Last week the first of the new Swanston Street tram superstops opened. On Monday I went down at lunchtime to have a look, and came across Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, City of Melbourne planner Rob Adams, and Yarra Trams’ Michel Masson all down there having a look, and talking to the media about it. Robert ... [More]
Category: Melbourne
Melbourne stuff
This afternoon I heard steam train whistles, and after some digging, discovered it was R-class R707 headed down to Frankston, and that it would be coming back a little later. Happy to take a break from the sorting out of paperwork that I’d been doing, I took a punt at the time it would pass ... [More]
The Age last Friday released its liveability survey of Melbourne suburbs. Top five were pretty predictable: South Yarra, East Melbourne, Armadale, Hawthorn East, and Toorak. From what I can tell, it’s an update to a survey done in 2005, using the same methodology. This time however they didn’t put out the full breakdown of figures, ... [More]
For some time I’ve had my doubts about the competence of the City of Maribyrnong engineering department, specifically the people who design and manage drainage. This is because in the eight years I’ve known Marita, the section of street in front of her house has always flooded at the merest hint of rain. These doubts ... [More]
There’s vandalism, and then there’s street art. Some have trouble distinguishing them, but for me, it’s not hard to see that these hidden gems in Finlay Lane (off Little Lonsdale Street, near Queen Street) are clearly the latter. Well worth a look, if you’re passing (and you can find it!)
I don’t have a proper blog post for you, so here’s a few pictures from the last week or so. If you were looking for Myer’s Lonsdale Street store, it’s gone — almost all of it except the facade. (When I was a kid, we often went into the City on a Friday night, had ... [More]
The CBD (to be precise, the Hoddle Grid) has just about every business imagineable, except one. Petrol stations. At least, as far as I can tell from searches of Yellow Pages and Google Maps, though the latter incorrectly identified one at 114 Flinders Street. To fill up a car, you have to go to Victoria ... [More]
Church Street doesn’t have a church in it any more. Nearby Synagogue Lane doesn’t have a synagogue in it anymore. I got curious: How come only one of them got to keep its name? Despite what appears to be a sign that is not particularly ancient, evidently the name change was some time ago — ... [More]
Melbourne came up tops in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest liveability survey (97.5 points) just beating Vienna (97.4) and Vancouver (97.3). A colleague of mine was incredulous, noting that the trains are packed, there’s litter and graffiti, she’s seen a fight in the street, and rents are stratospheric. My light-hearted reposte, at least to the ... [More]
Here’s something to ponder… If Melbourne didn’t have trams anymore, would every CBD street look like Lonsdale Street? (Seen on Twitter recently: “Lonsdale St is the scariest, least bike friendly St in CBD. Discuss.”) PS. Lunchtime: I’d just note that I deliberately chose Lonsdale Street over the (arguably more attractive) Exhibition or Queen Streets because ... [More]
This Qantas plane, and others, were noted flying low over the inner-west, coming into land at Tullamarine airport this morning. (View larger)
Yes, there are some mornings that it does feel like I’ve left my brain at home in Bentleigh. (The various ads at Richmond have different stations named depending which platform you’re on.) I’m not sure a Dare Iced Coffee really will fix this screen.
In January 2010 we spotted a Google Streetview car passing the post office in Bentleigh. Google Streetview finally updated its pictures, and it includes imagery from that day. Alas, it wasn’t shooting when the car passed us, but it did once it entered the nearby side street — that’s why you can see it turning. ... [More]
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Downfall of the Pharaoh
Eventually even the Pharaoh will suffer his downfall. Banners for the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition at the Melbourne Museum are coming down.
Before last week I’d never seen this view of Southern Cross Station. It looks quite unworldly. CL was giving me a quick tour of Media House — as he commented, it looks like something from Dune. What you can’t see from the photos (not even zoomed-in) is that some sections closest to the edge, and ... [More]