Australia Day Culture Tour

Hello again, hope you all had a great Australia Day weekend wherever you were. We decided to take in a bit of culture this year and spent 2 days rambling around National Gallery Victoria, The State Theatre, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, St Pauls Cathedral, A Photographic exhibition by the river and of course, the fireworks.

We started off at NGV seeing the Tezuka exhibition which included Astro Boy & Kimba the White Lion among many others. A trip back to childhood does us no harm occasionally does it.

From there we went next door to the State Theatre where we saw Ednaville, an exhibition of Dame Edna Everage's home at 37 Humouresq Dve Moonee Ponds. Edna's house, the lounge, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, & boxroom was just as you would expect. All very true to the 50's, Edna's style, and of course complete with the Gladdies in pride of place in the lounge. After leaving Edna's home with smiles on our faces we wandered along the River walk where there was a wonderful exhibition of tennis photographs taken & published over the years by the Age Newspaper. Some really good shots of tennis greats, both old & new. That evening we went back to the River to watch the Australia Day firewroks at Federation Square. This year they also had them on the top of the Eureka Building and in the Botanic Gardens. An excellent end to a wonderful day.

On Saturday we started our day at Rialto with Bill taking some photos from the Obersation Deck. We continued with our theme of exhibitions and went to ACMI to see Eyes, Lies & Illusions. We did get sidetracked however and popped into St Pauls Cathedral on the way. It has been well over 30 years since I have been in even though we pass it almost every day. It is a beautiful building and well worth a visit, if only for a moment of quiet contemplation, next time you're in Melbourne.

Once across the road we enjoyed the exhibit at ACMI. An amazing display of all sorts, combining spectacular new illusions with four centuries of rare optical toys and puzzles, illustrating how the moving image captivated us before cinema was even invented. After 2 days of such culture we decided a rest was well & truly deserved on Sunday and we didn't leave the house except for a trip to the shop for the neccessary items to cook dinner with.

Monday night saw Auntie Muriel return to us after a weekend visiting with an old friend & on Thursday night we all returned to the State Theatre to see Dame Edna & Friends - Back with a Vengance. We laughed from start to finish. Even at Les Patterson who we usually just cringe at. For all those Barry Humphries fans we can recommend the show when it comes to town.

So another busy week making the most of all Melbourne has to offer. Time for a quick rest now.

Until next time ..........