2013-01-22   Hello from the Gold Coast

Not the Gold Coast in Hong Kong, but the Gold Coast in Australia,
about one hour south of Brisbane, with a 20km sandy beach.
It's Summer holiday time in Australia, so lots of locals and many tourists are enjoying the surf and sunshine here under a clear blue sky and temperature today of 34 degrees.

In the Southport area where I am staying, a light rail is being installed, ....very slowly....not exactly at the super-efficient work-rate of Hong Kong. I look forward to having a ride on the light rail...maybe next year
.... or possibly the year after!

This morning I caught a bus for a ten km journey. Not a two-level bus as in Hong Kong, but a single level bus, with more than 40 seats. For the entire journey I was the only passenger! My own private bus! Most people here have cars, and rarely use buses. So the buses are not all that frequented or frequent: one every 30 minutes or so, or sometimes one every hour as was the case for my bus this morning.

Australian cities are gradually bringing in Octopus-type cards for public transport, but they are not as good as the mighty Octopus! In fact, the more I use public transport in Australia, the more I realise that Hong Kong has the best transport system in the world....made easy of course by a large population in a small area....the opposite of Australia with a small population in a large area!