Artists Lane In Melbourne

There's a bunch of graffiti in Melbourne, Australia and at least for a couple of blocks, a sanctioned alley for the sprayed work. Head to Artists Lane in the Windsor neighborhood and be prepared for visual overload.

The alley, a big, ol' bunch of horror vacui.

The art is impressive. Hacking a safe. Even dumpsters deserve beauty.

Cool caps.

A true pig sty. A little UK rock n' roll glamor on a resident's fence near the alley.

The graffiti is not contained, spilling onto any building along the route, making various blah back parking lots interesting.

The Iconic Roadside Motel In Australia

Spend any time wandering around Australia and you may end up staying in a typical mom and pop, 1960s style motel. Slightly out of town, one story, exposed brick, maybe a small pool. When you check in, you get your key, a pint of fresh milk for coffee and a slip of paper for your breakfast order. It's all retro-analogue-iffic.

Ubiquitous welcome sign.

Direction notice, brick and rough landscaping. International symbols for eating.

Your room, the brick theme continues inside.

In the mini fridge, a lonely, little butter pad. Maybe it's time to check out the pool, if the girl gang doesn't mind.

Hard landscaping.

Objects At The Army Museum In Bandiana

Life in the military, told through small details.

The ubiquitous ready to eat meal, all packages and packets.

WWII era care packages and powdered gold.

Radio gear that's capable of melting one's face.

Fine dining china for the officers. Memories of Vietnam.

Field surgery kit. You do not want to meet one of these kits.

The Army Museum Bandiana

If the national grandmother of Australia had a giant attic and her family just loved military surplus, it would look like the Army Museum in Bandiana. The place is the largest military museum in the country and there's little doubt about that claim when you're inside the building.

The museum is a giant shed, packed with gear, uniforms, vehicles.

Let's start with guns and ammo. Know your pistols and revolvers and read the handbook.

Clever WWI contraption, a rifle that shoots a round automatically, timed by water circulating through containers to put weight on the trigger.

Dinner for Queen and Country. Appropriately painted amphibious vehicle.

Outside, the big boom boys.

Hooray For Hay In Australia

The state of Victoria is overflowing with hay. During February, harvested hay is plentiful and piled in field after field. The stacks are an impressive sight, much bigger bales than found in the US. Piled up, big walls of hay.

A typical hay monolith.

Round bales are also scattered about.

Hay wall along a fence line.

Working the wall.

Hay as environmental art.

Australia As Landscape

Australia is a bit of a natural wonderland, disparate landscapes wherever you wander. A drive around parts of the states of Victoria and New South Wales rewarded with many gems.

Back lot for Jurassic Park? Nah, just a lush stream in Great Otway National Park.

Red clay field. Redwood grove with sculpture in East Warburton.

Gravel piles.

Eucalyptus trees near Yea. Misty forest in Mount Toolebewong.

A little digging in the dirt, the landscape reducing the equipment to Tonka trucks.

Ansett Airways

Reginald Ansett was the Ted Turner, Richard Branson of Australia, a swashbuckling entrepreneur who started a big business, molded in his own image. For Ansett, he started with a bus company in the 1930s, moving into air service. Ansett Airways lasted until 2002 when its parent company liquidated the operations.

There's now a museum in the original hangar in the town where Ansett started. It's a bit of a homemade, labor of love affair. Definitely a nice slice of Aussie entrepreneurship.

The hangar.

Inside, a bit like peeking into grandma's attic. Packed. Supposedly, 96% of the collection is in storage. Ouch. Plenty of uniforms on fashion runway ready mannequins are scattered around the hangar.

Cutout from one of their early planes. Impressive, made of wood, hand painted. Just don't sit in the bulkhead row.

Another model. They love the uniforms, all the way down to the shoes, which sometimes don't fit the poser.

A row of old seats in a sort-of airplane mock up. that's Reginald Ansett in the photograph above the seats.

The classic airline souvenir, the hand luggage with logo. Yet another model, slick.

The other classic souvenir, the model airplane.