Beach Bums

We both grew up next to the beach in sunny Essex, UK. So I always love a trip to the beach anywhere as it makes me feel at home. Today I’ve attempted to upload photos of us at different beaches throughout Victoria. Pretty soon I will be able to add to this collection as our next road trip is only one week away! So before we get all excited about the East Coast beaches, here are some of the ones we have seen so far.

I have included a bonus picture for my sister today as she likes a husky!

PS we actually go to the beach quite a lot, making the most before winter hits, but most times we don’t take the camera on account of the sand and salty water…

Cape Bridgewater

Gibson’s Steps, Where’s Philly?

Me on the Port Melbourne to St Kilda Pier walk.

Port Melbourne to St Kilda Pier walk.

Apollo Bay

Geelong Harbour, Christmas Eve.

Happy Mothers Day UK!

Happy Mother’s Day UK. And more importantly, happy Mother’s Day Mummy Roper and Mummy Henfrey! We hope you both have a good day and find some time to relax. (You must be amazing Mother’s to have produced such wonder children?!) I have decided to put up some photos from my recent trip to the Botanical gardens in Melbourne as I thought you would both appreciate them.

These are actually the second lots of Botanical Gardens photos I have taken as the first ones got lost when I was trying to upload them to my computer earlier in the trip. Still, it’s not a bad place to visit more than once!

Queen Victoria in the background there…

Melbourne’s slightly odd take on the Eiffel Tower?

Botanical Gardens.

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens

Botanical Gardens.

Melbourne: Looking Back

Melbournians are often keen to point out that the city only has a very short history in the grand scheme of things. Westerners only arrived in Victoria around 1835 so the city is not yet 200 years old. Of course, many would point out that Koorie people lived in Australia for many thousands of years before ‘modern Melbourne’ was started by Batman (sadly not the super hero) exchanging blankets and supplies for the land. This somewhat unfair exchange was only the start of an interesting history for Melbourne. My main regret is that they opted to name Melbourne after the current British prime minister rather than ‘Batmania’ after one of the founders. Big mistake.

The interesting history that I refer to is linked to the gold that was found in Victoria. Suspiciously, only one month after becoming a separate state from NSW. This transformed Melbourne from a place for survivors to one of the richest cities in the world. Thus, much of the architecture in the city is Victorian and bears the marks of wealth. Local enthusiasts are keen to keep the historical aspects of Melbourne going, along with the tourist boards no doubt. So for today’s theme I am adding some photo evidence of historical Melbourne. The restaurant tram I have mentioned before. To this I add Luna Park, the second oldest theme park in the world and built by the makers of Coney Island. Also the State Library reading room; Puffing Billy train; and part of Melbourne University on White Night. This only scratches the surface, the history of modern Melbourne might be short but there’s plenty to see.

Restaurant Tram

Melbourne University

Puffing Billy

Reading room in the State Library of Victoria

Lunar Park, Melbourne

Phil’s Rather Boring and Mundane Trip to Australia Continues

As discussed in my previous post about Phil, he’s an interesting fellow. Consequently I have many adorable photos of him to share with lucky readers and can dedicate a few posts on my blog to him. This is particularly important as Phil has stopped updating his blog and, being an only child, this may be the only way his family can be sure that he is prospering down under. Aside from all the times we Skype them…

Phil is getting excited about the arrival of his childhood friend, Tom, in just over two weeks time when we will travel the East coast. I’m feeling a bro-mance theme coming on already. But until then, here’s some more of my top favourite solo Phil photos.

Phil’s answer to transition lenses.

Making new friends.

Looking content on the Restaurant Tram. A very lovely Christmas present from Phil’s parents!

Taking a break in the Grampians. Phil’s favourite activity!

Phil on the beach at Gibson’s Steps. Blinded by brightness.

From a Distance…

A couple of weeks ago I was asked what there is to see in Melbourne. Maybe compared to Sydney Melbourne doesn’t have the opera House or Harbour Bridge, but there’s still lots to take in. But in this post I’m focusing on only one aspect of Melbourne. Or should I say one part of Melbourne from different aspects? That part is the CBD/Docklands area, which also happens to be where I’m staying. Not biased or anything. The CBD and Docklands both stop pretty suddenly in the sense that the skyscrapers end and houses/smaller shops begin. Therefore, you don’t have to travel far outside of the CBD to get an easy ‘Melbourne skyline’ shot. In fact, two of my photos today are taken from different spots in the Botanical Gardens, next to the CBD. Melbourne’s skyline is never quite the same twice and whenever I travel to a new part of the city it manages to capture my attention in some new way. So to any new visitor I would say see the centre, explore further out, go to the beach or a quirky suburb; but don’t forget to look out at the horizon. I’m certainly never disappointed!

Looking out from the top of the Shrine in the CBD.

From the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

From the Melbourne open, the strangest sunlight as storm clouds gathered.

From Brighton Beach.

From the river bank on White Night.

Kangas vs Bombers AFL

Tonight we have been to the AFL. AFL: Aussie Football League, to an outsider it appears to be a mixture of rugby, American football, netball and basketball. All conducted on a cricket pitch with what looks suspiciously similar to Quidditch poles minus the hoops at the end. Luckily for Phil and I, this was our second trip to see an AFL match. The first time round we went with some Australian friends who were able to explain the guidelines of Aussie Rules. I refer to them as guidelines as the pace is fast and there is an expectation that the players will get on with it. Shockingly, there seems to be no time for the players to roll around on the fall clutching an imaginary injury as I often see in the England football/soccer team.

Other aspects of Aussie Rules that makes it pretty unique include:

1) the bouncing of the ball at the start of the match to see which team will grab it first.
2) when a ball goes out it is quickly thrown in backwards by an official – again quickening the pace of play.
3) four quarters of roughly twenty-eight minutes each.
4) small fights regularly break out between players and they are largely ignored.
5) very large pom poms are waved by the teams behind the goals each time a six is scored.

We had the added bonus of watching all this chaos from the corporate area today as Phil got some free tickets through his work. Therefore, we supported Essendon (they did give us the tickets!) and they won 99-60. North Melbourne do have the superior mascot however – a grey kangaroo.

I have surprised myself with my ability to watch AFL and actually enjoy watching it. Although the free tickets definitely helped! Notice that my photos rarely relate to any actual play…

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Oh What a Night

Later I’m going to Queen Victoria Night Market for the very last time as it is a summer affair and Autumn is most definitely setting in in Melbourne now. The night market gave me my inspiration for today’s theme: night. Now my camera doesn’t actually have flash so I have a limited selection of night photos to choose from, but I still have enough for my usual eclectic range of images.

Only a short post today as I’m going for a quick trip to the gym in order to justify copious amounts of food and sangria! It’s a hard life.

My very first night in Melbourne! Can you see the jet lag?

Our hosts back garden over the Christmas hols. The kind of sunset that draws you outside.

Port Campbell sunset whilst we waited for some good-sized plates of food.

‘Purple Rain’ as part of White Night. Cool, but I didn’t think worth queuing around the block for!

The edge of the fair at Moomba festival. I stayed firmly on the ground.

The Melbourne-Shoreditch Connection

Putting up the green crocodile yesterday reminded me of all the other street art I have seen since arriving here. Having lived in East London for five years it makes me feel right at home and I think it’s one of the main reasons that people often tell me Melbourne is more ‘edgy’ than Sydney. Excitingly, I will be able to test this theory out for myself when we go to Sydney in three weeks time!

Anyway, back to Melbourne and its colourful walls. As with all street art, some is considerably more inspiring than others. It is actually illegal but a building owner can apply for a permit to have their wall painted or if it’s already done, for it to stay. Today’s picture hail from a practise alley in the CBD. This is a small set of laneways that has been given over to street artists so they can develop their ideas. The result is an incredible mixture of ‘tags’, detailed street art and lots of tourists, myself included, taking snaps. Here are some of my favs:

The back of this restaurant is covered in graffiti. Let’s hope none of the paint reaches the food.

These children remind me of a similar artist near Shoreditch station, East London.

If only wise men were this easy to find.

The scale of this wall needs to be seen to be appreciated.

Gary.

St Patrick’s Day, brought to you by Victoria

Happy St Patrick’s day! I like a special event nearly as much as the city of Melbourne likes a random festival so I have made today’s theme ‘green’. None of the images have anything to do with Ireland or St Patrick other than their green-ness. Still, it’s nice to acknowledge my Irish friends on their special day.

Safety barrier at the Grand Prix.

Melbourne is known for having some pretty good street art. This is in a ‘practise’ alley.

Beauchamp falls, they’re green and there’s lots of water. Exactly like Ireland.

There’s a bird hidden amongst this grass of which I know nothing about, on Griffiths Island.

I’m pretty proud of this picture I took of a butterfly about to take off in the Grampians.

Melbourne Grand Prix

This week the circus, I mean Grand Prix, came to town! Melbourne has cast a strange spell over me and I have attended three different sporting events since I arrived here three months ago. That’s more sport than at least the previous year, if not two. But the Grand Prix is more than a sporting event. There was Tony Hawk and his friends showing off skate boarding, there were acrobats, there was a driving school for children. It’s a show. I was quite surprised at how interesting I found it. Thursday was a free community day and I was off work so I have actually been twice!

The top five photos are a mixture of Thursday when I went and today when Phil came and it was the ‘real race’. The cars have new rules this year and the F1 cars are actually pretty quiet compared with the V8 cars I watched on Thursday. Another time I will make a top five of Tony Hawks and his friends as the skateboarding was equally as impressive as the cars. Until tomorrow!

Zoooom. I forgot to put my camera in the right mode but I liked the result!

As it was the last day, everyone was allowed on the track at the end. I was super excited about this.

V8 cars from Thursday when Melbourne was looking at its best.

V8 paddock. Lots of serious looking people around here.

One of the unfortunate crashes. 8 drivers didn’t make it to the finish.