Blog Marco

One of Sydney's Western suburbs, Blacktown, is out of phone, internet and EFTPOS services this weekend after vandals cut a Telstra communications cable around 8am this morning (Vandals are awake so early these days?!?!). The vandals severed two fibre optic cables affecting these telecommunication services in Blacktown, Rooty Hill, Erskine Park, Arndell Park and Shalvey. Sort of similar to the very recent episode of SouthPark called "Over Logging" when the whole town lost their Internet. Of course it wasn't from vandals, but rather, the Internet was lost because of too many people using the Internet and the network simply gave up.

Sydney is a great place to live in. And as the survey of 630 Sydneysiders have shown that it is a pleasant place to live in. Out of 8500 respondents to the survey taking place in Alexandria (Egypt), Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Lyon (France), Mexico City, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Prague and Tokyo. But Sydney does have it's flaws. One major flaw is the public transport system. It's "okay" to go from anywhere in Sydney to the Sydney CBD. If you're travelling from the fringes of metropolitan Sydney it will take you anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours to travel in. The problem is if you want to travel from north-west to south-west and other combinations as there are no direct routes. The only concession to this was the recent completion of the Sydney orbital road which connects a handful of motorways and freeways together in a circular route around Sydney. Other problems include the class divide: rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer... and minor racial tensions and divide.

This is a calendar of the main annual events in Sydney. If you are looking for specific events in Sydney this page from the City of Sydney will be helpful to you.

January

Sydney Festival
Art, open-air concerts and theatre performances.
Various venues
Website: www.sydneyfestival.com.au

February - March

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
The world's largest gay festival, climaxing in a costume parade and an all-night party.
Various venues, parade on Oxford Street
Website: www.mardigras.org.au

Tropfest
February/March
The world's largest short film festival.
The Domain
Website: www.tropfest.com

Royal Easter Show
March/April
Traditional farm show held over 12 days.
Sydney Olympic Park
Website: www.eastershow.com.au

For you guys looking for Free Wifi in Sydney, hopefully this page will be of use to you. Sydney City Council had a trial of free internet hotspots earlier 2008, and plans are that they will have a permanent network by the end of the year. I haven't personally checked or tried all of these but please... if you find a free WiFi hotspot in Sydney or would like to give a review, drop a comment below. Or if you are a Cafe, restaurant or hotel and want to publicize your Free WiFi hotspot feel free to comment below.

Let's start off with central Sydney, a hot tourist place - The Rocks. Here's how you get connected for free:

The service allows anyone located indoors or outdoors within The Rocks’ Wi-Fi hotspot – between Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay – to access the high speed wireless connection for 30 minute blocks.

It’s a perfect way to check up on local dining, entertainment and accommodation options as well as arts and cultural events and local tours in the precinct at The Rocks’ new-look website.

Sydney | Marco's blog | 2 comments | read more»

Submitted by Marco on Mon, 17/03/2008 - 12:31pm.

I was just calculating my M4 M5 Cashback Rebate forms (for the M4 and M5 motorways in Sydney) and I thought some people may want to know how to figure out which component of the toll was the GST component and which can be refunded. The M4 toll is currently at $2.20 and for most people its quite obvious that the GST component is 20 cents (which can't be refunded) and the refundable component with the cashback rebate is $2. For the M5, the toll is currently $3.80, which isn't such a round number to figure out easily the GST component. To find out the GST component you simply divide $3.80 by 11 to find out the GST which turns out to be 34.5454... cents and hence the refundable component is $3.4545... yes it is a repeating value... just figure it into your end calculations. Good luck.

There's a civil construction boom in Sydney at the moment - a few years ago the M7 was opened, and more recently the Lane Cove Tunnel was opened. There are plans for another rail link in Sydney. The NSW Government is to consider an east-west underground railway dubbed the Anzac Line, and a radical plan for a western Sydney fast train. Officials from the Ministry of Transport, led by the acting director of public transport planning, Rod Staples, are expected to set out a vastly different picture of the city's transport future. Mr Staples's plan advocates an east-west underground metro-style line using single-deck carriages and running between Malabar and West Ryde, under Anzac Parade and Victoria Road. It would ease congestion along Victoria Road, with stations at the University of NSW, Moore Park, Drummoyne, Gladesville and Ryde, all expected to attract large numbers of commuters. Public transport travel time from Drummoyne and Maroubra into the city would be cut by one-third. There are plans to be unveiled of privately-funded fast rail service between Penrith and the city. Backed by private investors, the Western FastRail trains would travel at up to 160kmh through 26-kilometre tunnels between Parramatta and Wynyard, and cut travel times between Penrith and the city to less than 30 minutes.

On Monday and Tuesday, I've spent the most money on car parking I've ever had in my whole life. AUD$65 per day! $130 over two days for all day parking. Crazy! This was at No 1. Martin Place right under The Westin Hotel in Sydney. Thats $65 day rate... is this the most expensive parking in Sydney? Which leads me to the question... what is the most expensive parking in the world?

I'm running the Sydney City2Surf (a 14km fun run) this year on Sunday, August 12th and I'm fundraising for my favourite charity Gawad Kalinga. Gawad Kalinga is all about addressing the issue of poverty by providing housing, services and building communities in Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Cambodia, East Timor, India and South Africa. You can donate some money to the charity by credit card or paypal. Or you can pledge some money by just getting in contact with me.

You can find more information about Gawad Kalinga at this new blog I set up.

I would have to say the Nando's nude pole dancing advertisement airing on Free-to-Air TV and cinemas this week has gone viral. It has had TV spots in prime time current affairs TV programs as well as numerous blogs and even a Boycott Nandos page - which I think is a bit of an overreaction. Move with the times buddy! The Advertising Bureau (look under June 2007) dismissed all 200+ complaints and allowed the ad to continue to air. Personally I thought the ad was quite smart and it really did catch my attention. I was watching South Park last Monday when the ad aired. I was wondering what the hell they were selling until I saw the Nando's brand... I do think the company has made a mistake in the style of advertisement... I would not have matched the image and branding of Nando's to such an advertisement. I will continue to eat at Nando's - but only because I like the taste of their food and not for the advertisement.

According to news reports, Channel Seven is going to air both Heroes and Prison Break on the same day as their US screenings. So does that finally mean we don't need to download TV shows from the Internet? It possibly does. It would definitely save internet surfers time (and electricity!). Both TV shows wiil be aired in September and October. Also, Channel Seven is looking to release TiVo in Australia soon. CHANNEL Seven will broadcast two of its cult import dramas, Heroes and Prison Break on the same day as their US screenings in a ploy to lure drifting audiences away from DVDs and the internet.

Nope, its not raining in Sydney now.. but the rains have increased our dams by 10.8 percent to 50 percent full (or is that 50 percent empty?) anyhow, the previous week of rains (and floods) have brought about 7 and half months worth of water to Sydney's drinking supply. The dams are now at their highest since May 2004 with about 180 millimetres of rain falling across the Warragamba catchment since June 7. "Over the past two weeks up to 320 millimetres of rain has fallen on Sydney's catchment areas, boosting the dams by 336 billion litres of water," said the Premier, Morris Iemma. "This is some of the best rain we've had in more than eight years."

Remember when Paris Hilton was in town during New Year's and she was promoting a Beer in Bondi? Well they made a *slightly* controversial advertisement playing on oral sex as well as drinking while swimming. The advert stars Koby Abberton, champion surfer and Bra Boy, and the Bondi Blonde is Jaime Wright. Here is that banned Bondi Blonde Beer advertisement video. Why is it banned? Well actually it hasn't been approved yet by the adjudication panel of the Alcohol Beverage Advertising Code (ABAC) on the grounds that beer was being drunk in water sports as well as the sexual connotations. Anyway, you can read all about the legalities of this case here and read about when the beer first came onto the limelight back in 2003.

Why do people travel? People travel to escape, to escape reality: to escape their jobs, to escape problems, to escape the rigours and stresses of daily life. People travel to London to see the Queen, to see the important historical artefacts, to see great photos and paintings, to see a musical. People travel to Paris to find romance, to see Mona Lisa, to watch Moulin Rouge, to see the Eiffel Tower or the Gargoyles from Notre Dame. People come to Sydney to visit our wonderful beaches, to watch Opera, to witness our beautiful harbour. People come to Fatima, Portugal to find their spiritual peace. People visit Greece to see the ancient ruins at Athens, Olympia and Delphi. And what do people come back to? The same reality, the same job, the same problems, the same stresses.

Have you ever wondered what is the most expensive property in Australia? Well, a record was set in 2002 with a property fetching $28 million - Altona Mansion which is located in a Sydney suburb called Point Piper. And if you want to rent this haroubourside mansion for a day you would have to pay $10 to $15 thousand dollars a night. And people do rent out these places for parties, company meets or celebrities like Bono who stayed there last year on their U2 Vertigo tour. As for photos of this place - they have remained elusive - not even a google imgae search for "Altona mansion" turned up any images at all.

I was on my way to a photography job in North Sydney when I found myself sidetracked. I needed to buy supplies for the job so I proceeded across the Harbour Bridge, past North Sydney and up Gore Hill Freeway. Now, this is the location of all the new Lane Cove Tunnel works and I was to exit up Reserve Road... I missed the exit. Suddenly I found myself in the newly opened Lane Cove Tunnel (just opened a day after the NSW state elections last Sunday). Thankfully the tunnel is in its toll-free period otherwise I would have paid $2.55 x 2 (since I went through, did a Uwie and went back). I would have to say, the TJH (Theiss John Holland - the company who built the tunnel) guys did a pretty good job (but then I used to work there). I remember doing a site visit down in the tunnels - just when it was bare rock (the rock the tunnel bored through is mostly Sydney sandstone and some shale) and with the huge boring machines working away at the rock.

One thing that did catch my eye while driving through the tunnel (not counting the entrance design, the toll-booth free configuration, the huge jet-fans, the wide ass lanes and the colour of the walls) was the lighted street signs.