AT SOUTHBANK

We are beginning to see a return to normality in Melbourne, with traffic and crowds coming back to almost pre-COVID levels. I also heard/saw quite a few overseas visitors in the city the other day... And then we heard about Monkeypox!

This post is part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme.

CITY NIGHT

Life seems to be near normal now that most COVID restrictions have been relaxed...

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme.

2021 IN REVIEW

Twelve photos, one from each month of 2021, as published in this blog. This year certainly flew by quickly, COVID and Lockdowns notwithstanding! Best wishes for a health-filled, happy and creative 2022!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL

As Victoria and Melbourne approach the magic 90% COVID double vaccinated, things are getting back to near-normal, slowly... Hopefully, Christmas will be almost normal this year!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

MELBOURNE CUP

The Melbourne Cup is the horse race of all Australian horse races. Every year when this race is run around 3:00 pm, it literally stops the entire nation. Melbourne Cup Day is fixed on the first Tuesday in November and although it is a public holiday only in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, Australians all over the nation are glued to their television screens or listen on the radio (or on the internet too, nowadays, I suppose) to watch this historic race.

The race is held over a distance of 3,200 meters, the traditional two-mile cup distance, for horses three years and older and is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world. It is held in Flemington Racecourse, located in Flemington, one of Melbourne's inner city suburbs, which is named after a butcher who lived there in the 19th century. I certainly hope he didn't sell horse meat - that would be grand irony!

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and the prize was 170 pounds and a hand-beaten gold watch (this was the trophy given before the traditional Loving Cup which the Melbourne Cup is known for). “Archer”, the first Cup-winning horse, had been walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, New South Wales, a distance of about 800km. “Archer” won again the following year to a prize of 810 gold sovereigns (£810) and a gold watch. “Archer” went on to win the race the following year once more, making him one of the five horses to win the event more than once.

Champion mare Verry Elleegant has taken out the G1 Melbourne Cup in sensational fashion, romping home to defeat boom horse Incentivise by 4L. Verry Elleegant, ridden by James McDonald, settled in a midfield position before entering the Flemington straight under a hold out wide.

After the pandemic essentially stopped Melbourne for more than 18 months, Victoria's COVID-19 restrictions eased just in time for the race that stops the nation. About 70 per cent of spectators at Flemington were Victoria Racing Club (VRC) members, with only 5 per cent of tickets offered to the public — equating to a few hundred ticketholders. The rest of the crowd was made up of horse owners, corporate sponsors and trainers.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

AT NIGHT

As restrictions due to COVID are gradually being lifted, one of the first to go was the 9:00 pm-5:00 am curfew. Movement about the city at night seemingly was one of main gripes of Melburnians, who are quite the night owls! Next week we are expecting further easing of restrictions and a slow return to normality as we approach 80% double vaccination status.

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

LOCKDOWN FUN

There is a glimmer of hope in Melbourne that soon, quite soon our COVID lockdown may be ending... Time to put all those toys and games away, boys and girls, and go out there and rediscover the wide world!

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.

DAY 66

Day 66 of the COVID Lockdown N˚ 6 in Melbourne, and the natives are getting more and more restless. The clashes of vaxxers and antivaxxers are taking place at all levels, in some cases becoming violent skirmishes in the so-called "freedom demonstrations". Meanwhile, the City centre itself looks eerily empty and still, devoid of people. COVID cases are increasing and the strain on the healthcare sector is being felt.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE "LOCKTOWN"

As of 8:00pm on Sunday, October 3, 2021, a Victorian who has lived in Melbourne and not left since the beginning of the pandemic will have spent 245 days in lockdown.  It is the longest cumulative lockdown for any city in the world. Buenos Aires previously held the record, enduring a 234-day lockdown from March 20 to November 11, 2020, and a short 10-day circuit-breaker lockdown from May 21 to May 31 this year. Melbourne is set to far exceed the record, with Victoria's roadmap indicating the state will only reach its next vaccination target of 70 per cent double dose vaccinations around October 26.

While the first period of stay-at-home restrictions enforced in March last year due to the COVID pandemic, was not officially called a "lockdown", it is commonly accepted that Melbourne is now in its sixth lockdown.

Here's the timeline of how they played out:

Lockdown 1: March 30 to May 12, 2020 — 43 days

Lockdown 2: July 8 to October 27, 2020 —111 days

Lockdown 3: February 12 - 17, 2021 —5 days

Lockdown 4: May 27 - June 10, 2021 — 14 days

Lockdown 5: July 15 - 27, 2021 — 12 days

Lockdown 6: August 5 - October 26, 2021 — 82 days...

So greetings from the world's favourite LOCKTOWN! I'd love to welcome you to our beautiful city, but at the moment we are locked in and you are locked out!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

PICNIC TIME

Sunday at the Parklands today was an occasion lockdown-fatigued Melburnians made the most of the slight reduction in restrictions. Open air picnics are allowed again within tight guidelines. As the weather was fine, many people went to the Darebin Parklands to enjoy the sun in good company. COVID be damned!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

GIPPSLAND RURAL

Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of 41,556 km2 located further east of the Shire of Cardinia (Melbourne's outermost southeastern suburbs) between Dandenong Ranges and Mornington Peninsula, and is bounded to the north by the mountain ranges and plateaus/highlands of the High Country (which separate it from Hume region in Victoria's northeast), to the southwest by the Western Port Bay, to the south and east by the Bass Strait and the Tasman Sea, and to the east and northeast by the Black-Allan Line (the easternmost section of the Victoria/New South Wales state border).

The Gippsland region is generally divided by the Strzelecki Ranges and tributaries of the Gippsland Lakes into five statistical sub-regions — namely the West Gippsland, South Gippsland, Latrobe Valley, Central Gippsland and East Gippsland. As at the 2016 Australian census, Gippsland had a population of 271,266, with the principal population centres of the region, in descending order of population, Traralgon, Moe, Warragul, Morwell, Sale, Bairnsdale, Drouin, Leongatha, and Phillip Island. Gippsland is best known for its primary production such as mining, power generation and farming as well as its tourist destinations — Phillip Island, Wilsons Promontory, the Gippsland Lakes, Walhalla, the Baw Baw Plateau, and the Strzelecki Ranges.

As of midnight tonight, the LaTrobe Valley sub-region is entering a 7-day lockdown as some cases of COVID were detected. It is hoped the prompt response will curb the spread of virus...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

OMINOUS TIMES

COVID lockdown woes in Melbourne... Our weather seems to agree and the Grand Old Dame, Flinders Street Station, tries to outdo the dramatics of the sky with its own portentous illuminations. Not a good time to travel. C'est la vie!

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

DETRAFFICKED

Weekday, time of the afternoon peak hour traffic. Huh? Where are all the cars? You say. Well, this is COVID lockdown normal for Melbourne. Today we had a release of a "Roadmap out of the COVID Lockdown". It was a bit of a joke, as painfully it has confirmed lockdown will stay and most industries will be shut or highly restricted until the end of October, in a bid to prevent our health system from being overrun by COVID-19... 

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

FLY AWAY

How common a sight in our skies was this a couple of years ago. COVID has now ensured that air traffic is a minuscule fraction of what it was then. Now, a day trip out of metropolitan Melbourne by car sounds like an exciting adventure. We still are confined at home, only venturing out within a radius of 5 km, and only for essential business (and not during the curfew, i.e. between 9:00 pm to 5:00 am)...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

SPRING SUNSHINE

One of the things I am thankful for these days of the COVID lockdown is that within walking distance of my home we have several large parks and Parklands, where I can walk within the 5 km allowed radius. This is wonderful for my daily exercise, but also for replenishing my spiritual and mental reserves in order to cope with the insanity fo the times. We've had some beautiful sunny Spring days and walking in areas such as this (Yarra Bend Park) has been delightful.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,
and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

DESERTED CITY NIGHT

We are currently on day 40 of our sixth COVID lockdown and "enjoying" a 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew. The City is lit up but deserted, the very few people out and about having very special reasons and permission to do so... And so our life has been transformed.

This post is part of the  Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

COVID THANKS

Adversity affects people in different ways: Some crack under the strain and dissolve into a mass of blubbering jelly; others become insecure, selfish and violent; others freeze into inaction and observe helplessly all that develops; yet others are afraid and cower in denial, being ready to believe anything that will provide quick, albeit irrational, comfort.

A select group face the challenges of adversity and rise to their full height, diving into their inner bottomless seas of strength and courage, and face squarely whatever the world throws at them. Such people are society's rocks and it is on them that we should lean taking energy from their strength, hope from their courageous actions, and nurture our courage to imitate their example.

A neighbour has made a simple yet expressive statement on their fence, regarding the COVID challenge we are all living through. Thanking your relatives, friends, neighbours, but most importantly strangers for doing the right thing for society's health and wellbeing is a courageous act, considering that COVID-deniers and anti-vaxxers can become violent and vindictive. Thank YOU, neighbour!

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

MELBOURNE BY NIGHT

Melbourne by night is a lonely place these days of COVID lockdown and 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew...

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

LOCKDOWN SUNRISE

Looks ominous, but a good time to do one's allowed exercise within a 5km radius...

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme

IN ISOLATION

My thoughts are with everyone self-isolating due to the COVID lockdowns, wherever that may be, but especially so with those in the concrete jungles of the large cities...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,

and also part of the Seasons meme.