Back in the Land of the Living
01/08/2013 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaIzzie’s been busy packing up the Camp Nano tent, putting away the phoenix feather quill and emerald ink and returning to the usual abnormal existence
There’s been so much going on in politics not just in Oz but all around the world. Been greedily grabbing all sorts of wonderful cartoons but never got around to posting them
Last week I came across a strange Korean cafe on the north side of the city. Along with the usual selection of newspapers and magazines aimed at tourists and foreign students, there were some rather obscure and intellectual journals gracing the book shelves. One of these had the intriguing title “Political Animal”. It was by David Marr so it was certain to be seriously snarky. It was all about the life and times of one Anthony Abbot who is looking increasingly likely to be the next Australian prime minister.
The recent sudoku addiction did not stand a chance against such wickedly wonderful temptations. It also happened to be perfect research material for November’s nano novel.
A main character who is supposed to be a militant atheist dedicated to stamping out religious expression in all its various incarnations had already developed an obsession with boxing, cycling and running around the beach wearing budgie smugglers.
Even boring old state politics has suddenly gotten very interesting. A whole bunch of local councils are going to get tossed in the bin. There’s been some amusing suggestions for the new names of the amalgamated entities. No matter what the goblins decide, public opinion has pretty much unanimously decided that one council’s unofficial name will be South Park. Another has been simply wiped off the map. Here’s hoping that is the definite sign and omen that its present mayor will run again in the federal election. With a bit of luck she will be our next female prime minister. Unlike Julia Gillard who was too nice for her own good, Alannah McTiernan will be kicking butt big time. Getting the trains running on time would be the least of her achievements
On the subject of trains, the Fremantle line is closed yet again so they can put the final touches to the new tunnel. To compensate for the inconvenience the transport authority put on a bunch of free ferries between the central business district and the port city.
Already did the trip when they first closed the line a fortnight ago. The trip in itself is gorgeous and scenic and it was a lovely sunny day. But it was school holidays at the time and it was like being on a floating playground.
So today was a second chance. The added attraction was arriving right next to the 3 Dutch tall ships presently in the harbour preparing for their grand adventure following in the wake of the Batavia. They are leaving on Saturday and sailing up the coast to the Abrolhos Islands. It will take 12 days to get there and back again
And now it seems the government is going to allow some stinking oil company to go drilling around the islands. Any spills and the islands will be trashed. It’s up there with letting the US navy drop bombs around the Great Barrier Reef. Back in the 1950 the government let them and the Brits use Australia as a testing ground for nuclear weapons. With friends like that who needs enemies?
The 3 Dutch sailing ships are each around 100 years old. The smallest one is called Tecla, the next is the Oosterschilde and the biggest is called Europa complete with a mast head featuring a very voluptuous naked lady embracing a bull. This relationship looked rather more consensual than legend has us believe it ‘really’ was. Got to wondering how on earth a whole continent got named after her.
They will be departing at 5pm on Saturday so must definitely be there to see them set sail.
They weren’t open to the public today but will be on Friday so that is just the excuse the Izzie needs to hop back on that free ferry and take a proper peek.
They apparently still have places for tourists for their assorted long distance sea voyages. No sailing experience required. But you do need to have a spare $2,000 or so to indulge in a claustrophobia sufferer’s worst nightmare. That’s for the Abrolhos Islands Adventure. The trips to the Antarctic are a lot more expensive than that.
Here’s guessing that the paying guests still have to learn the ropes. The boats are so small that there just would not be much room for ‘freeloaders’ even if they are paying big wads of cash for their sea faring adventures
Really must pay another visit to the ship wreck museum where they have bits of the Batavia. It’s one seriously spooky story. It was sort of the Titanic of the 1600s but with less casualties and a lot more drama. Not all Dystopias are in the future. It’s 16 years to go until the 400th anniversary. Might manage to see the musical of the same name between now and then.
There’s been so much going on in politics not just in Oz but all around the world. Been greedily grabbing all sorts of wonderful cartoons but never got around to posting them
Last week I came across a strange Korean cafe on the north side of the city. Along with the usual selection of newspapers and magazines aimed at tourists and foreign students, there were some rather obscure and intellectual journals gracing the book shelves. One of these had the intriguing title “Political Animal”. It was by David Marr so it was certain to be seriously snarky. It was all about the life and times of one Anthony Abbot who is looking increasingly likely to be the next Australian prime minister.
The recent sudoku addiction did not stand a chance against such wickedly wonderful temptations. It also happened to be perfect research material for November’s nano novel.
A main character who is supposed to be a militant atheist dedicated to stamping out religious expression in all its various incarnations had already developed an obsession with boxing, cycling and running around the beach wearing budgie smugglers.
Even boring old state politics has suddenly gotten very interesting. A whole bunch of local councils are going to get tossed in the bin. There’s been some amusing suggestions for the new names of the amalgamated entities. No matter what the goblins decide, public opinion has pretty much unanimously decided that one council’s unofficial name will be South Park. Another has been simply wiped off the map. Here’s hoping that is the definite sign and omen that its present mayor will run again in the federal election. With a bit of luck she will be our next female prime minister. Unlike Julia Gillard who was too nice for her own good, Alannah McTiernan will be kicking butt big time. Getting the trains running on time would be the least of her achievements
On the subject of trains, the Fremantle line is closed yet again so they can put the final touches to the new tunnel. To compensate for the inconvenience the transport authority put on a bunch of free ferries between the central business district and the port city.
Already did the trip when they first closed the line a fortnight ago. The trip in itself is gorgeous and scenic and it was a lovely sunny day. But it was school holidays at the time and it was like being on a floating playground.
So today was a second chance. The added attraction was arriving right next to the 3 Dutch tall ships presently in the harbour preparing for their grand adventure following in the wake of the Batavia. They are leaving on Saturday and sailing up the coast to the Abrolhos Islands. It will take 12 days to get there and back again
And now it seems the government is going to allow some stinking oil company to go drilling around the islands. Any spills and the islands will be trashed. It’s up there with letting the US navy drop bombs around the Great Barrier Reef. Back in the 1950 the government let them and the Brits use Australia as a testing ground for nuclear weapons. With friends like that who needs enemies?
The 3 Dutch sailing ships are each around 100 years old. The smallest one is called Tecla, the next is the Oosterschilde and the biggest is called Europa complete with a mast head featuring a very voluptuous naked lady embracing a bull. This relationship looked rather more consensual than legend has us believe it ‘really’ was. Got to wondering how on earth a whole continent got named after her.
They will be departing at 5pm on Saturday so must definitely be there to see them set sail.
They weren’t open to the public today but will be on Friday so that is just the excuse the Izzie needs to hop back on that free ferry and take a proper peek.
They apparently still have places for tourists for their assorted long distance sea voyages. No sailing experience required. But you do need to have a spare $2,000 or so to indulge in a claustrophobia sufferer’s worst nightmare. That’s for the Abrolhos Islands Adventure. The trips to the Antarctic are a lot more expensive than that.
Here’s guessing that the paying guests still have to learn the ropes. The boats are so small that there just would not be much room for ‘freeloaders’ even if they are paying big wads of cash for their sea faring adventures
Really must pay another visit to the ship wreck museum where they have bits of the Batavia. It’s one seriously spooky story. It was sort of the Titanic of the 1600s but with less casualties and a lot more drama. Not all Dystopias are in the future. It’s 16 years to go until the 400th anniversary. Might manage to see the musical of the same name between now and then.
