Day 9 Saturday 16th March
Briony had a Vaccine yesterday and woke this morning feeling decidedly the worse for wear, so it was a boys day out for us. We took the train into town, busy with the footy supporters heading to the MCG, we travelled further to the. Abbotsford suburb to visit Dutch Vinyl, one of Graeme’s favourite record stores. Shopping complete, we then visited the Abbotsford Convent, an old convent complex that has been transformed into an arts space, it was nice to stroll round the grounds, read about the history of the place and have a nice lunch in one of the many cafes in the grounds. On our way back into town we stopped off for a refreshing pint in Bodriggy, a brewery/pub along the lines of Drygate in Glasgow. We continued along Johnstone Street, our wandering taking us into Collingwood where we caught some good street art along the way, revisiting some old favourites such as the Keith Harringay mural. As we were in the area, I took the chance to take Graeme to visit Easey’s bar/diner, climbing to one of the old trains on the roof for another refreshing beer.
A tram back to Flinders Street to catch the train home saw us meeting the footy crowds on their way home, we were glad to be back in the cool of the house and finished off the day with a nice Japanese meal at home.
Day 10 Sunday 17th March
The big excitement for today the return trip to the MCG this time to watch Graeme’s team, the Melbourne Demons, play the Western Bulldogs. What I found interesting was the amount of families there, making a fun day out for them all, with supporters of both teams sitting together in the stands. The stadium wasn’t full but with a crowd of over 40,000 there were plenty to create an exciting atmosphere, it’s good watching on TV but when you actually see the size of the stadium it’s really something to watch the game in real life. Each game is split into 4 quarters and at half time I was able to sample a Four’n’Twenty pie and a pint, the pie was very good, similar to the famous Killie pie. After the match, we visited the Demons Store, where Graeme and I picked up some merchandise before joining the crowds on the train home. A quick stop for some shopping then home for a nice dinner from Saki Souvlaki, a local Greek deli, which Briony supports.
Day 11 Monday 18th March
I struck it lucky this year, as each year the nearby town of Frankston has a big street art festival, which I always seem to miss. However this year’s festival started today. I thought I would take a trip down on the train to see if I could catch the sight of the murals created last year, which I missed. I visited the tourist information office, where I picked up a map showing the location of them all, so off I trotted to capture photographs of them all, as usual, I was impressed with the quality of the works. During my time in the town I met up with some of the artists who are painting the murals for this years festival, It was nice to have a chat with them and it looks as though their work will be very good. I am looking forward to going back to see them again later in the week. As it was so warm, I decided to return home early in the afternoon to enable me to chill out and catch up with my book.
Day 12 Tuesday 19th March
A day in the city was my outing for the day, I took the train to the Southern Cross station and walked up to the Stella Maris in Little Collins Street where I met up with Lee Anne, the manager who I met last year, we had a nice chat about the future proposed amalgamation of the missions in Melbourne. Leaving there, stopped off for lunch before, continuing into the Docklands area to visit the Flying Angel, another seafarers mission to hear their side of the story of a proposed plans, interesting times ahead for them both I think.
Crossing the river onto the South Bank I enjoyed seeing all the Formula One merchandise outlets as I strolled along, there was also a display of some crazy cars, I especially liked the Thomas the Tank engine van, I continued along the South Bank until I come to St Kilda road, stopping off in the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) where I spent some time admiring the displays.
On leaving the gallery, I took a tram down to St Kilda, I was meeting Graeme & Briony later, so I spent some time on the hunt for some street art, finding a good few. Graeme & Briony are both members of a club in one of St Kilda’s bar, The Local Taproom, called Ale Stars. For an annual membership they receive an embroidered shirt, a tankard and locker, they meet once a month when a guest brewer visits to give a talk about four beers being sampled, a meal is served and there is also a beer related trivia quiz during the evening. We were joined on the night by Simon, one of Briony’s friends, (he was best man at their Australian wedding), It was a great fun night, one I would love to go to again, just a pity they only have it once a month.
Day 13 Wednesday 20th March
This morning Graeme and I spent some time in his shed, earlier we visited Bunnings, an Australian version of B&Q, to pick up some supplies, before building his laser station and doing a bit of tidying up.
After lunch we. took the train into town to go to the cinema. Graeme had booked tickets to see Dune 2 at the IMAX cinema, it was a fabulous movie, shown on the world’s largest screen of the type (32×23 metres). Leaving the cinema we headed down to Chinatown on Little Burke Street to finish off the day with a nice meal in Chine on Paramount, a typical type of restaurant. This was followed by the train home.
Day 14 Thursday 21th March
A day at home today, I spent most of in the shed, firstly, I tried to repair one of the faulty light fittings, then I powered up the laptop to complete the designs for a job I have to do when I get home.
After lunch, Pat came round to allow me to give him a demonstration of the laser and its use. He came with a wooden bowl he had turned at his men’s shed and some gumwood slices Kay wanted a design added to. Pat told me of some young children who joined both their names into one word Patakay, which allowed me to design a logo using the concept, adding a guitar rosette to finish it off, once we had lasered it onto the base of his bowl, we then added an Easter Bunny to Kay’s wood slices. He left delighted with his products.
While on the laptop, I booked a hotel room in nearby Geelong for Sunday night. I’m looking forward to visiting the city for a couple of days.
Day 15 Friday 22 March
A quiet day at home, catching up with my laundry, sorting out the blog and getting ready for a. Busy weekend and week ahead. Tonight we are going down to Frankston for a street party to mark the end of the street art festival, a trip into town on Saturday to catch some of the buzz around the Formula One race then my trip away to Geelong on Sunday. Read all about it next week.
Jim's travels 