Anthropology of Australians

I’m in Melbourne for a couple of days. It’s very….. British here. Familiar shops, familiar food, familiar pubs. Though they could do with more traditional names than ‘The Elephant and Wheelbarrow’.

What about, ‘The Giraffe and Crayon’? Or ‘The Saxphone and Weather Baloon’?

I’ve been watching the Australians for a week or so. Did you know they sound like that all the time? I thought it was just a thing they did on holiday.

Melbourne in the Rain

No-one has yet said “G’day” to me. I’m very disappointed. The normal greeting here is ‘”How are you going?”. Or, if they like you, “How are we going?”.

Victoria Market and the National Library

It’s customary to drop the t’s in the middle of words (‘Would you like a glass of wader?’). And syllables are spaced out, like Hos-Tel, or De-Von.

A pink lake has appeared in Westgate Park. Sunlight, drought and warm temperatures have precipitated an algae bloom in the salt. As you can see below, I was having fun with the reflections using my polarising filter.

Salt Lake