Samuel's Blog

Kingswood Journey

October 4th, 2005 at 09:47pm

As previously mentioned, I decided to take a journey out to Erindale shops today where Mike Frame was with the 2CC Kingswood. I also decided to document the entire journey, so if you’re after pictures of the Kingswood you will need to scroll down. All of the pictures here are thumbnails of the large versions, clicking on them will take you to the original large versions.

After some preperation I decided I should check what main items I was taking with me, naturally the radio came with me, as did the story of The Fridge which I was taking along to give to Mike Jeffreys (as previously documented) and a couple bus timetables for buses which pass Erindale.

On my way into Civic to catch the bus I passed one of the many construction sites.

I had lunch at a nice little coffee shop in Civic where I had a sausage roll and a coffee, after this I briefly met my bus driver friend, and then sat down to wait for the bus. I managed to take a picture of two of Canberra’s better, older, orange buses, just after I took the photo they both disappeared.

The first bus to turn up was one of those horrid green buses, I don’t like the green buses, they are uncofortable, noisy, rattly and have virtually no suspension. The older orange buses have a kind of bounce when they hit a bump, the green ones just go bang.

I decided to have a play with the video mode of my camera to demonstrate the horrid amount of noise the green buses make, it was impossible to hear the radio over the horrid thing. (Apologies for the file size of the video, I didn’t have time to play with the video)

Then a nice orange bus turned up, which I promptly caught. This bus lacked a ticket machine, so I did not incur any cost for this particular journey.

While I was on the bus I decided to try my hand at taking photos from moving vehicles, I think I ultimately showed that I am no good at that. The first picture taken on the way to Woden is of a flowerbed on Commenwealth Avenue designed to promote Floriade.

The next photo was of the Mint, for those that don’t know, the Mint’s main role is to produce coins.

It was around this time that I lost the 2CC signal or to be more precise, they stopped producing sound, 15 seconds later the emergency tape kicked in, it kept going through it’s initial ad break, played two different music returns and then launched into some bizzare program called “Down Memory Lane” which started with some semi-amusing alphabet song which sounds like it came from the 1940’s or 1950’s, the tape was then interupted and started from the begginning again, playing it’s ad break, two music returns and launched straight into that song again…this made me want to burst out laughing, but I managed to mostly contain myself. During this time I tried to pick up 2CA, but either I was in a bad spot (probably) or they were also off-air with no emergency tape.

Then we have a photo of my favourite set of trees along Adelaide Avenue/Yamba Drive

After this I arrived at the Woden bus interchange, unfortunately there weren’t any buses on my side of the interchange and I didn’t feel like waiting around for them.

From Memory the John Stanley show had returned to the radio by this stage, so I walked up some stairs and took a photo of the Lovatt Tower (formerly the MLC Tower), possibly Canberra’s tallest building. During this the 2UE news came through on 2CC for some unknown reason, their appeared to be some audio problems with it too.

After this I walked over to the bridge over the Woden Bus Interchange and took a photo of a rather odd and tall new apartment building, during this the local weather played, and then ads started.

After this I went and sat down on one of the many seats at the Woden Bus Interchange and noticed that one of ACTION’s interesting midi buses was parked in the layover zone, the midi buses are fairly decent, but I still prefer the orange buses.

2CC were still playing ads, and I can’t work out why, when they were about 10-15 minutes into a long set of ads I gave up and switched the radio off. Either somebody hit the wrong button a few times or something went seriously wrong.

Anyway, my bus arrived so I caught it, and took a few more of my “moving vehicle” pictures. Here is a slightly blurry one of the Woden Bus Interchange as I left.

And then we have yet another photo of the “Multiplex” buidling, now known on this blog as the “Multiplex Monstrosity”.

Next we having a picture of Mount Taylor, one of the smaller, less tree-filled mountains in Canberra.

The next photo was supposed to be of the nice scenic view towards the Brindabellas, but it didn’t turn out that way, if you look closely you can spot some of Canberra’s high voltage power lines, which, as previously discussed on this blog, carry radio signals very well, it was the first crystal clear on-bus reception I had all day.

The next thing that happened is I got off the bus, at the stop which the bus map informed me was the right stop…once again, ACTION prove they are the worst map makers on the planet. It did leave me with a good view though.

I walked down to the end of the street and still couldn’t see the shops, I was now very confused, I spotted a policeman conducting speed checks from his stationary motorbike, so I asked him if he knew where it was, and he gave me directions. On my way to the Erindale shops I spotted the bus stop I should have gotten off the bus at.

After a short walk, I spotted the Erindale centre, however I also noticed a sign advertising one of the non-Video Ezy video outlets, this had me mildly concerned, but I entered the centre anyway. It reminded me to a large extent of one of the smaller shopping centres on the sunshine coast, which has an almost identical layout. Video Ezy wasn’t in there, so I walked out the doors at the other end of the shopping centre and noticed the Video Ezy store in the distance, the zoom on the camera picked up the sign and the Kingswood fairly well. (I didn’t spot the Kingswood myself at the time)

The next thing I did was turn around and take a photo of the Erindale Centre.

As I got closer I took another photo of the Kingswood.

It is worthwhile pointing out that I hadn’t seen John B1_B5’s comment about him also going to see the Kingswood, so I was unaware that he was coming, and was surprised when he arrived. I didn’t recognise him at first, but I had requested that Mike Frame stand next to the Kingswood for a photo, and John B1_B5 arrived so we both wanted to take a photo of this, it was only just before we took the photos that we recognised each other. We promptly started a small competition to see who has the best Kingswood photos. My one of Mike Frame and the Kingswood is perfect with flaws…the only problems are that Mike blinked and I cut off some of the Kingswood…not to worry.

Next up we have a photo of the insides of the Kingswood, including the yellow mini-kingswood. The people in this photo are Mike Frame standing at the driver’s side door, one of the 2CC listeners in the background, and John B1_B5 standing behind the bonnet.

Next up we have the rather impressive signage on the rear window of the Kingswood, it is a good job, but as Mike Frame put it last time we met “It’s fine as long it isn’t raining, then you can’t see out of it” (paraphrased). This could become one of those photos used as memorabilia when 2CC turn 50 in 2025.

Then there is an unfortunately blurry closeup of the yellow Mini-Kingswood.

Next up is a picture of the competition entry box, John B1_B5 has a closeup of the poster on his site (link below).

The next shot comes with a large thanks to Mike Frame who allowed it to go ahead, this one is of John B1_B5 sitting in the Kingswood. (This is the one image that does not link to a larger version).

John B1_B5 spent quite a while chatting about many different and varied subjects, 2CC’s breakfast presenter Mike Jeffreys was going to turn up around 2PM, but it was closer to 3PM when he did eventually arrive. It appears to me at least that 2CC could make use of this picture with that large Video Ezy sign in the background.

Just after taking that picture I handed Mike Jeffreys the story of The Fridge

A little while later when I got the camera out again, after spotting a good photo opportunity, I took a photo, this one contains the Kingswood (naturally), in the bottom left corner of the picture is a golf club cover on one of the golf clubs 2CC are also giving away, the person on the left is Mike Frame, and the person on the right is Mike Jeffreys, whilst it looks like he is putting on an interesting funny pose, he is actually trying to get rid of flies. In the Kingswood is Mike Jeffreys’ son Jack who developed a game of climbing into, and out of, the Kingswood.

After this the discussions turned to the topic of Brisbane Trams (I’ll have more on that in the coming days) and how extremely efficient they were. Not long after this John B1_B5 left, and not long after that, I left. This is the bus stop I was planning on catching the bus from.

Naturally the bus was late, and just at the moment that I was planning on getting out the camera and playing with the video mode again, the bus appeared in the distance, however it turned the corner without stopping for me, and then stopped after turning the corner, apparently it is too difficult to turn after picking someone up at that bus stop.
I also caught a picture of some scenery I had been thinking of getting a photo of on the way to Erindale.

While I was on the bus I heard Mike Welsh have a conversation with Mike Frame…I didn’t catch the first part of the conversation, but I think Mike Welsh had been reading this site and asked if I had come out to Erindale, Mike Frame replied by saying that I had come, as had “another one of our listeners, John” and he also said that Mike Jeffreys had been there for “the last half-hour or so”.

Not long after this, I arrived in Woden

I noticed a green bus, so I waited for the next one, I took this opportunity to take a photo of one of those “If you see something, say something” signs alerting people to be wary of terrorists (presumably without alarming them…if you’re not Australian you won’t get the joke).

My 117 was running late, and the 312 (I think) came before it (both of which were nice orange buses), while I was in the queue for the 312, the 117 arrived, and as it was running late I caught that knowing that it would leave quickly. This one had a non-working ticket machine, so another free ride, although I had already bought a daily ticket, so it’s not overly free.

I decided to embark on another round of moving vehicle based photography…which produced some varied and dreadful photos, one of which was so bad that I deleted it as soon as it was taken. Here are the remains.

Firstly, is it Telstra Tower? And is there a photographic fog?

Next up we have a photo which was supposed to be of Mount Ainslie, Regatta Point and the War Memorial in the background, which was taken at precisely the wrong moment, and as such is a picture of a Commonwealth Avenue Bridge pylon, with bits of Regatta Point and Mount Ainslie…with some bridge bits.

I tried again, and this time got a picture of Mount Blur (aka Mount Ainslie) and Regatta Point Blur.

Next up is a reasonable picture of the approach to Civic, which also contains a bird and an unexplainable smudge.

Next up is another tilted picture, this one is of City Hill.

I got off the bus outside the Legislative Assembly (which has a more than fair share of scary people, and therefore doesn’t get a photo today), as it is quicker to walk home from there than the Civic Interchange. On my way home I passed through the Canberra Centre and noticed one of those little Canberra oddities, they hadn’t brought in the lightweight portable “long weekend trading hours” sign, despite it being nearly 4PM the day after the end of the long weekend. This poses a question…did they leave it out overnight or did the bring it out this morning?

After passing through the Canberra Centre I took a nice scenic photo looking up Ainslie Avenue towards Mount Ainslie.

I then went home and, as I was thirsty, made myself a cup of coffee which I forgot to photograph.

As for who had the better Kingswood photos, I think I got the better pictures of Mike Jeffreys, I think John B1_B5 got the better picture “Frame and Kingswood” picture, I think the rest are all so different that there is no way to compare them. He took some more detailed pictures of the car, whilst I took mainly overview pictures (and went on an insane marathon photo-taking-a-thon through Canberra).

You can see all of John B1_B5’s pictures on his website.

Well, that’s my story for today, and if a picture is worth a thousand words, then I have 42,488 words (2,488 written & 40,000 pictured) not including this sentence or the next.

Samuel

Entry Filed under: Canberra Stories,Samuel News,TV/Radio/Media

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