#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.

Back to School in Victoria. Term 4, 2014 begins!

Term 4, 2014 begins!

 

Today is the first day back at school for most children, and parents are probably letting out a huge sigh of relief because they do not have to worry about keeping the offspring occupied every single day any more.  At least for the next 11 weeks, they will be back in class, back into their after school activities and parents will be engaging in their own school term activity: nagging the kids to put down their iPads and do their homework!

 

Being back at school also means that all the speed limits around schools, not only in the St Kilda area, but everywhere, will be 40 km per hour during certain times.  Most of us are used to this by now, although there are always the odd one or two who will ignore it. Sometimes, sadly, these are parents themselves which seems a little hypocritical.

 

Sometimes, however, one must wonder why the timing of these 40 zones need to be so stretched out and disrupt the flow of traffic when it would appear to be unnecessary.  There is one example in East St Kilda where the 40 signs are turned on from 2pm and will still be on after 6pm.  Is this a little bit of an overkill perhaps?  Considering that there are no parents or parents' cars anywhere near the school until closer to 3:30pm and then they are usually all gone by 4:30pm, and the school is clearly closed at 6pm. But if drivers were to ignore these 40 signs, they risk getting a speeding ticket. There is an interesting discussion forum on the Whirlpool site if anyone is interested in what others have to say about this.  

 

Another familiar sight around school drop-off and pick-up times are the number of SUV and 4-Wheel drive vehicles you see.  It doesn't help traffic flow at all when you have parents in these large cars double parked which essentially brings traffic to a complete stand still.

 

Despite some of these traffic and speed zones woes, it is probably common sense and wise to slow down around schools in the mornings and afternoons.  We can all agree that the safety of our children is important.

 

Have a fantastic Term 4!