Tag Archives: Melbourne

Thieves In The Night in Melbourne, Australia

If I seem a bit off my game for the next week, it’s because I am dealing with a very stressful situation right now. We’ve been burgled.

Sometime between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, someone broke into our garage and stole 2 of the 4 bikes in there — the most expensive ones — the customised Specialized road bike and mountain bike that Mark is out and about on several days each week. Not only that, they got all of the peripheral gear like the heart rate monitors, the bike repair kit, the brand new high-vis lights, the brand new pannier frame that only was installed this past week, and in Mark’s cycling bag was a digital camera which was also stolen. To add insult to injury, they left their ratty old bikes outside our garage as they rode away on Mark’s lovely bikes.

Mark and one of his STOLEN Specialized bikes

We are feeling quite gutted. The police came out from the St. Kilda Police Station to take fingerprints and they were lovely to deal with both in person and on the phone. But the likelihood of ever seeing these items again is quite slim.

Now I have to troll backward through YEARS of online receipts and paper receipts and pictures to find enough evidence to PROVE to the insurance company that we actually owned all of this. So my entire week may be getting eaten up with this ridiculous nonsense. It’s hard to feel happy about returning to Australia when we have to go through things like this and it came out of both of our mouths yesterday. We forgot to lock our car doors in Moyon or St. Martin de Brehal or St. Girons quite a few times when we were living in France for several years. Nothing ever got touched. But we return to Australia and within weeks back here we are burgled???

More soon-ish…

Photo Of The Day: Surplus To Requirements in Melbourne, Australia

The economic downturn has been felt in Australia during our 2 and 1/2 years in Europe and we have seen more of these “Closing Down” signs in Melbourne than expected. This shop inside one of the lovely arcades is apparently surplus to requirements.

Sad signs of closing down in Melbourne, Australia

Blue On Blue in Melbourne, Australia

The thin blue light of a cold and wintery day matches the tonality of these blue Yarra Trams on Swanston Street right in the heart of the CBD (Central Business District) in Melbourne, Australia.

Blue trams in Melbourne, Australia on a cold winter day

Stacked Up On Swanston in Melbourne, Australia

Photo of the day…

Stacked up trams on Swanston Street in the heart of Melbourne, Australia. I had just gotten off of one of these and when I turned around I noticed how many different lines run down Swanston Street and then branch off to different locations. This is one of the coolest things about resettling here — being able to get around with NO car if I choose that option!

A row of trams in Melbourne, Australia waiting for passengers to jump on and off

Moving Masses At Melbourne Central

Decided to take a break from unpacking boxes and listing things on Ebay today. First stop — the tram stop RIGHT outside our front door!

Blue tram travelling down St. Kilda Road

Down to the shopping precincts on Bourke Street Mall and Melbourne Central to try on clothes amongst the (literally!) thousands of other people milling around. Mixed success, but after living in rural France, Melbourne can be a bit of a jolt to the senses when there are so MANY people swirling around!

Moving masses of people at Melbourne Central shopping centre

More soon!

Walking On Water in Melbourne, Australia

Photos of the day are from the St. Kilda Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia. This funny statue almost always has a seagull perched on the umbrella that the sculpted man is holding — probably because the ocean is a mere few blocks away!

We might be living in the heart of a large city now, but lovely and historical parks such as this one are a wonderful visual break from all of the shoulder to shoulder buildings. We are also quite lucky because this particular one is less than a 5 minute walk from our house and we stroll through it almost every day.

A charming metal sculpture carrying an umbrella and ‘walking on water’ in front of the glass conservatory at the St. Kilda Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia

Charming metal sculpture ‘walking on water’ with a seagull perched on his umbrella

Quick Pics From A Melbourne Vintage Saturday

Quick pics today since I am listing, listing, listing on Ebay this weekend. Wheeeee!!! Things are already starting to sell. (whew!)

We took a little time for a quick wander through the once-a-month Vintage Clothing Market at the St. Kilda RSL Club (Retired Servicemen’s League for you non-Aussie readers). It was well attended, but it was also a blast from the past to see items of clothing that were clones of things I wore back in the 70s!

This hat seller below was doing quite a good business since we still have weeks of winter ahead.

Hat seller at the Vintage Clothing Market in St. Kilda, Melbourne

Shoppers at the St. Kilda Vintage Clothing Market in Melbourne

More soon…

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey