#BikeShare #StKilda Locations

#Melbourne Bike Share is becoming more and more popular with #tourists and residents, with bike stations popping up all over the city. In St Kilda there are now three locations where you can pick up or drop off a bike. One location is right in front of #LunaPark.  See the map below for the other locations.

 

Wearing a bike helmets is law in #Australia and even though some of these blue #bikes come with courtesy helmets that are passed on by previous users, so if you get a bike that comes with a helmet, then you just leave this helmet with the bike for the next user to use.  Alternatively, you can buy your own blue helmet from selected 7-11 and various retail stores across Melbourne for only $5! For tourists, these are fantastic souvenirs as well!

 

These are such a great way to see the city as well as being a cheap mode of transport.  For more information, check out their website http://www.melbournebikeshare.com.au/

Wild Storms Subside

The wild weather that hit Melbourne yesterday was quite horrific. If you were in Melbourne last night there was no way that you would have missed, or escaped, it.
 

It was a typical Melbourne sunny afternoon and what appeared to just be the simple beginnings of a rainy evening, turned into a horrific thunder and lightning storm at around 2:00am. The lightning was very intense and each flash was so bright that it lit up the sky as if it were day.  The thunder was so loud that my apartment windows vibrated.  It was the type of thunder that distresses pets too. My cats are always quick as lightning trying to scurry under the bed, but giving them a cuddle and letting them sleep on the bed always calms their nerves. Hopefully other pet owners took time to comfort their pets too, especially when the power went out.

According to The Age, 50,000 Victorians lost power due to these storms but many of them were reconnected by Monday afternoon.  There was only one moment during the night where all of the power went out in East St Kilda. All power was out inside my home, and it was eerie to look out the window and see no street or traffic lights. It was completely black and it was another flash of lightning in the sky that illuminated the streets again for a brief moment.   The power returned approximately 15 minutes later. Things were not so fortunate for the owners of a house in the nearby suburb of Prahran. Their house was struck by lightning and caught fire, causing around $850,000 in damage.

Melbourne's public transport system also took a beating with many train lines and services interrupted due to flooding.  We are relatively lucky in St Kilda because if our train line, the Sandringham Line, is delayed or cancelled in such circumstances, we still have trams and buses that are available to us that all head into the city, and although it may take a little longer than the train to get to Flinders Street, it is not as bad as someone who may be relying on just the one train to commute to work.

 

Overall, St Kilda escaped having too many major post-storm issues, and now that the storms have subsided, we look forward to more pleasant Spring weather for the rest of the week.



Photo taken from my balcony.

Braille at Tram Stops

It's great that there are braille signs at some tram stops to help the visually impaired. This tram stop is for Route 112 (ie: Tram No. 12) which runs along Park Street, West St Kilda.  The end of the line is at the intersection of Park St and Fitzroy St.  This tram will also get you to the city and take you all the way to Victoria Gardens in Richmond.  For those that don't know where that is, it is where IKEA is!

 

It's a positive step for Yarra Trams because they are aiming to make tram journeys more accessible to more people. If you think that more tram stops need this kind of signage, you should contact Public Transport Victoria and give them your feedback. It can only improve the service for everyone.