Date of Adventure:
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
For distances statistics, click here.
For other data, click here.
Maps of Adventure:
We just couldn't resist the play on words in the title. By the time of this adventure, Connex was not operating our trains, but they were the ones that had refused to re-open the New Street Gates after an accident about two years ago. It seems ludicrous that their closure for over two years can be claimed to be "temporary". I'm sure that if the combined intelligentsia of the State Government, the Bayside City Council, VicRoads, Connex, or their successors Metro Trains, really wanted to make a decision - any decision - something would have been done quick smart. Instead, they have lent support to the notion that it is easier to do nothing than something. The resulting traffic chaos during daylight hours in Hampton Street is akin to something like Chapel Street on Market Day, or Punt Road during a Collingwood-Carlton match at the M.C.G.
Of course, some people living in close proximity to the gates benefit from this arrangement. Our friends Pat, Steve and Rachel arrived from England about a year ago and moved into the southern end of New Street. They love living in the "new", quiet New Street and describe it as like almost living in a cul-de-sac. They have not known it any other way.
It seems that all the warring parties are all wound up in the usual sticking points of safety, convenience and heritage, and all of them only seeing a win-loss situation. Our solution, which is a sort of inverted Wisdom of Solomon outcome, is where all the competing aspects are actually integrated into a new co-operative entity. Perhaps restoring the heritage gates (as well as the little hut) but having them fully automated would be a solution. Keeping the employee there to oversee the operation, as well as providing a new pedestrian crossing across Beach Road at that point, might also work. Another solution would be to have them operating only at peak times to relieve some of the traffic problems.
Anyway, that is where we started our adventure: the triangle formed by the eastern side of the beach bike path, South Road and New Street.
Here is a photo of Anastasia and Alexandra at the now-infamous gates with a train and a camera-shy employee in the background.
He didn't even help us cross the tracks. Here is some advice on how to do it yourself.
The journey up the bike path and down Beach Road was pretty uneventful except for spotting a yachting regatta about a kilometre off shore
and this sticker on a pole.
Obviously, the people who left it do not share in our respect for our police force.
Up we went on the other side of Beach Road to the junction with South Road and all its myriad obstacles: slip lanes, traffic islands, railway tracks and boom gates. We negotiated all these successfully and ended up walking along the centre reservation. Up near New Street we came across this dead animal.
We couldn't tell whether it was a possum, a rat or a lemur of some kind. Perhaps someone at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine could help us out. They're good at this type of thing.
Now, the main issue with this adventure is whether the target area is classified as Hampton or Brighton (Beach). We are in no doubt that currently the area is regarded as part of Brighton and even in the olden days it was in the municipality of the City of Brighton. There is, however, evidence that approximately 25 years ago it was regarded as being in the suburb of Hampton and had a Hampton post code. That is good enough for us. So, for the purposes of this project, it is in Hampton. Of course, we know that both sides of South Road, as well as the first row of properties on the southern side, are legitimately and unambiguously in Brighton. This means that the Brighton Beach Bowling Club
and the Brighton Beach Oval take up a significant portion of this triangle.
In the Melway, it appears that Mair Street is a dead end. However, if you're on foot, there is a secret path along the railway tracks to Seaview Avenue. This is good to know if you're being pursued by foreign agents or Bayside City Council officers, who may be looking to fine you for letting your cat outside after the nine o'clock cat night curfew.
As a child, I remember seeing a very tall tower with a large purple ball on top of it after leaving Hampton Station on a train, heading for the city. It was located on the premises of the Association for the Blind and, if anyone out there could inform me, I'd love to know what it represented or what function it served. It is now long gone and the place has been renamed the more politically correct Vision Australia.
Next to it is the swish-looking Elanora Aged Care Facility. I said to the sisters that they could put me in there when I'm old enough. They scoffed at the idea; I'm not sure why.
On the southwestern corner of South Road and New Street we found this plaque to stockbroker, and significant public identity of early Melbourne, J. B. Were.
As mentioned earlier, our friend Pat and her family live around here and this is their house (with sisters).
It was around here that we heard some loud public swearing. I expected to see a lout under the influence of alcohol. Instead, we saw a well-dressed young man shouting into his mobile telephone. Sometimes clothes do not maketh the man. He deserved to have a large rock thrown at him. It was also around this time that a careless tree walked into Papugai.
Around the corner in Seaview Avenue we encountered a completely different and better-behaved mammal than the swearing one: a beautiful, friendly, affectionate and entertaining cat. We could have spent hours with him.
After that, it was a quick stroll down to the finish point at the Gates and then back to the car. We debriefed and collected ourselves at the magnificent Chocolatier, a chocolate and drinks wonderland at 444 Hampton Street. It's good to see that some businesses still take their work seriously and do an excellent job.
'til next time,
Papugai
