Friday the 13th was far from unlucky for me. Bodyjar are currently on their farewell tour (not a la John Farnham), and I had tickets to go see them at the Corner. A quick dinner at our regular spot Gigi in the city and Jes and I headed out to the Corner.

Supports weren’t off much interest, but we did see most of 28 Days’ set, as my friend recommended them from the night before. They weren’t too bad, but I was itching to see Bodyjar more than anything; it’s been a fair while since I’ve seen them perform.

The set was, of course, filled with their hits, as well as some of their older tunes. The crowd loved it, even if they were aging slightly. I definitely enjoyed it, especially as I had perched on the smaller stage and could still see.

I ran into a friend from Sydney I don’t see often too and now that I know he’s in town, we’ll arrange to catch up properly.

On Saturday afternoon, a group of us from Flickr met up at Beer Deluxe in Federation Sqaure to discuss an idea for an exhibition we have. The discussions were relatively productive and many ideas have been tossed around, but now we have to get down to work. Just as a side note, if one wants to spend an afternoon drinking, Beer Deluxe can get very pricey.

Beer Deluxe is a place that Jes and I have visited frequently in the past few months. It’s conveniently located near to ACMI, where we find ourselves every few weeks or so, and serves such a wide variety of beers that we are pretty much working our way through the menu now.

The beers aren’t cheap, but as most of them are imported or from microbreweries, one doesn’t expect them to be. There is an extensive range of dark beers, lagers, tap beers and trappist. One of these days I shall use the menu online and complete a list of those that I can remember having and what I thought of them. In the mean time, I’ve definitely tried these two.

As it comes into hotter weather, I often feel like a light larger or wheat beer. The wheat beers I’ve picked recently have mostly been too sweet for my liking though. The Erdinger Dunkel was a tasty, heavier version that I’m used to. On Saturday I also tried the Erdinger Weissenbrau, which is new on tap, and that was fresh and light, without being too sweet.

In the cooler weather, the ales and darker beers are to my taste. Again, I’ve had a bad run picking the sweeter ones, but there have been a few gems in the list. Birra Moretti La Rossa and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord have both turned out to be winners.

There will obviously be many more to come, and I will have to start notes on which I’ve tasted – a bit like with the books last year!

esterday I had a most lovely time in the CeeBeeDee, after coffee at Brunetti’s in Carlton. Dim Sum at Shanghai Dumpling, a look at the NGV and photos at the Ian Potter Centre.

Whilst in Federation Square, I was having a lil’ shufty at the book market (note: secondhand books at $20 do not a bargain make), I came across some beautiful books by illustrator Shaun Tan.

Shaun says he spends mots of his time writing and illustrating children’s books, but his website includes a whole host of other interesting projects.

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Chocolate Buddha in Federation Square is one of my favourite restaurants in the city. It’s reasonably priced, conveniently located and has great food that’s kept me coming back as a regular customer for years.

This Japanese restaurant is a shared dining environment, although unless the restaurant is full you won’t be bumping elbows with people you don’t know. When a friend and I ate here last week we had strangers on either side, which got a bit uncomfortable when a group of ladies began to loudly discuss their sex lives. When full, the restaurant does get pretty noisy, but in warmer weather it’s nicer to sit at the (thankfully) smoke-free outer tables.

I come here quite regularly and tend to order the same dishes. The Yakitori don is a safe bet for anyone not feeling too adventurous with a sweet sauce and good-quality free range/organic/similar wank chicken. Chocolate Buddha is the only place in Melbourne I’d eat dumplings – theirs are pan-seared so they’re not as greasy and both the pork and the vegetarian varieties are great. The food here is decently priced and servings are generous enough to share.

Finally, the wine list is pretty sparse. The cheaper options are really nasty – the leave-your-glass-half-full kind of nasty – so it’s worth scrutinising the list and opting for a mid-range alternative. I know absolutely nothing about wine except that I’ll usually drink copious amounts of anything, and I had to

colorful desi costumes, great bollywood tunes, Gujju & Manipuri dances, fireworks and the star of the show, of course,  Bhangra.

this is what the weekend of 10th of October had in store for us. Though I wanted to write  this post long ago but for one reason or the other, it kept getting delayed. Anyways, as the title of the post suggest, I am talking about Melbourne’s official diwali celebrations.

conceptualized and organized by an organization called Celebrate India Incorporate, Diwali, a festival of lights, was celebrated with full grandiose at federation square for the third year in running. With its first official celebration in 2006, the event has grown bigger each year. It has bigger fan following which translates to wider recognition of Indian customs and culture in the broader Australian community.

upon arriving at the venue, we made our way to the food stalls. Vegetarian to Chickenetarian to Lambatarian,  all was on offer, my favorite was Chicken tikka kathi roll, yumm !! Because we arrived at the venue a bit earlier than previous years, we had ample of time to enjoy our food and event.

On the center stage, after the usual speeches and candle lighting ceremonies, it was for some real action.  Some of the performances and competitions were very amateurish, especially the pagri tying & shankh blowing ones, even a 5 year could have done better. Shyamak Dawar’s Dance troupe was good but Bhangra was the show stopper. People were shouting, jumping, dancing when the Bhangra guys were on the stage.  There was a spectacular display of fireworks over Yarra but no one hardly budged; who does not like punjabi music and bhangra?

With that, it was the end of event, another day well spent..

The festival office has gone all quiet. We’re back down to five staff members only for roughly the next six months, and I’m starting to miss the windswept hijinks of festival time. I lie; there were few hijinks. High-pressure deadlines, but hijinks, not so much. If asked nicely I may be persuaded to make something up. Oh, the family have gone into the world to other jobs; don’t forget us guys!

We’re still wrapping up and debriefing; I personally have paid more invoices in one month than I thought existed in the entire history of the WORLD (again, not quite true). Today I met with the lovely Kim Brockett of Craft Victoria (meeting over at Craft Victoria in Flinders Lane more or less so that I could peruse the storefront and current exhibition). All agree; Craft Hatch @ MWF was a wonderful thing and brainstorming has begun for more ways to have craftiness in the festival. I’m writing a wish list. Lists are fun.

In the meantime, because everyones loves photos, here are some photos of Craft Hatch @ MWF 2009. I’ll be posting more photos of the festival in the weeks to come – keep an eye on this space. 

Pictured: Zoe Churchill, Wah Wah Wears; Photography: Jim Lee

Pictured: Nicholas Jones; Photography: Jim Lee

Pictured: Samantha Parsons, Studio Sam; Photography: Jim Lee

Louise Angrilli
Festival Administrator

Despite no Dicko, no Delta, and a hell of a lot less hairspray, the final of Melbourne’s 2009 Poetry Idol during the Melbourne Writers’ Festival generated just as much rhythm, rhyme and flair as its singing Idol cousin.

Organised by writers’ group Paradise Anthology, on August 30, the glass amphitheatre of Federation Square’s BMW Edge saw twenty-eight finalists fire 60-second poetic salvos into an audience 350 strong. Judged by a three-person panel, the poems performed were serious and absurd, ranging from racial prejudice to the ever-reliable, ever-forgiving “twenty-four fucks” of a slab of VB.

According to Poetry Idol’s organiser and emcee, Michael Crane, the short, ’slam’ style made sure audiences got just as much value from the event as those competing for the top prize, $2,000 and a publishing contract:

“[By imposing a time limit] we are trying to make poetry accessible and entertaining … so that the audiences get to hear and see a variety of poets in a short time.”

(Click here to see a full photo gallery from the night)

Poetry slams began in the United States in the 1980s, and according to 2009 champion Marian Spires, are becoming increasingly popular in Melbourne. “It’s like the Olympics of language. You only have that limited time to get your message across, so you must work your language hard.”

Ms Spires said her entry at Poetry Idol, ‘Aphrodite on Love’, “explored the relationship we all have with love.”

“I wanted to write a dramatic monologue where Aphrodite persuades us to accept the idea of ‘falling in love’ and, in doing so, we make an everlasting contract [with her].”

(Click here to listen to ‘Aphrodite on Love’ from Poetry Idol)

Mr Crane says incorporating music into his events helps attract a wider audience, with Idol heats drawing familiar identities such as Brian Nankervis, emcee for music trivia quiz show Rockwiz on SBS, as well as celebrated musician Rebecca Barnard.

The Idol also included music and songs performed as interludes by Mr Crane and Trish Anderson, also part of Melbourne band Mrs. Wainwright.

Both Ms Spires and Mr Crane encourage those interested to try out performing on stage. Ms Spires had written poetry all her life, but didn’t start performing until 2001. Actively participating was a different and exciting feeling: “By its nature, writing is a solitary experience, so it was great to hook up with other local poets and writers.”

It’s not just annual events like Poetry Idol and the Australian Poetry Slam where audiences can see and hear slam poetry. Seven nights a week, inner-city suburbs like Carlton, Brunswick, Northcote and Prahran play host to a variety of events, including open mics. The Facebook group Spoken Word, Melbourne lists locations for regular gigs, as well as launches and competitions.

View Larger Map

Everyone’s favourite neo-con commentator has taken a break from denying climate change to today take aim at Melbourne’s modern architecture. Obviously still basking in the post-coital glow of his recent vacation (if only it was permanent) Bolt waxes lyrical about some of the landmarks he has recently visited.

So I’ve just flown back from marvelling at the Coliseum in Rome, Schoenbrun Palace in Vienna and the Duomo in Milan with its hundreds of extravagant spires, each topped with a statue. The taxi from the airport is now taking me past Melbourne’s latest laughable attempt to build a landmark of its own – this time the Southern Star observation wheel.

Whilst I agree with his comments (I’m still feeling a little dirty) on the giant ferris wheel,  his comments regarding some of Melbourne’s more modern buildings are true to his neo-con roots.

We once could build pretty, of course, but trace our decline. We’ve gone from the elegant Exhibition Building to the barren barn of exhibition space that’s Jeff’s Shed. From the stately Flinders St station to the wave-roofed gimmick of Southern Cross station. From jewelled Regent Theatre to the scraped-bare sterility of the new Melbourne Recital Centre, yet another building ruined by our modish determination to make our public architecture reflect the barrenness of Australia’s deserts.

Sorry Andrew, but I think you may be getting the Melbourne Recital Centre and the Australia Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) mixed up – I would hardly call Melbourne Recital Centre sterile. In fact it’s one of Melbourne’s most exciting buildings of recent times. And even ACCA is one of the prime reasons why Melbourne is considered at the forefront of design in the world. And has Mr Bolt actually used Flinder Street Station of late? It’s in a sad need of a serious makeover and don’t ask me what happened when they closed the toilets for renovations last year. Hardly an architectural icon.

But how could a Herald Sun article miss out on attempt to have a cheap shot at Federation Square. I’m pretty sure they campaigned for the removal of the “shard”.

But it’s also true that on the few times Melbourne now tries to build beautifully – monumentally – it fails. Take Federation Square, all surly elbows and cringing in camouflage colours – just the building for a generation of neo-barbarians with lip rings and bum antlers.

Whilst it had its early issues, Federation Square is slowing becoming one of the best public spaces in Melbourne, if not Australia. Maybe he forgets the masses of people that constantly turn out for events within the public plaza on a weekly basis. Where else would they go for such events? Complimenting the plaza, is the brilliant NGV Australia, Atrium and ACMI.

I’m sorry Andrew Bolt. but if this best you can do on your first day back from holiday maybe you should stick to your old themes of climate change, queue jumping and Kevin Rudd bashing because your attempt at criticising Melbourne’s thriving architecture scene has fallen flat on its face.

I managed to have a quick look at the Advertisements for Architecture exhibition at Federation Square only moments before it was pulled down. I was impressed at the variety of responses that were on display and have included some of highlights for your viewing pleasure.

Also really liked the displays for the exhibition. I’m not sure if they were custom made for the exhibition or belong to Federation Square but they were impressive nonetheless.

Just a short post from down under…

After over an hour delay out of LAX, we headed into the wild black yonder (12:45 am) and a 15.5 hour flight.  Arrived in Melbourne at 9:15 AM local time.  Airport was a breeze, including Customs.

The tough part was trying to stay awake and active all day so we could manage the time change.  We did it.  Slept well and are now getting ready to head out for our second day down under.

More to come later tonight.  Picture below is St. Paul’s Church in Federation Square which is an awesome array of architecture, people, hustle, and bustle.

St. Paul's Church in Federation Square, Melbourne.

Melbourne é conhecida por muitos por ser a Capital Cultural aqui da Austrália. E isso é com certa razão. Tudo o que se possa imaginar com relação a exposições, shows, eventos esportivos, tudo, acontece aqui primeiro.

Isso é muito bom, pois quando você ficar sem nada pra fazer, é só ir para as ruas do centro da cidade e se impressionar com os excelentes artistas e músicos que se exibem nas largas calçadas.

O legal é que na maioria das vezes, são pessoas independentes que chegam, olham para um lado, para o outro, começam a montar seu espaço, abrem uma maletinha para quem quiser depositar moedas, ao lado colocam algum produto à venda e pronto.

Ontem por exemplo, eu estava indo na JB-Hifi (a melhor loja daqui para quem gosta de eletrônicos, músicas e filmes), e na frente da Target, um artista estava pintando imagens no chão da calçada. Eu já tinha visto este rapaz algumas vezes, mas eu nunca estava com uma máquina fotográfica para poder tirar umas fotos.

Clique aqui e veja o vídeo

Pelo movimento, parecia ser de tarde, mas eram nada menos do que 8:50 da manhã.

Consegui tirar foto também de um rapaz tocando um instrumento musical feito por aborigenes. O nome do deste instrumento é Didgeridoo.

Clique aqui e veja o vídeo

Existem também aqueles pessoas que ficam na rua fazendo esculturas com folha de bananeira, pintando retratos de pessoas famosas, mágicos…. Enfim tem de tudo…. Mas na minha opnião, o que mais me impressiona é um japa.

O nome deste japa é George Kamikawa, até comprei o cd dele. Ele é praticamente uma atração aqui. Inclusive existe um passeio que se faz aqui dentro de um trem-restaurante e tem show dele.

Clique aqui e veja o vídeo

Mas Melbourne tem também seus agradáveis pontos de encontro, como por exemplo a State Library. Pois é, muita gente aqui se encontra na frente da biblioteca para conversar, comer, tocar violão… é muito legal isso e muito agradável também.

Uma praça bastante conhecida aqui em Melbourne é a Federation Square. Sempre rola alguns eventos importantes, como exposições, shows, coisas do tipo. E, quando se tem algum evento na cidade do tipo: Formula 1, Australian Open, Funeral do Michael Jackson, é tudo transmitido pelo telão instalado na praça…… e além de ser um ótimo ponto de encontro por ser rodeada de cafés e pubs, é também um cartão postal.

Para vocês que tem interesse de conhecer um pouco mais sobre como é a cidade, vejam este vídeo.

Um abraço!

Canon G9 camera

One of the concerns an architect has when designing a building is the need to design a space through which people can move. Depending on the era in which they’re designed and constructed, major metropolitan train stations may feature either grand or contemporary facades. But, as they are designed for the prompt passage of large crowds of people, they are often relatively bare and somewhat sterile environments inside.

The above image features a side entrance to Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. The site features undercover galleries and exhibition spaces, shops, restaurants and bars, a tourist information centre and a large paved open-air area for people to meet, congregate and move through.

I was particularly taken with the strong design aspect within the façade and surrounding area. The wall, steps and bike stands display strong repetitive forms and the colors within the stone provide welcoming warmth to the visitor.

Processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 2.0 and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Canon G9 camera

Abstraction allows the artist to present the world in a way somewhat differently to how it would normally be perceived. I believe there are three ways by which the photographer can present the world: realism, by that I mean depicting the subject in a recognizable manner; suggestion, where the object is photographed in such a way so as to suggest something other than what it actually is; and abstraction, where certain design elements, inherent to the subject, are so dominant in the composition that they become the actual subject matter of the image.

The above image is a detail from the iconic Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. By concentrating the composition on the lines, triangular shapes and tonal contrasts within the frame the image becomes more about those specific elements than about the building itself.

The image was made with a friend’s Canon G9 camera with which I was familiarizing myself and testing as a way of determining whether it would be suitable for a range of tasks he has in mind. Initial processing was conducted in Adobe Lightroom 2, prior to final enhancements being applied in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

This week, something big is happening. Youth Decide will be happening all this week, at literally 100’s of events around the country!

What is it?  Youth Decide is Australia’s first ever youth referendum on climate change. This is a chance for the generation that will be most effected, to have their say on how we should act now. From September 14-21, young people from all around Australia will be able to have their say.

Vote now via the website, or rock along to a voting event near you!

If you’re in Melbourne or surrounds, there’s a Youth Decide concert happening in Fed Square this Wednesday, 16 September. The line up has now been released with The Cat Empire and KissChasey announced to be playing. There are  still a few more special guests to be announced, but at this stage you’ll have to rock up to find out. It all kicks off at 5pm. It’s going to be good though, so get on down if you’re in the area!

To find out where an event is happening near you or to find out more, suss out the  Youth Decide website.

Get onto it, get into it, get it happening.

-Tim

Canon G9 camera

I’m doing some work for a very good friend of mine, a doctor who needs a camera/lighting system that members of his staff can use to photograph patients both before and after certain procedures are undertaken. As the staff members in question are amateur photographers there’s no chance of using a DSLR and either portable or studio flash to achieve the desired results. Similarly RAW shooting, with the need to process the images on the computer, is not an option. The idea is to be able to produce quality images with little more than a point and shoot approach. As you can image this is quite a challenge, but progress is being made.

Prior to this job I’d probably taken no more than 6 frames on a point and shoot digital camera. I don’t own one and have never felt the need to use my mobile phone as a camera. I guess that makes me old school. While I embrace technology I still prefer to use the tool designed for the job, rather than some hybrid device. This preference may well change in years to come, but that’s where I am today. And that’s not to say I won’t pick up an i-phone and new Leica camera down the track.

So, with little or no experience using digital point and shoot cameras, I needed to spend some time orientating myself to my friends Canon G9 camera. I was working with a group of students photographing architecture in and around Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia. Several of the students commented that they were concerned about an assignment they had for another subject dealing with abstraction. It seemed to me that the guys were looking for some inspiration. And as movement is often the best way to activate both the thinking and creative process, I whipped out the Canon G9 and, within a few minutes, had motivated nearby participants to action and had produced several publishable images which I’II share over coming days. I only wished I’d shot in RAW, rather then JPEG, but that’s just one of the possible consequences of someone else messing around with your (or, in this case, your friends) camera.

The original file was processed in Adobe Lightroom 2, prior to final creative effects being applied in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Opening: Thursday 27th August 2009

Exhibition dates: 28th August – 21st February 2009

Artists: Christine Godden, Max Pam and Matthew Sleeth

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A small but social opening of the latest photography exhibition at NGV Australia. Wonderful to see Edwin Nicholls and Sophie Gannon from Sophie Gannon Gallery, Richmond in attendance along with Dr. Isobel Crombie, Senior Curator of Photography at the NGV and Susan van Wyk, curator of this exhibition and Curator of Photography at the NGV. Also in attendance were the NGV Director, Gerard Vaughan and Frances Lindsay, Deputy Director of the NGV. The exhibition was opened by Associate Professor Christopher Stewart from RMIT University.

Many thankx to Alison Murray and Sue Coffey for allowing me to take photographs of the opening.

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Opening night crowd for ‘Long Distance Vision’ at NGV Australia, Melbourne with Senior Curator of Photography, Dr Isobel Crombie, at left of photograph.

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“Long Distance Vision will include over 60 photographs from the NGV Collection exploring the concept of the ‘tourist gaze’ and its relationship with the three artists.

Susan van Wyk, Curator Photography, NGV said the exhibition provides a fascinating insight into the unusual perspective brought by the three photographers to their varied world travel destinations.

“There’s a sense in the works in the exhibition that the photographers are not from the places they choose to photograph, and that each is a visitor delighting in the scenes they encounter.

What is notable about the photographs in Long Distance Vision is that rather than focussing on the well known scenes that each artist encountered, they have turned their attention to the ‘little things’, the details of the everyday,” said Ms van Wyk.

From the nineteenth century, photography has been a means by which people could discover the world, initially through personal collection and albums, and later via postcards, magazines, books and the internet.

Dr Gerard Vaughan, Director, NGV said that both contemporary photographers and tourists use the camera as a means to explore and capture the world.

“Through their photographs, the three artists featured in Long Distance Vision show us highly individual ways of seeing the world. This exhibition will surprise and delight visitors as our attention is drawn to not only what is different but what remains the same as we travel the world,” said Dr Vaughan.

Long Distance Vision: Three Australian Photographers is on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Federation Square from 28 August 2009 to 21 February 2010. The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia is open 10am–5pm, closed Mondays. Entry to this exhibition is free.”

Press release from the NGV

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Opening night crowd for ‘Long Distance Vision’ at NGV Australia, Melbourne looking at the work of Max Pam

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Sophie Gannon and Edwin Nicholls at the opening of ‘Long Distance Vision’ at NGV Australia, Melbourne

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Dr Isobel Crombie, Senior Curator of Photography at the NGV (left) with Susan van Wyk, Curator of Photography at the NGV and curator of the exhibition (right) at the opening of ‘Long Distance Vision’

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The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia Federation Square
Corner of Russell and 
Flinders Streets, Melbourne.

National Gallery of Victoria website

The atrium at Federation Square is quiet. A whirr of a coffee machine off in the distance, and a regular clump clump from Readings bookshop as they set up books for the day. Some muzak, thankfully unidentifiable, is humming through the airwaves. And then. And then a noise in the background, a gentle hum, a louder drone. Getting louder. And then BLAM. In comes the first schools group, 21 13 year olds, followed by more and more groups, led by their harassed teachers shouting in vain to keep them under some semblance of control. The festival’s schools program has started. 10,000 students in 3 days.

They come in waves, getting louder and louder and then shuffling into the sessions for the hour, bouncing off each other,  yelling, bumping into  everything, putting their tickets out to be scanned, and barging into the venues.  

Peace reigns for a while. Then the riffs of noise start up again as they all come out in the same gamboling, uncoordinated, bumping way, eating, drinking, just sucking in life as they go about their day.  Eventually they disperse to make way for the next tsunami of school groups.

I go into the venue.  It’s littered with bits of paper and unidentifiable flotsam.  The whole place smells of hormones – wafting through the space looking for somewhere to implant themselves.

I back out.

It’s exhausting.We all feel we’ve survived some spectacular, some cataclysm.  But it’s fun, energetic, life affirming. 

Later that day, the cleaners at Federation Square email me to say they’ll have to charge extra for after the schools. 

Two more days before we go back to the main program. 

Helenka
Festival Manager

Federation Square, Melbourne

Follow the yellow brick road…

Ok so its not lingerie based but todays entry is about beauty. Recently in the frosty streets of Melbourne Ms Tiki Doll decided it was time to get some Mendhi done. As a fan of this for many years it was an easy decision. For those of you who are unsure what I’m talking about Mendhi (also Mehandi, Mehendi, etc.) is the application of Henna as a temporary form of skin decoration in South Asia, Southwest Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, as well as by expatriate communities from these areas. Mehendi decorations became fashionable in the West in the late 1990s, where they are sometimes called henna tattoos. Henna is typically applied during special occasions like weddings and festivals. It is usually drawn on the palms and feet, where the color will be darkest because the skin contains higher levels of keratin which binds temporarily to lawsone, the colorant of henna. Henna was originally used as a form of decoration mainly for brides.

So in the festive spirit I offered up my hand to be done and here are the results. I must say I’m rather pleased and think I will be investing in some more in many different places. Plus I am investigating getting some paste myself to start practising designs

Finished Design the next day after paste removed

Heute war unser letzter Tag in Melbourne. Diesen sind wir gemütlich angegangen. Unsere schnarchende Omi war die ganze Nacht auf Achse (sie ist heute morgen um 8.30 Uhr heimgekommen und schläft schon den halben mittag im Zimmer).

Nach unserem ausgiebigen Fruehstück sind wir mit der City Circle Tram zum Federation Square gefahren. Von dort aus sind wir in den Royal Botanic Gardens gelaufen. Der Garten war an sich sehr schön, jedoch kann er Sydney nicht toppen, da man ihm anmerkt, dass Winter ist: Die Bäume und Palmen sind sehr kahl und braun, es liegen auch viele Blätter aufm Boden rum – Winter halt. Jedoch gab es wunderschöne Vögel, Enten etc. (in allen Farben, die haben wir intensiv fotografiert).

Den Fußmarsch zurück machten wir länger als gedacht, da ein Harmony Walk statt fand, der die Bahn nicht mehr fahren ließ. Doch der Marsch hat sich gelohnt, da wir mal wieder bei Max Brenner waren und uns Schokoladenfondue gegönnt haben (und an unser schlechtes Gewissen, das gar kein schlechtes Gewissen ist: es ist keine Kalorienbombe, sieht nur so heftig aus!).

Danach haben wir uns auf den Weg zurück gemacht und verbringen hier im Hostel die letzten Stunden bei gebratenen Nudeln mit Ei und Salat.

Jaja, morgen früh gehts weiter nach Alice Springs. Während unserer Safari werden wir keinen Blog-Eintrag schreiben können. Also wir lassen euch ein paar Tage in Ruhe. Melden uns sobald wir wieder können. Ab Samstag fahren wir dann endlich selber =)

Liebe Grüße

Lisa in den Royal Botanic Gardens

Claudi in den Royal Botanic Gardens

Nach einer verregneten Nacht sind wir heute mal früher aus dem Bett gekommen und durchgestartet. Unsere schnarchende Oma hat dermaßen laut rumgekruschtelt, dass wir einfach nicht mehr schlafen konnten.

Was macht man an einem extrem windigem Tag? Natürlich shoppen =) Dies haben wir an den Docklands gemacht. Wir haben sogar beide was gefunden. Die Kreditkarte hat sich gefreut. Wir auch.

Danach haben wir uns etwas ganz leckeres gegönnt, damit ihr auch ein Bild davon bekommt:

ein Gedicht...

Na, Hunger bekommen? Hier gibt es richtig geniale Chocolaterien, die lauter so Leckerbissen anbieten. In Sydney gabs x-mal diese von Lindt *g*

Waren dann noch am Federation Square – beeindruckende Architektur, einfach genial. Und am Cooks’ Cottage im Fitzroy Gardens. Also, wir waren nicht nur shoppen =)

Unser Abendbrot haben wir uns selber gekocht… Nicht nur Käse mit Baguette, sondern sogar Nudeln mit Tomaten. Und wir waren noch fleißig und haben unsere Wäsche gewaschen.

Der Tag verging mal wieder so schnell… unglaublich!

Liebe Grüße

Day 73

That's a big plate of roo. Lori's first meal in Australia.

We arrived in Melbourne in the evening, and our friend from Zurich, Tania, picked us up at the airport. We’ll be staying with here for the next couple of days. She drove us back to her apartment, and then we had dinner at a local restaurant with her and her boyfriend, Craig.

 Day 74

Today is a National Holiday in Australia to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, so Tania and Craig took us downtown to show us around Melbourne.

We got off the tram at Federation Square where there were some protests about racial violence in Australia going on (a fairly big issue at the moment).  After walking around the city for a little bit, went back to Tania’s apartment and made dinner after Tania took Craig to the airport.

Day 75

Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia

We had originally planned to drive the Great Ocean Road today. However, the weather was pretty bad, and we’re a little tired. So, we slept in and sat around the apartment all day using the internet and had an enjoyable day being lazy.  We made dinner and ate with Tania.

Day 76

Weather was still bad today, so we’re just going to cancel the Great Ocean Road. Went to a movie: I Love You, Man. We both liked the movie but wee a bit put off by the cost of the tickets: A$ 34 (US$ 28) for both of us. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Tania’s neighborhood around Chapel Street. We made dinner in the apartment and ate with Tania when she got home from work. It was so nice to have a “home” and be able to relax.

Well I went on my first official dérive last Sunday night with my dad. And it was lots of fun, I think I’m going to enjoy drifting all over Melbourne.

By Don Mudge

We went out to dinner and shared a bottle of red (I feel Guy Debord would agree that this isn’t such a bad way to start the dérive) then decided to walk down to Federation Square. On the way to Fed Square we walked past a particularly impressive laneway. The lights in The Atrium were glowing quite beautifully and lit up the graffiti in the lane. Dad is a great photographer and took the opportunity for a bit of street photography. The results are above and below.

By Don Mudge

Then after that we checked out the light festival at Fed Square. Took more photos. Then decided we needed some sustenance so drifted into Timeout for some coffees and dessert.

Then more wandering the streets. I’d heard about this Electric graffiti down Lingham Lane and we checked it out. Very cool, a moving projection of graffiti that you could easily walk past twenty times without noticing it. Worth checking out. Turns out there are a bunch of laneway commissions, check out the above link for the rest of them.

Then until about midnight we wandered around taking photos. It’s really nice to not have a particular aim for the evening. To drift and wander around your urban environment. Looking at things you wouldn’t normally take the time to stop and look at.

I think we probably spent 20 minutes sitting on milk crates looking at the electric graffiti. Getting up for cars every now and then that wanted to come down the laneway. I’ve decided to use one of the photos for my podcast blog header.

By Don Mudge