The House(s) of Fran_mart

 After a bit over a week in 505 where I feel we had settled in, it was back to Mallacoota.  The way out to the M1 looked to be quite simple: Punt and Toorak roads (even though a friend reckons that Toorak Rd is the slowest road in Melbourne).  The main issue at 0800 on a Sunday morning was the 40kph limit through the commercial area (with potential for trams to really slow things down).  Next time I shall try going Malvern Rd to Glenferrie Rd. The drive out was in fact no problem at all.  I have just measured it on Google Earth and it is 6km, and took us 15 minutes (so at 24kph is definitely slow - getting close to the Roads Vic ideal of following a man with a red flag).  The M1 was a cruise apart from the usual changes of speed limit for no apparent reason - perhaps  Vic Roads are thinking of road works sometime in the future or  someone did something in the past but couldn't be bothered collecting the speed limit signs afterwards? We swapped dri...

 Frances did this walk on the 15th of August (while I was testing out the Sandringham Croquet Lawns) and found it very interesting.  So as I was running low on bagels I thought I would repeat it.  Here is the (5.5km) route: After crossing Fawkner Park we went in to Christ Church which was open for contemplation and prayer.  We didn't pray but did contemplate an excellent church.  The walls were well endowed with very interesting memorials.  A surprising number were to military people who died in India in the late 1800s, such as this. This poor bloke died at 22 of unstated causes.  Muttra (now Mathura) seems to have been a regional centre near Agra with no mention of battles etc so I presume he died from some tropical disease. A view of the glass and woodwork. Looking up into the lantern shows more good carpentry. As does the rood screen. Many of the columns in the church had these carvings attached.  I have no idea what they represent, but are som...

The objective of this post is to give a one-URL link to various posts about aspects of setting up our apartment in 505 St Kilda Road.  I will (aspire to) putting a link back to this post at the foot of each of the linked posts!  Some of the posts will be updated from time to time. The purchasing process Settlement and touristing in Melbourne Exploring the shore at St Kilda (before moving in). The apartment and things seen therefrom Fawkner Park Around a moderate sized Block  (South Yarra) Other Sites and sights reasonably close to 505  Back to Mallacoota . Weather data in the Fawkner Park area

This covers a very loosely defined area mainly closeish to the apartment excluding Fawkner and Albert Parks.  I'll start with pushing the 'ish' element to the foreground!  This shows the food van element of the Queen Vic Markets on a Sunday morning. Then into the fruit and veg area. I always find the skyscape from the markets interesting. I have commented in the past about the range of businesses along Commercial Rd.  I had assumed this was Prahran (as the Prahran Markets are there) but in fact the Northern side of the road are South Yarra.  I am unsure whether this joint is a respectable (?) dance hall or a site of negotiable affection  - which probably needs a sharp knife to split anyway. This is definitely Prahran: the Square on the South side of the road. An old building on the Square with Coles on the ground floor. (Woolies is behind me.) More old buildings. An interesting conjunction of businesses.  Tattoo parlour and legal offices! A Primary Sch...