Have you ever seen a lake of lotus flowers and their seed heads? It is hard to believe that huge pink flowers are real. The place to get the full effect of these magical flowers is the Blue Lotus Water Garden at Yarra Junction just outside Melbourne. When I think of lotus flowers I…
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“I could live here,” that was my first thought when I stepped into Guildford Lane. It wasn’t such a silly thought. People do live among the businesses that operate here. Guildford Lane is tucked away from the main tourist laneway-attractions. This makes it quiet and gives it a homey vibe. When I saw the…
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Sweetpeas! That heady scent means the beginning of summer to me. The time of the year when the days start to get hot, the heat intensifies the scent. This year I have had the best blooms I have ever had. They are by the back door and the heady smell wafts in when the…
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An evening picnic to celebrate this birthday has been arranged for this Friday, the 17th of November 2012. The friends of the St Kilda’s Botanical Gardens are celebrating the garden’s 151 birthday by inviting everyone to a free picnic from 5- 8pm – picnic into the dusk is what they are saying. They have…
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There is a little known beach between St Kilda Beach and Middle Park Beach called West Beach Reserve. You can get away from the crowds here. For some reason fewer people walk this way. It is here that the City of Port Phillip are nurturing some of the indigenous plants of the area . …
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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