Sunday, June 25, 2006

Seaside St. Kilda


This morning I got up, saw the sun shining through the clouds and thought, "Today is a beach day." So I hopped on the train and then a tram and made my way south of town to St. Kilda, the burb on the beach.
I had no idea where to get off the tram, so I just followed a bunch of people. Turns out that was a good tactic, because I got off right in front of St. Kilda pier, recently rebuilt to it's original 1904 plans after a fire in 2003.



Then I made my way along the bay to Luna Park, the amusement park built in the early 1900's (1912?) by the same guys who did Coney Island. The park boasts its original wooden train rollercoaster, which I didn't even get close to. Give me steel and seatbelt straps, thank you very much!

After checking out Luna Park, I made my way up the Esplanade and the Sunday market. Lots of arts and crafts and good things you don't need. I may have to go back, next time with money! Back on the tram to downtown and since it was shaping up to be such a nice day, I thought I'd check out the market under the art's center. Same stuff. No really, same artists and everything.

Since that was sort of a bust, I decided to take the city circle tram around the CBD. Apparently, that is what everyone else thought too. This tram is free and has a recorded tour guide to tell you all the good stuff is around the CBD. It was pretty much a waste, since there were so many people I couldn't hear the guide or see anything beyond my window. I did get a better feel for how long to get places, so that's good.


Too cramped to enjoy the ride, I hopped off short of completing the circuit and walked along the Yarra River back to Fed Square. This stretch of land has been made into Birrung Mar, a park exhibiting big works of art that supposedly have an aboriginal theme. Most of it has been taken over this month by Circus Oz, and so there wasn't too much to see. Other than this animal/person/sculpture thing. Oh, and a big giant phallus. But, I'll spare you that, because well, you already know what that looks like.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The boat was very cool! You look good in the red faced picture. I think the Aussie lifestyle suits you. You do have to comeback stateside though for everyones' sanity! By the way, I watched this show tonight on this Aussie man left for dead on Everest. Lincoln Hall is his name. Anyway, I would like to know the state of people's teeth over there because this man had Austin Powers teeth. You know the theme song is in your head now. Just a thought for a blog posting! Love ya!