The Gaylord

Kitsch at its best

The Gaylord is in Tattersalls Lane in Chinatown and serves traditional Indian cuisine, specialising in Southern Indian and vegetarian.

I did say it was kitsch - well if it's kitsch you're after you've come to the right place - gold and red flocked wallpaper, mirror tiles, fake plants, an eccentric bizzare, wall-mounted 1970's wagon wheel, a large ceramic jaguar and permanent Christmas decorations all give this a one-of-a-kind place to eat.

Scenic Sunday - The Tree

The tree on the Yarra
I love sitting under a tree and watching the world go by.

TREES

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.


Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918

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Sweet Indulgence

La Maison du Chocolat
When you enter the door you are greeted with the most glorious array of chocolate. From Lindt and Sprüngli to Pink Lady and Ernest Hillier, Newman's, Cadbury, Red Tulip and Heritage - your every chocolate whim can be ingulged as you savour the delicious and delectable.

Sunset In My Neighbourd

Over the quarry

Some time ago I noticed a huge ball of flaming red and I realised if I went to the end of the street, turned right then left and left again at the end of the street I could see the sunset. There's a disused quarry in the foreground.

Red velvet sunset
Serenades earth and sky
An opera in red

Ribbons of color
Harmonize across sky
Red velvet sunset

Dorothy (Alves) Holmes

To see other skies around the world click here.

Ship Ahoy!

Sailing anyone?

The Royal Brighton Yacht Club (RBYC) is the Premier Yacht Club in Victoria and offers a huge array of services for yachting and power boat owners and is a member-based club, open to the whole community. Their aim is to promote and encourage the sport of yachting generally and racing between sailing yachts in particular. The club offers a wide range of benefits to both members and non-members.

On any given day you can pop down to Brighton and see a vast array of sea going vessels.

Classes sailed
Classes sailed at the Royal Brighton Yacht Club include:
470, Dragon, Etchell, Europe Dinghy, Jubilee, Laser, Pacer, Sabot, Sharpie.

(Apologies for my lack of visiting and/or commenting - "Junior" far exceeded our download limit and we have been "capped" until next month. At present pages are taking up to 10 minutes to load.)

Melbourne's Mosaic Mural

All the colours of the rainbow

This magnificant work of art is at Flinders Street Station, when you come out the Swanston Street exit just before Princes Bridge.

It was created by Mirka Mora, a true bohemian who was born in Paris in 1928 and migrated with her husband Georges to Australia in 1951.

Mirka has had around thirty-five solo exhibitions since 1956, including a retrospective exhibition of fifty years of her work at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 1999-2000. She was made Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2002.

A truly beautiful picture, I never grow tired of looking at it. More information about Mirka here and here.

Tattersalls Lane - East meets West

Where East meets West
For the uninitiated, strolling down Lt. Bourke Street this could be overlooked - but, think again and venture along this iconic bastion of Melbourne cool.

From the shabby entrance you'll find some of the best (and cheapest) dining on offer. Set in the heart of Chinatown, this unassuming laneway plays host to places like Gaylord's Indian restaurant. With its bright red entrance, not to mention its name it sure is a talking point. Or, feel like Chinese? Then head across to the Shanghai Dumpling House - one of the busiest and best on offer. (I can personally attest to the quality of their dumplings). Or the Shanghai Noodle House, who always seems to play second fiddle.

Then there's Section 8 - Melbourne funky where the artwork is superb and the atmosphere rocks. Built out of a carpark with steel mesh walls, boxed containers for seating and the most superb graffiti this side of the Black Stump. As I said in an earlier post - the coolest joint in town!

Continue past Stevenson Lane - waste disposal with street art, artistic scribble and all things unwanted and you're soon in Lonsdale Street - another world away from where you started out - with flash shops, wide streets and brilliant sunlight - all the things which make Melbourne Marvelous!

Discoland

You Can't Stop The Music
Have you ever noticed how many people have earphones stuck in their ears and wires dangling around the necks? Whatever happened to conversation - you're at the station or sitting on the train, a nice book in front of you and all you can hear is someone's music boring in on your conscience.

Methinks these Fearless Four have broken the Eleventh Commandment -
Thou shalt not have thy Apple - iPod so loud that it annoyeth others!

Scenic Sunday - Regeneration

Kinglake National Park
Taken Sunday a fortnight ago. Approximately 98% of the park was burnt by the Black Saturday bushfires this year and it was good to see some greenery - the trees may still be blackened, but at least the regeneration has started.

If you would like more information on the Black Saturday bushfires, click here - this is a blog I have started about that day and will be continually adding to.

To see other scenic Sundays click on the logo.

Witch's Hat or Torpedo?

Do you know what it is?
Neither do I - but I do find it rather fascinating each time I look at it - for some reason it always makes me giggle. Being ensconced down at Brighton Beach it most likely has something to do with the sea, but it does look like it could quite easily be a witch's hat.
Or a torpedo.

Skywatch Friday - Double Indemnity?

The sky in the pool

I rather liked this because the clouds are mirrored in the pool at Yering Station Winery.

We are at present experiencing a "cool change" and are in the middle of a dust storm - hopefully the internet won't drop out again.
Happy skywatching everyone.

To see other skies around the world click here.

A Bit Of R&R

Sunday morning break
Every Sunday this scene is what greets your eyes as cyclists gather in Kinglake. The town is filled with riders from surrounding areas.

A healthy snack
This fellow enjoys a welcome muesli bar.

Cellar Door

Panton Hill Winery
A boutique winery with many fine old antiques inside and classical music playing. The "symbol" above their doorway reminded me greatly of the symbol of a well-known Italian Fahion designer.

Tattooed

Nice tatts!
While having a Sunday morning coffee, I noticed this gentleman nearby - it was the tatts that did it - I just had to get a photo. I asked him first could I take his photo to which he responded, "Why? Are you a writer do you want to use my mug ugly face in your book?" I told him I wasn't a writer but I did like tattoos and his were wonderful. I didn't quite have enough courage to ask him to pose again and for all his ferocious look, he was actually very nice and we chatted about tattoos and he informed me some people go way overboard and have too many. He mentioned a fellow known as the "Tiger" man who had his face done in tiger stripes.

Did you know that hundreds of years ago primitive people used tattooing as a way of repelling demons and bad spirits and to prevent them from entering the body?

The word "tattoo" comes from the Tahitian word "tatau". According to Māori mythology, tattooing, or Ta Moko commenced with a love affair between a young man by the name of Mataora (which means "Face of Vitality") and a young princess of the underworld by the name of Niwareka.
Māori tattoos are among the most distinctive tattoos in the world and have their own identity, and is a sacred art.

Above is a photo (not mine) from some of the entries in the International Tattoo Convention (1996).

Ahh - Pizza!

Le Chef in action - Mama Mia!
Carosello's just opposite the railway station has been around for many years, and seems to have taken on a new lease of life with this painted kitchen scene. This villa-style pizzeria has an authentic Italian menu, is fully licensed and BYO (wine) Inside is memorabilia of the Essendon Footy Club and plenty of boisterous families fill the main dining room - so bring the wife, bring the kiddies as you tuck into the best pizza, sip your chianti, raise your glass and salut!
Buon Appetito!

All Creatures Great and Small - Incy Wincy Spider

Not your average garden spider
This little lady was happily spinning her web among the rhodendrons and a fly on a nearby leaf would I think have ended up as dinner. I am reminded of the children's nursery rhyme -

.................Incy Wincy Spider
Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sunshine and dried up all the rain
And Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout again!

The origin of this nursery ryhme is a little hazy - the most commonly referenced first published version was in 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose). However, numerous earlier references can be found — for example, in Western Folklore, by the California Folklore Society (1947) and The Growing Family: A Guide for Parents by Maxwell Slutz Stewart (1955). An alternate version can be found much earlier in the book, Camp and Camino in Lower California (1910).

The "Banana"

Just the place for a nap
One could be forgiven for thinking this hammock was a giant banana - it does look like one doesn't it? I came across it last Sunday in the yard next to the local pub and thought what a wonderful place to lay your head and just move gently with the breeze, swinging slowly from side to side, the scent of gum trees in the air, the birds singing in the trees.

I am currently baby-sitting two very active little boys - Master 5 and Master almost 4 and that hammock would certainly come in handy.

Skywatch Friday - Clouds at Sunset

The red cloud
When taking photos of a sunset recently, I noticed this red cloud - something I hadn't seen before.

To see other skies around the world click here.

Inside the House of Bottles

You may recall I posted about the House of Bottles recently - here is one wall. As you can see the bottles are all cemented in. The stained glass window shows three Australian birds - the one at the top is the Fairy-wren or Blue Wren, they are found in South Eastern Australia in areas where rainfall exceeds 400 mm per annum. They are found in areas that combine a dense cover of low shrubs, tussocks and bracken interspersed with bare or open grassy ground in forests, heaths and scrub along the coast and inland watercourses.

The middle bird is the Kookaburra which has a very distinctive laugh and is more properly known as the Laughing Kookaburra.
This is what they sound like

Kookaburras grow to about 40 - 45 cm long and are regular visitors and sit on top of our fences or clothes hoists to investigate the garden. Other than their loud, long chuckling call, they thrash live food against tree branches until it is pulverised enough to swallow whole, and are also family oriented and older unmated birds will help feed their younger brothers and sisters.

The bird at the bottom is the Crimson Rosella and is found in NSW, Victoria and South Australia in open forest areas. The have a melodic piping call.

Shoe Collection

Amethyst

Shells and Marine Creatures

Remembrance Day - Armistice Day - Poppy Day

Lest we forget
For our tomorrow,
They gave their today.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns of Western Europe fell silent after four years of hell and bloodshed. The Armistice treaty was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest and marked the end of The Great War (now called WWI)

Red poppies - Flanders Poppies - were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium. In soldiers' folklore, the vivid red of the poppy came from the blood of their comrades drenching the ground. It is for this reason the humble red poppy is worn on Remembrance Day to remember, honour and pay homage to all those who died.


THE ODE
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

From "For The Fallen" Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)


The Last Post


More information about Remembrance Day here.

House of Bottles

Ten Green Bottles?
Actually 13,569 of them went into the building of this bottle house. It was built in 1969 by Joseph Eykenbaum and was carefully planned in order to bring out the contrasting colours of the bottles, and inside is - you guessed it - a bottle collection with a vast range of bottle types dating back to the early 19th century from all over the world. Muriel Gray who with her husband Les, owns the property estimated the collection of bottles inside to be around 10,000.

There are also fossils, dinosaur droppings and dinosaur eggs, minerals, rocks, memorabilia and an unusual collection of 5500 ornamental shoes made of everything from leather to glass, metal to pottery.

The Beard

A place in the shade
Yesterday when I spotted this gentleman the temperature was around 32ºC (90ºF) and I wondered if this glorious beard made him feel the heat. He told me he's had the beard for longer than he can remember and confirmed that yes, he does get asked to don a red suit in December!

Scenic Sunday - The Yarra River

The Yarra On A Sunday
This photo was taken one Sunday last month near Yarra Glen.


To see other Scenic Sundays click on the logo.

Viris Acquirit Eundo

Viris Acquirit Eundeo - We gather strength as we go
The motto was suggested to the Mayor of Melbourne by the first Judge of the district (Judge Willis), a well-known Latin scholar who thought it would be appropriate for the new Town Council. Alderman Condell and his fellow aldermen and councillors deemed it appropriate, for the three words ‘Vires acquirit eundo’ were adopted by the Council as the motto for the Town on January 2nd, 1843. Henry Condell was Melbourne's first Lord Mayor.

Curiously, the passage quoted refers to the Roman goddess, Rumour. The lines preceding the text used for the motto refer to Rumour as she raced through Africa and state that of all the pests Rumour is the swiftest. The actual motto translates as follows: “In her freedom of movement lies her power, and she gathers strength with her going.”

Our coat of arms is based on the seal, engraved by Thomas Ham, was formally adopted by the Melbourne Council on 9 February 1843. The seal device was used from that time until 1940 as the arms of the corporation.
The present coat of arms is below, and further information can be found here.

Skywatch Friday - On Cloud 9

34,000 feet
Another plane, another day, another cloud. Taken from my window seat flying over Melbourne.

To see other skies around the world click here.

Eel Trap

A Red Spider?
Fiona Clarke and Ken McKean’s Eel Trap is based on the design of a
traditional Indigenous eel trap. The plate-steel sculpture is painted red and
engraved with Indigenous designs.

A local food source, eels were once
trapped close to this site, near the shallow waterfalls that used to exist
downstream, separating the freshwater of the river from the salty water of
the bay. Eel Trap was commissioned by the City of Melbourne in 2003.

The Square

The Square Frame
Walking along the banks of the Yarra after a Derby Day barbie, someone asked "What's that square thing?" What square thing we wanted to know. We stood looking at the "square" on top of the Mercer building, all of us wondering what it was for.

Suggestions included to look through when you stand on the roof. Another was maybe the building hadn't been completed yet. For my money, I'd say it's to attract attention and get people asking "What's that square thing?"

A Tree Grows In The City

Strolling along Princes Walk, the Yarra to my left, I wondered what must Melbourne have been like before all these tall buildings existed and was glad the Yarra divides the city and we still have trees to provide greenery, freshen the air, and provide a shady, leafy place where people can gather and have fun while enjoying nature's bounty.

Tram Or - Horse and Carriage?

Your carriage awaits you Madam
Did you know that any horse-drawn vehicle is permitted to enter the city centre? It’s an old law, but it still holds today. Designated park and stop areas for horse-drawn vehicles are marked along Swanston Street. See Map.

Horse-drawn carriages can show you around Melbourne - imagine relaxing back and, to the gentle sound of the clip-clopping of horses hooves, being taken around the streets of Melbourne, around the Yarra, over Princes Bridge, in the comfort and style of a bygone era.

You might decide on a Royal Blue Landau Carriage, drawn by two beautiful white or black Percheron Horses - you could even have fully uniformed coachmen dressed in red tails and a top hat! Now that is guaranteed to impress! So catch a ride from Swanston Street and let your trusty steed take you on a nostalgic journey as you traverse the wonders and marvels of Melbourne.

Theme Day - Doorways

Doorways to the sea
The doorways of these bathing boxes face the sea (you enter through the back). The front one shows "The Boxing Kangaroo". The kangaroo is one of the most recognised Aussie icons, one of the largest marsupials in the world and is native only to Australia. Qantas airlines has the red flying kangaroo as their logo.

The Boxing Kangaroo has long been accepted as a symbol of Australia and was designed by RAAF Warrant Officer Gus Bluett, and is based on recorded, including film archives, 19th century travelling side-show entertainment, when the sport of boxing contests between men and kangeroos were a reality.

During World World II in 1941, RAAF pilots based at Sembawang Station in Singapore, forming 21 Squadron, had a stencilled boxing kangaroo painted on the side of their Wirraway fighter planes by aircraftman David Marfleet to identify themselves to the Japanese as Australian and not British.

In 1983, when Australia won the America's Cup (yachting), the flag became famous with younger Australians when Alan Bond, the owner of the team, used the flag on the yacht Australia II, entering and leaving harbour. The AOC purchased the rights to the Boxing Kangaroo for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, for $13,000,000.

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