"Summer" Holiday plans

After working almost non-stop since March 2008, I'm planning to take up to four months off from May to September this year, traveling around the USA, UK, and some parts of Europe.

It's a long enough holiday that I'm packing up and moving out of my Sydney apartment. I have a Tier 1 (General) visa that allows me to work in the UK for the next three years without an employer sponsor, so if I can line up some project or permanent work while I'm traveling, then I'll stay on. If I can't line anything up, or if I decide I don't want to work in the UK, then I'll return to Oz in time for the AFL Grand Final in September.

My final day at work in Sydney will be Friday May 22nd.

I fly out to San Francisco on Sunday May 24th, from where I'll be doing a road-trip around California and Nevada for a couple of weeks.

I then fly to London (arriving on Wednesday 10th June), which will be my base for the summer. Events that have been lined up for the first few weeks in the UK include walking in Scotland, Glastonbury Music Festival, and Latitude Festival in Suffolk.

Dinner at Alio, Surry Hills

Dinner at Cafe Bon Ton, Leura

Ruddnet is too good to be true

[The Australian] Malcolm Turnbull shares his opinion on the politics and economics of the National Broadband Network proposal.

Metro rail plan hits the buffer

[smh] Sydney's long-term public transport planning farce continues...

We're driving to disaster, rail guru warns

[smh] "The state's most respected transport bureaucrat has broken an eight-year silence to condemn the NSW Government's botched handling of Sydney's transport system"

Some interesting insight into the problems with the current Sydney public transport infrastructure that were predicted back in 2001. The need for a second train line under/over the harbour is something that I am now experiencing every day with the near crush loads on the North Shore line during peak hour.

Dinner at Spice I am, Darlinghurst

Bondi Junction blast: frustrated residents stuck in limbo

[smh] "More than 300 homeless residents of the Bondi Junction apartment block rocked by a gas explosion on Monday face weeks of further uncertainty about compensation and when they will be able to move back in.

Unit owners and tenants of Eastgate Towers on Spring Street were told at a meeting on Wednesday night it would take at least five weeks - and as long as eight months - before the building is fully repaired."

Bondi Junction blast residents homeless

[smh] "More than 200 residents left homeless after an explosion in a Bondi Junction apartment building do not know when they will be allowed back to live in their homes."