Melbourne Adventures

 I hadn't been to Albert Park for a while and having paid for a tram ride to town and back in the morning it would cost me nothing to ride the rail to MSAC.  Well, nothing except a lot more time than expected and a rise in blood pressure.  The 16 tram took forever to arrive at 505 and then, at St Kilda Junction, the driver announced that as he was running late he was avoiding St Kilda and going along Dandenong Rd.  So half the passengers, including me got off and climbed on another #16 which was following. The #96 to get to MSAC turned up on Fitzroy quite quickly. Here is the route of my birding walk. The driving range was well covered with balls, but no indication how many shots were birdies. As soon as I got to the edge of the Lake (point1) I spotted the cocked tail of a Black-tailed Nativehen. A very good addition to my year list. The I spotted another bird of the same species. Eventually I got the two together. With some coots for comparison. Moving on around the...

This covers our explorations over a couple of days.  The first on 16 June was actually a walk from 505 to inspect some small cottages Frances had found near Chapel Street in Prahran.  We began walking down St Kilda Rd and along High St. Chimney pots have long been an interest: these are both on a cottage on High St. So is this well ornamented building. Getting close to Chapel St.  the Mechanics Institute was impressive. We turned into Macquarie St and noted these well preserved cottages ... .. but the main interest was this pair of Carpenter Gothic dwellings.  They are listed on a Heritage site ... .. and one has a spiffy chimney. We wove back on to Chapel St noting this impressive facade above a kebab shop. A few samples of art in the street.  This is one of two on the ends of the Melbourne Polytechnic building.  The other end depicted a Kookaburra. Just at the start of Macquarie St: I have no idea who the subject is, and the artists name has been tagged o...

 A birding friend recently sighting a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (ETS) in Woolworths at Altona.  This frustrated me as I had recently seen a sparrow in the store but had assumed it was a House Sparrow.  So today I went back loaded for Passerine, as ETS would be an addition to my Australian List.   I wandered up and down the aisles and round and round the store for 40 minutes.  Despite my atypical attire, equipment and behaviour no fellow shoppers queried me and security staff were not deployed.  Perhaps everyone assumed I was on day release from Collingwood?  They didn't even question me in the canned vegetable aisle - which is where I think my friend got her tick - when I played a little call back .  After about 40 minutes I left, pausing only to pay for some groceries. So I thought I would check out the car park area assuming the bird was was not an obligate shopaholic.  And there was a Sparrow! Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) my com...

Today we went over to Ardeer, in Sunshine, now the closest Costco to 505.  It took about 30 minutes to drive there, and we didn't get lost once (unlike the previous place in Docklands where we got seriously lost every time).  Once in the building no serendipity in the queue out, which looked like hell. Cutting to the chase, when we had finished shopping Frances said she would join said queue while I went and fill up with diesel.  At 154  cents per litre it was way better than most prices and I was able to fill the Mazda and get another park before she had got started at the checkout! The place was vast: far bigger that the one at Canberra Airport and very crowded.  I am tempted to say we added to ethnic diversity by introducing Anglos to the mix, but that might be a slight exaggeration. It was a very diverse crowd.  All the usual stuff was there and a few more things.   I have never before seen a slab of cheese costing a Grand: at $26.67/kg it was...