I heart Melbourne

I’m feeling guilty about the amount of space I’ve devoted to complaining about the weather and the size of the coffee cups here. Let me tell you about some of the things I love about living in Australia and specifically, Melbourne.

The Art

The city of Melbourne has an impressive arts focus. Their Public Art Program states “The City of Melbourne recognises that artworks experienced in public space are visible and accessible to all, and serve as important markers reflective of our cultural identity.” As a result, there are astounding pieces every corner you turn. Even driving down Eastlink, a major traffic artery, is a cultural experience.

Case in point:

 

Hotel, by Callum Morton, is slightly smaller than life sized. Just enough to make you think WTF?! at you drive by.

Panorama Station by Louise Paramor. "based on an assemblage of found plastic objects" Eat your heart out, Mowry Baden with your Pavilion, Rock and Shell

And let’s not forget the laneway art:

The Seniors

I find the age to which Australian seniors remain active truly impressive. Some examples:

• While waiting for our flight to Uluru, Rob and the girls went to find candy for the journey and left me to wait with the luggage. A charming silver haired gent plonked himself next to me and struck up a conversation. “My daughter just left me at the entrance and told to me sort myself out. I’m 90 years old!” And then followed one of the most entertaining hours I’ve had in a long time. He was a skilled conversationalist and prompted me with questions while interspersing interesting tales from his own life. I learned about his family and he met all of mine. I asked him how he had met his wife and got the whole story, complete with the tale of her passing, after 61 years of marriage, at home, as he held her hand. Oh jeez, it still makes me tear up – look up and to the left – up and to the left. He is still living in his own home and holds a weekly salon for local artists and writers in between jaunts around the country to visit friends and family.
• Every weekend, exiting Plummer Ave. is extremely challenging because of the massive pelotons of cyclists plowing up Olivers Hill. As I wait for a break in the traffic, I get an up close and personal view of all of the riders and at least 80% of them are over the age of 60. 

• Recently, we stopped to watch a troop of surfers at Phillip Island. The surf was mid size (says she, who has never caught a wave in her life) and the dozen or so surfers out in the ocean looked like seasoned pros. As they started coming ashore because of the looming sunset, we saw that the vast majority of these neoprene clad people were silver haired seniors. I know wetsuits can hide a wealth of flaws but wow, these fogies were cut!

The markets

Oh, the markets.

Within an hours drive, I have at least four food markets that make Granville Island look like a quaint little backwoods stall.

• Queen Victoria Market, the grand dame of the city, takes hours to circumnavigate.
• Pahran Market, in an upscale hipster area, is where I found an avocado the size of an emu egg and Sophie wandered the baking aisles of Essential Ingredient with a look of ecstasy rivaling that of Bernini’s Saint Teresa.
• South Melbourne Market is close to Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, where the girls have most of their meets. As you swim parents know, you spend eight hours at the pool to watch your pride and joys swim about four and a half minutes, leaving lots of time to shop. The last time I was at the market, I saw a stall with jam donuts filled with warm salted caramel. I circled that aisle five times trying to justify spending $5.50 on a donut that would be gone in two bites. I decided against it and haven’t stopped thinking about that donut since.
• Dandenong Market is only half an hour away and the meat stalls contain any kind of meat you could possibly imagine, and many that you prefer had been left to the imagination. (FYI - many place names in Australia sound like they have come straight out of Gulliver’s Travels – Dandenong, Woolloomooloo, Brobdingnag, Wangaratta etc.)

 And I haven't even begun to talk about the wildlife...