Wild, Windy and Very, Very Wet

They had been forecasting wet weather on Sunday for several days. There were even warnings at the tram stops, alerting us to bad weather on Sunday and to allow for delays and cancellations.

I checked the rain forecast for Sunday morning and it looked ok, so I arranged to meet Simon at the Alphington market and then to go for lunch.

It was raining very lightly when I left home. It started raining with a bit more enthusiastic while I was on the train. It was properly raining when I got to the market, and quite muddy underfoot.

I got most of the things I was after. I also got a bit wet.

There were a few people there. Simon tells me that the vegetable stall had been quite busy when he got there, although there weren't many people waiting once I arrived. 

Simon and I hopped in ?Ziggy, who had come out for its weekly adventure and went to Kissaten for lunch. It was definitely raining but they had their rain shades up and patio heaters on - most of their seating is outside

I came home on the train and decided to change out of my wet clothes into my nightshirt and dressing gown. It was only mid-afternoon but I couldn't see any point in putting new day clothes on. I pottered around for a bit, then settled down at the table and mooched around on the Internet for a bit.

It started to get quite dark. I went to see what was happening and found that it was very cloudy and very, very wet. There were fire engines dotted around, lights on. I think something was happening up at the stadium. The fireys all ran up the steps from the esplanade to the stadium concourse. And Harbour Esplanade was starting to flood.

The fire engines went away. The Vic Emergency app was enthusiastically pinging with emergency alerts.

And then, at about 4:30, this happened:

There's a road under all that!

It was all a bit dramatic. Fortunately, we didn't get flooded inside the building and the electricity held up. But it was definitely Weather!

By sunset (around 8pm) it looked like this:

I must admit that when I bought this place and saw that Docklands is in a flood zone, I assumed the danger came from the harbour and the river, not from the sky!

This morning it is still, quiet, sunny and a bit on the chilly side

Rubbish

One of the things I have been really impressed with in my new building is the way that rubbish is dealt with.

There is, of course, the chute for sending bags of rubbish on their way.

There is also an extensive area in the level 1 car park for sorting rubbish.

There are bins for cardboard and paper. There are bins for general recycling.  There is a bin for general rubbish and a hard rubbish cage. There is a bin for e-waste and a couple of bins for fabric. There are also bins to collect the deposit scheme containers which volunteers takento the deposit scheme refund bins in The District; the money raised contributes to the edible garden and the urban forest on the stadium concourse. There are also "free to a good home" shelves where you can leave things you no longer want but which someone else may love. I left a large salad bowl there and it was gone the next time I went down. Brandy and Whiskey are drinking out of a dog bowl I found there (they can't read so don't know that it says "good dog" inside it 😉)

And now we have a compost dehydrator. Apparently they had one before but it kept breaking down. Now there is a new one. It's maintained by the City of Melbourne and produces compost/fertiliser for people and organisations to use. You collect food/plant scraps in a caddy in your flat then when it is full you take it down and feed it into the dehydrating machine. It's only just been turned on and they've been running information sessions this week. I went to one on Thursday and now I have a caddy and the liners and a fob so I can access the dehydrator.

I am ridiculously happy about this. I have been unhappy about sending food scraps to landfill since I got here and lost access to my garden compost bins (which are now at Hill House).

My little kitchen caddy

The composting dehydrator in the
level 1 car park

Some of the compost we produce will be coming to the shared vegetable garden, which will be good. I dropped in to inspect it after the information session. We had some very strong winds on Wednesday afternoon and evening. All was well, except that some of the plants are looking either wind burnt or too cold. If they recover, good. Otherwise it's not too late to replace them. And I had my first harvest. The broccoli was starting to go to seed so I cut the stalks which were flowering or about to flower.

First addition to my new kitchen caddy

Very delicious in my evening stir fry

Melbourne Boat Show

The Melbourne Boat Show was held in Docklands from lunchtime on Thursday until 16:00 yesterday.

I had seen fencing going up along the Esplanade and the Newquay promenade. I had seen umbrellas and small gazebos going up. I had vaguely wondered what they were doing. Then I saw boats arriving and decided to investigate and discovered that the Boat Show was due to start the following day. There were boats on trailers parked along the esplanade. There were boats moored along the quaysides. There were boats everywhere!

View from my lounge room window
The trees are in the way and
I can't see properly

I went down to look more closely, to see which ships they were

It's the Alma Doepel and the Wattle. They are usually moored at the North Wharf, where they are being restored and renovated. They are not usually moored outside my window:

The Enterprize came along shortly after

Lindsey came over at lunchtime on Thursday and we went for a wander through the boats and stalls and activities. It was only just getting going as we went and wasn't especially busy. Busy enough but not unpleasantly so. We went across to The District so Lindsey could do a bit of shopping and we had lunch in the Japanese restaurant by The Wheel. We came back through the boats and stopped to admire the Wattle - where we were greeted by very enthusiastic volunteers who more or less INSISTED that we go on board and have a look around. We weren't going to. We were just planning to take photos from the quayside. Kidnapped by pirates, we were 🏴‍☠️ 😂

Aboard the Wattle:

Wandering through the Boat Show:

Wendy came over on Sunday and we  walked through the boats and had fish and chips at the chip stall on the Newquay Promenade

It was very busy on Saturday and Sunday. I was quite glad that I had had a proper look around on the first day when it was much quieter and you could wander round without people walking into you. And they were very lucky with the weather. It was lovely over the weekend. Not too hot, not too windy, not too anything. Today is wet, gloomy and dark. Not a good day for wandering around a Harbourside and looking at boats.

Farewell to my weekend visitors:

Having Fun in Docklands

I think I have now reached the end of my "Come and see my new place" Sunday Lunches. Pat came down from Ballarat on the train yesterday. Lindsey met her at the station and escorted her over the footbridge and walkway. Freyja and Simon joined us. It was a merry afternoon. Also - it didn't rain until after everyone had left. I watched the clouds blow in from the West, accompanied by wind and rain. It would not have been fun walking back to the station or tram stop in that!

I had a good week. 

Lindsey and I went out to La Manna and Costco on Thursday and then met Freyja and Simon in Northcote in the evening for dinner in a new-to-me Japanese restaurant. I was surprised by how many people were in the city and on the tram on my way home.  The tram was packed once we reached the city centre. There were lots of people pottering along the Esplanade as I walked home from the tram. On Friday I stopped on my way home from work and sat near the ferry stop to watch it sail out. 

I was over at The District on Saturday afternoon and sat on the Newquay promenade to watch the harbour. It's interesting though - there are lots of benches along the Newquay promenade, and benches and low walls on the Victoria Harbour Promenade for people to sit and watch the water. Along the Esplanade there are none, at least not on the water side of the road, although there are some objects you can sit on by the ferry. It's a bit strange because it is a lovely view and there is plenty of room for benches. However, the Esplanade is still being renovated after the recent removal of the central pier. Perhaps benches will come.

Lindsey dropped in for a cup of tea on Saturday afternoon and mentioned that there was a Diwali festival happening at the stadium. I went to have a look after she had gone and there was indeed a festival. Lots of people there, having a very happy time.

Adventures in and Around Docklands

When I first bought my flat I joined both the building's and the building garden's Facebook groups.  There isn't a rooftop garden so I wasn't sure where the garden was. I did know that there was an "urban forest" outside the building on the stadium concourse, but that didn't seem to be what they were talking about. Then I noticed a fenced off area behind the urban forest, which had garden tubs and a large central fixed bed. Some of the tubs had herbs in them. Everything else was empty.

Then a meeting was called on the garden Facebook page to plan the spring planting. I decided to go, although I wasn't registered with the group and they weren't expecting me. There were about 10 people there and I was warmly welcomed.  I think there are around 30 or 40 people registered with the group. The garden is exclusively for edible or medicinal plants and the very large central bed is intended for edible native plants. The group has a grant from the city council to set it up and I think they are intending to get someone who knows about growing native edible plants to come and do some educating.

I went down on Saturday morning to help with the vegetable planting. It was a glorious morning for planting summer veg. I have done the garden induction and my fob has been activated so I can get into the garden, which has a locked gate for access. I appear to have joined a local club!

I planted green beans at the back, spring onions at the front
and sowed carrot seeds in the middle

I also planted the passionfruit

We had LOTS of tomato and basil seedlings
so we planted several tubs of them.

Our youngest gardener makes up in enthusiasm
what he lacks in experience 😀

After The Planting, I went over to The District to lay in supplies for an unexpected Sunday lunch on the following day. It was very busy. Somebody needs to remind people that Docklands is supposed to be a deserted wilderness occupied only by howling winds and a very few miserable locals. I can't say this has been my experience, so far. Even the trams were packed. (I will acknowledge the howling winds, though)

City Circle tram heading towards The District

Sunday was the day for the monthly Docklands farmers' market, which is still on the stadium concourse. I wandered over for a look around and got some microbrewery beer, some sweet peas, fish, pies, bread. There still isn't a vegetable stall. Then I came home and prepared lunch for three omnivores, one vegetarian and a vegan. I made chicken stew and "chicken" stew, with roast potatoes. My brother Matthew has been to the flat before but Belinda and William didn't make it to the family Sunday Lunch in the pub a few weeks ago so were visiting for the first time. Freyja, of course, has been several times. It was a good afternoon. I showed them the stadium concourse and the vegetable garden. They inspected the flat. We watched the boats. We had lunch, drank wine or beer, then all the visitors went home.

I was pottering around on Monday morning, clearing up after the lunch, pondering doing a proper clean of the flat and maybe starting to re-organise the cupboards and shelves - when I got a message from Lindsey. Did I fancy going to the Bunnings in Port Melbourne? She couldn't go and they had Bluey garden gnomes in stock. The Bluey garden gnomes are highly prized and tend to sell out very quickly when they come into stock.

How do I get to Bunnings from here by public transport? Ah. By bus. I don't use buses very much. Challenge #1 - find the bus stop! ✅  Challenge #2 - get off at the right stop ✅

Challenge #3 Find the Bluey Gnomes. Uh oh! The woman at the front says they've sold out. They were all sold over the weekend  😢. Sent the bad news to Lindsey then decided that while I was there I might as well buy the strip light I wanted for the bathroom and have a look at new toilets (Mine is very cracked inside the bowl. So far it's not leaking but it will need replacing fairly soon).  Wandered off in the direction of the lights - and walked past a table with six Bluey garden gnomes and a pile of Bluey doormats. Grabbed two of the gnomes and one of the doormats. Challenge #3 ✅

Challenge #4 find the return bus stop ✅ and come home ✅

Mission accomplished.

I hadn't realised quite how close the Port Melbourne Bunnings is. I think I waited longer for the buses to arrive than I actually spent on them.

They don't know it yet,
but they will soon be off to a new
life in Canada

I looked out the window this morning when I first got up and saw this:

I wasn't expecting to see
two full moons!

And Brandy and Whiskey have a new bed:

It might be a bit small for Whiskey. And it's definitely too small for both of them. There are other beds and anyway they have commandeered my comfy chair so I'm not particularly worried.  So far they haven't argued over it.

That is supposed to be
*my* TV watching chair!