If it rained through the night, we never heard it, but the day was still grey and wet when we put our heads out; enough drizzle about to warrant jackets for the day. We caught the same train as the previous day but alighted at Melbourne Central Railway Station, a relatively new station, compared to the Flinders Street Station, with an underground city of snack bars and convenience stores, and shiny elevators devoid of ingrained dirt. We headed for the Post Office in Bourke Street to see if our mail had turned up and were delighted to find that it had indeed; the registration sticker for the caravan and a packet of mail through from Pauline and Neil, still to be investigated.
Feeling rather buoyed by such bureaucratic success, we hunted down the AMP office where Chris wanted to research some ancient dealings. The office was on the 29th floor of a high rise in Collins Street, and of the kind where the machinery of business goes on behind locked doors with access only to those with encoded tags, without the interruption of customers. We were given a sheet of contact numbers and email addresses and advice as to the next step. We had experienced this faceless service from the Auckland City Council when we went to renew our Parks Pass, but been well served by a tele-operator who took us in hand as if we were two geriatrics who didn’t have a clue. Today was much the same.
We made our way down Spring Street, past the Fitzroy Gardens, arriving at the top end of Federation Square and the middle of the annual Sustainable Living Festival. There was a very good photographic exhibition titled “Manuwangku Under the Nuclear Cloud” by Jageth Dheerasekara. The photos depict the aboriginal people out in the bush, an environment threatened to become a nuclear waste dump site. The current environment is however a tip of a different kind, in my opinion, but then who am I to say how people should live. The quality of the photos is excellent.
We walked on down to the river side where the festival’s tents were in the process of being set up and opened for business, manned by greenies and manmade-climate-change believers. There were stalls promoting organic vegetable growing, solar powered electric bicycles, solar panels, organic foods, vege-burgers (for $10), postcards of re-cycled paper, mobile phone re-cycling, and so on. I am sure you get the picture; I had to warn Chris against questioning the stallholders’ wanky beliefs; when in Iraq, wear a head scarf, when at a Sustainable Living Festival, smile and nod to all the 21st century hippies.
We wandered further along the banks of the Yarra, and found a dry spot in the Birrarung Marr, a new park space in the city with a culturally sensitive name, and then found our way back through the fair, now busier with the crowds and greeny lobbyists.
We did allow ourselves to be waylaid by a pretty young girl promoting Replas Recycled Plastic Products, and there learned that the heavy plastic tables and benches, boardwalks and edges, we had seen throughout the country in many of the national parks, had been made and supplied to the Government Department by this company. The plastic is from used plastic milk bottles and is very solid. They can be recycled again when they start falling apart, however are guaranteed a fairly long life in action. We were impressed with the product in use and by the stall, and promised to make mention in this blog.
Finally clear of the crowds, we made our way across the Yarra River and up to the National Art Gallery to give it yet another go. We spent a further two and a bit hours exploring the European collections on the first and second floors, but chose to leave before seeing those on the final and third floor. That will have to wait for another day.
When we emerged from the gallery today, the sun was shining and summer looked like it might be back for a few days after all. We caught the train home, again battling the commuter crowds, however took another road route from the Sunshine station, successfully avoiding the long winded traffic jams. A call to Bob and Janet confirmed our rendez-vous for tomorrow and we have everything organised for the luncheon, or at least organised in our heads. That’s a good start.
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