I woke up this morning, to my 80th day in Australia. Its been almost 3 months since I got here, and they have been truely fantastic. To celebrate, the sky was blue and there was a summer feel to the air in Melbourne this morning, and with temperatures sitting at 24 degrees, the day was screaming for me to go exploring.

I have only visited the beach once since landing here, and knowing that there will be few more days to enjoy such beautiful weather, I decided it was time to explore the beaches of Port Phillip bay on a long walk. I got up, got ready, and told Kris of my plan. He suggested I set my sights on Sandringham - its the last stop on a train line that runs from South Yarra and a walk there would take about 3 - 4 hours, passing some beautiful bays. He was not wrong! See http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211501248793682344152.0004bc70ed5f06e5015b3&msa=0&ll=-37.87465,145.003223&spn=0.045664,0.069952 for the full route.

I set off from South Yarra down Chapel Street, eventually emerging all the way at the bottom where it joins Brighton Road. From there I made for the quickest way to get to the beach through a park in Elwood. I hit the beach just next to Elwood park, and a pier was directly in front of me, inviting me to take my first set of photos for the day.

After spending a little time on the pier admiring the view, I turned south down the promenade. The beaches were quite quiet - I'm assuming being a weekday most people were at work, but there were some people cooling off in the sea and walking dogs etc. As I headed south the houses that lined the coast grew more and more grand.

Eventually houses with swimming pools and tennis courts and pool houses were a constant feature as I entered the suburb of Brighton. I have seen some impressive houses in my time, but these must have been the grandest and most expensive so far. With gates onto the beach, views and land as they had, not to mention the various grand architecture styles, Brighton has some impressive buildings.

The views and beaches are even more impressive. Looking toward the city in the clear blue sky with yahts in the bay could take your breath away. Even looking south, at times I was reminded of cliff-face walks in Spain as a child in Playa Bara or Italy when I was a little older - overlooking the Mediterranean. Beautiful.

I arrived at Sandringham around 4 hours after setting off - legs tired but having thoroghly enjoyed the journey. I caught the train back to South Yarra, home by 5:30.

Ian.

Ps. A certain someone has requested some panos - so http://www.flickr.com/photos/35064478@N08/sets/72157629335364510/ has them together from todays adventure.