Melbourne Places

There has been some water seepage from Guilfoyle’s Volcano.  To address this, the water has been drained and a new liner on the bluestone wall is being installed.

At the time of writing this – mid July -it is a chance to look inside the crater of this folly and see what an enormous space it [...]

The door to the Butterfly House
The butterfly house at the  Melbourne Zoo is one of the nicest places to be on a cold winter’s day.  In the summer it has charm but it is in the winter that it is magical – a place where everyone quietens and move slowly.  Boisterous school parties loose their [...]

The nice thing about doing this blog is that I keep learning more interesting information about Melbourne from the comments people leave on my posts.  I have written about this beautiful and tranquil garden before in the The Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden Post. Julie has left a comment asking about the  capsule that is underneath [...]

I joined friends for lunch at the Terrace Cafe in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens on a wet weekday morning.  It was a long standing date and we went despite the rain.
The easiest way to reach the Terrace Cafe that overlooks the ornamental lake is to enter the gardens from the corner of Anderson Street and [...]

Something wonderful has happened to the roses in the Alister Clarke Rose Garden in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens.  Well, it is wonderful to me.  Some lovely person has identified these roses and now they have name plaques.

There is something about looking at a rose and knowing its name.  It adds an extra pleasure.  With [...]

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy can be hot on summer days.  But even the hot pavements don’t keep us away.   We still flock there to meet, drink coffee, eat, shop and so on.  I often browse  in the weekends and when I wish for a cool breeze or just time out from the hurly-burly of the [...]

A pair of magpie-larks or mud-larks, as they are sometimes called, have honoured the Rainman statue in the St Kilda Botanical Gardens by making a nest on his arm.

They look very much at home and secure as they fly to the statue and settle on their nest to keep their eggs warm.

I haven’t seen many [...]

This is not a cottage that James Cook, the great explorer and discoverer of Australia, actually lived in himself.

His parents moved there after he had left home to begin his life of adventure.  It is thought that he visited the cottage at times when he was on leave from the British Navy and in that [...]

The camellia collection at the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne is planted in an imaginative way.  The area is a sort of square with a twisting path that wanders between the plantings giving a touch of magic – almost as if you were in a private room of camellias.

Turn right after this beautiful tree and  you [...]

The St Kilda Botanical Gardens are in winter mode.  It is a lovely time to visit and see the gardens preparing for spring and summer.  Occasionally you see a sign of things to come with clumps of bulbs sending up their first spring shoots.

The ambiance in the Alistair Clarke Rose Garden is different at this [...]