Tram Challenge Route #12. Richmond to St Kilda

I have nerdy-fied the Tram Challenge by writing the route numbers I haven't done yet on small pieces of paper and putting them in a small bowl so the route I am going to do can be random rather than me always choosing it.

I knew I was going to be Home Alone at the weekend. Lindsey went to Sydney and Freyja and Simon had gone to Ocean Grove. I thought I might do a tram route, if the weather was obliging and if I could be bothered.

I pulled a number out of the bowl. It was the only publicly accessible route that does not run through the city centre. I was discussing with Freyja how I might achieve this (there were options) and she suggested that I put that route on hold and we could tie it in with her and Simon's railway station challenge.  I put the slip of paper aside.

The next one I pulled out goes past the zoo. I knew that part of the route was being replaced with buses until mid-October. I considered doing it anyway but then decided to wait until the route is fully open again and put the number back in the bowl.

The third number was the route 12 which runs between Victoria Gardens in Richmond to St Kilda. I have done the part between the city and Victoria Gardens multiple times because that's where IKEA is. The #12 terminates there; the #109 goes past on its way to Box Hill. Also, they are the tram lines that go past the flat in East Melbourne and the Bunnings in Collingwood. However, I have not done the stretch from the city to St Kilda.

It was a pleasant day on Sunday so, after visiting the Alphington market, I took myself on the #12 to St Kilda. It goes through South Melbourne and Middle Park, finishing up at the Fitzroy Street shops in St Kilda.

The final stop is about a block from the beach. So I walked to the beach.

The beach was busier than I expected it to be. The pier was very busy. I went out along it anyway.

I had a great afternoon. I don't know why I don't head out more often to the many beaches which are available to me.

It crossed my mind that, while I do go to the Richmond end of the #12 route quite often, I haven't properly "collected" it. There are rules, you know! When I am collecting bridges I need to get at least one photo and I need either to cross the bridge or to go under it. I make an exception when it is not possible to do either, such as the pack horse bridge at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire which is not accessible to the public. You can get near it but not actually to it. With the tram routes, I need to get off the tram, and take at least one photo. If there is anything at the end of the line (sometimes there isn't) I need to have a look at it.

So yesterday, I went back to Victoria Gardens and properly collected the end of the line. I wanted to go to Bunnings anyway, which is on the way to Victoria Gardens, and was more than happy to visit Toscano's, the greengrocery, and the supermarket while I was there.

The Anniversary Week

It was one year on Tuesday since I picked up the keys to my flat, although I didn't properly move in until the following Saturday, when I brought the cats down from Ballarat and we stayed overnight for the first time. I had been running up and down the highway during that week, bringing stuff down and starting to unpack things that weren't waiting for the furniture, which came on the Thursday. I have never really known whether to count the Monday or the Saturday as THE Anniversary, but really I think it has to be the day I got the keys and the flat actually became mine.

I bought it some flowers as a birthday present.

I don't really remember now when it stopped feeling like a holiday place and began to feel properly like home. I think it was when I decided I absolutely did not like the severely uncluttered look and bought some rugs and other cosy and/or cute things.  I'll take some comparative One Year On photos of the inside the next time there is a sunny day

There wasn't an anniversary on Wednesday but Matthew came down from Warragul to spend a couple of days with William, who lives not far from my place. He came on the train so called in for coffee when he got to the city.

Thursday was Jim's third anniversary. I noted it when I got up (it was on the calendar and in my online diary). Then I went into work for a couple of hours. I met Lindsey for lunch in a little Japanese cafe/restaurant called Chiaki in Collingwood that she had found when she walked past it recently. It does rather nice food. I have added it to my eating list. Later I went to the first Japanese class since it moved from Wednesday to Thursday. Lindsey came too. The class starts at 4:20 and finishes at 6:30 (there's a 10 minute break mid way), which works better for me than 5:30 to 7:40. It's still eating time in my world when I get home just after 7, and it isn't eating time if I don't get home until 8:15 or a bit later.  I never quite worked out when to have meals on Wednesdays when there was a Japanese class in the city at 5:30!

I marked Jim's anniversary when I got back in the evening by toasting him with a glass of wine and eating savoury mince with mashed potatoes and lots of green vegetables.  No runner beans, alas, but broad beans and peas are coming back into season and I got some asparagus that had come from Darwin. It's not ready in the southern states yet.  Jim was very fond of broad beans, peas and asparagus, not to mention mashed potato and gravy. He rather liked savoury mince as well. He would have enjoyed the dinner. He would have enjoyed last night's dinner too. Almost a re-run of Thursday's but with a grilled pork chop with apple sauce rather than savoury mince.

 Matthew and William came around yesterday at lunchtime for a cuppa, then we went and inspected a small flat and a bed-sit/studio apartment. William's flat is a bit dark and gloomy and he has been considering the possibility of moving. These flats were in my building but in the north tower. It was rather fun looking at them. They didn't look over the harbour but over the city - you could see the bay, though. Then they both went back to Warragul and I came back to my place.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of my arriving back in Australia to live. I have noted it but haven't done anything specific to mark it. In fact, I have done very little. I should have bought a vanilla slice or a meat pie or something. Oh well. Perhaps on the 20th anniversary.

I have embarked on a One Year On sort through of my cupboards, drawers and fridge and freezer. I started with the freezer, primarily to remind myself what is in it. I must shop from the freezer until I have cleared it out a bit. Then I think I will start in the cupboard by the front door and work my way around in a clockwork manner.

The Enterprize was moored across the road when I got off the tram after lunch on Thursday afternoon. It used to moor across the harbour near the Banksia building but it left some weeks ago. I think it has moved to its new base in Williamstown. It was a pleasant surprise to see it visiting  Docklands. 

It is a beautiful ship

One Year On

First photo: August 2025

And today, August 2026

Happy first anniversary to my flat

Anniversaries

This week has to do some heavy lifting.

Today is Freyja's birthday. Happy birthday, Freyja 🎂🎈🎉

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of me collecting the keys to my flat.

Thursday is the third anniversary of Jim's death.

Saturday is the 10th anniversary of my return to Australia.

And Sunday marks a year since the cats and I properly moved into the flat and stayed overnight.

I do not have plans to mark any of these anniversaries (but I will note them).

I need to go to Richmond today to pick up a bedside lamp from Ikea. I had been wondering why I only bought one - and then remembered that when I bought it I only had a single bed, pushed against the wall, and there was only room/need for one. I now have a double bed with a table on either side and often find I am on the wrong side of the bed when I want to turn the lamp on. I had an online voucher for Ikea so got the lamp for free and only paid for some lightbulbs for it. I just need to go and collect it. I will also go in to work for a couple of hours on Thursday and I go back to my Japanese lessons, both online and in person, this week after a short break. Otherwise, my calendar is clear.

I went into work twice last week, on Tuesday and Thursday, which managed to confuse me rather a lot. When I do go in it's usually on a Friday and occasionally a Wednesday. Seldom Tuesday and practically never Thursday. I hope it won't be as confusing this week because I am going in on Thursday morning and my in person Japanese class has moved from Wednesday to Thursday. I have set alarms to remind me to do both these things!

The Docklands market was on yesterday. I don't think it was quite as busy as previously, although I went with Wendy and she came earlier than Freyja, Simon or Lindsey would usually come and it may have picked up later.  This is not to say that it was quiet. It was busy enough but not absolutely rammed full. That made it a much more pleasant experience wandering around. Mind you, It doesn't help that it gets cancelled when there are marathons and fun runs happening around the harbour on market days. It wasn't on last month and I do wonder how much that deters people from coming. 

Wendy came back to my place for lunch and we made good use of some of the market purchases.

There are worse places to walk,
on your way to the tram stop
to get to work

Steam Trains, Snow Leopards and Smoke

The weekend was very people-y.

I was at work on Friday for some meetings and training, which naturally involved there being people.

On Friday evening I went to a small drinks party in the North tower (I live in the South tower). There were three other people, plus me, which wasn't particularly people-y and was very pleasant. We are members of the Garden Group and it was good to catch up over drinks and nibbled for a general chat, rather than in the garden for a garden-specific conversation.

I had a Zoom Japanese class on Saturday morning. The class was almost full and was fun and interesting. I had done the material before but it's not something I need to use all that often so a refresher was good.

I was doing some of my regular morning Japanese study when I heard what sounded remarkably like a steam train blowing its horn. But where would there be a steam train so close that I could hear it? You know - maybe at the very large station out in my backyard? Maybe?

I checked and there was indeed a steam train at Southern Cross, due to go out just after I was due to meet Lindsey to catch a not-steam train. So I wandered over a bit early to have a look

The train was going on a day trip to Seymour and there were lots of people boarding for the trip, plus people on the platform taking photos and wandering around. I took a few photos and made my way to the platform I actually needed to be on.

Lindsey and I took the train out to Melbourne Zoo where we were meeting Freyja and Simon. Simon was going to a "Prepare lunch for the spider monkeys and feed them" experience. Freyja, Lindsey and I went for a wander around while he was doing that and then met up when he was finished. The zoo was quite busy. It was a beautiful winter's day and families had come out in numbers. Plus, there was a child's birthday party in one of the function rooms. It was all a bit busy and noisy for me, but I hadn't slept well on Friday night, had been awake since mega-silly o'clock and wasn't in the best of moods. Also my back, hip and knee were very grumpy. We did, however, see the snow leopard cubs which was a great pleasure.

 

We had morning tea with the giraffes

We saw some dinosaurs

We saw some lemurs

And we saw lions and a wombat and seals and penguins and lots of other things. We were there for the seal talk, which was very interesting and also fun.

Then we all went to the Cornish Arms in Brunswick for a late lunch.

It wasn't such a nice day yesterday but we four went to the Alphington market anyway. It was drizzly and rainy but not too bad and there were still quite a few people there. My kitchen is now adequately vegetabled up. Lindsey came round to my place around 2:30 because brother Matthew was in town visiting William and they came around for afternoon coffee and a catch up.

They had just left when Matt rang to tell me that "The North tower is on fire!!!" On fire? Really? Can't be too bad; they haven't evacuated the building. I went out to have a sticky anyway. There were people stood around on the Marvel concourse watching smoke billowing from a balcony (and perhaps also the flat) fairly low down. There was a lot of smoke. Matthew, Lindsey and Will were stood back, watching. The host of Friday's drinks party was also stood outside. The Marvell security people wouldn't let her back into the building. Fire engines came, Lindsey, Matthew and William went away and E and I went down the stairs from the concourse to Harbour Esplanade and came in through the front entrance.

It is alleged that someone had put a piece of brisket in a smoker, gone inside and inadvertently fallen asleep, burning the brisket and producing Very Much Smoke. It will have been an expensive nap. Not only was the brisket rendered inedible but they will almost certainly have to pay for the fire brigade to turn out which will be expensive. Plus, barbecues are not permitted on people's balconies. The OC regulations say nothing about smokers but I wouldn't be surprised if smokers are considered to be a form of barbecue, in which case the unfortunate dozer may be fined by the OC committee as well.

It is raining quite hard today. I will still need to go to the supermarket at some stage. And I am supposed to be heading out for dinner later. But for now I am inside, in the dry with a warming cup of tea. No extra people in my flat. Just me and two felines.

Tram Challenge Route #109. Collins Street/Southern Cross to Box Hill

Lindsey and I did the Collins Street to Port Melbourne section of the #109 route back in April. Today we did the section that takes you to Box Hill.

The #109 runs for 19.2 km. I think the section from Southern Cross Station to the Box Hill terminus is probably around 15 or 16 km.  It wends its way out through the leafy (and affluent) Eastern suburbs to the end of the line. Box Hill is also an Eastern suburb, and reasonably leafy, I suppose. However, it has developed into a high density, high rise commercial, retail and living centre with a very diverse cultural profile, primarily East Asian with a significant proportion of Chinese speaking families. It is not as affluent as its neighbours such as Camberwell, Deepdene, Balwyn and Auburn but equally it is not amongst Melbournes least affluent suburbs. It is certainly busy.

I have taken the tram as far as Victoria Gardens in Richmond several times, if only because there is an IKEA there. I have also been as far as The Skinny Dog in Kew, where we had the work Christmas party for a couple of years. But I don't remember ever having taken the tram as far as Box Hill. I haven't even been there for many years.

Lindsey and Ian lived in Box Hill early in their relationship and I later did some casual shifts in the library after I had finished at Moonee Valley Library Service and before I went to England. It was much smaller, quieter and more homogeneous in the 1980s  and 90s than now. The then shopping centre (I think The Whitehorse Plaza) was smaller and has since been swallowed up by the two-tower Box Hill Centre. I remember going there for lunch sometimes and finding pies, fish and chips and sandwiches. My memory, which may well be misleading me, says that it was really quite a dull place.

Not now!

Lindsey and I mused upon how some of our more, erm, insular politicians would have coped with the food hall. We were more than comfortable, although I expected to hear Japanese spoken, rather than Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese. 

We had a bit of a wander around the shops but not for long. And we came back on the train, partly because the station is inside the shopping centre and partly because neither of us could remember having taken the train from Box Hill before. Box Hill may be the end of the tram line, but it is only half way along the train line. When I have finished with the trams, I may have to do the suburban train lines.

So, after quite a hiatus in my Tram Challenge, I've completed Route #109. I must pick up the pace if I want to get the challenge finished by the end of the year.

Ballarat and Daylesford

At some point, Lindsey said that she would be going to Ballarat after work on Friday, returning on Saturday afternoon. Did I want to go too?

I happened to be at the clinic on Friday so thought I might.

I was reminded, on the trip from Reservoir to Mount Helen, as the temperature outside dropped noticeably, of one of the reasons I moved from Mount Helen to Docklands. It is a long drive at night in the winter!

It was about 3d when we arrived at the house.

Fortunately, the heating is effective, and especially in my bedroom, where there is a heater and which is relatively small.

I slept well.

It was still cold when I got up on Saturday morning. The sun was shining. It was a beautiful day.  But it was indisputably cold.

We had thought that we night go to the Bridge Street market, or to Tim's toasties, or to the former mushroom farm. Instead of all that, we drove out to the Avalon nursery in Haddon. I wanted to see if they had a dwarf lemon tree and have a potter around. As we drove out I thought: this is all very beautiful; it is familiar to me; I know where I am and how to get to where I want to be. Perhaps I had been a bit hasty, selling up and moving to the city. 

Avalon had the dwarf lemon tree I was after. They also have dwarf yuzu, lime, mandarin and orange trees. I don't have room for them all. Yuzu would be tempting, were it not for the ferocious thorns that yuzu trees have which would not be entirely desirable in a small space. I'll see how I get on with the lemon tree and might then pick up a mandarin. The mandarin tree that I left at Lindsey and Ian's place has produced some lovely fruit.

We had breakfast at the coffee shop, bought the lemon tree, failed to find any parsley plants and went to Bunnings to look for them there. We might have had a sausage sizzle sandwich as breakfast dessert. We found parsley plants and then went from Bunnings to the IGA in Mount Clear to have a look around. I do miss the Midvale shopping centre in Mount Clear. An excellent bakery, a fabulous butcher shop and the very excellent IGA. Then we went back to the house, packed the car and drove back to Melbourne.

It was about 7d warmer in Docklands than it had been in Mount Helen. I walked into my light-filled, sun-drenched flat, looked at my view with little boats bobbing around on the water - and remembered why I had moved to Docklands.  Also, Ballarat is not out of reach. If I want to go and visit, I can.

I met Freyja, Simon and Lindsey at the Alphington market on Sunday, earlier than usual. Lindsey had gone in her car. Freyja and Simon had gone on the train. Lindsey drove them home and took me back to her flat, where I took possession of the car and made my way to Daylesford for lunch at Gillie's place. Chris, John and Irene were also there.

You may wonder why I had gone from Ballarat back to Melbourne, only to head to Daylesford the next morning. It would have been more sensible to stay in Ballarat on Saturday night and gone to Daylesford from there - if I had had my own car with me. It is very difficult to get to Daylesford by public transport. and I don't think it can be done from Ballarat on a Sunday.

It was a beautiful day for a drive through the countryside. I enjoyed it a lot, although I had to keep a close eye out for potholes, of which there many. I was, however, a bit disconcerted to watch the outside temperature drop from 17.5d in East Melbourne, to 10.5d in Daylesford. Still, the sun was quite warm and Gillie's house was lovely and warm so all was good.

It was a good afternoon. Gillie provided delicious food; Irene a lovely quince pie. We all had good conversation and exchanged news and views. Then I had a good run back to East Melbourne. From there I went with Lindsey to Clifton Hill, where Lindsey had to pick something up, then she took me back to my place.

So all in all a good weekend. 

The new lemon tree, sitting in the little planter I made. I will need to put it in a bigger pot at some stage but in the meantime it might as well sit in the planter

Pretty Kitty Kats enjoying the sunshine on the new bed

It is 12 months today since I handed Tani@Eilish to its new owner. It hardly seems possible that it is a whole 12 months already (and would anyone care to explain to me how it comes to be August again?)  

Melbourne Star

 The large ferris wheel in Docklands first opened, I think, in late 2008 - and then almost immediately closed again, possibly because it "melted" in the summer heat or because of structural defects. Or possibly both!

It was rebuilt and opened again in late 2013.

It continued to have structural defects, although it wasn't completely rebuilt.

Then covid happened and it was temporarily closed for the lockdowns. In 2021 it was declared to be permanently closed.

But it wasn't taken away and sat there, immobile, large, still a landmark. But dark and immobile.

Someone built another, smaller ferris wheel near the convention centre on the other side of the river.

Sometime last year the Melbourne Star was bought by someone who set about restoring it. I have watched them setting up and testing the lights over the past few weeks. I can't see the whole wheel from here, there's a building in the way, but I can see the top bits, on either side of the building.

Yesterday, the launched the newly installed lights, with a brief firework display. It had been widely advertised and there were lots of people there to watch the lights come back to life. Lindsey and I went round to have a look.

From the car park, the wheel is waiting for its
time to shine

The firework only lasted for a minute or two but the light display continued overnight. People have been complaining that it was a bit of a non-event but the advertising did say the launch would go for around 15 minutes. I enjoyed it. Mind you, I only had to walk round to the District shopping centre, which takes less than 20 minutes. And Lindsey and I had dinner in the Docklands Pantry on the way back to my place.

The wheel isn't ready for passengers yet. It's due to take passengers sometime in the summer - although its history suggests that the timeline may slip. We'll see. But I will make the effort to go on it if/when it does start taking passengers. I have had opportunities in the past and haven't taken advantage of them.

Food

 So much food!

A couple of weeks ago Freyja said that she and Simon were going to a pop-up vegan degustation menu at Farmer's Daughters in Exhibition Street and did I want to go?

Of course I wanted to go. I love degustation menus. Lindsey would have come too but she was at a conference during the day so was unavailable.

The pop-up was a collaboration between the chefs at Farmers Daughters, which is not a vegan restaurant and Yellow from Sydney, which is. There were several service times; we were too late to book the lunchtime and mid-afternoon services so went at 5:45.

This was the menu, which showcased produce from Gippsland:

And this was the food:

We had the potato bread and pickles to start

And we had the snacks

More snacks

They were very careful with my food allergies
My noodles had an olive oil based dressing

This was my least favourite course.
I am not a big fan of
smoked carrots.
I did like the tiny carrot shards though

They made my pumpkin dish with
cauliflower

because the mole had nuts in it.
Freyja said it was very complex in flavour

The main course - showcasing potatoes
I really wish I could make
potato crackling like this
It was amazing!

My very pretty, nut free dessert

Freyja and Simon's nutty dessert
to share

It was a lovely evening. The food was fabulous. I hadn't previously been aware of Farmer's Daughters. I am very tempted to go one day for their regular menu. Their usual vegan offerings aren't very exciting, and they had invited Yellow to come to play so they could make their vegan options more enticing.  I, however,  am neither vegan nor vegetarian and their omnivore menu does look interesting. 

There was one more service after ours so we left just after 8. I went back with Freyja and Simon in a taxi. They were meeting Ross at the stadium for the football. Ross had been there for the first half; Freyja and Simon joined him for the second. I just went home.

I went to the Alphington market on Sunday morning for the first time in several weeks. I definitely needed some vegetables. My fridge was down to one, very sad looking spring onion. Lindsey came too and we met Freyja and Simon there. It was a lovely morning and the market was very busy. We managed to grab a table in the coffee area after doing the shopping and had drinks and shared a vegetable focaccia, then Freyja and Simon took us to Clifton Hill station - we had just missed a train and two lines run into the city at Clifton Hill.

I joined Lindsey and Ian in the Quarterhouse for an early dinner on Sunday evening.  I had their Sunday roast and brought many of the vegetables home with me. So my fridge has gone from a vegetable drought to a vegetable bounty. I may have to deploy the freezer at some stage this week. And make stews and soups.