Some More Randomness 11

It hasn't even been four weeks since my last update, so I must be doing good.

Since my last update, I've done routes 367, 414, 431, 561 and 570. Five routes is better than nothing, right?

Yeah, I thought so.

Some More Randomness 10

It's been just barely over three weeks since my last post, so I'm doing reasonably well I'd like to think.

Since my last update, I've sadly only gotten one day specifically for gunzelling (which was Thursday just past). However, I did do routes 279 (to Templestowe), 401, 409, 432 and 704. It's not all that many, but it's still a few off my list.

I had been intending to do routes 927, 928 and 929 since I went to Pakenham during the day, but I decided to give that a miss and do 704 instead, so I could head home slightly earlier. After all, gunzelling after waking up at 4:40am with sweet FA sleep is hard. ;)

I have some free time coming up in the next few weeks, though, so I might get out a bit more. I need to concentrate more on the northern and outer eastern suburbs, which account for about two thirds of the routes I haven't done yet. I'll get around to them eventually, though.

Some More Randomness 2

Blah, shoot me for not updating for the past five weeks.

I finally have a new computer, so I should be able to update more regularly. Don't count on it though.

Since the last update, I've done routes 548, 554, 600, 627, 923, 958 and 980.

That's hardly anything. I'm way off target at the moment for doing every route by the end of the year (seeing as I only have four weeks left, and 79 normal routes to go). Plus only two Nightriders to go...yay. Then there's still that whole pile of route deviations to do.

Needless to say, I've got plenty to gunzel in the coming months - now to actually do it. Considering I'm no longer a student, I have plenty of time to do it, but I can't be stuffed getting off my ass most of the time. :(

Some More Randomness

It's been another seven weeks since I last updated. Unfortunately, updates might be few and far between for a while, as my computer decided to shit itself a few weeks ago.

Anyway, I haven't gunzelled all that much in October. It sucks having no cash at my disposal.

That said, though, I have done a few routes - 557, 566, 575, 774, 775, 956, 969.

I only have three Nightrider routes and one extension to do - Dandenong, Eltham, Lilydale and Melton. As well, only 84 regular routes and five Telebus routes left to do, plus that whole pile of route extensions and diversions which I'm not really in a hurry to do.

On Tuesday, I'll probably do route 695 to Dandenong, as well as a few other routes which I'll decide on later (though routes 813, 834/835, 836 and 857 are likely to appear).

Maybe I'll update again on Tuesday night...

Randomness 23

On Tuesday, I went to Macedon, Woodend, Kyneton, Malmsbury and Castlemaine stations. I can now proudly say I've gunzelled in falling snow.

Yesterday, I did routes 612, 624 via Darling Rd, 624 via Murrumbeena, 734, 737, 821 and 825. I have now done all Driver routes except the short section of route 627 between McKinnon station and Brighton East. I have also done all Moorabbin Transit routes.

I've therefore done more gunzelling just this week than I've done in ages. Hopefully I can make it a habit now.

Randomness 20

Apologies (again) for the lack of updates, but I've done fuck all gunzelling in the last month apart from a couple of bus routes.

However:

• I have completed planning for five minor trips for bunzelling, and three days of station hopping.
• Actually doing said bunzelling would add about 35 bus routes to my list, in the areas of:
  • Frankston
  • Werribee
  • Ringwood, Croydon, Lilydale, Belgrave
  • Dandenong, Berwick, Cranbourne
  • Epping, Greensborough.
• Actually doing said station hopping would add approximately 25 stations to my list, being all stations from:
  • Donnybrook to Seymour
  • Nar Nar Goon to Trafalgar
  • Macedon to Castlemaine.
• I've also completed planning for two major station hopping/bunzelling trips, which will be dependent on me having sufficient cash available:
  • One to Bendigo, doing all three stations plus at least 75% of bus routes and arriving back at Sydenham at 22:09.
  • One to the Latrobe Valley, doing all three train stations and all Valley Transit bus routes except Traralgon to Churchill.
• In addition to that, I've completed planning for an overnight trip involving a few Nightrider routes, which will probably be done in conjunction with the Craigieburn electrification opening, so I can also gunzel the first spark.

Exciting times are ahead, perhaps. And it's going to cost a fair bit, and take up a lot of my time. But I have plenty of it anyway, since I finished uni for this semester on Friday.

Randomness 16/I hate Designline

After doing route 700 to Chelsea on Wednesday, I am officially able to say that Designline seriously makes the most absolutely fucking atrocious buses ever.

For one, they have absolutely no grunt to them, and the engine noticeably slips a lot.

Two, the air-conditioning sucks. There's not enough air, and it's hardly cold.

Three, they're as ugly as fuck. They make me happy that Westrans isn't as sucky as Ventura.

Don't mind the language. ;)

Randomness 14

I've hardly done any gunzelling in the last two weeks, apart from taking a few photos while randomly driving, at on Monday at Heidelberg station while waiting for my mother to get out of a job interview.

Uni in five weeks, yay. I really want a massive bitch of a skyscraper to start getting built in Footscray right now, to cure my boredom for a year or so. :P

Proof that I am a loser

It's awesome to know that for the first time ever, I ushered in the new year while gunzelling.

A time-less trip log for NYE/NYD:

Leave home approximately 0915
425 - St Albans
Train - Flinders Street
Train - Mentone
811 - Springvale
Train - Dandenong
V/Line - Pakenham
V/Line - Flinders Street
75 - Vermont South
732 - Knox City
664 - Lilydale
Train - Ringwood
Train - Flinders Street
Train - Upfield
Train - Coburg
Train - Flinders Street
(roam around Swanston St for about 45 minutes)
Nightrider - Croydon
Train - Ringwood
Train - Box Hill
Train - Blackburn
Train - Laburnum (last up to stop there)
Train - Blackburn (last down to stop there)
Train replacement - Camberwell
Train - Flinders Street
Train - St Albans
Arrive home approximately 0630

So, I was officially the last person to get off an up train at Laburnum, and get on a down train, before it got demolished. :D

What's worse is that I was gunzelling for 21 hours, without falling asleep.

Monthly Plan 1 Update

I only wrote my monthly plan yesterday, and I've already deviated from it. Which isn't surprising. I thought it would be better to get every station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines over and done with, which is made possible by the outer extremities of these two lines having a higher service frequency on weekends than weekdays.

After getting a direct service from Flinders Street to Belgrave just after 9am and getting to Belgrave in search of a route 695 timetable which could not be found, I decided to roam the area. In order of stops, I went from Belgrave to Upwey to Tecoma to Heathmont to Ferntree Gully to Boronia to Croydon (737 bus) to Ringwood East (367 bus). I have now been to every station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines past Blackburn, which has reduced my non-visited stations count from 93 to 88.

I will be going to the rest (Laburnum, Mont Albert, Chatham, Canterbury, East Camberwell) some time this week probably, along with Burwood, Hartwell, Willison, Heyington and Darling, which will complete the whole Burnley group. Also coming this week will be Newmarket, Middle Brighton and Hampton, which will complete all host stations as well as the Sandringham line.

Considering the comparitively low number of buses (compared to trains, anyway) I use (mainly due to their low service level), riding parts of two routes is an achievement for me. The lack of timetable information at major stops is another main reason. For example, one of the busiest stops on my own route 422, outside Kings Park Secondary College, does not have a timetable. Even though it is serviced by three routes and is a timing point. A timetable here would be useful definitely, particularly on weekends when the three routes (422, 424 and 425) combined give the stop departure times of 07, 32 and 47 past the hour (an overall frequency of 25-15-20 minutes), and not all services to St Albans stop on the same side of the road.

Maybe I need to stop complaining and get a life. But that probably won't happen in a hurry.

South Eastern Suburbs 1

Since I finished accidentally burning my hands with liquid petrol at uni (which has nothing to do with Civil Engineering??) at 11:45am today, and had to use a second trip on my 10x2hr Metcard anyway, I decided to do a bit of random exploring. Got on the late-running 11:56am bus to Footscray station. I changed to the 12:11pm ex-Sydenham Comeng from Footscray to Flagstaff, where I moved over to platform 4 and got on an Xtrap which ran express through Spencer Street. I got to Flinders Street finally, where I eventually decided to board the Pakenham-bound Comeng to Oakleigh.

From Oakleigh, I caught a route 700 bus to Chadstone, where I ended up having lunch to fill in time. Nearly missed another route 700 bus to Mentone about half an hour later. I got to Mentone, where I changed to the Frankston-bound Siemens which I got off at Mordialloc. Picked up a route 705 timetable at Mordialloc, then boarded the next train back to Flinders Street, which was a Comeng.

Upon arrival at Flinders Street, the Broadmeadows line train I was planning to catch to Essendon was narrowly missed because the train from Frankston was a few minutes late. Waited about 15 minutes for the next one which ran late anyway, a Siemens which was overcrowded by the time it left Flinders Street. Some random young woman who had two cans of alcohol and couldn't stand up straight was both smoking and drinking as the train went through the City Loop. Got to Essendon just before 4pm, where I picked up a timetable for routes 510/512.

I caught the 4:06pm Comeng ex-Broadmeadows from Essendon to North Melbourne, it left at a few minutes late at 4:09 or so. Upon arriving at North Melbourne and moving from platform 1 to platform 4, I observed about 75 people moving from platform 4 to platform 2 to catch the P+FSH Bacchus Marsh train which had been rerouted, and also a couple of Connex-refurbished Comengs running not in service from Flemington Racecourse to Flinders Street.

I got on the delayed 4:23pm Sydenham train at 4:26 or so, it was a Hitachi. It got delayed again between North Melbourne and South Kensington. I arrived at St Albans just after 4:50 (about six minutes late), where I got on the 4:55pm route 422 bus and arrived home just after 5:15.

So today, I ended up riding four different types of suburban train, which is all of them except the Connex-refurbished Comeng (which I honestly don't really like anyway. They're too jittery and clunky). That's an achievement, for sure.