Two Days in Dubbo

Published on Jan. 27, 2010 in Australia

Yan-Shih and I are quite big fans of trains. I especially like sitting back and relaxing, reading a good book, and writing postcards. After our 60-hour train-ride through China, the 6-hour train-ride from Sydney to Dubbo was no problem.

One aspect we researched in Dubbo was how to get around without a car; we like to live green, and renting a car is sometimes a bit expensive. After eventually finding the bus schedule, which didn't even go anywhere near the zoo, we knew we had two options: 1) take taxis and rent a bike, or 2) rent a car. Two bikes for four hours in the zoo costs $30, plus the taxi around the city. Unfortunately, Dubbo is just a bit too big to comfortably walk around, and being in Western NSW, it is 40C during the summer. We opted to rent a car.

Two blocks from the rail station was Budget, where we had pre-booked a small rental. We quickly visited our Hotel, the Cattlemen's Inn, and then went to one of the local vineyards, the Tombstone. Yan-Shih and I have visited several vineyards: in New Zealand, in the Hunter Valley, and California. We exited the road into the little gravel yard, and didn't see anybody. After walking around for a few minutes we met a guy, wearing a motor racing shirt and missing a few teeth; "don't have kids" he yelled at us. We entered the plywood wine tasting hut and embarked on the most unique wine tasting experience possible. Our wine-master worked in our suburb as a chef at the local pub, but spent half the year in Dubbo with his family tending the vineyard. He mentioned he'd earn 50k in six months at the pub, and he'd also just bought a 30k BMW Mini, which is Yan-Shih's favourite car. He was tearing out the front seats and sticking in a V8. We also discussed about the local population of Dubbo, about working the vines, and Australia in general. The experience was a bit surreal, but interesting, and we left with a bottle of Shiraz and some good memories.

We next visited the cafe with the "best coffee in Dubbo", but the coffee was easily the worst we'd had in Australia. It has "washing machine" foam, and the espresso was borderline cold. The coffee in Central Station was even significantly better, and I even get a discount. Leaving unsatisfied, we debated what to do. We looked north and saw a national park that could be interesting, and we left for that. Even just 30m out of Dubbo I started to have feelings of the Real Australia, of Steve Erwin, and then we went back to the hotel.

On the way back we stopped by the local Indian restaurant, which actually had damn good curry, and finally settled back in our hotel. We spent the rest of the night watching the Australian Open and the News, eating curry and blue cheese, and finally fell asleep.

The next morning we checked out of the Cattlemen's, which we'd recommend if there is a sale, and drove through the CBD and found the only place open, a little cafe with a very Australian waitress. Then again, it was Australia Day, so anybody not decked in an Australian flag was obviously unpatriotic. She brought us our cappuccinos, and I have to admit, the other cafe should have their "best coffee" title striped away. The coffees weren't spectacular, but at least it tasted like the cappuccinos in Sydney. The chocolate muffin was even good, and after eating we left for the zoo.

Although the zoo is a bit expensive at $45 per person (Yan-Shih got a student discount), we basically came to Dubbo for no other reason. I'm glad we entered the zoo right at 9:00, because spending the afternoon in 40C+ heat wouldn't be much fun. We left about four hours to travel around the zoo, and unless you're an animal fanatic, I think that's about right. It seemed like we were being passed by more cars that we were passing, so I'm guessing most people did it in far less than four hours. Although I had seen all the animal types before, many in the wild (like the deer my mom shooos away from her garden), we still had fun. If anybody is thinking about visiting the Dubbo Zoo, I almost recommend just walking and leaving the car at the parking lot. It might be a little far, but if you have a hat and lots of water, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble getting in and out of your vehicle.

After the zoo we went to get food at "Hog's Breath", an American-centric steak joint on the corner of the CBD. Although we should have ordered the 18-hour slow roasted steak, we opted for the hamburgers. One thing to note: if they ask you "do you want avocado or bacon with that?" what it actually translates as is "if you want avocado or bacon, we'll charge $3.50 for each, even though your burger is only $12". And $12 for a burger is a bit hefty - I can get a steak and Guinness at some places in Sydney for that. However, it did taste pretty good, so we left it at that and went to the train station.

I dropped Yan-Shih off with our backpacks and returned the car, a few block away, yet nobody was around. I left the keys in the Key Deposit slot and walked back to the train station. Shortly the train arrived, we boarded, and six hours later we were home, and the adventure was over. My overall impressions? This was a good quick adventure to keep the travel bug at bay for a few months.

First Time Boules

Published on Jan. 20, 2010 in Australia

Our regular weekends involve French on Saturday, and lounging around on Sunday. This Sunday, however, e had other plans. Our friends Daisy and Remko invited us over for a few drinks and to play boules. The score was initially 2-12, and we came back to 14-12. Remko and Daisy kept tossing the Jack short, and eventually pulled significantly ahead. We then switched to an amazing dinner: some Indonesian rice, some cabbage, lots of beer, and some chicken. Some great chicken.

Daisy regularly throws pots for fun, and asked us to take a few home. Yan-Shih selected two small bowls, which have become our yoghurt bowls. I used to throw pots when I was younger, and I have to say, these are of great quality. Much appreciated!

Trek to Warragamba

Published on Jan. 10, 2010 in Australia

There are several large cities around the world that blend a great mix of tame and wild elements within the same borders. Portland, where I went to University, was certainly one of them. Located within a 15 minute bike ride from the CBD, the park has an area of over 5,000 acres and makes up part of some of the best biking in Portland. Sydney, where I live now, has similar great attractions. Yesterday we visited Warragamba Park, nestled just outside Penrith, after a morning of work at the Richmond campus. (Yan-Shih worked, I talked with Nathan).

We left the house quite early so Yan-Shih could be at the campus before 8:30, had a pleasant drive, and finally arrived. I helped haul the equipment out to the trees for Yan-Shih to do her experiments, and retreated into the demountable to plug in my laptop and read. Yan-Shih's ex-coworker, Nathan, a faculty member at Boston University, visited the site and we started discussing the finer parts of carbon and technology. A few hours later Yan-Shih had finished her experiments, and Nathan, Remko, Daisy and myself helped push the tractor back and packed away the equipment. We locked the gates and left for Warragamba Park.

Our path took us south from Richmond through Penrith via Mulgoa Road, then to a little set of stores in the tiny village of Wallacia. We bought some brew and snacks, and turned onto Silverdale. We then came to the dirt road off to the right, and continued to the watering hole. The fireroad to the hole was quite steep, and we lost at least one beer along the way. The watering hole reminded me of home, and we opened the snacks and beer. Four hours of hiking in the streams, being stung by weird insects, and 3 coats of sunscreen later, Yan-Shih and I bid our farewells and hiked back up the trail, and went home. Besides the countless shards of broken glass around the water, this was a great little adventure.

Goodbye 2009, The Adopted Version

Published on Jan. 1, 2010 in Australia

Yan-Shih and I have always been very lucky for New Year's Eve here in Sydney. The first year we luckily had a friend who owned an apartment in one of the piers running just next to the Harbour Bridge. The views were spectacular. Last year we decided to be a tad creative and board the train we estimated to cross the bridge right as the fireworks were going off - and it worked great. However, we decided to do something a little different this year, and we ended up being very, very lucky.

Our two friends from Vienna are on a Pacific trip, so they naturally came to Sydney for NYE to visit us. I have always been under the impression that the parks filled up very quickly, so we arrived North Sydney station by noon, bought food for the day, and left to reserve a spot at Blues Point Reserve.

Blues Point Reserve

View Larger Map

I have to concede this point: I think I encouraged us to arrive a little too early. We started walking behind a set of people that looked as though they knew what they were doing. I joked that they were either going to the Point, or home. Right on cue they turned the corner into their apartment, and left us guide-less. We reached the end of the road, but a problem presented itself: there wasn't a path down.

After looking around we realised this was actually a great spot - we could see the harbour bridge, the piers, and it was just big enough for the four of us. And there was a picnic bench. We sat town.

Current time: 12:15pm.

After maybe 30 minutes we heard a door open behind us - the home owner walked out and asked if we were going to stay there to watch the fireworks. We mentioned that was our plan, and she kindly asked us if we would like to use the loo. Having just realised that we overlooked this crucial detail in our NYE plan, we took up the offer. She next showed us the view from her balcony, and told a story of the Sydney Olympics whereas the only clear view of the closing ceremony was shot from her roof.

We thanked her for letting us use the toilet, and resumed our wait on the park bench.

Current time: 12:45pm.

Maybe 15 minutes later she walked out again and said: "I've called my husband, and we wouldn't mind if you came onto our balcony, and you can use our loo whenever you like." I think for Juliene and Yan-Shih the ability to use the bathroom was a gift from the heavens, and the access to a table perked up my spirits. We started playing cards.

After several hours of the weather unable to decide if it wanted to rain or shine, and after finishing our cheese, crackers, and cookies, we retired next to the pool. Although none of us had swimming suits, we still appreciated the opportunity to get under the shade and dip our feet in the water. I had (naturally!) risen at 5:45am that morning, and the heat had worn all of us out. We sprawled out and started napping. Current time: 4:30pm.

The daughters (about our age) had a few friends over, and about 5:30pm they came down and offered us some cheese. Although we had already consumed nearly 300g, we still ate more. They next mentioned that their small dog, "Piggy", had managed to claw through two bags and eat our bread; we were offered beer, and the conversations started.

Up until this point we had tried to stay out of the way, however, I've reached a point in my life where I think I have an interesting story to tell - who I am and why I'm in Australia. I'm also equally interested in the stories other people have to tell, and I was especially interested in the stories of our hosts whom kindly let us borrow a slice of their balcony. The best balcony in Sydney to view the fireworks.

The BBQ was scrubbed and covered in meat, and we were able to talk to the husband. One thing that immediately struck me was his curiosity of who we are. And this wasn't a superficial curiosity, nor the beginnings of basic small talk. It felt to me the curiosity was to add to his collective information about the world; he discussed with Yan-Shih specific historical events that influence her field of study, and would respond "oh, that's a good company" when Christian mentioned where he worked in Vienna.

We helped bring the food upstairs, and everybody started eating dinner. We were given a few glasses of wine, and then were invited to do a walk around Blues Point. The crowds had already thickened significantly, and the police were out in full force. Directly at the entrance was the Riot Squad, and shortly below them about 30 NSW police. Around the corner (hidden from the view of the crowd, but visible from our vantage point on the balcony) were two police buses. And these weren't the little "drunk tanks" that normally drive around - these were complete full-size buses.

We entered the swarm of scantily clad teenage girls and pubescent boys, and my nightmares of 15,000 drunk highschoolers became a reality. Although this was a "no BYO zone", there were cans of beer everywhere, and a plethora of teens in "gladiator shoes" slumped over in the fields. We somehow did a circle around the point, and arrived at the bathrooms. If you're ever going to come down to Blues Point Reserve for NYE, a word of advice: bring a bucket. The queue for the female bathroom must have been at least 30 minutes; there wasn't a queue for the male's bathroom. Recalling this observation illuminates another realisation and bit of advice: I wouldn't lean against any trees in the Point during NYE.

The last observation, and something I've never before in Sydney, was the line at the beer garden, or more accurately, the lack of a line. This wasn't apparent to just me, but our humble tourguides, and was quickly deduced to the fact that we were standing at ground zero of a 15,000 student High School. After reiterating our appreciation for providing us with queue-free loo access, we escaped through the gates and returned to eat desert.

I dutifully retold the story of how Pavlova was named, or at least my version of the story. At 9:00pm the "kiddie fireworks" started, and our friends stated their awe that the "kiddie fireworks" in Sydney were bigger than the midnight fireworks in Vienna. Everybody started to temporarily retire, until just before midnight when the "adult fireworks" started.

The fireworks this year appeared to be bigger, higher, and brighter than the previous two years, but this may have just been because we could see five of the six barges launching fireworks. After maybe 15 minutes, and constant photos, the fireworks ended. Hello 2010.

One thing we learned from previous years is the logistics of getting 1.5m people out of the CBD. Last year we couldn't even get into the station at Milson's Point, so we walked up to North Sydney. Even North Sydney was packed with people, and the entrance was heavily regulated; drunken people were continually getting on fights on the train, breaking the train windows, and throwing up everywhere. Our friends needed to be at the airport by 8:00am in the morning, so getting a few hours of sleep was all we could think about.

Because we were a little higher than the rest of the crowd we were luckily able to leave directly after the fireworks ended, and briskly walked to the station. There was no line, and within 5 minutes our train arrived and we were heading home. Current time: 12:27pm.

Blurry Thumbs Up at North Sydney Station

GovHack 2009

Published on Nov. 2, 2009 in Australia

It has been years since I last pulled an all-nighter - but they've always been for good causes. I just did another one - and has an immense amount of fun in the process. The reason? GovHack.

GovHack was an event with the aim to work as a catalyst to encourage the AU government to open up as much information as possible. The process to achieve this was to take the scattered bit of information already available, and disseminate it into useful tools or visualizations for the public to use.

I arrived at about 1:45, as the registration was at 2:00, and was a little worried what I had gotten myself into: there were signs everywhere, but only two people in the room. However, very quickly over the next 30 minutes people started filing into the room, and soon it was too full. A lot of teams came from different organizations, but I came flying solo. Soon I started talking with Christian, a web guy from Melbourne, and Doris a network visualizer also from Melbourne. We started talking about ideas and started to settle on lobbying within the government. After the kickoff ceremony we came back, and I walked to the car to pay for 20 minutes extra parking (we all know the parking rangers get you in those last 20 minutes). When I cam back we had assimilated a few more people flying solo - Michael and Alex. Another colleague, Tim, stayed for a while, but had to unfortunately work the next day.

One observation I can make in retrospect: over the entire 24 hours, not one member of the team had anything negative to say about lobbying or lobbyists - we just wanted to visualize the relationships between the different organizations.

Christian and I helped roadmap the features we thought would be neat to have - and a range of features that could be delivered. Because we didn't even know if the visualization part woul work, we also created a plain categories view, and a geospacial view. We divided up goals and rough divisions of work (although there was a fair amount of overlap), and started hacking.

Alex took on the responsibilities of helping assimilate the data, and create the insanely cool visualization; he was able to do this with a library he had never seen, nor worked with before. Michael assimilated the rest of the data, and somehow kept adding tables to the database with more and more information. Christian created the categories view, and basically glued everything together.

My primary role was to create the geospacial visualization. One element I really wanted to display was the electoral boundaries used throughout Australia - on a 'slippy map'. This proves difficult, as the data isn't in OpenStreetMap, and the KML file is 16 MB large, far too large for a web browser. I ended up writing a little script that took the ESRI file and created the custom tiles for the slippy map - all 70k of them. My little laptop didn't like all that CPU, so I fired up an image on EC2 and eventually uploaded the tiles to S3. If you would like to use them, you can: http://cdn.kelvinism.com/audivisions/ - the code snippit is:

    map.addLayer(new OpenLayers.Layer.TMS(
        "Election Boundaries",
        "http://cdn.kelvinism.com/audivisions/",
        {
            type: 'png', getURL: osm_getTileURL,
            displayOutsideMaxExtent: true,
            isBaseLayer: false,
            wrapDateLine: true
        }
    ));

Anyways, after creating the tiles I added the lobby agency locations. Everybody on our team basically managed to stay up the entire night - not one wink of sleep for most of us. After finding a json feed that had the agency offices, I was able to do a lookup of representative -> division name -> lon/lat of division. Lastly, and left slightly incomplete, I created simple table with the sum of all the value of government money that went to each supplier. There are 7,000 suppliers though, so displaying all of those using javascript just won't happen. In fact, the map is heavy in its current form because of the 200-300 pins that exist.

Overall this project was really fun to work on; the judges gave the project a "Best in Show", which I missed as I needed to get back up to Sydney (darn!) "Team7" came from all different areas, with different skills, but all had decent experience. One example is when we decided early on to choose a revision control system:

• A- How about XVD?
• B- I could use it if I read the manual, I guess.
• C- Yea, me too.
• D- I know TGG and ICD quite well.
• B- Yea, ICD would work.
• C- Yea, seconded.
• E- What's ICD and CVD and TGG (our non-coder and inspiration for large parts of the project).
• D- They are revision control system, so you can...

We're considering entering it in the mashup contest, but some things will need to be tweaked. For instance, I would like to make the map lighter, and would like to add the suppliers onto it. Alex has a few things up his sleeve as well.

Our entry: LobbyClue

Update: We received a Notable Mashing Achievement in the MashupAustralia competition. Good job team!