West of Melbourne

To see another side of Melbourne I was off with the guided tour to Tottenham - a 3 minute train ride west of where I live - to see the industrial side of Melbourne. Actually most of the factories are closed now but the years between the World Wars were an economic boom for the area. This is a large flat area, filled in eons ago by lava. So the soil on this west side of Melbourne is not good for growing food, just grass for sheep. Eventually it became Australia's arsenal and other factories were built also. Then after the Japanese bombed Darwin it was realised that all the munitions shouldn't be manufactured in the same place and the area started a slow decline. We looked at a few of the Art Deco factory facades that remain and heard some stories about them from people on the tour whose fathers worked in them in the 1950s and 60s.

Elsie is 8 weeks old!

Cafes in Melbourne

Melbourne is a city of cafes! In the summer tables are placed on any space on the pavement,

 even better if there is a tree giving shade. Here are some of the interesting cafes I found.

Inventive use for a shipping container!

Dogs need cafes too!

Melbourne's Arcades

In the 1800s it was a popular pastime to "do the block" or promenade around the shopping streets in the city centre so some very elegant arcades were built. Good protection from the weather and lovely places to meet and be seen. Here are a few pictures of some of them.

Fun pictures...

My new camera has some interesting settings. There's a lot more to learn, but here are a few pictures I think are fun...

Elsie

Elsie is a month old and getting used to her world (and the hot summer days!)

With Grandma Chris 

With her Oma Arlene

Travelling in style

Animals I Have Met

Box Turtle (USA)

Prada the Designer Dog who likes to walk in the Australian Bush

Yellow Garden Spider (USA)

Maryland Blue Crab

Kookaburra (Australasian Kingfisher)

Ancient and Historical Sites

Every month there is a guided walk around my suburb. January's walk was along the Maribrynong River a few miles from where I live. Evidence of human settlement over 10,000 years ago was found here. The river is salt water (tidal) below where we crossed it but above is fresh and in autumn was full of eels, swimming down to the ocean to spawn. Above the valley was flat grassland perfect for grazing sheep so in the 1830s when Europeans discovered the area they bartered it from the natives along with land the city of Melbourne is on today. The price of wool in England was high enough at the time to make a lot of people rich.

 Crossing the river at Soloman's Ford

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School for the Arts

Art students can't learn anything in ordinary buildings, can they? 

Better come to Melbourne and study here!