The critical business for the day was transferring our licences and the registration of the Mazda from the ACT to Victoria. We approached this with dread due to the amount of bureaucracy an jobsworthing evident on the Roads Victoria website and the way they provide no services East of Bairnsdale.
Cutting to the chase, it was in fact a pleasant experience, All the staff we dealt with there, from the reception guy to Joel and his colleague who did the business were friendly and helpful. There was even a lot of flexibility shown when the workload in the rego area got delayed and we were moved back up to Joel in the licensing area. We got it done! (I also found out why the Mazda didn't need inspecting. In the COVID emergency period they set up a National compliance recording program to minimise personal contact, so a car built after about 2020 didn't need a physical inspection! Well done that virus!)
We walked up to the Roads building on Lygon St (in fact, walked past it due to not paying attention to the map). The first building of interest was this church, part of Corpus Christi College) in Drummond St.
Some attractive wrought iron work: also Drummond St.
Over to Lygon St and this is St Jude's Church. Set up by an early member of the Reed family.
This female person was walking down Lygon St, so possibly a bit of weirdness is to be expected. The image got a bit cropped, but she also had a headpiece with cat ears on it!
The next few images are of graffiti (or possibly "
spruzzati" is a more apt word) in various parts of Elgin St Carlton, and its continuation across Fitzroy.
The scrap metal business is long gone.
This is IMO the best. It actually looks even more interesting on screen than in reality as the eagle face appears to fit more on the female face.
Some of the older buildings around Carlton/Fitzroy.
A little surprised to see this: presumably located with his core supporters.
A Melbourne special with a preserved low facade and modern stuff above. The place we had gone to check was across the street: not unusual to find that the apartment you expect to see is still under construction but, in this case they hadn't even demolished the existing building!
An interesting mixture of building styles. The lot at the back are public housing Stalinist style not sure about Legoland in front.
Yarra City Hall.
Overall we wrote off Fitzroy as a place to buy. A bit tatty and run down (vide the spruzzati): perhaps if we were 30, but not at 76! So that has done a job.
Zelda D'Aprano: an
astonishing woman. As I read through the wiki I kept thinking of her as a deadly serious version of the
Miriam Karlin character in the Rag Trade. On reading the latter wiki my mind reels at what would have happened if Zelda had had a father like Miriam!
I liked the notice behind the statue.
Our objective was to go to Port Melbourne to check apartment locations. Nice views of yachts in the Bay enjoying the breeze.
Looking across to the Port proper.
A groyne.
Art, from the front ...
.. and back. This pier was a main arrival point for migrants (and I suspect from these images a departure point for troops).
The pilings of the old pier (it was too expensive to rebuild the whole pier after squatters burnt it in the late 1990s so they refurbished part as a fishing jetty and have left the burnt pilings).
A Pacific Gull.
Attractive apartment buildings.
Westgate Bridge in the back ground.
The Port seemed like a very nice area: we will be back!
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