Travel & Living - Victoria, Australia

Melbourne Cup - Race that stops a nation!

2009-11-03T11:59:00.001-08:00

The Melbourne Spring Carnival is back - what a nice way to welcome spring! It consists a series of events and the best known of course is the Melbourne Cup.

Hosted on the 1st Tuesday of Nov. and gazetted as a holiday in metropolitan Melbourne.

The venue is the Flemington Race Course.

This is the trophy with the price money of A$5.6M!

It is more than a cup race - a social event when people come to see and be seen. The Saturday leading up the the Cup's Day is the Derby Day. The traditional dress code is black and white.

Among the celebrities present is Olivier Newton John who led the cup parade, and entertained the attendance of >102,000 with her song "Magic" prior to the race.

The hot favorite this year is the "Viewed" (pictured in background); owned by Malaysian Dato Tan Chin Nam, who won the cup last year with the same horse.

I like his favorite phrase - "Never Say I Assume"

Because it made an "ASS" of "U" & "ME"!

The legendary trainer Bart Cummings is also known as the Cups King had 3 horses in the race.

When the clock hit 3pm, the whole nation stops to watch! No Kidding..

But the outcome is Shocking! Well, it so happen to be the name of the horse too!

Jokey Corey Brown has a triumphant story to tell..

Trainer Mark Kavanagh has a good story too. With humble beginning, his mum cooked for Bart Cummings in his early years. Persevere through the downs earlier, his dream came through to take the cup most unexpectedly; in presence of the old master!

For the ladies it is great party time.. showing off their head gear!

Elegant isn't she!

Plus those who add a shocking element!

Guess that's what many guys come for too.

Victoria's Bush Fire

2009-04-22T04:13:00.001-07:00

Barely two months back in Feb '09, Victoria was gripped by Australia's worst bush fires in history. I followed the events closely as it raged on for days that ended with 200 deaths. Dubbed as the Black Saturday, this tragic event touched me in particular as I am familiar with many of the affected townships. Worst to hear it was started by arsonists. How could such senseless acts happened over and over again?

An illustration of the spread across Victoria.

Satellite image of smoke dispersion into atmosphere above - the 'arc' stretched over 1000kM gauging from the distance between Melbourne & Sydney!

Image collection of the fiery firestorms..

What a scary inferno!

Much beyond these fire trucks can handle.

With flames leap so high into the air!

Fire fighters watch helplessly...

A dramatic picture of helicopter dropping 'water bomb', with the sky appeared burning too!

Fire about to engulf this house in its path!

Smokes reflected color of fires below..

I visited Kinglake just north of Melbourne to see the scale of devastation first hand; won't take long to see trees on both side of roads were scarred black.

All the way to the hill top as far as the eye can see.

Under growths were completely burnt out!

This road sign pointing to a National Park was not spared either.

An appreciation note to the fire fighters pinned on a burnt trunk.

Remnants of houses that were once in tranquil country setting.

Metal roof crumpled and curled like tin foils on the ground.

Car bodies exposed to rusts after its coat of paint were stripped off.

Many unfortunate deaths were trapped in cars, a last ditch attempt to escape! I would have done the same. How did it happened? Did the engine stalled by the fire or escape route blocked by fallen trees?

At the town center, support and relief services were set up to help residents cope with the aftermaths.

Many trees survived miraculously the wrath of the fires.

A consolation is to see signs of recovery as nature begin to repairs itself.

Kite boarding at Port Philip Bay

2009-04-16T07:47:00.001-07:00

Port Philip Bay is a huge bay to the south of Melbourne with a size of 1,930 sq. km & a coastline of 264km. The bay is however very shallow - 24M at its deepest and more than 1/2 its area less than 8M. It is 2.95 times the area of Singapore with only 655 sq. km!

The eastern shore is popular for city folks to get away on weekends and a string of townships spread along the bay front.

So the sea is practically at the door step. Once in a while I love to drive down the bay area - take a walk along esplanade, lunch out & enjoys the sea view with the breeze. There is always a magic feeling by the sea - its vastness, hear the waves and watch the sea birds seem to nourish the soul. It is a great place for recreation and I discovered kite boarding is getting popular here too.

Looking back at the city skyline from Brighton - Eureka Towers, the tallest building on left.

There are several marinas too.

These "parachute-like" sails surely caught ones eye, how not to check it out and catch some of their actions!

With so many kites zipping around, must be pretty skillful to avoid physical contacts!

Preparing the kites to take off...

Launching is similar to taking a kite into the air...

Once airborne, it is taken almost vertical & towed towards the sea.

The skate board worn at water edge...

... and off he went!

Steering the the kite to land.

With gusty winds they leap easily more than 10m into the air, really having great fun!

A stylish holiday home that caught my attention.

Another face of Melbourne - A Graffiti Capital?

2009-04-12T01:25:00.000-07:00

It never occurs to me Melbourne is a graffiti capital though I came across such claims. I still don't agree - reason being graffiti is not visible in general. No where close to what I saw on New York's subway or trains.

Nevertheless, as I drove through Brunswick Street (northern part of city) recently, I saw some nice ones on the side streets.

This caught my attention - pretty good street art I think.

So I pulled over and checked out a few other eye catching ones.

Today I checked out some within the CBD. I was surprised to see this vertical wind turbine atop a building, right in the heart of the city!

Not one, as I tried to get a better view.

Five? May be more hidden from view! But have yet to see them spin.. I began to wonder if these are there as ornamental objects.

Union Lane between Little Collins Street and Bourke Street Mall is quite interesting, graffiti painted from end to end.

Not all are pretty, I select only the more visual appealing ones.

This young lady "ducks" and ran as I took the picture.

Looking back at Union Lane from Bourke Street end.

Strolling down to Chinatown at Little Bourke Street for a bite ....

Another come to sight.

Surely there many more around, where else a better place to check out than Google Images? These are sampled after a little finger walking.

Whether a Graffiti Capital or not, it don't matter to me. There are certainly a lot of artistic expressions in the back streets!

Hope you enjoy this aspect of Melbourne too.

Trams of Melbourne

2008-07-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

This new tram seen undergoing tests on city streets this week, carries a slogan "Step into the future".

The City Circle line provide free rides and introduces places of interest to tourists. This is the heritage class that has been in service for 60 years. The tram driver having a chat with my visiting friend

Trams are part of Melbourne's heritage and its network lay claims to be the largest in the world with 245km of tracks. 2006 marked the 100th year anniversary of the tram service. It survived pressure of partial closure in the 80's that proved to be wise.

Motorists are to give trams priority at intersections with "Hook turn", unique to Melbourne in Australia.

The city started with cable trams in 1885 prior to use of electric trains.

Electric trams were successfully introduced in 1906. Various tram designs in service over the years:-
The heritage W Class - runs only on City Circle line serving tourists currently.

The Z Class was brought into service in mid to late 70's

The A Class was introduced in 1984.

The B2 Class introduced in 1988, with 2 sections.

The sleek C Class trams are French built.

The D Class trams are German built by Siemens

Wikipedia provides a detailed history of the Melbourne trams.

Wilson Promontory National Park

2008-07-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite National Park of Victoria is Wilson Prom. It is at the bottom of the Australian continent, the southern most point one can go on the mainland. The sea looking out from here is Bass Straits towards Tasmania.

Satellite view & park's boundary to an area of 49,000 ha!

Tidal River is just a short walk from the Visitor Center.

Across Tidal River, walking trials lead to hill tops offering magnificent views of the coastlines.

The park offers many walking trails with different levels of difficulty. Hiking to the light house is pretty arduous.. 6hrs one way.

The views are rewarding.

Rodondo Island is aprox. 16km to the south of the Prom.

There are many wild life within the park of course!

This is an excellent link for more facts & figures about Wilson Prom
http://cehorn.customer.netspace.net.au/prompage.htm

(P.S. Photos are from Google Images)

Grampians National Park - after the fire

2008-07-05T02:36:00.000-07:00

How nature returns after the fire?

The Grampians National Park was swept by a large fire in Jan. 2006. Six months later on the way back from South Australia, we decided to stop by and check it out. I had fond memories from the last visit more than 10 years ago.

Files pictures of the fire from Google.

Our camp ground at Halls Gap, just outside the national park.

Pleasant to wake up in the company of kangaroos.

At the visitor center, we learned much of the park was still closed to public for safety concerns of falling branches or trees.

A new building in progress.. you may not notice a wall of hands to the right side of picture.

Are these the lending hands? Fire fighting or the building efforts, I wonder.

Good that many vantage lookout points were safe to visit.

Dark patches are burnt marks, spread over wide areas.

This area was safe for a walk.

Need to watch our steps though.

Life is coming back amidst the charred remains.

Dead? Not quite, another sign of life returning.

Practical use of a dead stump.

These trees were sparred the worst and recovers too.

Though a little sad to see such devastations, it was a worthwhile visit to witness how nature began to repair itself!

Lisa feels on top of the world here.

Carefully stepping out.. nothing to either sides or below.

Looking up at McKenzie Falls.

I found recent photos of the recovery process at the official web site
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources/mresources/gramps/gramps-fire-pics.htm

Here are some samples:

Given time, nature will rebuild anew - life cycles of nature have gone through zillions times before! Perhaps no need to regard this as disaster if it was started by nature in the first place.

Melbourne's East Link just opened!

2008-06-30T00:24:00.000-07:00

To the outside world, it may not matter what East Link is or whether it operates or not. But having witnessed its construction over the past few years, it was a day to celebrate when it opened yesterday, couple of months ahead of schedule.

Traffic police were vigilant and warned publicly against speeding on its opening day. "Safety record is perfect! We want to keep it that way." Perfect record? How else could it be? There are always idiots of course. First one caught was doing 135KM/Hr, hard to resist I reckon!

This A$2.5 billion, 40KM stretch named M3, was the largest road work project for the last few years.

It links the Eastern Freeway all way to the seaside town of Frankston (on Port Philip Bay) through the eastern suburbs.

I assembled some photos of its construction.. rather non-descriptive & looks boring actually.

Surveyor checking on alignment of tunnel section.

When I first came to Melbourne in the 90's, I noticed art is an integral part of its freeway designs. Like this gateway along City Link greeting visitors into the city. Also sound barriers along built up areas are creatively designed. Not many cities of the world go to such an extent.

East Link has a refreshing touch of its own. Notice the transparent orange colored barriers, appear a bit strong and unconventional to me initially.

Come to appreciate when I realize its creative play of sunlight with the surrounds.

Mosaics waves tempered with colors.

Another creative expression.

There's a price to pay as it is a tollway & drive through without toll stations (one of my wish list for Bangkok's tollways). Camera equipped gantry to snap offenders however. Well, just heard from news.. first 4 weeks free! Will check it out tomorrow!

E-tags transponders installed in vehicles. Drivers are billed monthly in comparison of pre-paid system deployed in Singapore.

A cyclist had a free ride too before it opens!

City views from Eureka Tower

2008-06-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Melbourne's Eureka Tower, 300M tall with 91 floors, lay claims as the tallest residential apartment in the southern hemisphere. It's viewing deck on the 88th floor claims the same as a public viewing deck.

More facts available at this link:
http://www.eurekaskydeck.com.au/cool-tower-facts.asp

(N.B. Photos were assembled from Google images search.)
It stand out prominently in its neighborhood, seen from many parts of the city.

These glass at the top are 24K gold plated!

The Skydeck protrudes out with glass bottom makes your legs feel weak!

Stunning view of the city by night.

City skyline of the central business district & land marks of Melbourne

View of the busiest junction at Flinder Street Station.

View of St Paul Cathedral below

Bird's eye view of the Federation Square

The Arts Center and National Gallery of Victoria to the right

Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

View to the east of the city, the Yarra River & MCG

Albert Park with a 9 hole golf course - the venue of F1 racing; normally the first race of the season in March. The sea behind is Port Philip Bay.

A beautiful city, isn't it?

Hope you enjoy Melbourne as much as I do.

The Great Ocean Road

2008-06-27T07:06:00.001-07:00

If you visit Melbourne, be sure to take time for a drive along The Great Ocean Road. To me it is the most spectacular stretch of the Australian coast! Done a dozen trips there and still love it.

This link provides details of location and places of interests.
http://www.visitvictoria.com/

The most famous and photographed section of The Great Ocean Road - The 12 Apostles.. there are actually less than 12 now. Some have been reduced to a pile of rocks on the beach (lower left of photo).

A helicopter ride for a bird's eye view. Looks small? It takes 5 passengers + pilot!

Another of my favorite spot is the Loch Ard Gorge, named after the ship Loch Ard that ran aground at nearby Muttonbird Island on Jun 1st, 1878. The only 2 survivors were washed ashore here.

A board walk leads down to the beach

Looking back at the horse shoe shape cliffs.

This sandstone rock when I saw 15 years back was twice this size.. it is now fenced off! Too many tourists climbed on it?

There are many other look out points offering spectacular sights.

Mirror-like calm of a rock pool vs the ocean waves beating the shore

Pot of gold at the end of Rainbow?

A beautifully painted toilet!

Two different energy sources - wind farm & rolled hay stacks.

Beautiful sun set at Warrnambool.

Hope you will visit someday. You'll love it too!

The Nobbies at Philip Island

2008-06-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

Philip Island is just an hour and half drive south-east of Melbourne. It is famous for its Penguin Parade where fairy penguins, the smallest specie, return from the sea each evening.

It is also the venue for the Australian leg of annual MotoGP race.

Last weekend, I head for the Nobbies at the far end of the island.
Stormy seas and wind swept shores greeted me upon arrival... loves watching & listen to the waves pounding the shores incessantly.

Dark volcanic rocks reminds of its early geological formations.

High power binoculars to view Australia fur seals frolicking at seas around Seals Rock

Along the board walk, one can see many penguin burrows amongst these protected shore grounds.

The visitor center offers refuge against elements of weather and comprehensive information on the eco-system of the flora & fauna in the region

Couple of thousands of Australian fur seals made home here

One can still enjoy the lovely view over a cup of hot coffee.

A great white shark surely made it presence felt!

A little more close up to this 18M monster

Not a sunset scene, sun light broke through the stormy sky.. stunning visuals nevertheless

A simple day but so much pleasure here!

Melbourne - city walk on a winter day

2008-06-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

Melbourne is another city I consider home. A beautiful city indeed, like all other cities, it has its blend of contrasts between the new and old.

A good site to know what's happening in Melbourne:
http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Pages/Home.aspx

Melbourne skyline behind Federation Square

Melbourne skyline behind winter trees.

The tallest building in town - Eureka Tower

Contrasting with an old building of Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne University

The most well known junction in the heart of city...
Flinder Street Station - an icon of Melbourne

Just across is Young & Jackson - a well known pub in the city

St. Paul Catheral is diagonally across.

The fourth corner is the modern but controversial Federation Square

Bridge over Yarra River & young skaters

The Arts Centre.. not as famous as Sydney's Opera House, but still beautiful

Entrance to the National Gallery of Victoria - with pool's symmetric reflection.

The new Melbourne Recital Centre, another piece of contemporary architecture. I always like water feature be part of landscape.

Art on the street

A clever contraption to collect floating debris.. wish they do the same for Chao Phraya in Bangkok!