Don't like our weather?

 This is a traditional Melbourne question, usually accompanied by the answer "Wait 5 minutes and it'll change."  I think this is rather optimistic!

It was fine when we went for an early walk, passing by Lincoln Park, with the best jungle gym I have come across.  Were I not an old person I would have been into that.  I am told that later in the day younger grand-daughter (SP2) was well into it, although nervous about the big enclosed slippery dip.

Semi-modern architecture in the main MU campus.

Much older architecture.  I suspect this has nothing to do with the firies these days!

I also suspect that this building has nothing to do with brewing, despite the words on the street level.  It is probably a good compromise (and I like the colouring on the upper bit).

In this image the new/old compromise is the high-rise contrasted with the old small buildings next to it.  I would imagine the owners of those buildings find their mail box contains proposals from developers on a daily basis.

We then hosted the above mentioned SP2.  Building a dolls house was the planned activity.  The next image shows the components: what is missing?

Spot the Phillips Head screwdriver?  Sure can't.

In the afternoon Frances decided to visit a Picasso exhibition at the National Fishmongers of Victoria (aka the Art Gallery).  Pass.  Instead I started by going birding in the Queen Victoria Gardens and the start of the Tan.  I was hoping to see Long-billed Corellas and they turned up promptly.

A good lot of gulls were also present but none stunned by cricket balls driven into the outfield.  By this time it was well raining so I was glad to be wearing a spray jacket.  There were some nice beds of flowering bulbs.

And some flowering succulents on this rock structure.

It was good to see The G without having already run 41 km!  My last visits there have both been in the Melbourne Marathon which finished with a lap of the hallowed turf.  

An installation in Federation Square.

I was heading in to the Ian Potter Centre to (a) get out of the rain and (b) check out an exhibition of photographs about New York 2020.  The exhibition was photographs by a combat photographer who decided to take photos with his phone as he ran around the city.  A comment he made was that ".. in war zones things are OK until they are not.  In places like Bagdad you know to avoid certain streets but other areas are safe.  IN NYC in 2020 nowhere was safe."

A disappointment about the exhibition was that the ambience was totally destroyed by the very loud soundtrack from a Tracey Moffat video installation about 3 galleries away.  I didn't try to work out what the installation was about and don't care (unless it was showing that the curator was totally insensitive to patrons of the Centre as a whole)

I then went to look at the collection of indigenous art.  It is set up as a loop which can be approached from either end.  I started at the most recent work and went back. The middle was a huge work by Emily Kame Kngwarreye.  The material I got to before that was of limited appeal to me however there were some excellent works in the second half.

This is from Ngukurr (formerly known as Roper River) in Eastern Arnhem Land.  Looking closely the Sea Eagle image which was almost the signature of Ginger Riley, the most famous artist from that community, features in every panel.

These figures were in the foyer of the centre and I found them very interesting.  For some reason they reminded me of the sculptures of Lin Onus.

The approach to the dunnies is very artistic.

In the evening we visited one of the taller buildings around town.  I took these images with my phone pressed against a window on the 85th floor.  Something was happening at the G for it to be lit up (green blob centre LHS).

A close-up of the West Gate Bridge.

Descending to about the 8th floor we could look into the building site next door, which I found interesting in an industrial way!