Some company in Melbourne and some tennis in Hobart 2 – 14 January 2020

I’d figured I might as well spend time at Auckland airport before my 2040 flight on 2 January to Melbourne. I quite enjoy people watching and, with a good book too, could easily while away the hours. I found a seat near to departures and had fun sneakily taking pictures of some of the people leaving friends, family and lovers so there were plenty of tears and smiles. It reminded me of the end of the film ‘Love Actually’ but that was films of people arriving instead, so far more smiles then. It seems that Maoris bring the whole extended family to the airport to wave people off. One Maori send off was particularly lovely as they formed a circle while one of them said a prayer. A few of the pics:

My airline was Jetstar (an EasyJet equivalent) with a seating configuration of 2 x 3 seats across. The flight was just 4 hours long. At Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport I got a shuttle bus to the airport hotel I’d booked. By the time I got to the hotel it was nearly midnight locally but 2am NZ time. I didn’t get much sleep with other people coming and going and just after 11am on Friday 3rd got the hotel’s shuttle bus back to the airport to catch the Skybus into the centre and then a train to my Airbnb in the Brunswick area of Melbourne.

Brunswick is a multicultural area quite popular with younger people and good for live music, not that I sampled any of that. The heart of it is Sydney Road which stretches for at least 2km and is full of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants and clothes shops. It reminded me somewhat of the Kingsheath area of Birmingham for the restaurants and Camden Town for the clothes.

I let myself into the Airbnb (a key was left in a bucket near my private entrance) which was in Bishop Street, a lovely tree lined street with heritage houses most of which had filigree surrounds at the front, which reminded me a little of some similar metalwork on apartments in Cheltenham. I was very pleased with my room and nice en suite which had only recently been added. I then went in search of the Green Refectory, along Sydney Road, one of a number of eateries recommended by my Airbnb hosts, Olga and Chris (who I hadn’t yet met) for a late lunch which also served as dinner. The place was packed, which I’d been warned about but told it was well worth the wait, and I had a nice, huge salad for just $10. I continued walking the length of Sydney Road and into the centre. As Melbourne is on a grid system it was basically in one straight line. It was extremely hot and probably not the best idea but I was able to get my bearings.

I went into the State Library, which I remembered visiting back in 2012, and had enough time to have a look at an exhibition ‘World of the book’ showcasing some of the rare and historically significant books held in the library and a journey through the history of book production, design and illustration from the Middle Ages to the present.

The State Library:

When the library closed I walked to Federation Square, opposite Flinders Street Station, an area I was familiar with from my last trip as I watched some of the tennis there on a big screen. There was a screen still, but it was different from before and the square also appearEd quite changed. I found out later that it had been altered so that it was more accessible. I had a lager in a nearby restaurant (inside for the air con as it was too hot al fresco) and then took the number 19 tram all the way back to near the Airbnb. I briefly had a chat with Olga on arrival.

Public transport in Melbourne is brilliant with mainly trams running into the centre from North, South, East and West, trains and buses. A MYKI card is their equivalent of London’s Oyster card, each trip anywhere in Melbourne (whether it be by train, tram or bus) costing just $4.50 with a maximum of $9 charged per day. There’s a central heritage tram running in a circle (no.35) which is free and has an audio commentary and stops at a few of the sites of interest. Any other trams within this area are also free.

On Saturday morning I went to another recommended cafe not far from the Airbnb for a trendy breakfast (with a trendy price tag) of smashed avocado and poached eggs on toasted sour dough. I’d decided to go to the Immigration Museum today, along Flinders Street, arriving just before midday. On the top floor was an exhibition on ‘Identity’ – exploring how our cultural heritage, languages, beliefs and family connections influence our self-perceptions and perceptions of others that can lead to discovery, confusion, prejudice and understanding. I found it very entertaining, thought provoking and intriguing. There were also two tattoo exhibitions, one a more general one exploring the art of the tattoo and self expression, the other about whole body Japanese tattoos, explaining the various symbols that are used with videos by some well known Japanese tattoo artists. I found the following amusing i.e. signs ‘bottom left’ and ‘bottom right’:

At 2.30pm there was a guided tour by a very pleasant man called Jason, who had welcomed me when I arrived. I was joined by another couple from the UK and had a very interesting and comprehensive tour learning about the building, originally the Customs House, and how it had changed over the years. Jason even took us out the front to explain how the area would have been before Europeans settled with two Aboriginal tribes living opposite each other divided by the river which originally had a waterfall where now there is a bridge.

After the tour I went around the ‘Leaving home’ section, the various reasons why people have left their homelands to emigrate to Australia and ‘Getting In’ about the various changes in Immigration policies since the 1800s and the reasons for those changes. There was also a section focusing on five different families who’d left their countries to make their home in Victoria from the 1860s to 2009. There was just time to have a quick look at the museum’s shop before closing at 5pm.

I’d booked a ticket to see a show starting at 8pm so had 3 hours to kill and decided to travel the length of the whole circular journey on the free tram with audio commentary. Unfortunately the audio commentary could hardly be heard as it was quite low and passengers were talking loudly. I had thought it would mainly be used by tourists but locals were also using it to get about (as it was free) who clearly weren’t interested in listening to the commentary. This was annoying.

After this I found a ‘meatballs’ restaurant for dinner (they had veggie ones) before going to the Comedy Theatre to see the musical ‘Come From Away’ which was absolutely brilliant. It’s on in the West End of London as has won Olivier awards. Highly recommended and I wanted to see it all over again when it finished.

From Monday 6th January I was originally supposed to be staying for 3 nights with Glenys and her husband John (Glenys a friend I met at the Hay Festival and stayed with in Edinburgh for my first experience of that festival in 2018). They have a daughter, Megan, who’s married to an Aussie winemaker and two little grandchildren. They come over to see them every year and have been with them since 17 December. They stay in a cabin on the land/farm (which is about 90 minutes by train from Melbourne) and had a room for me. Although a long way from the bush fires they’ve had haze and a smell of smoke, so Glenys decided she’d like to come to Melbourne for 3 nights from Sunday 5th and sightsee with me. She suggested I went back with her on Wednesday for the day as would like me to see the farm and meet the family, and return that evening in readiness for my flight to Hobart on Thursday.

Glenys booked a hotel opposite Southern Cross Station (the Great Southern Hotel) and I decided to book the same hotel for 3 nights from the Monday as had Sunday night still at the Airbnb. So I went to meet her just after she’d checked in at the hotel on the Sunday. She told me she’d got an upgrade. On the way to meet her I sat behind this man with probably the most ridiculous hairstyle I’ve ever seen, I mean….really?

It was great to see Glenys as she’s very good company and fun. We had a wander and first stop was a busy cafe for a late breakfast of porridge! This may seem strange but it had rained most of the night, was raining most of the day and chilly. I couldn’t believe I’d be wearing my closed walking shoes (having worn sandals for the last two months) fleece and rain jacket.

We then went to the National Gallery of Victoria and, on the way, had a brief look at some of the stalls at an arts and crafts market that’s nearby every Sunday. I will return to it and have a proper look when it’s not raining. In the foyer of the Gallery (which I’d visited in 2012 as I remembered the large windows at the entrance with water running down them – waterwall) was a huge bronze sculpture which I initially thought was Mickey Mouse by Brian Donnelly aka KAWS:

We wondered how on earth they’d got it into the gallery as it’s enormous. There was a separate paid exhibition of KAWS’ work plus another artist, Keith Haring who had painted a work on the large waterwall:

On the top floor was an exhibition of some of the designs by the fashion house, ‘Comme des garçons’ which was very well done and included films of models on the catwalks at fashion shows. Unlike many fashion designs, most of these were wearable and very feminine:

There were 3 films by visual artist Shirin Nesbit, an Iranian woman who lives in New York, all in black and white, quite strange but compelling. Her work centres on the contrasts between Islam and the West. In the third screening room, larger than the rest, there were big cushions and beanbags and a couple of people sleeping. I reckoned you could go to the museum on opening and have a sleep in that room all day!

Then we looked at some glassware, ceramics and European paintings from 15th – 18th centuries until the Gallery closed at 5pm. We hadn’t managed to see everything.

After a cuppa nearby we went into St Paul’s Cathedral (Anglican) opposite Federation Square for Choral Evensong. Glenys suggested this might be nice as, although not religious, she enjoyed listening to the choirs. The service was an hour long and the choir just consisted of three young women and three young men all wearing casual clothes, which seemed strange to me but is how it’s done in Australia. They had lovely voices. I even got to sing a couple of hymns which was nice, having missed out on singing, or even hearing, carols at Christmas. I discovered that Glenys can’t sing, although she tried.

We then went to nearby Hosier Lane, famous for graffiti and street art which is constantly changing:

By then it was time for dinner and we found a Greek restaurant that looked reasonable although we weren’t that impressed with the food. We then both went our separate ways. When I got back to my Airbnb I had a chat in the kitchen with Olga and Chris and discovered that they’d quite recently returned from a year’s trip around Europe and had rented their home out while they were travelling.

On Monday 6th I left the Airbnb to drop off my luggage at the hotel (check in being from 2pm) and meet up with Glenys, who was just finishing off breakfast when I arrived. I suggested we go to the Old Treasury (as recommended by Jason, the guide at the Immigration Museum) and then on to Parliament House which was nearby. It turned out to be an excellent choice and was free to enter. The Old Treasury building is one of the finest 19th century buildings in Australia, representing the grandeur and confidence that was Melbourne in the 1850s when so much gold was found in the state of Victoria and Melbourne was probably the richest City in the world. A 19 years old, JJ Clarke (originally from Liverpool, England who at 13 had drawn an amazing map of Liverpool which was on display here) designed the building which was originally built to store the gold that was flooding in from the gold fields.

Only the basement and ground floor was accessible to visitors, the rest of the building is used by government officials, so we started in the basement where the original massive vaults each had displays and presentations telling the history of the discovery of gold, old pictures of the various goldfields, stories highlighting the appalling conditions in the fields and a copy of the largest piece of gold found. There was also a recreation of the basement apartment of building caretakers, John and Emma Maynard and their 8 children, who lived there from 1916-28. There were photographs of various areas of Melbourne as they were in the 1850s and how they are now. On the ground floor was the story of the rapid growth of Melbourne with photos from 1840 – 1900; events from 1901 – 1927 when Melbourne was the capital city of Australia. The country had two referendums at the start of the First World War when initially the people voted, by a narrow margin against conscription (interestingly virtually the same result as the Brexit referendum!) but with a slightly wider margin at the second. There were old posters encouraging people to sign up and wonderful old black and white films of life in Melbourne. There was a fascinating temporary exhibition called ‘Wayward Women’ highlighting the stories of 10 women from Melbourne during Victorian times including Madame Brussels, a brothel-keeper; Frances Knorr, the ‘Brunswick baby farmer’; Beatrice Phillips, ‘the worst woman in Melbourne’ who was convicted for various offences over 227 times and Brettena Smith, an early feminist who sold contraceptive devices from her druggist shop in North Melbourne while campaigning for votes for women. Some of the women’s stories caught the eye, at the time, of social reformers who gradually improved the position of all women.

We then went to Parliament House which was nearby and queued up for a free tour at 3.30pm. In Australia there is the Federal Parliament which covers the country and then each state has its own Parliament. This Parliament of Victoria first met in 1856. There are two houses with representatives elected to the Legislative Council (the Upper House) which has 40 members its chamber being decorated in red, and the Legislative Assembly (the Lower House) which has 88 members its chamber furnished in green. These colours were adopted from the British House of Lords and House of Commons. The Governor of Victoria represents the Crown. Rather like in the UK, bills have to be passed by both Houses. The two chambers are separated by Queen’s Hall, which was the first room we were shown, named in honour of Queen Victoria and completed in 1879. There is a marble statue of Queen Victoria. It provides a venue for ceremonial occasions, official receptions and dinners as well as exhibitions and displays. We were then shown into the two chambers.

We then went in search of a Middle Eastern restaurant we’d read about that looked good and was, except that it didn’t serve alcohol.

I met up for breakfast with Glenys in the hotel on Tuesday 7th to plan where we’d go. We thought we’d go to the additional wing of the Art Gallery, and then the Melbourne Gaol. Glenys had been complaining of a bad gut but also floaters in her eye and that morning had some flashes of light. We got on a tram to make our way to the gallery but popped into a pharmacy where Glenys spoke to the Pharmacist who recommended she go to a walk in medical centre just a few doors along. Glenys saw a GP fairly quickly who referred her to an Opthalmologist with a 1.30pm appointment that day. Fantastic service although of course Glenys has to pay (but can claim it back on her travel insurance). We had 2 hours before the appointment and went in search of an alleyway with more artwork :

We took another tram and had a look outside the Roman Catholic Cathedral, St Patrick’s but couldn’t go in as there was a Mass going on:

Glenys had googled her eye symptoms and come to the conclusion she had a detached retina. However, her consultation with the Opthalmologist resulted in a diagnosis of posterior vitreous detachment of right eye (basically the jelly like substance in her eye was starting to become detached). This is basically an age thing, but quite depressing for her. We went back to the hotel so she could rest for an hour as the eye drops put in before her eyes were examined made her tired and sensitive to light. She felt much better after the rest and we went to a lovely Italian restaurant called ‘Tutto Bene’ which had a convenient ‘happy hour’ just ending and were served by a very nice waiter called Brian – not at all Italian! Then we went to see ‘The Choir of Man’ at the Playhouse in the Arts Centre, a lovely venue situated on, what I called, the South bank’. As we arrived we were told we could go on the stage for a drink, and were served a lager by one of the members of the group and chatted to a couple of others. The group consists of 9 young British men, who had put together a clever show which was set in a pub called ‘The Jungle’, and included poetry, tap dancing and wonderful singing, both accompanied by themselves on various instruments and A Capella, of well known songs by Paul Simon, Adele, the Beatles, the Proclaimers, Queen and others. It really was a super show and a class act. I discovered later that there are several groups of ‘The Choir of Man’ as there’s also one touring the US and two on cruise ships.

On Wednesday 8th Glenys presented me with a card and present of a book (for my birthday the next day) at breakfast, which was really kind. The book is one that she’d recommended, ‘Dark Emu’ by Bruce Pascoe, having told her that I’m mainly reading about the countries I’m travelling in or books by native authors. This is a non fiction book about the Aboriginal people, so will be interesting and enlightening. Glenys checked out of the hotel and we walked to Southern Cross Railway station where we got a 0915 bus to Warragul, normally a 2 hour train ride from Melbourne. The train was replaced by a free bus service as they’re doing maintenance works which normally happens this time of year. Glenys wanted me to see the farm where her daughter and family live and where Glenys and John have been staying, so I was going for the day, Warragul being the nearest town.

John picked us up from the station and we had a look around Warragul, starting off initially at the impressive arts centre where Glenys hoped to take us out to lunch (another restaurant having fallen through as it was closed) but the restaurant there was also closed for an extended Christmas break. We met up with Megan, Glenys and John’s daughter, and gorgeous little, nearly 1 year old, granddaughter Ita and Glenys treated us to lunch at a nice cafe. Then Glenys and John showed me the vineyard that their son-in-law, Patrick, leases with a friend and we had a short walk to a lookout. I’d been told there were snakes around, although fortunately we didn’t come across any, but there were quite a few annoying flies.

Then they took me to the farm and showed me the cabin where they were staying, which was quite rustic, and where I would have stayed for 3 nights had Glenys not come to Melbourne, and then the main house. I was shown the winery, which was behind the house and not particularly tidy. I was rather disappointed not to have a wine tasting but Patrick wasn’t there so that was the reason.

I was then driven up into the hills in a big circle and was shown the area that had been on fire two years previously when again Glenys and John had been visiting and had to be evacuated. You could still see the scorched earth and blackened trees. Fortunately it didn’t reach the farm. Back to the farm and I briefly saw their 3 year old grandson, Idris, then was taken to the station to catch a 6.30 pm bus back to Melbourne.

On Thursday 9th I took a Skybus from Southern Cross Railway Station to the airport for my 1.10pm flight to Hobart, Tasmania – my first visit. On arrival I got a Skybus the other side into the centre of Hobart then a local bus and a 15 minute walk to the Airbnb I’d booked in an area called New Town. My host was Lyn, who is slightly older than me and lives alone. I had a room and shared bathroom. Lyn went out at 6pm with some friends to a photographic exhibition, which she very kindly invited me to but I declined as was very hot and needed some time to get ready. So after a shower and change I went in search of a meal (as it was my birthday) and realised I should have accepted Lyn’s offer to join them as there wasn’t much in the area. However, I found a Malaysian restaurant, which was run by two young Chinese friends, and was the only person in there but had a reasonable meal. I got back ‘home’ just as Lyn was arriving and she treated me to a gin and tonic in the garden where we got bitten by mosquitos and I’d be scratching my feet and arms for the next 48 hours as a result.

On Friday after breakfast and a chat with Lyn I walked into the centre and took a hop on hop off bus around the sights to get a bit more of an idea what Hobart was all about. The journey took 90 minutes and I decided I’d just stay on the bus until it had done the whole journey, intended staying on to go back to one of the areas and hop off but didn’t, instead I spent all afternoon in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery which was exceptionally good and free to enter. This was more ‘museum’ than ‘art gallery’. For me, the most interesting and thought provoking area was the effect that colonisation had on the aborigines, or ‘First People’ as they’re currently called, and the atrocious treatment of them by the incomers. I knew a certain amount of what went on but when reading the British wanted them virtually wiped out I felt a real sense of responsibility and guilt. It’s thought the First People have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years and I think what we did to them was worse than our treatment of the Maoris in New Zealand given the spiritual connection they have with the land which we totally disrespected and still do.

Soon after leaving the museum I bumped into Lyn who had earlier told me there was free music in Franklin Square from 4-9pm and street food stalls, and suggested I might like to go. We checked it out but it was raining on and off and quite cold. I bought a curry from one of the stalls to take back for dinner and we got a bus back home to discover that Lyn had made an apple pie and I was treated to some with ice cream. I watched a film on Netflix with Lyn called ‘The Age of Adaline’. This Airbnb feels rather like home and Lyn is very hospitable, easy to talk to and a great sense of humour. I get the feeling that she rather likes the company. I discovered that Lyn had seen series 1 & 2 of ‘Anne with an ‘e’ on Netflix and I’d told her series 3 had started on 3 January, so we watched an episode of it.

My main reason for coming to Hobart for these few days was for the Hobart International (Women’s) Tennis Tournament, which I’d been told about when housesitting in Bath by a welcome guide outside the railway station while waiting for Monica who was visiting for the day. The first Saturday and Sunday were qualifying matches and free to enter. I decided to walk to the Queens Domain where the Botanical Gardens and Domain Tennis Centre are located, which took about 45 minutes. Tennis had started at 11am and three courts were being used for the matches, although there are 18 courts in all of different surfaces.

Given that entry was free and it was in the school holidays I was surprised how few people there were. I moved around between the courts, starting off with a match on centre court between a 20 year old Australian called Alexandra Bozovic and American Madison Brengle, won by the latter in 2 sets. The seating here was excellent and along three sides of the court. I then went to Court 8 where Heather Watson was playing later, to watch the remainder of a match between American Jennifer Elie and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the latter won in 3 sets. Then on West Court I watched to the end of the match between Nina Stojanovic (Serbia) and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (Slovakia) and briefly chatted to the former’s coach who was Spanish. Stojanovic won in 2 sets. Then I went back to Court 8 to watch the end of Georgina Garcia Perez’s match (Spain) versus Italian Camila Georgi, the latter winning in 2 sets. This was followed by Heather Watson’s match (the only person I’d heard of and who I also watched in her qualifying matches at the Oz Open back in 2012 which she lost) versus Hayley Carter from the US. For the first set I sat next to her coach and trainer who, understandably, didn’t engage in much conversation with me and kept calling out things like “let’s go Hev” or “good ball Hev”. I decided, as I didn’t personally know Heather Watson, I’d use ‘Heather’ as I encouraged her on. I was pleased she won in 2 sets, although her opponent had some lengthy medical treatment on court in the second set, no idea what for.

It was very windy on and off and bits from the trees blew onto court 8, in particular, at times which had to be swept away in between games. While watching Heather’s match I got talking to a local man called Ashley who was at the tournament for the first time which he felt embarrassed about and an American man called Joe, the first Trump supporter I’ve met thus far so decided not to talk about it! Despite that he was very pleasant and we watched the end of the match between one of his compatriots, Christina McHale and Renata Vorakova, a Czech, which was won by McHale. She came over to talk to Joe and thanked him for his support, which I thought was kind. He got her autograph and I took photos of him with her on his phone. I then asked him to take my picture with her while she was being interviewed:

Then Joe and I went to Centre Court where the final match was in progress between another American Alexa Glatch and Arantxa Rus from the Netherlands, won by the latter in 2 sets.

After dinner at the house I watched more episodes of ‘Anne with an ‘e’ with Lyn.

On Sunday morning, as I opened the blinds in my room, a man parked a van on Lyn’s drive and was just getting out. It turned out to be Tony, a friend of hers, who turns up now and then unexpectedly. We had breakfast together and he was an interesting chap who lives on Bruny Island in a caravan. He was taking Lyn somewhere where they could swim and body surf.

Back again to the tennis and I decided to stay on Centre Court in one of the boxes normally reserved for corporate ticket holders but ok for all this weekend. Beside me was a local couple who I chatted to. He (Ken) was a member of the club. The matches were between Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) vs Madison Brengle (US) which was won by Ons Jabeur in 2 sets; Sorana Cirstea vs Irina-Camelia Begu, both from Romania and won by Cirstea in 2 sets; and the one I was waiting for: Nina Stojanovic (Serbia) vs Heather Watson (GB) won by Watson in 2 sets. Then, as I was leaving, I got watching the end of another match on the West Court as it was the nice American I saw win yesterday with Joe, Christina McHale vs Arantxa Rus (Netherlands). It was a really close game but McHale won.

L to R: Watson vs Stojanovic; McHale vs Rus; Rus

On the way through the park to get a bus back I saw a peculiar sight: a man who’d taken his rabbit out for a walk, although he was sitting on a bench with the rabbit on a long leash. He told me he takes the rabbit out every day for up to 90 minutes and the rabbit, a female, is called Benny. I thought this was very sweet and they clearly had a good bond:

When I got back to the house Tony and Lyn were back after their swim and body surfing. We sat in the garden with a gin and tonic chatting congenially. Lyn had made a meal and asked me to join them, which was nice, followed by the rest of the apple pie with ice cream. We then settled down to watch more of series 3 of ‘Anne with an ‘e’ on Netflix, even though Tony hadn’t seen any previously. He slept that night in his van in the drive.

Having sat down for two days watching tennis for hours I thought I’d take a walk on Monday (13th). I did think I’d walk up Mount Wellington (which overlooks Hobart) but there was no bus to get there. Lyn told me I could walk along a cycle track, next to an old railway line, near the foreshore into the centre so I did. It was a extremely hot. The walk went along Cornelian Bay and past some colourful boat sheds, to then gradually get closer and pass the Tasman Bridge. I’d learnt on the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus that there had been an accident when, in January 1975, a bulk ore carrier, ‘Lake Illawarra’, travelling up the Derwent river collided with the bridge causing a large section of the bridge to collapse onto the ship. 12 people were killed including 7 crew on the ship and the 5 occupants of 4 cars who were driving on the bridge at the time. Apparently the ship is still below the bridge and there is a gap left between the pylons where the collision occurred.

The path arrived at the Cenotaph which is the main commemorative military monument in Tasmania. At the Cenotaph was a loudspeaker with a narration about various men who had fought and how they died. Leading to the cenotaph was the Bridge of Remembrance which was only opened on 31 March 2019.

MONA took 25 minutes….Back at house, Tony again. Watched rest of ‘Anne….I

I’d decided to go to MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) and was told the best way to get there was by ferry: the MONA Roma (camouflaged catamarans) as the museum had been created to be approached by water.

View of Hobart’s waterfront from departing ferry with Mount Wellington in the background

The ferry took 25 minutes and on arrival I discovered that the museum was underground and is difficult to explain, just to say that it was quite fascinating and more modern than old. We were provided with a phone and headset (called the O’). As you pressed on the ‘O’ on the phone it would bring up the exhibits that were nearby and a guide and/or interview with the author. One exhibit was a man who’d had his body tattooed who just sat quite still for hours: