I've been living in an older two-bedroom unit for the past year and I've got about 4 m of linear space to do a kitchen along one wall.
I have actually got some space in the opposite wall that I'll use for the pantry and the microwave and Kettle and things like that. but this is the layout of the main cook line.
any thoughts?
This special order contains two Asian inspired 1/8th pound beef sliders.
One topped with Korean BBQ sauce and the other is sweet and sour, plus lettuce, pickles, onions and optional cheese.
This is served with a side of original chicken sandwich style nuggets, with a creamy sauce containing chunks of real pickles.
All washed down with an iced chocolate and coconut frappe.
How do you reckon I did this?
So I want these in my bathroom. Every grey subway tile I look up online seems to have a rough surface or gloss with dimples.
I want uniform semi matte like this...
No, this isn't a think piece from the Australian.
So as we know that the highway over the Blue mountains to the entire west of the state is falling apart, the train to Lithgow is kind of slow, and they cancelled the plan to finish the highway with a 10 km tunnel because Labor got back in NSW and they don't like starting major projects.
Anyway, over in Switzerland they have a network of over 100km of "Base Tunnels", some as long as 57km, where trains shoot under mountain ranges as if they weren't there.
These are used by a mixture of passenger trains, freight trains, and special "autozug" car carrier trains, where you can drive onto the train and get shuttled through the tunnel to avoid a long windy road over the mountains.
A 60km tunnel could cross the Blue Mountains would reduce what currently takes 1 hour and 40 minutes down to 22 minutes.
I'm not sure what you could get away with charging for an Autozug from Emu Plains to Lithgow...I am thinking $35 per car or so, but that's far more than what you could charge on toll road.
You could connect to the high-speed rail system at Western Sydney Airport and massively improve the economic outcomes from all of Inland New South Wales.
I believe this is the Real "Inland Rail".
(It's probably a bit easier to build than the bridge to Tasmania as well!)
Might delete later.
Warning for US members, contains swearing.
TLDR at bottom of post!
Not married to one particular element of the design. however this is generally where I think it should go.
***
No AI in my words below.
I have an unpopular opinion that if you are gonna drop a few bil $$$ on some trains you should see how much you can push the project to solve lots of problems in one hit.
The Airport line as planned will certainly get people to the airport, but at the same time the project doesn't exist in a vacuum either.
For starters, I'm gonna name the project Regional Rail link 2.
Scratch that, how about BARE - Bendigo - Airport Rail Express.
Solves 3 problems.
Bonus, if SRL links to the airport, it will go apeshit in popularity since it means HSR passenger and Bendigo passengers will flood it (TLDR: you could get a train from Doncaster>Airport>Sydney)
(Even if they never get done in the next 50 years, it wont cost much to provide for it and save our children some $$$)
So lets focus on the purple line.
After Gisborne, Vline trains out of Bendigo follow a new high speed viaduct around the back of Sunbury to a new station at Sunbury North
Metro trains are extended to Sunbury North so we don't lose that Metro to Vline connection.
Oh yeah and Build Housing**™** around the new interchange station. Affordable airport worker apartments on the cheap land etc. See arent I good, we're solving all the worlds woes tonight 😄
After Sunbury, some more viaducts before diving under the airport terminals. The station would be similar to Perth's airport rail station...Shallow under the car park, with covered travelators "radiating" out to each terminal.
After that, we follow the planned route into Southern Cross, via the stations as planned
(But Keilor should literally have a 3000 vehicle multi level car with electronic signage on the Ring Road that show both rail parking capacity and road ahead congestion information, so people can bail off and take the train and avoid getting trapped in congestion)
Fun fact, a lane of freeway carries 1800 vehicles per hour, so this car park could take the equivalent of a lane of freeway emptying for about 90 mins in "congestion storage"
Now, as for the blue lines, that's just me being silly, but you could see how the Fishermans Bend rail tunnel, and a branch off the Bendigo line towards Sydney could eventually form a the first stage of a Victorian high speed rail spine.
(Fishermans Bend basically just needs to be turned into Canary Wharf with a HSR station as the centerpiece)
Now for the boring bits.
Sorry Metro, V line has this.
Much like Wodonga, the BARE line would run the standard gauge Vlocity train variant, however this one would be fitted out with onboard batteries, as is now happening in Japan and Europe.
The Vline platforms at southern cross would be fitted out with 25kV AC conductor bars for trains to fast charge.
And then the entire section of line after Sunshine to Gisborne is wired up for 25kV AC. In the short term this gives trains a way to get in and out of Southern Cross without having to deal with Metros outdated DC current electrical system because they would run on battery over the short 'gap'.
The best part about choosing 25kV AC is that it is compatible with HSR standards, and making the line dual gauge so both V line and HSR can use it is easy enough.
Longer term, you could install 25kV charging bars dotted along the Bendigo line over time, so you reduce dependency on diesel and get faster acceleration. Yay, electric trains for the bougies up to Castlemaine!
I guess if i was reeeeeeaaaalllly wanting to be a perfectionist, You'd build a deviation off the Geelong line via Avalon, then you could have special trains with luggage zones running from Avalon to Tullamarine.
If V line had any business acumen they would be selling an airport rail and luxury coach and spa package deal to Bendigo and Daylesford inbound tourists.
_________________
TLDR made with AI
The BARE (Bendigo-Airport Rail Express) Plan
Instead of spending billions on an isolated airport line, combine it with regional and future High-Speed Rail (HSR) into one mega-project.
Bottom line: Stop building single-use lines. Build an electrified, HSR-ready backbone that fixes regional transit, airport access, and future interstate rail in one shot.
I'm curious, are people in Dungog or Singleton happy that HSR will get them to Sydney 2 hours quicker, for example?
So I have a question.
And yeah sorry Im writing in English, I am sorry I cannot speak Swedish since it a fun language that is easy on the ear
I am from Australia, I studied architecture but decided life would be more fun if I went into a specialization of designing theme park attractions. Have done a few here and in asia, and when I go on holidays, I like to visit a specific region, and try a few local theme parks to see how they do things.
When the world reopened after covid I booked tickets to Copenhagen and went home from Helsinki, so you fill in the rest....
It was 24h on a plane wearing a mask so I was determined!
Well!
Aren't Sweden the unsung heroes of this industry!
Despite the bad weather for a lot of the year, the parks all look very crisp, well run, great rides, good food, nice long opening hours, concerts etc. I guess if you are stuck inside for months you want to enjoy your fun in the sun.
I was there in the midsummer. Much like Sweden, Australia has a 2 week period where the country shuts down, but ours occurs at Christmas and New Years, so everywhere despite being busy was still well organised.
Did all my travel via public transport.
Wont do a whole blow by blow of my visit to Sweden till another time.
I think the best thing at Liseberg where the queue line for the Helix launch coaster is this ultra modern concrete maze with the start of the ride at the top of the "berg "of Liseberg, and theres neon green strip lights and house music pumping through the whole space, felt like something youd see more in a high end art installation than any theme park. And there was this gorgeous long sunset with views out over Gothenburg. Good shit.
In reality ended up going on Valkyria like 8 times. Basically feels like jumping off a cliff into a dark tunnel and there's something that really connects with the legends of Vikings and the crazy shit you imagine they have done in lore.
Balder was closed for track replacement, sad face.
Ended up having dinner down the little dockside area of the park, very hygge.
Sadly didn't win the giant chocolate after many tries.
And then at the end of the night there's no queue to exit a car park and drive tired since the trams are right there.
Up in Stockholm I went to Grona Lund. Most ridiculous place ever with how the rides are tangled in with each other. Those design teams must be gods at 3D coordination.
Made everything way more fun because you could cross the park in 5 mins if you felt like doing something else, and of course all the rides are in such close proximity that its a bit over the top!
Great fun though, I'd been waiting for Monster to open since it had taken a few years to built. But nothing quite like diving face first towards the Stockholm harbor, only to swoop away and weave between buildings and over narrow laneways. It almost feels like a slice of Gammel Stad if you did the unthinkable and put a ride through it.
Some legitimately hardcore shit in the park like that face first IKAROS drop tower, and the Insane coaster which basically tried to somersault you and dunk you headfirst towards the ground.
Plenty of other funny stuff too. You would see groups of young women riding the caterpillar coaster for the laugh,
I saw they are planning a Trebuchet launch coaster on the site next door, so I'll definitely return for that.
Also got a train out to Norkopping for Kolmarden, not sure about the politics of zoos in Sweden, but the Wildfire coaster diving off a cliff with panoramic views out to the estuary. Chefs kiss!
Also did an "industry research pitstop" and went to Skara Sommerland, since it is somewhat of an industry rite of passage to ride that singular prototype "Tranan" coaster, plus I was curious to see how an outdoor water park operates in such a cold climate. Not bad tbh.
Also checked out that Kokpunkten water park built in the old powerstation in Vasteras.
So yeah, what surprises me is that Australia is good an sunny and has a big population, yet Swedens theme parks seem much larger and ambitious , despite the cold and the smaller population. And I know people are gonna say "oh but there's 500m people in Europe" , but be honest, its 11 hours just to get to Hamburg, and some hefty tolls, and certainly the audience seemed mostly locals.
So the question, is why do you guys attend theme parks in such strong numbers?
Bit of a win down under. A lot of AS/NZ standards were put behind a paywall back in 2003 under the Howard government. This meant to fully comply with the BCA/NCC you would have to purchase a number of individual standards on things like disability access, that are not fully described in the main body of the BCA/NCC.
Of course bootleg copies were floating around eg printed at the State Library or some cracked PDF. People hate paying for shit like this for some reason....
It's nice for our little profession down under to be seen every once in a while....
So I did an MA Arch back in 2013 but never actually practiced, because I went into the field of theme park attraction design. As a result I've fallen a little away from what drawing expectations are like in the current state of Architectural practice.
Here are some heavily redacted drawings out of a set of 50 A3s for a family roller coaster project.
Edit:. Looks like this sub only allows 4 images.
So what are you looking at.
Roller coasters generally have a small building where people queue up and board the ride. This particular roller coaster model is one where riders are seated suspended below the track much like a ski lift.
This model in particular had two giant gaping holes in the upper level where the track passes through a second time at high speed, so zero ability to seal it.
before boarding the ride, the queue area would zigzag through a number of themed indoor scenes. The load area had to accommodate a automatic gate system to control access to the ride during boarding.
Around the ride and in the queue area, were a few large set pieces, such as a forklift that has appeared to have lost its load, and a windmill that would appear dangerously close to the track, but actually be safe
Anyway, yeah how do you rate my drawings. These are not for construction, from the schematic stage. Remember this is more just a sample of my drawing communication style, I'm not posting this in terms of rating the actual design.
In fact, what is interesting is that they are building the orbital network in separate stages that will eventually link up based on where they had most advantages to start with.
NSW:
The recently opened line M1 of the Sydney Metro now carries more passengers per weekday than the entire QR network combined. What's even wilder is the line is still only operating two out of three stages.
So in essence they spent twice as much as what we spent on cross river rail but are going to get about 10-20 times the passenger numbers (Sydney is not 10 times bigger than Brisbane)
WA:
If you want to travel the 70 km from the coastal escape of Mandurah up to Elizabeth Quay underground station in the Perth CBD via train, it takes 53 minutes, with trains operating every 15 minutes, 7 days a week.
If you want to travel up from the coastal escape of the GC up to Roma Street, it'll take an 1h 10 minutes, with trains operating every 30 minutes, 7 days a week.
Mandurah is much smaller than the Gold Coast, yet are provided with a much faster and more frequent service.
So what's the justification to date for not spending that here?
In fact, Perth on the whole has a much smaller population than southeast Queensland yet it has a far better rail system.
VIC
We all hate boom gates right? They are dangerous. they cause traffic jams and can hold up emergency vehicles.
So over a decade ago, Melbourne began shutting down entire lines for months at a time to sink or elevate the tracks above roads to eliminate level crossings, modernising signalling and fully replacing stations. As a result trains get a clear run, plus they can run more of them since they use the opportunity to install high capacity signalling systems, plus for everyone else It essentially feels like a brand new system with the modern stations and the linear fitness trails they have built under the tracks.
For $15b in a decade they have been able to remove 88 (yes eighty eight two fat ladies) level crossings and modernise a significant part of the rail network at the same time.
Here in Qld we've spent $1b and done maybe 4 or 5.
We're just not even serious about it up here.
SA
So look Adelaides rail network is nothing spectacular, imagine most stations being worse than Gailes.
But they do have electric trains on the main North South line, a pretty good tram system, a fast Busway..
But the main thing is despite limited resources, they do at least run the network frequently.
Trains run mostly every 15 mins, and essentially every major Arterial Road in Adelaide is marked as a high frequency "Go Zone" with a bus every 15 mins (Including to the Airport!)
It's all a very neat grid system with a few massive orbital bus routes allowing you to get around without going via the CBD.
You can get a train up to Gawler near the Barossa, or down to Seaford and the beaches, or out to Port Adelaide markets and the huge defense naval campus, or down to the pier at Glenelg, or down to Flinders, or up to Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills.
So yeah, despite being a small city that's made fun of, they still manage to have a frequent bus grid, generally frequent rail, and importantly transport that connects to key places people want to go.
So yeah...What gives Brisbane? Every other city understands the basics of what makes it easier to use public transport. None of them have dropped prices to 50c in desperation to get people to try it.
And there's one statistic that illustrates this.
Annual trips per Capita.
What this means is no matter whether you are a cute little city in Sweden or a dense Asian metropolis, The tell all statistics how many times per year your citizens are willing to use your network.
Sydney 105 – 110
Melbourne 84 – 88
Canberra 64 – 67
Perth 65 – 68
Brisbane (SEQ) 58 – 62
Adelaide 42 – 45
The only reason we're not in last place is because we had a bump from 50c fares.
But regardless, we are doing pretty shit, and it feels a bit grim in general with industrial action just to really spice the politics of this.
As far as I'm concerned the transport Minister would be better replaced with a sort of power ranger, comprised of the best policies from NSW, VIC, WA and SA combined.
Is wanting out network to be on par with the rest of Australia a reasonable expectation or am I a whinger?
I mean we're 3rd biggest but last place on this issue, and we've got the Olympics soon! Who's going to sort it?
So aside from the double deck trains, I think the one thing Sydneysiders. don't realise they are weird for doing is is opening every single door. So at every single stop the aircon just gushes out and then there is untold energy wastage from having to get the cabin temperature again, and that would be putting untold "cycle strain" on the onboard equipment.
meanwhile, the rest of Australia solved this problem decades ago by ensuring that every single train in the fleet has the same type of button that you push like an elevator button.
And only the doors where the button has been pressed get opened.
So if it's a small station and only one person is getting off, the aircon only gets let out of one door instead of like 16 at once. Which would be nice because it keeps the hot or cold out in our "unique" climates.
It's a very simple quality of life thing that wouldn't cost that much in the scheme of things compared to like a 30 km Metro tunnel (actually scratch that it would pay for itself in power saving alone) but they just don't seem to care about the passenger experience by and large!
Enter your predictions below.
215km of HSR lines.
78km of upgrades to the Hunter line.
44km of new line from Wilton to Wollongong via an existing reserved corridor.
The population of this region is 8 million, so the size of a Scandinavian country but in a far smaller area.
All stations offer connections to existing conventional rail, metro and light rail, with some stations offering highway bus (coach) connections too.
If this proved a success, the next stage would extend 180km to Bowral, Goulburn and Canberra.
A question.
So with Aviation, clearly there are massive safety and training requirements for everyone involved, given the devastation an accident will cause, so a bit like the railways in that respect.
As a result you have ICAO standards, so a pilot can go from LA to Tokyo without learning different systems. You also see it in terms of the illuminated signs and markings on taxiways being the same and so on.
And as a result it is the safest mode of transport.
So why don't things like run like this on our trains?
We can order a new set of trains designed to international standards, but the RTBU will insist on years and hundreds of millions of dollars in modifications just so it matches their special way of doing things, irrespective of how well newer and more "standard" ways of doing things have been proven in the field elsewhere.
Are they just stupid?
I mapped the latest ATO and AIHW data to see if a $100k salary actually guarantees a home in 2026.
• Blue Bars: Australians earning $100k+ by age.
• Red Line: Estimated property owners in that group.
You would expect age not correlate with buying power, money is money right.
However I have these quick takeaways...
• The Youth Gap: Under 35, the gap is massive. Even with $100k, the deposit hurdle is keeping high earners out of the market.
• The 40s Peak: $100k earners peak at ages 40 to 44. This is where income and ownership finally align.
• The 95% Club: By age 65, almost every high earner left in the workforce owns their home.
Is $100k the new $60k? If you’re under 35 and earning six figures, are you buying or is the deposit still a pipe dream?
Income Data
ATO Taxation Statistics (Individuals Table 3):
https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/research-and-statistics/in-detail/taxation-statistics
(Use the "Individuals Table 3" download for the breakdown of taxable income by age and gender).
Property Ownership Data
AIHW Housing Data Dashboard:
https://www.housingdata.gov.au/dashboard/nm4xo5q0d5m75w (Navigate to the "Home ownership by age group" tile for birth cohort and age group trends).
ABS Housing: Census 2021:https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/housing (Detailed data on tenure type, mortgage status, and income correlations).
o the recent debate around Gas taxation and the frequent comparisons to the Norwegian approach and its sovereign wealth fund have got me thinking.
Why don't we compare ourselves to Norway more generally?
In Asia, you definitely see this in online discourse, where Singaporeans are comparing themselves to the Japanese or HK to Taiwan and so on.
But first, I'll address the size thing first. Yes, I get it, we are one of the least dense countries on earth, but in turn that means we get the free kick of being self sufficient for most resources. Norway certainly doesn't have that.
Have a look at this map of Norway, but mentally flip it so the pink is following the eastern seaboard, keeping right of the Great Divide encompassing entire motorway corridor from Geelong to the Sunshine Coast. The bit where the majority of the population actually live.
Norway has 5.66m living in their borders.
Our equivalently sized Eastern Seaboard....16.5m people. Triple the population, in an economically productive region, yet we are not achieving better results......whyyyyyyy?????
And the GDP of Norway is higher than ours, which kind of kills the idea that if government is too big or taxes are too high you will automatically shrink the economy. Well it's clearly not happening there.
And for every supposed 'disadvantage' , Norway has, Australia could argue the same.
We get cyclones, they get blizzards.
We are concentrated in a few coastal cities, so are they, with the rest of the country uninhabitable wilderness.
We have to build roads across broad distances, they are constantly having to tunnel through mountains and bridge fjords.
We have to spend energy on cooling, they have to spend it on heating.
They don't even have SUNLIGHT in certain parts of the country during the depths of winter! Meanwhile we have basically unlimited solar.
And if you go to Norway, and every facet of government performance from the regional trains to the education system is superior in Norway.
Australians always want to finish first in the Olympics, why aren't we kicking out the lazy politicians who cannot keep us in first place in terms of living standards and keep our GDP high in the process?
I mean I don't know, maybe cos I work in a professional field it is assumed that you are constantly keeping up with international benchmarks.
My spicy opinion is that if you don't carry a global perspective on any issue, you basically enjoy smelling your own farts and should keep your shitty ideas to yourself.
So yeah....What else from Norway should we copy?
We get cyclones, they get blizzards.
We are concentrated in a few coastal cities, so are they, with the rest of the country uninhabitable wilderness.
We have to build roads across broad distances, they are constantly having to tunnel through mountains and bridge fjords.
We have to spend energy on cooling, they have to spend it on heating.
They don't even have SUNLIGHT in certain parts of the country during the depths of winter! Meanwhile we have basically unlimited solar.
And if you go to Norway, and every facet of government performance from the regional trains to the education system is superior in Norway.
Australians always want to finish first in the Olympics, why aren't we kicking out the lazy politicians who cannot keep us in first place in terms of living standards and keep our GDP high in the process?
I mean I don't know, maybe cos I work in a professional field it is assumed that you are constantly keeping up with international benchmarks.
My spicy opinion is that if you don't carry a global perspective on any issue, you basically enjoy smelling your own farts and should keep your shitty ideas to yourself.
So yeah....What else from Norway should we copy?