Robot Claw – Page 442 – “Life In The So-Called Space Age”

Giddy Up!

January 1, 2014

January first means two things:
1) New Years Resolutions are broken, and
2) Racing at Randwick!

I didn’t make any resolutions, so off to the races it was!

There have been major upgrades since I was last here, including an all-new stadium. The place has ‘ritzed up’ a bit but still welcomes a diverse crowd including these three punters:

The serious look in their eyes is a hint to the theorycrafting going on inside as they pick their winners. More on the results in a bit 🙂

There are 8 races in total, and we all bet on each. The boys drunk some beer, and I shuffled around (Bernard says I’m like a shark because I can’t be still!) and watched the activities.

Here’s the view from where we sat, dubbed ‘The Kings Seat’ by Adam:

Needless to say we all had a flutter! In the interests of privacy, I was requested by East to anonymize names. Who is East? Well, I’ve given the four of us code names as you’ll see on this chart of our cumulative winnings per race:

In total, $638 was bet, and $790.30 was won. Much of this was due to a single spectacular win of $360 by North on Race 7. Not bad for a $20 bet. Even the three of us who lost overall didn’t lose much and great fun was had by all.

The question remains: who is who? Rather than say, here’s a puzzle that will let you work it out.

Four punters went to the races. Two of them always tell the truth, and two always lie. When asked their real names, here’s what they said:
North said: South is Robert
South said: West is Pat
East said: North is Bernard
West said: I’m Adam

Can you work out who’s who?

It Felt Like A Sheep

December 31, 2013

Both our hotels had fantastic breakfast buffets the likes of which I hadn’t seen since Hawaii. Apparently that’s a thing here. I should stay in more Australian hotels!

On the way back from the Blue Mountains we stopped at this place:

A ‘wildlife park’ is a small zoo, and in Australia they frequently prioritize Australian animals including birds. We were surprised to find Featherdale right in the middle of suburbia, but this didn’t affect the quality of this 40-year old park.

They’ve got about a billion birds, half a billion koalas and a wide selection of other Australian fauna including kangaroos, echidna, various reptiles, bats, wombats (active ones even!) and quokkas, like the baby shown above.

The animals are displayed nicely in large and well landscaped enclosures. The big draw of the park though is how close you can get to certain favorites:

In order, those are a wallaby, a bear, and a kangaroo. The bear was dense and immovable, and his fur felt almost exactly like a sheep. He’s also extremely old for his race, being almost 15.

Bernard was in bird-photo-heaven at the park, taking many snaps of everything with feathers. If he doesn’t do a blog soon showcasing some of the great photos he has taken, I’m going to destroy his birthday gifts 🙂

As I mentioned above, Featherdale has an enormous Koala population. I suspect one reason is they accept orphaned Australian animals and have a constant influx of Koalas. As a result you can pat one any time the park is open, which is very popular with the foreign tourists!

Here’s another shot of an Australian animal eating at the park:

And an interesting example of the difference in appearance between two animals of the same species:

After Featherdale we continued back to Randwick, and a lazy evening of eating, movie-watching (Pacific Rim and Kick-Ass 2) and falling asleep before the New Year’s Eve fireworks!

The Blue Mountains

December 30, 2013

The drive out of Jenolan – on the same perilous road as yesterday – was a very different experience since we woke early and got out before the traffic. Our destination was the town of Katoomba, tourist center of the Blue Mountains.

We arrived in Katoomba about 11 and headed to a place called Scenic World, which is perched right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. Here’s a shot of the lines when we arrived:

Incredible! We would learn that the lines start even before the place opens before 9 am. What is here that is worth lining up? Well, after about an hour in line we…

Rode a cable car the 275 meters down to the rainforest before…

Exploring the rainforest walk. This was a ~45 minute stroll on a raised walkway around the dense rainforest that fills the valley below Katoomba. We saw two lyrebirds!

Can you see him in the middle of the picture displaying his plumage?

To get back to the tops of the cliffs we rode the world’s steepest train:

This was remarkable! A very fast and thrilling train set on an up to 52 degree incline with incredible views of the mountains. Highly recommended!

But the attractions weren’t over! After another line, Bernard and I rode this:

We even stood on the ‘electro-reveal floor’ which used liquid crystal glass to become transparent half way across:

The views were breathtaking. I was so dazzled, I even forgot to take a single photo of the famous attraction known as The Three Sisters. You can see them on a postcard if you’ve never heard of them 🙂

After visits to more lookouts we – after a long day – headed back to our motel for the night. We had eaten a kings breakfast back in Jenolan and actually skipped lunch, so we were famished when we headed to the local RSL for dinner.

The Chinese food was incredible! We ate like emperors! Bernard then demonstrated he still had the magic touch by turning $5 into $86 using His favourite poker machine:

As if this club couldn’t get better, I then wandered over to the tiny arcade and found this:

The Doctor Who pinball! Holy Christ, I’ve been wanting to play this forever! And playing it was like a religious experience 🙂

A great end to a great day! What would tomorrow bring?