Melbourne Places

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 .  This strip [...]

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 [...]

Melbourne is a city of public gardens and parks but sometime it’s nice to soothe the soul in a  Melbourne place that is more like our own courtyard;  if we are lucky enough to have one.

The Garden of Eden Nursery in Albert Park is a Melbourne place where you can recharge your batteries and dream [...]

Guilfoyle’s Volcano sits on top of the highest corner of the Royal Botanic Gardens and from here you can look over the rest of the gardens and to Melbourne’s CBD.
For years this strange wonder was hidden under an uncared for wilderness.
It was built in 1876 by William Guilfolye, who is quoted as saying, “ Combine [...]

Melbourne is the best but sometimes it is good to leave all the buzz and excitement for the surrounding countryside.  This hectic time of the year gets me craving for some air, quiet and space – Werribee Park is my choice when I feel like that – it’s only 30 minutes from the CBD.
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Werribee Mansion [...]