Day 105 (Tuesday Dec 4) – I arrived late on Monday night, took a train into the CBD (central business district) and then got an Uber down to my room in St. Kilda. St. Kilda is about 6km south of the city center. I was staying at an Airbnb about 4 blocks from the beach, 1/3 Church Street. It was a fairly basic room, but the bed was quite comfortable.
On my first full day in Melbourne, I decided to walk into the CBD. It took me about an hour, but I had fun exploring the beach on my way into the city.
I also got distracted by the exterior of the National Gallery of Victoria (the art museum), which had a waterfall effect in front of LED fish. As usual, I was fascinated with my reflection in the windows. I would return here another day to explore inside.
One of my first stops in the CBD was The Scots Church. The stained glass was beautiful, the organist was practicing, and I found out they had a free concert later that afternoon.
After grabbing some lunch and attending the concert, I went to the Ian Potter Center: the home of Australian art, presenting Indigenous and non-Indigenous art from the colonial period to the present day. It is located in Federation Square. The art was quite interesting, and of course I found a rainbow in the “Summer’s End” painting!
The King in his Counting House – Colin Lanceley 
Manifestations – Mike Brown 
Summer’s End – Richard Larter
I came across a fascinating room that dealt with colors, reflections, and perception. By Rebecca Baumann, it is entitled Window work, which is a site-specific installation responding to the district architecture of The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia’s ‘intrafilament’ spaces.
Window Work 
I also saw some aboriginal works, pieces from the colonial era, and I caught another rainbow in the bathroom sink.
A spring morning near Fernshaw – Whitehead 
Childhood Dreaming – Trevor Nickolls 
Cliveden Mantlepiece 
The last exhibition I saw was the Rigg Design Prize 2018, which focused on room designs. I felt like I was in a Myst video game!
After grabbing a latte and resting my feet for a bit, I went to the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI), which is also housed in Federation Square. There were lots of interactive exhibits and movie memorabilia.
The whole time I was at the NGV and ACMI, I was using Grindr and chatting with some guys. I finally found someone who wanted to grab dinner and hang out, so we met at a pub for a couple of beers and burgers. After that, he showed me to the State Library where we played a game of chess (I won!) and the Shrine of Remembrance. His name was Roland.
One of the Mall Ceilings 
State Library Dome 
Roland and I 
Shrine of Remembrance 
Can you see the face in the building? 
Twilight in Melbourne
And with that, my first day in Melbourne came to a close. I managed to pack quite a bit into one day!
Day 106 (Wednesday Dec 5) – This day, I decided to visit the Melbourne Museum! But as I took the tram into the CBD, I had to get some photos of the Christmas decorations around Flinder’s Street Station.
The great thing about the CBD is that they have a free tram zone in the city center, so I was able to ride for free to get closer to the museum. But they didn’t open for another hour, so I spent some time at the Treasury Gardens. I loved the flowers in their conservatory.
Treasury Garden Conservatory 
I also saw some fountains as I walked to the Melbourne Museum.
The Dolphin Fountain 
Once I got to the museum, I looked into paying the entry fee, but discovered they would be having a special event called Nocturnal. The museum would be open at night, with DJs, drinks, and dancing. On top of that, the month’s theme was celebrating and supporting queer culture! Needless to say, I thought that would be an awesome way to experience the museum. So, I bought my ticket and headed back into the CBD.
Instead of the museum, I decided to go back to the State Library. I had only briefly seen it the night before and I’m really glad I went back to explore it more thoroughly.
William Shakespeare 
A trinity of healing scrolls 
Next, I wandered around in the CBD, talked to my parents on mall WiFi (as I didn’t get a cell plan while here in Australia), bought new shoes from the Columbia store I found, and noticed some rainbows and trinities.
Rainbows! 
A trinity in the mall 
The Scots Church 
My new shoes! 
A star I found in the pavement
After 2 big walking days, I took it easy that night by reading and resting at my Airbnb.
Day 107 (Thursday Dec 6) – Beach Day! I went to St. Kilda’s beach in the morning and early afternoon.
I swam out to that post! 
Journaling on the beach 
Christ Church in St. Kilda
The Airbnb I stayed out while in Melbourne had the address of 1/3 Church St. It was directly across from Christ Church, a beautiful Anglican church.
The rest of the afternoon / evening I relaxed: reading and writing and did podcast episode #19.
Day 108 (Friday Dec 7) – An epic day but this post is already getting too big so I’ll need to split the day! Up next, Botanical Gardens, Shrine of Remembrance, and The NGV art gallery. Nocturnal at the Museum of Natural History will kick off the next post.
A tranquil scene 
Animal shapes in the shrubbery
The Shrine of Remembrance opened at 10am, so I stopped by there next.
WWII remembrance 
The entrance 
War Medals 
My best reflection yet! 
3 spots of light 
Inside the shrine 
A 7×7 grid 
Melbourne from the top of the Shrine
After an hour at the Shrine of Remembrance, I went to the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria). I had walked by earlier in the week (it was the building with water and LED fishes). I had a lovely time.
The Stained Glass Ceiling 
Painting – Pierre Soulages 
The Last Supper Mosaic 
Derek Reflected 
Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments 
The Crossing of the Red Sea – Nicolas Poussin 
Trilogy of the Desert – Salvador Dali 
Krishna and his lover Radha
I also had fun taking selfies and discovering interesting photos in the NGV…
Springwater, Seaforth NSW 
Bloom Games 
Dress & Bloom Games 
I also had a chance to create a cartoon version of myself through the Julian Opie exhibit…
Woah… this is probably hard to load, but I’ve already done so much work putting it all together that it will just have to do. I’ll do shorter posts with less video going forward.
But hey, what’s one more video? And it wouldn’t be a post without a song to finish it off. Here’s the song for January 7th from this month’s Dependence playlist. It comes from the 50 Shades of Gray movie, so it’s talking about an earthly love… but I see it as a beautiful worship song to my Creator.