Day 49 - Tuesday 23 Feb

There is a very big monument in Melbourne.
It is recognition of the fallen in the two great wars.
It is known simply, as The Shrine.
It stands on a hill by the St. Kilda Road.
Right beside the Royal Botanic Gardens.
It is also very impressive.

We decided to have a day walking around the Shrine and Botanic Gardens.

The shrine is well worth a visit, even if only to stand in silent solidarity with the spirits of those that shaped our lives as we know them today.

It was designed by servicemen after their return from the theatres of war in Europe nearly one hundred years ago.

Please have a look at the link, I believe it’s very important to remember these things the way other races remember their own tragedies.

This is truly an international destination for tourists, according to the message boards and literature on the site.

The gardens, which also house the Planetarium are enormous. We tried to do them justice, but the legs were walked of us. We went for lunch in the park café and found it to be really dear.

Never mind though, because later Nicola showed us the hidden gem of St. Kilda that is The Local.

For all us beer lovers, real ale that is, and lagers as well, there is a very good link.

We were in here a few times and the weather was always pleasant enough to allow us to sit on the roof area in the open air. A bit like a beer garden upstairs.
Again a place with a predominantly young crowd.

At this time I must disclose something that has just this minute come to me.
The reason most places seem to have a young crowd is simply because they are all a lot younger than me. Oh my God, very soon the first digit of my age will be a six. Maybe I’ve been knocking about with old people too long, because I certainly don’t feel old.
Except when I have to kneel.
Or run.
Or stay up late.
Or do vigorous stuff.

What’s that?

That’s all the time?

Doesn’t matter. The climb up the stairs for the lovely beer was well worth it.
They have literally hundreds of different beers here, in fact they even have a booklet naming them all.

I got through a few of them, but if I’m ever back in the area again, this will certainly be on my wish list.

If I remember.

Prue and Webber. Now, they are names to conjure with. I believe them to be Prudence and Webbo, short for Webster. Like the guy in Coronation Street.

They came a calling tonight with their gorgeous wee daughter Eugenie, she’s about 6 months I think.

Webbos people are farming folk and I was anxious to know how the livestock survived the harsh arid summers, when the grass was tinder dry.

He explained that it worked out well because they only put so many cattle or sheep per acre so that they would all get sufficient to do them.

Mind you the farms, and the paddocks (very big fields to us) are a lot bigger than what we know.

Prue had a really interesting job. Although she was working from home now, because she had Eugenie, her job was in PR.

She worked with Mercedes so she got to meet the Formula one boys at the Grand Prix. She even had them up in the Eureka Tower, but as she told me it wasn’t so good because she is petrified of heights!

A charming couple who seem to have the hard work ethos at the fore in their young lives.