Everyday Things

So I have had quite a few questions about what my house, office and church look like, so I decided I would answer some of these questions.

This is more of an upscale house.

This is my church

This is a pretty typical Australian house. On a small piece of land, with a terracotta roof.

Strip malls are all over Australia. They have the grocery stores, butcher shops, bakeries, pharmacies, cafes, and retail stores.


Fortunately, McDonald's is across the street, so I can get a fountain drink if I need one

The sign at our office

This is the office at 1020 Doncaster Rd. Our office is on the right hand side at the bottom. Its just behind the blue car.

Rippon Lea & Phillip Island

Okay so this week flew by. I was able to go with my boss Mary to sell poppy's for Rembrance Day. We stood outside of the supermarket Coles in Tunstall Shopping Center. It was cute, all of the old veterans would stop and give us money, and say how nice it was to see young people out volunteering and selling the flowers to support the Returned Service League RSL. We sold quite a few. Mary told me to focus on the younger guys and she would focus selling to the older people. It was funny and I was a little embarrassed at first, but I warmed up and started to sell them to the younger guys.

Then for Saturday I decided to go to the Rippon Lea Estate. It is a mansion built in the 1870s. It originally had 32 acres of land but it currently only incorporates only 13 of the original 32. Its a really good example of old money Melbourne. It is located in Elsternwick, which is currently where lots of Orthodox Jews live. I passed the Yeshivah College on my way there and some Jews going to Synagogue. Anyways, the mansion is absolutely beautiful! It has English styled gardens, including a lake and a lookout tower. I took some pictures of it, which I think you will enjoy. There is even wall paper from the 1920s. There is gorgeous stain glass windows and wall paper that was imported from England. I also checked out the kitchen, stables, the ballroom, and swimming pool which was added in the 1930s.

Rippon Lea Mansion

My fascination with old mansions continues....

Just inside the entrance. The hallway leading to the drawing room and dining room. It reminded me of the game clue. Mrs. White in the dining room with the candlestick.

This is one of the tables in the dining room. This room is from the 1930s.

Stain glass windows. They have orange trees because that was a symbol of wealth. They represent the different times of day so in the first one its morning with birds, then middle is the afternoon with the sun out, and the last window has an owl in it, representing night.

You never see craftsmanship like this anymore.

These are the entrance doors. They were stain glass bought from England and shipped to Australia. They have knights on them.


This is me looking out over the lake from the lookout tower

The bridge across the lake

By the lake notice all the lily pads in the background.

The lake, a waterfall runs down the rocks in the background and in the background you can see part of the lookout tower. It would be a kids dream come true.

Me by an enormous tree in the gardens. They even had a rain forest type of garden.

The first owner built these huts to store his archery equipment. He was like a commander over the archers in the British forces or something.

Another picture of the gardens


After that I caught a tram to St. Kilda so I could get a new picture of Luna Park since I lost it, last week. I also got a few more pictures, but unfortunately not anymore of the kite surfers. I started to run out of time, because I was meeting my friend Matt to go to Phillip Island.

This is Luna Park in St. Kilda, which is a small amusement park. This mouth is a famous attraction in Melbourne because its been open so long.

You can see the roller coaster at Luna Park in the background.

This is in St. Kilda not to far from where the kite boarders and surfers are.

Phillip Island at night there are these Fairy Penguins (which is what they are called because they are so small. They are about 12 inches tall). You sit on the beach and wait for them to waddle up to the beach and into their burrows for the night. They are so cute, but the weather and wind was so cold. We were sitting there freezing while these penguins would progressively come towards the beach, slowly get out, then one would turn around and go back in the water and then they would all follow. Then they would get towards the beach again, get out, start waddling, then they would all go back in the water. We watched this about 20 different times. We were laughing pretty hard at the beginning but by the end we were just wanting the penguins to go into their houses, so we could go sit in the car with the heater. The beach is located on the Bass Strait. The penguins you are not able to touch or get near, because they are endangered. Oh and you cant take any pictures either, which wasn't very cool, but I enjoyed the night. It was fun watching them.

Driving on Phillip Island

Waiting for the Penguins

Again, waiting for the "Fairy Penguins" and I was trying to not scream and keep the seagulls away from me. I hate those birds so bad. They are creepy!

On Sunday I was able to talk to James and Kim. It was fun getting caught up with these guys. I went to church. Then afterwards, I was invited to go out to dinner with Melissa and Matt because it was Melissa's birthday. I went with them and met their friends. There were quite a few of us, and it was a lot of fun. It was another good weekend that flew by. I just cant wait until Thursday, because then I will be in Sydney. Yea!

Christabelle and I at Mel's Birthday dinner

Mel's Birthday Dinner

Melbourne Cup

Off to the races (Me, Christabelle, and Melissa)

The day for the Melbourne Cup finally arrived. Mel (the girl I live with) and I got ready, and then Christabelle (the girl I work with) came over and met us. We took the bus, the tram, and the train to get to Flemington Raceway. We took lots of great pictures of ourselves. There were people packed in the train station. It was so fun seeing everyone dressed up. There were some really cool hats, but unfortunately I couldn't take very good pictures of them, without looking weird. I did get some though. The Melbourne Cup is on November 4 and its a state holiday. The Melbourne Cup is I believe the 6th race that day. People bring there picnic baskets, beer, and wine and sit on the lawn in between the races. Then we all gather to watch the race. There are lots of booths to place your bets at.

What better way to fill up time waiting for the bus than posing for the camera?

The Stables

An Official

one of the race horses warming up

Spectators at the Cup

Me and Christabelle

More spectators

The flower hat. You wouldn't lose her in a crowd

Aren't the roses beautiful?

Not to shabby of a looker!

Don't come unless your in high heels and a dress

We grabbed some lunch and then went by the stables. We watched the trainers walking around a small track to warm the horses up. We also had strawberries with ice cream. It was delicious, and made up for missing the strawberries and cream at Strawberry Days Rodeo this summer. As the day went on, people kept getting more drunk. It was fun watching the races and trying to guess which horse was going to win. I did not win though. Because our high heels were killing our feet, we ended up leaving the Melbourne Cup after the 6th and major race. The only thing we would have been missing, was a few more races, and drunk people puking everywhere. Which I was perfectly content with missing out on.

Waiting for the Melbourne Cup

Stands packed right before the big race.

And the race is on

There were some really interesting outfits going on. You should have seen some of the hats. Most of the fascinators were fairly conservative though. I mentioned that I was surprised the hats were not bigger and one reminded me that we are in a financial crises right now, and that the the hats and fascinators I saw in Meyer the department store ranged from $75-$1000. There were some interesting hats, but not quite like I had anticipated. Although there were a few that I couldn't help but stare at. One lady I saw on the train had a fascinator with all sorts of feathers coming out but also these balls, that looked like painted and designed Styrofoam balls. It was definitely an experience.

And the winner for the most atrocious hat is......

Halloween Weekend

For Halloween, there wasn't that much going on. There was a trunk or treat at the church, but Australians call it boot or treat. I forgot about it, so I went into the city and got my hat for the races, and also went on a ghost tour of the old Melbourne Gaol. We had a guide dressed up in period costume and the only light we had was one candle. Then he would take us to the see the different cells and tell us different stories about the convicts. Then we saw the gallows, and where they would whip the prisoners with the cat of nine tails. It was pretty fun for a Halloween night. The next day I got up and was able to go to the city. I went to see the Old Treasury Building. I even got to go downstairs to see the gold vaults. During the gold rush in the late 1800s, this is where much of the gold was stored. Then I walked through the Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens. In Fitzroy Gardens there is Cooks Cottage which is from the 1700s and it was brought over here from England. Then I caught the tram and went to the aquarium. There were absolutely beautiful and really interesting looking fish. I loved the jelly fish and the sharks, eels, and stingrays. It was really fun, and then I caught another tram to St. Kilda which used to be quite a ritzy area. Its on Phillip Bay. I walked down the boardwalk, and I sat and watched the kiteboarders. I think there were about 30 of them and there was about every color you could imagine. It was beautiful. There were also some beach volleyball games going on and some windsurfers. It was quite chilly that day and the wind was blowing but there were 5 crazy teenagers in the water. Then I went by Luna Park which is a really old amusement park and it has a face as the gate. It is pretty cool looking. I also took a trolley around city circle, which was pretty neat because it goes passed alot of the tourist destinations and its nice to see the city and rest your feet at the same time. Then I stopped by crown casino because it is huge and I have always wanted to walk through it. I looked around and then got some gelatto and walked across the bridge. I caught a bus home but it ended up dropping me off somewhere in the suburbs that I didn't really know, so I asked the bus driver which was it was to the Doncaster Shopping Center. I walked for a while, then got other directions, and eventually made it there and then caught a bus to my house. Don't worry though, it wasn't dark. I had so many great pictures to put up for this post, but unfortunately I somehow deleted all the photos on my camera. This really sucks considering I had all my pictures on it of Australia and DC, luckily though I have some saved on my computer, facebook, and my blog. So sorry, no photos for today.

Port Arthur

Welcome to Port Arthur (this is the church)

I ran and got on a tour to go to Port Arthur. It took us a while to get there because you have to go South and onto a separate island. On the way down we stopped at the Tasman National Park. We saw some absolutely beautiful sights. The rugged coastline, Devils Kitchen, and a some other sights. Tasmania has beautiful mountains. It looks green from a distance but it is quite dry. Tasmania is now the most dry state in Australia. The land is pretty brown except for where they irrigate it. Oh and it isn't a very ritzy island. The houses are all pretty normal and not very expensive. You can buy beach front property for $320,000. Oh and there are only half a million people on the entire island. Approximately half the people are on some type of government assistance. There really aren't that many jobs. Mostly jobs come from resources, a few factories, and some small businesses.

The Coast on the way to Port Arthur

Tasman National Park

Bushes in Tasman National Park

Me in Tasman National Park

We finally passed over the small land mass that connects the main island to the island where Port Arthur is. Its called Eagleneck Bay. Port Arthur is an 1800s prison that was where the British would send their repeat offenders to serve their sentence. Port Arthur was only for men. It is a large and beautiful. There aren't walls. The geography is the walls. There are dense forests and coasts surrounding the island and the only way off was on a narrow passage way (Eagleneck) and there were dogs that would man that are making sure prisoners didn't escape. These are some pictures of Port Arthur.

Another view of the church. The church at Port Arthur (where soldiers, freemen, and even prisoners were all forced to go to. It was supposed to be part of the rehabilitation turning them into upright citizens.)

Me inside the remains of the church

One of the guard tower

One of the homes at Point Arthur in which the freemen with their families lived

Does this look like a prison to you?

Government Gardens

The penitentiary paupers mess

Then we went on a cruise to Isle of the Dead which is straight out from Port Arthur in the bay. There were 1100 prisoners, free men, and guards that were buried there. There were some really old headstones. It was really cool seeing these old buildings and you could inside many of them and see the furniture and how they lived.

Isle of the Dead

Graves of the freemen although some convicts do have headstones.

Later after the trip home I went and got some fantastic clam chowder. It was really good but it had three real clams in it. I'm not a big fan of real clams. I just like them in my soup from the can. Then I ended up walking to Battery Point which is a really old residential area. It is where many of the grand Georgian homes are. Then I ran into the coastline again and I picked up some sea shells and watched the ships go by.