When I told people that I was moving to, or later that I lived in, St. Kilda, I always got a reaction: Cool, edgy, dangerous, overrun by homeless and drugs, near beach, used to be nice, is nice, lots of hookers, good restaurants and entertainment, crappy food, cute for an Expat, and many other adverbs. St. Kilda was all of those things and more, except we didn’t see many hookers. Although Venice Beach is the closest US comparable city that I have been to – St. Kilda was a definite couple levels lower on the intensity and homelessness.
The location of our apartment helped as well – we were literally on the border with St. Kilda West which is a quiet neighborhood and Albert Park which is awesome in its own right. We could pick different place to eat every night, from cheap to expensive, if we wanted to and we could be in the park or at the beach in less than 10 minutes. Probably the best view I’ll ever have from my balcony.
Heading back to the U.S. for awhile to celebrate Alex and Pat’s big day – then returning for one last stint in Australia. We’ll be living a couple of miles away in a much quieter neighborhood called Port Melbourne – it will be winter again anyway. Pictures below of random activities/events around St. Kilda.
Bummer – we were out of town when “Live Baby Live” was playing at one of the local bandrooms.Pride parade preparations – about 40,000 people ended up on our streetFor the F1, the bus stops hosted advertising. They went all out for the LA stop with real homeless people moving in.The Espy – has about 5 bars, a bandroom (different than the INXS one), and a couple of nice restaurants.View of the beach and ferris wheel from the upstairs windows in the restaurants.Like frozen in time upstairsDownstairs at the Espy – about 35 years younger than usLine on a Saturday for the Espy –Lady Peacock – good old person establishment. Key criteria – not too loud.
All the paintings are painted replicas of famous works. Initially they had 2 questions to answer – I got them up to 10 and a full painting scavenger hunt. Get all 10 and get a free drinkMy tram to work everyday – it really doesn’t come out of the clown mouth.Local Artist – we bought a painting to take back with usTypical weekend street scene – people dressing up for somethingAnother older Art Deco bar near Lady PeacockYarra River on a bike ride about 5 miles from the CBDCloser to our new place – the largest (and I think only) Australia aircraft carrier next to a cruise ship….cruise ship is much bigger.Houses on Yarra River about 3 miles from CBD – the most expensive and exclusive neighborhoods are on the river – not the beach.On a bike ride in Sharon’s favorite park – the Royal Botanic Gardens (spelled correctly)Random beach stop on a bike rideTypical morning – hot air balloons with a sunrise flight – usually from the right side. Sharon wanted to take the flight – I am a bit reluctant.Hot air balloon crash in the park across the street.I googled to find details of the crash – this one didn’t show up but many other crashes did. So this is off the list.Shire of Remembrance – equivalent to Arlington National CemeterySharon at the Luna Park entrance after Graham Nash30 meters from the main street – this is a typical back alleyGraham Nash at the Palais Theatre – worth attending just for the visitDidn’t realize Graham Nash was in the Hollies – but then he didn’t play many of their songs either, Unlike the Espy – Sharon and I were the youngest.Random bats in the treesEnglish style hotel in WerribeePlaying pool/snooker with co-workers. The stick is over 10 feet long and the table is like 4 tables. Games take an hour.
