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help needed from Australians please
Klaus-Adler
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MODELGEEK
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 02:12 AM UTC
Hi Guys,

i need your help with two things:

first, what are the modelling shops like in Sydney? as i plan to be there from the 19th of January until the 5th of February this year, as we are on honeymoon. I plan to be wondering around Sydney and might "accidentally" get lost and find a modelling shop by pure "chance" as far as my wife is concerned :-)

secondly, my wife is becoming concerned about all these fires, how close are they to Sydney and is that something i/we should be concerned about?

looking to hear from all our Australian modellers here or as many as possible.

thanks in advance.
tankmodeler
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 08:28 AM UTC
Sorry to say that, from the news accounts, the fires around Sydney have made the air quality there quite appalling. Seriously bad from a health perspective. The whole of the state has significant amounts of airborne smoke and people are being told to stay indoors as much as possible. A friend in Sydney posted a picture where you could hardly see across the Opera House to the bridge at noon, there was that much smoke.

I'd see if you could put off the trip. You're not going to get much sight seeing in anywhere in southern or central Australia for the next few months.

They are also going thorough an extreme heat wave with temperatures in the mid to high 40sC in many places.

I'd try to rebook the trip to later in the year, their winter/our summer. Seriously. I'd call and see if I could shift it. It's actually dangerous there.

Paul
Klaus-Adler
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 08:46 AM UTC
rebooking isn't an option as it's bought and paid for and I'm not keen on letting a 5 grand holiday go to waste.

the insurance company won't pay out unless the British government foreign office says that Australia is a no go zone. at the moment they are saying every thing is fine and dandy.

personally I would not trust them to predict Christmas.
ALBOWIE
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 09:24 AM UTC
Hi David, in the CBD you have but one hobby shop - Hobbyco which is located in the beautifully restored Victorian Era Queen Victoria Building which is dead central in the CBD next door to the Town Hall. There is plenty of Shopping outlets in the QVB to keep your partner happy whilst you go look there. If you get out to Parramatta there is Bergs Hobbies just near the station in the mall. There is also the Lancers Museum which has some 1:1 AFV but is only open on certain days (Google is your Friend - Royal New South Wales Lancers Museum) As for the Elephant in the Room - the Fires. The Air Quality is bad from the month and a bit of Fires but there is no risk from Fire in the CBD. Travelling to any coastal area - particularly south will be almost impossible at the momnet due to the fires. If you are worried about the fires download an app called Fires Near Me to your phone. Think positive - there couldn't be that much left to burn in another three weeks!
Enjoy the stay - sorry we had to bugger it up with all the SMoke etc. Don't forget to take a rivercat trip to Parramatta (The original seat of Modern Government in Australia). It is one of our best kept tourist secrets. Manly Ferry to the Beach is also a great day out as is the Zoo on the Harbour (Also by Ferry)
Al
Klaus-Adler
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 10:32 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Hi David, in the CBD you have but one hobby shop - Hobbyco which is located in the beautifully restored Victorian Era Queen Victoria Building which is dead central in the CBD next door to the Town Hall. There is plenty of Shopping outlets in the QVB to keep your partner happy whilst you go look there. If you get out to Parramatta there is Bergs Hobbies just near the station in the mall. There is also the Lancers Museum which has some 1:1 AFV but is only open on certain days (Google is your Friend - Royal New South Wales Lancers Museum) As for the Elephant in the Room - the Fires. The Air Quality is bad from the month and a bit of Fires but there is no risk from Fire in the CBD. Travelling to any coastal area - particularly south will be almost impossible at the momnet due to the fires. If you are worried about the fires download an app called Fires Near Me to your phone. Think positive - there couldn't be that much left to burn in another three weeks!
Enjoy the stay - sorry we had to bugger it up with all the SMoke etc. Don't forget to take a rivercat trip to Parramatta (The original seat of Modern Government in Australia). It is one of our best kept tourist secrets. Manly Ferry to the Beach is also a great day out as is the Zoo on the Harbour (Also by Ferry)
Al



many thanks for the info my wife and I both have asthma so we're planning a trip to our local doctors for back up medication.

I'm not sure what you mean by shopping outlets in QVB but I have a lonely planet travel guide so I will look for the places you have mentioned.

I googled hobbyco and it looks very interesting...my wife might be guarding my wallet when I get there but the afv museum sounds interesting and a place I would like to see.

Bondi beach is on the hit list as well and a few other places as well

every time we go on holiday we usually bring our Scottish rain with us, so hopefully this happens on this trip too.

many thanks for the info especially the fires app, I will install that as soon as possible.
DazzaD
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 11:13 AM UTC
Hi David,

ALBOWIE has nailed it. There is only one decent hobby shop left in the CBD. Hobbyco is on level 2 in the Queen Victoria Building. It is a beautiful old landmark that is now restored and worth a walk around inside for a look.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Victoria_Building

Might be able to use the shopping or the landmark, to entice your other half into having a look. Nice place to have a coffee on the upper levels overlooking the interior of the building. Oh look! A hobby shop!

Provided you stay within the city limits, you will be safe from the fires. I would not recommend travelling anywhere beyond the outer suburbs without knowing where the fires are heading.

On the up side there is a ton of things to do in Sydney, Bondi beach, anywhere on the harbour front, the suburbs, the CBD are all safe... just smokey.

A few ideas that you might find of interest but will need to find open times:
Australian National Maritime Museum
Fort Denison
Gun Emplacement Tunnels/Quarantine Station

But you would need to counter them with...
Mrs Macquarie's Chair
The Gap Lookout
Taronga Zoo

Hope you have a great and safe trip mate!
Vicious
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 12:08 PM UTC
if you can I would do a few days in Sydney and then move to Brisbane, Sunshine coast or Goldcoast, apart from the quality of the air you are restricted to the metropolitan area because outside it can be dangerous for you and the emergency services already have enough work and do not need other tourists on the road ... in Queensland, especially from Brissie up at the moment there are no problems on the coast,but just because is
january-february don't go too far north...like where i live ...so as not to move from fires to cyclones

BigSplashBear
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 02:02 PM UTC
David,

Congratulations on your wedding.
Some others have already contributed some great tips.
In Sydney CBD there is also the Hyde Park Barracks on Macquarie St.
This is an excellent spot to gain an appreciation of the colony's early history. Plan to spend around 3 hours there.
And therein you'll find a little more on Governor Lachlan Macquarie and the involvement of Scottish Regiments in the colony of New South Wales.

Your timing is somewhat unfortunate. A trip to Cairns (far north Queensland) would give you the opportunity to see the Australian Armour & Artillery Museum (the Aussie version of the Tank Museum in Bovington) - check out their website at www.ausarmour.com

Enjoy your holiday. Definitely bring some Scottish sunshine with you.

kind regards,
CM

petbat
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Posted: Thursday, January 02, 2020 - 04:00 PM UTC
Good luck for the wedding David. I hope you enjoy the trip 'Down Under'. A long way for a few weeks!

If I can give you one really big tip though - use good quality Sunscreen rated 50+.

Many tourists from Europe do not appreciate just how quickly you can get sunburned in Australia. Even with smoke, UV rays will get unprotected skin. You will be coming in a hot time of the year and you will likely be tempted to wear little to cover head, arms and legs to keep cool.

So take precautions. Nothing worse than a honeymoon where you can't bear the touch of your spouse!!!
Dioramartin
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Posted: Friday, January 03, 2020 - 12:33 AM UTC
Hi David

Everything the others have said is good, you’ll love HobbyCo. I live 10 minutes train-ride from the Sydney CBD and 20 minutes walk from Bondi Beach. Since the fires really got out of control around 3 weeks ago there have been maybe 5 days where air-quality in this locality has been really poor, for 3 of them we didn’t venture outside but even then according to the news bulletins I’ve seen/heard there hasn’t exactly been an epidemic of asthmatic emergencies, I hope that’s been the case anyway. We’re lucky to get on-shore winds most days that tend to blow the smoke somewhere else – right now I’m looking up at the stars & moon clear as anything with a nice cool breeze.

Today I went with my son to look at respirator masks in our local hardware store, they had plenty in stock – not the useless paper ones, proper industrial-rated ones with spare filters (between A$20 & A$35)– that told me there hasn’t exactly been a run on them. He lives in Canberra and has to go back to work next week – it now officially has the worst city air-quality in the world – 3 hours drive south of here inland in a landscape ‘bowl”, they’re really suffering there and for hundreds of kilometres further south, amongst several other giant areas as you'll have seen on the news.

In short nobody can accurately advise you because nobody knows what’s going to happen over the next few days/weeks – tomorrow looks like a shocker. They’re tentatively forecasting some rain next week but I’ll believe it when I see it. Even so, if it was me I’d risk coming and you’ll probably be fine, but it is a roll of the dice.

PS I fully endorse the tip about brimmed hats & 50+ sunblock – you would not believe how many tourists are wandering around right now looking like lobsters, all grossly underestimated the power of UV even through cloud/smoke haze. 10 minutes exposure and you’re burning even though you don’t realise until it’s way too late.

Tim
Klaus-Adler
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Posted: Friday, January 03, 2020 - 04:00 AM UTC
guys I really appreciate all your input especially about the sun screen and wide brimmed hats as well as top tourist spot and ahem certain shops in the queen Victoria building. I have arranged an appointment with our local doctor to discuss extra medication with regards to our asthma issue.

the main problem on the news here is that they don't mention where these fires are in relation to Sydney or other large cities. The only one I could get from the news was Batemans Bay, which I googled and found it was 175 miles from Sydney so not really helpful.

hopefully the fires will be under control by January the 19th, if not we will just roll the dice because one way or another we are coming there for our hobby...sorry I mean honeymoon.
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Friday, January 03, 2020 - 04:49 AM UTC
Where the fire is today might indicate where it will be tomorrow or the day after but two weeks into the future it could be anywhere (i.e. where there is something left that can burn) depending on the winds and the weather. The future of a wild fire is notoriously difficult to predict.
/ Robin
ALBOWIE
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Posted: Friday, January 03, 2020 - 10:35 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

Hi David, in the CBD you have but one hobby shop - Hobbyco which is located in the beautifully restored Victorian Era Queen Victoria Building which is dead central in the CBD next door to the Town Hall. There is plenty of Shopping outlets in the QVB to keep your partner happy whilst you go look there. If you get out to Parramatta there is Bergs Hobbies just near the station in the mall. There is also the Lancers Museum which has some 1:1 AFV but is only open on certain days (Google is your Friend - Royal New South Wales Lancers Museum) As for the Elephant in the Room - the Fires. The Air Quality is bad from the month and a bit of Fires but there is no risk from Fire in the CBD. Travelling to any coastal area - particularly south will be almost impossible at the momnet due to the fires. If you are worried about the fires download an app called Fires Near Me to your phone. Think positive - there couldn't be that much left to burn in another three weeks!
Enjoy the stay - sorry we had to bugger it up with all the SMoke etc. Don't forget to take a rivercat trip to Parramatta (The original seat of Modern Government in Australia). It is one of our best kept tourist secrets. Manly Ferry to the Beach is also a great day out as is the Zoo on the Harbour (Also by Ferry)
Al



many thanks for the info my wife and I both have asthma so we're planning a trip to our local doctors for back up medication.

I'm not sure what you mean by shopping outlets in QVB but I have a lonely planet travel guide so I will look for the places you have mentioned.

I googled hobbyco and it looks very interesting...my wife might be guarding my wallet when I get there but the afv museum sounds interesting and a place I would like to see.

Bondi beach is on the hit list as well and a few other places as well

every time we go on holiday we usually bring our Scottish rain with us, so hopefully this happens on this trip too.

many thanks for the info especially the fires app, I will install that as soon as possible.



The QVB is home to a few hundred boutique and upmarket retail outlets. I am sure she will enjoy it. Good idea re Asthma medication. Hopefully there won't be much smoke haze around but it comes and goes at present depending on the wind and weather
ALBOWIE
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Posted: Friday, January 03, 2020 - 10:39 AM UTC

Quoted Text

guys I really appreciate all your input especially about the sun screen and wide brimmed hats as well as top tourist spot and ahem certain shops in the queen Victoria building. I have arranged an appointment with our local doctor to discuss extra medication with regards to our asthma issue.

the main problem on the news here is that they don't mention where these fires are in relation to Sydney or other large cities. The only one I could get from the news was Batemans Bay, which I googled and found it was 175 miles from Sydney so not really helpful.

hopefully the fires will be under control by January the 19th, if not we will just roll the dice because one way or another we are coming there for our hobby...sorry I mean honeymoon.




Fires are a lot closer to Sydney than Batemans Bay, te main Smoke pollution for Sydney is caused by the Burragarang and Gospers Mountain fire (This is the largest single fire Front in Australian History and to givce you perspective the size of the recent Amazon fires and growing). These are SW and NW of Sydney which sits in a basin surrounded by Hills to the West, North and South so Smoke filters in and stays depending on wind. Here is where you go to get the information you require https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me
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