The May visit

 The drive up was normal, although there seemed to be more traffic around than normal.  It was also surprisingly cold when we left Mallacoota with the temperature going down to 4C as we got to a foggy Genoa.  Sunset at 505 was attractive.

On the Monday I went for a stroll along Albert Park Lake, where all the infrastructure from the Grand Prix has finally been removed.  The grass has not yet regrown.  I was interested to see this sign on Queens Rd:

The Grand Prix has a longer history here than I thought: well before Kennett (hack, spit 💩) stole it from Adelaide.

The best bird seen was a Great Crested Grebe.

This turned out to be the finale of my Bird a Day run, as I couldn't find a Willie Wagtail (nor a few other common species) on the Tuesday.  We did go to Scots Church for a Music Matinee (MM) by the Australian National Academy of Music.  This was unusual for MM as it featured brass instruments.  The first piece was Janacek "Capriccio" by 8 members of ANAM.  Apart from the brass it was notable for the piano part being played only on the left hand as it had been adapted from a piece by someone who had lost their right hand in WW1.  Very pleasant and interesting.

Wednesday was mainly spent a la tradie resolving an issue with our air conditioning.  Interestingly it turned out the core problem was with the water supply, flowing (or rather not flowing) following some earlier work.

Thursday was a trip to the WTP.  En route we called in at Hoppers Crossing to go to Anaconda to acquire some walking poles (for support on stairs at theatres) and a pair of Keen shoes.  An astonishing area with the feel of Fyshwick but about the size of Belconnen!  The WTP was fairly quiet for that facility with only 43 species recorded.  We saw a Little Eagle (NBAD for BAD with a Break) and several Swamp Harriers.

On the Friday we wanted to buy a floor lamp for use in the Winter Garden as it gets hard to read out there after about 5pm these days.  A lighting store (Beacon Lighting) seemed quite useful once we had worked out that numbering on St Kilda Road restarts at the Junction so 366 was well after 505 rather than before.  As we were on that sort of tram we went a little further and walked around Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, taking Eastern Rosella as NBAD.  Coming back we hopped off the tram at Carlisle St to see if we could get in to St Kilda Town Hall for a look round.  It turned out we had gone to the back door but were allowed in by one of the staff who gave us a tor of the working area of Port Phillip City Council.  It was really interesting and I reckon they should do this as an organised event.  The way the building has been restored after a fire in 1991 has won awards - very justifiably IMO.

On the Saturday we saw a bunch - 5 - of balloons heading our way and the last 2 were landing in Fawkner Park as we went on our walk.  They landed quite close to us.

Our plan for the afternoon was to go on a tour, run by Ports Victoria and the Melbourne Marine Heritage Network, of Station Pier in Port Melbourne.  Here is a Google Earth shot.

Point 1 is a building we thought about buying into, but decided not when we researched the number of cruise vessels using the Pier (about 100 per season was quoted).  There seemed to be a circular argument evident: they need the cruises to fund the pier (charges of $34 per passenger, plus berthing fees but the cruises need them to keep spending $millions to maintain it).  Point 2 if a small finger wharf where we gathered.  Point 3 is the tram stop.

The trip out was somewhat chaotic as a protest had caused Yarra Trams to close the service up Swanston St so we were diverted along Kingsway to Collins Street.  Then the first 109 tram was a 109A which stopped at Montagu St!!!!  Whatever, we got there: here is the group on the finger jetty,

This is the main jetty.  The speakers from Ports Victoria explained about the design and history of the Pier.  I didn't takes notes and neither of the organising bodies have any detail on their websites (as far as I have found to date).

Walking out along the Pier it seemed rather underwhelming.  By way of example the wharf at Eden is far more impressive and modern.

I feel this sign is actually surplus!

Inside the arrivals area was frankly depressing.  It reminded me of the transit lounge at Darwin Airport when I emigrated in 1970 (a semi-converted hangar, still with bullet holes from the Japanese air raids of WW2).  Perhaps better when in operation but as a welcome to the Melbourne  - yecch.  The speakers di comment how cruisers think of smooth tropical seas and find cold, rough Bass Strait a bit of a shock.  The empty duty free area looked rather like a counter in K-Mart.

Two tapestries were quite pleasant, but were totally devoid of interpretive information.

The tram ride home was horrible.  The leg into town wasn't too bad apart from being very crowded with fans going to a footy match at Docklands.  As usual after a demo-stoppage all the trams coming down Swanston St were packed before they got to Collins St and we had to force our way on.  Unusually, not many folk got off down St Kilda Rd so we also had to battle to get off.

Sunday 11th was a quiet day until 1630hrs when we set off towards Hamer Hall (nothing to do with the electorate of Kooyong) for a free concert by the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  One objective of this outing was to get a look at the Hall, probably the most significant Serious Music venue in Melbourne.  The building was pretty good, but not as exciting visually as the Melbourne Recital Centre (although a good but larger).  I suspect it was around 50% capacity.

The orchestra was huge: my guess was about 80 musicians on stage with some turnover around the interval (and a choir offstage for the last movement of the Planets).  Here is most of the band for the first two works.

For the Planets 2 Harps appeared.

I'm not sure if I have ever seen 7 double basses together at once.

It was against the rules to take photos while the conductor was on stage!

The first work was a very melancholy piece by Lili Boulanger composed in 1918 when she was dying from Crohn's disease at the age of 24.  It was interesting, with some unusual sounds as might be expected from serious music of that time.  

Before the second work, the World Premiere of Symphony No 6 "Pulse of the Earth" the composer, Stuart Greenbaum, was introduced and spoke about the composition of the work at an art centre in Southern Japan.  He was from the Music Faculty and commented about working with the orchestra getting the work to being "as good as they could get it".  Which was very good indeed.

After the interval they performed The Planets Suite by Gustav Holst.  As the conductor said this was much more familiar.  Very interesting to see the various musicians at work, and an excellent performance.  A few of  the audience clapped at the end of movements but most followed protocol.  Mars (1st) and Jupiter (4th) were the most exciting, and loudest, movements.  I was intrigued by the 3 timpanists including one with a big red drum: at one point I thought she was only going to play 3 notes in the performance but got a good turn in Jupiter.

Overall a very enjoyable and interesting outing/

Walking back to the NGV tram stop the lights in the street were interesting and I suddenly realised that all the dots had gone from the trees as the Kusama exhibition had finished.