12 posts tagged “melbourne”
Had a great time. The weather was great even when it was cold (which it only was towards the end). Highlights for the kids were meeting my brother's dog, Bobby, for the first time, spending their birthday money and, for my son, meeting up with my best friend and her to boys. We also had a few bike riding lessons (mostly unsuccessful), went down and visited my 94 year old nana and watched way too much tv (as Mum has foxtel). Here are some photos.
The first photo is of some cockatoos hanging about in the street near my house in suburban Sydney. It is not a very good photo but I promised Karen I would have a go at snapping some of them. I will keep trying to get some better shots over the weekend.
On a more serious note, this second 'birds in the 'burbs' photo was taken by a woman in outer suburban Melbourne, not far from where some of the Victorian bushfires are still raging. She said that the trees in her street are full of native birds at the moment. At any other time, this would be nice but in this case, it is most likely because their birds habitat is being destroyed by fire.
If anyone would like to help those helping the bird and animal victims of the Victorian bushfires, please visit Wildlife Victoria's website for information on how to make a donation.
Show us a magazine you read every month.
I don't read it every month but do try and buy a copy of The Big Issue whenever I can. The magazine is sold by
people experiencing homelessness and/or long term unemployment. It provides an opportunity for vendors [one of whom is starring as Santa Claus in the pictured issue] to positively change their lives by earning an income and interacting with the mainstream community. Vendors keep half the cover price of every magazine they sell.
Apart from that, it is also a really good read.
The Big Issue also coordinates the National Community Street Soccer Program and recently hosted the Melbourne 2008 Homeless World Cup:
Crowds cheer for homeless world cup
December 7, 2008 - 7:47PMThree winters ago, thousands of hardy souls braved the cold in the glow of the big screen at Melbourne's Federation Square to watch the 2006 World Cup of soccer unfold.
On Sunday, bathed in brilliant sunshine, they returned for the finals of a soccer tournament with a lower profile but that, in its own way, is probably more important - the Homeless World Cup.
Almost 500 homeless men and women from 56 nations came to Melbourne with hope of victory and a good chance of changing their lives for the better.
Organisers of the tournament - the sixth for homeless men and the first for women - say 77 per cent of homeless people who take part experience a "significant life change".
It may be they give up drugs or alcohol, find a home, get a job, go on to further training and education, repair fractured relationships or take up positions as coaches or players in semi-professional soccer teams.
The matches are fast-paced, high-scoring and short, played on a smaller pitch and with only seven-minute halves.
More than 5,000 people packed the square, filling two banks of temporary stands and climbing for vantage points on steps, tables and retaining walls for a glimpse of the action.
It was a curious and cosmopolitan mix of sports fanatics and the socially conscious.
Karen Cohen brought her daughters Vanessa Mae and Dara to watch.
"I love the whole idea of giving people some sense of pride and it makes me happy that it wasn't about money. It was about the experience. I wanted to teach my two daughters those values," she said.
The sports nuts came well prepared with a range of national strips and flags and soccer chants that were just as varied and colourful.
During the women's final, between Zambia and Liberia, a group of African men - one with a set of bongo drums - sang and chanted.
Zambia won the inaugural women's final 7-1, with Liberia hit hard by injury.
Robert Tracey, now living in Melbourne, belied his Scottish origins with a thick accent, the Scottish national strip and his face painted in blue and white.
"I support Scotland all the way. The Scots didn't make the final but there's always next year," he said.
Isheq Adadh, who emigrated from Afghanistan 10 years ago, cheered with his two sons and their three friends as the Afghani team played.
"It's the first time we have seen Afghan sportsmen," he said.
"They are playing very well."
Afghanistan's team, the clear crowd favourite, overcame decades of war and poverty to win their close and hard-fought final against Russia, 5-4.
© 2008 AAP
This was taken on Thursday at the playground near my mum's house. It was a beautiful spring day in Melbourne so I thought I might as well soak up a few rays on the play equipment. Come and get me, freckles!
What did you learn in kindergarten that you wish you did a better job of applying to the way you live your life today?
I started primary school at the tail end of the Australian Government "Free Milk Scheme":
Between 1951 and 1973 the Commonwealth Schools' Free Milk Scheme provided one third of a pint of whole milk per day to primary school children throughout Australia. The scheme ceased in 1973 because of escalating costs,resistance from teachers who felt that the distribution of milk was not their responsibility, and evidence that the protein and calcium deficiencies that had prompted the introduction of the scheme no longer existed.
Source: Powerhouse Museum
There is a fantastic photo of Melbourne school children drinking milk from those little glass bottles here.
While my memories of the milk are not particularly pleasant ones (can still remember the layer of cream on top and how horrible the afternoon milk would get on hot days), I suppose the lesson that CALCIUM IS GOOD is something I should be applying more in my diet today.
My other memories of Kindergarten (or Prep as we called it in Victoria) are of learning to sing "God Save the Queen" (can't think of a lesson in that!) and using those cuisenaire rods and little plastic counters to do "sums". I am not particularly maths-literate these days so maybe I do need to go back to Kindergarten to re-learn all this stuff.
How many houses have you lived in? How is where you live now different from where you grew up?
All up, I have lived in 10 houses and 2 flats/apartments. These have been in Melbourne, Canberra, Jakarta and Sydney.
This is what our current house in Sydney looks like from the front (have since finished the painting and no, it is no longer either of those colours):
and this is the view from the backyard:
Despite what you see in the first photo, most of the house is actually made from brick (the old brown Sydney kind) with sandstone foundations. It was built during the Depression by a man who had owned a big mansion on the main road going through our suburb. Back then, the rocky, hilltop location meant that he got the land fairly cheaply but now is it actually seen as an asset - although the blocks still very tricky for building on. It was originally only a one bedroom cottage. The front room which is what you can see in the first photo was added on much later.
Our street is a surprisingly bustling little cul de sac on top of a hill. We know some of the neighbours but not all (there are quite a few who are a bit nutty or otherwise antisocial). We are endlessly renovating and think this is the reason we have stayed here for so long (almost 10 year). This is actually the longest I have lived anywhere apart from the house I grew up in which was a 3 bedroom brick veneer in a quiet suburban street in Melbourne. My mum still lives in this house and this is a photo from her front garden:
And now a word from Madness on their house:
I have posted about this blog site previously but thought I would again as it now includes some Melbourne photos as well. I think it epitomises the Love Where You Live ethos and has made me look at my home of Sydney in a different light.
A trip down Swanston St, Melbourne, as it used to be:
Also read that one of the laneways in Melbourne was renamed ACDC Lane a few years back. Apparently it is now the most stolen street sign in Melbourne.
My husband planted this protea bush (above) a few years ago when visiting my mum and it is really going gangbusters now!
Having a bit of a vague out at the moment and can't for the life of me think what this one (below) is called. I have seen them used a lot in native flower arrangements in the last few years. Like the protea, this one doing very well in Mum's garden despite the drought which has really bitten hard in Melbourne.
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