small world
I was talking to Von about the amazingly funky Crumpler bag I've had for a while now, and it turns out the one and only Stu Crumpler is (I think this is right) a friend of a friend of hers. Woohoo! That's like three degrees from Mr Crumpler! Even weirder: he comes from Horsham, which is where my housemate Dan spent a fair bit of time when he was a young'un.
Scribbled somewhere in Melbourne at 11:59 PM | Comments (5)

lest we forget




On my way back from St Kilda on the tram I spotted a relaxing looking park, luckily enough right before a stop that looked like it was packed with a lot of people about to jump on the tram. So I wandered across the road and looked closer.

At the top of the hill was the Victorian Shrine of Rememberence, a beautiful building with the most moving atmosphere. The acoustics in the main chamber are amazing, the last post has an eerie echo as it plays and echos in the chamber and around the side passages. The crypt downstairs is one of the most emotionally touching places I've ever been — definitely worth checking out if you're in Melbourne for a day.

They're doing a lot of construction worth at the moment, to build a new entrance to the shrine, all of which should be finished by Anzac Day 2003. I'm not sure if the new ramp entrance will be as impactful as the current stairs and grass, but time will tell.
Scribbled somewhere in Melbourne at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

weeeeeeee
I caught up with Von tonight, and had a great dinner out at Port Melbourne. Bonus points for presentation: Von's fish and chips arrived in a little curled paper cone. Awww. Points lost: they tried to take the drinks before we were finished. No tips for you!

They had a disappointing cake selection at this joint, so we wandered around in the cold for a while before giving up and heading back to the warmth of Crown. Double Chocolate Cake. I'm still a bit woozy from the sugar high. Wooo!
Scribbled with a giddy laugh at 10:49 PM | Comments (1)

secret life






Two firsts for today: I finally made it down to St Kilda today, and I had my first trip on a tram (oooooh).

St Kilda's amazing, it's just all nice and chilled out, kinda the perfect seaside suburb. The creepy part is how much I've already associated St Kilda with Secret Life of Us, which I don't even watch. Just from the ads, I can look at certain parks and go "yep, that's secret life..." Weird.

And speaking of parks, I had a little too much fun at a park on the St Kilda foreshore... I spotted one of those little ball things that you get into and spin around by turning the disc in the middle (okay that made no sense) except that I couldn't get it going fast enough to get a nice blur in the photo so I gave up. End result: the distracted looking Si in the blue photo on the right.

Which brings me to trams. Wooo! They're a lot fun. All this middle-of-the-road excitement. And real trams. Not those quasi-trams we've got in Perth (which is basically a bus in drag). The metcard ticket things are a bit weird after years of using the little multirider ticker munchers in Perth, but they're great.

And I love being able to jump on and off all over the place, which I took advantage of today, meandering on and off the trams to get from St Kilda to the Shrine of Rememberance and the Botanic Gardens. I think I should catch the trams more often - I think I'm starting to get blisters on my feet from walking around. But the weather's too nice to sit on a tram!

Incidentally, the botanical gardens are amazing. They're huge, and it's a nice relaxing walk after the bustle of the CBD. The (fruit?) bats in the trees near the fern gully are pretty damn freaky, but it's very cool. Worth checking out.
Scribbled from the comfort of a hotel bed at 05:05 PM | Comments (1)


 
Live from Melbourne Home | Day 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2,