Melbourne explorations (Part 1)

 This covers the start of our wanderings in Melbourne looking for an apartment.  We are staying in an AirBnB on Shamrock St, Abbotsford.  It is quite small but very satisfactory for a few days: apart from anything else it is very quiet!  There is not a rule against having washing on the balconies!

Here is a view from the lift: the unit we are in is on the RHS.
We walked along the river in the morning.  As usual with the Yarra Mark Twain's comment about the North Platte "Too thin to plough, too thick to drink." came to mind.  It seems to be quite a popular rowing route.  
The water wasn't too troubled but there was a bridge over it: Victoria Street in this case.

This is the Yarra Trail footbridge as seen from the end of the corridor on which we are staying.
Graffiti on one of the many gyms around the area.  Not sure if Larry is wearing a Leisure Suit.
Guitar shop next door to a drum shop: neither was obviously/audibly operational at 0830.
An enticing sign.  
It turns out to be the Abbotsford brewery of Carlton United Brewery.  The chimney is quite a useful landmark.  
If they draw their water from the Yarra - which is just over the back fence - It might explain a few things about the beer.
This is inside the 'brew hall'.  It seemed to be a wasted opportunity, just selling VB etc rather than ..
.. some of the more interesting brews they seem to have on display.  
The serving person was a young female,so the business model would seem to be rather like the tourist wineries (eg Kaiser Stuhl) rather than the good ones (eg Warrabilla, Chambers, Bleasdale ) where you end up talking to the winemaker (or in other cases an employee of long standing with a red nose due to diligence in testing the product).
Some graffiti.
Old Abbotsford: one can imagine John West leaning by the front gate tossing a coin.  These days of course a cop wouldn't walk by!
The skipping girl is a/the significant part of Abbotsford history.  The arrow points to one of the apartments we inspected.
I like these warning signs!

There are an array of these bronzes in Treasury Gardens.  The one on the let in Henry Bolte, that on the right is "Dunstan".  Definitely not Don.  This one was Premier of Victoria for 10 years including the whole period of WWII: I am ashamed that I had never previously heard of him.
A fountain, very popular on weekends as a back drop for wedding pix.
One of a series of fossil-inna-rock art works on the pavement near the Treasury buildings.
Walking up Spring St we were made aware of a pro-Palestine demo on the steps of Parliament by some dweet banging a drum.
We eventually staggered to Dumpling Max and picked up some product for tea.  That was that for the day.

In terms of real estate we inspected 2 places in Abbotsford and one in East Melbourne.  One of the places in Abbotsford was very interesting while the other - which had been in 1st place - was quite disappointing and passed on.  The one in East Melbourne was adjacent to, but separate from the Hyatt.  It looked small so had been rated 5th: the inspection kept it in 5th place, as while close to the CBD it was small and dark.  Pass on that too.


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