New section of the Iron Cove Bridge opens

Last Friday night, the NSW Government unveiled their new $175 million addition to the Iron Cove Bridge in an attempt to rid Victoria Road of the largest traffic bottleneck in Sydney. They boast that it would shave up to 18 minutes off the travel times by bus into the city, but the local residents of Balmain, Rozelle and Drummoyne are howling in protest.

So has the upgrade been a success?

Experiencing the bridge's inaugural Monday morning peak hour rush first hand this morning, I took Victoria Road and the Iron Cove Bridge into the city and there were a few things that I noticed. Firstly, and probably most importantly, the traffic was the same. It was still backed up 3 kilometres to Gladesville Bridge as it has been for the past 10 years. Secondly, to avoid the traffic, I would normally take the back streets of Lions Road and Renwick Street through Drummoyne, but today I found the traffic on these streets was worse than normal. I later found out the reason for this was that the Government had changed the traffic light sequences to longer periods of green on Victoria Road. This backed-up the traffic on the back streets of Drummoyne creating bottlenecks on roads like Park Ave and Rosebery Place.
Thirdly, there have been road closures. Cary St has been closed to Victoria Road during the morning peak which caused massive delays for commuters on Henley Marine Drive. A lot of cars come that way and now they need to find an alternative route - clogging more of Drummoyne's back streets. The end result of my trip into work took nearly 10 minutes longer than usual. Not happy.

The Premier Kristina Kenneally will be officially opening the new bridge this morning at 10am and I'm sure there will be a crowd of angry local residents waiting for her. The RTA has removed more than 50 parking spaces along Victoria Road during peak periods which the locals believe will also impact heavily on local business in the area. "The government and the RTA is turning that shopping strip in Drummoyne into a shopping sewer, a bit like Parramatta Road..." Local Drummoyne Independent Alex Elliott is quoted saying.

As someone who has experienced the impact of this improvement first hand, I believe that the New Iron Cove Bridge has done little to fix the problems on Victoria Road. It has spread its traffic woes across the whole suburb of Drummoyne and now quiet back streets in the area will be experiencing the same traffic congestion as the busiest arterial roads in Sydney. Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker summed the project up nicely - "This is a $175 million catastrophe and they know it."

The World's Most Expensive Yacht

Balmain's proud maritime history as a shipbuilding suburb is well documented but I doubt that the old labourers at Mort's Dock would have dreamt anything like this 155metre super yacht was possible!
Estimated to be the most expensive yacht in the world once it is completed, the "Streets of Monaco" will come with a price tag of $1.1 billion dollars and is modelled after the street scape of Monte Carlo.

So what does $1.1 billion dollars buy you? For starters, how about a beach? That's right, a beach will be built on the deck surrounded by a go-kart track replicating the F1 Monaco circuit. A tennis court and a cinema will also be included and there is room to park your helicopter on a special platform at the rear. The main accommodation contains 7 luxury suites that are built over 3 levels and can house 16 guests and 70 crew.
Do you want to go snorkeling? Sure but you don't need a snorkel, we'll take the submarine! Not one but two submarines will also be housed within the yacht's hull.

"It is basically a floating city," Yacht Island Design CEO Rob McPherson, whose company designed the super yacht, stated. "We want to create a truly unique environment that could take the Principality of Monaco to the ocean."

I just can't help imaging what would happen if this yacht pulled into the real Monte Carlo during the annual Monaco F1 race. "Don't worry about watching that race, we'll hold our own race on the boat!"

Sarah Lorden Rebranded

If you've been on our website or our Facebook recently, you may have noticed that Sarah Lorden Real Estate is changing. As promised in a previous blog post, Sarah Lorden Real Estate would have a suprise in store for the new year and here it is: We are embarking on an exciting venture to re-brand the entire company!!

Our first stage has been to unveil the new logo for Sarah Lorden Real Estate in 2011.

The company has been steadily growing since its inception 15 years ago and while the famous “S” logo had become synonymous with our agency, Sarah and Kate felt that it was time for the company to enter a new phase of advertising and marketing with a new look.
The concept was to maintain the well known colors of blue and orange and introduce it to a newer, cleaner palette that separated the agency from its competitors. We settled on the well known symbol of the parenthesis which is visually represented by combining an “S” and an “L”. Our agency is known for its success as a team and sharing our knowledge to provide confidence to our clients, that is why the harmonious amalgamation of the two letters symbolizes the notion of “shared success” expressing the core philosophy of Sarah Lorden Real Estate. The visual result of the parenthesis is used in musical terms to unite two lines of music that are played simultaneously.








Our old logo

Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing the new logo to all of our branding and launching a new website that will incorporate all the elements that have made Sarah Lorden Real Estate a success, plus some newer exciting features! Our shop front will also be changing it's look, setting the example for the new direction the company is headed. Pics soon!!

Ferris Bueller House goes up for Sale

As Ferris Bueller said "Cameron's house is like a museum..."


Correctly called the Ben Rose Home, the iconic home of Ferris Bueller's troubled friend Cameron, from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, has gone up for sale in Illinois. Cantilevered over a ravine, the property contains two unique glass and steel structures from two of the 20th century's most notable architects - A. James Speyer and David Haid. Built in 1953, the land size is 492sqm and offers incredible panoramic views of the surrounding woodland.

Boasting 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a staff quarters, the homes real attraction is huge glass garage, just perfect for backing you dad's prized Ferrari through!


The house is considered a historic landmark and they are asking $1,650,000 USD to make it yours!