Melbourne Adventures

 Many years ago we attended the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show, which I think in those days wandered around the urban area according to venue availability etc.  The time we went I think, with about 60% confidence it was somewhere like Caulfield Racecourse.  It was a brilliant event, mainly run by local garden groups.   Foreshadowing a little, it has now been improved! managed! marketed?!! made into an experience!!!! 🤮 🤬 🤮 🤬. It is always located in Carlton Gardens and the Exhibition Building In many ways this reminds of our - perhaps more so my - unhappiness with the National Folk Festival which has changed from a pleasant community-based event to a marketing trough. This was yet to be known so we took ourselves off. Perhaps indicating what was to come the tram driver announced as we pulled into ANZAC that because of an car accident up the track we would be diverting up Kingsway. This took us in the back and we got off in William St and caught another ...

On 26 March we headed for Organ Pipes National Park.  It is closer than the WTP, but in a rather different direction, near the airport.  (I am reasonably sure that I have flown over this general area many times when flying in to Tullamarine.) This is the eBird track of the walk we did - 2.6 km horizontal and (from Google Earth) about 80m vertical, although it felt a lot more on the way back. The landscape: the geology is all at the bottom along the creek. The path down. Basalt pipes: note the artistic reflection in the creek. A wider view of the pipes. I'm not sure if this counts as a pavement or not, but it appears that some folding has occurred and exposed the top of the pipes.  But it is on a very steep slope rather than a flat area. The second named feature is the Rosette Stone a little further along the creek. A helpful sign. Less helpful.  No evidence of any work to fix up the issues and from the rustiness of the barriers this has been around for some time, A w...

We headed out to check out an exhibition of material about Colour at the Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, part of the University of Melbourne Southbank Campus, just off Grant St. The exhibition was not large, and rather technical.  For us as non-experts the interest was mainly in working out what it was demonstrating.  The leaflet did help once we realised the importance of the curatorial notes (which go over the page shown). The key material was books by Josef Albers, but the intention of the works in the next two images is still opaque to us. These videos on ping-pong balls bouncing on different coloured mirrors were understandable.  Its a shame that my phone camera gave a light blue cast to the white ball.  The first mirror is yellow. Cyan mirror. Magenta mirror. The door to the Gallery had an interesting design.  The tall red item is the exhaust stack for the Burnley Tunnel. Hopefully this map clarifies that. Southbank buildings framed by the yellow artwork. T...

On 21 March we took a visiting friend to Cruden Farm near (a) Frankston and (b) McClelland Sculpture Park .   This property was a gift, in 1928 by Sir Keith Murdoch to his wife Dame Elisabeth Murdoch .  Some 3 years later she gave birth to a son Rupert - for which she probably can't be blamed.  So as we walked around we were following where he crawled/walked - probably explains the patches of bare earth in the lawns.   The title of this post has been adapted from " In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz" by Michaela Wrong  about  Mobutu Sese Seko .  I am a little unsure about comparing Rupert with Mr Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness - " an ivory trader working on a trading station far up the river, who has "gone native" " - as it might make Kurtz look bad.   I was surprised to find Rupe had three (female) siblings: all of whom have AO gongs so are presumably pretty successful.  When she died Dame Elisabeth left the farm as a pace f...