More pictures from Thursday. http://www.marmot.net/2002au/gal/2002-0412/index.htm
I tease a swan and stand in front of a huge grass tree. We eat the yummy smoked trout salad. We do errands in northern suburbs, and admire the public art on the private CityLink freeway.
The Aussies already own 50% of the 407 here in Toronto and they're bloody ripping us off!!
The 407 is quite easily the most expensive toll road in North America.
That's very curious, because the CityLink here was built and paid for by a Japanese consortium entirely - it was the Premier's proud boast at the time that it didn't cost Victorians a cent (tho' they get it back in tolls of course).
Maybe that was who built it; now it's managed by Macquarie Infrastructure Group, who also own a portion of the 407ETR road in Toronto and little chunks of toll roads in places like Spain and Chile and the UK, and airports here and there. Oh, and they do some of Sydney's tollways too.
I found this quote amusing: "The group has found that demand is relatively inelastic. Traffic flows recover quickly after toll increases." (that's on http://www.macquarie.com.au/acrobat/abs_mig.pdf)
Which means: "We can jack up prices as high as we want!"
Actually, the Aussies own something like 16% but they keep on increasing how much of 407 International they own. GRIN
It might interest you guys to visit Melbourne's first new park in over a century. It's the "Birrarung Marr", located somewhere on the Yarra near the city centre. If you get to see it, i will be interested to hear your opinion. :-)