USS Kitty Hawk (CV63) Visits Sydney

The USS Kitty Hawk - the last of its kind of aircraft carrier, visits Sydney. We watched it pull in to port frm the office windows - a moving office building sized vessel.

Up close its bristling with armourments. You can see lining the edges depth charges, and the squat domes of CIWS (Close In Weapons Systems "Sea Whizz") sometimes called R2D2.

I'm not sure if they travel with all the planes and helipoters out on the flight deck normally, or if its just for show while they're in port. But certainly an impressive array of hardware. There must have been 30 F/A-18E/F's on the flight deck, along with various helicopters, AWCS planes and so on.

It was a gorgeous day in Sydney, but I don't think the Kitty Hawk drew quite the crowds that were expected. It was fairly quiet from what I could see.

Sat 07 Jul 2007 | /Vehicles | permalink

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A380 in Singapore

I happened to be at Changi airport on the day that the A380 was there, the first one I think delivered for Singapore Airlines.

I don't need to tell you how big, you can see from the images - thats a Boeing 747-400 off to the left, and it looks like a childs toy.

Fri 11 Nov 2005 | /Vehicles | permalink

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Kingston Go-Karting

Lukes Bucks party today, and the first item (and well, the only item I could document with photographs) was the Go-Karting at Kingston raceway.

I've never been karting before, so I was not sure what to expect. I was thinking perhaps nice and sedately poking around a track with the other kiddies.

What it was was monstrously noisy, dangerously fast, and devilishly fun. My arms still hurt from flinging these bad boys around the hair-pins.

Check out Luke's photo - he's all concentration ;)

Sat 17 Sep 2005 | /Vehicles | permalink

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Inovative Bike Storage

Sydney needs these, many of them. I ride my bike to and from work in Sydney, but the largest hassle is somewhere to store it when you get there. You run the risk of having it pinched, or you can take it into the office with you, but you then need to withstand complaints and whinging...

Riding has to the be the best way into and out of Sydney that I know of. It takes roughtly 20 minutes from my front door to the office. The bus takes 45 minutes, and, well, its a stinking bus. The Tram takes about 40 minutes. Add in that you get exercise and a nice view, the ride is free, and you're onto a winner.

My route takes me through a couple of parks, over the ANZAC bridge and through the city, King and Elizabeth Streets. Apart from the odd BMW owning twit, its safe and easy.

Hmmm, maybe a letter to the Lord Mayor...

Fri 18 Mar 2005 | /Vehicles/Bike | permalink

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