Tag: Victoria

The Australian Garden

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The Australian Garden, situated in Cranbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, must be one of Melbourne’s best kept secrets. It’s a long way away from the CBD and I wouldn’t think that it’s on the radar of most tourists, unless they come on some kind of organised garden-oriented tour. As for me, I’ve been driving past it pretty much every year on the way to Phillip Island, thinking that we should really make an effort to see it one day. After finally visiting last year, we were impressed enough to come back for another stroll.

The Australian Garden is all about celebrating the native Australian plants and landscapes, with plenty of photo opportunities. It doesn’t waste time and sets out to impress just as you walk in, with its most spectacular Red Sand Garden. Just like the last time, I wished I had a jet pack to get an aerial view of this stunning spot.

This is no pretty manicured garden, but it blends nature, art and architecture in its own unique and beautiful way, with exhibition gardens, waterways and imaginative displays inspired by the natural cycles. It was wonderful to visit again on a Sunday morning, before it became too hot and crowded.

Hampton Beach 2 Brighton Beach

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Six Melbourne lockdowns later, there’s finally a cautious hope that The Most Locked Down City in the World is putting those times behind it. So to mark the occasion of eased restrictions, I thought I’d do a photo tribute to my favourite beach walk that helped me keep my sanity in 2020 and 2021.

If there’s any silver lining to the Covid era, it’s the fact that it got me walking outside in almost any weather, on an almost daily basis. There are a few nice parks and green areas around where I live, but nothing has done more for my mental health during lockdown than a brisk walk by the beach, and a chance to look out on that infinite horizon, breathe in the salty air and feel less boxed in. I loved watching the beach change from day to day, and couldn’t resist taking photos.

One of the most pleasant things about this walk is getting rewarded with a view of the city and the famous colourful Brighton Beach cabins from the top of a small hill; on occasions I would extend the walk and check them out.

Melbourne

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This December will be 20 years since we moved to Melbourne, and I think it’s a fine place to live in, despite the random weather, railway crossings, high cost of living, Punt Road and way too much black in fashions.

Beach cabins at the Middle Brighton Beach
St Kilda; the first Melbourne suburb we lived in when we arrived in Australia. By a weird coincidence, I also got my first ever job as a housekeeper in the same serviced apartments we had first stayed in.
Flinders Street Station, one of my favourite buildings in the city.
Melbourne Moomba Festival, on a rare occasion when I actually attended it. I get less fond of crowds with age, but in a right mood it can be quite invigorating.
Queen Victoria Gardens; we didn’t have TV or computer for some weeks after we moved, so I remember my family hanging around there a lot… getting fresh air and exercise before I could play Civilization for the thousandth time again.
Crown Casino
This statue is actually called Angel, but I always thought of it as the pushmi-pullyu beast from a children’s book. When we first came to Melbourne it used to stand by the National Gallery, but now it’s near Yarra River.
Hosier Lane; it only took me 17 years to discover this place!

Phillip Island

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Had a nice getaway at Phillip Island. Yesterday, it rained the entire two hours it took me to get there (managing to drown out Guns N’ Roses at one point), so I didn’t rate my chances for nice walks the next day, and consoled myself with the thought that at least I upgraded to a suite with an enormous spa bath (it was awesome). But miraculously, Melbourne weather for once didn’t behave like a bitch! Still cold and windy, but plenty of sunshine.

The Nobbies is one of my favourite walkways in Victoria. The coast in this area is ragged and dramatic and covered with weird succulent-type vegetation which creates an interesting texture of greens and reds.

I’ve never seen them on the island before, but it must be the time of year for geese. My Mum has horror stories about being terrorised by the village geese as a child, so they make me nervous too despite being like 1/10 my size
So much foam it looks like white paint spillage…

Smith Beach looks nothing like it does in the summer, except for a couple of crazy surfers who’d probably go for a swim at the North Pole too. The nice thing about visiting it in winter is that, when you’re not distracted by the beachy things, you can actually look around the place and notice things you don’t when you’re busy getting a tan.

I like to call the big red rock a Hippo Head
Not to sound pretentious or anything, but I really think that rocks are nature’s abstract art
This was a totally random surprise – I was driving back to Melbourne and made an impulsive turn for something else and found this cute little dock instead