After we had recouped our strength, we set off into Melbourne to check out the architecture and suss out likely shopping routes for the weekend. We made it as far as Fed Square before the heat really started to hit, and our delicate flower-dispositions started to flag from the combination of 30 degrees and crazy building angles:
So we headed back to the hotel to wait for Ali, who was arriving that afternoon, and plot the rest of our trip.
That night, we went for dinner in a lovely restaurant at Docklands across the harbour from Etihad Stadium. They leave the ground lights on at night, which attracts insects, which, in turn, attract hundreds of bats which wheel around looking like slow-motion fireworks (NB pic below is not rubbish, it is non-represantational art. It shows how the bats *feel*, not how they look. Or something...)
As the pic above demonstrates, it's not as easy to capture spotlit bats on film as you might think. Perhaps this is where the myth about Dracula not being able to cast a reflection / image on film comes from? Or maybe we just need flasher cameras...
One of my favourite things about Melbourne is the public sculpture which is everywhere. Here's one of my favourite pieces, just outside the restaurant in Docklands:
Right, all these pictures are making the blog go slow, so I'll leave it there and do another blog tomorrow with more pics. Yay! More pics! :)
