The Queen Victoria Market on a wet and windy Saturday

This weekend has brought much needed rain to Melbourne and so the bike stayed in the shed for the weekend.
In a momentary lapse of thought I suggested to Sue that we take off to the Queen Victoria Market. Without delay she agreed and next thing I know we were in the car and off to the city.

The Queen Victoria Market established in 1878

This weekend is Grand Final weekend for the Australian Rules Football. Neither of us has much interest in footy and the good thing is everyone is either at the game or at home watching it on TV.
Last year we were in Lygon Street Carlton when the Grand Final was on and the shops and cafes were empty.

The fruit and veg section of the 7 hectares of market.

Anyway, although the Queen Vic Markets wasn’t deserted, it at least wasn’t overcrowded. The market has a long history, being established in 1878. It is the largest market in the southern hemisphere with an area of 7 hectares or around 17 acres. The covered areas of the market contain 1328 solar panels, 2000 square metres generates 252,000 kw hours of electricity over the year.

Under cover area for seafood and meat - those prices are AUS$

There were other markets in the city such as the Eastern Market which no longer survives. The Eastern Market was demolished in the 60s and was replaced by Melbournes first high rise Hotel, the Southern Cross hotel. The Hotel’s claim to fame was that the Beatles stayed there on their concerts in Melbourne during the mid 60s.

The specialty stores are presented beautifully with lead light glass and gold leaf signage in many cases. Sue bought a wild rabbit from this stall.

The Queen Vic has had a bit of a shady past with supposed Mafia connections and certain criminal element at times. These days its rather trendy with some interesting specialty shops selling a huge range of produce from many other countries as well as the best of local produce.

This has to be my favorite stall - The French shop selling chesses, etc but look in the background, cycling jerseys and a classic steel framed road bike from the 70s.

My role in this trip to the market was pack horse and Le Banque. The more Sue became excited with the specials, the heavier the back pack became. Seafood, meat, fruit, and veg started being stuffed into the pack to the point that even the store keepers were showing signs of sympathy for me.

The corner Deli selling local King Island produce.
The benefits of course are the end results of enjoying Sue’s cooking of the produce, always washed down with a bottle of wine, in this case a Bordeaux 2005 blend of Merlot, Cab Sav and Malbec. We have this great wine chain called Dan Murphy, Uncle Dan’s, which has a marvellous array of local and imported wines.A stall selling chocolate, nuts and coffee - yum, yum.

The Bordeaux was just the perfect drop for the rib eye steak cooked beautifully with broad beans and potato slices cooked in duck fat.
As I write this blog the view from the study window is filled with the swaying of the Gum tree branches as the wind and rain lashes down. What happened to spring?

South Melbourne - a suburb of peaceful elegance

Breakfast in Emerald Hill

An early etching of the Emerald Hill Town Hall

I worked in South Melbourne about nine years ago - it’s a great part of Melbourne with a rich history and a diversified range of architecture. Like many suburbs of Melbourne it had many pubs or hotels, almost one on every corner especially as it spreads towards Port Melbourne but that’s another area and story for a later blog.

My view from the cafe window

Originally settled in the 1840s, it was named Emerald Hill during the gold rush days of Victoria.
South Melbourne’s civic centre is dominated by its huge town hall built in the 1880s grandly overlooking the suburb from Emerald Hill. Quietly sitting in the town hall’s shadows is a row either side of double story Victorian era terrace homes. As I walk beside the Town Hall to explore these homes, the trees are starting to blossom and the flower boxes on the second story windows are colours of spring.

Clarendon Street

The gothic style of the ANZ (Australia & New Zealand) bank

A short walk to the main thoroughfare brings you to Clarendon Street, the shopping or commercial district of South Melbourne with its range of cafes and restaurants.
It’s in the side street leading to Clarendon Street I stopped for coffee and toasted fruit bread for breakfast on my way to work.

Obviously a favourite with locals, the person serving coffee seemed to know each customer by first name. It was interesting to sit there with my book watching people come and go. I sat with a full view to the street where people were on their way to work. A young couple parted with a kiss as they went in opposite directions with their takeaway coffees.

Terrace houses beside the Town Hall

Colours of spring

But its her back streets that intrigue me more. Sometimes you’ll find what seems like a grand residence, yet if you look closely, a faded painted sign gives away the building’s past. The name of an old hotel or pub can be seen just slightly against the upper regions of the building.

The Shamrock Hotel, now commercial office building

Just a couple of blocks back from Clarendon Street is the South Melbourne market, a place where a wide range of produce can be purchased. Surrounding the market are interesting little shops and cafes that need exploring. One such shop has taken on the French term Brocante for the antique and junk flowing out of the front door.

South Melbourne has an feeling of relaxed elegance that needs more than just a quick breakfast stop on the way to work. Maybe I’ll take Sue there for breakfast this weekend to explore.

Australia's Kangaroo and Emu look down upon the shoppers of Emerald Hill

There's been a murder

My mate Nico had a birthday and we were all sworn to secrecy by his wife Bet, there was to be a murder and we were invited.

Da boys


Da broads

It would be a surprise to him.


Have you heard of murder mystery parties. Sue and I have been to a few and even held one ourselves. They are a lot of fun and Sue always slips into her Sarah Bernhart personality. It doesn't matter what her character might be, her accent always takes on a southern belle.

Da card game

On arriving at Nico and Bet's home, the rooms were decorated out as 1920s Chicago nightclub.

The men were dressed in 20's gangster suits with the women in flapper garb.

We were given the descriptions of our characters and certain dark deeds that we needed to perform during the night's entertainment.
Sue won a prize for best performer - why am I surprised?

Needless to say we were all totally in confusion but a great night was enjoyed.

First signs of Spring

Sorry about the lateness of last weeks blog but work got in the way. We are fortunate that we are busy in these difficult financial times but I think Australia is not feeling it as difficult as some other countries.
Sure, my shares have dropped and that means retirement is further off than expected two years earlier. We can still enjoy the good things in life without it costing a lot, like the coming of spring.....

The first signs of spring are popping up all over our property. The days are stretching out a little. I notice that my weekend morning rides don't require lights on my bike lately and it's still light after getting home from work around 6ish pm. There's little more warmth around mid-day, I even opened the sunroof in my car during last week.

Daylight saving starts in the first weekend of October so the mornings will be darker again and the longer sunlit evenings will fade the curtains, the kids won't go to bed and the milking cows will be confused. I do love daylight saving though.
Sue suggested that I take a few piccies of the blooming plants on our property. In another month, I'll take a few more for comparison.



The Jasmine is going wild along the side fence beside out outdoor deck. The scent wafts across as you sit nearby with a coffee or wine - spring is on its way.

Our front veranda has had wisteria since the day we moved in in the early 80's. Ready to burst into a wall of purple, it mirrors the Jacaranda's purple bloom in our backyard.

I became a tree terrorist recently and savagely cut back the Prunis, but it continues to sprint towards spring.


Alyssum grows madly throughout the property, particularly up through the brick paving. I believe our backyard will be a very pleasant place to be with a bottle of Rose this year.

Possibly the last Open Fire

Winter draws into spring – today’s early morning sky was cloudless, clear and blue as it blended with the bay’s waters. Chilly as it was, our morning group ride opened thoughts of spring and warmer rides over the next few weeks.
We invited friends from the MG Car Club to join us for dinner tonight and Sue has me vacuuming and organizing what will possibly be our last open fire for winter.
I must admit to looking forward to the summer BBQs with friends in the backyard again soon.

As the hunter and gatherer of the family, I organised the wood for the fireplace.

Our house has two open fires but the lounge room is the most interesting one.
When we moved in, the fireplace had been renovated in a 60s style or as we used to say in the northern suburbs, Greeked. During the 50s and 60s we had a high influx of Italians, Greeks, and oh yes, Pommies.
Both the Greeks and Italians would buy the cheaper (then) inner suburban houses and in their own special way, modernize them.
Anyway, I pulled out the "Greeked" old gas space heater after we installed central heating. Another motor racing enthusiast friend of mine offered me a wooden overmantle and would you believe it was the same design as the one that used to be there originally in 1929.
How would I know, you ask? Well after years of the room being painted, I could see the faint silhouette of the original overmantle. How good is that?
But I digress – where was I? Yes, we invite our friends, Kaye and Ray for dinner.
Sue sent me down to Uncle Dan’s (Dan Murphy’s), our local wine cellar where I found a nice crisp wine to start with. It is a Sancerre Sauvignon Blanc from the very eastern Loire in central France. This wine brings back memories of sitting in the hilltop village of Sancerre, sipping a glass of wine in the sunshine before the rains came.
The red is one that we enjoyed at a small back lane restaurant in Vienne earlier this year.
It’s a 2005 E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone vin rouge. It seems that memories of our travels are activated by the label on a wine bottle.
I also bought a local Pinot Noir, mainly because of the label. It’s a Killara Estate “Racers and Rascals” wine from the Yarra Valley. The label depicts a racing Austin 7 in the vineyard.
The property where the vines now take over was the property of one of Australia’s great motor racing drivers. Just after the war Lex Davison and his wife Diana lived on the property and ran the first ¼ mile speed trials on their driveway to the house for the Vintage Drivers Club. Lex later became an Australian Grand Prix winner and one of the personalities of Australian Motor Racing. Part of his and Diana’s early motor racing history is featured in my book, “Rob Roy Hillclimb”.

Lex Davison manhandling his huge Mercedes at Rob Roy Hillclimb around 1946.

OK, you want to know what Sue is cooking now…..
Sue says;
Nothing too fancy.
We’ll start with smoked trout with a horse radish, sour cream and herb dressing on sliced baguette.
Then beef, mushroom and red wine pot pies with a home made spicy tomato relish, and garlic potato and pea mash.
Finish up with little chocolate puddings with molten choc centres and cream.
Almond macaroons with coffee. Yummo.

The night went well with and we awoke to another cloudless sunny Sunday morning sky.
Roll on spring and summer.