Melbourne – Travels with Ali

~ Fun and Fantastic Free attractions for Melbourne visitors ~

Walking through the Royal Botanic Gardens is an escape from city life. It’s peaceful and quiet with the trees masking the noise from the roads. It was founded in 1846 and covers 38 hectares. As we only had a few hours to explore we followed the path back towards the city. My gallery below shows just a few of the scenes on offer.

I liked these quotes so typed them out to be able read them clearly.

This plant caught my eye, at first from a distance I thought it was a light of some kind.

The photo above is of Guilfoyle’s Volcano. It is a restored reservoir built in 1876 built to look like a volcano. From here you can see panoramic scenes of the city.

Top left, Anthony in the Tacoma Pavilion ; Top right, “Looking out”
Bottom, Shrine of Remembrance.

Looking through the trees towards the City skyline

There is a cafe here for lunches and coffees and also many places to sit and have a picnic. The Yarra River is only a short walk away where there are many cafes and restaurants.

This is one of my favourite places for lunch, especially on a sunny day.

Another interesting place to explore, particularly when it’s raining is The National Gallery of Victoria. It is normally free entrance, if there is a special exhibition an entrance fee might be required. There are four floors to explore with over 76,000 works of art to see.

I have collated a gallery of my own below. I framed my favourites.

Image gallery image — “Venus”
Jeff Koons

Paintings by Nipa Doshi

Tea and coffee salon, Sabo, 1939
Saeki Shunko

Parrots Live Forever
Audrey Flack

I took the above to show my 7 year old grandson as I think some of his artwork is better!

Photograph titled Irises
Robert Mapplethorpe

This last one appealed to me because of the shadow and light thrown across the flowers. Tea and Coffee Salon is my favourite and think it would look excellent hanging in my living room.

If you’re looking for quirky places to eat in Melbourne off the beaten track, we found an excellent French restaurant. Midnight in Paris is situated in Prahran High Street and is also an art gallery. They have live music on Fridays and Saturdays. The service and food are excellent.

Our tasty mains

A sample of the artwork on display

Cozy garden at the back

I was tempted to get up and have a little boogie and danced like no-one was watching! But everyone would have been watching it was so small.

I’m linking to Jo’s Monday Walk and Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share and PPAC

~ A Medley of Murals in Melbourne ~

During our week in Melbourne we saw many new murals. I managed to find a few without too much graffiti drawn on them. It seems to be a thing now that all murals are being defaced with graffiti.

It’s great to walk around the different neighbourhoods in Melbourne and find street art. You can often miss various artworks if you’re walking on the wrong side or not looking up. These murals really brighten up the drab walls and sides of the buildings.

“The Phlegm Robot”
By Phlegm a British street artist. A five story tall robot depicting a small village inside his head. The light on the building has been incorporated to show the beating heart.

My favourite is the one with the dogs. Although the most interesting is the last one, so intricate. Also the only one with any information about it.

~ Chilly Times in Melbourne and Halls Gap ~

The apartment I had booked for our stay in Melbourne was in St. Kilda, even though it was from Booking.Com, it was just an Air B n B. As we drove into the carpark I realised it was a stacker park and Anthony was concerned that his long car wouldn’t fit! Luckily a lady who had just finished parking her car said she would help guide the car in. It was a very tight and tricky fit and I would definitely never book a place with stacker parking again. She even tested the elevation to check the fit. All the while with Anthony in the driver seat. The apartment itself was fine with a fantastic view from the large balcony. This would be wonderful in summer.

We spent the next two days wandering around Melbourne, eating, drinking and shopping.

I wanted to have a look at the Three Fates displayed at The Hellenic Museum in Melbourne. They were painted by Ox King (Steven Nuttall). They are called Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.

Clotho (left) chose when and whether a person was to be born, spinning the thread of human life.
Lachesis (centre) chose the length of a person’s life and measures the thread.
Atropos (right) chose when and how a person would die and cuts the thread.

The mural on my left caught my eye as we walked down the street and I had to backtrack to take the photo. A comic book mural featuring Gordan Ramsay, I noticed at the bottom.
The sculpture on the right is titled “Creative Brilliance” by Ngardang Girri Kalat Mimini. It is located outside the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre.

A few from our evenings out wining and dining

Hall’s Gap and The Grampians

I had planned a two day visit, overnight in Ballarat and then onto The Grampians. Anthony said he wanted to experience really cold weather. It looked like his wish would come true as the temperatures were hovering around 0 to 3.

We had to make the most of our time away as it was so short, so on arriving at The Grampians Motel, we checked in and made our way into the picturesque town of Halls Gap. The motel was situated outside of the town and in a beautifully landscaped area. Complete with its own troupes of kangaroos.

I made my way over to a very large one and froze on the spot when he got up and I started walking slowly backwards.

Views from our room

Infinitely more friendly!

We did just a couple of small walks around The Grampians, there are some wonderful trails for the more serious hikers, sadly I’m not one of those.

A zoomed in shot of some climbers up in the rocks on the right.

The Grampians are a range of quartzose sandstone mountains that were a million years in the making. There are five spectacular sandstone ridges running north to south with steep and craggy slopes on the eastern side and gentler slopes to the west. They are the result of earth movements lifting and tilting the hard sandstones to create an impressive landscape of peaks and valleys. Source: The Grampians

I thought at first the markings on the trees above were some kind of symbolic carvings! The patterns are so intricate and look like ancient configurations. It’s just where the bark has fallen off though or maybe some beetle borings.

On our drive back to Melbourne we stopped at a winery in Ararat called Montara. We shared a delicious charcuterie platter and sampled the wines.

As you’ve noticed I do take quite a few selfies, I enjoy posing everyone, so when a stranger offers to take our photo I never object. It’s the awkward moment after, do you check it straightaway, look later or just take your own anyway. I’ve yet to decide how to deal with this. They do generally come out okay but if not you’ve lost that opportunity. Also they take so many! It’s the control freak in me.

All too soon our mini trip away was over. The next day we would be heading over to Sydney. with another overnight stop on the way.

🐾 Until we see you again dear Archie 🐾

~ Welcome Return to Melbourne ~

The time had come for our visit to Melbourne again. We had planned five days with Laurence and Maddy. They were both still on their Christmas break from work so it meant we could spend every day together.

Our trip didn’t start too well with our late night flight delayed for one hour (at least we were on time!). This meant it would be too late for Laurence to pick us up. When we arrived we found the taxi queue to be too long for us to wait, so decided to book the hotel opposite. Any sensible person would walk across the road and ask for a room, but thinking I was being clever I booked online while on the side of the road.
Booking.Com didn’t allow me to book for the day before, so I went ahead and booked for that day, which meant that we couldn’t check in until 3 pm, which I found out when we went to check in! By now it was 2.30 am and we were desperate for a room. Fortunately I managed to get through to Booking.Com and convey my mistake! Hoping that the hotel would waive the cost as we now had to book direct through them.
Anyway I didn’t get charged otherwise it would have been a very expensive mistake. Although I had to explain all this to the staff as they kept saying they couldn’t refund me. Lesson: Do not book online at the side of the road.

For the next five days we ate and drank our way around Melbourne’s fine restaurants.

We stayed in a one bedroom apartment just across the road from Laurence and Maddy which was ideal.

It was hot and humid one minute and cold and rainy the next. It’s true what they say about Melbourne – Four seasons in one day.

We had a quick trip to St. Kilda for happy hour followed by dinner at Bistro Thierry – no points for guessing it was French.

No trip to Melbourne is complete for Anthony without a shopping day, so it was into town for that.

We had lunch in a very popular Vietnamese restaurant, cocktails on a rooftop bar and dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant.

Thursday it was my day to choose somewhere to go. So we drove to Williamstown around 30 minutes drive from St. Kilda. It was a beautiful sunny day and the beach was packed with umbrellas and cabanas. We had a seafood lunch overlooking the bay and wander around after.

Williamstown was Melbourne’s first port settlement and named after William 1V in 1837. Of course there was an indigenous settlement long before this. The Yalukit-willam clan of the Kulin nation were the first people to call this town home.

Nowadays it is a popular place for family holidays with gorgeous sandy beaches and many restaurants and cafes. It reminded me of an English seaside town, without the weather to go with it though.

We had a dinner at their place one night with Laurence grilling steaks on his Weber.

Too soon and it was our last day and it was pouring! Maddy had mentioned she wanted to see the Triennial exhibition at the National Gallery so we caught a tram to the city for a visit. The exhibition is free and hosts many different exhibitions throughout the year.

Taking photos was allowed so I took a few of the ones that I liked or intrigued me the best!

Larger than life sculptures by Thomas J Price

Walking into the room above, I asked myself what constitutes art? I said to Laurence I could do this, looks easy. To which he answered “aah but that’s the trick to make it look easy but in reality it’s very difficult”. I’m still not sure I would put this on my wall though.

Paintings by Farrokh Mahdavi an Iranian artist. In Untitled, pink is the universal colour of our flesh; it transcends politics, race, nationality, territoriality and gender. Source – NGV

Comedian
Maurizio Cattelan – Italian born artist

Well I could definitely do this. My thoughts: ”The Emperor’s New Clothes”. I have cropped this as much as I could but it was in a room with nothing else.

In 1999, Cattelan duct taped his art dealer, Massimo De Carlo, to a wall for the opening of his exhibition A Perfect Day.

I loved the ones above as I found them profound and moving.

Displaced along with members of his immediate family during the Kosovo War (1998–99), Petrit Halilaj’s Very volcanic over this green feather explores his experience as a thirteen-year-old refugee living for more than two years in Kukës II camp in Albania. Art materials were distributed to children at the camp by visiting Italian psychologist Giacomo Poli. Poli encouraged the children to externalise and process their experiences through drawing. Spotting his talent, Poli would much later arrange for Halilaj to attend art school in Italy. Source – NGV

I enjoy looking at old paintings of Royalty and Noblemen and Women and one floor was showing these, although not part of the Triennel exhibition.

Anthony’s family has a family tree dating back to Louis XIV by one of his mistresses and above is Louis XIII. Is there a likeness? He would have to shave his beard to be sure! On that note I will close this lengthy post.

Thanks for joining me on our recent trip to Melbourne!

~ Melbourne Moments – July 2023 ~

After getting over our initial disappointment with the accommodation and realising we had to stay or spend more to move, we got on with enjoying Melbourne. There were lunches and dinners, mixing it up sometimes about who went out with whom, but mostly having fun family moments.

One thing I enjoy about Melbourne is the fantastic murals and artwork and the fabulous sculptures on display.

“**Beauty is in the eye of the beholder**“

These two paintings were next to the beautiful eye mural, so I looked up “My Dog Sighs” and realised that is the name of the painter. Click the link to find out more about this wonderful painter, who gave away his work free for ten years, but is now a world-wide renowned painter.

I had to cross the road to get the full impact of this mural, absolutely stunning.

Found in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, Victoria

Quirky paintings on meter boxes

There were many of these steel sculptures along the Yarra River, they look brilliant when lit up at night.

Walking around Melbourne and its suburbs is like being in a gigantic art museum, but outside. I much prefer looking at art outside than in a museum.

Views of the Yarra River

Below are five carved-wooden figureheads representing a dragon, woman, bird and man and lion.

They are placed where the river created a natural widening for the boats in the 19th century to turn around after unloading their wares.

Constellation Sculptures by Geoffrey Bartlett and Bruce Armstrong
Enterprize Landing

We finished our five day trip with a drive to a winery in Werribee, called Shadowfax. There wasn’t a table available inside so we made do with outside and a heater. This was good news for the munchkins as they had the run of the garden and we could see them from our table. The food was delicious and the wine was flowing.

Thanks for coming along for the trip to Melbourne with us!

~ A Trip to Melbourne – July 2023 ~ Delays, Disasters and Dirty Apartments

The day we left started well, we got up on time, after that not so well. We left our house 15 minutes late and after ten minutes drove straight into heavy traffic. Looking at Google maps it still seemed ok, but then it just kept adding on minute after minute. After not moving for 30 minutes, we decided to turn at the next break in the road and try another way. For reasons only known to my dear hubby he didn’t do as Lady Google suggested but went his own way. We could only turn back if we drove up the kerb and over the grass divider which he did! I thought we had lost the bumper at the very least or an oil leak with the noise the car made bumping back onto the road.

Finally getting to the airport carpark with 30 minutes to spare before the flight, we still had to wait for the bus to terminal. When we got to the counter we found that the flight was delayed, yay! so the check in clerk put our bags on the belt and they almost made it, but not quite. Apparently our seats had been given to someone else! We were outside of the required check in time. We were offered another flight at midnight getting in at 5 am, but really 3 am Perth time. What would we do all day? We had booked a carpark for five days, I couldn’t cope with such a late flight.

In the end I booked another flight for the afternoon, at great cost but saving time, Anthony would have gone on the midnight flight at no cost and having hours to kill.

What would you do? Are you Team Ali or Team Anthony?

I can’t believe we missed the flight, the reason – being complacent with my dear hubby and not giving him stress to hurry himself along.

The flight we took was delayed for over an hour, so we didn’t end up getting to our apartment until 10pm.

On landing the first thing I did was check my messages, as luckily Elena Damian and the kids had all made their flight. Oh my! the photos she sent of the apartment! She refused to sleep there that night as it was truly appalling. Absolutely filthy dirty throughout, although the beds did have clean bedding. There was a family already there – of cockroaches! Our apartment was better but the smell of smoke was awful.

I am now having an ongoing dispute with Booking.Com about receiving some compensation.

Anyway I’ll end this diatribe now and just say in the end we had a fabulous family time. It’s been over six months since we were altogether.

The first two days for us were spent getting to know Melbourne again. Elena and Damian visited the aquarium and zoo where the kids had the best time.

Melbourne is such an easy city to get around, there are tram and bus stops everywhere and the train routes are excellent. We bought a Myki card which enables you to tap on and off, there is also a free zone in the middle of the city.

❤️ Out on the town with the newly engaged couple ❤️

Just a few of the photos I took on the first two days.

~ Melbourne Rediscovered – Fairfield Pipe Bridge and Abbotsford Convent ~

We have just spent the last week in Melbourne visiting Laurence and Maddy again. Each time we go to Victoria we try and find somewhere we haven’t been before. Fairfield Pipe Bridge has been on my list for a while after seeing it on another blog, so if you follow My Camera and I you may have heard of this before.

From St Kilda where we were staying it was quite a trek to get there! A tram and bus and a good walk. Also Google Maps led us up the garden path much to my dismay as my dear husband kept saying it’s not this way. We finally found it and enjoyed a delicious lunch at the cafe there.

Fairfield Pipe Bridge

The original bridge was built in 1878 to carry water from Yan Yean Reservoir to Kew. The bridge was washed away in the floods of 1934. A new bridge was built close to the original site.

Fairfield Park Boathouse Cafe

The notice above reads “Notice to Hired Help” – The Manager has the unfortunate duty of informing hired help that instant dismissal from this establishment will follow the disclosure, for whatever reason, of the chef’s tightly held Scone and other Recipes, which have a large following in the colonies.

Dress – Ladies may remove clothes consistent with charm
~
*Gentlemen may remove clothing consistent with* decency

This was such a cute cafe featuring many original features and we were fortunate enough to enjoy lunch outside as the weather was perfect.

As Anthony is a big walker he said let’s walk back to the City! There was no way I could do this but I said I would walk as far as I could. Walking further than I thought I was getting quite tired, so looked up Google maps to check where we were, there was a turning just up ahead and I decided to come off there and leave him to walk on his own. I also saw there was a convent that looked worth investigating.

I was so glad I did this as this place was amazing. I had a good walk around and there seemed to be something to see with every turn I took.

Abbotsford Convent

Abbotsford Convent is Australia’s largest multi-arts precinct and is home to many studios. They are filled with health practitioners, artists and designers. There are two schools, a radio station and beautiful gardens to wander around. Two cafes, a bar and a toyshop are also on the premises.

**St Mary’s – now Sophia Mundi Steiner School**

History of Abbotsford Convent

Founded by The Sisters of the Good Shepherd in 1863, Abbotsford Convent operated for more than 100 years through the social traumas caused by the gold rush boom and bust, the Great Depression and two world wars. Over the period of a century, thousands of girls and women were placed in care at the Convent, with many residing in the Convent’s Sacred Heart building, and labouring in the onsite Magdalen Laundry.

While the Convent had a positive impact for some women—many of whom were destitute and had nowhere else to go—and provided critically needed shelter, food and education in the absence of state care, the Convent was also a place of hardship and ordeal for some of the women, as was often the experience of those in institutionalised care. Source

I think most of us have read something about the history of the Magdalen Laundries and the horrific ordeals these young girls had to go through, so it was nice to see that this place was now full of positive vibes and helping young people to get on in life. It’s well worth a visit if you want to escape the city or have an extra day in your itinerary whilst in Melbourne.

A Family Trip to Melbourne – Part Two – Walking the Yarra Trail

Waking up to blue skies again was a very nice surprise, especially after the weather forecast had predicted rain for the whole of our stay here. We had the day to ourselves, so what to do! I do like a walk along a river so did a quick search and saw we could walk the Yarra Trail into town.

We hoped on a tram right outside our apartment building and got off at the start of the trail to walk into Melbourne. It’s a great scenic walk, good for cycling, walking and running, starting with bushland and ending up with skyscrapers.

As you can see there are many bridges to cross the Yarra River, whether by foot, train or car.

I spotted these concrete blocks high up on the ridge, the photos make them look larger than they are. Pretty cute I thought!

Rowing is a very big part of Melbourne sports, dating back to the 1800s. There are many clubs to choose from and the Yarra River is ideal for training.

“Warin the Wombat was carved from a 2.5- tonne redgum log by Des McKenna and took two weeks to complete. The wombat is named ‘Warin’ pronounced Wareeyn, a name derived from the local dialect of the two most important Aboriginal tribes of the Melbourne area.” . Source: City Collection Melbourne

This is one of my favourite photos of the trip that I took. I’ve decided to call it “Elements and Textures”. There is sky, water, earth and foliage and also steel, glass, tile and brick. It captures the diversity of Melbourne.

“Temple of the Winds” and Government House

**Finally ending our walk with some beverages!**

Of course as we were now so near to the city what choice did we have but to go shopping! Anthony always says it’s just for a look, but I think I know better after 30 years.

A Family Trip to Melbourne – Part one – Prahran Market and Legoland

The day finally arrived for our trip to Melbourne to visit Laurence and Maddy. It was a bright and clear day in Perth and there was so much excitement as we packed up two cars to drive to the airport. We parked in the long term carpark and then caught the shuttle bus to the terminal. When we arrived at the airport, Lachie was already saying “are we in Melbourne yet”, a phrase that was heard very often over the next few hours.

On the bus to the terminal

As we prepared to print our luggage tags a Qantas assistant came up and did everything for us, so helpful, then walking through immigration we were once again assisted through the hand baggage check. Of course poor Anthony gets stopped every single time because of his titanium shoulder and always gets frisked and patted from top to bottom.

The plane was almost full and we were all sitting in a row. Masks needed to be worn which was a great game for Rose as she tried repeatedly to take mine off. Although it was nice to be travelling to Melbourne again the masks are a pain to wear! You were only allowed to eat at designated times, when the food was served and masks were to be placed back again when the time was over.

We were staying at The Hamptons in St. Kilda in a two bed, two bath apartment. We had decided not to rent a car as it is hard to park in Melbourne for any length of time.

On our first day Elena and I took the kids to Prahran Market where there was live music for kids. It’s a wonderful market with lots of cafes and food stalls selling all kinds of fruit, veg and baked goods.

We couldn’t believe how helpful people were assisting with the pram and giving us the correct directions to the market.

I had to stop and take photos of the great murals always found in Melbourne.

After the market it was home again for nap time before our visit to DiscoverLego at Chadstone. This is something Lachie had been looking forward to for a long time. It’s a great experience if you are a lego enthusiast, young or old. The work that goes into creating these exhibits is astounding.

As we were technically still on Perth time we went out for dinner to The Grosvenor Hotel within walking distance from our apartment. That’s the best thing about Melbourne you don’t have to go far to find a pub, restaurant, cafe or bar!

A lovely end to our first day, hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly!

Restaurants and Murals of Melbourne

It was over a year since our last visit to Melbourne, longer for hubby, and it was the second planned trip this year! Anyway we finally took the risk of no lockdowns during our six day trip (although that has come back to bite us on the backside!) This visit was to catch up with Laurence and Maddy, a weekend on Philip Island and a short trip to Sydney.

We decided to stay near them so as to maximise our time together and chose The Hamptons on Chapel Street.

Arriving late on a Tuesday afternoon, we checked into a very nice one bedroom apartment and met with Laurence and Maddy for dinner just around the corner.

Tulum Turkish Restaurant, Balaclava

This is one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne, it has some very tasty tapas on the menu.

A delicious start to our stay in Melbourne

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Over the next couple of days we spent time walking the streets and soaking up the sights.

The street art around Melbourne is always so different and vibrant. I took photos of some fabulous murals on our walk around the city.

The above two murals are by Mike Maka from Melbourne (Australia) a painter who works in a variety of media, mainly on walls, canvas and illustration on paper. He has travelled and created work around the world, painting the Berlin Wall to the River Ganges. Source: Street-Artwork

The mural on the right was actually blocked off and I had to step on a small wall and balance on hubby’s back while lowering the net to snap it!

Painted by Heesco – a Mongolian Artist based in Melbourne

This brightly coloured mural was just outside our apartment block, such beautiful colours.

Heesco – a Mongolian born artist based in Melbourne. Have a look at his website, he is by far the best artist I have seen. His silo murals are extraordinary.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Chez Bob, Armadale

One night we had dinner in a cute French restaurant out in one of the suburbs east of Melbourne. A fabulous evening with great food and service. We ate snails, scallops, pate, beef tartare, rabbit pie, duck and beef. A gourmet feast.

G2 Korean BBQ, CBD

Maddy chose G2, one of her favourite restaurants in Melbourne for our last night here. This is a very authentic restaurant with a burner of coals on the table. The staff that night were truly run off their feet as they like to cook for you. Although we did pretty well on our own.