Melbourne Adventures

 On 12 April we booked in to the Melbourne Recital Centre for a concert by Abel Selaocoe, a cellist, singer and all-round performer who was raised in Sotho country in South Africa (but made a comment suggesting affinity with Lesotho.  Much of his performance involved the Sesotho language including occasional clicks.  We took the tram to Grant Street and walked down Southbank Boulevard ...  ... to the Melbourne Recital Centre where the performance was to take place in the Elizabeth Murdoch Hall.  It really is a great space.  We were well up the back (having cheap tickets) but had excellent views and sounds.  Compared to Carnegie Hall (or the G) it wasn't close to nosebleed territory! Before the event commenced we went to a talk by Kym Dillon, who explained a great deal about the performance to come, illustrating her points with sound clips.  A great help!  When she commented that due to timing issues the programmed Stravinsky work had been dro...

 On 10 April 4 of us from the Bird a Day (BAD) group visited the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee.  Clockwise are Elke (who had the selfie skills to get the snap); me (who had failed miserably at the same task) ; Faye; and Val. After meeting at the toilet block we decided that the best place to start was the Crake pond in the T-section ponds, so headed off down Point Wilson Rd.  About halfway down the road we stopped to check out 8 Brolgas grazing in a paddock.  This gave an incidental sheet . On the drive we had discussed recording strategy.  Faye was just doing one list for the whole visit while I was planning to do separate lists for each (loosely defined) main area we visited adding any between sightings to the incidental list. Once on the way with Elke leading and Faye accepting the role of  Official Gate Closer we stopped soon after entering the T-section recording a good bunch of birds in the first pond  including Black-fronted Dotterel. Blac...

 On 8 April we did an historical tour of the State Library of Victoria.  It covered both the history of the Library and some of the History of Victoria covered by their collections.  After finding our way to the appointed meeting spot - more of a challenge than it should have been - we set off, with 10 (plus our guide) in our group.  This staircase used to the main way the librarians got books from the stacks.  It is now closed off on OHAS grounds. The two murals which follow are in the main marble staircase. Presumably this was somewhere around Beersheeba.  The slouch hats say "Australians" but I don't recall the Light Horse including camels! This is the Ian Potter Queens Hall .  The link mentions the Ian Potter Foundation providing $10 million to refurbish this room! This is one of the original desks. The room has many uses: filming is one of them, but I didn't go stickybeaking. The Dome Reading Room: surely one of the best such facilities in the ...