Melbourne (Victoria - Australia)
10 November - 11 November 2015
During our many chats over the years there was always that public bench at Circular Quay. In the early mornings when I'd be messaging Inga on my way to work I'd often jump trains at Circular Quay in order to get to St. James station. On a few occasions I'd send a photo of the view out over Sydney Harbour, a lonely public bench quite often in frame. That bench became kind of symbolic, a place where one day we imagined ourselves sitting together looking out over the harbour. Sure, there are better views but that's not the point. Sitting on the bench with Inga was visualisation of a possible future. In the early days the sound of it may have rung out like a fabulously constructed lie. Very much like the idea I posed to Inga on our first date in Paris, at the time I made the suggestion that we should travel South America together, 'lets just take 3 months of and go'....and sure, for 3 seconds that sounds like a wonderful plan, until 'life' intervenes. Quickly your instincts and your internal probability mechanism assigns a level of chance to an event happening, I know that Inga gave it a 0% chance. Very much like sitting on that bench with me at Circular Quay.
AC/DC Lane - Melbourne - Australia
AC/DC Lane - Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Life can spin things in odd ways. Sometimes things come to you that you don't want, and sometimes things that you really want come to you in a manner that you didn't expect. All those 0% were now turning into tick boxes. Never say never.
I think for Inga seeing Matt Corby perform live was different again. From what I know she'd heard his song 'Brother' in Latvia. I'm not even sure whether she realised that he was Australian but after putting that together with the fact that her trip to Australia was now ON, the question then came, 'If he's playing anywhere near us can we see him' - my response was 'Sure, if he's playing in Australia then we'll find him' ...and that led us to Melbourne on 10 Nov.
Melbourne - Australia
The Croft Institute - Melbourne - Australia
In Melbourne you just never know where you'll find your next cool bar - Croft Lane - Melbourne - Australia
Flinders Street - Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
What to say about Melbourne.
I'm Sydney born and bred. Have lived over 40 years of my life there and appreciate Sydney for what it has, but....Melbourne has so many things that Sydney doesn't. Over the years I'd had to appreciate Melbourne from afar, always thinking that perhaps one day I'd make the move. So writing this blog from 2019, knowing the path that I took to get here, I look back on this day as a little bit of a test run. In fact, every time Inga and I went to Melbourne I took it as a test run. Gauging whether there was enough interest and enough spark to be able to make a full-time move.
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
Melbourne - Australia
From Goldilocks Bar - Melbourne - Australia
Somehow, perhaps typically, the weather during our stay was ordinary. So the bars on Brunswick street didn't really stand up to scrutiny, although Naked for Satan did its best, and even though Matty Corby at the Forum was very good, I knew in myself that there was still a little bit of work to be done.
It was ok. I still had time.
