The Golden Mirror Carousel at the Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria is hard to resist.

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We parked the Prius in a parking garage under the National Gallery of Victoria. Along the way, we had picked up a third passenger who is a choreographer. We ordered a bite and coffees at the museum cafe before exploring the exhibits.  When the women went to see the Jean Paul Gautier fashion exhibit, I decided to sketch The Golden Mirror Carousel. It was installed by Carsten Holler and it would only be up a few more days when the Melbourne International Art Festival ended. The Festival is a celebration of dance, theatre, music, circus, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held for 17 days each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia.

The carousel looks like one of those fast paced swing rides you would find in a carnival. With that ride, the chairs would lift up off the ground and the centrifugal force would make it seem like you were flying. The catch is that it moves at an agonizingly slow pace. A passenger might make a full rotation every 5 minutes or so.  This made sketching tricky since I would sketch passengers when they came around on each turn. Even though the ride moved at a slow pace, tourists and locals couldn’t resist getting on board. It was a relaxing ride. The fact that every facet of the ride was gold made it seem opulent and excessive.

Terry explored the fashion exhibit right until the closing time for the museum. The couture fashions were on manikins that had faces projected on them much like you would see in Disney’s Haunted Mansion. This gave the exhibit a surreal edge. Another area featured the manikins walking down a runway, just like in a fashion show. The entrance to the museum is a glass wall that has water cascading down its surface outside. Kids can’t resit touching the wall of water and interrupting its flow to catch a glimpse inside. At one point there was talk of removing the water fall but locals got up in arms and started a petition. They saved the wall of water so that another generation of children can experience its wonder.

CERES in East Brunswick Australia proves that living a sustainable lifestyle makes sence.

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One of Terry’s high school friends asked us to take one of Melbourne’s trolly’s out of the city to it’s terminus. There she met us at the station. She suggested we go for a walk and get some lunch. Along the way, we met a man who was busy picking berries from a tree. He looked a bit like a hippy and invited us to try a couple of berries for ourselves.

Our destination was CERES (Cnr Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East, 3057) which is a not for profit educational organization located on 4 hectares of rehabilitated landfill in East Brunswick, Melbourne. It used to be a quarry and it was purchased and turned into a community gardening project. Terry’s friend has been on a waiting list for years to get a plot to tend. CERES was absolutely amazing. There was a gardening shop, cafe and an open market with fresh vegetables and vintage clothing. Children played in the dirt lanes and chickens scurried across our path. This seemed like the Eden that we had lost. What a shame that Orlando doesn’t have a similar large community project.

We stopped for a coffee and a muffin at the cafe.  Oscar Jimenez was entertaining the crowd on guitar. I did a tiny sketch to be sure I was done quickly. Everywhere I looked in CERES I wanted to sketch. There was a huge community bike shop which had a geodesic dome made entirely of bicycle wheels. Wind turbines and solar panels provided energy making the community self contained. Water barrels conserved water for the gardens. CERES is deeply committed to a reduction in resource use. Technology and efficiency are drivers for this reduction. They match technology with education programs for both adults and school
children to encourage widespread behaviour change leading to large
reductions in consumption. Some of their demonstrations, such as the Environmentally Sustainable
Design principles embodied in the buildings are widely applicable. Other
demonstrations are experimental, part of their aim to support cutting
edge initiatives. The electric vehicle conversion program, aquaponics
and biogas plant belong in this category.  All CERES Green Technology projects are designed
to be working demonstrations or on going research projects, and can be
viewed on site, or during guided tours. In America we seem to waste everything but Australians conserve and optimize their resources.

I was sorry we had to leave.  Terry’s friend showed us her apartment which also had solar panels. When she conserves energy and only uses solar, she is paid by the energy company because her energy feeds the grid. We all decided to head back to Melbourne to go to The National Gallery of Victoria. Fashion designer, Jean Paul Gaultier was having a show and Terry was excited to see his contour dresses on display. We drove an energy efficient Prius back to the city.

Federation Square in Melbourne Australia is party central.

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In the morning, Terry and I hopped on the free trolly that circles Melbourne Australia‘s central business district. This rectangular grid of real estate stretched 10 blocks South West to Port Phillip Bay and four blocks North and South. It is offset from the rest of Melbourne grid of streets at a forty five degree angle. The trolly circled the business district which made it convenient to explore the city with ease. A bridge crossed the Yarra River to the South and we walked through the botanical gardens and parks. Terry had a memory of being pushed into a lake in the botanical gardens and we tried to find the site of the crime. Finding the exact spot was difficult considering it had happened so long ago when Terry was a high school senior.

As we walked back at the end of the day, we entered Federation Square. Across from the square is the Historic Melbourne Station which is always full of hectic travelers. By the time the sketch was done, he was gone. I spotted a young woman sitting on the ledge of her hotel room window three stories up sketching the station. That must have been a great vantage point for taking in the architecture. Terry had to get dressed for her reunion so she rushed back to the Windsor Hotel and I stayed behind to sketch. A Bollywood film was being shown on a big screen in the square. People sat all around Federation Square watching the film. Two star crossed lovers were working together as wedding planners. They worked together to plan a huge opulent wedding  and in the mad rush of preparations they began to realize that they should always be together. Bright yellow and crimson gowns sparkled and flowers bloomed on every table. In the end the boy took the girls hand and they danced in a glistening choreographed dance scene. Soon everyone was dancing with them in unison. Destiny had been fulfilled.

In the square, I sketched the only aboriginal man I had seen on our trip. He sat on a stone retaining wall and once in a while he would talk to passer’s by. I wondered what Dream Time tales he might be telling people. Workers were busy setting up barricades in the square. I asked one worker what they were setting up for. The next day the Square would be home for Diwali, the Indian Festival of Light. This Hindu festival is celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness. Terry and I returned the next day. Food trucks offered an endless variety of sweet savory Indian dishes. The scents were intoxicating. The crowd was so dense that we had to hold hands to keep from being separated. A short walk down the Yarra River there was an Oktoberfest Festival. Women dressed in Tyrolean dresses and men wore Liederhosen. All the German beer vendors were at the top of a large grass hill. One couple in costume rolled down the hill together. These two festivals intermingled in the middle since they were both so large. Busty Tyrolean dresses pressed their way through the crowd of sparkling Indian Saris and Anarkalis. As the sun set large canisters burst over the crowd sending colorful confetti everywhere. A gust of wind lifted the confetti and sent much of it towards the train station. I’ve never experienced a festival so large and so uplifting. Melbourne offers endless possibilities for sketching events. Federation Square is party central.

Melbourne Australia is alive with culture.

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From Sydney, Terry and I flew to Melbourne Australia. Even the taxi ride from the airport to the Windsor Hotel was exciting. Melbourne has to be the most modern city I have ever visited. I craned my neck looking out the taxi window to see modern skyscrapers that were vibrant works of art. One was covered with colored panels that must have functioned as shades for the glass structure beneath. the panels created yellow, lime green and Orange waves. Just driving through the city you could feel the way art influenced the public spaces. I was told that there are more events in Melbourne than there are days in the year. There was opulence and excess everywhere with changes clearly still under way.

The Windsor Hotel built in 1883, was right across the street from the historic House of Parliament (no, not the Parliament House). A historic trolley station was right in front of the hotel. The entire trolley car had been painted by a local artist thanks to a city commission. Both the Parliament and the Windsor were architectural gems, build from gold rush money at the turn of the century. The Windsor is notable for being Australia’s only surviving grand 19th century city hotel and only official “grand” Victorian era hotel. The Hotel Windsor has a 5-star rating and is considered one of the grandest hotels in Melbourne. It is renowned for it’s long list of dignitaries and celebrities who have stayed there over the years including the Duke and Dutchess of York, Margaret Thatcher, Meryl Streep,  Anthony Hopkins, Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Katharine Hepburn, Basil Rathbone, Lauren Bacall, and Douglas Fairbanks, I didn’t see any of them walking the halls.

After a full day of travel, I decided to just sketch our hotel room before getting some sleep. Terry checked her social media, but my phone remained off for the duration of the trip. My tablet that I sketched on, also doubled as a way to check e-mails where the hotels had Wi-Fi. So I wasn’t completely “off grid”. There were several Theatres just a block from the Hotel. Her Majesty’s Theatre built in 1886, was performing Les Miserables, and The Princess Theatre was presenting the hit musical Once about a song writer and his muse. The smash hit new musical (based on the movie of the same name) stormed
the Tony Awards in 2012 taking home eight, including Best Actor, Best
Book and Best Musical. I hadn’t seen this show before so I was thinking of going alone on the night of Terry’s reunion, since I wasn’t invited to that. Even sketching the theatre’s opulent exterior at night would have made for a great sketch. I was excited to dive in and start sketching this cities rich cultural scene.

A beach nap on the drive back to Sydney Australia.

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From Eden, Terry and I had a seven hour drive back to Sydney Australia. Our ultimate destination after a flight was Melboune where Terry was going to a reunion. Her senior year in high school, Terry was an exchange student and she spent the year in Melbourne going to Lauriston Girls School. Half way up the coast, we stopped at Malua Bay. We ordered lunch and ate it on the beach. I had a fish and chips. A couple sat contemplating the waves.  Terry took a nap while I sketched. Gorgeous yellow flowers bloomed all along the dune’s edge. This is what a vacation should be like with some rest and relaxation.

The nap was short lived however because we had many hours to go on our drive back to Sydney. Eden is more than half way down the coast towards Melbourne, so it would have made more sense to drive south to Melbourne. But car rental rates skyrocket if you drop a car off at a city other than the one you picked it up in. Apparently a plane flight was cheaper than the increase in the rental rate. The drive back seemed so much longer than the drive down. There wasn’t and sense of discovery. We had already traveled these roads.

By the time we were approaching Sydney, the sun had set and the stress lever rose as the traffic got faster and more aggressive. I must say however that Australian drivers are much better than Florida drivers. I drove at the speed limit and was only passed once or twice during the seven hour drive. There are signs on all the highways that insist that divers get some rest to avoid becoming a fatality. By this point, Terry and I were both used to driving on the wrong side of the road. Once or twice we each turned into a wrong lane but that’s when a side seat driver’s warning is appreciated. I scrapped up the hub caps on the car pretty good because I like to park snug to the curb. When I had an SUV, the tires were so big that only rubber bumped the curb. But the little rental and my gas saving Prius have tiny tires with hubcaps that look like they came from a war zone. I only scrap the tires on the passenger side, so as the driver I never actually see the damage. Out of sight, out of mind.

Thar she blows!

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Terry and I took a walk along the beach in Eden Australia to go bird watching. We were looking for a trail that cut off into the woods. Her birding book said this was a great spot to see local birds. We had seen Goffins Cockatoos and other parrots right at the apartment at Eagle Heights. I looked out at the ocean and spotted a column of mist. It was a whale, actually a mother and child. They were no more than 100 yards off shore. Excited, Terry got out her binoculars to get a closer look. It was a cold and very breezy day. After I took a quick look through the binoculars, I found a tree that cut the wind a bit.

I knew Terry was in her zone, when whale watching, so I did a quick sketch. We guessed that the mother must have been teaching the child how to feed in the bay’s relatively calm waters.  In town, the siren sounded, announcing that whales had been sighted. We were proud that we had spotted the pair before the experts. We had visited a spotting station manned by a volunteer on top of a cliff. He keeps track of all the nautical traffic that enters and leaves the bay. It was raining when we were there, and he was nice enough to invite us up into the tower to look at the vista. To pass the time, he scanned the ocean horizon for whales. He claimed that he could spot whale blows from miles away. He would see one and then hand me his binoculars to look. When I looked I wouldn’t see a thing. Spotting these two whales so close to shore therefor was quite rewarding. Whales don’t make great models however. They submerge and stay hidden under water far too long.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for April 4th and 5th.

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Saturday April 4, 2015

9am to 3pm Free. Orlando Elks Vintage Faire. Elk Lodge 1079 12 N Primrose Drive Orlando FL.

6pm to 8pm Free. Brewery Tour. Orlando Brewing, 1301 Atlanta Ave, Orlando, FL.

9:30pm to 11:30pm Free but order food and drink. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL.

Easter Sunday April 5, 2015

10am to 4pm Free. Farmers Market. South East corner of Lake Eola

1pm to 3pm Free. Yoga. East lawn of Lake Eola Park, 195 N Rosalind Ave, Orlando, FL.

9pm to 11pm Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out & laugh, or give it a try yourself.

At Eagle Heights still looking for whales.

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When the whale watching catamaran pulled into Eden Australia‘s dock, I rushed down the gangway, thankful to have solid ground under my feet. I sat on a park bench and my wife Terry went to talk to the crew of the whale watching boat. The ground still swayed under my feet. I put my head in my hands and sighed. It would take a while to recover. Amazingly, Terry wanted to go out on the boat again for their second cruise of the day. The boat wasn’t full and she wanted a closer view. They didn’t charge her for her second time on board.

I was thankful for the time to recover. I thought of sketching the boats in the dock but I wasn’t up to the task. After maybe an hour of sitting like a zombie, I stood up and decided to walk over to a small cafe to get something back in my stomach. Locals gossiped with their dogs at their feet. After lunch I returned to the bench and waited for Terry to return. She got off the boat excited to have seen another whale, or perhaps the same one at another location on his route.

That night back at Eagle Heights, Terry sat vigil watching for whales in the bay. I had no desire to look out over the water, so I sat on the couch and sketched. Dusk turned to night and the stars came out. I imagine the stars must be different in the southern hemisphere but I never took the time to identify the constellations. I needed rest. The room still swayed slightly.

Whale watching off the coast of Eden Australia.

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We got up at the break of dawn in Australia to get ready for a whale watching tour. I had a bowl of Cheerios and just as we left our Eagle Heights apartment, I took a Dramamine so it would soak into my system before we got on the boat. Cat-Balou Cruise leaves Eden‘s port every morning and in season, they guarantee a whale sighting. Before we walked the gang plank, everyone was warned that there were pretty high seas out there which made spotting whales challenging. If anyone wanted to turn back, this was their chance.

Inside, I sketched what I thought was the steering controls.  No one ever touched the steering wheel however, so I assume the catamaran was actually being steered from upstairs. Terry immediately sat up front at the bow and I included her in the sketch. Once we left the harbor, the seas got worse and the boat pitched violently. My drawing hand started to go numb so I slapped it on my calf to try and wake it up. A crew member asked me to go back to the bar to sign some documents. I lost my balance multiple times as I walked the short distance to the stern of the boat. After signing, I couldn’t bring Myself to walk back to my seat. I clutched a metal pillar for support. I’ve heard, that if you start to feel sea sick, you shouldn’t stay inside. Instead you should get out and stare at the horizon. I stumbled out a door and stood at a railing. Then my knees gave out and I knelled at the railing as if in prayer. “Dear God, please let this pass.” I stayed like that for the longest time. A crew member approached and told me that sniffing eucalyptus oil would settle my stomach. She gave me a napkin soaked in oil and I held it up to my nose. I took a sniff. The sharp smell immediately caused me to wretch, sending Cheerios over the railing into the churning sea. eucalyptus wasn’t a cure, it was the cause. Terry had bragged about how good a patch was for avoiding sea sickness. Where was she? I could use that darn patch. I wasn’t able to walk up to the bow to find her. My knees no longer worked.

After wrenching I felt better for a while and I stood. I held ceiling beams and imagined myself surfing the high seas. There was no way I could get back inside to my sketch. Eventually my extremities went numb again. All the other passengers had crowded onto the bow of the boat since a whale had been spotted. I stood at the stern with my head out over the railing. I wretched but there was nothing inside me. Then, a few feet from me, a whales eye appeared and he stared at me. Time slowed down. I swear I saw concern in that eye. Every nerve of my body snapped to attention. All my misery passed. The eye submerged followed by the immense length of body, and then the tale fluke. Wow! For the rest of the trip I stood up watching the ocean for another appearance. We basically tracked that one whale the entire trip. Spotting whales in the distance was impossible in the high seas. A Japanese man was as bad off as I was. He kept his eyes closed the entire trip. Developing my sea legs became a game. I let go of the ceiling beams once in a while to see if I could surf the pitching deck without getting thrown overboard.

For much of the trip I was so miserable, I wished I were dead, and then there were moments where I never felt so alive. If I had an opportunity to do it again, I would jump at the chance. Next time there will be no Cheerios, and I’ll wear a patch behind my ear. Sea sickness is largely psychological it is a confusion in which fluids in the inner ear send different signals than what the eyes perceive. Since I’m such a visual person, I guess I’m more susceptible. Terry told me that sketching is what caused the sea sickness, but I refuse to believe that.

We spend our wedding anniversary in Eden Australia.

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Our wedding anniversary was on October 19th and we spent the day making domestic preparations. We found the town supermarket and got essentials like Cheerios and milk for breakfast. We picked up some pre baked barbeque as well for dinner that night. The Eagle Heights apartment  in Eden, Australia had a full kitchen along with a microwave, so we cooked our food in minutes. I sat on the couch and used my tablet to sketch Terry making plans for the next day. We planned to go out on a charter boat to finally see some whales up close.

We were both still jet lagged and the drive down from Sydney had taken all day, so we were exhausted. On social media, hundreds of people might wish you happy birthday, but wedding anniversary’s are quiet introspective mile stones. There was a TV and an assortment of movies but it was never turned on. The apartment had two bedrooms and we used them both. I fell asleep in seconds.