My Monthly Chronicles: August 2026

In August life got really crazy with ending one job and starting another.  In between we had an overnight trip to the Goldfields region in Western Victoria and I was busy writing up some research on my great grandfather.   I had less time for getting out and about but we had a few amazing meals as well as our travels.  I hope to write more about the places we visited but in this post is a taster of a few places we stopped.  You can read more about my month at In My Kitchen August 2026 post.

I made a trip into the State Library which had a magnificent 19th Century domed reading room.  I am so often the tourist in these sort of places but I was there to find information on my great grandfather.  I looked up ancestry.com to find the date he moved to his home where my dad lived as a kid.  The website disappointed me by being even further from the date than me.  I then went to look at a book that mentioned my grandfather and tried to avoid all the rubbernecks taking photos. As I left I could not resist a photo or two.  See above doorway to the dome!

Collage workshop, Balam Balam Place
33 Saxon Street, Brunswick

I accompanied Sylvia to another collage workshop - Sylvia made two collages but I was pleased I managed to finish my collage in the workshop.  Everyone was very friendly and there was a lot of swapping magazines for scraps of pictures!

Big Elma: Rice Table Night
138 Nicholson Street, Coburg 

 

We went to the special Rice Table night at Big Elma's.  One of the owners has a grandmother who used to make this Indonesian style meal for her.  She held this night in tribute to her grandmother.  The tables were pushed together and it felt like a wonderful intimate community meal.  I spoke to a couple who said they had been to other rice table meals but they are not held often in the cafe.  You can see the chunks of rice on a plate, corn fritters and a tofu dish in the picture.  Great food and great ambience.  (I hope to find time to write more about this cafe soon.)

My office corridor

 

I am sneaking in a photo of one of the corridors at my job I have just left.  I really loved the archival photos of people at work that adorned the interior office walls.  These offices did not have a view out the window but they had these photos that gave them privacy but were transparent enough to let the light in.  (I was in an open plan office with a great view of the gum trees and occasional birds.)

Super 8 Cafe
305 Grattan Street, (Peter Mac) Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Parkville

I had a few work lunches from Super 8 in August.  They have such great salads.  My lunch above was Roquette and Pear Salad, Roasted Vegetable Salad, and a Beetroot Salad.  I was most impressed with the beetroot salad which had peach, strawberries, goats cheese and walnuts. 

The Pancake Parlour
2 Grenville Street S Central Ballarat

We stopped at Ballarat on the way to Beaufort.  Our favourite place to have a lunch break is the Pancake Kitchen and we were interested to try the vegan menu.  The vegan versions of Cheese and potato pancake with salad and the Alice pancake with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles were found to be nice but not as good as the originals.  However Sylvia was wowed by the Swiss Mountain Shake which she judged to be far better than the diary version.  I got tempted by the non-vegan Dubai Chocolate pancake which had too much marscapone and not enough creamy katafi in the filling but had great fudge chocolate sauce.  Sylvia had tried this before and said her one had much more katafi filling.  

Cyrill Callister Vegemite Museum
23 Neill St, Beaufort

One of the reasons we went to our our road trip was to visit the Vegemite museum.  Who could resist such a niche collection.  I've eaten vegemite since I can remember and I found the museum quite nostalgic - all those old vegemite jars, including the ones that we reused for drinking glasses.  I also loved some of the fascinating Vegemite art including school kids painting pictures of local buildings using just vegemite and water.

The American Hotel
90 Albert Street, Creswick

We stayed the night at The American Hotel in Creswick.  This town has a rich gold rush history.  I enjoyed seeing the splendid heritage buildings, including a museum in the former municipal offices.  It was fortuitous that we were there on a weekend that the farmers market was held.  We wanted to have dinner at the lovely Odessa in one of the oldest buildings in town but it was sold out because Ella Hooper was performing there but found a fine pizzeria.

Clunes, Victoria 

Clunes was the other place I really wanted to go.  It is the town where gold was first discovered in our state of Victoria in the 19th Century.  My great great grandfather come there from Wales as one of the miners and my great grandfather was born there.  The heritage main street was amazingly intact with some great vintage shops and a little further away is the bottle museum which we really enjoyed (far more than I expected).  We had a great lunch at Cafe 52.
 

Better Now Bakes 
130 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

On the same weekend of our trip out of town, Better Now Bakes  made the move from farmers market stalls to opening their own vegan bakery cafe in Brunswick East.  We love their bakes - all vegan - and were excited to visit soon after we returned home.  We heard that the opening weekend had been really busy but it was quieter on a week day.  It was so exciting to check out the set up and purchase potato and crispy chilli oil focaccia, pickle chive and dill scone, pecan pie, choc chip cookie to eat in.

And Bodega
340 St Georges Road, North Fitzroy

Another new vegan cafe is And Bodega in North Fitzroy much further north on St Georges Road then where we usually go.  We had an amazing meal served by an enthusiastic and friendly couple.  The price for 2 meals, 2 drinks and 2 baked items came to a very reasonable $59.  We loved the food, the drinks and the vibe of this unassuming cafe.

Sylvia had the Ollieflower toastie with a great name.  It was a crispy baked buffalo cauliflower, seasonal greens, housemade ranch on a 'Baked for Sofia' brioche, which was the only sandwich left after 1pm on a Saturday.  It wouldn't have been her first choice but she was pleasantly surprised by how amazing it was.  I had the Seasonal Bowl of quinoa, sautéed kale, tofu puffs drizzled with chilli sauce and a creamy ginger peanut dressing.  This was a great healthy bowl, a bit spicy for me with the chilli dressing but I loved the sate-style sauce.  

Sylvia was delighted with her birthday iced matcha latte that came with vegan cream and sprinkled.  It was not on the menu but she requested it because she had seen it online.  I had really good Natural Cola from the Ordinary Beverage Company.  These low calorie soft drinnks are getting better.  As well as a lovely flavour without the cloying sweetness of the big brands, I was interested that it was lo-cal without any artificial sweeteners in the ingredients.

We also had a fantastic lamington which came with a generous dollop of wonderful raspberry jam on top of the little cake with cream piped around the edges.  It looked very attractive.  I was interested how the vegan cream held its shape so well and asked about it.  The secret was to add custard to the cream.  Sounds simple but if you know vegan cream, you know it can be very soft so it seemed like alchemy to get it right.  And we had a superb Vegemite tomato & cheese escargot to take home.  It was such fantastic soft pastry that demonstrated their fine baking skills.  Apologies for all the superlatives but it was really good food and a great discovery in a month where I mostly visited known cafes.

Green Man's Arms
418 Lygon Street, Carlton 

It has been too long since I have got out to the cinema so I was really happy to see Colours of Time at the Nova with Heather.  Afterwards we went to Green Man's Arms, after the alarm at hearing they pub was to be sold.  It was reassuring to hear the pub is for sale but the lease of the Green Man's Arms will continue.  I was delighted that the special was a vegan Roast dinner of nut and lentil loaf, roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, roast carrots, peas, yorkshire pudding, gravy and mint sauce.  It was a really lovely meal with the highlight perhaps being how light and fluffy they made the vegan Yorkie.  I was a bit unsure about the mint sauce but loved the generous amount of gravy over a lovely soft slice of nut and lentil roast.  The serving of peas as the green veg made me very happy because I love how my mum always serves them with a roast but it is less common in roast dinners I have when dining out.  I washed it down with a very pleasant Willie Smith's Tasmanian non-alcoholic cider and Heather enjoyed her Massaman Curry.

Sylvia's corner 

Some of the best (all-vegan) food Sylvia has eaten around Melbourne.  Unlike me, she visited quite a few new places with other people as well as a few faves.  She finds lots of the amazing meals we eat out but these are her favourite cafes in August. 

Top row: Beautiful Jim Key, Brunswick: Mushroom Congee, Masses Bagels, Fitzroy: Pickled Green Tomato Bagel, All Day Donuts, Brunswick: Blackberry Lime Glaze Donut.

Middle row: Smith & Deli, Collingwood: Gingerbread Latte, Gong De Lin, CBD, Sweet'n'Sour Vegan Pork, Smashed Cucumber, Marinated Tofu, Green Tea, Miss Moses, Brunswick: Vegan Chicken Burrito Bowl.

Bottom Row: Lui Boss, Brunswick: Japchae,  Tyler's Milkbar, Preston: Blueberry Crumble Cake, Eat Cannoli, Preston: Vegan Pistachio Cannoli and Cheesecake Cannoli.

In the News

Died: Johnny Young Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, Yayoi Kusama

Power, distraction and the price of political failure: From the antisemitism Royal Commission, Trump’s political theatre and Victoria’s new Premier to ICAC, in New Politics, 3 August 2026

Petition to save Roy Grounds building amasses over 1,400 signatures, in Architecture,Au, 13 August 2026. (Melbourne University's plans to demolish the John Medley Building where I studied as an undergrad.)

Clacton byelection: Farage's pyrrhic victory convinces no-one by Ian Dunt on his Striking 13 Substack, 14 August 2026.  

Jason Arday, ex-Cambridge professor accused of plagiarism, found dead a week after resigning, NBC News, 15 August 2026. (aAso see reflections by Nature editorial and Toyin Falola: When a black scholar becomes a symbol)

Hundreds of the Albanian Diaspora Expected in Tirana for Day 76 of Flamingo Revolution Protest, Pressenza, 15 August 2026.

Labor is facing an insurgent One Nation. The path it takes on immigration will define its identity for years to come, Frank Bongiorno, The Guardian, 16 August

Long‑awaited gambling reform bill is an improvement, but does not go nearly far enough to reduce harm, The Conversation, 18 August 202

NSW judge says anti-Israel graffiti case went ‘haywire’ when vandalism was labelled antisemitic, The Guardian, 18 August 2026.

Australian football must reckon with its culture of entitlement (about the Sydney Swans sexual assault case), by Tarang Chawla in DeepCut, 22 August 2026. 

Political cartoonist Cathy Wilcox leaves the Sydney Morning Herald, “She has cocked her skeptical eyebrow and poked her inky nib at pretty much any subject you care to name.” MediaWeek, 23 August 2026.  (Her insightful cartoons will be missed!)

Head teacher evacuated 900 children minutes before Nepal floods hit school, BBC News, 30 August 2026.

Listening, Reading, Watching 

Listening to Set list by the Frames.  It is ages since I listened to this brilliant live album but with the recent death of frontman Glen Hansard.  When I listened to it often I would like to sing along loudly to the line "I want my life to make more sense" in the song Pavement tune.  It always resonated but years later I am trying to accept and embrace the chaos that is my life.  Mostly!

Another return to a different period in my life is watching tv series Malcolm in the Middle.  (Have not got to the new episodes yet.)  This tv family is complete chaos and hilarious.  I find that the mother is seen through a different lens now I am a mother than when I watched a couple of decades ago.

The Colours of Time that I saw at the Cinema Nova was a charming film set with a bit of bizarre comedy mostly set in 1890s Paris at a time when art and photography were changing rapidly.  It is the story of present day descendants discovering their ancestor who as a young woman left her rural life for the city in the late 19th Century to search for her mother and finds herself making friends with young artists.

Clue was another show we watched after a celebrity death - this time Tim Curry!  It is based on the game Cluedo (that is called Clue in the USA) and involves a classic situation of various characters in a stately manor house and a series of murders.  Tim Curry is hilarious as the manic butler and the film gets so silly at times but is a good laugh.  It was interesting to read that when it came out in cinemas, they had different endings so people seeing it in different cinemas saw different characters as the murderer!

Of course my daughter Sylvia bought Oh Dear Silvia by Dawn French because of the name.  I had high expectations of the novel given Dawn French's hilarious comedy on tv but it was less rollicking than I expected.  All I could think was Oh Dear Dawn, as I made my way through quite a plodding text despite the good characters and an interesting plot twist.  Leading up to the twist, and after, I just found it so slow as it meandered through the reminiscing and updates of family and friends at the bedside of a woman in a coma reminiscing and updating her on their lives. 

Thanks to Nupur, I discovered The Bombing of Pan Am 103 on Netflix.  It was a fascinating series that started with Lockerbie in 1986 as the plane fell on the town after the bomb exploded.  It followed the advocacy and mourning by the victims families, and the forensic work of a team of investigators into how it happened.  It ended with the 2001 conviction of the Libyan terrorist, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was found guilty on 270 counts of murder.  It made sense of the story for me.  I had heard news reports about it over the years but never put it all together into a coherent narrative,

My Monthly Chronicles: March 2026

 

March was filled with many amazing events that kept me taking many photos and spending too much tune deleting photos on my phone to make space for more. I have written separate posts about our whirlwind trip to Sydney and the delightful Cake Picnic (links in this post) but I would love to write posts about the Pulp gig, Sydney Road Street Festival, Big Elma cafe, my sister's wedding, the Vegan Market and so much more.  I console myself with having this monthly round up of eating out and other outings where I can share a few photos.  If only I had the time to write all the posts I wish I could!  (I have written more about my month at In My Kitchen: March 2026)

Pulp at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl 

I was delighted to see Pulp perform at the Myer Music Bowl.  This is my favourite band and it was fantastic to see them perform in Melbourne.  Previously I have seen them in the UK at Kinross (T in the Park), Elgin and Cardiff, as well as a solo support by frontman Jarvis Cocker at the Pixies gig at the Myer Music Bowl.  I went through a huge Pulp phase years ago so I found it very nostalgic when they dedicated "Something Changed" to band member, Steve Mackey who died 3 years ago to the day, and reflected on their history with a photo slide show of Pulp photos over the years (see above photo).

The support act was Bleak Squad (a Melbourne supergroup of Adalita (Magic Dirt), Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Mick Turner (Dirty Three), and Marty Brown (Sodastream). They were playing as I arrived.  I had intended to get there earlier but I stopped to eat a box of Lord of Fries chips (to keep me going before a late gnocchi bake when I got home).  I spent time in the queue for merchandise where I listened to most of their set before I settled in my seat.  The Guardian newspaper beautifully described it as "a quality set of songs tailor-made for those long, dark nights of the soul".

I know the songs so well up to and including This is Hardcore. I could sing along to most songs in the set because they mainly performed song from Different Class and His'n'Hers albums. The lighting was alternatively fun and reflective.  I could listen all night to Jarvis' laconic chatter with his long vowels and dropped consonants from Sheffield.  He struts around the stage and pulls awkward rockstar poses with his lanky limbs.  His wry sense of humour can be seen in announcing that he is about to play an ABBA song and then unsettling expectations by playing the obscure "The Day Before You Came".  

I would have loved them to play some of the older songs (such as My Lighthouse, My Legendary Girlfriend, Blue Girls) or more than just the title track from This is Hardcore (such as The Fear, Dishes, TV movie).  They just have too many great songs!  I loved so many of the songs they performed including: Razzamatazz, Do you Remember the First Time, Sorted for Es and Whizz, Babies, Acrylic Afternoons, Mis-shapes, Disco 2000 and the wonderful Common People whose biting social commentary is every bit as relevant today as in 1995.  So much youthful angst, insolence, joy, anger and insight.  My favourite of the newer songs was the gorgeous Sunrise.  

I booked to see Pulp on the morning that tickets went on sale and wanted the front seated section but only got the terrace section behind it.  I was pleased when I arrived to see there was a ledge in front of the terrace behind a walkway.  I could sit there and chat while we waited and then stand and dance and sing along when Pulp started and I had a pretty good view.  (As a short person, I find myself looking for gaps between heads when standing and hoping the people in front of me don't move.)

I had hoped to be able to see the blood moon while I watched the gig.  The Myer Music Bowl is an outdoor venue.  However my seat was so close that I had to crane my head back to see the big video screens for those who could not see as much detail as me.  I can't complain about that even if I was at the edge of the covered area and could not see the blood red moon in the sky.  I'd prefer to see more of Jarvis and less of the moon.  It was only when I walked back to Flinders Street Train Station that I saw the blood moon.  It is a small dot in the above photo so it is not so easy to see that it is a pink colour.  It was past its reddest moment by then!

Street Art, Warburton Lane, CBD 

 

On a ride to the CBD, I had a look at the street art on Warburton Lane off Little Bourke Street in the CBD.  The artwork of quaint French stores and Eiffel Tower is gorgeous.  I heard about it on the local radio from a commentator whose political views often anger me.  It was good to find something I liked about her!  I hope to share more of these photos soon.

Sydney Road Street Party, Brunswick 

I hadn't planned to go to the Sydney Road Street Party but as I was out on my bike, I stopped there briefly to have a look at the local colour and catch up with Sylvia and E.  There were some fun things to see.  I loved the chonky orange decorated crockery for sale by hellomaë.  In the craft stalls on Dawson St were so many gorgeous creations and it was even lovelier to see an Indigenous artist at work.  I was surprised to discover that Brunswick has a lacrosse team.  I was so happy to eat a free slice of watermelon from the Greens (political party)'s stall.  I was so hungry but then but waited to get home to have my lunch.  (Sylvia had been pleased to  the Mokum mushroom bitterbollen aka fritters.)

Brunswick is a suburb with a history of activism and this continues today.  So it was no surprise to see the  have pockets of it today.  I loved that the Victorian Socialists had a booth for anti-racism screen printing and banner painting.  More shocking and amusing was the Smash Fascism pinatas (pictured above).  A group had made lots of orange trump face pinatas and charged people for whacks while the pinata was placed on top of a ladder.  I did not yield to be temptation!

Big Elma's cafe, Coburg

My friend Alison was in Melbourne so we had lunch at Big Elma (138 Nicholson Street).  We all had toasties ($16 each).  Alison and I had the Potato: creamy taleggio, rosemary roasted potato, caramelised onion.  Sylvia had the Kimchi and Cheese: miso mayo, vegan kimchi, mozzarella, spring onion.  

Sylvia and I both had a vegan European hot chocolate.  They were delicious but intense.  Sylvia loved the vegan whipped cream topping and I loved the dense chocolate drink that was so thick it was more pudding than drink.  I ate it with my spoon.  We should have shared one.

Family Wedding, Archive wine bar, Geelong 

My youngest sister had a small marriage service at a local wine bar and and invited us to join her and her new husband for the reception in the same location.  It was a really lovely afternoon with finger food (excellent mini cheese toasties), music, flowers, (gluten free) chocolate cake, speeches and lots of photos.

Everyone had a great time but we were sad that my older sister and her son wer unable to get to the wedding after her flight from Dublin got turned back.  There are far worse outcomes of the Iran war for others and we were able to take lots of photos to share.  

Holiday in Sydney 

We went to Sydney at short notice to use the tickets my sister and her son could not use after the Iran war scuppered their holiday plans It was great to spend time in Sydney with my parents, to enjoy the spectacle of the harbour and eat at some great vegan restaurants. It was also sad that my sister and nephew could not be there with my parents.  

To read more about our Sydney trip, check out there posts:. 

Duke of Clarence, QVB, Uchilounge (City centre), Sydney

Miss Sina, Oh My Days, Sappho Books (Glebe and Marrickville) Sydney

University of Sydney Quadrangle, Camperdown

Bills, Bourke St Bakery, Shift Eatery (Surry Hills), the Rocks, Airports, Sydney  

Opera Bar and Sydney Harbour 2026

Sydney street art 2026

    

Cake Picnic, King's Domain

I went to the Cake Picnic that was held in Kings Domain as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.  It was amazing, delicious, beautiful and at times too much cake and too much waste but I am glad we went.  You can see more photos and read more at my post on the Cake Picnic, Melbourne 2026.

Vegan Market, Coburg Town Hall

Sylvia was keen to go to the Vegan Market at the Coburg Town Hall.  There were Easter eggs, bakes, gorgeous crockery, candles,  art prints,  and animal rights organisations.  Outside were food trucks for the hardy vegans who could brave the rain between bouts of sunshine.  Sylvia was excited to buy from Better New Bakes and I could not resist the Little Sweet Things Dubai Chocolate slice or the slabs of panisse.  (See more about them at n My Kitchen: March 2026.)
 

There was lots of good vegan food to eat there.  We shared a Spinach and cheese borek from Chef's Borek.  It was so good and flaky.  

Sylvia had good memories of Woking Amazing's food truck's offerings and could not wait to try it again.  She ordered the "Kyiv Mushroom Tempura Burger: Crispy oyster mushroom & fresh baby cos lettuce drizzled with Smokey Aioli & Garlic Butter in a toasted sesame seed bun" with smoky fries on the side.  She really enjoyed it but it was so filling that she took some home.  She also had a chai tea which was nice but a bit sweet for her.

Coburg Farmers Market 

We love a reason to go to Coburg farmers market.  When I bought panisse at the Vegan Market, I decided we needed good bread to go with it and there is always a good sourdough at the farmers market.  So we walked across the road in search of bread and were delighted by all the beautiful colourful vegetables that you can see in these photos.  

 

Green Man's Arms, Carlton and Project Hail Mary

I got out to the Cinema Nova with my friend Heather to see Project Hail Mary (an interesting and fun movie about a scientist in space on a mission to save the world and who doesn't love ryan gosling's cheeky grin).  Afterwards we had dinner at the Green Man's Arms (418 Lygon Street).  

Heather had the House Made Gnocchi with carrot puree, thyme beurre monte and almond cream ($30).  I had a taste and it was really good and I wished I had ordered it.  My reason was that we were having a couple of gnocchi meals that week but really, given it shows a love for gnocchi, I should have taken the chance to eat an amazing gnocchi dish!

My choice of dish was the Massaman Curry with roasted purple sweet potato, pickled thai eggplant, toasted cashews served on steamed rice. ($30)  They kindly service the chilli oil on the side so I could choose how much to have.  It was pretty mild without and I probably should have added some but didn't feel brave.  It was a great comforting curry.  I was not so enthused about the pickled eggplan but loved the slices of sweet potato with crispy skin.  Both our dishes were both gluten free and vegan.

In the News

The news was dominated by Trump and Netanyahu unleashing war on Iran with which was horrible to watch unfold.  The death and destruction in the Middle East, the travel disruptions and the world wide anxiety about fuel prices and the economy has made everyone sadder, less trusting and more anxious.  Thank goodness for Afroman to cheer us up!

Extreme rhetoric in Australia's right-wing political circles deserves more attention, by Gareth Hutchens, ABC News, 1 March 2026.

Neither preemptive nor legal, US‑Israeli strikes on Iran have blown up international law, in the Conversation, 1 March 2026.

Trump, the Six-Year Itch, and the Mirage of a Quick Victory in Iran, by The Snarky Gherkin substack, 2 March 2026.

Read these words from 100 years ago about immigrants in Britain – and see how history is chillingly repeating itself, by George Monbiot in The Guardian, 5 March 2026.

The government granted Iranian footballers asylum. Then, it moved to block 7000 Iranians from Australia, in 9 News, 12 March 2026 

Raising rates while petrol prices soar shows the RBA ignoring reality and basic economics, by Greg Jericho, The Point, 17 March 2026.
'The Reserve Bank has completely misread the economy and risked sending more Australians into poverty on Jobseeker by raising the cash rate to 4.1%.'

The media wants disabled people to be locked inside until they die (disinformation on NDIS funding), by Jon Delmenico, The Shot, 18 March 2026.

Afroman prevails in cops' music video defamation suit after a brief but viral trial, in NPR on 19 March 2026.  
'Afroman was just trying to turn lemons into "Lemon Pound Cake" when he started making music videos and social media posts mocking the law enforcement officers who conducted a heavy-handed raid on his Ohio home.'  Also check out the hilarious Jon Stewart Show report.

The left brought a thesaurus to a knife fight, in The New Daily, 20 March 2026

Growing up means realizing that none of the worst villains are in prison, by Caitlin Johnstone, 31 March 2026

Watching, Listening and Reading: 

How to get to heaven from Belfast: a hilarious ridiculous and brilliant show with a convoluted plot. The middle age characters aren't quite as loveable as the creator's previous show Derry Girls, but they have baggage and unrealised dreams as well as odd anxieties and quirks.!  

Coal Black Mornings: a beautifully written autobiography by Suede's Brett Anderson of his council house childhood in the home counties and student days in London where he channeled his life as a misfit and a dreamer into becoming a musician.

It by Pulp (which is meant to read as Pulpit) : I've enjoyed listening to their debut album in 1983 with the wide-eyed dreaminess 19 year old Jarvis Cocker and wishing they played some of the song at their gig this month.

How Can We Live When the World Feels Broken? The Stoics: By Carrying On, by Jack Maden on Philosophy Break: this was shared by Nupur on her One Hot Stove blog who writes with such warmth and thoughtfulness in every post.  I found this post comforting to read when the world around us is filled with leaders that let us down and make the world feel unsafe.

Dirty Dancing: I've never watched this 1980s iconic movie and was surprised to discover it was set in the 1960s.  It was a enjoyable enough but the lead actors don't really appeal to me.  (Give me Rebel without a Cause over this any day!)

Building an Underground Shipping Container Pool Home - I've watched this video too many times and dreamed of a bedroom with the light rippling in through the swimming pool on the other side of the window. 

Bills, Bourke St Bakery, Shift Eatery (Surry Hills), the Rocks, Airports, Sydney

On our last day in Sydney, we again enjoyed the city's fine sights and tastes.  We spent our time in Surry Hills and The Rocks, making sure we squeezed in that one last place we really wished to see.  My mum had her eye on the famous hotcakes at Bill Granger's restaurant, Sylvia wanted to eat at the vegan Shift Eatery and I was keen to wander about The Rocks (see above photo).

One of the first impressive sights we saw after alighting from the bus in Surry Hills was the Bondi Boulangerie with its rainbow croissants in their window display.  I am sorry to say we did not have time to go in.  The rainbow represents diversity and colour of the LBGTQI community who are at the centre of the recent Mardi Gras celebrations in Sydney.

Instead we had breakfast at Bills Surry Hill (355 Crown Street).  It is the second of Bill Granger's restaurants to be opened in the 1990s.  He is credited as being the first person to offer avocado on toast at his first restaurant in Darlinghurst.  Today there are 19 cafes around the world and during his lifetime he was one of Australia's celebrity cooks.  He died in 2023 but his passion for good simple food lives on in his books and his restaurants.

I liked the bright flowers painted on the front of Bills Surry Hills that brightened the view from the inside which reached beyond to the outdoor tables and the terrace houses across the road.

I ordered the intriguing Green kimchi and cavolo nero pancake, cucumber, basil and red shiso salad, ginger dressing ($25).  It was mostly vegetable.  More like a fritter than a pancake.  The kale made it very green, the kimchi made it a bit spicy and the cucumber salad was cooling.  A great combination!

My mum and dad shared Bill's famous Ricotta hotcakes, banana and honeycomb butter ($32.5).  They loved the amazingly light hotcakes with the delicious topping.  Sylvia, as the vegan on the table, did not fancy the avocado on toast (which now comes with lime and coriander) nor the granola nor the sago bowl.  She opted for the simple sourdough toast with strawberry lemongrass jam, which she really enjoyed, though she was sad it was before the lunch menu that included a mushroom and crispy tofu fried rice.

There were coffees for all but me.  Sylvia was most displeased at the lack of foam on her cappuccino but I really enjoyed the peach and jasmine soda.

We walked down to another icon of Surry Hills, the Bourke Street Bakery (633 Bourke St).  We were too full to buy food to eat but my mum bought a sausage roll for later and we bought a loaf each of their lovely bread to take home on the plane.  There were a few vegan savoury pastries and breads but nothing in the way of sweet food.  I also wrote a post on our visit to our visit to  Bourke Street Bakery in 2018.

My dad and I enjoyed looking around the area while Sylvia and my mum had a rest at the tables and chairs outside the bakery by the mural of the baker.  I enjoy how the terrace houses in Sydney are same same but different.  They have much steeper roofs and less fancy Victorian flourishes.  Each city's architecture has its charms.  Surry Hills is also fascinating as the location for the Ruth Park's book, The Harp in the South, based on her time living there when it was a slum suburb in the 1940s.  Now it is a fashionable place to live with prices to match!  

Then we took the light rail to Central Station.  I don't have a great grasp of Sydney's suburbs and was surprised to find that Central Station is on the border of Surry Hills.  We had lunch at Shift Eatery (Shop 4/241 Commercial St), a vegan cafe and deli.  

They had lots of interesting vegan groceries for sale including The Red Balloon's gelatine-free vegan Mello Jello jubes, Mama Meegz M'z Gems (candy coated chocolate buttons like smarties or M&Ms), and - most intriguingly - Primal Spirits Vegan Jerky made from shitake with two flavours: mequite & lime and hot, spicy, sweet, savoury.

We started with drinks.  Sylvia had an iced soy matcha and I had the excellent Herbs of Life peach and apricot kombucha.

Sylvia and I shared a couple of dishes: Reuben's Vegan Brother, Steve: "100g of our house made corned beef (30g protein/serve - gluten based) sauerkraut, russian dressing, cheddar and westmont pickles toasted on sourdough" and the Poke Bowl (GF): Brown rice + smoked tofu + roasted mushrooms + edamame + greens + cucumber + tomato, pickled ginger + miso & ginger dressing.  I was less impressed with my lunch.  The Reuben had far too much mock meat for me but Sylvia loved it.  The poke bowl was nice, as was the carrot cake my parents shared but were nothing to rave about.

 

 

I sat facing the walkway from the front door and on the wall was a Llama called Tahini from Moo to Ewe Animal Sanctuary.  He looked so gorgeous, I wanted to meet him, or at least smuggle his photo out in my Crumpler bag!

 

Fiinally we spent a short amount of time in The Rocks.  This area of Sydney fascinates me because it is another inner city area of Sydney that was formerly slums and now is very desirable.  This important heritage area was saved from demolition by the activism of Jack Mundey of the Builders' Labourers Federation and their Green bans.

 

My dad and I had a walk around the area to see some of the older houses, including Susannah Place: a terrace of 4 homes that has been set up as a museum.  It is tour group only and our timing was too tight to do a tour.  However, the back of the building evokes the spirit of the slums that make it easy to imagine housewives hanging out washing and small kids playing the street.

Although many house in The Rocks were saved by Green Bans, many nearby homes were pulled down to make way for the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge.  One of the structures build around the same time as the Bridge (1932) was the Bridge Stairs for people to climb to reach the pedestrian walkway over the bridge that is still there today.  It is s fine piece of architecture for some steps.

The houses and pubs of the Rocks are now dwarfed by the new-fangled skyscrapers in Sydney's city centre.

While we went walking my mum and Sylvia rested at the Tea Cosy tearooms.  They are now at 7 Atherden Street, just around the corner from their location on 33 George Street where they were during our visit to The Tea Cosy tearooms in 2019.  I love the knitted bunch of yellow flowers at the entrance.  In the background of the photo of them you can see the tables with knitted blankets and baskets of knitting.

Sylvia took this photo of the knitting on their table.  My mum refreshed her memory about how to knit and she was very proud to contribute a few rows to the communal knitting project on the table.  While they both had expected to get drinks there, neither fancied one and were too full for scones, but the cafe kindly gave them water while they sat out the front admiring the view that you can see more clearly on the top photo of my post.

Then it was time to head back to pick up our suitcases and head to Central Station to catch one last double decker train to Sydney Airport.  We had a small meal there - I had a Mexican bowl and a Dubai chocolate brookie that were very good.  Sylvia discovered the delights of the vegan Grande Melt at Mad Mex.  My parents had KFC and rice paper rolls.  Before long we were back at Avalon Airport, picking up our car to drive home to Melbourne.  It was a joy to see Sydney again, albeit briefly!

More posts on Green Gourmet Giraffe on our trip to Sydney:

• Opera Bar and Sydney Harbour  
• Duke of Clarence, QVB, Uchilounge (City centre), Sydney 
• Miss Sina, Oh My Days, Sappho Books (Glebe and Marrickville) Sydney
• University of Sydney Quadrangle, Camperdown
• Sydney Street Art (City, Glebe, Surrey Hills and Marrickville) 2026

University of Sydney Quadrangle, Camperdown

While Sylvia op shopped and my parents rode the ferry, I visited the Sydney University quadrangle.  I have visited it once before when I was studying at the University of Melbourne and was very aware of how much bigger it was than our local university quad.  It is very beautiful and houses the splendid heritage MacLaurin Hall that you can see on the far right of the photo and Great Hall on the opposite corner.  This visit to Sydney I had the pleasure of spending time exploring the quad, marvelling at gargoyles and carvings, enjoying glimpses of student life and peeking into gorgeous old rooms.

 

I walked up to the quad from the City Road bus stop past the fine heritage building Madsen Hall and the Anderson Stuart Building.  I walk around grand sweep of road called University Place so I could enter by the path that cuts across the expanse of grass out front.

 

This entrance is the best way to get a full view of the grand entrance and take in the huge span of the building.  The University of Sydney Quadrangle was built between 1854 and 1966 of Sydney sandstone.  At the right of this photo is the Great Hall which was included in the original building and constructed between 1855 and 1862.  I wish I had had a chance to see inside the Great Hall which looks magnificent in the online photos.

 It is interesting to note (with my disclosure that I am very fond of the University of Melbourne) that construction began on the the Melbourne Uni in 1854 the same year as Sydney Uni.  I could go into many comparisons but let's just say that it took a lot longer for Sydney (established as a town in the 1890s) to found a university in 1850 than Melbourne (pronounced a town in 1837) whose university was founded 1853.  It seems to me that Melbourne was able to build a university more quickly with the goldrush riches and industrial progress at the time but Sydney was able to build a larger quad because it was a more established town by then.  

 

As I got closer to the main entrance under the clock tower I saw some galahs on the grass - not to be confused with all the students out the front taking selfies (ha ha).  The main entrance was among the earliest constructions along with the Great Hall.  As you can see there is currently construction work on the main entrance, as well as in the North end of the Quadrangle.  With a building this large, old and complex, I imagine there is often construction work.
 

Even closer to the entrance I saw some ibis on the grass with their long lanky legs and large black bill.  I noticed that there are a lot of the Australian white ibis around Sydney.  They are affectionately nicknamed bin chickens because of their scavenging habits.   
 

Through the entrance way is the charming view of the sandstone facades with crenelated roofs and mullioned oriel windows.  (Yes that is fancy architecture-speak I looked up online to describe how amazing they are!)  There are also many young students or tourists taking selfies.  I have seen it said that this building reminds people of the magical Harry Potter universe.  Perhaps that attracts more visitors?

I had a quick walk down to the north end of the quad where the Great Hall is.  I am impressed by this staircase and in hindsight wonder if it goes to the Great Hall.  I'll have to find out on my next visit.  Down the end the foot path lacks the shade of the cloisters in the south.  It is also the location of the construction work which has roped off some of the foorpath so I do not continue a full lap.  Instead I walk down the centre and take in the wonderful views to the souht (see the top photo).

There are many gargoyles around the quadrangle, inside and out.  I particularly liked the crocodile on the south wall of the cloisers but it was so sunny that it was difficult to photograph.  Instead I share these photos of fantastical beasts in the decorative gargoyles inside the cloisters where the light was better.  I would have loved more time to look up at the garfoyles.
  

I took a photo of this noticeboard which advertised different subjects offered by the various disciplines in Faculty of the Arts and Social Sciences.  It is good to see people putting creativity into the titles to entince the students.  They sound fascinating: 'I scan therefore I am', 'Smash the patriarchy', and 'Zoroaster, Jesus and Buddah walk into a bar'.  Makes me wish to be an undergraduate student again with so much possibility ahead of me.

 

I went into the entrance of the Department of Philosophy on the east side near the south side.  It is a fine space with the arched wooden doors, the relief sculptures and the view out to the quadrangle. Above the door is a plaque in memory of Frederick Mate, classical and mathematical scholar, who died aged 20 of a sudden illness in 1864. His epitaph is Consummatus in brevi explevit tempora multa, which translates as Completed in a short time, he fulfilled many times.

 

On the wall of this space are short bios of a broad range of people who have been influential in philosophy.  I just wish I had had the time to stop and read every one.

In the South West Corner I climbed the stairs that promised to take me to the MacLaurin Hall.  From the stairwell I could see the back of the clock tower through the squares of the mullioned windows.  I wanted to open the window with the old fashioned handle and step through to walk along the top of the cloisters behind the crenelations.  It would be forbidden so instead I kept going.

I was very disappointed to have signs up to the MacLaurin Hall but the doors were locked.  While universities are wonderful to walk through they are for the students and staff first and foremost.  The locked door was a reminder that rubbernecks like myself cannot just wander everywhere.  

My glimpse of the hall was through the window in the door.  The photo is to give a sense of the building even if it is not the best quality.  I really wanted to go in and admire the cedar hammer-beam roof, the gothic windows and the paneled wood dados on the lower parts of the walls.  This hall was opened in 1962 in the space that was formerly the reading room of the Fischer Library that was built at the start of the 20th Century.  

I came out this side entrance that is at the end of the MacLaurin Hall with many gothic details.  I was most taken with the carvings on the archway.  

While walking through the university often felt like being in a museum, there is no informative tour guides nor signage so there were many details I knew very little about. 

This is a close up of many of the carvings on the side entrance.  I could see that themes of justice, biology, music, chemistry, science, engineering and perhaps medicine.  These seemed to correspond to the teachings of the university but not all of the carvings made sense to me.  So I could only look and wonder at the artistry.

This plaque or monument was inside the side entrance.  Again I don't know much about it or the people's faces either side.

Up close this face looked so realistic despite the blank eyes that I am sure he was modelled on someone important in the university.  I wish I knew more about this man wringing his hands in a devout and/or scholarly manner.  The building tells so many stories but they are not always easy to read.  What can be seen is the grandeur, riches and power in this quadrangle that sets out to impress and entice.

Inside the side entrance is a magnificent gothic stone staircase leading up to a hallway with a rib vault ceiling.  

 

I was rewarded for my curiosity with these wonderful stained glass windows in the stairwell.  The artwork is majestic with the robed man looking for all the world like a university vice chanellor who is elevated to the status of the royal kings either side of him.

Near the stairwell, I peeked into a class room opposite the hall.  It had a magnificent timber roof and dados with rows of wooden desks that, while not fancy, were in sympathy with the design.
 

 

There were no other doors open to me so I headed back down the staircase past the carving of this medieval beast who looked as spent as a student who has studied all night for an exam.

Then back past the students resting in the archways of the cloisters and out into the streets of Glebe to meet up with Sylvia.  There is such a lot to see in the quadrangle and the university that I hope to return to see more.

More posts about our March 2026 trip to Sydney: 

• Opera Bar and Sydney Harbour  
• Duke of Clarence, QVB, Uchilounge (City centre), Sydney 
• Miss Sina, Oh My Days, Sappho Books (Glebe and Marrickville) Sydney
• Bills, Bourke St Bakery, Shift Eatery (Surry Hills), the Rocks, Airport 
• Sydney Street Art 2026