While the cats away......

I'm sure you know the rest. Yes I did play while Bill was over on your side of the country catching up with you all. And finally seeing the Redbacks play. At least one team in Red & Black can win a game or two. And what great timing to catch up with Steve as well.

I decided if he could stay & play then the least I could do was catch up with some friends on this side of the country. Thursday saw me visiting some friends in Frankston and while there Trevor had been in touch with another friend I have not seen for about 20 years, and she came to visit as well. It was wonderful to see Julie again after all this time and share all our news of families and remember our teenage escapades.

On Saturday I drove to Blackburn and had lunch with Joy & David. Uncle Harold (Joy's Dad) had come up from Drouin to join them at a friends birthday so we had a lovely time catching up before I drove home and they headed off to their party. Sunday I picked Mum up in Edithvale and we drove down to Rye to check out the location of Moonah Links, the venue for Karen's 50th celebrations in July. It was a lovely day and after a yummy lunch we drove home along the coast road, beautiful scenery most of the way home.

So with all this travelling about the only sculptures I saw were on my way to work each day. The new pedestrian link over the Yarra, the Sandridge Bridge, was opened in March in time for the Commonwealth Games. It joins the area from Flinders St station underpass, now known as Northbank, with Queensbridge Square in Southbank. Peter you will know it as the old Port Melbourne train line which has been closed for many years. This year saw it reopen for pedestrian & cycle traffic and it is a great asset to the city. Along one side are stainless steel sculptures known as Gayip & The Travellers. (Today we will look at the legend of Gayip - designed with the assistance of Indigenous artist Mandy Nicholson).

Since remote times Gayip has been standing on a rock. Recently, it has been observing travellers passing by. At night it rises into the skies and spirals over its territory to ensure the well-being of all. It has seen darkened times, thick with mistrust, and others clear and warm. It is a guide to the things that have always been there.

Until next time......

New Beginnings

Hello people, it seems like such a long time since I have caught you up with our adventures in Melbourne. It has been a busy time for us over the last month or so as we moved house. Our first year was full of adventure & we had some wonderful times exploring our local surrounds both on our own, with friends and also with some of our many visitors that came and stayed with us. Hard to believe it has been a year already.

Our move went well and we are now all settled into our new apartment. We are only 5 mins away so are still able to walk everywhere and have great tram access to places further afield. We face the opposite way now so our view is of the city skyline which is interesting during the day and quite spectacular at night. The early morning sees Balloon flights drifting through the buildings and this morning 2 of them sailed right over the top of the newly completed Eureka Tower which is 92 storeys high. It really is an amazing sight seeing them just float by.

Even though we have been busy we have still had time for some fun. Lorraine & Hans dropped in for a few days in May, quite unexpectedly (for Hans), as a surprise for his birthday, to see the West Coast Eagles play Essendon at Telstra Dome. Not the result we would have liked, but as it was Hans birthday we can be gracious about the loss. In fact we have learnt to handle losses quite well as that seems to be all we see at the moment. I'm sure their fortunes will change sooon. We had a wonderful few days with Lorraine & Hans, thankyou both for lots of help with packing & unpacking! And the hibiscus!

We decided to see how the other football was played and went to the MCG along with 95,000 other people to see the Socceroos play Greece before they headed off to Germany. What a night that was. Australia won 1 - nil but the real winners where all of us there being part of such a great event.

On Saturday night we had a change of pace and went to Her Majesty's theatre to see Fiddler on the Roof with a friend. Topal, at 70, has been playing the lead role both on Broadway and in the movie since it started and he is just magnificent. This is his farewell World Tour. It was an excellent performance and well worth seeing if it comes to a theatre near you. We had dinner at Chloe's, upstairs in Young & Jackson's before heading off to the theatre. Yes Chloe is still there but now resides in an upstairs bar right beside the restaruant named in her honour.



A Melbourne Icon (if not quite a sculpture). To find out all about Chloe just visit the Young & Jacksons website

Now on that cultured note I will say farewell for this week

so until next time..........