A Seven Alarm Night

A few nights ago, I awoke at 3:38am to a noise.  I thought it might be an alarm, but it sounded more like that high-pitched whirring sound you here inside a house when the outdoor hose is on.  Laura had also awaken and as I got up to discern the source of the noise, I recommended Mrs. "better safe than sorry" ought to put some warm clothes on in the event we had to evacuate.  She never opened her eyes, let alone moved from the bed.  So much for walking the walk.

So I proceeded to walk out our front door into the hallway and no longer heard the "alarm".  Must not be our building.  I walked out the back door onto the balcony outside, definitely was a fire alarm.  I felt bad for the suckers in the building across the street that were going to have to stand out in the cold .... then I walked around the corner of our balcony.  Low and behold it was the fire alarm for our building.  One little bell going off literally 15 feet from our bed just outside our window.

Now I'm no fire marshall, but a "fire alarm" that's indiscernible through a window from 15 feet seems a bit inadequate for two twenty-something story towers.  Came back inside, told LT it was our fire alarm ... still no movement ... and proceeded out to the lobby to see what the deal was.  No surprise, I'm the only resident in the place to make an appearance.  The conversation between me and the concierge:

Me: Do we need to evacuate?

Concierge: What floor are you on?

Me: This floor.  We live right there (pointing at our condo out the window).

Concierge: You're not from the 5th floor?

Me: No.

Concierge: Is there a PA announcement in your room?

Me: No.

Firemen show up and disappear with the concierge into a room for about 5 minutes while I stand there.  Seems like some action should be taking place.  Then the firemen and concierge walk by me mentioning the 5th floor and proceed to the ELEVATORS!!!

Again, not a fire marshall, but are you kidding me!?!   After stop, drop, and roll, isn't "Take the stairs!" the next thing you learn in firefighting school?

The alarm went silent 5 minutes later and I went back to bed.  Laura was still there.  It was about 4:00am.  LT's alarm went off at 4:15am.  Don't ask me why she gets up this early.  But this morning, it also went off at 4:20am, 4:25am, and finally 4:30am.  Then mine went off at 5:57am, and 6:07am.  I should have just stayed up.

Stonehenge?

Last weekend, LT and I were up for a bushwalk and decided to head out to Hanging Rock.  It's only about an hour outside Melbourne in the Macedon Ranges and we went in blind.  No prior research.  I like to set the bar low so expectations are typically exceeded.  I imagined we were in for another Blowing Rock.  Great town, ordinary rock.  In it's defense, tough for a rock to be extraordinary.

So we arrive and begin the trek up to Hanging Rock and it's not long before we arrive at the foot of towering rocks at least 15 stories tall.  The trail continues to traverse up the hill winding through a maze of enormous pointy fellas rocks.  Then we arrive at Hanging Rock.  It is pathetically uninspiring.  But we are amongst a virtual jungle of amazing rock formations.  Unlike my traveling partner who's not always the most stable person in the world, I like to climb on rocks.  It should be noted I'm not always the most stable person in the world either, and I thought I had put myself in a bit of a pickle a time or two.  It was a lot of fun to explore as each turn yielded another amazing view of the surrounding terrain, rocks the left you puzzled at their creation, and opportunities to climb.  We capped the bushwalk off with a couple of scones (Aussie for biscuit) with raspberry jam and whipped cream at the cafe at the base.  Haven't had a biscuit since we've been here and they REALLY hit the spot.

Quite intrigued with what created this odd place, I did a little post-trip research.  This type of formation is referred to as a mamelon, created over 6 million years ago by magma pouring from a volcanic vent and congealing in place.  Neighboring Mt. Macedon is the volcano which vented.  Apparently this event is somewhat rare as it generates a type of rock called solvsbergite which is only found in three places in the world: this region of Australia, Norway, and Sweden.  A flowing immersion is really the only way some of the cavities in these rocks can be explained.  Erosion can't create a sharp edged inverted cavity unless there's a fire hose involved.

Sign cautions against slippery rocks.  With rain the night before, and a
cool morning leaving a bit of dew, footing wasn't always exceptional.

Not fooling anybody with the grass creeping up into the picture.

I've been working out.

Lot of rocks.  Like an alien planet.

Found myself in a bit of a predicament up in a rock cavity.  This
is a successful exit after several less flattering attempts to descend.

Eucalyptus tree emerging from the rocks near the summit.

At the "summit" ... we think.  Pretty difficult to tell with very tall pointy rocks all over the place.

Maze of rocks.

Sure, those rocks look secure.  No worries mate.

Looks like a nose and pouty lip.

LT made me do it.

Amongst the maze of massive rocks, these were to be the guides
to various landmarks.  I think we saw about four of them.

T Scott's engraving from 1866.  Not sure who T Scott is and always skeptical
about the dates.  What's to keep somebody from carving 42 B.C. into a rock?

All the crazy, precariously placed, enormous rocks around this
joint, and  that minuscule thing above just above the piece of
wood is the "Hanging Rock" for which this place is named.

Seriously.  That's it.

Cool fallen tree trunk.

Large cross at the peak of Mt. Macedon in honor of fallen soldiers.

Site of the Kurana crash.  A passenger flight that crashed here on
Mt. Macedon in 1948.  You'd think the trees would have grown back
 in by now, somebody must routinely trample them to preserve the memorial.

State of Origins

There is a series of All-Star-like rugby matches in progress where rugby players play for their home state ... if their home state happens to be Queensland or New South Wales.  Apparently nobody gives a hoot about players from the other five states.  This series is referred to as the "Sate of Origin" and rolled through Melbourne last Wednesday.  Our mate Matt, a Queenslander, bought a group of tickets and LT and I were in.  Truth be told, the prospect of sitting amongst crazed bogun (redneck) Queenslanders and rabid snooty New South Welchmen was far more alluring than the game.  As we may have mentioned in previous posts, this form of rugby is essentially a game of Red Rover between large adult men.  Dodgeball might be interesting, Red Rover couldn't hold our interest as kids.  But these guys love it.  56,000 strong in Victoria for a meaningless game between two states not named Victoria.

So in support of Matt, we donned Queensland maroon shirts and hair and cheered on the Cane Toads.  We have no idea what happened, or who did what, all we know is we had a fantastic time with the crowd, Queensland won, and we both had very sore throats and hoarse voices the next day.

Me and LT in Queenslander gear

Our mate Matt and his lady-friend Mel (a closet New South Welschwoman.
She failed the loyalty test.)

The rest of the crew: Justin, Michael, and Sander

The great crowd divide.  Queensland in maroon, New South Wales in smurf blue.

QUEENSLANDERS!!!!!  The entire game LT thought we were cheering
"QUEENSLAND ROCKS"

I don't know why this is on our shirts

Queensland wins 18-10

Artsy Fartsy

Last Sunday, we ventured to the National Gallery of Victoria to take a stroll around and see what kind of art was on display.  The NGV was founded in 1861 and it is the oldest and largest art gallery in Australia.  The collections are housed in two locations, the one below is the one on St. Kilda Road...the other half is part of Federation Square.

Water feature in the front of the NGV.

There is a Napoleon exhibition starting in early June, and Jeff was getting ready for his debut.

There's quite a resemblance, huh!

The NGV is known for this ceiling...it was made by Leonard French, an Aussie stained glass artist that was born on the north side of the city.

Leonard French ceiling at the NGV.

 I thought this guy looked like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons...I'm guessing that Jean-Antoine Houdon (the artist) didn't know that Voltaire would look like Mr. Burns.

Voltaire sculpture in bronze by Houdon.

This next series of shots is of Jeff and a random art stalker that hung with us (very close to us at all times) for a good part of the day...as you can see, he was all up on Jeff...

Jeffie peaking through windows that look onto the Leonard French hall.

The information claims that she used to have a
fighting helmet, but I think she had a lobotomy.

 One of the galleries is set-up as a Salon viewing room, and is reminiscent of how art was shown in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.  I love this look - it is a total assault of art.

There was also exactly ONE room of "contemporary" art...including this never-ending neon ladder.

That's me and the camera in the lower left-hand corner!

After our morning at the NGV, we headed to a cafe that is under a bridge on the Yarra.  

Notice that the sign says, "until sold out"...they
were sold out of all quesadillas :(

As you can probably tell, it was a beautiful day, but it was windy and pretty chilly.  And, the city is behind me, so most of the time the sun was blocked from the buildings...

I look thrilled...a result of being cold and the racket/music that was played
every time a train came...which we believe was to block out the noise
pollution of the train.  The "music" was HORRIBLE.

The little restaurant under the bridge.

We enjoyed the NGV, typically like a bit more contemporary art and more photography, but it was a good lesson in art and we still got to enjoy some Monet, Manet, Picasso, and Rembrandts.

Cats vs. Pies

On Friday, we headed out to another Geelong Cats footie match...only this time, we went with a proper Aussie fan.  A fan of the opposing team - the Collingwood Magpies.

Pie fans all around us...they are slightly obnoxious.

The evening got interesting with a 40-something guy wanting to fight a
teenager about 5 rows below us...

At first, he was a little hesitant to voice his "true"footie watching tendancies, but once he saw that Jeff and I yelled at the players and the refs, he was all over yelling at both teams and the refs!

Unfortunately, the Cats lost and this is how Jeff and I felt:

Sad, very sad.  The Cats haven't been playing well this year - after winning
the premiership last year, this year has been less than great...

But, this is how Michael felt:

Michael has been a Magpie fan for life, and they haven't been playing
great this year, so this was a good win for him!

And, just to keep the night interesting, Jeff took a picture of this when we walked by...

Discreet entrance in the rear.