Parliament Hill & Fitzroy Gardens - June 2016

AC/DC Lane.

We had a long planned night in Melbourne this weekend, as I was going to see Steel Panther at Festy Hall we decided that the easiest option would be to spend the night in town, maybe do some shopping and a short walk before heading back to the burbs on Sunday. Yeah you know what they say, the best laid plans.... My night of spandex and hairspray with Steel Panther was the original reason for this outing, but you know what? Yeah I didn't actually make the show. After spending the day giving the credit card a workout in the outdoor shops in Little Bourke Street (A shout out to Bogong and Mountain Design, a big thumbs down to the big bloke working in Paddy Pallin, I'll spend my money in one of the other stores from now on), we retired to our room at the Adelphi Hotel. Now you know when you're getting on a bit when you have a couple of beers to prime yourself for a night of rock,n,roll and promptly fall asleep, yep I slept through my night of rock debauchery! 

Check out the cantilevered pool on the roof of our hotel.

After heading to the Pancake Parlour in Bourke Street Mall for a massive breakfast on Sunday morning we decided to do a walk with the catchy title of Parliament Hill & Fitzroy Gardens out of Melbourne's Best Bush, Bay & City Walks. The main reason we decided do do this stroll was it was about the shortest walk in the book, once again only reinforcing that I'm turning into a boring old fart. To get to the start of the walk we wandered up Collins Street, Sam oohing and aahing over the designer shops while I tried to distract her until we were safely out of credit card range. Arriving at Parliament House we picked up the described notes and headed up through Parliament Gardens, the gardens are home to a statue of Pastor Douglas and lady Gladys Nicholls, two early indigenous community leaders that fought for aboriginal rights.

Parliament House, Melbourne.

A typical Melbourne scene, this is looking down Bourke Street.

Princes Theatre.

Leaving the Parliament Gardens we passed the Fire Board Museum and its huge mural. Interestingly the Country Firefighters Association is currently in dispute with the government down here in Victoria, if you get your information from Murdoch's rags or the commercial current affair shows you've probably heard that the nasty union, backed up by Labor government, are out to destroy the battlers in the CFA. Of course there would be no hidden agenda there would there? Well knock me down with a feather but there appears to be a few details that aren't getting reported, the story going around the media is that the CFA wont be able to respond to call outs unless a certain number of paid members are on the crew. Now that is true....to a point, it only applies to the mainly outer suburban fire stations that are staffed by a mix of professional paid members as well as volunteers. The vast majority of CFA stations are country stations staffed by volunteers, these stations will be unaffected by the change, hardly a union takeover. The thing that is annoying is that it appears that it is these country volunteers that are all over the media, no doubt helped and informed by the Hands off our CFA group who, bugger me, was set up by the conservative side of politics! Now I've had a bit to do with unions, the MFB, and the CFA over the years and while the CFA do a great job and should be commended for the wonderful work they do, they are not bloody Bambi! I did my fire training up at Fiskville, yeah the place that the CFA ran that has all sort of OH+S concerns, cancer, hidden reports, pollution, just google Fiskville and see what you get. So who can blame the professionals if, in the few instances in the state where they co exist with the volunteers, that they want certain number of their professional brothers and sisters to back them up. To me the whole thing is a bit like the gay marriage issue in that a whole heap of people who have no skin in the game are trying to control the ones that do, who'd have guessed that the conservatives are up to their neck spreading misinformation in that debate as well. Anyway enough of my self indulgent crap, the misinformation is frustrating though........

The memorial to Pastor Douglas and Lady Gladys Nicholls.

The Fire Board Museum.

St Pats

Crossing over Gisborne Street we passed the rather grand St Patricks Cathedral and then the sightly less grand German Lutheran Church before heading down to St Andrews Square and all its old government buildings. I haven't mentioned it so far but this was another cold and grey Melbourne morning so I was quite happy when we crossed over Lansdowne Street into the heritage listed Fitzroy Gardens and the sun started to peak through the gloom. Fitzroy Gardens were looking quite nice on this early winters morning, the deciduous trees still dropping their golden leaves and the early morning dew glistening in the weak sunlight. We slowly meandered our way around the park, I've lived in Melbourne all my life but had never really explored this hidden gem. After checking out the somewhat surreal Dolphin Fountain we headed down to check out the Model Tudor Village, this tiny village is a bit of a tourist attraction and even at this early hour there was a couple of bus loads of Chinese Tourists taking in the action. The Model Tudor Village was a gift to the people of Melbourne from the City of Lambeth in South London, a show of their gratitude to us for sending over food parcels during WW 2.

The German Lutheran Church is a bit smaller than it neighbour, St Patricks Cathedral.

St Andrews Square, the centre of Victorian bureaucracy.

Fitzroy Gardens.

The unusual Dolphin Fountain.

Leaving the model village we checked out the nearby Fairy Tree, this tree was carved by Ole Cohn as a gift to Melbourne's children and fairies in the 1930's, having learnt something that I didn't know at the Fairy Tree we then visited the somewhat more well known Captain Cook's Cottage. Cook's Cottage is definitely on the tourist radar but again I'd never actually visited it. Cook's Cottage is allegedly the oldest building in Australia having been built in 1755, now about now I reckon there are a fews people doing the sums in their heads and saying hang on a minute.....Yeah it was built in 1755 but not in Autsralia, it was originally built in Yorkshire, England by Captain Cook's Parents before being disassembled brick, by numbered brick and bought out to Australia by Sir Russell Grimwade in 1934 to be reassembled here. The Union Jack was flying in the front garden of Cooks Cottage this morning which was probably fair enough as the English had done a job on the Wallabies last night over at AAMI Park, oh well...

They look a bit like Gingerbread houses don't they, the Model Tudor Village in Fitzroy Garden.

The Fairy Tree dates back to the 1930's.

Cooks Cottage.

Even early on this cold morning there was plenty of people out enjoying the park.

After checking out the memorial for President John F Kennedy we made our way out of the Fitzroy Gardens and headed back to grab our bags and check out of The Adelphi. The walk wasn't over though, on our way back to the hotel we checked out the famous Melbourne Street, AC/DC Lane. This little lane is the beating heart of Melbourne's Rock n Roll scene, it's home to a small club called The Cherry Bar, with the gentrification of the Melbourne CBD this bolthole was threatened with closure due to the new neighbours complaining about the noise, luckily for rock in Melbourne and The Cherry Bar the punters all dug in and funded some sound proofing for the bar. So The Cherry Bar lives on and is still a staple for touring rock stars to head to after their shows, and AC/DC Lane, with its rock graffiti and posters in the perfect home for the little bar...and long may that be:) After a quick look at the nearby Hosier Lane, another famous little lane that is home to some great street art we grabbed our bags from the hotel and headed home after what had been a nice mini break in the city.

The J.F.Kennedy Memorial.

Is that really the mysterious Mr Fiasco? 

The nearby Hosier Lane is maybe even more well known for its street art than AC/DC Lane.

There were a few more people checking out Hosier Lane

The Dirt.

We walked a massive 4.5 kilometres on this stroll and that is including the walk to and from the hotel to the start of the walk. The Parliament Hill, Fitzroy Gardens section of the stroll is written up in the Woodslane book Melbourne's Best Bush, Bay, & City Walks by Julie Monday. Like I mentioned above we stayed the night at The Adelphi Hotel, this small boutique hotel is a great spot to relax and chill out in the busy CBD, although our comfy king room set us back $410, so it's not a cheap and cheerful option, oh yeah breakfast and parking are extra as well. On the positive side the king bed was very comfortable, Sam enjoyed the free access to the latest movies and I enjoyed their free wifi, the room also came complete with a show bag of snacks and a bar fridge full of drinks that were all included in the price. With the hotel located on Flinders Lane a stones throw from the city square it provides for a reasonably central spot if you want to explore Melbourne on foot.

The Adelphi Hotel made for a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of the CBD.

The foyer of the Adelphi had plenty of visual stimulus.

The post started with a shot of Angus looking suitably demonic, so how about we finish with a shot of one of St Patricks Cathedrals Spires for a bit of balance.