Oz: Trains to Muwillumbah

http://www.optusnet.com.au/news/story/a ... 827323.inp

I am not sure what this story is about. When I was in Australia 21 years ago there was a sleeper train from Sydney to Murwillumbah which was not quite into Queensland. I assume there was a bus connection to Surfers' Paradise and the Gold Coast resorts. I took a bus from there to Grafton and then the XPT to Sydney.

Is it the train to Muwillumbah that may be restored (if the politicians can agree) or is there an extension into Queensland?

I rode this line in the eighties , it seemed well patronised .
I think the problem was the lack of freight , im pretty sure the line has been either mothballed or torn up . Buses now run from Brisbane , through the gold coast , to connect with the trains to Sydney back on the mainline .

"He's got a $28 billion peter-meter" O_o

I think you guys down under are getting too much UV radiation from the Ozone Hole...

Sir Ray wrote:"He's got a $28 billion peter-meter" O_o

I think you guys down under are getting too much UV radiation from the Ozone Hole...

I thought it might measure the angle of the dangle. Other than that it is a complete mystery to me.

its a new saying on me too . sounds like a useful thing , whatever it si .

As for the ozone hole , we can't see it through the clouds at the moment .
I think the americans have gone and stole our summer .

David Benton wrote:its a new saying on me too . sounds like a useful thing , whatever it si .

As for the ozone hole , we can't see it through the clouds at the moment .
I think the americans have gone and stole our summer .

I can tell you where it is. It's taken the place of our winter. Nohing but warm rain. The spring flowers are out, the hedghog refuses to hibernate.

David Benton wrote:As for the ozone hole , we can't see it through the clouds at the moment .
I think the americans have gone and stole our summer .

Try that one on our friends in Colorado....
Besides, when did Kiwis ever have actual summers anyway - you have wild Penguins and Fjords, for goodness sake!

yeah , i guess the penquins will be happy , coldest December in something like 50 years , looking like January may follow suit .
But then , i always take my holiday late feb / March anyway , alot more settled weather .
The storms in Colorado are making the news here , along with young ladies in Bikinis in , in Boston , I think . and the price of oil is down .

just for you , Sir Ray .
Penguin wanders onto motorway .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/sto ... d=10419777

David Benton wrote:just for you , Sir Ray .
Penguin wanders onto motorway.

So, is this the start of Terminator 4: Rise of the Penguins?

Penguins begin the rebellion, and seize New Zealand.
I suppose they can't do any worse running the rails than Toll Holding did.

probably be an improvement in parliament .
Along with George's hedghogs taking over England , we may have a rebellion here . Definetly , the animals are trying to tell us something .

Here in New zealand , we have a reptile called the tuatara , which hasnt changed for a few million years or so . Now they are worried for its future . Why ?
They lay eggs , which are asexual . apparently the sex is determined at the egg stage ( im not good at biology ), at least the sex of the baby tuatara is influenced by the temperature at which the egg finds itself . I forget the actual fiqures , but at say 22 degrees average temperature , the offspring are predominatley male . at around 24 , its 50 / 50 . at 26 , its predominatley female . i quess you can see what role global warming will have in this . Scientists doubt a creature that hasnt evolved for years can change enough to ensure the gender mix is balanced .

i quess you can see what role global warming will have in this . Scientists doubt a creature that hasnt evolved for years can change enough to ensure the gender mix is balanced .

Yes, in the past, before there was so much human occupation of the land, such an animal would migrate with the climate zones. Some animals that live only on the top of high mountains may be lost as they can't migrate anywhere. Central American mountains are usually cited. In any case the change is now occurring rather fast. I think we may need put to effort into planting forests in the areas coming available to them, rather than wait for natural expansion of their range.

Some years ago , an american ( bill somebody ? )wrote a book called the end of nature . In it , he argued that with manmade climate change , nothing called be deemed to be natural anyomore , because man had altered the climate everywhere . I guess he is right in an academic kind of way .
Anyway back to trains , railways tend to follow rivers or sea coasts most of the time , so climate change is going to affect them in a big way , by rising levels , or by extreme weather conditions . but i spose no more than it will eefect roads as well .

David Benton wrote:Some years ago , an american ( bill somebody ? )wrote a book called the end of nature . In it , he argued that with manmade climate change , nothing called be deemed to be natural anyomore , because man had altered the climate everywhere . I guess he is right in an academic kind of way .
Anyway back to trains , railways tend to follow rivers or sea coasts most of the time , so climate change is going to affect them in a big way , by rising levels , or by extreme weather conditions . but i spose no more than it will eefect roads as well .

There are several rail lines in Britain along the coast. The Dawlish line is the most spectacular. It is often closed during storms because the waves wash over it, but the Cumbrian Coast line is vulnerable, and the coastal line in East Sussex near Hastings. 'm not sure about the Cambrian Coast line .

But in a longer term we have to plan for the loss of major cities. London is difficult to defend against rising sea level.

i guess dutch expertise will come in handy worldwide .
Some pacific islands are facing disappearing completely.
Major cities tend to be on ports , so London wouldnt be the only one .
A couple of NZ cities have benefitted from earthquakes raising the harbourside land , ( ships in Wellington harbour suddenly found themselves a few 100 metres from the sea one day ) .