Melbourne Adventures

 This post has some images from walks close to 505: we took a tram to the start of the St Kilda leg.  The map shows the three areas. 1: South Yarra panhandle This is a little bit of a cheat as I don't yet have any photos from the area.  I have it on our list for future expeditions with camera in hand and possibly focusing on chimneys!   We did two morning walks there, extending from Fawkner Park across Toorak Road and up different streets to Domain Rd.  The area has a lot of non-modern buildings - in the Western element dominated by places adorned with Melbourne Grammar logos. 2: St Kilda East I discovered this area when driving along Barkly Rd, coming back from Rickett's Point.  It looked interesting so we took a tram to the Barkly Rd stop.  There is an impressive amount of street art at the St Kilda Junction stop! As we passed the Espy, Frances noted a huge mural of Paul Kelly on the Western side of the pub.  A visit is needed.  However on this trip my next image was in the A

A birding friend sent me a report on Thursday last week about a Powerful Owl she had seen in Carlton Gardens.  Sunday morning seemed like a good time to try for it  Being a dill I was fiddling with my backpack on the tram and missed the Museum stop so had to walk the length of the Gardens to get to the correct spot. shown by the yellow arrow. Using information supplied by my friend I was able to work out which set of trees it had been in.  Looking down soon gave a further clue. Used possum anyone?  With those hints scanning the branches above soon revealed a big lump of feathers. The size pretty much makes it a Powl and the barred ail confirms the ID. After returning home in triumph we went for a walk to the Botanical Gardens.  We did get there, see last image, but on the way called in at the Shrine of Remembrance - usually referred to as 'the Shrine') on the Southern border of the Gardens (and the Northern border of Melbourne Grammar, which was a surprise). We went on to the

The name Dandenong appears to attach to many things: a locality in the Eastern part of the Melbourne area; various parks in Eastern Melbourne; a range of mountains extending somewhat further East; and a general 'region' encompassing all of the foregoing. I had been to the locality in the 1970s - visiting a GMH facility for work - but not as a tourist.  There seemed to be many things to see in the area and we chose 2 from the list Frances had developed.  These were: the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden ; and the Dandenong Valley Wetland. We decided to go to the Botanic Gardens first as they seemed a more certain proposition (there seemed to be a few wetlands in the area and I wasn't confident we had the right one).  The first point of note was that we were both surprised to find the route included a fair length of the M1: we had a mental map map of Dandenong being North rather than East.  The route suggested by Google Maps - once we got the satnav working properly - was fine,

As I can't  work out how to move or copy previous posts to this blog here are links, starting with the most recent relevant posts. You Yangs and WTP Yarra Bend and Abbotsford A lap in South Yarra Near 505 St Kilda Rd Exploring St Kilda 

 This is a new blog I am starting up to hold posts about our explorations around Melbourne (and probably the rest of Victoria) from our apartment.  Material about life in the apartment will continue to appear in The Houses of FranMart  and matters relating to Mallacoota and surrounds in Mallacoota Weather and Wildlife .