, which became the founding of the Flying Doctors Service[4] that still provides medical flights from remote Australian communities to this very day.

Over the next few years the airline continued to purchase more aircraft and train more pilots to support its ever expanding air routes. The airline once again made an Australian aviation first when in 1935 it became the first airline to conduct an overseas passenger flight between Brisbane and Singapore[5]. The next few years would see Qantas strike up a partnership with the British Imperial Airways, which only further enhanced Qantas’ ability to provide overseas services for its passengers.

However, the peace time days of expansion for Qantas would come to an end when Australia was thrown into the conflict of World War II. During the opening weeks of the war Qantas continued to fly the dangerous route in and out of Singapore providing a vital communications link to the nation during the Japanese onslaught on the island. When the island fell in February 1942 the last Qantas plane on the island was just barely able to escape falling into the hands of the Japanese. By March 1942, of the ten aircraft flying international routes five had either been shot or crashed while conducting unarmed war time service. The remaining five aircraft were recalled to Australia and no more overseas passenger flights were conducted until after the war[6].

However, that didn’t mean that Qantas would no longer conduct overseas flights to help the war effort. In 1943 a daring plan was launched to reconnect an aerial line of communication between Australia and the British Empire when Qantas agreed to fly for the first time a flight between Perth, Western Australia and Sri Lanka. The flight was successful and Qantas would continue with this service for the rest of the war with incredibly not one accident occurring or shoot down of any of their aircraft occurring[7].

After the war Qantas began to modernize their aircraft with DC-3’s and expand their aerial routes. The next post-war decade like much of the western world was boom years for Qantas. Their modernization efforts would see the airline begin for the first time flights to Europe and North America. Their most popular fight between Sydney and London would famously become known as the Kangaroo Route[8].

The proceeding decades would see Qantas continue to expand and modernize to the point to where now they now offer air services around the globe and are equipped with the world’s most modern aircraft to include the brand new A380[9]. Most notably about Qantas is that the airline has never suffered a deadly airplane crash since upgrading to jet airliners with their last deadly crash occurring in 1951[10]. In recent months the airline has had some safety scares[11], but continues to maintain an outstanding safety record overall. Qantas’ safety record is so well known that in the movie “Rain Man” Dustin Hoffman’s character insists he would never fly in a plane unless it was Qantas[12]. While the airline may have a reputation for safety its service image has taken a hit in recent years after various results shows the airline lagging in customer polls[13].

Qantas in recent years had continued to make profits during the rise in oil prices, but the economic down turn has sharply affected the airline. Qantas’ CEO has indicated that the airline is open to merging with another airline in order to continue to stay competitive in today’s global airline industry[14]. In the first six months of 2009 the airline expects to lose $180 million. If business for the airline does not pick up later this year, Qantas may be forced to restructure around its successful JetStar business model and become solely a discount airline[15].

Despite the budget issues, for the future Qantas is still planning to have its fleet of 747’s completely replaced with the ultra modern A380’s by 2013. So without a doubt Qantas is going to look different both physically and possibly organizationally in the future, but should still continue to be the top airline in Australia and one of the most respected around the world.

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