Melbourne Adventures

Frances has borrowed "Walk into History 1" published by the Malvern Historical Society in 2009.  I think there are later titles in a series.  This one covers 6 walks in Toorak, Malvern and Glen Iris.  Our first foray was the first walk, in Toorak, which was described as 'hilly'  and taking 1.5 hours.  We took almost exactly 90 minutes and did notice a slope in a couple of places, but nothing extreme like (eg) Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.   The start was easy to reach as it was simply a matter of hopping on a 72 tram outside the front door and getting off at the corner of Glenferrie and Malvern Rds - one left turn onto Commercial Rd and then straight! Here is a map downloaded from eBird of our route.  I had walked ~100m before starting eBird: the start and finish were in the same place.  ( Birds were barely evident , but they were not the objective of the outing.  Perhaps this miserable list is a baseline?)  On the subject of things not seen, Toorak Tractors - ie Range Ro

 We have visited Elsternwick several times recently chasing a reported Black-tailed Native-hen  (BTNH) at Yalukit William Nature Reserve.  This is apparently a redevelopment of the Elsternwick Golf Course.  The trip began with spotting a very young Australian Swamphen with its parent. We then met up with Danny Fog who appears to be one of the principle birders active in the Reserve.  He explained where the BTNH was to be seen and then showed us a family of Tawny Frognouths.  Here are Dad and Junior ... ... and Mum nearby. A close up of Mum, showing the tawny elements of her plumage. We then went in search of the BTNH and Frances spotted it! Mission accomplished we then went for a walk along Glen Huntly Rd with a specific focus of visiting the Coles supermarket: one of the few in the chain with a 'kosher' aisle.  I'm not sure how the ultra-orthodox would accept that the aisle was in line with dietary law, but the company has tried.   Heading off on Glenferry Rd we scored ano

  Qualia Ensemble This is a husband (Lucas Levin, viola) and wife (Yi-Shing Cheng, piano) duo who have recently emigrated to Melbourne, with a background at the Royal Academy of Music, London.  They performed in Scots Church Russell St in a lunch time concert organised by Music Matinee. The music played was very wide ranging from Bach and Hummel to Arvo  Pärt.  At Frances suggestion we sat very close to the front so that it was possible to see Yi-shing's hands on the keyboard (when they weren't moving too fast for my eyes to track).  I especially like the minimalist  Pärt work: as usual with this genre trying to work out the pattern and pick changes was very amusing. Of course this also got us into the church which is very well presented. After the performance we headed towards Big W for some retail therapy.  We walked down Little Bourke St (very heavily marketed as Chinatown.  We went into an Asian supermarket which was very reminiscent of similar places in SE Asia.  Coming up

This begins with some buildings photographed as we walked back from the Remembrance ceremony at the Shrine.  Information about the history of the buildings is taken from "Walking Melbourne's Domain Parklands" by L. 'Oscar' Slater (2004).  This post may well get updated as I take more photos. 148 Domain St, The Gables.  Note the address is Domain St, not Domain Rd.  The Street runs from  Toorak Rd up to Domain Rd.  A particular feature is this cantilevered balcony.  Slater thinks this is the oldest brick building in this part of South Yarra. 107 Domain Rd: known as 'Pasley' the ironwork is a key feature.  There is also a Pasley St on the Eastern side of Fawkner Park and I suspect both reference Charles Pasley who seems to have been a major player in the administration of Victoria in the mid 19th Century.  11 Domain Rd, 'Melrose'.  One of several houses designed by the local architect Joseph Crook.  The windows are a special feature. 119 - 123 Domai

 This is a central spot linking my various posts about features of buildings - usually older ones, used as residences - around Melbourne.  It started off a chimney pots and rooftops but has got broader than that! A point to note is that these posts will start as collections of photographs and text will be added as I find the time to do so. Where I have added the text I will note "complete" on the listing. 1    South Yarra, pt 1  complete. 2  South Yarra, pt 2  complete 3 Albert Park  complete 4 Domain Rd , South Yarra 5 Elsternwick  complete 6 Toorak pt 1  complete

 The initial aim of this walk was to take trams (2) to the Swimming Centre, check part of the Park itself for a reported Black-tailed Native Hen, and then walk home.  Frances then explored the area between the Park and the Beach and found some interesting bits so we decided to add some of them in and take the trams back home.  The route finally followed is shown in red.