Museum day! Or as Hobbit called it - the Mooooooseeeeeum lol.
We came into some lovely weather again today, the humidity has settled down and the sun was out. It was 27 and fine, like I once was. We had a lovely stroll to the Museum passing some amazing shops that caught my eye. One of those which really stood out as a rare gem was Irregular Choice
This place was all my favourite things wrapped up in one. It was glitter glitter and more glitter, it was shoes shoes and more shoes. It was unicorns, hearts, rainbows, butterflies, flowers, and all things pretty and shiny. I was amazed to see that the prices were around $100 - I was expecting much more. As we were just on our way out i couldn't spend too long here so marked it off as a place to return to on my solo shopping adventure day Thursday.
I was also super impressed with the gorgeous range of Ugg Boots in the original Ugg store on 143 Swanston street. I am so annoyed that I only just months ago bought some new uggies in Perth and had been looking around for years for something a bit glitzy and shiny and all I could find was some with a couple of big swarovski crystals on them. Here there are amazing uggies with pretties all over them. I could have easily bought 3 pairs then and there. I also spotted the most beautiful warm jacket ever. It had a black waterproof outer layer and the inside was this plush pink fluffy brushed lambswool lining which also surrounded the hood. I was sold - until I saw the $799 price tag - EEEK! Maybe later.
As we approached the Museum we strolled through the lush green parklands of Carlton Gardens. There were lovely little ponds, beautiful big Moreton Bay Figs that branched out their thick twisting roots firmly gripping into the ground, reaching out with lots of woody tentacles. As you scan towards the sky their big imposing branches covered with cooling leaves shade you from the burning sun and remind you that there is a slight breeze with the rustle of their leaves. It was actually nice to have little oasis of nature to ground you and remind you that the concrete jungle of the city might be appealing for a while but your body needs that connection to nature to revive the soul.
The Melbourne Museum is a monstrous building. And I even didn't quite grasp the enormity of it whilst I stood back and marveled over the size of the outside of it. This place is like a tardis, you open the door and inside there is an infinity of space.
We got our tickets and made the decision to start in the Forest Gallery. This was a lovely recreation of the living creatures of the forest lands, more like a zoo than a museum. I suppose this is a lovely sign of the times, where animals are not killed for display, instead they are given a really natural place to live as they would in the wild, and here they can be observed carrying about their normal way.
We stayed here from 10am to around 5pm so it was a really long day. Not only am I exhausted and can't be bothered writing every detail, I also would need a book sized document to write all about it. So what I might do is just talk about my favourite parts:
1) Phar Lap: It was amazing to see this legendary horse up close and personal. So huge, so majestic, yet the eyes still so gentle and kind. Reminds me how sad it is that people can use and abuse these defenseless creatures for 'entertainment' and monetary gain - greed! What an awful way for one living thing to enslave and control another. I can't wait for the animal racing industry to be a piece of shameful bygone history. I read the plaques and enjoyed the old historical photos of the first race days that became Melbourne Cup as we know it now. I can't wait for the photos of the last days of this race to join the pieces of history in this museum.
2) Dinosaurs: I have always loved dinos, so this was truly a spectacular sight. Bones reaching up to the top of the multi-story building, dangling by wires, jaws agape and claws poised ready to grip a prey. I loved seeing the long necks, the big teeth, the giant horns and the massive rib cages. Very humbling. This exhibition was really well done, I loved all the little extra bits such as view-finders, touch displays, sounds, and stories.
3) Wild area: This is what caught my attention when I googled. A room filled with layers and layers tiering up the wall all scattered with animals from around the world. Rhinos, tigers, zebras, otters, yaks, sables, polecats, birds, reptiles, bears, literally everything you could think of was in here. It was mesmerising. Again, a shameful piece of history that in the 1800's these animals were in abundance and were able to be hunted and stuffed for displays, now we have most of them on the endangered list and spend all our time protecting the pitiful few that are left roaming the planet.
4) Marine Room: As someone with a keen enthusiasm for anything sharks, this was really awesome to see and read all bout their history and evolution. I loved the jaws and the teeth, loved the big whale bones and the shark statues hanging from the ceiling. Some living aquariums was a nice touch too.
5) Megafauna: These giants of the Earth have always fascinated me. They don't seem to hog the spotlight as much as their Jurassic period buddies but they are just as interesting, if not moreso. Like giant wombats, kangaroos, and alligators, they roamed Australia until they met their demise up against a changing landscape and human presence (hunting and fires).
6) The First Peoples Gallery: There is a lot to learn in this gallery and we stood around and watched the videos revealing a lot of untold stories and different versions of history to that of which we learnt at school. Sad tales of how this lad was happily and harmoniously managed by the Aboriginal people and how badly they were treated when colonisation occurred. It particularly talked about local places and people and revealed some terribly dark events that sent chills down your body. Moving on from that there was also a lot of lovely things to learn of their ways and cultures and we saw their medicines and foods in the beautifully laid out Milarri Gardens.
7) The Mega Mini display wasn't something that I was overly interested in but lo and behold - I found the mega dollhouse! Oh my gosh, this dollhouse had me absolutely captivated. I hated that pane of glass preventing me from touching everything and being able to move the dollies up and down that giant staircase and into each room decorated with teeny tiny intricate furnishings. I wanted to feel their dresses and pour tea out of the wee teapots into the tiny teacups, I wanted to feel the curtains and chandeliers and play with the tiny kids toys in the toy room which were so precious. The fact that one woman made all this for her daughter is amazing. Such skill and passion, such talent.
8) The mind: I also didn't think I would be interested in this room and as it was the end of the day I was now disconnected and exhausted. But there was some amazing things to learn in here and some bizarre tales of the past around how people discovered how the mind works, how the brain functions, and the completely barbaric ways in which they tried to get function from dysfunction. So glad I live now, can't imagine being caught up and forced into such a scary methodology, we are lucky medicine progressed.
9) The 3D Volcano Room: This was really cool. Both Hobbit and I found ourselves dipping and ducking around bits of ash flying about the room and swaying as we followed the rollercoaster like path of oozing larva down the side of a giant volcano. It was amazing watching the underwater volcanic action as well as the space shots. This little portion of the day was worth the ticket money itself!
10) Bugs alive: Again this was at the end of our day so I kinda rushed through as my energy was wearing and my brain was frazzled. But there were definitely a load of really cool bugs and spiders and butterflies to be seen in here. Colours that you marveled over just how brilliant mother nature is to put together such luminescent shades of blue and green. The trapdoor spiders were creepy, and the giant redback hanging from the ceiling was something out of a horror movie.
In the end I was absolutely exhausted and STARVING. So we made our way back towards the house stopping at a place called Goyoza Goyoza which my lovely friend, Gail, who knows my tastes and eating habits well (as we are both Kierath Banders) had highly recommended. The cool part was that it was in one of those graffiti art alleyways so we got to see all the amazing painting that these masters of the spray-can had created.
She was right on the mark. This place was absolutely delicious. The Goyoza dumplings were tender little parcels of juicy filling that came with a tray of ingredients for you to assemble your own dipping sauce. We shared 4 tapas style dishes and not a crumb was left at the end, not because there wasn't enough but because we enjoyed it so much we made pigs of ourselves and didn't want to leave a crumb behind.
We rolled back to the house for a rest suffering from exhaustion from information overload at the museum, and from food overload at Gyoza Gyoza. We may have been suffering but it was a satisfied suffering, the kind you feel when you have made it to 3pm on Christmas Day, having had loads of fun with the family, been given loads of cool stuff, and eaten your mums absolute best cooking that she has been prepping for weeks.
Originally we wanted to go to the Eureka Skydeck on this night because with the Whitesnake gig tomorrow night we didnt want to party too hard but also didnt want to do nothing and miss opportunity to see some more of beautiful Melbourne at night, but in the end we were just too plain beat. So it ended up a night of pyjamas, movies, and scrumptious late night pickies from our previous shopping adventure at the Victoria Markets Deli area. Not because we were overly hungry, just because it was bloody tasty and you know - holidays n all.
We then a good long deep sleep
in that beautiful BIG bed
in our lovely little flat with the blackout shades and soundproof walls
located in the high energy Degraves street
in Melbourne
~EXCITING MELBOURNE~
We dreamed of tomorrow with anticipation, a tomorrow that would see us both crossing off a bucket list goal - Seeing WHITESNAKE live on stage, front row no less!
Here are a few more snaps from our lovely day...... (be kind, this is my first ever attempt to make a video)
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