Melbourne 2023 – Part 2

Monday 30^th January

After a busy first week, I decided to have a quiet Monday catching up with my blog, sorting out my photographs and just sitting in the sun reading my book, at times I forget that holidays are supposed to be relaxing.

Tuesday 31^st January

This morning I felt like a walk to shake off the cobwebs from lazing around yesterday.  Instead of turning left at the end of G&B’s street and going to Mordialloc, I turned right and headed down the Longbeach Trail towards Chelsea, it was a nice sunny day so the walk was very pleasant with some nice things to see on the way, such as the Edithvale Wetlands, a large natural wetland which supports 190 bird species.  It was good to stand on the lookout watching many different birds in their natural habitat.  Eventually, I reached the Thames Promenade which took me into the centre of Chelsea where I had a wee wander around, before visiting the beach to get some sand between my toes.  After a quick lunch I caught a metro train back to Mordialloc, as it was still nice and sunny I decided to stroll along the pier to watch the many fishermen fishing along its length, although I must admit that I didn’t see too many fish being landed.  Eventually, it was time to head home, tired but happy with around 20,000 steps under my belt to compensate for the lazy day yesterday.

Wednesday 1^st February

My birthday!  Following on from yesterday’s walk, I decided to venture a bit further today, I went to Mordialloc and caught a train down to Frankston, the seaside town where Briony grew up.  Jim and I visited last year with Graeme, Briony, Pat & Kay to take part in a street art walking tour, which was excellent, so I thought it would be good to do it again on my own.  After visiting the library and the civic information centre, I eventually found the tourist information centre down near the beach, where I picked up a map showing the locations of all of the major pieces. (watch out for a page showing them all later)

Off I went in search of them all and during the course of the day managed to find all 49 of them, only stopping for a bite of lunch in the Cheeky Squire down at the beach.  I caught the train back home in time to get changed to go out for a nice birthday celebration meal in the Bridge Hotel in Mordialoc.  The day was topped off with a special 3D boat-shaped birthday cake made by Briony.  This was another great day.

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Thursday 2^nd February

Thinking about travelling to some other places in Victoria around Melbourne, I took the train into Southern Cross Station to pick up some timetables for Ballarat and Geelong, I plan to visit both of them later.  From the station I jumped onto a tram to take me down to the riverfront where I went in search of the Polly Woodside Maritime Museum only to find when I got there that it was only open on the 1st & 3rd Sunday of each month, feeling slightly disappointed, I then visited the nearby Docklands Mission to Seafarers Victoria its lovely heritage listed building, when I entered, I was very surprised to find it full of people, it turned out that the venue was hosting the AGM of PROBUS, a club for retired people, they kindly invited me in to join them, thankfully the meeting had finished and they were busy selling raffle tickets and holding an Antiques Roadshow type event, fun though it was, it still didn’t encourage me to join such a club.  The Mission building intrigued me though so I will add it to my list of places to visit for a future time.

On leaving Docklands I took a number 35 tourist tram around the city, getting off in Flinders Street where I popped into the Duke of Wellington for lunch and a beer.  After lunch I paid a visit to ACMI  (formerly Australian Centre for the Moving Image), in Federation Square, this is a fabby place to visit with tons to see and do, I spent all of the afternoon wandering round watching movies and interacting with the numerous displays.  When it came time to go home, I was very surprised to find that it was pouring down outside,  as it was a lovely morning when I left home wearing only a tee shirt and shorts, I realised that I was in for a soaking and made a mad dash for the station to get the train home.  Once in Mordialloc, I waited in Mates, the local pup, for Graeme returning from work, to share his umbrella, but fortunately, Briony took pity on us both and came to pick up 2 cold, wet and bedraggled souls.  Another interesting day in Melbourne where they frequently boast of having 4 seasons in one day.

Friday 3^rd February

It looked like it was going to be a wee bit chilly today, so I decide it was time to set up my laser machine in Graeme’s garage, after finding a suitable spot, downloading and installing the required software, I set about getting the machine operational and tried out some test pieces.

Saturday 4^th February

Following on from yesterdays work in the garage Graeme and I tidied up a bit and re-configured the space to provide a better and safer working surface, complete with the Big Jim directors chair obtained by Pat, once that was completed I ran a training session to teach Graeme the fundamentals of the laser software, he is a quick learner and was able to design some Super Mario themed coasters for his niece and nephews, he liked the finished results so much he created one each for him and Briony.  In the evening, as Briony was out for the night, Graeme and I visited a local eatery called Urban Ground for dinner before heading to the local brewhouse, Braeside Brewing for a few beers, it was a real boys day out for us and great fun to spend  time with Graeme.

Sunday 5^th February

After a lazy morning catching up on the papers back home we went out to the RSL in Chelsea for lunch, where we met up with the Cullin family to celebrate my birthday, is was so nice to see them all together in what seems to becoming a regular lunch meeting when I visit Melbourne.  Briony’s brother Andrew and his family returned home with us and it was good to spend some time with them all.  As I have picked up a wee bit of a cold, (the result of Thursdays soaking I think), a quiet night in front of the telly finished of another great week.