We started at 9am and it was cold (about12c) and we needed warm trousers and fleeces.
This probably sounds strange but we split up again this morning. Mark had a tour of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) home of the Boxing Day test and the venue of many England defeats though we have fared better here than other Aussie grounds. The tour included going on the edge of the pitch; the media centre; the players changing rooms and many more. The downside of the tour was the guide rabbiting on about Aussie Rules Football, Ed Sheeran concerts and Man U v Crystal Palace. All interesting events to be held here I’m sure but frankly it just isn’t cricket.
Meanwhile, Pam went off to one of the local gardens (It is very big park more than gardens) . Fitzroy gardens is known for 4 things: A fairy tree; a mock tudor model village; beautiful fountains and Cook’s Cottage.
The fairy tree is a tall stump that been engraved with lots of characters on it.
The mock tudor village was a miniature village consisting of about 12 buildings( no entry was allowed in as it was small). It was presented to Melbourne just after the Second World War by Lambeth, England to say thank you for the food supplies during the war.
The fountains are The River God fountain that sits at the back of the gardens as is very big. The other is a smaller fountain depicting dolphins and turtles, this sits near the middle of the gardens. Both very beautiful.
Cooks cottage is the oldest building in the park. It was built in the 1860s in Great Ayrton Yorkshire and was James Cook’s (the famous explorer and navigator) fathers home. James never lived there. It was purchased by the Grimbalde family for Melbourne in 1930 and transported brick by brick to this site and reconstructed ready for the centenary in 1935 as way to show Australias connection to the British Empire. It is 2 storey cottage with a cottage garden and a statue of James Cook in the back of the garden.
We met up again just after lunch - Mark by way of the large fair that had been erected for this short period. You see today is Labour Day in Australia so it is a public holiday with some shops closed and every man, his wife, family and dogs seem to be in Melbourne celebrating it so it was heaving. Remember the fleece earlier, now it is 28c and we are sweating in long trousers - they say Melbourne is 4 seasons in a day and we witnessed 2 of them in about 3hours.
Together we went to the fabulous ACMI ( Australian Centre Moving Image). Our favourite museum of all time is MOMI which was on London’s South Bank and closed many, many years ago. Maybe it is a fav because it has gone and although no science/natural history museum, it was dedicated to the history of the moving image. This free museum wasn’t in the same league but it was pretty damn good nonetheless. When you got into the museum you are given a round disc. This is used to collect all the information you want to know about any exhibit by clicked on the round next to it and it will be collected by the disc. Then when you get home, you access this information on their website using your code on the disc. A very clever idea. Pam liked all the visual displays as well as the costume ( items from the movie Thor) and make up displays. Mark liked the editing display, early lantern shows and the computer games area. A very enjoyable exhibition.
There are no pics here as they are on our disk when we figure out how to access it.
Next we traipsed around town looking for a new suitcase. We currently have 3 suitcases and numerous bags and hold-alls. To get to Perth we must fly and we have 2 suitcases each allowed (up to 23kg). We had planned to do this shopping in Adelaide when we lost the car but our current bigger car means we can squeeze the 2 large ones in the back. Here is our new purchase.
The shops had shut and the vibe of the city was changing to it’s night time version. We could, and should have eaten at one of restaurants on the lanes or alleyways but we just didn’t fancy it. It was too crowded (far too many people and not all places open so fighting for tables) and too bustling for us and though it looked pretty it also looked seedy so we were boring and grabbed a Kebab (from one of 1000 such establishments) and went back to our room and did all our washing, drying and packing. A real rockstar lifestyle eh.
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