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A wander North of the Yarra

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 The starting point was only just North of the Yarra!  Frances had a dental appointment in the Manchester Union Building at the intersection of Collins and Swanston Streets so I decided to fill in the time by visiting Hosier and AC/DC Lanes at little to the East.  On arriving at the lower (Flinders St) end of Hosier Lane I found evidence of men at work.  Rather than adding to the art they appeared to be resolving a plumbing situation. I don't recall having seen these works on past visits. The text on the 'notice' - which I didn't read on site - is a QR code link to the Magpie Mammogram Movement: presumably someone called Shelley has been having tests. Usually taggers avoid defacing more intellectual work and I suppose this dweet has avoided the figures; but could still use a bit of education. As always the Lane was well  replete with punters, including at least one walking tour. Crossing Russell St,my first glance at this building made me wonder if the facade ha...
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Mainly Simians

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 Having joined the Zoo we thought t was a good idea to go for a visit mid-week to avoid the hordes of  family funsters.  I commented that there would probably be a lot of school groups, which there were , but they were not a problem with teachers being well in control.   I suggested the Gorillas would be a good starting point.  Before we got to them we passed through the Ring-tailed Lemur enclosure.  This a lovely site as one is actually in the middle of the lemurs.  The tails are very tempting but there are always some staff around to offer advice. The Lemurs don't seem at all fussed by humans: this one was as close as it looks, leading to a stffer rquest to give it a bit more room. Some of their food turns up in paper bags to give them a little mental stimulation to get at it. THey seem to deal with this OK. I managed one shot of a lemur in flight. Next stop was the big blokes (and sheilas).  They also get their food in puzzle-packages and ...
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More Botanics than expected

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 For our walk on 15 July we headed towards the Botanic Gardens.  As we went across Fawkner Park Frances noticed this magnificent fig tree with a branch dipping to the ground There are Figs on the branch after it touches down.  It will be interesting to keep and eye on this and see if it puts roots down from where it touches.  (Although I am unsure how to check that!) Walking up Park St I marvelled again that Robin Boyd was the architect behind this ( Domain Park Flats) - which caused an uproar amongst the Citizens of South Yarra in 1962.     He wrote  The Australian Ugliness (1960) with a condemnation of visual pollution and vulgar 'featurism'.   This map from Google Earth shows the route we followed.  At point 1 we decided from looking at map extracts posted in the gardens, to go North to Long Island rather than East to Guilfoyles Volcano.  I was very surprised where we ended up, which I initially thought added a km to the ...
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