PyCon Au 2024 conference

2024-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

I stayed at the Quest NewQuay, Docklands</a> apartments. On the 27th floor.</p>

Videos</a></p>

LCA2024 conference

2024-04-18T00:00:00+00:00

Videos</a></p>

Nix Issues

2023-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

Nix</h1>
As much as I like NIX, I have encountered a growing number of issues with various bits and pieces. Which I am struggling to keep track off. This blog post is so I can try to keep track of some of these issues.</p>

Dropbox</h2>
Dropbox support is broken</a> and unmaintained.</p>
Maestral works, but neither nixos or home-manager have any sort of built in module to automatically start it.</p>

xdg-desktop-portal-gnome.service broken with i3/sway</h2>

See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/206630</a></p>

For X/i3 there is a work around:</p>

services.xserver.displayManager.importedVariables = [
</span>    "XDG_SESSION_TYPE"
</span>    "XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP"
</span>    "XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP"
</span>];
</span></code></pre>
For wayland/sway:</p>
systemctl --user mask xdg-desktop-portal-gnome
</span></code></pre>
Inefficiencies building rust - crane</h2>
Still need to look at this more. But when trying to build an application
that uses Crane, I constantly end up rebuilding crane itself. And any
changes to the application results in rebuilding all dependancies which I
thought is what crane was suppose to fix.</p>
Inefficiencies building rust - crate2nix</h2>
See https://github.com/cargo2nix/cargo2nix/issues/318</a></p>
Also seems to be painful using with dependabot, because dependabot won't
automatically update the nix file.</p>
Nixos and RPI3</h2>
I tried for many days to get the official 7inch screen working with nixos,
but got nowhere.</p>
I tried with a number of brands of HDMI touch screens too, but always had
problems:</p>

Screen takes too long to turn back on after powering off. This makes my
application seem sluggish - it powers the screen off when inactive - when
trying to interact with it.</li>
Some screens result it noticable delay when interacting with app for
almost a minute after powering on screen. Theory is these screens don't
implement CEC(?) calls correctly and wayland is timing out trying to
interact with screen.</li>
</ul>
For now using rasbian with home-manager. Which isn't as good, but it seems
to work for now.</p>
zoiper5</h2>
I built a flake</a> for it, but it
doesn't run.</p>
$ nix build
</span>$ ./result/bin/zoiper
</span>APP Started! [ PID: 242517 ]
</span>APP Started! [ PID: 242519 ]
</span>APP Started! [ PID: 242520 ]
</span>[1]    242517 trace trap (core dumped)  ./result/bin/zoiper
</span>[0100/000000.542523:ERROR:zygote_linux.cc(607)] Zygote could not fork: process_type gpu-process numfds 3 child_pid -1
</span>[0100/000000.542600:ERROR:zygote_linux.cc(639)] write: Broken pipe (32)
</span></code></pre>
Appears to be a chomium error. I think.</p>
Probably should try running this within a Debian VM, think that should
work.</p>
tesla_auth</h2>
I just can't get this simple rust application</a> working correctly
under nix, browser loads correctly, shows login, but cannot interact with
website as it appears to be loading still.</p>
Running this inside a Debian VM for now works.</p>
Ruby</h2>
Hash mismatch error, see: https://github.com/nix-community/bundix/issues/109</a></p>



Kubernetes
2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00
Hetzner VM</h2>
In 2018, a friend advised me that I should learn about Kubernetes. So I created
some Debian VMs on Hetzner</a>, installed kubeadm, and
installed some websites.</p>
Easy right? Boy was I naive.</p>
A number of months went by, and I didn't look at the cluster. Then I noticed I
was several major revisions behind in Kubernetes. Just do an apt-get dist-upgrade</code> right? Wrong.</p>
After getting into a complete and utter mess, I realised I had to downgrade to
where I was before, and then upgrade using a manual process one release at a
time.</p>
Managed instances</h2>
Because I obviously didn't know what I was doing, and didn't exactly trust my
cluster, I always thought I should use a managed Kubernetes instance. But I
felt they were too expensive.</p>
In 2020 when I attempted to upgrade Kubernetes again, and it was a total
disaster. The upgrade appeared to work, but then I found nothing was working.
Instead of trying to fix the mess, I moved to the Google cloud platform. This
lasted for several months, when I found Linode had managed instances for
cheaper, so I moved to them instead.</p>
Months later, I found I was still being charged for storage space on Google
Cloud, because I failed to ensure it was deleted. Argghh!</p>
Personal cluster</h2>
It was in 2019, I started creating my own personal Kubernetes cluster. I didn't
want to use numerous servers, that would cost too much in electricity. I didn't
want to use Raspberry Pi's either, because Kubernetes works best with an Intel
platform. So I purchased 9 Latte Pandas, installed Debian on them.</p>
I also set up a file server, running TrueNAS, so that I could mount storage
using NFS on the clusters, where required.</p>
I took two for other uses (1 for DNS server and 1 for FreeSwitch VOIP server),
and uses the other seven to create a 3 master node + 4 worker node cluster. I
also eventually got IPv6 working on cluster, IPv6 support was brand new at the
time.</p>
After a while, I noticed that my Elixir processes talk over 1 minute to start.
In the meantime, new pods would frequently fail health checks and result in
Kubernetes killing the pod and restarting it. I have no idea why it takes
Elixir processes so long to start, they seem OK after starting, but I had to
make the health checks more generous in order to ensure these processes started
correctly.</p>
I also had issues that I Docker support was being deprecated, and I had to
release the Docker runtime with another runtime. This hasn't as difficult as I
imagined. But I did encounter some challenges along the way, and filled some
bug also. I don't remember much of the process anymore.</p>
After updating to Debian 10, I got to upgrading the 3rd master, when I suddenly
realised that the previous two masters were dead and not working correctly.
After I bit of panicking, I noticed that if I booted with the old kernel it
worked, but the new kernel it didn't work. I tried to get support for the
issue, and somewhere got the advice that I should post to stack overflow. I
posted here, and this promptly got deleted without good explanation. So I
continued using the old kernel.</p>
Eventually I found a forum and posted a
message</a>.
Weeks went by without anyone being able to help. Eventually, somebody suggested
setting unified_cgroup_hierarchy=0</code> on boot. That solved the problem. But was
only a workaround.</p>
Months later, somebody else researched</a>
the problem, and found a better solution. Turns out when I had migrated from
Docker to containerd containers, I had no idea how to tell it to use systemd
cgroup support correctly, and this is what broke it.</p>
Somewhere along the line, I wrote a script to automatically do the upgrade
steps. This has been a huge help.</p>
I used a tool called Keel</a> to automatically receive events
from CI and deploy updated images. Unfortunately, as much as I like keel, it is
pretty much dead upstream. The last release has over 2 years ago, and it was an
RC (release candidate) release. I don't feel comfortable exposing my Kubernetes
API to the Internet in order to allow access by GitHub's CI, and this was a
good solution to that problem.</p>
Electronic Arts</h2>
In 2020, I was also able to get a job managing Kubernetes systems and
Electronic Arts. Which surprised me, I didn't think I would be experienced
enough. In fact, the first time I ever seriously tried to create a helm chart
was for the coding challenge for the job. I felt I didn't have a chance of
getting the job. I was really surprised when I got a phone call that same day
offering me the job.</p>
As I got the job at the start of COVID-19, I haven't set foot in the office
once or met the people I work with in person.</p>
Since then, I have become a lot more experienced at how Kubernetes operates.
Through the help of my colleague, Kenny, and my boss, Alex, I was able to learn
Kubernetes and how we used Kubernetes at EA relatively rapidly. Unfortunately,
since then, Kenny has been listed as officially missing, and there are concerns
for his well well-being. That is another story.</p>
Though my work at Electronic Arts, I created a tool - helmci - written in rust</p>

for automatically deploying helm charts to the cluster. I hope to get
approval to publish this as open source one day.</li>
</ul>
Future</h2>
I am starting to become less satisfied with my cluster at home. I don't really
need a 7 node cluster. Uptime isn't a serious concern. Scalability isn't really
required, as these sites are mostly internal use only. My time to maintain the
cluster was becoming more and more scarce. Plus, the electricity costs to run
the cluster are significant. And the cluster was hardwired for one VM, but my
IOT stuff needed access to my IOT VLAN. I didn't particularly want to maintain
another cluster for my other VLAN.</p>
I have since moved the workload from my cluster to VMs running Docker
containers on my TrueNAS server. I upgraded the cluster to 1.25, to prove that
I can, but suspect I will decommission the cluster before long.</p>
I miss the ability to push changes by having my CI send a message to keel that
would automatically trigger a deployment. But it seems like the Keel project is
dead, and may not be a great option anyway.</p>
Instead, I have used Watchtower</a> to check
for updates. But watch tower only supports polling to check for changes. And I
strongly suspect that my polling GitHub container repository too often, GitHub
was blocking my access. Which in turn may have been the reason why my brew
updates were consistently generating timeout errors.</p>
I have changed the poll time to one hour, but sometimes it can take several
polls before it notices the image has been updated. I will have to try to
search for alternatives. Ideally for my own software, I would like to be able
to have the CI notify a process that an update is available, similar to before.</p>
I also had the problem that watch tower decided to upgrade my home-assistant
instance one morning at 6:54:55 in the morning, about 5 seconds before
home-assistant was scheduled to receive an event it was to pass on to get me to
wake up. Result: The message went missing. So I might need to adjust the
schedule here.</p>
I am still running my Linode Kubernetes cluster. But running a 3 node cluster
just for a low volume website seems overkill. Eventually I might get rid of
this also.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
My Kubernetes adventure has certainly been an experience. And while I am moving
away from Kubernetes for my personal stuff, I certainly don't regret having
tried it out for a while. However, I consider it overkill for my personal
stuff, and for my scale it is much easier to have direct access to the systems
involved.</p>


LCA2022 conference
2022-01-16T00:00:00+00:00



PyCon Au 2021 conference
2021-09-12T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2021 conference
2021-01-25T00:00:00+00:00



PyCon Au 2020 conference
2020-09-06T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2020 conference
2020-01-13T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Gold Coast and back
2020-01-11T00:00:00+00:00
Gold Coast</h1>
I did the following:</p>

Attended LCA2020</a>.</li>
</ul>


ElixirCamp 2019
2019-10-24T00:00:00+00:00
I spent a lot of time updating my Robotica code.</p>


Trip to ElixirCamp
2019-10-24T00:00:00+00:00
I drove my Tesla with the help of my Friend to Camp Wombaroo. At the conclusion
of the trip, my friend said he would wants a Tesla, but unfortunately he cannot
afford it.</p>
See details of the ElixirCamp2019</a>.</p>


PyCon Au 2019 conference
2019-08-02T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Sydney and back
2019-08-01T00:00:00+00:00
See details of the conference PyConAu2019</a>.</p>


LCA2019 conference
2019-01-21T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Christchurch and back
2019-01-17T00:00:00+00:00
Christchurch</h1>
I did the following:</p>

Visited some penguin friends at the to the
International Atlantic Center</a>.</li>
Assisted a lost bus driver get back on the official purple route again.</li>
Went on the Christchurch Gondola</a>.</li>
Attended LCA2019</a>.</li>
</ul>


ElixirCamp 2018
2018-10-26T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to ElixirCamp
2018-10-26T00:00:00+00:00
See details of the ElixirCamp2018</a>.</p>


Elixir Meetup September
2018-09-19T00:00:00+00:00



Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids
2018-09-19T00:00:00+00:00
I gave a talk on Robotica. Robotica is a to give automatic annoucements
throughout our house and an attempt to keep things running on schedule. This
talk gave an update from my talk at LCA2018, including use of Elixir
and Nerves.</p>


Software Freedom Day
2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00



Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids
2018-09-15T00:00:00+00:00
I gave a talk on Robotica. Robotica is a to give automatic annoucements
throughout our house and an attempt to keep things running on schedule. This
talk gave an update from my talk at LCA2018, including use of Elixir
and Nerves.</p>


PyCon Au 2018 conference
2018-08-24T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Sydney and back
2018-08-23T00:00:00+00:00
See details of the conference PyConAu2018</a>.</p>


Generic Programming
2018-06-10T00:00:00+00:00
Writing website software that targets one particular installation is easy. You
know exactly what the requirements are are can build a system that meets those
requirements. Even if the requirements change or a unclear, there is still only
on set of requirements to meet at a given point in time.</p>
Writing open source website software that will work on many installations is
more difficult. Every installation is likely to require its own set of unique
requirements, such as:</p>

Different theme for website.</li>
Different look and feel for individual pages.</li>
Additional custom views.</li>
Additional dependencies required by these custom views.</li>
Additional models required by these custom views.</li>
</ul>
On such system I am responsible for is Karaage. Karaage is an open source
system for management of users on cluster computer systems. It is written
using Python/Django.</p>
Templates</h2>
In the past, the solution used was to override templates used by Django. If we
needed to we would override the URLS and add or override URLS as required. This
caused a number of problems:</p>


It is not easy to tell at a glance why a particular template was overridden.
Or why we replaced a view with new custom code. In some cases this would be
just to change one line in the entire file.</p>
</li>

Making changes to Karaage views is often required. If however these changes
require changes to the templates, and the templates are have been copied by
local installations, then the changes won't be seen by the local installs.</p>
</li>

Worse case, the changes required could involve changing the parameters to the
template, in which case all old templates will break.</p>
</li>
</ul>
It could be argued that the templates should be considered part of a well
defined API, that should not change without ensuring we have a proper
deprecation cycle for these templates. However there are a large number of
templates, and these templates have always been intended for internal use only.
It would be infeasible and error prone to try to remain compatible with all
legacy templates at all times. Furthermore Django has no way of distinguishing
templates that can be overridden from templates that should be treated as
internal only.</p>
If we could find out why these customizations are occuring it is possible we
could add support directly into Karaage to make the required customizations
possible. Unfortunately, users see it much faster just to override the template
without consulting with the Karaage authors. These are users I still want to be
able to support.</p>
Database Models</h2>
As a result of these problems, I chose to add a system of plugins for Karaage.
Plugins come with their own resources such as:</p>

Database models.</li>
Views.</li>
Templates.</li>
Configuration system.</li>
</ul>
Plugins are implemented using Django Apps. The idea was that you could add a
plugin to an existing install, run the migrations, and everything would work.
Or you could remove a plugin, and the additional tables would stay around while
everything would still work.</p>
Then I needed to remove the legacy MachineCategory table. Everything had
references to this table, including the plugins, so I added migrations to
remove references from the plugins first, and setup the dependencies so that
the plugins would be processed first before the migration for the main
application. As this was a reverse migration, it would not cause problems if
the migration was not installed. For example:</p>
.. code-block:: python</p>
class Migration(migrations.Migration):
</span>
</span>    dependencies = [
</span>        ('karaage', '0004_auto_20160429_0927'),
</span>    ]
</span>
</span>    run_before = [
</span>        ('karaage', '0005_auto_20171215_1831'),
</span>    ]
</span></code></pre>
Meaning this migration will get run after 0004, but before 0005 in the
main set on Karaage migrations.</p>
Initially this seemed fine, everything worked as required.</p>
The problem occurs when you have a full Karaage installation, already on the
0005 migration, and you want to enable this plugin for the first time.
Unfortunately it is not possible. We have clearly to Django that these
migrations cannot run before 0005, but we already have installed migration this
migration. Even if we were able to force these depends somehow, it still
wouldn't work, because in running the early migrations we would be creating
tables that reference the MachineCategory table that no longer exists.</p>
Another solution could perhaps be to merge the earlier migrations for the
plugins, so we can skip over the earlier migrations that are causing the
problems. This would need to be done carefully though and need a lot of testing
to ensure that it works in all cases.</p>
Microservices</h2>
The root problem with the previous situation is that I imagined the plugins to
be independant of each other, able to be added/removed at will. The problem is
that this is not the case, as they all share the one Django database.</p>
Possibly a better solution would be to implement each plugin as a seperate
plugin. This was the services are completely isolated. For example, the applications
plugin only needs to interfaces to Karaage:</p>

Ability to create projects/users when they are created.</li>
Need to link the application with a user, if they already exist on the
system.</li>
</ul>
This second requirement requires more thought. We need to be sure that deleting
objects by the main Karaage process isn't going to lead to stale/broken links
in the plugins. For example, if a user is deleted, then all the applications
belonging to the user need to get deleted too. The kgusage plugin has links to
a lot more tables, these would need to be supported in some sensible manner.</p>
Also we still have not solved the problem of being able to customize the look
and feel of the project on a per site basis.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
There are a lot of difficult questions here. A lot of these issues are no
longer relevant for Karaage, because I am only supporting Karaage on one site.
There is no funding to try to fix the problems in Karaage. All of these issues
have occurred in the past, and are likely to occur with future projects. So
just wondering how best to deal with these issues?</p>


Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids
2018-01-26T00:00:00+00:00
I gave a talk on Robotica. Robotica is a system using Python 3.6 and Raspberry
Pis to give automatic annoucements throughout our house and an attempt to
keep things running on schedule.</p>


LCA2018 conference
2018-01-22T00:00:00+00:00
LCA2018</h1>
In 2018 I attended LCA2018 and gave a talk on Robotica. Mum and the three
kids we are caring for also came to Sydney with me.</p>
See details of the trip</a>.</p>
This conference was very good, as always, with some very good talks. Some
notable talks:</p>

Is the 370 the worst bus route in Sydney?</a></li>
Tap On to Reverse Engineering</a>.</li>
Manage all your tasks with TaskWarrior</a>.</li>
</ul>


Trip to Sydney and back
2018-01-22T00:00:00+00:00
LCA2018</h1>
In 2018 I attended LCA2018 and gave a talk on Robotica. Mum and the three
kids we are caring for also came to Sydney with me.</p>
See details of the conference LCA2018</a>.</p>
Transport to Sydney</h2>
Mum and I took turns driving my Tesla Model S. Unfortunately it was very hot
driving and this made the stops more tedious as it meant getting out of the air
conditioned car into the roasting sun. However we did need to stop, more often
then the car needed charging as us drivers needed regular breaks. It was rare
for us to be waiting for the car to charge, more often the car was waiting for
us.</p>
On the first day we stopped at Euroa for recharging and lunch. We then
proceeded to Wondonga for another recharging and to buy things for tea. Due to
the high temperatures I dropped the others off at the nearby indoor shopping
centre and then drove to the supercharger to recharge. While I was waiting for
the car to recharge I walked to the indoor shopping centre. It was only 10
minutes walk but very hot. We then made several more stops at small places,
before stopping the night at Hillview Farmstay, a place near Gundagai.</p>
I originally picked this place because it has a 4 bedroom apartment (The Lodge)
we could book, which is ideal with two adults and 3 kids. The plan was 1 adult
in one bedroom each, the twins in another bedroom, and the youngest in a
bedroom of her own. This did not go to plan, the youngest did not like sleeping
by herself, and ended up sharing a bedroom with one of the adults.</p>
I was also surprised to find that they had two Tesla 3 phase chargers, which
meant my car was fully charged within several hours of arriving. This was
very convenient.</p>
On the second day we made a number of extra stops at places like Yea and
Cambeltown. We did not want to arrive in Sydney during peak period, so did not
try to hurry. We also had lunch and recharged the car at Goulburn. We were
planning to go to Sydney via M5, the south route, but Google suggested due to
traffic it would be faster to go via M7 and M2, instead. It probably cost more
in tolls though.</p>
We intended to charge the car at the St Leonards supercharger. Unfortunately
the car navigation intended on us turning right into Tesla from Herbert Street,
which is not legal because Herbert street has double lines through the entire
section. We ended up having to turn right onto another road, make a U-Turn
away from the double lines, and come back. This supercharger is not in a great
location for entertaining kids. According to Google Maps there is a Children's
Playground not far away, at the North end of Naremburn Park. We walked there
and found it was locked, and aimed at children younger then our kids anyway.
In the end we waited on the bridge above the train line and watched trains go
past.</p>
At Sydney we stayed at a three bedroom apartment, at Meriton Suites, World
Tower. This was eventful trying to find the correct parking spots. The sign
said "private parking" and looked like it required a PIN for entry. I ended up
going around the city block and back to the same place again, and we followed
another car in. We were told this was the correct parking. Later on I looked
at the PIN entry keypad, only two find it had two buttons clearly marked
"PRESS HERE". Oh well. I must have been tired. Still, it would have been
good if the sign also said this was for guest parking.</p>
Public Transport</h2>
After using Melbourne public transport for numerous years, it is interesting
to compare with Sydney. There are some aspects I much prefer with Sydney's
public transport, there are some aspects I hate.</p>
The ongoing dispute with the train drivers did not prove a problem for us.</p>


The Sydney city loop is bidirectional, and the trains at the same platforms
go in the same direction around the loop all day. This is much easier to
understand then Melbourne, were some of the loop lines swap direction around
midday, and depending on configuration it isn't possible to travel from any
arbitrary station to any other station in the loop, because the trains are
heading in the wrong direction.</p>
</li>

Opal is fast and responsive. I also like the mobile application, which allows
me to read the card balance instantly from the card. Further more, trip
details from trains seem to show up instantly on the mobile application, as
opposed Myki where the do not show up until the next day.</p>
</li>

Often if you held you Opal card too long against the touch on device, it
would interpret this as two transactions, the first one successful, the second
one producing an error. This is very confusing. We weren't the only people
having this problem. Possibly this is due to the (bad) habit gathered from
using Myki where you have to hold the Myki to the reader until the reader
wakes up and processes it.</p>
</li>

Google maps has real time information on buses. Very good.</p>
</li>

I found the bus routes in the city very confusing. The fact bus stops do not
have maps does not help. Instead they have a list of routes and destinations.
This does not help with questions like: What bus do I catch to get from the
University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to Museum station?</p>
</li>

On one such trip, Google said I should catch the 436 bus (note route numbers
are from memory), which was several minutes away (and 5 minutes early). It
came right when Google said it would, but it did not stop. I do not know why
it did not stop. I caught the next bus, which Google also said I should
catch. The 433 bus. It terminated at the Central station, which was a very
short (and expensive) trip. It would have been better to walk.</p>
</li>

The buses I caught and some of the trains don't have automatic announcements
concerning next stop information. This makes it hard to work out where you
are if you are a visitor.</p>
</li>

On another trip in the other direction, Google neglected to show the route of
the 1st bus (M30 from memory), and instead preferred the 2nd bus (which ended
up following the 1st bus).</p>
</li>

The daily limit for fares in Sydney is relatively high. However the fares
generally end up being cheaper then Melbourne because we never reached the
daily limit. Except for Sunday, where the daily limit is $2.60. This does
mean however that every trip does cost extra, unlike in Melbourne where you
effectively get free trips once you reach the daily limit.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Return Trip</h2>
The return trip was cooler on the first day, although hot on the second day. We
drove on the southern route out of Sydney, via the cross city tunnel. The only
drama was not being able to find the entrance to the cross city tunnel until we
were next to it. So we had go around the largish block and try again. The 2nd
attempt was successful. We basically followed the same route and made similar
stops on the trip to Sydney, including the stay at Hillview Farmstay. On this
trip the owner of the Farm also gave as a tour of the farm and we fed some of
the animals.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
Interesting experience, interesting drive. However it was a long drive. When I
go to PyConAu in Sydney this August, I think I will fly as I don't think I
would be able to drive all the way to Sydney and back myself.</p>


PyCon Au 2017 conference
2017-08-03T00:00:00+00:00



Crypto Libraries for JavaScript
2017-05-15T18:00:00+00:00
Crypto Libraries for JavaScript</h1>
What is a good cryptographic library for pure JavaScript? Ideally should be in
npm.</p>
I see on stackoverflow</a> there are three choices:</p>

sjcl</a> - I believe npm at sjcl npm</a>. Last security advisory 2014 - is it
really that good? Or maybe abandoned?</li>
CryptoJSi</a> - dead project.</li>
crypto-js</a> - also has NPM. Has been criticised for using a poor algorithm
(MD5 based) to convert passphrases to
keys - Top 10 developer crypto mistakes</a>].</li>
</ul>
I also see other choices:</p>

nodejs_crypto</a> - looks like it uses C openssl libraries.</li>
SubtleCrypto</a> - native browser side API. Not supported on IE. See
SubtleCrypto example</a>.</li>
</ul>
There also appears to be more options if hashing is the only requirement, not encryption, e.g.:</p>

jshashes</a></li>
</ul>
However, I think don't think this is going to help with encryption.</p>
Any others?</p>
Note: I previously posted this to
another stackoverflow question</a>.
but it was put on hold as it was considered "off-topic".</p>


Buses Replacing Trains
2017-02-19T12:00:00+00:00
Buses Replacing Trains</h1>
Recently, there were two sets of disruptions on the Belgrave line with buses
replacing trains for multiple weeks. First there were buses replacing trains
between Belgrave and Ringwood during most of November. Then there were buses
replacing trains between Ringwood and Box Hill stations during most of January.</p>
I tried to avoid the need to travel to work as much as possible, and I had two
weeks off during the middle of January.</p>
Buses UFTG to Ringwood</h2>
Boarding the buses was quite pleasant experience at Upper Ferntree Gully in the
morning, considering there were few people waiting. Sometimes I had to wait
almost 10 minutes for the next bus, which in turn meant the bus was more likely
to be stuck in traffic jams due to later time.</p>
I found the trip was very inconsistent, especially with the express bus
services. Some buses would go via Canterbury Road and some via Boronia Road.
Some of the buses to Belgrave would come back via the Eastlink to Boronia Road,
most would not. This meant the trip time varied greatly, depending on which
traffic jam the got stuck in.</p>
The return trip was less convenient. I found that if I caught the bus
replacement service to Upper Ferntree Gully and then the 7:01PM 688 bus I would
arrive at home at around 7:17PM (scheduled). If I instead caught the train to
Croydon, I could catch the 6:38PM bus with time to spare and arrive home at
7:18PM (scheduled). So it made sense to go via Croydon instead of UFTG.</p>
In practise the 688 from Croydon was often running late. Sometimes due to
waiting for late trains. Sometimes because some of the drivers would made an
unscheduled detour and stop at Sky High. I have no idea if this is because the
driver was confused with the timetable or if it was deliberate.</p>
Buses Ringwood to Box Hill</h2>
This was very inconsistent experience. Sometimes the queues were long,
sometimes short. Some buses went via Maroondah Highway, some went via the
Eastern Freeway and Eastlink tunnels (much faster). One went via the Eastern
Freeway and turned off before Eastlink on Springvale Road (very slow).</p>
I found during the first phase, when all trains were stopping all stations,
some trains went direct from Flinders Street to Richmond (probably the
Blackburn services), and some went around the loop (probably the other trains).
It was faster to catch the direct services, plus these were a lot less crowded.
Even after some express services resumed, the direct services where scheduled
to take the same time as the express services, and in practice were often
faster.</p>
Towards the last week staff were obviously under more and more pressure to fill
the buses to maximum capacity - standing room included - as fast as possible. I
objected to standing on a bus for 30+ minutes, especially since I knew that the
following train would be standing room only. I preferred to wait for the next
bus. However staff would say things like "there are seats still at the back"
even though there was no possibility of me reaching the seats in time.
Sometimes I would get off the bus again when I could see that there were no
seats. Some people didn't mind standing to get a faster trip, it would have
been better if they filled the standing room with people who wanted to stand,
not by tricking people who wanted a seat.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
The buses replacing trains was mostly OK, although rather inconvenient. In the
morning I left at 7:05am, and arrived at work at around 9:10am - normally would
be 7:20am to 8:45am - so around 40 minutes longer. In the evening I was leaving
at 5pm and arriving home at 7:18pm - normally I can leave work at 5:10pm and
get home at 6:35pm, so around 53 minutes longer trip. Some of the time in the
return trip was waiting for the 688 bus up the mountain, and there is a gap
between 6:18pm and 7:01pm with no services which didn't help.</p>


Trip to Hobart and then Numurkah
2017-01-28T00:00:00+00:00
Trip to Hobart and then Numurkah</h1>
In early 2017 I had a conference at Hobart,
I drove down in my Telsa Model S after crossing to Tasmania in the ferry.
After the conference I visited
Numurkah</a>
for a week.</p>
See details of the conference LCA2017</a>.</p>
Hobart</h2>
I have been to Hobart for a number of conferences (LCA2009, PyConAu2012,
PyConAu2013). Normally I fly. However this time I wanted to do something
different. The problem was, once I get to Hobart, where can I recharge for the
return trip? I worked out I would need to charge at least twice, once
when I first got to Hobart, and once just before leaving.</p>
Planing</h3>
Plugshare is the de facto default standard for listing EV chargers across
Australia. In Hobart it lists three options:</p>


MONA: Museum of Old and New Art. They have 2 single phase 32 amp chargers
available for patrons. I wanted to visit MONA once, however not multiple
times.</p>
</li>

RACT Hobart Apartment Hotel. They only have one charger. I was lead to
believe that they use it to charge their
Nissan Leaf</a>,
and as such it may not be
available for my use. I tried contacting them however got no response.</p>
</li>

Hobart Central Carpark. Limited availability. Not suitable.</p>
</li>
</ul>
I was given the suggestion that I should contact Wrest Point. However
they were unable to assist.</p>
Then, as I was about to abandon my plans, I got
this response</a>.
Turns out that Derek
Mitchell is a Tesla fanatic in Hobart, and he is willing to let me use his
charger. Problem solved. Thanks Darek!</p>
I planned to use the night Ferry, because that would allow me to drive to
Hobart during the day. I did not want to do much driving during night hours,
due to increased possibility of running into wildlife.</p>
Day 1 - Friday 13th</h3>
I intended to charge the car (as normal) the night before, only forgot. Oops.
Not a problem, I was intending to do a 100% charge at the supercharger
near Richmond anyway. I started charging at 5pm, and it said expected
time to completion 6:10pm. At 6:20pm there was still no signs of completion
and the charge current had dropped to 3 amps. So considering I wasn't going
to get much more then 448 km typical range anyway and the ferry boarding time
was 6pm (or was that 6:30pm???), I decided to stop there.</p>
At the Ferry terminal, I got confused. There was a sign that said boarding time
was 6:00pm (it was 6:30pm), and pointed to the right. Was it pointing at the
locked gate? Or back the way I came? Eventually I managed to work out that the
ferry was running late, I didn't get the SMS notification, and that boarding
would start until 8:30pm (actually was 8:00pm).</p>
Unfortunately, due to the delay in check-in time, I had to pay for several hours
parking, which was something I had hoped to avoid. Seems like I should have
continued charging my car to 100.00% after all.</p>
I tried to stay out of my car as much as possible, to preserve battery.</p>
The Ferry didn't arrive until almost 9pm. I didn't get to board the Ferry until
11pm, and it wasn't until sometime after midnight when we departed. So much for
the 9pm departure time.</p>
On my Tesla I turned on Range mode and then turned off "always connected" to
try and preserve battery power. I also tried to turn off air conditioning as
much as possible.</p>
I ended up parking on the bottom floor on the ferry.</p>
Day 2 - Saturday 14th</h3>
The delays meant I could sleep in the next day. Scheduled arrival at Devonport
was 6am, I finally got off ship closer to 11am. My 448km charge had now gone to
434km, this included 10.1km drive from Richmond, and loses during the night.</p>
I had a 30 minute break at Campbell Town, near the playground. The I proceeded
to MONA. At MONA I had 159km remaining. I charged for 3 hours 47 minutes (until
closing time), and this increased to 289. A complete charge would have taken 8+
hours (The MONA charger appears to be single phase only, so around 37km/h
charging), so it was a good thing I wasn't dependant on charging at MONA. I
drove into Hobart, and continued charging to 403km (overnight) using Darek's
charger.</p>
Day 3 - Sunday 15th</h3>
I drove into Richmond, looked around the place. Got slightly sunburnt. Looked
at the miniature 1800s version of Hobart, and the old gaol. Took lots of
photos.</p>
Next day I had to get up early for the conference. In consulting with Darek, we
agreed a recharge was not required.</p>
Day 4 to 8 - Monday to Friday</h3>
I drove back and forward between my accommodation to Wrest Point on a daily
basis. No dramas.</p>
I started receiving alerts about a software update for my car, however postponed
the update until after I got back.</p>
Day 9 - Saturday</h3>
Didn't do a lot. Went to the local market, which was a short walk away. My car
was down to 279km. Charged this up to 100% overnight using Darek's charger.</p>
Day 10 - Sunday</h3>
Drove back to Devonport. Uneventful. Was really early, so I went to the Mersey
Bluff Lighthouse for a while. In doing so I got confused with the navigation
instructions from my car and took the exit before the Mersey River bridge, not
the exit after. The navigation system is confusing when there are two exits
close together. I ended up joing the Highway going back the way I came,
exiting, reentering in the same direction, and almost making the same mistake
again.</p>
Lined up to get on the ferry at 6:30pm, exactly. Was front in the queue. Then
found out the ferry was running late. Yet again I didn't receive an SMS.
Check-in not due to open until 8pm. Fortunately I was able to leave my car in
the queue, as long as I returned by 7:45pm. It wasn't until 9:43pm until I was
finally on board the ferry.</p>
While waiting, the car decided to go to sleep. I found it wouldn't wake up
again when I needed to move. I had to get out the drivers door and get back in
again to wake it up. Maybe just opening and closing the door would have been
sufficient too.</p>
This time they put me on the 6th floor, the top floor. 120km left on battery,
and I had driven 301.8km (including driving around Devonport).</p>
Day 11 - Monday</h3>
When we got back to our cars, they wanted us to get in our cars. Unfortunately
the left hand side of the car was hard against the rails on the side of level
6, and the right hand side of the car was too close to the cars in the adjacent
lane. Exactly were I had been told to park in Hobart. So I was unable to open
any doors. I had to wait, standing on the deck, for them to move the car
blocking my door out of the way first.</p>
When I did get into my car, I noticed I had 118k battery remaining. I drove
straight to the Tesla supercharger, where I had 111km remaining. I parked
in what looked like a free supercharger, only to find it was a gap between
parking spots for the entrance to the Tesla building. All the superchargers
were in use. Fortunately I didn't have to wait long. I proceeded to charge
to 100% in preparation for my trip to Numurkah.</p>
Numurkah</h3>
We had a holiday house booked in Numurkah. Unfortunately, for this stage we
had 6 people, and only room for 5 in my car. So we had to take two cars (one
being a petrol car).</p>
Numurkah is North on the supercharger at Euroa. So I planed to travel
on the Hume Freeway to get there. It is possible to drive from the Richmond
supercharger to Euroa almost entirely on freeways. The car navigation
thought it would be better to drive through the city. I disagreed, and
went my way via city link, Bolte Bridge, Tullamarine Freeway, and the
Western Ring Road.</p>
At Euroa supercharger, I parked rear end first into the spot on the right of
the charger. Before realizing that the cable was on the other side, and
wouldn't reach. I wasn't the only one to do this. So I parked in the left
spot, and found the cable was really tight, however I got a connection. I
charged to 100% from 267km, as this was going to be the last chance to charge
for the week.</p>
At Numurkah we visited various places through the week, including The Big
Strawberry, Glenarron Farms, and on the return trip, the Chocolate Apple
Factory.</p>
On the return trip, my car was down to 106km at Euroa. I noticed for both my
trips, there was another car charging at the same time as me for at least part
of the time, so I tend to agree when others say 2 chargers isn't enough. We
weren't ready to leave after it finished charging, so I relocated my car and
found that almost all parking spaces were taken.</p>
Telsa</h2>
I tested and tried out some of the advanced driving features of the Tesla.</p>
Auto speed limit detect</h3>
Most of the time the Tesla is good at detecting the speed limit, however
there are times it consistently gets it wrong.</p>


School speed limits. Often it will detect 40km/h at start (regardless of
time) and then several seconds later revert back to previous speed limit.</p>
</li>

Road works in school speed limit areas produces lots of confusion.</p>
</li>

80km/h is occasionally misread as 30km/h.</p>
</li>

80km/h electronic signs on City link are often misread as 60km/h.</p>
</li>

Monash Freeway has 90km/h speed limits for trucks only which are incorrectly
read.</p>
</li>

Black "End 60" and "60 Ahead" signs are read incorrectly as 60km/h speed
limit signs.</p>
</li>

Sometimes it will suddenly come up with a slower speed limit for no
apparent reason. Or if there was a reason, I completely missed it.</p>
</li>

If the speed limit has changed in the last several years it can get confused
and sometimes display the new speed limit and sometimes display the old speed
limit.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Autopilot</h3>
I found autopilot worked pretty good most of the time, however there were times
it got a bit closer then I would have liked to the oncoming traffic, so I
manually override it by steering to the left. On some rare occasions when I let
it have its way (when I can see that there was no conflicting traffic) it
incorrectly crosses the lanes. Especially on lower quality highways with
sharper corners in the lanes.</p>
It also seemed to have problems when overtaking lanes ended, in that it would
sometimes jerk unnecessarily or speed up. On one occasion I indicated right as
I was approaching a T intersection, and auto steer interpreted that as a
request to change lanes into the oncoming traffic. NO!!! In all cases I was
alert and overrode as required.</p>
As per documentation, Autopilot works better on two lane divided freeways.
However you still do need to be alert even on dual lane divided roads. I found
that if driving at 110km/h on autopilot and passing a stopped car, autopilot
suddenly limits the top speed to 80km/h and starts reducing speed. Which is
very much unexpected behaviour.</p>
Also as a sobering thought, I came over the crest of a hill at 110km/h to see a
parked car on the side. This was fine, it was close to the road, but I could
get past. However there was a person standing on the road, looked like he was
about to open the car door. I had to cross the over to the wrong side (I could
see there were no oncoming cars) to ensure I didn't hit this person. Autopilot
probably would not have been so forgiving.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
During my trip I experienced range anxiety on a constant basis, aliens
invaded and replaced the President of USA with a lunatic, ... oh wait ...
the truth ...</p>
This is the longest trip I have been on so far with my Telsa and I had no major
dramas. I never got below 106km remaining on the battery, and never experienced
anything close to range anxiety. There are currently much fewer charge points
then there are petrol stations, and as a result you do need to plan where your
next recharge will be and how much driving you will make before you reach it.</p>


LCA2017 conference
2017-01-16T00:00:00+00:00
See details of the trip</a>.</p>


PyCon Au 2016 conference
2016-08-12T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Geelong
2016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Geelong to visit LCA2016.
See details of the conference LCA2016</a>.</p>


LCA2016 conference
2016-02-01T00:00:00+00:00
See details of the trip</a>.</p>


Trip to Brisbane
2015-08-04T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Brisbane to visit
PyConAu2015</a>. After
the conference I met my cousin, who is also a Penguin.</p>


PyCon Au 2015 conference
2015-08-02T00:00:00+00:00
There were some really good talks. I went to the education miniconf, which
had a number of good talks by different people in teaching kids to program,
especially in Python.</p>


Karaage Gardening
2015-07-31T00:00:00+00:00
Talk about Karaage, by self. This was my first talk at a big conference such as
PyCon AU.</p>


Trip to Adelaide
2015-03-02T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Adelaide for to attend a wedding.</p>


LCA2015 conference
2015-01-16T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to New Zealand
2015-01-16T00:00:00+00:00
I went to New Zealand to visit
LCA2015</a>
in Auckland. My parents also come with me.</p>


Trip to Brisbane
2014-08-05T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Brisbane to visit PyConAu2014</a>.</p>


PyCon Au 2014 conference
2014-08-05T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2014 conference
2014-01-10T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Perth
2014-01-10T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Perth to visit LCA2014</a>.</p>


Trip to Hobart
2013-07-07T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Hobart to visit PyConAu2013</a>.</p>


PyCon Au 2013 conference
2013-07-07T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Canberra
2013-02-01T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Canberra to visit LCA2013</a>.</p>


LCA2013 conference
2013-02-01T00:00:00+00:00
These are talks I went to at LCA2013. As well as talks I wanted to see. I am not absolutely sure of some details,
this is purely from memory.</p>
Key (!) is very good talk, worth watching, and (*) is talk I wanted to see.</p>
Monday</h2>

The Future of the Linux Desktop - Bdale Garbee</li>
</ul>
Morning Tea</p>

OpenStack CI - Monty Taylor</li>
Samba 4.0</a> - Andrew Bartlett (!)</li>
The Finer Art of Being a Senior Sysadmin</a> - Sheeri Cabral</li>
</ul>
Lunch</p>

Zuul</a> - James Blair</li>
Two years with Samba's autobuild</a> - Andrew Bartlett</li>
Browsers and HTML5 video accessibility</a> - Silvia Pfeiffer (*)</li>
VMs on VLANs on Bridges on Bonds on many NICs</a> - Kim Hawtin (*)</li>
</ul>
Afternoon Tea</p>

Remixing with FOSS</a> - Pia Waugh</li>
Introduction to FirefoxOS</a> (!)</li>
Building an Appliance on Android</a> (*)</li>
Serval Project Technology Stack</a> (*)</li>
The agony and ecstasy of CI: a war story</a> - Stewart Smith (*)</li>
testr</a> - Robert Collins (*)</li>
</ul>
Tuesday</h2>

Reasoning about Networks</a> - Radia Perlman (!)</li>
</ul>
Morning Tea</p>

Feminism, anarchism and FOSS - Skye Croeser</li>
Overcoming imposter syndrome - Denise Paolucci (!)</li>
The Syzix Project</a> - Kevin Pulo (*)</li>
Solving Interesting Problems by Writing Parsers</a> - Jacinta Richardson (*)</li>
</ul>
Lunch</p>

Less flack, moar hack!</a> - Kathy Reid</li>
Open Source Cities</a> - Fee Plumley</li>
Recipe for making geek jewellery</a> - Ruth Ellison</li>
Educating girls about FOSS with FOSS</a> - Katie Miller</li>
</ul>
Afternoon Tea</p>

The Horrible History of Web Development</a> - Daniel Nadasi</li>
The Future of HTML5 Apps</a> - Jeremy Apthorp</li>
</ul>
Wednesday</h2>
Main conference openining</p>
Morning Tea</p>

Think, Create & Critique Design</a> by Andy Fitzsimon (*)</li>
Code up your own video conference in HTML5</a> by Silvia Pfeiffer</li>
Making Mobile Communications Secure</a> by Paul Gardner-Stephen (*)</li>
Userspace networking: fact or fiction?</a> by Stephen Hemminger (*)</li>
Open Source Digital Radio</a> by David Rowe</li>
Ain't No Party Like A Unix Party</a> by Adam Boileau (*)</li>
</ul>
Lunch</p>

Droids that talk: Pairing Codec2 and Android</a> by Joel Stanley</li>
Two years of LibreOffice</a> by Michael Meeks (*)</li>
The IPocalypse 20 months later</a> by Geoff Huston (!)</li>
How to Fix a Font</a> by Nathan Willis (*)</li>
The future of non-volatile memory by Matthew Wilcox</a> (*)</li>
</ul>
Afternoon Tea</p>

How to make (almost) anything go faster</a> by Anton Blanchard (*)</li>
Remedies for frustration with speed, quality, and reviews</a> by Martin Pool</li>
users: delighted; (better UX using CSS 3 in particular and "HTML5" in general)</a> by Adam Harvey</li>
Copyright's Dark Clouds: Optus v NRL</a> by Ben Powell (*)</li>
UEFI, the Converged Firmware Infrastructure</a> by Dong Wei (*)</li>
</ul>
Linux Australia AGM</p>
Thursday</h2>

Linux in the Flesh: Adventures Embedding Linux in Hardware</a> - "bunnie" Huang (!)</li>
</ul>
Morning Tea</p>

Checkpoint and Restore: are we there yet?</a> by Pavel Emelyanov (*)</li>
Stereographic film making and Linux</a> by Hugh Fisher (*)</li>
Wiggle while you work</a> by Neil Brown (!)</li>
Using Puppet to Model Application clusters</a> by Dan Bode (*)</li>
Making UEFI Secure boot work for you</a> by James Bottomley (*)</li>
The anatomy of a high speed data acquisition system</a> by Jonathan Woithe</li>
Getting older? Tips & tricks for designing inclusive open source user interfaces</a> by Ruth Ellison</li>
How to use Puppet like an Adult</a> by Ben Kero and Daniel Maher (*)</li>
</ul>
Lunch</p>

ArduSat: Open Source in orbit</a> by Jonathan Oxer</li>
Building a free software telemetry radio system</a> by Andrew Tridgell (*)</li>
Bufferbloat from a Plumber's point of view</a> by Stephen Hemminger (!)</li>
</ul>
Afternoon Tea</p>

Git: not just for source code anymore</a> by Josh Triplett</li>
1.5MW and 3600 penguins in a room: Supercomputing at ANU</a> by robin humble (*)</li>
Geeks rule over kings the Distributed Democracy</a> by Pia Waugh (*)</li>
REPENT!!! FOR THE END OF THE UNIX EPOCH IS NIGH!!!</a> by Michael Schwern (!)</li>
Big and Little Endian inside / out</a> by Benjamin Herrenschmidt (*)</li>
RAID is more than parity and mirrors</a> by Neil Brown (*)</li>
</ul>
Break</p>

Pre dinner thingy</a> (!)</li>
</ul>
Friday</h2>

Keynote - Sir Tim Berners-Lee</li>
</ul>
Morning Tea</p>

git-annex</a> by Joey Hess</li>
Future directions for the X Window System</a> by Keith Packard (*)</li>
Teaching the X server new tricks</a> by David Airlie</li>
NovaProva, a new generation unit test framework for C programs</a> by Gregory Banks</li>
</ul>
Lunch</p>

Why kernel space sucks</a> by Michael Kerrisk (*)</li>
The real story behind Wayland and X</a> by Daniel Stone (!)</li>
Building Persona: federated and privacy-sensitive identity for the Web</a> by Francois Marier (!)</li>
</ul>
Afternoon Tea</p>

Lightning Talks</a></li>
Closing</a></li>
</ul>


Trip to Hobart
2012-08-19T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Hobart to visit PyConAu2012</a>.</p>


PyCon Au 2012 conference
2012-08-19T00:00:00+00:00



PT Connections
2012-05-26T14:30:44+00:00
I regularly star back in the city until late, so I can attend computer meetings
in the city. The end anyway from 8pm to after 9pm.</p>
To get home from these meetings, I would like to catch a train to Upper
Ferntree Gully (UFTG) and then a bus up the mountain (688).</p>
Unfortunately, the connections between the train service and the bus service
have not been properly thought out.</p>
Here is a table. The columns in order are:</p>

fs: the time the train leaves Flinders Street station.</li>
uftg: the next column is when it is suppose to arrive at UFTG station.</li>
bus: when the bus (if any) is due to depart.</li>
wait: how long the waiting time is between train and bus.</li>
croydon wait: how long you would have to wait for the train back to the city
at Croydon (not that I travel this far).</li>
</ol>
fs</th> uftg</th> bus</th> wait</th> croydon wait</th></tr></thead>

18:24</td> 19:22</td> 19:31</td> 9</td> 11</td></tr>
18:35</td> 19:36</td> </td> 40</td> </td></tr>
18:58</td> 19:55</td> </td> 21</td> </td></tr>
19:11</td> 20:09</td> 20:16</td> 7</td> 24</td></tr>
19:20</td> 20:27</td> </td> 45</td> </td></tr>
19:35</td> 20:41</td> </td> 31</td> </td></tr>
20:05</td> 21:09</td> 21:12</td> 3</td> 28</td></tr>
20:35</td> 21:41</td> </td> </td> </td></tr>
21:05</td> 22:09</td> </td> </td> </td></tr>
21:34</td> 22:41</td> </td> </td> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The first problem is that the last bus leaves at 21:12. This means I have to
leave the city about 20:00 in order to catch it. Some of my meetings don't
finish until an hour later. More time is required depending on the location of
the meeting in order to get to the train station.</p>
The next problem is that there is only one hour between bus services, however
there are two train services with not connecting bus. This means I have to plan
my time carefully to ensure I catch the connecting bus. Often this means I have
to sneak out of meetings early in order to ensure I catch the correct train.</p>
The third problem, and the topic for discussion in this article, is that the
trains are often running late. Typically there is no reason for the trains to
run late, no train in front to slow them down, and few passengers to get off at
the majority of stations. No excuses are given. Regardless, it isn't unsual for
the trains to be 5 to 10 minutes late.</p>
This means the connection to the bus service fails because only 7 minutes
allowance is given for one bus service, and only 3 minutes allowance is given
for the last bus service. This is very strange time tabling, as the last bus
could have been scheduled to leave later and still make the train at croydon
with plenty of time to spare.</p>
These are connections that are officially documented in the official timetables.</p>
Also I can't leave on the earlier train, this would mean leaving my meetings
even earlier, with a long useless waiti, in the freezing cold, at UFTG station.</p>
I have complained to the various operators about the problem, this is a summary
of the communications I have had so far. I have not added any comments except
in the conclusion section, just because I haven't commented on something
doesn't mean to imply that I agree or disagree with what was said.</p>
Furthermore, this isn't a comphrensive list of issues I have encountered with
this bus connection by any means.</p>
Another topic for another day will be the timetable that means the 732 bus from
Knox City arrives at Upper Ferntree Gully station just after the 688 bus
leaves.</p>
I haven't even studied the connections between the 693 and the 688 buses
(required for example if you live along the 688 route and are a student
at Monash University). At quick glance this looks equally as bad.</p>
Before 2011</h2>
I told a Connex manager of the issues at a "ask our managers" session, at
Melbourne Central station. He responded by saying it is the fault of the bus
company for not waiting for the train when it is running late, saying some bus
companies are small businesses and implying they don't care as a result.</p>
2011-06-30</h2>
On the 2011-06-30 the connection failed.</p>
2011-07-02: On the following Saturday (2011-07-02) I sent a complaint to
Ventura Bus, Metro Trains, and DOT.</p>

CCed: Ventura Bus, Metro Trains, DOT</p>
Hello,</p>
On the 30th of June 2011 the train 9:09pm train missed the
connection for the 9:12pm 688 bus at Upper Ferntree Gully up the
mountain. This is the last bus up the mountain, so I was not
impressed. There doesn't seem to be any good reason why the train was
so late. Some of the factors that lead to this problem:</p>

The train was running several minutes late in the city. There is no
good reason I can see why an off peak train that isn't overcrowded
should already be running late without a good reason.</li>
The signal before Upper Ferntree Gully station was red. This delayed
us several more minutes, as we had to stop at the red signal, and then
trip through the signal when it didn't change. There is no reason why
the signal was red, the next oncoming train wasn't due for 9 minutes
(according to display) and my train was eventually given a all clear
path all the way to Upwey. The train didn't not pass the oncoming
train at Ferntree Gully or Upper Ferntree Gully, so there was no good
reason for this delay.</li>
The train arrived at Upper Ferntree Gully station at 9:13pm. The
same time the bus was due to leave one minute earlier. I ran down to
the bus stop just in case, but there was no sign of the bus.</li>
Thinking I missed the bus I walked to where I could get a better
view of Burwood Highway, as the bus route takes means the bus comes
back on the highway very close to the official bus stop. While I was
there the bus raced in and out of the official bus stop, at 9:14,
without even really slowing down.</li>
I tried to yell and shout and grab the bus drivers attention, but
the bus kept going without slowing down.</li>
I tried calling the telephone number of the Bus depo I have been
given previously, however it would have been useless because by the
time I explained the situation the bus would have been long gone.</li>
Fortunately the bus driver saw me and stopped on Burwood Highway to
pick me up. So this worked out fine. Unfortunately, I don't think I
can rely on all bus drivers stopping here. It is not an official bus
stop. Also if the train was one minute later, this wouldn't have been
an option.</li>
</ul>
Related points:</p>

I note that the hourly 732 bus arrives at Upper Ferntree Gully
station at 8:15 and 9:13pm, which is pretty much the same time or
after the hourly 688 bus leaves. I find it really hard to understand
how bus connections by the one bus company could be so bad. Travelling
to/from Knox City is rather common for me, and this requires that
these buses connect.</li>
</ul>
The above point is also significant if the trains aren't running for
any reason, and I have to get home by bus from Box Hill.</p>

When the current 688 time table first came in, the bus drivers use
to wait to about 9:19 before leaving, this means the bus almost always
meet the train. While I understand that buses have to run on time, I
think there needs to be some more tolerance for late trains when it is
the last bus of the day.</li>
I still have an open unanswered issue with Metro Trains (2011/33885)
regarding the peak hour Belgrave train running late and missing the
688 bus connection. Since then I have noticed that this has happened
almost every week day since the start of the last school holidays.
Unfortunately I can't catch the early train, often it is extremely
overcrowded and late when it arrives at Melbourne Central station. So
I have to catch a train that arrives 24 minutes early to save 25
minutes waiting time when the connections fail. I can't win.</li>
It is also happening increasingly often that the bus will
(apparently) wait for the connecting train to arrive, and then leave
before anybody has a chance to walk (or run) from the train to the
bus.</li>
</ul>
So some open questions:</p>

Why was the train late?</li>
Why was the signal red at Ferntree Gully station for no apparent reason?</li>
If I arrive at the bus stop late, how can I tell if the bus has</li>
Would it help if I alerted the bus depo that I was expecting to
catch this bus? If so, how much notice should I give?</li>
</ol>
Unfortunately, as the above example shows, I can't always tell the
train is going to be running late until after it has departed Ferntree
Gully station. If the train wasn't delayed here, it would have made
the bus connection easy.</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2011-07-04: Ventura Bus responded.</p>

Hello Mr May,
I have read your email and will respond only to the bus related questions,
the only thing I can suggest in relation to how do you know if the bus has
gone is not to move away from the bus stop and ring the number of the depot
on 97521444 to find out where the bus is, I know you ran to check down the
road to check to see if the bus had gone but as you know that can cause other
issues by missing a late running bus by not being at the stop. We understand
the inconvenience of missing the last bus so if you suspect you are running
late or the moment you know you are running late please call and we hold back
the bus for you. We will make every effort to assist you in getting home but
please understand that we can not control all the issues that you have
outlined in your email.</p>
Regards
Alan Floyd
Senior Operations Supervisor</p>
</blockquote>
2011-07-16: Ventura Bus responded.</p>

Hi Brian,</p>
I have been on holidays,
This is why I has taken me so long to reply</p>
Your train issue is a Met Link problem, We are not running the trains. If
the Station or yourself ring the Monbulk Depot we can hold the bus for the
train. I do this all the time for the 695 service, because Belgrave station
ring me. If you are not shore if the bus is running late you can ring the
depot on the below number and we can check For you.We run our services on
time but , for the passengers to make train connections both ways the
stations or the passengers need to let us know or the buses will run on
time. Best of luck with your train issue's</p>
Thanks,</p>
Malcolm Wicks
Operations Supervisor (US Bus Lines)</p>
</blockquote>
2011-08-03: Metro Trains responded, one month later.</p>

Case Reference: AE/61047</p>
3 August 2011</p>
Mr Brian May</p>
Dear Mr May</p>
Thank you for your email received in this office on 2 July 2011.
Please accept our apology for the delay in responding.</p>
You have expressed concern regarding the performance of our 8:05pm
Belgrave-bound service from Flinders Street station on 30 June 2011
and queried why the signal was at red before Upper Ferntree Gully for
no apparent reason. Also noted are your comments regarding no response
received to previous feedback you provided.</p>
Your feedback is important to us and we welcome the opportunity to
investigate and respond.</p>
Service History</p>
Upon investigation with our Train Operating Performance System, we
confirm our 8:05pm Belgrave-bound service from Flinders Street service
operated on time as per our current timetable.</p>
As you may be aware, a service is deemed to be ‘on time’ if it arrives
between 59 seconds before and up to four minutes and 59 seconds after
the scheduled arrival time.</p>
As we do not deal in minutes and seconds in the timetable, it is
inevitable that some small degree of variation will occur in the
actual arrival and departure times of trains against the time
scheduled.</p>
We do however acknowledge that from a customer’s perspective a service
that operates up to four minutes and 59 seconds behind schedule is a
delay and we regret any inconvenience experienced as a result.</p>
Signals</p>
In a general sense, signals will revert to red (stop) for one of two reasons:</p>

due to a fault</li>
as a result of another train being in the section
Our investigation confirms there was no signal fault on the evening of
30 June 2011. Based on this information, it is reasonable to assume
there may have been another train in the section. As we do not
document the general operation of signals across the network, we are
unable to categorically confirm why this signal remained at stop.</li>
</ol>
Previous Feedback</p>
A search of our records indicates we received feedback from you via
email on the 14 April 2011. However as no specific question or
investigation request was raised, this was recorded for feedback
purposes only, and forwarded to the appropriate areas for their
attention. Following receipt of your feedback on 2 July 2011, please
accept our apology for this incorrect assumption, and we now respond
accordingly in this regard.</p>
4:49pm Melbourne Central to Belgrave</p>
Upon investigation we confirm:
· 13 April 2011 – operated eight minutes behind schedule due
to inclement weather which caused an increase in customer
entering/exiting timeframes at stations and train congestion
· 14 April 2011 – was altered to bypass the City loop due to
extended delays experienced on the previous Belgrave-bound service
(4:30pm Flinders Street to Belgrave)
We regret these incidents impacted our ability to provide you with a
reliable service on these occasions.</p>
Compensation</p>
It is of relevance to note Compensation is not offered for service
disruptions, delays and cancellations as outlined in the Victorian
Fares & Ticketing Manual.</p>
Outside our legislative requirements, we have produced a Customer
Compensation Code, ratified by the State Government, which outlines
our offer of compensation to eligible customers based on our monthly
network-wide performance.</p>
You may be eligible for compensation in this regard following the
release of our performance results. Full details of our Customer
Compensation Code are available on our website:</p>
https://www.metrotrains.com.au/About-us/Service-Commitments/Compensation-Code.html</p>
Ticket Offer</p>
Notwithstanding the above, in recognition of our response timeframes
not meeting your expectations, whilst we do not offer refunds outside
the terms of our Customer Compensation Code, on this occasion, we are
pleased to offer you one, Daily Zone 1 and 2 Full Fare Metcard Ticket
as a once off, gesture of goodwill.</p>
Should you wish to accept this offer, please sign a copy of this
letter as an indication that you consider this to represent a
satisfactory resolution to your concerns.</p>
You can return this via our postal address:</p>
Metro Customer Service
Customer Feedback
GPO Box 1880
MELBOURNE VIC 3001</p>
Alternatively, you may wish to return your signed acknowledgment via
facsimile, to 9610 2406. Upon receipt, we shall arrange for the
ticket to be promptly issued to you.</p>
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.</p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Andrew Elia
Customer Relations Coordinator</p>
Encl. Complementary Ticket Acknowledgment Slip</p>
</blockquote>
2011-09-14: I received a response from DOT.</p>

Reference: PTD 1459/11</p>
RE: Bus 688 Connection</p>
Thank you for your correspondence received on 02-July-2011 regarding the
above matter and I apologise for the delay in responding.</p>
I understand that your query regarding the late running of the Ferntree Gully
train has been refereed to Metro Trains to answer.  Regarding the ability to
tell whether a bus has arrived at a bus stop, the Department of Transport has
been working on a bus tracking system which will send information to Metlink
so passengers can check the location and arrival time of their bus using the
Metlink website or iphone app or by calling Metlink.</p>
This system is to be implemented after a trial period commencing in early 2012.</p>
Thank you for raising this matter with the Public Transport Division.</p>
</blockquote>

Yours sincerely</p>
ANHTUAN NGUYEN</p>
REGIONAL OFFICER</p>
14 September 2011</p>
</blockquote>
As of 2012-05-26 there has been no sign of this bus tracking system.</p>
2012-02-06</h2>
2012-02-06: I sent the following to Ventura Bus.</p>

Hello,</p>
Tonight my train was ten minutes late, due to excessive 10 minute wait at
ringwood station. Meaning I was worried about meeting the 8:16pm 688 bus from
uftg. As instructed, I rang the number given in the attached email. I was
told I should have called the croydon depo; he said he would "try" to pass
the message on; however the message never reached the driver; it was only due
to good luck and a good driver that I caught the bus. Can you please confirm
the number I should call? A number of people in the company have specifically
told me I should call this number, not the croydon depo.</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-02-08: I received the following response.</p>

Brian,</p>
Yes you can ring U S Bus lines for your 688
Buses, Just keep in mind that 688 services run from both
Monbulk and Croydon depots. If it is a Croydon shift we may have to
Ring them to get the bus to wait. This may take some time,
So please give us as much time as possible on it.</p>
Thanks,</p>
Malcolm Wicks
Operations Supervisor (US Bus Lines)</p>
</blockquote>
2012-02-08: I replied.</p>

Ok, Thanks for the confirmation.</p>
On this occasion I rang as soon as the train left Ringwood station, i.e. 16
minutes before getting to Upper Ferntree Gully station, at about 20:02. Is 16
minutes not enough notice? Unfortunately, I didn't realize the train was
going to be delayed so long at Ringwood station (we arrived at first signal
before 19:55); and I didn't know how long the train would be delayed for.</p>
Considering this train and the train to meet the last bus always seem to be
delayed every time I have caught them recently, maybe I should call as I am
leaving the city, even though the train appears to be on time?</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-02-09: Ventura Bus replied.</p>

Yes Brian, Or you could bring this up with Met Link and see if they with
change the runout time for the last two buses Best of luck,</p>
Thanks,</p>
Malcolm Wicks
Operations Supervisor (US Bus Lines)</p>
</blockquote>
2012-02-28: I replied.</p>

Hello Malcolm.</p>
Unfortunately it seems that ringing up US Bus lines isn't an option when
trying to meet the last bus of the day. it seems like both of the depos close
sometime before 9:12pm when this bus leaves Upper Ferntree Gully station.</p>
You advised in your latest email that I should raise the issue with Met Link
to see if they can change the run out time. I thought timetabling was the
responsibility of the bus companies; Metlink only published the time tables
they have been provided - or am I confused?</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-02-28: Ventura Bus replied.</p>

Brian ,</p>
Met link is the one who tells us the times in and out of stations. We can
not change the times, they do and they let us know. As stated before if you
ring we can help, But keep in mind this Depot closes at 20.00, you can ring
Doncaster, and they can call the bus. Doncaster number is 9856 1415</p>
Malcolm Wicks
Operations Supervisor (US Bus Lines)</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-17</h2>
The train missed the bus connection again.</p>
2012-05-18: I sent the following email.</p>

To: Public Transport Victoria (PTV)
Submitted using PTV website</p>
Hello,</p>
Who do I contact these days about train/bus connection problems?</p>
Last night, the 8:05pm Flinders street to Belgrave train was late, but
catching up on time. Then we waited 2 minutes at Mitcham station and 2
minutes at Heatherdale station. For no apparent reason.</p>
I contacted the operator of the 688 bus - Doncaster Depo, as Monbulk
Depo and Croydon Depo is closed at that time, and told them I wanted
to catch the last 9:12pm bus, but my train wouldn't arrive until
9:15pm. They said that they would hold the bus for me.</p>
The train arrived at 9:14, so I should have been able to catch the
bus. However, the bus left bang on time at 9:12, so I missed it.</p>
Why did the train wait 4 minutes for no good reason at Mitcham and
Heatherdale stations?</p>
Why didn't the bus wait? Sometimes it will wait until 5-10 minutes
after designated time even when the train is on time. What was the
hurry last night?</p>
Why is there only 3 minutes from the train arriving at 9:09 until the
last bus leaves at 9:12? Who is responsible for the timetable? Would
it be possible to make the bus leave later so the train doesn't have
to be on time to make the connection?</p>
Who will pay for my Taxi fare after I missed the last bus?</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-20: I sent the following to Ventura Bus:</p>

Hello,</p>
Last Thursday, 17th May, the train made an extra long stop at Mitcham and
then Heatherdale stations. No explanations given. As a result, the train
which had been catching up on time was now 4-5 minutes late when it left
Ringwood station.</p>
I attempted to Contact Monbulk depot, however like you said it was closed. So
I contacted Doncaster Depot. The person said he would let the driver know
that I was expected at 9:15pm.</p>
Unfortunately, however, the bus left bang on time - 9:12pm - as confirmed by
driver of 732 route. When I got to the bus stop, 9:14pm (a minute earlier
then I estimated at Ringwood station), there was no bus present, As discussed
previously, I thought the bus might be running late, so I rang Doncaster
Depot again as I have been told to do so. They said they had no idea where
the bus was. Nor was he particularly helpful considering this is the last
bus. While I was on the phone, the bus drove past on Burwood highway. I tried
to race down to meet it, however due to being on the phone to Doncaster, I
missed it.</p>
As instructed I have contacted PTV (having replaced Metlink for complaints)
to try and get the timetable changed. So I have given them full details what
happened too.</p>
However, I would like to know - why didn't the bus wait even just 1 minute
for my train to arrive? With 2 minutes I would have been able to catch the
service. Don't the drivers care? For these last 2 services, some drivers will
wait 5-10 minutes after the scheduled time even when the train is obviously
on time. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.</p>
Also can I reconfirm what I should be doing when I arrive late and there
isn't a bus present. Last time I asked I was told I should ring the Depot,
but in doing just this, I made sure I missed the last bus service. It is
possible I might have been able to catch it from Burwood highway if I was
there at the time.</p>
It was very inconvenient getting back home as a result.</p>
Unfortunately, if I can't count on the train/bus connection meeting, I have
to rely on driving to/from the station, which means I can't use your
otherwise good bus service as often as I would like.</p>
Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-21: I received an automatic response for Metro Case No: 2012/78315 from
Metro Trains. Not sure if it is related or not to the complaint I sent to PTV.</p>
2012-05-21: I received this response from Ventura Bus.</p>

Brian ,
Sounds like you did every thing I asked,
Met link need to keep trains running on time.
But I have asked Doncaster about this, And given it happened on
Thursday night , they can’t remember the call.
Nor can the driver.</p>
Thanks,</p>
Malcolm Wicks
Operations Supervisor (US Bus Lines)</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-22: I received this response from Ventura Bus.</p>

Good Afternoon Mr. May,</p>
I am responding to the problem you encountered on the 688 bus route on 17/5/12.
Doncaster did put out a broadcast for the driver but sometimes in the Upper
Ferntree Gully area the two-ways can be a little distorted and was not heard by
the driver.. Generally drivers cannot wait past their departure time because
it means if they are then running late at the other end of their trip
passengers will not make their connection to that train. We spoke to the driver
of this trip who had waited until around 9.15 anyway. With this bus being our
last service out of Upper Ferntree Gully we do have some leeway for the driver
to wait if contacted.</p>
Your other areas of concern regarding the trains would need to be directed to
Metro trains and timetable issues would be dealt with by Metlink.</p>
Regards,</p>
Evelyn Nancarrow
Supervisor</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-22: I replied to Evelyn.</p>

Hello,</p>
</blockquote>

Thanks for your response. I assume either PTV or Malcolm passed my
complaint on to you?</p>
</blockquote>

Unfortunately, you appear to have been misinformed. Had the bus waited to
9:15, I would have been able to catch (without a doubt), and I wouldn't be
here talking to you. Based on my observations, and after talking to the 732
bus driver who saw the 688 bus leave, I consider it most probably it left
at 9:12, or maybe 9:13 at the absolute latest.</p>
</blockquote>

I have also complained to PTV, who I believe has replaced Metlink, and are
now suppose to be responsible for connections between services. I suspect
however, that have forwarded my complaint on to either you and/or Metro
trains and are not going to investigate further. I might have to push them
more, unfortunately they might continue to respond by forwarding my
complaints on to Metro Trains and/or Ventura Bus.</p>
</blockquote>

At present time, Metro Trains is not responding to any of my complaints - I
have a number of complaints open with them at the time. They aren't
anywhere as good as Ventura Bus is with prompt replies.</p>
</blockquote>

The bottom line, however, is that it appears that I can't rely on the train
to meet the bus, and as such I should be using alternative forms of
transport. You might want to consider this issue should you realize that
the last bus services generally don't carry many, if any, passengers.</p>
</blockquote>

Thanks</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-24: I received this response from Ventura Bus.</p>

Hi Brian,</p>
Driver didn't hear the call from Doncaster due to bad reception(Dead spot) at
upper Ferntree Gully. The driver left 2 minutes late as precaution knowing
he was the last bus. As for train time table enquires you need to get in
touch with Yarra trains.</p>
If you need to discuss the above further please don't hesitate to call me.</p>
Regards,</p>
Omar Najmeddine
Depot Manager - Croydon & Monbulk Depots</p>
</blockquote>
2012-05-24: I replied.</p>

Unfortunately, I think you were misinformed. Had the bus left 2 minutes
late, I would have seen it leaving, if not been able to catch it. From what
I have been able to work out, the bus left exactly on time.</p>
</blockquote>

The message I am receiving loud and clear is that I cannot rely on the
connection with the last bus working, and I should drive to/from the
station instead.</p>
</blockquote>
Conclusion</h2>
It is unfortunate that delays to trains often happen after Box Hill,
especially at Ringwood station. So it isn't possible to know that I should ring
up the bus company until the train departs Ringwood station. Even then, it is
likely that the train will have to wait before Ferntree Gully station because
it is late, and the city bound train got priority over the single line track.</p>
PTV was set up to deal with connection issues like this. Unfortunately I cannot
see any way of complaining to PTV. If I put a complaint through to PTV, it
appears that they will forward it on to the operators without any
consideration. This doesn't help because the operators will blame each other
instead of trying to resolve the complaint.</p>
For some reason Ventura Bus has been trying to blame Metlink for the bad
time table (I have heard on good authority that Metlink publish the timetables,
the operators write the timetables), Metlink is apparently responsible for the
trains running on time (No, that is Metro Trains responsibility), as well as
Yarra Trains (no such operator).</p>
At the present time, I am not getting any responses, not even automatic
responses from PTV.</p>
Metro Trains does not appear to be investigating any of my complaints. The only
responses I have been getting are from Ventura Bus, which seem to indicate that
they are not interested in resolving the problem.</p>
There are too many operators involved. What I would really like is for PTV,
Metro Trains, Ventura Bus, and maybe even Metlink and Yarra Trains to talk to
each other and find a solution to this problem.</p>


Trip to Canberra
2012-01-20T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Canberra to visit LCA2012</a>.</p>


LCA2012 conference
2012-01-20T00:00:00+00:00



PyCon Au 2011 conference
2011-08-21T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Sydney
2011-08-21T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Sydney to visit PyConAu2011</a>.</p>


Late trains
2011-06-02T19:17:59+00:00
Just my observation that trains have been consistantly 5+ minutes late since
the start of the school holidays (9th April). 10+ minutes late or cancelled is
more usual. Except for the occasional day when everything is almost on time.
Thursday is normally the worse day of the week. Today was no exception to this
rule.</p>
In fact, today was even more dramatic then usual.</p>
Normally, if everything is running on time, I should be able to catch the
5:00pm Belgrave train from Melbourne Central station and catch my bus easy.
However as the train almost always is too late, it misses the connection,
and there is a long wait for a next bus. As a result, I
have been catching the earlier 4:49pm Belgrave train. Unfortuately, due to the
fact that the train is one of a few express services that stops at Surrey Hills,
it is frequently overcrowded.</p>
So today I was running to try and catch the 4:43 Lilydale train, as it normally
has plenty of seats. I can change trains at Ringwood, where there are more
seats available on the Belgrave train. Only I didn't need to run. It was 9
minutes late.</p>
When the train did arrive, it was packed with people. There was also a wheel
chair taking up a lot of the space, but it wasn't his fault. One passenger
assisted by getting of the train so other people could enter/exit. Despite
this, the train was so full, I was lucky to be able to get on.</p>
At Parliament station another wheel chair user wanted to get on. The driver
called for us to move down the isle, but the isle was already full. Fortunately
the potential passenger told him that there was not enough room, and didn't try
to board - their really was not enough room for another person let alone a
wheel chair.</p>
At Glenferrie station we overshot the station by 1 or 2 carriages. Maybe the
driver didn't allow for the fact there were so many passengers on board? We had
to wait several minutes (getting permission to reverse?) during which time
nobody was allowed in or out the train. They did at least keep us up-to-date
with annoucements which was good. Then the driver told us that due to the
trains running late we couldn't reverse back, and had to continue to Camberwell
station (I guess this means the next train behind was too close to us).</p>
At Blackburn station things were eventful, as the train was still overflowing
with passengers, but the wheel chair use needed to back his wheel chair so he
could get off. Fortunately most people cooporated and left the train while he
got off, although there were some people who refused, making it just that bit
harder for him to navigate.</p>
Eventually I got to Ringwood at 17:39 (scheduled 5:18). At Ringwood station, I
caught the 17:52 Belgrave train (scheduled 17:23). It got to Upper Ferntree
Gully at 17:55 (scheduled to leave at 17:39), or 2 minutes after the bus left.
Next bus 25 minutes away.</p>


Email forwarders
2011-04-20T13:18:52+00:00
Traditionally, Unix daemons communicate to the sysadmin in one of two ways.
Either by logging something to a file, or by emailing the user. This has meant
every system requires a MTA to be installed, configured, and working. However,
a full scale MTA is often an overkill for many systems, e.g. why should a web
server require a MTA that can do everything possible when all that is required
is to forward the output of cron jobs to a system admin? There is no need to
deliver mail locally, and no need to queue mail either, your mail server can do
that. To have a complicated solution for a simple problem means that things are
more likely to break and/or create security issues.</p>
There are a number of lightweight solutions in Debian, unfortunately, they all
seem to implement a different subset of the requirements, they tend to be buggy
and ill-maintained too.</p>
Requirements:</p>

Forward all email to remote SMTP host.</li>
Ability to work with mail from system daemons, such as daemon, that may not be fully qualified email addresses.</li>
Needs to log every transaction.</li>
IPv6 support.</li>
</ol>
Optional extras:</p>

May spool email in case remote SMTP host is off-line.</li>
Redirect all local email to a given remote user.</li>
Rewrite the envelope sender address, so bounces will go somewhere sane.</li>
</ol>
ssmtp</h2>
Looks very good at initial glance. Unfortunately, the code is buggy
and currupts messages, e.g. {% bts 508759 %}, {% bts 584162 %} and
{% bts 279737 %}. I seem to recall having other problems random with
ssmtp, but never got around to filling bug reports.</p>
esmtp</h2>
Not related to the ESMTP protocol standard.</p>
A very good alternative to ssmtp. Unfortunately, esmtp falls down because it
doesn't have any support for logging what is happening {% bts 623293 %}. So
if somebody complains that you are sending SPAM, even if this is unlikely, you
can't prove otherwise. Especially if you don't have access to the logs on the
smtp host for any number of reasons.</p>
msmtp</h2>
msmtp also looks very good. Unfortunately it doesn't expand the recipient
address when there is no domain {% bts 578017 %} and {% bts 623294 %}
making it unusable for forwarding admin emails. Unless you use the
hackish</a>
wrapper shell script for supporting aliases</p>
nullmailer</h2>
This one has a queue, so if the mail can't be sent immediately (e.g. the mail
server is offline), it will retry. It also has an adminuser so all email to the
local system can get redirected to this remote email account. Very nice. The
first criticism is that it isn't useful for systems which end users might
have access to, because all the email will come to you instead.</p>
Unfortunately, nullmailer has some bugs too, some of which look nasty e.g.</p>

errors parsing data recipients and headers headers:
{% bts 589899 %}, {% bts 540758 %}, {% bts 188251 %};</li>
problems sending outgoing emails {% bts 583564 %},
{% bts 329192 %}, {% bts 359994 %}, {% bts 375380 %};</li>
breaks conventional unix standards {% bts 329970 %}.</li>
</ul>
Nullmailer is the only program I noticed that has broken IPv6 support {% bts 605899 %}.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
None of these packages does what I want. I have tried submitting bug reports,
but unfortunately, there is little interest in fixing the problems either. So
the best solution might be to install a full blown MTA such as postfix, and
turn off functions I don't need (e.g. incoming SMTP support).</p>


Trip to Brisbane
2011-01-29T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Brisbane to visit LCA2011</a>.</p>


LCA2011 conference
2011-01-29T00:00:00+00:00



Kindle DX
2010-04-04T12:00:00+00:00
Several weeks ago I purchased an Amazon Kindle DX. As expected it has some
significant benefits, some limitations, and some anti-features. I decided to
document these here.</p>
As a spend almost 3 hours each day travelling to/from the city by train I would
like to be able to read books on the trip. Unfortunately books tend to be heavy,
and are prone to get damaged in my bag because of their size.</p>
My idea is that the Kindle DX would allow me to read books during this time without
having to carry them around.</p>
This is purely my experiences so far. I make no claim that everything I have said
is accurate, but will try to fix any mistakes as I find them.</p>
Delivery</h2>
I was expecting to receive the Kindle on Friday. When it didn't arrive I
contacted DHL Friday afternoon and was told that VicFast accepted the delivery
but not assigned it to a driver. On Monday morning there the tracking
information still had not been delivered and I complained to both Amazon and
DHL. It turned out it had been delivered to our letter box on Friday. As we
hadn't realized this, and had no reason to check our letter box after the
Australia post delivery, it had been in my letter box all weekend, where it
could have been stolen at any point. Not only that but it had been raining the
entire weekend. Fortunately (by some miracle) the water didn't penetrate the
cardboard box, and my Kindle was still intact.</p>
After the complaint with DHL they responded with:</p>


We offer our most sincere apology for the
inconvenience caused by the delivery of this
shipment of electronics left in the rain.
</p>

While our contract with Amazon does stipulate
that shipments can be left without a
signature, this should only be done after
confirming that noone is home to sign for the
shipment. The shipments are also not to be
left in clear view of the road, and in a safe
area if noone is home to sign for the
shipment.  I have forwarded your Airway bill
details to the management team of our Third
Party associates to look into this matter
with the driver concerned.
</p>

Please be assured that this incident is not
indicative of the high level of service
normally provided by DHL.  We trust our
future business dealings pursue a trouble
free course.
</p>
</blockquote>
Screen</h2>
This is an E-Paper</a> display. Unlike a conventional
monitor, you are not staring directly at a light that is pointed into your eyes all the
time. Unfortunately, the surface does seem to be reflective so depending on the angle it
is positioned at, glare could be an issue.</p>
DRM</h2>
Digital Rights
Management</a>. This is a
very contentious issue. I would argue though that DRM doesn't do anything to
protect the rights of the publishers.</p>

There are claims that people have broken the DRM and can remove the DRM from
DRM encoded books.</li>
I can still copy the content of the book, e.g by photographing the Kindle
screen.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore it prevents me from doing things I could do with a standard paper books:</p>

I can buy a book, read it, and give the away to friends, at no cost. The
number of people who can read one book is not restricted. There are no time
limits or other restrictions. The only practical restriction is that only one
person can read the book at the time.</li>
I can go into a major bookshop, and I can read the entire book before I decide
if I want to buy it or not.</li>
I can get my company to pay for a book that is related to my work, and the
company owns the book so anybody else at work who wants to read the book can do so.</li>
</ul>
None of these are possible with e-books purchased from Amazon's store.</p>
Unlike other DRM schemes however, the Kindle allows you to copy content from other
websites (via USB), provided it is a compatable format. There are some websites
that allow retrieving books (especially public domain books) free of charge.
Unfortunately there are many books, especially non-fiction, that are only available
from Amazon's store.</p>
Also Amazon has received bad publicity over its ability to remove content
remotely</a>. While
they settled the case out of court, the wording of the guarantee to wider
rights, as on Wikipedia, only applies to Kindle's being purchased from and used
in USA, so it doesn't appear to apply to me.</p>
Amazon claim they need to be able to remotely delete content in case on non-payment
or the user asks for a refund. However they are not able to do this for dead tree
books, so why should E-Books be considered any different?</p>
Formats</h2>
The Kindle supports different formats</a> for files:</p>

Unprotected Mobipocket.</li>
AZW format. The DRM format Amazon provides books in you purchase from there store. Not that
some files with the .azw extension appear to be unprotected Mobipocket files, as such
I wonder if all AZW files are just Mobipocket format with DRM encryption.</li>
Text format. Text format is good, although obviously you don't get the pictures. Text format
comes out better if the Kindle is allowed to do the word wrapping itself. Unfortunately some text
books come with the lines prewrapped, and this looks awful if the text size is too large and the
Kindle wraps lines that are too long. Later on I might try and create a script that joins long lines
together.</li>
PDF format. People I talk to seem surprised that this isn't the ideal format for the Kindle. PDF files
are intended for printing, not viewing on a computer. If you have a document formated for large
paper (e.g. A4) with multiple columns the type ends up being very small even on the large Kindle DX.
Due to the slow refresh rate of the screen it becomes inconvenient to try and scroll around the
page. If the PDF file was formatted for a smaller page size then it is ok. It is also
worth noting it is not possible to annotate PDF content.</li>
</ul>
As far as I can tell, HTML format is not supported except with the built in web
browser. So you can not use html format ebooks.</p>
According to the documentation, Amazon also offer a feature where I can turn
other formats (e.g. word and HTML) into AZW format, free of charge, by emailing
it to username@free.kindle.com, and then downloading the result and copying it
via USB. As of yet I haven't tested this service.</p>
Quality of books</h2>
Generally the quality is good. However there are some problems:</p>

Tables appear awful. No separation between table cells, text can scroll of
edge of screen where it can't be read.</li>
Some diagrams are too small and low resolution to see what the diagram is displaying.</li>
Online books are never provided with any add on digital files that the
publisher may provide with the book in tape or CD format. This makes it
worthless to purchase some books, e.g. books on learning another language.</li>
</ul>
This would be OK if the e-book was cheaper, however many e-books
(especially non-fiction) have similar inflated prices to the paper books.</p>
I don't know if some of these problems are due to the format used or the process of
coverting the book to this format.</p>
Local restrictions</h2>
As I use this in Australia there are some restrictions I face:</p>

The Kindle comes with a built in 3G Sim for Amazon. I can't change this. On
the good side this means I can connect to Amazon or Wikipedia out of the box
without needing to setup a 3G account. On the other hand, this means Amazon pay
International data roaming fees, and as a result they have some restrictions.
These restrictions are not clearly mentioned on the Amazon website under the
Australia Specific country page. One restriction is that I cannot download from
any website other then Wikipedia or Amazon. Blog content is not available. Also
magazines/news papers do not come with images, which makes them next to useless
IMHO.</li>
Availability of books. Many books I like to read are simply not available in
this country. e.g. any Tom Clancy book. I have just started reading the Jack Ryan
series of Tom Clancy books. This means I will continue to have to carry heavy
books with me on the train.</li>
</ul>
Aviaton use</h2>
As a pilot, I wanted to see if the Kindle would assist me in anyway. In
particular I wanted to be able to put the
ERSA</a>
on my Kindle, so I can get a list of airports when flying without having to
take the big bulky book. Airservices Australia provide the PDF
files</a> free of
charge, so it should be easy, right?</p>
Wrong. First problem is the Airservices Australia provide the document in separate
PDF files for each and every airport. The Kindle doesn't cope very well with having hundreds
of closely related PDF files, as everything is displayed on a single level.</p>
I tried to join the files to create one PDF file. On my first attempt I used
pdfjoin, part of the pdfjam package in Ubuntu. however found in doing so I lost
the images. Not only that, but searching through PDF files seems to take ages,
making it very difficult to find details for the desired airport quickly and
easily.</p>
I tried again with pdftk, however it prompts for a password because it thinks
the source files are encrypted.</p>
As a test I copied several PDF files for several airports individually straight
from the website. The text is nice, large, and readable. Unfortunately the
airport diagrams have a lot of corruption in the rendering which makes it
unusable.</p>
I am not sure what the solution is here, but unfortunately, using the ERSA on
the Kindle is not feasible at present time.</p>
Using other Australian aviation documents might still be possible, e.g.</p>


Flightsafety</a>. Text appears small once scaled to fit
screen size. While it is better in landscape view, looking at multi column text in
landscape is tedious.</p>
</li>

AIP</a>. This is also split up in many PDF
files</a>.
Unfortunately, Airservices Australia assumes
you will be browsing this online, and only provides links to other PDF files
within the first PDF files you download.</p>
</li>

CASR</a>.
Not tried yet.</p>
</li>

CAR</a>. Not tried yet.</p>
</li>

CAOs</a>. Not tried yet.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Links to these CASA documents, and more are found on CASA's
website</a>.</p>
Feedback to Amazon</h2>
This is on my to do list. They have provided me an email address where
I can provide feedback.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
Overall I am really happy with my purchase. It is a shame though that there are
anti-features, such as DRM and country restrictions, that very much restrict what I
can do with the Kindle, and as a result, may limit the number of books I
purchase from Amazon's store.</p>


LUV meetings to date
2010-02-02T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2010 conference
2010-01-23T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Wellington
2010-01-23T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Wellington to visit LCA2010</a>.</p>


Drive to Paynesville
2009-05-03T00:00:00+00:00
Earlier May this year, we went to {% include photo_place.html place=37 link="Paynesville" %} to fix up Grandma's old house.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26018 title="Grandma's unit" %}</p>
We made a complete mess of the house. This is because we had to remove
everything, in order to allow us to rent the property.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26014 title="Grandma's kitchen" %}</p>
We took a lot of things to the tip, as we didn't have anywhere else to put
them. One car trip was very loaded, as we had two chairs, one sofa, and two
beds. As well as some other bits and pieces, like an old low quality record
player.</p>
This was kind of sad, because the chairs and sofa have been in the family for
a long time, however we don't have the time to restore them to good health
or any where to but them if we did restore them.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26028 title="Loaded car" %}</p>
On the last day, we took Tyla, our dog to the beach.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26055 title="The beach" %}</p>
Initially, Tyla was very jealous when another dog was allowed to fetch a stick
in the water, but then when Tyla had a turn, the other dog became very jealous,
and jumped off the jetty and into the water.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26061 title="Jealous dog" %}</p>
Tyla was happy because we throw the stick into the water lots of times so she
could fetch it.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26060 title="Tyla happy" %}</p>
After Tyla went swimming she was a very messy with lots of sand.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26085 title="Tyla sandy" %}</p>


Storms
2009-04-15T12:00:00+00:00
There were no trains from Belgrave to Bayswater (all day), so my trip into the
city was slower then usual:</p>
Time</th> Scheduled</th> Stop</th> A/D?</th> Service</th></tr></thead>

07:32</td> 07:25</td> Clarkmont Road</td> Depart</td> 638 Bus</td></tr>
07:41</td> </td> UFTG</td> Arrive</td> 698 Bus</td></tr>
07:45</td> 07:51</td> UFTG</td> Depart</td> 732 Bus</td></tr>
08:08</td> 08:13</td> Knox City</td> Arrive</td> 732 Bus</td></tr>
08:15</td> 08:15</td> Knox City</td> Depart</td> 664 Bus</td></tr>
08:27</td> 08:30</td> Bayswater</td> Arrive</td> 664 Bus</td></tr>
08:56</td> 08:47</td> Bayswater</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
09:02:35</td> 08:54</td> Ringwood</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
09:16:55</td> 09:09</td> Box Hill</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
09:23:30</td> 09:15</td> Camberwell</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
09:32:30</td> 09:24</td> Richmond</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
09:37:30</td> </td> Melbourne Central</td> Arrive</td> Train</td></tr>
09:38:00</td> 09:29</td> Melbourne Central</td> Depart</td> Train</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
[Service times]</p>
At Knox City I just missed the 901 bus to Ringwood, and decided
to catch the 664 to Bayswater. In hindsight I would have been better
if if I caught the next 901 to Ringwood, because of the long
wait for the first train at Bayswater. There would have been more
trains at Ringwood.</p>


Train terminated without notice
2009-03-06T18:25:58+00:00
Today my train arrived at Box Hill station, as usual. The only warning sign something was wrong was we stopped at platform 4, not platform 3, and there wasn't a Blackburn train terminating on platform 3. We waited.</p>
When the Ringwood train passed us on Platform 3, I started getting worried.</p>
The next train, a Blackburn train passed us on Platform 3, and we were given an automatic message the train might be delayed by 10 minutes, so I got off and caught the next Lilydale train from Platform 3 (fortunately my gamble paid off and it left first...).</p>
At Ringwood I changed to the Belgrave train, which still wasn't the train stranded at Box Hill, but the next one. I didn't notice any people from my Belgrave train on this one, and it looked relatively quiet, so I guess they were still waiting on the train at Box Hill.</p>
I have no idea what the problem was, because they didn't say.</p>
(it goes without saying I missed my bus connection).</p>


Trip to Hobart
2009-01-24T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Hobart to visit LCA2009</a>.</p>


LCA2009 conference
2009-01-24T00:00:00+00:00



Communications
2008-12-04T16:00:00+00:00
At around 7:47am, when the train was arriving at Upper Ferntree
Gully station, we assumed it was the 7:47 train. Express Box Hill to
Richmond, stops all stations on the city loop.</p>
The station announced that it was stopping all stations to Flinders
Street station. Had the station staff made a mistake[1]? The signs in
the train had indicated it was a City Loop train, but now said Connex.</p>
After a number of stops, the signs in the train changed to "stopping all
stations direct to Flinders Street station." Ok, not a good sign.</p>
The driver made an announcement before Ringwood saying that the train
was now a stopping all stations Flinders Street direct train. He didn't
say why or what city loop passengers should be doing. My first thought
was maybe the city loop was closed for some reason. So I stayed on the
train.</p>
Before Box Hill station the driver finally told us what I would have
liked to have known much earlier:</p>

point failure at Belgrave</li>
this train was an additional service</li>
</ul>
If I known this earlier I could have waited for the next train at Upper
Ferntree Gully station and got a seat for the full duration of the trip.</p>
At Box Hill I caught the real 7:47 service (the one I thought I had
caught). Predictably it was running late. It train ended up arriving at
Melbourne Central at 8:46, 10 minutes late.</p>
Connex needs to provide better information to passengers when things don't go
to plan. This would enable passengers to use Connex services more efficiently.</p>
I submitted feedback to Connex via their website (case number 2008/011568).</p>
Notes:</p>
[1] recently a train stopped at Blackburn, and station staff announced
it was a changing to become a stopping all stations train. Apparently
nobody told the driver. The train used the track normally used for
express trains too.</p>


City link road works
2008-10-29T19:00:00+00:00
My bus to Fishermen's bend arrived at 9:28am instead of 9:06am, because of
delays, due to road works.</p>
First problems occured on Queensberry Bridge Road, as it was closed off past
Whiteman st. Cars were expected to turn left or right, and the right hand turn
traffic light cycle at this intersection is very small. Trams could get through, and
busses could also get through to (via the left hand turn lane). It didn't affect
traffic travelling north down the road.</p>
Second, there were extensive delays on Montague Street, possibly because the
left hand lane was closed. I could not see any reason for this lane to be
closed, except for the fact there were vehicles parked in it to warn motorists
that the lane was closed.</p>


Unruly Passenger
2008-10-01T07:40:00+00:00
He didn't seem that</em> bad. At least compared with some passengers I have
seen...</p>
When I arrived at Upper Ferntree Gully station I hadn't been able to hear the station
announcements. The first one was happened when I was in the underpass, the next
one while a other train at the adjacent platform departed. So I didn't know
what the problem was (assuming the said). As it happened, I boarded the train
on the closest door to the problem teenager. Oops. As I got on he asked me if I
know what the delay was, and I said no. He then asked me if the train was
delayed, and I said yes, while still walking to a vacant seat.</p>
He was ranting and raving, and threatened to repeatedly push the emergency
button, claiming it was an emergency. Apparently he also made threats to the
driver, although I can't have been on the train at the time.</p>
After the police arrived, removed the passenger, the train departed when the
train driver made an announcement and said he couldn't say anything earlier. He
also complained that the police took 35 minutes to respond. At this time I
realized the teenager was the primary cause of the delay, and maybe entering
from that particular door wasn't the best of strategies. Previously I had
assumed there was signal failure or something, and that the problem passenger
couldn't cope with the delay.</p>
The 7:39am train left at 8:01am.</p>


Townsville holiday
2008-09-29T20:00:00+00:00
In September 2009, we had a holiday in Townsville.</p>
Day 1 (2008-09-13) Flight to Cairns</h2>
Today we travelled by aircraft from Melbourne to Cairns, via Brisbane airport.
We did this in an aircraft. The aircraft flew in the air and did not crash
until we landed.</p>
At Cairns the Hotel got our booking wrong. The process is that we booked via an
online booking agency, and they write the details into a fax, send it to the
hotel, where the hotel types it into their computer. Unfortunately they
mistyped the date, and the booking was made for the wrong day. The hotel was
fully booked out. Fortunately we were transferred to another hotel of the same
owner and stayed there the night.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19333 title="Accommodation" %}</p>
In the night Dad took some night time photos with long exposure times (15 to 30
seconds).</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19318 title="Night time Photo" %}</p>
Day 2 (2008-09-14) Cairns to Cape Tribulation</h2>
We drove. In a car. A rental car. A rental car that was black, to be precise.
At one stage we had to cross a river in a car ferry. The ferry cost as $19 for
a return trip. We stayed the night at Heritage Lodge.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19464 title="Heritage Lodge" %}</p>
Day 3 (2008-09-15) Cape Tribulation</h2>
{% include photo.html photo=19398 title="Wompoo Fruit-dove" %}</p>
Today we walked up Mount Sorrow. You have to be careful to stay in sight of the
orange arrows (or orange ribbons or blue ribbons) otherwise you can easily end
up walking in the wrong direction (because it looks like that is the direction
the path takes). We did so on several occasions and had to back track our steps
and find out where the path disappeared to.</p>
At one point we thought we were almost at the top. Wrong. We had only started
the steep stretch. The path just kept going up as far as you could see.
Eventually we got to the top of a steep stretch of path, but before we could
get any relief, the path turned 90 degrees and we were at the bottom of the
next ever lasting steep stretch of path. At the top of the mountain we got a
good view, from a metal cage. Some people criticised the cage as being ugly,
but it provided a place to wait without fear of leaches. Unfortunately no
seats were provided.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19446 title="View from top of Mount Sorrow" %}</p>
We started the walk at 10:55, arrived at the top at 13:32, started the descent
at 14:51, and got back to the bottom at 16:22.</p>
Day 4 (2008-09-16) Cape Tribulation to Undara</h2>
On the way to Undara, we saw the Millstream falls, and made some friends
with some Kookaburras.</p>
There are a large number of road trains using this stretch of road. Each
vehicle can be anything up to 5 units long (1 engine + 4 trailers).</p>
Throughout the entire area there is a lot of sugar cane farms. All of these
farms are linked by the narrow gauge sugar cane railway. The carriages look top
heavy, but somehow they manage to stay on the tracks. There are numerous level
crossings, with some of them being rather complicated because there has been no
attempt to relocate the train track away from intersections. Instead, a placing
give way signs at appropriate points is considered satisfactory.</p>
Undara is a place of historic volcanic activity. It is now a national park. We
went on the sunset tour, and saw kangaroos, wallabies, and bats flying out of
the lava tube at night. We learnt that kangaroos have pointy ears and wallabies
have rounded ears.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19559 title="Kangaroo" %}</p>
Day 5 (2008-09-17) Undara to Ingham</h2>
We went on the half day tour, and saw more wildlife. We also saw the insides of
some of the lava tubes.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19679 title="lava tube" %}</p>
The mango tree on the side of the road is significant because it marks where
the lava crossed this area.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19720 title="mango tree" %}</p>
Later on we saw a number of water falls and headed for Ingham. At Ingham
we stayed at in old building, Hotel Noorla, with historic features. For
example, the owner created all the tiles by hand, and they appeared to be
of good quality.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19814 title="Ellinjaa Falls" %}</p>
We stay the night in a historic Hotel.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19895 title="Hotel Noorla" %}</p>
Day 6 (2008-09-18) Ingham to Townsville</h2>
We see more waterfalls (the Wallaman Falls). When driving we go around a
corner and find a dead cow on the road in front of us. Only it isn't dead.
There are two calves, back to back, sun baking on the road. We blast our horn
at them as we pass them, but they don't seem to take any notice.</p>
We walk to the bottom of the waterfalls and take lots of photos.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=19968 title="Wallaman Falls" %}</p>
After the falls, we drive in our brown rental car to Townsville. By this stage,
the car has been covered in layers of dirt and tar (from the many road works) and
bullshit (from wondering live stock) that it is no longer black.</p>
Day 7 (2008-09-19) to day 9 (2008-09-21) Townsville</h2>
My sister attended a wedding in Melbourne (the irony!), so we look after her
dogs and try not to destroy her house too much in the process. On the first day
we accidentally flood the house (the hose come out of the sink from the washing
machine). On the second day the toilet flush mechanism breaks and is no longer
functional. On the third day nothing breaks.</p>
We take lots of photos of birds, lizards, snakes and dogs in the area.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=20098 title="Frog" %}</p>
Day 10 (2008-09-22) to day 16 (2008-09-28) Townsville</h2>
Fix stuff around my sisters house. Fix leaking toilet. Repeatedly. Fix TV, and
allow it to receive ABC (perfectly) and other channels (not so good - Antenna
is VHF only). Install blinds to protect dogs from insects in wet season.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=20234 title="Cockatoo" %}</p>
Day 13 (2008-09-25) Townsville</h2>
Walk through Town Common taking photos of birds.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=20307 title="Kookaburra" %}</p>
Day 14 (2008-09-26) Townsville</h2>
Walk through Town Common and take photos from the top of Mount Marlow.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=20545 title="Townsville" %}</p>
Day 15 (2008-09-27) to day 16 (2008-09-28) Townsville</h2>
Continue fixing stuff. No photos. Wasted days.</p>
Day 17 (2008-09-29) Townsville</h2>
Today we leave Townsville to go back home, in Melbourne. The aircraft flies
through the sky. It is powered by our camera, with every photo we take we
propels the aircraft forward and keep it in the air. Flying is perfectly safe,
as long as we don't run out of batteries. When the camera fills up with photos
it is time to land.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=20631 title="Magnetic Island" %}</p>


Latrobe Valley accident
2008-08-29T14:16:38+00:00
AO-2007-065: Cessna Aircraft Company 172M, VH-EUI and Amateur Built Avid Flyer, 28-0929, Latrobe Valley Aerodrome Vic.</p>
Preliminary report</a> now available.</p>
From the report:</p>

Sometime later, as the aircraft had progressed in the circuit, two aircraft attempted
to make a radio broadcast together, and the instructor in the second Cessna 172
reported that he broadcast that there had been an over-transmission and that the
transmission indicated that both aircraft had called on final approach. In response to
that broadcast, it was reported that the pilot of the Avid broadcast that ‘he had the
other aircraft in sight’. The instructor reported that he noticed that there appeared to
be two aircraft in close proximity on final approach to runway 09. It was reported
that shortly after that, the Cessna and the Avid collided while on final approach to
runway 09.</p>
</blockquote>
We will have to wait until the final report.</p>


Secure Gateways
2008-08-29T14:16:38+00:00
For any connection to the Internet, ideally you want to keep things as separate
as possible. For example, web servers should not exist on your internal network,
because this means anybody who breaks into the web server can access your
internal network. You shouldn't put it on your firewall either, because not a
potential attacker could get access to everything.</p>
The solution is to put the web server on its own, physically separate network,
that has its own network connection to the firewall. This way you can add rules
to restrict connections from the web server to the internal network, so even if
the web server is compromised, an attacker cannot get to your internal network.
Obviously the firewall must be kept secure, this means it should not run
anything except the bare essentials. This is also known as a
DMZ</a>.</p>
Unfortunately, this approach, while secure, has traditionally been rather
expensive, due to the large number of computers required. On my network I would
have:</p>

Firewall</li>
Samba file server</li>
Asterisk server</li>
Web server</li>
Squid</li>
Mail server</li>
</ul>
All of these functions should be separate, in order to minimise damage if one
part is compromised, but that is 6 computers, that must be purchased, located,
and provided with power.</p>
What if there was a cheaper and easier way to do this?</p>
There is: Xen Virtual Hosts</a>.</p>
Conclusion</h2>
With virtualisation software, it is possible to produce a reasonable gateway
with only one computer, and still have a firewall protecting the various
applications from each other.</p>


Express stops all stations
2008-08-22T23:35:32+00:00
Previously I had decided if I arrived at Melbourne Central station
early, I would catch the Lilydale train, and change trains at Ringwood.
This would protect me in case Connex decided to change the
Belgrave train to skip the City Loop.</p>
However today Connex found a way to defeat this. The trip on the
Lilydale train was normal until just after Camberwell station. We
switched to the left track and then proceeded to stop all stations. Some
passengers must have known, because they got of at these stops, however
I hadn't heard anything. As we were stopping at Surrey Hills station,
the Belgrave train went express past us.</p>
Result: If I was using buses I would have had to wait an hour for the
next bus. Fortunately my brother was in the area and gave me a lift.</p>
My guess is that the Blackburn train was cancelled, so they used the
Lilydale train as a substitute. Sure would have been nice if they told
us before we left Richmond station though, so we could switch trains.
Alternatively they could have told as at Camberwell and then made the
Belgrave train stop at Camberwell station.</p>
If the driver had announced anything, I didn't hear it. This might be because
the quality of some of the PA systems used by Connex is awful.</p>
Maybe I should catch the first train and change at Richmond. That would cover
my for both cases - when the Belgrave train bypasses the city loop and when
the Lilydale train changes to a stopping all stations service. Unfortunately,
trains are at there fullest at Richmond station, and I am least likely to get
a seat (assuming I can even get on the train).</p>


Missed connection
2008-08-12T23:35:32+00:00
I sent the following feedback to Metlink. I also considered contacting
Connex and US Bus Lines directly, however last I tried contacting both
operators I got no response. It is this kind of situation where we
really need a central authority to manage this; at present when I talk
to the bus drivers they blame Connex and when I talk to Connex they
blame the bus companies.</p>
I didn't mention that I refused to wait one hour for the next bus, and
instead got somebody to give me a lift instead.</p>
Maybe I should have mentioned that I have to get out of work 15 minutes
early to catch this train, and as such I catching the prior train isn't
really a good option. Besides the timetable says these services should
connect.</p>
The bus driver might argue that he had no way of knowing it was the 5:48
train running late and not the next train running early, and maybe he
really didn't see me jumping up and down and waving from the station as
he was pulling out from the bus stop.</p>
I might add the reason the train was late in the first place was because
the prior Lilydale train was held up at Box Hill station (and just
before Laburnum station) for about 5 minutes waiting for the Blackburn
train, which presumably was running late and had priority where the two
tracks merge into one.</p>

Case Number: 2008/006687, 2008-08-12</p>
Hello,</p>
Normally I catch the 5:00pm Melbourne Central train. It is due to arrive
at Upper Ferntree Gully station at 5:48pm, in time to meet the 5:53pm
698 Bus service to Olinda. It is clearly indicated in the official
printed Metlink timetable that this bus meets this train.</p>
Today the train was running 6 minutes late by the time it reached
Ringwood station. This is not normally a problem, as the train normally
catches up by the time it gets to Upper Ferntree Gully station.</p>
This time however, when the train stopped at Bayswater. The driver left
his cabin, and didn't return for 5 minutes. What was the train driver
doing all this time?</p>
The train arrived at Upper Ferntree Gully station at 5:54pm, just in
time to exit the train and see the bus depart. The bus driver must have
seen the train arrive. Why didn't he wait? The timetable clearly says
that the bus connects with this particular train service, I feel this
means the bus should wait for the train if the train is running late.</p>
As such, I had to wait one hour for the next bus.</p>
Please forward my feedback to the relevant companies.</p>
Thanks.</p>
Brian May</p>
</blockquote>
I got feedback from PTUA saying bus drivers have to make a hard decision. Wait
for the train that is running late, or keep to the timetable? This is made
worse by the fact the bus driver doesn't know when the bus is going ro arrive.
In this case it could be argued the bus should have waited though, because the
train had arrived at the station at much the same time it departed.</p>
The ideal solution would be to increase the frequency</a> of the bus service.
If there was one bus every ten minutes, it wouldn't worry me if I just missed
one bus. In fact I would expect the bus to leave even if the train just arrived
at the same time.</p>
Of course, if the first service is running late, missed the first
connection, and the 2nd connection was cancelled due to "short circuit
in air-conditioner", I might be slightly irritated, however it still is
only a 20 minute wait maximum. I would be prepared to wait that long, as
long as it doesn't happen often. 60 minutes on the other hand is
excessive, even if by pure luck (as opposed to adherence to the
timetables) it doesn't happen often.</p>
It looks like my email was forwarded to Connex. I got an automatic
response. Lets see what happens...</p>
Later: I got a response from Connex:</p>

Case no: lm/006687</p>
27 August 2008</p>
Mr Brian May</p>
Dear Mr May</p>
We refer to your email received in this office on 12 August 2008.</p>
Your comments regarding the 5pm Melbourne Central station service to
Belgrave on 12 August are acknowledged, and we welcome the opportunity
to provide the following information.</p>
Service History – 12 August</em></em></p>
Our records indicate that the 5pm Melbourne Central station service to
Belgrave was delayed in transit due to an increase in customer boarding
and disembarking timeframes.</p>
The initial delay was compounded after a smashed carriage window was
identified on the service, and our driver was instructed by Metrol, our
train control centre, to check for damage to ascertain if the train was
safe to continue to Belgrave.</p>
In regards to ‘connecting’ bus services, we can advise that the
integrated public transport timetable is the responsibility of the State
Government.</p>
Connex, Yarra Trams, the State Government and local bus operators are
currently working on a system of increased communication between the
transport operators in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, with the
intention that this would include a system capable of alerting the bus
drivers of delays on the train network.</p>
In a current trial of a new communication system, train arrival
information is currently being provided to bus drivers at the transport
interchanges in Ringwood and Frankston. If beneficial, this system will
be implemented at transport interchanges across the train network.</p>
Notwithstanding the above, we fully acknowledge the inconvenience
experienced as a result of this disruption.</p>
Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention.</p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Luke Morrison</p>
Customer Resolution Co-ordinator</p>
</blockquote>


Lots of Snow
2008-08-10T20:00:00+00:00
Last weekend it snowed at my place. This is so unusual for our area
that we took lots of photos.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=18560 title="Phillip in snow" %}
{% include photo.html photo=18341 title="Lots of snow" %}
{% include photo.html photo=18381 title="Snowy forest" %}</p>


Storms
2008-04-02T20:00:00+00:00
The following was typed in on a laptop computer with a battery that
was running flat and using candle light. Errors may exist.</p>
Morning</h2>
I was driving down the main road, and noticed a car stopped in the middle of
the road. In the darkness I could barely make out a person pointing me to turn
left down Hilton Road, so I followed. I ended up behind another car, when we
noticed a bus coming in the opposite direction. We were not able to pass the
bus (the gravel road was not wide enough for a car and a bus), so the car in
front drove up and along the embankment, and I had to follow it. As I was
pulling back on the road behind the bus, I got a fright because the bus was in
reverse gear, but fortunately it wasn't moving anywhere.</p>
Evening</h2>
I arrive at Flinders Street station at 4:01pm, and was surprised to see that the
3:59pm train was still there. On getting I was surprised to see that the 3:59pm
Belgrave train was still there on platform 3. I race to get on the train, and accidentally
knock somebody on the head (oops), only to find the train is not going anywhere
in a hurry.</p>
Train</h3>
The train on platform 2 is an Eltham train, which is highly unusual. There make
some announcements on the platform, but I cannot hear them. As we wait, the
train gets fuller and fuller. Eventually at about 4:20pm the doors closed and the train was
ready to depart. Unfortunately some people made a last minute dive for the door
without considering that the train was too full. They got jammed in the closing
door, and needed help from other people on the platform to get free before the
train departed.</p>
Through out the city loop it was clear that the train was extremely full, and
that there were crowds of people waiting to get on my train. Also I noticed
that all the signs said that the train was a Camberwell train, unlike at
Flinders Street where the signs said Belgrave. At Richmond the train driver
confirmed our worse fears, and said that the train would be stopping all
stations to Camberwell were it would be terminating, and we were to catch
alternate transport (nothing was mentioned about a bus replacement service).</p>
At Camberwell station there were crowds and crowds of passengers. I struggled
to get off the train. I decided that the 109 tram to Box Hill would be too
full, and the busses would take some time to arrive, so I walked south to catch
the 75 tram to Vermont South.</p>
Tram</h3>
Eventually this tram came, and by the time it left it was completely full. I
was barely able to fit on the tram myself. The tram stopped at the next
stop on the other side of Burke Road, and more people got in. Somehow they
managed to fit, despite the tram driver needing to remind passengers that the
doors would not close if passengers stood on the steps, and there was the risk
that people standing on the steps would somehow damage the sensors on the step
and render the tram out of service.</p>
Somebody on the tram insisted that somebody open and keep the window open, despite
the rain outside, because it was getting very stuffy in the tram. I am not sure
which was worse, when the tram was going and it was stuffy, or when the tram
was stopped, and people were trying to get out.</p>
At the Blackburn Road stop, when the tram started getting some free space, we
had to wait, as the tram behind us was terminating at Blackburn Road (no
explanation given), and everybody had to get on our tram. Now my tram was full
again.</p>
The traffic lights at Springvale Road/Burwood Highway were out, and they had 2
police to control the intersection. Same with the traffic lights at Vermont
South tram/bus interchange, although police had also blocked off the north side
road so cars could only turn left into Burwood Higway.</p>
Bus</h3>
I was worried at Vermont South that not everybody would fit on the bus to Knox
City, but somehow this was not an issue.</p>
At Knox City I arrived at 6:20pm. I met another passenger who had just come
from Ringwood station, just in time to see the power at to the trains die
there. Maybe it was good I didn't catch the 109 tram to Box Hill. He also said
that the next bus was due to come at 6:18pm, but obviously it was running late.
When it did come, the driver was in a hurry leave, and wanted passenger's not
to validate there tickets. I caught the next bus to Upper Ferntree Gull at
about 6:30pm.</p>
The bus travelled to stops to the other side of Box Hill and then waited for
some unknown reason. I got concerned when I overheard clips of what the driver
saying on his radio: "... but this bus is full of passengers right now ...". A group of
passengers ran up to the outside of the bus door, but the driver didn't open the door and let
them in or try to communicate with them. Apparently he was busy counting money.</p>
Eventually a passenger at the back got sick of waiting, and pushed forward to
the front to ask the bus driver what was going on. The bus driver said we were
waiting for the next bus in 20 minutes, and everyone would have to get on that
bus instead. The passenger was annoyed that the bus driver was keeping
everyone in the bus, and didn't seem to have any intention to tell us what was
going on or open the doors and let us out.</p>
It turned out the next bus was only 2 minutes away, not twenty. Maybe I
misheard the bus driver initially. After the compliant the driver opened the
doors and let us out, but still wasn't going to annouce what was going on to
all the passengers - it was up to us to question the passenger he talked to.</p>
Car</h3>
After getting to Upper Ferntree Gully station, I got in my car to drive home. I
got stuck behind a slow car up the mountain. Where the road splits into two
lanes around Devils Elbow, the car in front went in the right lane, and I took
the left lane. Big mistake. I suddenly noticed that a tree blocking the left
lane. I slammed my brakes on, started sliding around on the road, and managed
to miss the obstacle. Then, at the last moment, the car behind tried to pass
both me and the slow car in front, and ended up having to push his way in
between us.</p>
Electricity</h3>
I got home at 7:05pm. I got a SMS from my boss saying he was still stuck at
East Camberwell.</p>
At home, we found there was no electricity. In fact, there had been no
electricity since about 1pm. A tree at had fallen across the power lines and
disconnected power to our road. Since it is only our road, it will probably be
a low priority to fix.</p>

  
</a>
Several days later</h2>
Power was lost at about 12:46pm on Wednesday, as told by my computer logs.</p>
The next day (Thursday) people come to remove the tree, and then stood by the
road. Waiting?</p>
Power was finally restored to our house at 5pm the following Friday.</p>


Fatal crossing
2008-02-12T19:30:08+00:00
No trains between Burnley and Camberwell stations.</p>
A fatality occurred when somebody tried to cross the tracks at Glenferrie station apparently.</p>
There is no reason why anybody should cross the tracks at this station.</p>
Too bad if you were a visitor to Melbourne, you would have got stuck with no knowledge of alternative transport, and the trams were jammed packed full. No alternative transport or information was provided.</p>
After the train eventually started moving again, we got to Burnley station, and worked north to Tram route 75. This was too full to get on.</p>
So we noticed route 48 crossed route 109, and we managed to squeeze on the next 48. Then, by accident, we missed getting off where we intended (just before Victoria street - we hadn't realized that road changes it name), which is very fortunate because when we did get off at the next
step, the 109 tram was right behind us. Based on the map we was under the impression that the routes cross over each other, but in fact they follow each other for a small distance too.</p>
We managed to squeeze on to this tram to Box Hill, catch a Lilydale train from Box Hill, then a Belgrave train from Ringwood.</p>
What is amazing is we didn't have to wait more then 3 minutes, after getting off the train, for any connection.</p>
I managed to get home 1 hour 10 minutes later then normal.</p>
Another option might have been to catch a tram to Camberwell station, but I wasn't sure how much to trust the announcements that trains were running from this station, and my knowledge of these routes is even more vague then my knowledge of the 109 and 75 routes.</p>
Also another option would have been to catch a train to Glen Waverly (Lilydale/Belgrave trains were being diverted to Glen Waverly), but somehow I suspect we wouldn't have been able to catch a bus from Glen Waverly. There were a lot of people getting on the next train.</p>
Another person responded to my post on on the PTUA mailing list with:</p>

Other options worth considering:</p>
Glen Waverley line to Gardiner, then 72 tram to Camberwell.</p>
Glen Waverley line to Holmesglen, then 700 bus to Box Hill.</p>
Glen Waverley line to Syndal, then 703 bus to Blackburn.</p>
So yeah, there are other options, but the information on the ground is often inadequate, and it's often the case that alternative routes can't cope with the displaced people.</p>
</blockquote>


LCA2008 conference
2008-02-02T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to Melburne
2008-02-02T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Melbourne to visit LCA2008</a>.</p>


Train and truck collide at Nunawading
2007-11-02T19:25:57+00:00
I ended up catching a 732 bus from Box Hill, after my train was delayed at Box Hill for 5 minutes, and it appeared there might have been trains queued up all the way to Blackburn.</p>
This might have been a mistake.</p>
I just missed the 17:25 bus by five minutes.</p>
The 17:49 was running late, and so full that people were left behind. It seemed like it had to stop and every stop. It also got stuck in bad traffic (maybe as a result of the level crossing accident). Not to mention it seemed to be falling to bits (the support
to my seat had come out of its socket and at one point the "next stop buzzer" stopped working for several stops).</p>
Next time, I will go all the way to Blackburn, I think. Even if I give up on the train replacement busses, I can catch a bus to Burwood Highway (and bypass some of the heavy traffic), a tram to Vermont South. According to the 732 timetable at Box Hill, there are more busses from Vermont South then from Box Hill.</p>
I caught the 4:50 Belgrave from Melbourne Central and arrived at UFTG at about 6:50.</p>
Maybe the trip time wasn't so bad after all.</p>


Fatality at Mitcham
2007-10-12T19:24:39+00:00
Fatality tonight at Mitcham, during peak hour.</p>
I started on the 5pm Belgrave from Melbourne Central.</p>
I thought it was kind of odd that my train was waiting a while at Blackburn station, but then when the next train, a "Ringwood via Loop" train pulled into Platform 2, I was very suspicious my train would be terminated. It was.</p>
Prior to this train arriving, the train driver talked to a Connex employee on the station, but I couldn't hear. Then the Ringwood train arrived. After everyone got of this train, we got an automatic announcement "due to unforeseen incident this train will be delayed 10 to 15 minutes." Eventually the driver told us the truth.</p>
There was about one train every 10minutes (or less) arriving at platform 2 (they only platform they can turn trains around on), each train full of passengers.</p>
Apparently, a bus replacement service was due in one hour.</p>
Not a good combination.</p>
After a debate (should I catch a train to Box Hill and then a bus to Upper Ferntree Gully or wait the replacement bus service?), I ended up catching a bus to Burwood Highway, tram to Vermont South, bus to Knox City, and a bus to Upper Ferntree Gully. Curiously enough, there were few people on this bus, even though at least one person found out in time to get train at Box Hill and boarded then.</p>
I passed two empty train replacement bus (US Bus Lines) services turning right from Burwood Highway into Scoresby Road (hopefully these weren't the only ones). I do not know if they were going to Ringwood or Blackburn.</p>
I got to Upper Ferntree Gully at 6:50pm, which seems reasonable considering the circumstances. 1 hour later then if I was on the train.</p>
Another passenger I was travelling with was furious that the Connex employee at the Blackburn station had no idea of the bus routes; I suggested she complain to Connex; she said she would definitely send them an E-Mail.</p>
Also, I can't hope but noticing the Eastlink bridge across Burwood Highway - it doesn't look like they have made any allowances for extending the tram line to Box Hill - the space looks like it will be used by right hand turn lanes instead.</p>


Trains cancelled/late/slow
2007-10-08T10:05:10+00:00
Had a very eventful trip to the city today.</p>
Upper Ferntree Gully</h2>
7:47am train cancelled. Radio station said no trains cancelled.</p>
PIDS displayed 7:39 as the next train in 3mins (this didn't seem to
change), when the 7:39 had already been and gone.</p>
Caught 7:55 (Hitachi) instead.</p>
Mont Albert and Surrey Hills</h2>
The express train stopped before each of these stations for several
minutes.</p>
Camberwell</h2>
The train was so full people were slow to get one; at one point the
driver made an announcement along the lines of "we apologise for the
overcrowded train but there will be another train shortly if you just
let this train go."</p>
Richmond</h2>
I was going to catch the 8:45 direct train to Flinders Street, but
then observed:</p>

It was only 3 carriages.</li>
It was completely full.</li>
Crowds of people waiting for it to stop so they could board.</li>
I would have had problems getting off my train.</li>
</ul>
So I didn't bother.</p>
Parliament</h2>
Managed to get off my train; it was still overcrowded. I had to push
and shove a bit though.</p>
On platform 3, I just missed the 8:53 (not sure of exact time) train
to Flinders Street (the doors closed right in front of me), so I
caught the 8:24 train to Flinders Street instead. Yes, this meant the
train was 30 minutes late (No, I didn't employ any time travel
techniques), although I only had to wait several minutes.</p>
Flinders Street</h2>
Arrived around 8:57. In time to catch the Fishermens Bend bus (235)
which was running 5 minutes late (9:05 instead of 9:00).</p>


Train driver assaulted
2007-10-05T18:21:47+00:00
Connex were blaming delays and cancellations on Platform 4 trains (Burnley group) Melbourne central on the fact a train driver was assaulted.</p>
The trains on Platform 3 (Northern group) also seemed to be running just as late, so I suspect the issue my have affected the entire network.</p>


Out of order
2007-07-13T18:34:49+00:00
Trains were stuffed up today. Not only were the late, but they were out of order - I suspect this is because some trains bypassed the city loop.</p>
This meant while I caught the 16:53 Lilydale train from Melbourne Central (actual time closer to 17:00), I missed the next 17:00 Belgrave train and the 17:08 Belgrave (the 17:17 came first).</p>
Confused?</p>
The station master at Upper Ferntree Gully wasn't terribly impressed when the 6:07pm (I think it was on time but can't remember now) arrived before the 5:55pm.</p>
Anyway here is the schedule of trains and approximate times at Ringwood, in order of actual arrival.</p>
17:31 Belgrave at ??:??
17:28 Lilydale at 17:38
17:36 Ringwood at 17:41
17:38 Lilydale at 17:48
17:51 Belgrave at 17:51
17:43 Belgrave at ??:??
17:47 Lilydale at ??:??</p>
The first entry and last two are guesses, I wasn't there at the time. The 5:43 was indicated when I pushed the green button at the station (3 minutes after the 5:51), so I assume it was correct.</p>


Good announcements
2007-05-21T19:29:41+00:00
I sent the following feedback to Connex:</p>
I liked the announcements the driver gave before every stop on
the 5:00pm Belgrave train from Melbourne Central last Friday (2007-05-18). Not
only did he announce every station, and reminded passengers that the train was
express (frequently passengers do get confused and the automatic announcements
on the newer trains don't help), he also apologised for the fact the train was
a Hitachi train (not really required as the Hitachi trains continue to provide
good service), and he also reminded passengers of the heavy rain outside.</p>
Unfortunately the driver on the 5:03pm Ringwood train from Melbourne Central
today (2007-05-21) wasn't so good. After leaving Parliament station, we
appeared to loss all power as most of the lights went out, the displays went
black, the doors unlocked, and the train eventually rolled to a stop. Even when
the power came back on, the driver didn't say anything. I was just curious what
happened? Was it just our train or the entire City Loop that was affected?</p>
</blockquote>
Several months later (2007-06-18) I got a response:</p>

18 June 2007</p>
Mr B May</p>
Dear Mr May</p>
We refer to your email submitted on 21 May 2007.</p>
Connex is committed to providing a professional and efficient standard
of service to all customers.</p>
We certainly appreciate your positive feedback indicating your
satisfaction with the communication from our driver on the 5.00pm
service from Melbourne Central station to Belgrave on the 18 May 2007.</p>
Your comments have been referred to the Train Services Manager, who has
ensured they are communicated to the staff member concerned, as well as
to the Connex Public Relations department for inclusion in the staff
magazine and reward and recognition program.</p>
You have further enquired about the 5.03pm Melbourne central service to
Ringwood, which appeared to lose power after it had left Parliament
station on 21 May 2007. Also noted are your comments regarding the lack
of announcements from the driver during this incident.</p>
Upon investigation, we can confirm that due to inclement weather the
5.03pm this service experienced a temporary loss of power. This appears
to have been an isolated case, as our investigation revealed no other
service experienced this problem.</p>
We aim to provide a premium level of service to all customers and it is
of concern to learn of your experience. Your feedback has been brought
to the attention of our Train Services Manager and we regret any concern
this may have caused at the time.</p>
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, as your feedback plays a
vital role in monitoring our service standards.</p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Tina Tsoukas</p>
Customer Feedback</p>
</blockquote>


Heatherdale station
2007-05-15T22:52:07+00:00
When slowing down to stop at Heatherdale station I noticed the train was tooting its horn continuous. This seemed strange. I couldn't work out why, and thought maybe the horn was faulty or something (for some reason it seemed quieter then usual - or was that because I was half asleep?).</p>
Anyway the reason why become immediately obvious when we continued straight through the station, entered the level crossing at exactly the same time the boom gates lowered fully, and come to a stand still with the front carriage blocking the entire level crossing (it stopped at the extreme end of the level crossing).</p>
As indicated by the driver, people had to exit the train via the back carriage (3 carriage train). So I assume we overshoot by at least one and a bit carriages.</p>
Was a Comeng train, with M-Train stickers still in place. So I suspect the driver may have misjudged conditions in the wet weather.</p>
Then, to ensure my trip remained exciting, when driving up the mountain a rabbit started doing circles in front of my car. The rabbit lived... For now anyway.</p>
Fortunately most trips home aren't quite this exciting.</p>


Confusing letter
2007-05-09T18:00:35+00:00
I received this confusing letter from Connex today.</p>



</a>
The letter says I had already submitted a claim using the ticket. Monthly
ticket I used to support a claim for compensation. How do I submit a
ticket then if I am not allowed to submit the ticket?</p>
Date: 2007-05-18 16:11:44</p>
Connex replied and say they need more time to respond:</p>

Case ref. number: jc/19828</p>
18 May 2007</p>
Mr Brian May</p>
Dear Mr May</p>
We refer to your telephone call to the Customer Feedback Line on 11 May 2007, regarding your claim for performance compensation.</p>
As it is our practice to respond promptly to all customer enquiries, we apologise for the delay in responding to you.</p>
The issue you have raised has required more time than originally anticipated.</p>
At this stage, we anticipate that our investigations will be completed by 24 May, and a response will be issued at that time.</p>
Thank you for taking the time to contact us, as your feedback plays a vital role in the monitoring and improvement of our service standards.</p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Jen Cummings</p>
Customer Feedback</p>
</blockquote>
Eventually they sent me a letter via post which clarified the issue:</p>

23 May 2007</p>
We refer to your telephone call to the Customer Feedback Line on 11 May 2007, regarding
your claim for compensation for network-wide performance in February 2007.</p>
As stated in our letter dated 4 May 2007, your application for compensation under the
Connex Service Commitment Code for February 2007, has not been approved as our
records indicate a claim has already been submitted using the ticket you provided to
support your claim for compensation.</p>
A review of our records confirms that that the same ticket was used to claim compensation
in January and February 2007. The ticket was a Monthly Zone 123 which expired on 2
February 2007</p>
Where the customer holds a monthly ticket, this ticket can only be used to support a single
compensation claim and cannot be used to support claims for compensation across two
months, even where the ticket has been used in both months.</p>
Compensation is currently available for January, February, and March 2007. Our records
indicate that you have received compenstation for January and March.</p>
If you held a periodical ticket that was valid from 3-28 February, you may submit a claim
with the original or a photocopy of the expired ticket. Please quote the reference number
at the top of thsi letter on your claim.</p>
Should you require any further information, please contact Connex Customer Feedback on
1800 800 705.
Thank you for taking the tike to contact us.</p></p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Angela Marotta
Manager
Customer Feedback</p>
</blockquote>
Apparently I had submitted my January Monthly ticket trice, once for
compensation in January, and then again for compensation in February. I think it
is very sneaky, because nowhere is it indicated that you can only claim
compensation once for each monthly ticket. I could have claimed compensation
for January with my February ticket, March with with March ticket, and not been
able to claim compensation for February even though I purchased a monthly ticket
for each month.</p>
In this case I hadn't done this (I almost did so but was paranoid enough not
to), so simply resending the compensation claim with the correct ticket solved
the issue.</p>


More overcrowding
2007-04-06T14:25:20+00:00
Train arrived flagstaff at 21:12 (two minutes late). Only 1 seat vacant at Flagstaff, had to push and shove to get it.</p>
Richmond station, 21:19:</p>



</a>
Burnley, 21:21.</p>



</a>
Hawthorn, after being at station for 1 to 2 minutes, 21:24.</p>



</a>
Hawthorn, after departure at 21:27.</p>



</a>
Box Hill. Passengers leaving train. 21:45.</p>



</a>
Box Hill. Train leaving. 21:46.</p>



</a>
Other things I noticed:</p>
3 carriage Flinders street train at East Camberwell was very full (many if not all seats looked occupied but still standing room - at least compared with my train!).</p>
This train was followed by an empty 6 carriage train not taking passengers.</p>
At Blackburn, a Flinders Street train was terminated (defective train? I couldn't quite make out the announcement), and many annoyed passengers had to get out.</p>
The level crossing between Nunawading and Mitcham was block for cars (at least cars heading North towards Maroondah Highway) by a police car parked parallel to the boom gates.</p>
At Canterbury station a wheel chair user got off. Not sure how the wheel chair fit, or when it got on.</p>
Not sure if any of these items are related or not...</p>
The train arrived at Ringwood at 22:00, and at Upper Ferntree Gully at 22:14.</p>


Half Moon
2007-04-06T14:03:03+00:00
Newspaper article on previous road_accidents I have mentioned here. There were
two separate accidents on Mount Dandenong Road, the same corner
I lost control</a> and as another car</a>. The road was closed off for most of the afternoon.</p>



</a>


Announcement and overcrowding
2007-03-27T22:30:01+00:00
On the plus side:</strong></p>
This morning on the 7:47am from UFTG, the train had one of the good
drivers (maybe the best driver), who gave announcements:</p>

After Blackburn, explaining the reason for the delay was the previous train departing from Blackburn running late - yes this was obvious - but still nice to get an official word from the driver.</li>
At Richmond station the driver suggested passengers for Flinders Street stay on the train and change at Parliament.</li>
At Parliament he followed up and told above passengers which platform to go to.</li>
At Parliament he also said passengers shouldn't be scared about getting of to allow passengers to get off, as he would wait for them
to get on again. (I haven't heard this announcement before...)</li>
</ul>
On the downside:</strong></p>
The 9:10pm Belgrave from Flagstaff station was fuller then ever before (only about 5 seats vacant at Flagstaff and the train was very full until Heatherdale or Ringwood). This time I took photos on my phone. Taken on the 9:05pm train from Flinders Street just after Richmond station.</p>



</a>
I wonder if trains are fuller then normal due to the Burnley tunnel accident.</p>


More collisions
2007-03-24T19:49:18+00:00
Yesterday, in the Burnley Tunnel</a> there was a major accident</a>.</p>
Today there were two separate accidents on Mount Dandenong Road, the same corner I lost control</a> and as another car</a>. The road was closed off for most of the afternoon.</p>


Overcrowded trains
2007-03-23T19:57:04+00:00
I sent in a complaint to Connex:</p>

I wish to make a complaint of overcrowding in the 9:10pm Belgrave train from
Flagstaff station on Tuesdays and Thursday nights. Last night (22/3/2007) the
train was so full that people were struggling to get on the train at Parliament
and Richmond station. This in turn caused delays to the train service, as
passengers searched the train for a carriage to board. In addition, it appeared
that we left passengers behind at both stations. This has an ongoing problem
since February this year. The train in question needs to be 6 carriages, 3
carriages simply aren't enough.
</blockquote>
I also noticed that there were three Connex employees jammed against one of the
doors (ticket inspectors?). I am not sure if the passengers still on the
platform at Flagstaff and Richmond wanted to board the train, but it seemed
unlikely that they had got off (at that time of night) or wanted to catch the
Glen Waverly train (it goes 5 minutes earlier). Chances are that the person I
saw on her mobile phone was making arrangements to get a left home...</p>
I was in the front carriage - however I strongly suspect the other 2 carriages
would have been just as full, if not fuller (most people waiting at the
underground stations were within the centre of the train).</p>
Please wait</h2>
Date: 2007-03-26 18:33:25</p>
I got this response:</p>

Dear Mr May,</p>
Thank you for contacting Connex Customer Feedback.</p>
Following a determination of the issue raised, your comments have been
referred to the appropriate area for investigation.</p>
A detailed response will be provided to you upon the completion of our
investigation.</p>
We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your feedback.</p>
Yours sincerely,</p>
Customer Feedback</p>
Connex Melbourne</p>
</blockquote>
Wow. I got them to start an "investigation" and will get a "detailed response".</p>
Lets see what happens, I guess.</p>
Connex responds</h2>

Case No: lm/13477</p>
29 March 2007</p>
Mr Brian May</p>
Dear Mr May</p>
We refer to your email received in this office on 23 March 2007, in
regards to three carriage trains operating on the Belgrave line.</p>
Your comments are acknowledged and we welcome the opportunity to provide
the following information.</p>
As you are aware, six carriage trains are run during the morning and
afternoon peak periods, with three carriage trains run at most other
times. Historically, patronage levels have been lower during these
times, which has justified the use of three carriage trains.</p>
Connex isare aware that patronage across the network is increasing, and
subsequently the demand for additional services and carriages is also on
the increase.</p>
In order to better define the current passenger loadings and potential
need for additional carriages to be run, Connex continues to conduct a
six-monthly load count survey. The results of these surveys allow a
better understanding of our passenger travelling patterns, across the
network, throughout the day and evening.</p>
The information gained from these load counts is utilised to assess
existing demand and to contribute to a business case to justify the
substantial cost arising from additional carriages being provided and of
new trains being purchased by the State Government.</p>
Connex regularly forwards submissions to the State Government for
approval for funding, to upgrade the network's infrastructure. The State
Government assesses these requests based on passenger needs, urgency,
congested high patronage areas and allocates in order of priority
accordingly. 'Meeting Our Transport Challenges', a document released by
the State Government, outlines their proposal to spend $800 million on
new trains over the next ten years.</p>
We respectfully advise that you may wish to find more information
regarding future developments via the Department of Infrastructure
website located at www.doi.vic.gov.au  .</p>
Thank you for raising our awareness of this matter.</p>
Yours sincerely</p>
Luke Morrison</p>
Customer Feedback</p>
</blockquote>
After 6 months I queried Connex again, and got no response.</p>


Another car
2007-03-16T19:46:08+00:00
Apparently another car spun on the same corner</a> but
ended up upside down as a result. The had to be removed from the car in an
ambulance stretcher. Apparently it was an local driver.</p>


Lost control
2007-03-08T22:30:39+00:00
This morning when driving, I lost control of the car and spun 270 degrees and reversed in next to the side of the road. This was in the steep corner at Tremont. I lost control again at Devils Elbow.</p>
Yesterday we checked the brakes in the car, and today I swapped the rear right hand wheel with the spare wheel, as the rear wheel was lacking in tread, but the spare tear is brand new.</p>


Traffic lights and congestion
2007-03-02T21:01:39+00:00
Yesterday morning, I noticed there were 7 north bound trams line up on Swanston Street just south of Franklin - i.e. almost all the way to La-Trobe street. People were pouring out of the trams, like something had gone wrong. However, when we walked past the tram at the front, it started moving like nothing was wrong. Weird.</p>
Today, we were trying to cross at the East side of the Victoria St/Swanston St traffic lights. The traffic lights took ages (ie. at least 5 minutes but I didn't think of timing it; note: the lights had been red for a while before I arrived, as someone else I knew was waiting when I got there) to change because of congested on Victoria Street (which makes no sense - if the road is congested - nobody can move - a shorter cycle would be better then a longer cycle). This also resulted in trams banking up. One long tram parked across Franklin Street, possibly on the assumption it would be out of the way before the Franklin St traffic lights changed...</p>
Possibly the first incident was also due to the traffic lights at Victoria st too, but if so I couldn't see any trams in front of the on at Franklin St (the tram line was clear as far as I could see north of Franklin St). It might have cleared before I got there...</p>


Signal failure
2007-02-27T13:25:48+00:00
As far as I could tell there was signal failure at Camberwell, causing extensive congestion, However, the driver wasn't talking, so I guess it was a secret ;-).</p>
At Upper Ferntree Gully, the 7:39 train started from Upper Ferntree Gully instead of Belgrave. This in turn meant the 7:39 Belgrave train was delayed (the automatic announcement said by one hour but this was not true).</p>
We passed four stopping all stations trains between (just before East Camberwell station) and Camberwell station, including the one stuck on the Alamein line (just before it merges).</p>
At Camberwell station, I think they were (repeatedly) telling passengers that the train on platform 2 (my train) was an express to Richmond (hard to hear properly), which created the expectation that passengers would be able to board the train. In actual fact, the only reason we stopped was because the signal at the end of the platform
was showing danger. The doors did not open. We tripped through this signal and stopped again.</p>
After getting though this signal, they were no further delays.</p>
Anyway, the 7:47am from Upper Ferntree Gully arrived at Melbourne Central at about 8:50am - could have been worse I guess...</p>


Praise for train driver
2007-02-21T14:10:13+00:00
Sent 2007-02-16 to Connex via their online E-Mail form concerning Signal point of failure</a>:</p>
Hello,</p>
I wish to thank the driver of the 7:47 train from Upper Ferntree Gully station for providing regular and detailed updates on the delays at the time, all the way from Bayswater station through to Richmond.</p>
While this doesn't excuse the signal/point failure at Box Hill, or the fact the train was almost an hour late, it made the wait bearable knowing what was happening and why.</p>
The slightly technical explanations were equally appreciated. I don't like being treated like an idiot, and this driver certainly didn't try to oversimplify things or try to make lame excuses.</p>
Thanks.
</blockquote>
Response received 2007-02-21:</p>
Connex is committed to providing a professional and efficient standard of service to all customers.</p>
We certainly appreciate your positive feedback indicating your satisfaction with the communication provided by one of our drivers, on the 7.47am service from Upper Ferntree Gully, on the 16 February 2007.</p>
Your comments have been referred to the Train Services Manager, who has ensured they are communicated to the staff member concerned, as well as to the Connex Public Relations department for inclusion in the staff magazine and reward and recognition program.</p>
Thank you for taking the time to write to us, as your feedback plays a vital role in monitoring our service standards.</p>
</blockquote>


Signal/point failure
2007-02-16T10:59:56+00:00
Signal/point failure at Box Hill station.</p>
My 7:47 train from Upper Ferntree Gully arrived at Melbourne Central at about 9:27.</p>
On the positive side, thank you to the driver who kept us all informed, including details such as "we are going to have to trip through the signals which means the emergency breaks will come on" and "trains are banked up at Flinders Street station where drivers normally change over and we are having problems working out how to manage the change overs with everything running out-of-sync" - this is the first time I have had a driver keep us informed at such a detailed level. If only more drivers would do this.</p>
Of the negative side, when two trains are lined up side by side at Ringwood station, it possibly isn't a good idea to announce one train is leaving first. This means one train leaves full, and the other train leaves almost empty...</p>
The sign at Box Hill incorrectly said our train was the 8:28 train stopping Surrey Hills, Camberwell, and Glenferie, but it didn't stop at these stops - it was a stopping all signals train, not a stopping all stations train.</p>
Ironically, the train that was behind us at Ringwood went flying past us as Canterbury station (we were on the outer track in "stopping all signals" mode and it was in the middle track that presumably had just been reopened). It had to stop at East Camberwell.</p>
At East Camberwell station, it was kind of odd, the two express trains, repeatedly stopped, side by side, with us wondering which train would get priority. Eventually my train (the first one) got priority.</p>
Later I sent a letter to Connex, see Praise for train driver</a>.</p>


Train is on time
2007-02-15T20:21:46+00:00
At 8:21am, I was on a Lilydale train at Heatherdale station, at the train was exactly on time.</p>
Unfortunately, the electronics couldn't cope with this rare anomaly;
the electronic sign said the train was running 9 minutes late and
there was the standard verbal announcement "... the next train will be
the Lilydale train which will arrive in 9 minutes. Connex apologises
for any inconvenience".</p>


LCA2007 conference
2007-01-20T00:00:00+00:00
See trip</a> details.</p>


Trip to Sydney
2007-01-20T00:00:00+00:00
I went to Sydney to visit LCA2007</a>. The day after the
conference finished I went into Sydney by bus and train, and visited the Sydney Tower</a>.</p>


2nd week
2007-01-08T19:16:56+00:00
(note: trains were pretty much on time, possible 1-3 minutes late to be precise - times below are scheduled times).</p>
Melbourne Central</p>
5:20pm - Train full to the extent that nobody else can fit in the doorways.</p>
5:24pm - Train cancelled. Excuse: Defective train.</p>
(in the wait I caught an Upfield train to Flagstaff)</p>
Flagstaff 5:25pm - all seats taken, little standing room</p>
MC 5:27pm - much the same, slightly less standing room</p>
Parliament 5:29pm - train full to the extent that nobody else can fit on, including isles. There were still crowds of people waiting to get on.</p>
I have never seen the trains so crowded on a train from the city. Not even when trains are cancelled during the same peak period, or when they use a 3 carriage train in "off-peak" time.</p>
Anyway, I will seriously consider catching a tram tomorrow down Swanston Street to Flinders Street station - it might increase my chances of getting on a train.</p>
Too bad for the passengers at Parliament station... Lets see now: 5:22 full before it arrives, 5:26 cancelled, 5:29 almost full before it arrives, 5:35 ???</p>
Also, at Blackburn station they seem to have restrictions on who can use the walkway at the west side - not sure if they have made it one way, or if it is closed to passengers from the upper bus stop (possibly because it would require crossing in front of buses on the lower stop as they are moving away from the station). Some information wouldn't hurt...</p>
At least today, the express service really was an express service.</p>
My conclusion so far is that they have generally done a very good job with this bus replacement service, with the exception of the City to Box Hill train service, which I would rate as poor, even if the crowds are outside Connex's control (alternatively the crowds are because a large number of trains are being cancelled).</p>
Lost train</h2>
Date: 2007-01-08 21:08:26</p>
Got a SMS message from somebody I know:</p>
Got misrouted onto Glen Waverly line! All change at Heyington.
</blockquote>
Hmmmm....</p>
I thought Glen Waverly points at Burnley would be operated by computer - how can this happen?</p>
Last day stuff up</h2>
Date: 2007-01-25 23:43:18</p>
I must saw the effort and coordination involved in the bus replacement
service has been pretty good. Up to and including this morning.</p>
However, every major project deserves a major stuff up, and it looks
like it was tonight (for me).</p>

Catch 9:10 train at Flagstaff - automatically announced as stopping all stations to Box Hill. (yes - I had seen the signs about closures tonight, but didn't make the connection; it seemed that many other people had forgotten too).</li>
Train is 3 carriages and jammed pack full (same train Tuesday was 6 carriages). Already starting to get irritated.</li>
Camberwell - driver announces all passengers are to change. Huh? Why? The driver didn't say. Station staff said "track works", but didn't saw where or why. It took me several minutes to wake up and remember that there were no trains between Camberwell and Ringwood. One passenger started yelling abuse at stations staff.</li>
Camberwell - announcements made that the express buses go express to Ringwood, in actual fact they also stopped at Box Hill too - this caused confusion, as the 2 women (with limited English skills) next to me wanted to go to Box Hill, and I thought they were on the wrong bus.</li>
Camberwell - delays as bus drivers were caught be surprise by disabled passenger, and weren't sure what to do (not sure why the confusion).</li>
Box Hill - lots of people thought our bus was the stopping all stations bus, and had to be told repeatedly it wasn't. Even the staff were confused.</li>
Box Hill - I got the impression a disabled passenger in a wheel chair was left waiting for some time as the previous two stopping all stations buses had no support for a wheel chair, and staff at the bus stop didn't know anything about the bus arrangements.</li>
Ringwood - bus driver gets lost - we end up doing a left hand turn from the right hand turn only lane - and a 3 point U-turn on Maroondah highway at the traffic lights to get back to the station.</li>
Ringwood, I had to ask three officials before I got an answer to my question "which platform" - the first two responses where misleading "just enter the station". I had to cross the top to the middle platform.</li>
Ringwood, 30minute wait for next train. I suspect we just missed the previous train (although station staff denied this). I got there about 10:05-10:10, the train left at 10:39 (10:37 lilydale).</li>
Ringwood, as the train was leaving we saw the next buses coming in to Ringwood. No doubt those people would have 30 minutes wait too....</li>
</ol>
I got home at 11:05, 2 hours after I left.</p>
Really not happy about the 30 minute wait for the next train at Ringwood.</p>


Slow trains full
2007-01-05T18:38:10+00:00
Some observations from today and yesterday:</p>

 Trains in peak hour holiday period from the city are fuller then in non-holiday period. At least yesterday and today. I have never seen a 6 carriage train so full. Before Melbourne Central there were about 3 seats. After Melbourne Central no spare seats. After Parliament no spare breathing space. After Richmond... well you get the drift.
Somebody I spoke to suggested passenger volume was high due to people going to the city for shopping.</p>
After Blackburn the Belgrave train is usually close to empty.</li></p>
Timetables and electronic signs all said "express Richmond to Surray Hills and express to Box Hill" (4:42 from Flinders Street via loop). Manual announcements said "stopping all stations Camberwell to Box Hill". It was stopping all stations from Camberwell. At Surray Hills, the train behind passed us (it was Express). Not happy, Connex. Especially as the train was jammed pack full of passengers.
That is at stations and on the train - the driver told us to ignore the automatic announcements just before we left Richmond station.</p>
If I had known the next train was an express, I would have caught it instead (in case it wasn't as full - even if it was full it would have been a quicker trip).</li></p>
A friend of mine who left latter then I did (about 6ish) said it took him 2 hours (Upwey) to get home due to delays (20 minutes delay before Box Hill station).</li>
</ul>


Trip times
2007-01-03T10:11:08+00:00
Lets see how times work out, UFTG to Melbourne Central:</p>
Before:</p>
Morning: 7:47 --> 8:36 (frequently late) = 49min
Evening: 17:00 --> 17:48 = 48min</p>
Yesterday:</p>
Morning: 7:40 --> 8:49 = 69mins = 49mins + 20mins
Evening: 16:49 --> 18:05 = 76mins = 48mins + 28mins
note: if I left on the 16:53 train I would have missed the connection, due to train and bus delays before Box Hill and Blackburn.</p>
Today:</p>
Morning: 7:40 --> 8:59 = 79mins = 49mins + 30mins
(note: signal failure at Blackburn station caused delays before Ringwood station;
also I just missed the 8:29 from Box Hill, and caught the 8:34 instead)</p>
I am not complaining, but extra travel time less then 17 minutes? How does Connex define a minute these days anyway?</p>
I am guessing that in the 17 minutes the are only accounting for the delays in the bus trip, and assuming the buses aren't delayed, without taking into account extra time taken due trains stopping at more stations.</p>
At least there is frequent train services (at least in peak hour) so if you miss one you don't have long to wait.</p>


Middleborough Rd project
2007-01-02T18:33:46+00:00
well... my first trip went without any problems.</p>
There were several minor "glitches" on the way, e.g signs at stations not working east of Blackburn station, displays in trains stuck on "Welcome to Connex"[1], and a reasonable wait before stopping at Blackburn station, but nothing of concern to me. I still made it on to the scheduled train from Box Hill with about 1 minute to spare.</p>
I also noticed that when I got to Blackburn, while my train was mostly empty, there already was a crowd of people waiting, and the buses seemed very full. Makes me wonder what it is going to be like when school starts again.</p>
However, it appeared that construction of the temporary interchanges was still in progress, so it might get better.</p>
Curiously, the train from Box Hill to the City was an ex-Bayside Comeng train - I haven't seen one of these trains on this line before.</p>
There was also media presence at both Blackburn and Box Hill stations.</p>
I also heard that at Upwey, the automatic voice message was announcing that there were no trains running, and the validators weren't working either.</p>
The driver of the first train announced that the works would be 4+ weeks.</p>
Some thoughts concerning my trip back:</p>

speed control device on road next to Blackburn station not bus friendly - busses have to run over the top.</li>
 trip back to Blackburn is longer due to congestion at right hand turn traffic lights.</li>
as a result of delays (both before Box Hill station and then before Blackburn station) the time table implied connections are overly optimistic.</li>
fortunately, there seem to be plenty of train services, at least in peak hour.</li>
they still haven't opened the walkway to the East of Blackburn station yet - not sure why - the underground walkway was kind of cramped making it difficult for faster walkers to get past the slower walkers.</li>
</ul>


Connex game
2006-11-21T10:26:55+00:00
Exciting trip from Upper Ferntree Gully station to Melbourne Central station this morning.</p>
As always, never a dull moment with Melbourne PT. There were several phases to this game:</p>
First you had to guess what time the next train would depart. Then you had to roll a dice (not provided). If you got a:</p>

	drive to Glen Waverly station (hope there is enough parking) and catch train.</li>
	
catch bus to Box Hill and tram into city.</li>
	
catch bus to Oakleigh station and train into city.</li>
	
wait for train to leave again.</li>
	
argue with station staff.</li>
	
drive into the city.</li>
</ol>
The first three options were recommended by the station staff - but these options weren't an option to all passengers - depending on destination - and I felt the car parks/busses/trams were going to be very full, so avoided these options - not having a dice I went to option 4.</p>
Apparently all trains were stopped along the Belgrave (and probably Lilydale and Alemein lines) due to point failure and Camberwell. Somehow I ended up knowing more about the problem then the train drivers did (although I was initially told Electrical signal failure). The driver asked me to repeat the PA message, as he couldn't understand it (due to poor PA quality).</p>
Driver: What did they say?
Me: No trains until further notice.
Driver: No, what is the problem? I missed that part...
Me: Electrical/Signal failure at Camberwell station (what I had been told by station staff)
Driver: Arhh.</p>
Just then the driver from the other train comes and asks the first driver what is happening, and the first driver points to me and says "ask him - he knows more then I do!"</p>
Just one of the highlights during the wait.</p>
I was also given the opportunity to guess who would win the argument when an angry passenger requested the station staff provide him with a refund for the ticket he just purchased - not very challenging though (as expected the station staff said they couldn't provide a refund but gave him a refund form).</p>
I arrived at 7:40am and the train ended up leaving at 8:25.
...but wait... there is more...</p>
Then we enter the next phase: guess where this train is going!</p>
At UFTG station the train was marked as Flinders st. The significance of this didn't sink in straight away. At:</p>

	Heathmont: sign said City Loop.</li>
	
Ringwood: Verbal announcement (not automatic) said Flinders St direct.</li>
	
Heatherdale: sign said City Loop.</li>
	
Mitcham: Sign said Flinders Street.</li>
	
Nunawading: Sign said Flinders Street, station staff yelled out Express.</li>
	
Box Hill: south most platform - normally for Flinders Street direct trains at this time.</li>
</ul>
At Box Hill there was some confusion among all parties involved:</p>

	Sign and signals for Flinders Street direct line.</li>
	
I went up to the drivers cabin, knocked on his door, and asked him (he just got off his phone). He said he didn't know, and was going to find out. I thanked him.</li>
	
Driver went to phone at end of platform, and came back saying it was a City Loop.</li>
	
Points changed to put train on Express line.</li>
	
Station announced train was an express. People got on.</li>
	
Points change again to put train on stopping all stations line. Train on other platform arrives (from Lilydale) and both trains are given green signals. The signs say one is an express/city loop and the other is a stopping all stations, but I have already learnt not to trust the signs anymore.</li>
	
Some alert from station again. People confused. Again.</li>
	
Annoucement (from train and station) that the train was really a stopping all stations direct to Flinders Street.</li>
	
The Express train was the train from Lilydale and I (along with a lot of other passengers) caught that.</li>
</ol>
I noticed that the stopping-all-stations train appeared to stop not far from Box Hill station - just past the points - not sure why - the line in front of it was clear all the way until Camberwell.</p>
Connex must put a lot of effort into making the train trips as exciting as possible...</p>


Faulty train
2006-11-14T09:45:31+00:00
This morning was an "exciting time" at Upper Ferntree Gully station, as the 7:31 arrived five minutes late, was declared faulty, and then waited for the next train from the city to clear the single track section (10 minutes total waiting).</p>
As a result, the 7:31 really left at 7:47, which effectively was the same as cancelling the 7:31 and the 7:39. Almost all seats were taken by the next station (Ferntree Gully) and there were crowds waiting at the next stations until Ringwood. After Bayswater the train was as congested as it normally is after Richmond.</p>
The defective train was parked at the south platform at Ringwood station - I assume this was the best spot they had to more it out of the way (without delaying trains more by shunting it at Bayswater). At least I assume it was the same train because it also was a Hitachi...</p>
Maybe the new motto for public transport in Melbourne could be "never a dull moment!" grin</em>.</p>


Unannounced track works
2006-10-04T23:35:32+00:00
I got to the Montague stop, as normal, at 9:10pm. After waiting 15 minutes, it eventually dawned on me that they were no trams.</p>
I struggled to find out what was going on. My understanding is that the tram lines had become slippery, and they were adding a coating to make them not slippery (or something weird). Or, as far as I could tell, scheduled maintenance.</p>
However, I could not find any evidence of any announcements or signs that the tram line would be closed (I got a friend to check the major websites while I was waiting at the tram stop). Nor were the Yarra Trams employees concerned when I told them I had been waiting at a stop without any service.</p>
Later on I found some official information</a> on the tram closure. Its a pity Yarra trams wasn't any better at advertising this announcement.</p>
The Yarra Trams employees I spoke to on the night never mentioned anything about an official announcement, the bus replacement service, or that trams would be affected the entire week.</p>


Middle track closed
2006-09-20T18:29:20+00:00
My city bound train approached the first set of points outside Box Hill, stopped, reversed, stopped at the signal adjacent where the temp station is going, waited, and continued going forwards again.</p>
At Box Hill, we were in the middle platform (as normal for an express service), and the stopping all stations train in the left platform was waiting for us. After Box Hill, we shifted to the left track and continued in the left track until just before Camberwell.</p>
I speculated that there was some problem with the middle track (although I didn't see any trains on it, they may have already cleared at the time though), and train control couldn't change the points after Box Hill because we were too close, hence the reason my train reversed. In hindsight this doesn't appear to be an accurate explanation.</p>
Kind of unusual, it has been years since I last was on a train that unexpectedly went backwords (in the past this has happened due to overshooting the station platform).</p>


Cancelled tram
2006-09-12T23:00:27+00:00
At 9:08pm I was waiting at the Montague Street (route 109 light rail section), for the 9:11 tram. It never came.</p>
When then 9:21 tram came, I asked the driver if the previous tram had been cancelled.</p>
He said that the 9:11 tram was from Southbank Depo, and he came from another Depo. As such, he didn't know.</p>
His answer seemed curious - since the 9:11 tram terminates Kew depo, I would assume it was from Kew. I might have mis-heard.</p>
Oh hang on a minute... Weren't the recent time table changes meant to increase</em> the number of trams??? I also thought the new time tables weren't effective until next</em> week</em>.</p>
It looks like the trams have been decreased to 1 every 20 minutes now
in non-peak period, as of 2006-09-10. The 9:11pm tram no longer runs. Nowhere have I seen any indication that tram service was going to be reduced. According to the timetable from the Metlink website. There weren't any timetables at Montague Street stop.</p>
Yuck.</p>
So this means if the tram is late (as sometimes happens), I get to wait 30 minutes for the next train.</p>
Double yuck.</p>
They can't even use the excuse that the trams aren't busy - while it is very inconsistent, generally speaking, there is plenty of demand.</p>
There isn't even a timetable at Montague Street stop (at least not on the north side) - occasionally there has been a timetable taped to the darkest part of the wall with sticky tape, but predicatable it doesn't last.</p>


Eastlink Choas
2006-08-28T20:00:14+00:00
Kaos due to Eastlink running late with bridge works.</p>
What happened?</h2>
Just what I predicted.</p>
Also, as I predicted: chaos!</p>
Never seen it this bad before it Ringwood station though.</p>
On the plus side:</p>

	information due to delays due to the EastLink construction was well posted at all stations.</li>
	
Queue of trains (well almost) waiting to take passengers from
Blackburn station.</li>
	
Train service from Blackburn to City seemed very fast and efficient. Never been on a train that raced through that stretch so rapidly for years (maybe because the train wasn't as full as normal? - yes that right - approx 10:00 - there were seats for everybody - at least in the front carriage).</li>
	
Only delayed 1:15 minutes, unlike last time at Bayswater station. </li>
	Unlike other times, the bus drivers seemed to know what was going on, and didn't need directions from passengers.</li>
</ul>
On the downside:</p>

	PA systems at certain train stations are often hard to hear and understand. This happened before.</li>
	
Information on trains cancelled not posted. Some trains were  cancelled.</li>
	
No information posted on www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au what so ever.</li>
	
Organisation of queues at Ringwood station hopeless. No room for people going to Belgrave to get past queue in other direction, in many places.  Further on, I accidently jumped a significant part of the queue without realizing (why is the lane moving but the other lane stationary?).  The queue for me extended one hour 15 minutes, and started from platform 2, extending all the way across the bridge, down along side the station, where we did a U-Turn and went back again to the bus stop.</li>
	
 People catching trains from the Lilydale line, arrived at Platform 3, and joined the queue a considerable distance after it had started. Hopeless! I very much suspect passengers from Belgrave received lower priority and had to wait longer.</li>
	
I suspect EastLink won't provide any compensation for rail travellers. We will have to pay to use the tollway, so isn't it fair that they pay for delays they cause rail commuters?</li>
	
Radio said no trains between Ringwood and Box Hill (wrong - Ringwood to Blackburn - although I might have Misremembered) until 10am. At Blackburn at 10am there were no signs of the trains service
reopening.</li>
	It wouldn't surprise me if the potential for the construction project to run late was anticipated beforehand, but no information was passed to commuters. Perhaps even Connex was left in the dark.</li>
</ul>
On the curious side:</p>

	Media turned up at Ringwood station, with cameras, asking commuters how long they had been waiting, etc. Never before seen such media attention before to a train delay.</li>
	
Bus driver referred to media as "cockroaches" and "feasting off human misery".</li>
	
There was a man stationed at Ringwood station whose job was to monitor the red flags over the train line to ensure trains didn't go on the closed train track. Same at Blackburn station. Must be a boring job...</li>
	
No doubt Connex will get blamed for the delays, but it seems like it wasn't their fault.</li>
	Numerous "special" trains travelling from Ringwood towards Belgrave, express past the stations with people waiting to travel in that direction.</li>
</ul>
What went wrong?</h2>
On the 20-21 the Eastlink bridge was moved into place (see
VicSig</a>
article by "Chris Gordon", 2007-01-30).</p>


Eastlink</a>
bridge works ([reference](https://forums.vicsig.net/viewtopic.php?t=984"]],
25th-28th August 2006)) (weekend), buses replaced trains
(reference</a>).
Metlink posted an official
bulletin</a>.
Several level crossings were also closed.</p>
</li>

The Eastlink works didn't end until midday, resulting in chaos as the train
line was closed during peak hour
(reference</a>).</p>
</li>

Connex will receive compensation, but it won't be passed on to commuters
(reference</a>).</p>
</li>
</ul>
Soft ground was blamed for the delays:</p>

Soft ground unable to hold a giant crane called "Snow White" was the cause of passengers being delayed more than two hours.</p>
[...]</p>
"Unfortunately the ground conditions below the existing rail line embankment proved to be unstable for the set up of our 500-tonne crane," said Thiess spokesman Anthony Havers.</p>
"Our construction team had to remove this soft earth and replace it with crushed rock.</p>
Compo for Connex, not commuters</a>,
Liam Houlihan and Jane Metlikovec, The Herald Sun, 2006-08-29</p>
</blockquote>
Connex also responded:</p>

Connex first learnt around midday on Sunday, 27 August that works being
undertaken by the Eastlink project at Heatherdale station might ‘run late’.
Connex had no control over these works.</p>
The detailed program that had been shown to us by Eastlink indicated there was plenty of margin to have the works delayed but to avoid any impact on our trains. In fact, there was around 10 hours ‘contingency time’.</p>
At that stage, it appeared the impact on services the next day (Monday) would be minimal. Based on the estimated completion time given to Connex, we believed trains would be able to run through the works area from around 6.00am.</p>
This meant that buses would only need to replace trains from the first train of the day (4.30am) until 6.00am.</p>
We activated our contingency plans, and we put as many buses as we could find on stand-by and alerted staff.</p>
It was not until the early hours of Monday morning, after midnight, that we were told works would not finish before 6am and trains would not be able to go through Heatherdale until 10am at the earliest.</p>
This made it necessary to run buses from Ringwood to Blackburn for whole morning peak, rather than just until 6am as we first believed.</p>
Connex Media started ringing radio stations at 5.30am so the information could be covered in news bulletins from 6am.</p>
At that time, the estimated delay was put at ‘more than 30 minutes’. This proved incorrect, partly due to the time buses would take to complete the trip from Ringwood to Blackburn in peak hour traffic and the number of buses available.</p>
We would stress that Connex obtained as many buses as possible to provide the replacement service from Ringwood to Blackburn.</p>
On a weekday morning, bus companies have commitments to provide regular scheduled services and school runs. Few buses are available for other purposes.</p>
In the end, we managed to obtain 30 buses but would have hired many more if it had been possible to obtain them.</p>
We fully appreciate the frustration our customers experienced due to delays. Many were delayed by up to two hours (or even more). We regret our customers could not to be alerted earlier to the disruption and the delays they faced.</p>
[...]</p>
Buses replaced trains between Ringwood and Blackburn</a>,
Connex, 2006-08-21</p>
</blockquote>


Fatality at Ferntree Gully
2006-07-19T20:00:01+00:00
My train arrived at Bayswater, as usual. The station PA speakers at Bayswater station where announcing something repeatedly - it sounded like "no trains from Upper Ferntree Gully". It was difficult to comprehend. Good. No need to worry. Then most of the passengers started leaving the train. I still didn't know what was going on.</p>
Fortunately the train driver, announced over the train PA system that there had been a fatality, and there would be no more trains until further notice, so I knew what was going on. The message was "no trains from Bayswater to Upper Ferntree Gully" (later changed: "no trains from Ringwood to Upper Ferntree Gully" - although that got confused with at
alternative version: "no trains from Ringwood to Belgrave").</p>
I was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes (due to fatality at Ferntree Gully) at Bayswater, due to Connex's inability to arrange a replacement bus service sooner. The replacement bus service when it arrived 90 minutes later was already so full (it started from Ringwood station) many people wouldn't fit and had to wait for the next bus. At the very least it would have been nice if somebody could have told us "come back in 90 minutes". The only information was from the regular (and nearly empty) replacement busses heading in the opposite direction: "very soon now".</p>
Since then I have wondered if maybe the first busses went express Bayswater - I was on the last train that stopped at Bayswater.</p>
I heard the theory that the reason the PA announcements were difficult to understand, was because the speaker was speaking too close to the Microphone. Made sense it a way - the canned automatic messages were
crystal clear.</p>


Trains delayed
2006-05-24T18:30:33+00:00
(documented from memory and rough notes 2007-02-16)</p>
Something weird happened, at Melbourne Central station. As I was coming down the escalators I realized I was late for my 5pm train (it was 5pm and I was still near the top and needed to go down to the bottom platform). So I raced down and got straight into the train, which was there waiting.</p>
Weird.</p>
Then after I caught my breath, I realized the train was the earlier 4:57 train to Glen Waverly, so I got off.</p>
Even weirder - the train still hadn't left.</p>
The I realized the train wasn't going anywhere.</p>
Still weird.</p>
Then a somebody in a bright orange shirt with the writing "Connex Service Representative" talked to the driver of the train, and went into the passenger compartment and removed a bag.</p>
At this stage not only did the train left, but the train on the opposite platform also left too. At this stage my trains was running approx 10 minutes late.</p>
What the hell was this about? Somebody forgot their bag?</p>
Just to add insult, for anybody who (is silly enough) to use the bus from my station, because the train was running late, the bus was impatient to leave and left as soon as the first people from the train got on - too bad if you were on the other end of the train... 1 hour until the next bus...</p>


Trip to New Zealand
2006-02-04T00:00:00+00:00
I went to New Zealand to visit LCA2006</a> in
Dunedin. After the
conference finished, I travelled by car and ferry with Mum and my brother to
Auckland on the north island.</p>


LCA2006 conference
2006-01-28T00:00:00+00:00
See trip</a> details.</p>


Drive to The Great Ocean Road
2005-09-10T00:00:00+00:00
In September 2005 we had a holiday along The Great Ocean Road.</p>
The Great Ocean Road</h1>
In May this year, we went to see stay at
{% include photo_place.html place=198 link="Cobden Crest Cottage" %}, near
{% include photo_place.html place=196 link="The Great Ocean Road" %}.</p>
It was a great place to stay, but unfortunately, the locals didn't understand
any english. They kept repeating the same word over and over, I think it sounded
like "MOOOoooooo."</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26089 title="Cobden locals" %}</p>
The Cobden Creat Cottage came complete with Kitchen, Bedrooms and Games rooms.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26114 title="Kitchen" %}</p>
We saw the road to nowhere. This road use to be the main road, and was to close
to the cliff, and as such the road was relocated.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26131 title="Road to nowhere" %}</p>
We saw history behind General Motors Holden.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26180 title="Holden & Frost" %}</p>
... as well as some incredible views of the coast.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26287 title="Near Gibson steps" %}</p>
Some of the tourist attractions had lots of steps to climb up and down.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26253 title="The Grotto" %}</p>
Some of the waves were very big, and had a dramatic effect as they came in. It
is hard to capture on camera.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26496 title="Powerful waves" %}</p>
We also visited the nearby chocolate factory and the cheese factory. We saw the
Lochness Cow outside the cheese factory. Unfortunately Dad was too slow, and
didn't see it. The photo is not a fake.</p>
{% include photo.html photo=26505 title="Lochness Cow" %}</p>


Trip to Townsville
2005-08-20T00:00:00+00:00
In August 2005 we had a holiday in Townsville.</p>
Day 1: Wednesday</h2>
We arrive at Townsville after a long flight. Unfortunately our luggage didn't
arrive with us. Either our luggage missed on the the flight connections, or it
wasn't removed from the aircraft before it left for Cairns.</p>
We met Ziggy, my Sister Rose's dog.</p>
Day 2: Thursday</h2>
The airliner delivered our luggage to my Rose's house.</p>
Day 3: Friday</h2>
Woof.</p>
Day 4: Saturday</h2>
More woof.</p>
Day 5: Sunday</h2>
New puppy arrives. I stay at Rose's place and look after Ziggy.</p>
Day 6: Monday</h2>
We take a walk at walk at the Crocodile Creek National Park.</p>
Day 7: Tuesday</h2>
Woof.</p>
Day 8: Wednesday</h2>
We take a long, boring, and exhausting walk on Magnetic island. After we get
back we find an interesting walk but are too exhausted to walk far on it, and
are running out of time before the ferry leaves.</p>
Day 9: Thursday</h2>
Woof.</p>
Day 10: Friday</h2>
We visit the quarantine museum and the aquarium.</p>
Day 11: Saturday</h2>
Lunch at The Sizzlers.</p>


Drive to The Grampians
2005-06-26T00:00:00+00:00
In June 2005 we had a holiday in The Grampians.</p>
Friday</h2>
In the morning we take Dad to work, and then rush to get ready. Things have to
be packed, last minute CD recording is required (which repeatedly fails), and
lots of other last minute tasks need to be done. I have my hair cut.</p>
We also visit Grandma who is in hospital and due to come out next Tuesday. She
is very negative about her progress (she doesn't believe us when we say she has
improved), and doesn't want us to go. We have to leave while she is eating
lunch. Hopefully she continues eating after we have left. At the last minute
before leaving the hospital, Mum remembers to get the E-Tag for the city link
from Phillip.</p>
Eventually, we are already to leave, and at 2pm we leave. It is a long drive
and we arrive at the Halls Gap after dark. We go looking for our accommodation
"Grampian Lodges", but can't find it. After going backwards and forwards
several times, eventually I realize we should be looking for "Grampian Chalets"
which we quickly find without any problems. It was then a matter of finding the
office. Eventually we found it, at the back with an unlit sign that we had
been unable to identify in the dark.</p>
Saturday</h2>
In the morning, we go on short work. We are almost finished when we pass a
walking track of to the left to ‘Boronia Peak’. Just a small detour. We follow
this track until the top of the peak. On the way, we pass a group of approx 50
tourists heading down the mountain. When we get to the top, we find a
spectacular view and take lots of photos.</p>
We are just about to head down, when Dad suggests we go “just a little bit
further”. This turns out to add considerably to our ‘short’ and ‘easy’ walk to
the extent that it become ‘difficult’ and ‘long’. Eventually we made it to the
‘real’ Boronia Peak and had an even better view.</p>
Unfortunately we failed to take any lunch with us (it was meant to be a short
walk), so we had lunch when we got back (between 2pm and 3pm).</p>
In the afternoon we had a short walk to the tourist centre that really was a
short walk. We saw lots of kangaroos and one deer. The are lots of kangaroos
here (too many?), and they are keeping the grass nice and short.</p>
Mum decided it was better to go clockwise then anti-clockwise, and that turning
left was preferred over turning right. This is because nobody else was willing
to make the critical decision.</p>
For tea that night we went to the restaurant at Grampians. I had Mango chicken. It
was nice. It was also spicy.</p>
I noticed that the clock on the camera was set for daylight savings, after
realizing this I left camera set incorrectly.</p>
Sunday</h2>
We go on another walk. This is labelled ‘medium’ and meant to be easier then the
Boronia peak walk. It was harder then the Boronia peak walk as it kept going on
and on, with constant up hills and constant down hills.</p>
On the way we also saw an enable. Mum thought it looked like a goat, Dad
thought it was a hairy deer. They failed to reach an agreement on what it was.</p>
Dad tried to motivate us by saying “its all downhill from here”, but that
usually meant the next uphill was going to be even steeper and longer then the
last. Eventually he said “if a ball rolls down the hill then it is downhill; if
it rolls up the hill then it is an uphill”. By his definition all hills in the
Grampians were downhills. This was small comfort to us who had to climb the
hills.</p>
Later on Dad said he didn't mind if he got a lift going to work or coming back
from work, as either way is ‘downhill’ the mountain.</p>
Eventually we got to the destination, the start of the tunnel. We had lunch
(preheated soup we ate from organic milk containers) and had started the long
journey back when Dad said he wanted to see the top of the mountain. My legs
refused to go any further, so Mum and Dad left me to watch the birds for 45
minutes. Eventually they got back and we started on the long and painful
journey back to the car. As a concession Dad went to the car and drove it to
us at the end of the track while we watched the Kangaroos in the area.</p>
We had too had a big fast food chain (Kidnapper’s Fake Chicken?) on the way
through Ararat and got home at about 9pm.</p>


LCA2005 conference
2005-04-23T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Tocumwal
2004-10-31T00:00:00+00:00
We all went gliding. It was fun. My first time was very short, so I got another
trip, and it was considerable longer. I got a number of good photos too.</p>


Flight to Merimbula
2004-03-09T00:00:00+00:00
Yes, I believe we did make it back home. The trip was several days longer then
planned due to poor weather. No, it was not cheating when we ended up driving
home from East Sale airport, due to poor weather. Really.</p>


LCA2004 conference
2004-01-17T00:00:00+00:00



Drive to Marysville
2003-07-21T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2003 conference
2003-01-25T00:00:00+00:00



DebConf2 conference
2002-07-07T00:00:00+00:00



OLS2002 conference
2002-06-29T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Robe
2002-03-03T00:00:00+00:00



LCA2002 conference
2002-02-09T00:00:00+00:00



Drive to Coffs Harbour
2002-01-21T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Flinders Island
2001-11-05T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to King Island
2001-09-08T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Lake Mungo
2001-06-24T00:00:00+00:00
Back here again.</p>


Flight to Iandra
2000-11-06T00:00:00+00:00
Iandra is a site with a historic building, Mt Oriel. For more information on
Iandra, please see Greenethorpe
Public School’s</a> and NSW
Heritage Office’s</a> web pages.</p>
Apparently there was also a Railway
Station</a> nearby that has since been closed. Also see the Greenfell</a>
page.</p>


Trip to South Mole Island
2000-09-23T00:00:00+00:00



Trip to China and Singapore
2000-08-27T00:00:00+00:00
I went to China so I could present my paper on Kerberos at
WCC2000</a> (World Computer Congress).</p>
I have a number of photos taken on this trip.</p>
China</h2>
When I arrived in China, the airport was very busy. It took me about one hour
to make my way through customs, so I could pick up my luggage. I was exhausted
by the time I got through, and made the mistake of choosing the more expensive
taxi. While I was told the cost before hand, I miscalculated and thought it was
OK, when it wasn't. In the end (after bargaining), I was charged 320 yaun + 15
for the expressway toll, instead of 70 yaun.</p>
Breakfast was the best meal of the day, as it was an "all you can eat" buffet
style meal, with a selection of breakfast cereals, and cooked breakfasts.</p>
I went on the WCC organised night trip to see the Chinese Acrobatics (sorry, no
photos). You have to be very careful on these tours not to get lost, as the
tour guide has no way of knowing where you are, and everyone has to wait as a
result...</p>
I also went on the WCC organised tour of the great wall of China. This was very
interesting. One word of caution: make sure you keep in your same seat, on the
same bus, every-time, even if it has been occupied by someone else. This is
even if the tour guides say "you may get on any bus as they are all going to
the same place". This is because some people get very possessive of their seats
and are willing endlessly argue to get their original seats back. This spoiled
an otherwise pleasant day.</p>
I didn't realise it at first, but there are two walks up the wall, the east
path, and the west path. I went the west way. The west wall, unlike the east is
crowded, steep, and goes higher. I almost made it to the top, but stopped at
the last (I think) stretch, as I was getting too hot and exhausted. Still, I
think it was well worth the effort. This, I believe is one of the biggest
highlights of my trip to Beijing. On the same tour, I also saw a Cloisonne
manufacturer, and visited an ancient underground burial site.</p>
Singapore</h2>
I stopped on the way back for three days in Singapore. I was hoping for some
cooler weather, but Singapore seemed just as hot and (more importantly) as
humid as Beijing. I was told as one point that the humidity reached 95%. I went
on a tour of the Sentosa island and some parts of the city.</p>


WCC2000 Conference
2000-08-25T00:00:00+00:00
See trip</a> details.</p>
16th World Computer Congress 2000, August 2000, at the International
Convention Center, China.</p>
I submitted a paper for my PhD</a> at the
security conference.</p>


Trip to Europe
2000-06-14T00:00:00+00:00
In June 2000, I presented a paper at the MADE2000</a>
conference on scalable public key distribution. On the way back, I visited
Amsterdam (where Russell Coker lives), and then London (where relatives of mine
live). I spent about one week in each place.</p>
I have a number of photos taken on this trip.</p>
Sweden (Göteburg)</h2>
In Sweden, I was shown around the place by one of the organisers of the
conference, Johan. I stayed at
Hotel Ljungbacken</a>.
The conference was held at Arken</a>.</p>
Göteburg is an interesting place, as most people prefer walking, bike riding,
or public transport instead of driving. While a lot of people have cars, these
are only used for long distance trips.</p>
Holland (Amsterdam)</h2>
Holland is well known for its prostitution and drug industries. However, this
isn't what attracted me to the area. Instead, my friend Russell showed me
around the city centre, Maduradam miniture city, and Maastrict. I also visited
went on a bus tour and visited the city zoo.</p>
Holland has excellent public transport. Each city has an extensive bus, tram
and train network, and services (especially the trains) always run exactly to
the scheduled time.</p>
England</h2>
For my last stop, I visited England. England is a considerable contrast to
Sweden and Amsterdam, as the roads are much busier. While London has a
excellent underground train system, during peak hour the trains become jammed
packed full of people, and you have to watch the the doors to close while your
head is still sticking out (the trains have low roofs).</p>
London has a confusing system of different tickets for peak and non-peak
travel. Some tickets work for buses, others work for underground train, and
some work for both. Both underground train and busses use a different map to
indicate different zones, which are incompatable with each other.</p>
The underground system is very efficient, but not very cheap either. The bus
system is cheaper, but very slow, as there are a lots of bus stops.</p>
The British rail system (above ground) is another system altogether, and
sometimes (so I hear) is fast and reliable. However, on my trip to Brighton,
the train was delayed for at least half an our (to an hour) before arriving at
Gatwick airport.</p>


MADE2000 conference
2000-05-30T00:00:00+00:00
See trip</a> details.</p>
I submitted a paper for my PhD</a> on "Scalable
Public Key Distribution: Keys and
signatures are distributed among all participating hosts, using the policy
'security by obscurity' does not work."</p>


Bairnsdale Airshow
2000-05-17T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Paynesville
1999-12-05T00:00:00+00:00
At the airport we rang a Taxi to take us to Paynesville.</p>


Flight to Grampians
1999-10-24T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Lake Mungo
1999-05-16T00:00:00+00:00
Lake Mungo is a dried up lake that has special significance since some very old
bones have been found.</p>
For more information, refer to the Lake Mungo Web
Page</a> maintained by NSW National Parks
and Wildlife Service</a>.</p>


Flight to Khancoban
1999-02-14T00:00:00+00:00
A condensed version of the following was published in the LFS newsletter,
February 1999, Number 38. GFPT is the General Flying Progress Test, and will
allow me to fly with passengers in the Lilydale training area. PPL is the
Private Pilots License, and will allow me to fly anywhere within Australia. BZA
and BZC are call signs of the respective aircraft.</p>
On Friday the 12th of November, I arrived at Lilydale airport at 1pm.
As there were relatively few pilots and relatively many passengers on this
fly-away, this flyaway was going to be unusual in that I would be flying the
piper warrior, BZA, the entire length of the trip with my mother and brother
as passengers instead of sharing the flying time with other student pilots.</p>
When I arrived, I was rather concerned about the weather as it was
raining. Jeremy, my instructor, said that this shouldn't be a problem
due to the high cloud base. We couldn't take off straight away, as we
had to wait for my passengers, who weren't told to come until
3:30pm. During this wait, I became anxious when I heard that there were
thunderstorms coming as I thought that we may not be able to leave in time.
Eventually everyone was ready, and Jeremy said "we will see what the
weather is like when we are up there". Fortunately, it was OK. Later
on, we found the weather to be ideal at Khancoban.</p>
For my first 2 hour flight (I don't yet have my GFPT), it was tiring and
difficult for me to keep on the assigned altitude and heading.
Every-time I looked down at the map, I would immediately glance up at the
instruments and realize that I had dropped up to 500ft in height and rotated up
to 30 degrees off course. Gradually I started to get the hang of looking
at my map without straying to far off course, but I still need to be better
before I can get my PPL...</p>
The next day (Saturday) at Khancoban, we had a bus tour around the area and
got a chance to inspect some of the hyro-power stations. This was very
interesting, especially when Roger managed to get us a tour inside the power
station that is normally closed off to the the public. We were able to go
right down to almost the very bottom of the power station and see the
insides of a shaft with the turbine removed.</p>
Sunday morning we (my family) went on a walk around Khancoban. We had been
told that the path was easy to find and easy to walk. This may have been
the case if you walked around it anti-clockwise, however we walked around it
clockwise. Almost immediately we got stuck on a dead end track - not a good
start. We went back and found the correct track and proceeded to climb the
hill, up the same way as the transmission lines.</p>
It was here where the path split up into two directions and we decided to go
clockwise around the circuit. We proceeded to climb the hill and got some
very good photos in the process. Eventually we started walking back down the
hill on the other side. We started getting concerned as we had run out of
drink, and still there was no sign of were the track turned back. In
addition, we ended up following the transmission lines away from Khancoban,
in the boiling hot sun, and we were descending below the top of the hills
which we should have been crossing to get back.</p>
Eventually we come across a main road, and had to walk along it all the way
back to Khancoban (over 10km). The net result? We walked over 14km instead of
4km as advertised. We still don't know where the track was meant to go
though, and would be interested to know where we went wrong.</p>
Sunday afternoon, prior to the plane trip back home, I suddenly
remembered that on the way down, we had off loaded most of our luggage on to
another plane (the Navajo). I reminded Jeremy of this, and he said if if
we left immediately we might catch it before they took off. When we got
there though, it was already gone, and BZC had just completed its startup
checks and was about to taxi to leave when Jeremy off loaded our luggage on to
them.</p>
Overall, the trip was very enjoyable, and hopefully will help me in my
progress to get my GFPT and eventually PPL.</p>


Drive to The Grampians
1999-01-26T00:00:00+00:00



Gembrook Camp
1999-01-01T00:00:00+00:00



King Island Tour
1998-12-06T00:00:00+00:00



Flight to Mallacoota
1998-10-25T00:00:00+00:00
This event was organized by the owners of Lilydale airport. I flew Charlie
Whisky Whisky (CWW) from Lilydale airport to Bairnsdale airport where we
stopped briefly for refuelling. At Mallacoota we stayed two nights (23/10/1998
to 25/10/1998), and went on a cruise. One the way back, the owners of Lakes
Entrance airport provided as with BBQ lunch.</p>

PyCon Au 2024 conference

LCA2024 conference

Nix Issues

Nix</h1> As much as I like NIX, I have encountered a growing number of issues with various bits and pieces. Which I am struggling to keep track off. This blog post is so I can try to keep track of some of these issues.</p>

Kubernetes

LCA2022 conference

PyCon Au 2021 conference

LCA2021 conference

PyCon Au 2020 conference

LCA2020 conference

Trip to Gold Coast and back

Gold Coast</h1> I did the following:</p>

ElixirCamp 2019

Trip to ElixirCamp

PyCon Au 2019 conference

Trip to Sydney and back

LCA2019 conference

Trip to Christchurch and back

Christchurch</h1> I did the following:</p>

ElixirCamp 2018

Trip to ElixirCamp

Elixir Meetup September

Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids

Software Freedom Day

Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids

PyCon Au 2018 conference

Trip to Sydney and back

Generic Programming

Robotica - Robot maid for assisting with autistic kids

LCA2018 conference

LCA2018</h1> In 2018 I attended LCA2018 and gave a talk on Robotica. Mum and the three kids we are caring for also came to Sydney with me.</p>

Trip to Sydney and back

LCA2018</h1> In 2018 I attended LCA2018 and gave a talk on Robotica. Mum and the three kids we are caring for also came to Sydney with me.</p>

Conclusion</h2> Interesting experience, interesting drive. However it was a long drive. When I go to PyConAu in Sydney this August, I think I will fly as I don't think I would be able to drive all the way to Sydney and back myself.</p>

PyCon Au 2017 conference

Crypto Libraries for JavaScript

Crypto Libraries for JavaScript</h1> What is a good cryptographic library for pure JavaScript? Ideally should be in npm.</p>

Buses Replacing Trains

Trip to Hobart and then Numurkah

Planing</h3> Plugshare is the de facto default standard for listing EV chargers across Australia. In Hobart it lists three options:</p>

Day 4 to 8 - Monday to Friday</h3> I drove back and forward between my accommodation to Wrest Point on a daily basis. No dramas.</p> I started receiving alerts about a software update for my car, however postponed the update until after I got back.</p>

Day 9 - Saturday</h3> Didn't do a lot. Went to the local market, which was a short walk away. My car was down to 279km. Charged this up to 100% overnight using Darek's charger.</p>

Telsa</h2> I tested and tried out some of the advanced driving features of the Tesla.</p>

LCA2017 conference

PyCon Au 2016 conference

Trip to Geelong

LCA2016 conference

Trip to Brisbane

PyCon Au 2015 conference

Karaage Gardening

Trip to Adelaide

LCA2015 conference

Trip to New Zealand

Trip to Brisbane

PyCon Au 2014 conference

LCA2014 conference

Trip to Perth

Trip to Hobart

PyCon Au 2013 conference

Trip to Canberra

LCA2013 conference

Monday</h2> The Future of the Linux Desktop - Bdale Garbee</li> </ul> Morning Tea</p>

Tuesday</h2> Reasoning about Networks</a> - Radia Perlman (!)</li> </ul> Morning Tea</p> Feminism, anarchism and FOSS - Skye Croeser</li> Overcoming imposter syndrome - Denise Paolucci (!)</li>

Wednesday</h2> Main conference openining</p> Morning Tea</p>

Friday</h2> Keynote - Sir Tim Berners-Lee</li> </ul> Morning Tea</p>

Trip to Hobart

PyCon Au 2012 conference

PT Connections

Trip to Canberra

LCA2012 conference

PyCon Au 2011 conference

Trip to Sydney

Late trains

Email forwarders

ssmtp</h2> Looks very good at initial glance. Unfortunately, the code is buggy and currupts messages, e.g. {% bts 508759 %}, {% bts 584162 %} and {% bts 279737 %}. I seem to recall having other problems random with ssmtp, but never got around to filling bug reports.</p>

Trip to Brisbane

LCA2011 conference

Kindle DX

Quality of books</h2> Generally the quality is good. However there are some problems:</p>

Local restrictions</h2> As I use this in Australia there are some restrictions I face:</p>

Nix</h1>
As much as I like NIX, I have encountered a growing number of issues with various bits and pieces. Which I am struggling to keep track off. This blog post is so I can try to keep track of some of these issues.</p>

Gold Coast</h1>
I did the following:</p>

Attended LCA2020</a>.</li> </ul>

Christchurch</h1>
I did the following:</p>

Visited some penguin friends at the to the International Atlantic Center</a>.</li>
Assisted a lost bus driver get back on the official purple route again.</li>
Went on the Christchurch Gondola</a>.</li>
Attended LCA2019</a>.</li> </ul>

LCA2018</h1>
In 2018 I attended LCA2018 and gave a talk on Robotica. Mum and the three kids we are caring for also came to Sydney with me.</p>
See details of the conference LCA2018</a>.</p>

Conclusion</h2>
Interesting experience, interesting drive. However it was a long drive. When I go to PyConAu in Sydney this August, I think I will fly as I don't think I would be able to drive all the way to Sydney and back myself.</p>

Day 4 to 8 - Monday to Friday</h3>
I drove back and forward between my accommodation to Wrest Point on a daily basis. No dramas.</p>
I started receiving alerts about a software update for my car, however postponed the update until after I got back.</p>

Day 9 - Saturday</h3>
Didn't do a lot. Went to the local market, which was a short walk away. My car was down to 279km. Charged this up to 100% overnight using Darek's charger.</p>

Telsa</h2>
I tested and tried out some of the advanced driving features of the Tesla.</p>

ssmtp</h2>
Looks very good at initial glance. Unfortunately, the code is buggy and currupts messages, e.g. {% bts 508759 %}, {% bts 584162 %} and {% bts 279737 %}. I seem to recall having other problems random with ssmtp, but never got around to filling bug reports.</p>

Conclusion</h2>
Overall I am really happy with my purchase. It is a shame though that there are anti-features, such as DRM and country restrictions, that very much restrict what I can do with the Kindle, and as a result, may limit the number of books I purchase from Amazon's store.</p>