Banksy, Botanicals and Beasts

November 2024

I think it’s fair to say that the year of 2024 was my annus horribilis, to quote a recently departed monarch. It started as a top year, with travel to New Zealand with my friend Lou, but a mere couple of months later, it took a very sharp nose dive. A freak injury left me with two rounds of surgery and a frustrating period of rehab that had put an end to my running for the remainder of the year. I had been training for Sydney Marathon too, to tick off marathon number nine and get another state under my belt in my quest to run a marathon in every state and territory, but that came to a screeching halt and I am still yet to return to running. I am walking though and was ecstatic indeed to finally be able to return to Parkrun to become a Parkwalker, with the silver lining being that the slower pace encouraged Steve to join the Parkrun community too and join me in the Saturday ritual. Still, with the challenging and quite stressful year it had been, when a long weekend rolled around in November, I suggested to Steve that we get away for a bit of a break to try and leave some of the drama behind us for a while. So, we decided to just pop over the water and have a weekend in Melbourne, see a couple of shows and just chill. So, after the short flight on the dinky, antique feeling Qantas Link plane that often feels like it’s powered by rubber bands, we touched down late, walked to our hotel and settled in, ready to have a couple of days in the Big Smoke.

Saturday morning had to start with that must-do ritual of Parkrun, even if that means walking for now. We found one at Albert Park and set off on a tram to find our Parkrun peeps. Our local Parkrun back home on a regular day would get about 70 people, increasing to a record 233 in summer when there are visitors. Here, in Melbourne, we were in a whole new Parkrun universe.  There were 35 volunteers to fulfil all the necessary roles for more than 800 participants! I got the feeling that this was a regular sized turn out when I saw one of the volunteers was “paddle man” holding up a large paddle reading “Quiet please, briefing in progress”, to quieten the crowd for the Run Director to explain the course and welcome visitors and newbies and still be heard above the crowd. 

When we set off, we joined the colourful snake of runners and walkers circumnavigating Albert Park lake on a crisp but sunny morning. “Come on, you can take them!” encouraged Steve as a team of rowers stroked past on the lake. I picked up my walking speed to try and out pace the Cox driving her crew through the water. I tried to channel Kath and Kel, that pair of “foxy morons”, as I swung my hips and pumped my elbows, but to no avail, as I watched the smooth ripple of the boat’s wake pass me with rhythmic precision. It was a top place to walk though, a full lap of the lake and then the finishing funnel was lined with volunteers, creating a cheering guard of honour, congratulating finishers and leaving everyone crossing that line with a grin on their face. A perfect start to the day.

Steve was on for some retail therapy, so the rest of the day was spent in various stores, including of course, The House of Golf. I did find myself a new pair of sneakers, with perhaps some dumb optimism that I’d be running in them soon, but still, nothing wrong with some sunshine and roses thinking! 

The one thing about a visit to Melbourne is there’s a whole lot more food choice, so we were able to find an all vegan Italian restaurant, which we splashed out on for our pre-theatre victuals and then headed to Her Majesty’s. We’d seen Beauty and the Beast before, many years ago when Hugh Jackman was in the lead, in the days before he became THE Hugh Jackman and that was brilliant. Today’s show was OK. The sets and effects not as good, choreography a bit lame and all together cheesy, which you’d expect from a Disney musical, but OK for a night out. It rounded out a fairly chilled sort of day, apart from me flapping at there being too many people and too many crowds and “can we get out of here” moments in crowded shopping centres, because this country bumpkin gets city fatigue pretty darn quick. But, it was a change from the norm and that’s what we were after, so day one mission accomplished. 

Day two was to be more of an explore and experience day, with not a shopping centre in sight. We set off for a walk to Docklands, walking alongside the bike path that we reminisced about riding along on our way to the ferry to take us home after our year long European cycling adventure all those years ago. Sigh. Those were the days. The very best of days. 

Our destination at Docklands was to visit an exhibition of the works of Banksy, the famous yet elusive street artist. I had only ever seen his work in the media and not up close, so this was terrific to be able to wander past the exhibits and really take in the powerful and necessary messages, delivered in such simple and stark technique. 

After a walk back towards the city I said, “I’m a bit over concrete. I need trees. Let’s head to the Botanical Gardens.” So we did. It was warm and sunny and we took a tram to Toorak, then walked the streets towards the gardens. “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto,” I said to Steve as we walked along the street lined with cars and I began to reel off the makes as we passed each one…Audi…Porsche…Mercedes…BMW…Ferrari…Range Rover…Lexus…Lamborghini…Not a Honda Jazz to be seen and I could imagine if anyone were to dare move to the neighbourhood and park a Hyundai i30 in their driveway,  then Basil and Verity would inform the council forthwith and ask that the errant vehicle that was lowering the tone of the neighbourhood be removed immediately, all the while with Verity clutching at her pearls! We were clearly in the land of the rich and ostentatious. 

The gardens were lovely though and teeming with people on such a pleasant, sunny day. Families picnicked, groups sat on tables enjoying lunch and many, like us, simply roamed the paths amongst the greenery. As we strolled along, I couldn’t help but catch snatches of conversation from those walking past us. A young couple walked towards us, the fella a few strides ahead of the young woman who was walking with a phone up to her face, so on FaceTime I deduced. “I thought, where’s the ring?” she said to the face on the screen, “maybe he isn’t going to propose today! Then my heart told me…” So perhaps a special event had just occurred…or not!? 

Then two men walked past. “…Then they said they wanted titles done and extra graphics and if they’d outsourced that, it would have been $20,000,” said the first man.

“Is this after filming finished?” asked the second.

“Yeah, after filming was done and I said, No!…” replied the first. Ooh, some trouble in the world of business and entertainment perhaps?

Finally, it was an older couple who walked past, with the lady exclaiming in a very exasperated and  put-out tone, “…and they wanted me to look after their dogs! While they were on their honeymoon!” Oh dear. Maybe they were three Great Danes? Our stroll continued, in the sun and amongst the lakes and foliage and it was a tonic for the soul after the hustle and bustle of the city that was right on the doorstep of this piece of tranquility.

We found another place for our pre-theatre food choice, which had some interesting vegan options and we enjoyed a tapas style dinner with a range of Thai style dishes that hit the spot perfectly. Making the whole experience better was a couple sitting at a table in front of us and their little Dachshund dog who had accompanied them and was sitting up on a chair of its own, enjoying some hand fed morsels being shared by the man. There’s nothing like dining out with doggy company.

Off we went to the theatre and this time to see Tina, the Tina Turner Musical. It was BRILLIANT. The lead was amazing and her ability to switch between Tina’s 60’s sounding singing voice to her 80’s sounding voice and get the iconic moves as well was just fantastic. In the final scene, as she was appearing to perform on stage, the set flipped so we became the concert audience and it was like being at a Tina Turner show. At that moment, she wasn’t playing Tina Turner, she was so good, she WAS Tina Turner. She broke into Proud Mary. “Y’all stand up and sing it with me!” she cried, waving her arm across the theatre. We didn’t need asking twice. It was a full house and the entire theatre from stalls to grand circle stood in unison and we all began rollin’ on the river together, singing and dancing as fun and joy just swept the room. When we finally left the theatre, Steve simply said, “Phenomenal.” Yes it was. Indeed it was.

That had been a top end to a weekend away. We’d managed to leave some stress and drama behind us and have a break in a different setting and enjoy some different experiences. We’ll gear up for whatever awaits us in the coming weeks and months, but for now, we are grateful for being able to just take in a bit of short term travel and just hang for a while. A busy, but dandy weekend it had been. Now we just had to make the trip back over the water in that wee plane again. Ready…wind those rubber bands and…LIFT OFF.