Google Street View Exercise - Working in Melbourne, Victoria

 When I was a teenage, I worked abroad in Melbourne, Australia for two months. I stayed at the Greenhouse Backpackers. Next to the hostel is a police station. And around the corner from that Police Station was a graffiti tagged by Bansky (below).

 

Bansky tag near police station and the hostel I was staying at.

Every morning around 8am, I would jog on St. Kilda to Yarra towards the Royal Botanical Gardens.  The building on the right top corner is near the National Gallery of Victoria, where I saw a touring exhibit of Picasso. I also watched a family friend play the gamelan, an Indonesian music instrument, for a community performance there. Sometimes I take the tram to Victoria Market for lunch.

Victoria Market - usually bustling with handcrafted cheese, pastries, and hand-picked fruits and vegetables.

A couple of blocks from the hostel is the Federation Square (on the left of image). During the World Cup of Italy versus France in 2006, I watched the final game projected on a giant outdoor screen there. It was around 4am when the winning team secured their victory. People rushed out of the pubs and the street broke out in a celebratory riot. Fireworks lighted up the night sky.

The are on the left of the street is also the Australian Centre for Moving Image. And on the right side of the street is Forum (Theater). I watched some incredible films and animations at the two places during the Melbourne International Film Festival. Since then, it has been one of my dreams to submit a film to that festival.

On my way to work or grocery shopping, I liked to walk through mysterious alleyways and find graffiti art. Hosier Lane is notorious for graffiti art, it changes all the time. Often times, you can find famous graffiti artists' work, such as art by Basky, Neck Face Space Invader, etc.

This is Drewery Lane, near the top left of image/ building, you can see art by Space Invader. Little surprises like these makes Melbourne a very creative city.

 Graffiti by Space Invader, a French urban artist who makes character murals, made up of small coloured square mosaic tile.

One of the locals gave the hostel guests a tour of "secret places" in Melbourne. The winding mysterious alley in Chinatown leads us to - The Croft Institute. It is a bar/pub amidst racks of test tubes, flowers on tables in little beakers,  industrial looking sinks around the room, curious laboratory equipments, and creepy hospital beds. It makes for a perfect film set.