Melbourne Adventures

 Some years ago we read a book titled "In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz" which was about African despots and referenced the main character from James Conrad's classic book "The Heart of Darkness".  On 14 December we took a trip to the Frankston area, to which some folk attach similar metaphors, and later in the outing we followed in the steps of Sean Dooley, going to Seaford Swamp .   Our first stop however was at the McClelland Sculpture Park in a suburb called Langwarrin which appeared to be largely light industry.  This is the third Sculpture park we have visited after Storm King up the Hudson from NYC and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the UK.  This site was well up to the very high standard set by the other two.  My initial aim with this post is to show my photos from the Park - I will add works' titles etc later (when I have relocated the map of the park).  A little text accompanies a few snaps.    The next few photos are from an exhi...

We set off for the CBD on Friday 13th planning to visit a number of interesting places and events.   Here is the tale, starting by getting off the tram at the Police Memorial. We were a little surprised at the graffiti.  As we approached I had noticed a camera crew (just visible through the left-hand arch) but hadn't joined up the dots.  We were then approached by a couple of cops who explained that this daubing was unprecedented and had occurred overnight.  A very pleasant sergeant chatted about the topic and explained a bit about the plaques (eg 'felonious' meant killed by a criminal act - such as shot by a bank robber - rather than dying in a car accident).  He left us to negotiate with some workers who came to start the clean up. We then crossed St Kilda Rd and walked down Southbank Boulevard.  Some nice flowering trees: some with red flowers .... ... and one with pink flowers. Before getting to our first stop (the Melbourne Recital Centre - MRC) w...

On the afternoon of Sunday 8 December we  decided to go for a walk to the nearest stretch of the Yarra.  For non-Australian readers this watercourse calls to mind a quote by Mark Twain  "too thick to drink, too thin to plough" (which I have seen pointed at many US rivers including the Missouri ). As a result it is sometimes known as the river that flows upside-down, with the mud on top. The route was to cross Fawkner Park to Park St and up to Domain Rd from where we would follow our noses to the River.   A seasonal addition had been made to one of the old houses on Park St! At the top of Park St we noticed this advert for an eatery for the first time. It turned out the route went along Anderson St, beside the Botanic Gardens.  It seems they had a catus garden in that area. An aloe was an interesting sight. We entered the garden and found a close up of the flowers of the Aloe - actually Mescal ( Agave parryi ). They seemed popular with the Rainbow Lorikeets...