Monday morning in the park.

On the way to the CBD from Jolimont Station, Aradhna and I walked through Fitzroy Gardens and tourist-favorite Captain Cook's cottage (above) this morning. Built in 1755 in Yorkshire, England, it was purchased in 1933 by a Melbourne philanthropist who offered it to the city as a centenary gift, packed into 253 cases and 40 barrels, and shipped to Australia. Today it draws busloads of tourists seeking a transplanted peek at life in 18th-century England.

Mom's in Oz!

Took mom into the CBD for the first time yesterday. That's her in Treasury Gardens, above.
Mom beside the Fairies Tree in Fitzroy Gardens.
Skyline view from Treasury Gardens.
GPO's clock tower on Elizabeth Street in the CBD.

Victorian Valentine's Day.

Aradhna and I saw a new Bollywood film called Billu Barber on Valentine's Day in the CBD. Here's a few photos of the excursion.
Walking to the nearby Eaglemont train station we encountered a line of people at a sausage sizzle being held for victims of the bushfires. Neither of us eat beef so we made a donation.
If it weren't for late-model cars lining its tiny main street, Eaglemont would look no different than its 19th-century incarnation.
While most greenscapes have been scorched during Melbourne's driest ever start to a year, the CBD's Fitzroy Gardens are preserved by specially sanctioned waterings.
Indigenous plants thrive in even the most dire of Aussie conditions.
Picnickers were a familiar sight throughout the Gardens ...
... as were posing wedding parties.
Northeastern horizon from Aradhna's 43rd-floor office window is obscured by bushfire smoke, a condition that will persist until a miracle of precipitation descends on us.
St Patrick's Cathedral towers over Old Parliament House.
Oscar in his usual spot -- and state of excitement -- when we returned to Ivanhoe.

CBD greenery.

While I'll never fully accept May as autumnal (I grew up with "April showers bring May flowers"), yesterday was a perfect fall day. After delivering Aradhna's forgotten lunch to her CBD office, I strolled through the nearby Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens. Melbourne was laid out during Australia's great 19th-century gold rush; subsequent generations of Melburnians have the aesthetics of luxury to thank for footpaths of green. Come stroll .....

Summer wonderland.

Colors abound in the parks of Melbourne. This dangling specimen was seen at the Conservatory in Fitzroy Gardens, a few blocks from the temporary residence Aradhna and I have been keeping in East Melbourne.
Outside the Conservatory ...
... and inside.
Along one of Fitzroy Gardens' many paths.
Shoppers crowd holiday-bedecked Bourke Street in Melbourne's CBD.
Santa maintains a lonely vigil in St Kilda.
Looking north towards Port Melbourne from St Kilda.