Cakelaw's Travel Tales

Verdon Chambers in Collins Street, Melbourne, was the residence of the first manager of the English, Scottish and Australia Chartered Bank, Sir George Verdon.  No expense was spared in its design, and its richness has been restored to its former glory.  Verdon Chambers is now heritage listed so that future generations can enjoy the opulence of the bygone ear of the 1880s, when Verdon Chambers was built. You can read about the history of Verdon Chambers and find out more about the features of the property here .  These blue Venetian tiles are a pleasant surprise in the loggia (a word I only learned a few days prior to touring Verdon Chambers while watching Are You Paying Attention? , when a clip was played of Christopher Pyne, a Federal politician, explaining to Carrie Bickmore of The Project that his favourite household chore is to trim the wisteria in the loggia!!). Apparently the library is haunted: Verdon Ch

We recently visited the Normal Lindsay Gallery and Museum in Faulconbridge, New South Wales.  It is quite easy to get there during the week (Monday to Friday) without a car by taking the train from Central Station in Sydney to Springwood (on the Blue Mountains Line), then catching the 960C bus at 10.50am from The Hippy Shop across the road from the railway station.  You can get back the same way by catching the 2.50pm bus back to Springwood from the gallery. Norman Lindsay and his second wife, Rose, lived in the house, which is now the cornerstone of the gallery.  It is filled with Norman Lindsay's watercolours, model ships, oil paintings, vases and currently, a Magic Pudding Exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of publication of Norman's children's book, The Magic Pudding .  The exhibition features sketches, movie and theatre posters, marionettes and versions of The Magic Pudding published in different languages. You can also peek at the kitchen largely as it w

In  May, I went to Darwin for the first time to check out the Top End.  There are only two seasons in Darwin  the wet season and the dry season.  Both are hot (plus 30 degrees Celsius temperatures), but the wet season is not only wet with cyclones, but it is also oppressively humid.  That is why it is highly recommended that visitors to Darwin travel during the dry season.  May is the beginning of the dry season, so we started off on the right foot. Below are photos of some of the interesting and often beautiful buildings that I spotted in my travels through Darwin.   These buildings traverse a wide range of architectural styles, reflecting different periods in Darwin's history. Many of  these buildings were damaged by the severe cyclones that Darwin has suffered over the years, and bombing during World War II by the Japanese, so have had to be restored to some degree. First up is the Governor's residence, placed strategically down by the foreshore: Note the gorgeous