In order to give this blog an aesthetic start, I googled beach quotes and all I got is a picture of a seashore, printed upon which was the textbook definition of a beach, in italics, all framed as a maths equation.
hehe.
The picture actually sums it up. A beach is my favourite nature based location and whenever I am faced with the prospects of going to a beach, I literally drop everything and grab those prospects by the horns.
I was faced with the brilliant prospects of going to two beaches on my trip to Melbourne, i.e the Brighton Beach and St Kilda Beach. The trip turned into my first ever hike, covering Brighton Beach, Middle Brighton and North Brighton, Elwood and Elster Creek and finally St Kilda Beach.
I have covered the rest of the hike points in my previous blogs, so, in this final chapter of the Bay Walk series, Imma blabber about the final destination of my hike, St Kilda Beach.
The bayside hike between Brighton Beach and St Kilda Beach is a long, rather secluded walk and there’s multiple points along the hike, where one may feel that they are simply losing themselves amidst scrub and sea, so when I saw this gate, standing at the entrance of St Kilda Beach, I felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment and a feeling of homecoming filled me up. It was as if I had traversed through hill and dale, braving the vilest storms, fighting the darkest creations of Almighty, in a quest to attain eternal glory and here I was, standing upon the threshold of greatness, before simply…..stepping through the gate.
hehe.
Now, when I’d first heard of St Kilda Beach, I was told that the beach is home to a colony of little penguins, so with that in mind, I kept a look out for penguins right from the time I entered the beach premises. Being schooled by the Madagascar movies, I was hoping to see the little birdies prancing about on the pavement, but then, signboards full of sciencey facts told me that little penguins live under rocks(literally) and I’d have to go to the breakwater to get a glimpse of them.
What I saw at the breakwater, will be revealed later in the blog:)
Here we have the boat parking lot, just at the entrance of the St Kilda Beach. It reminded me of Speed 2 and I actually dreamt up an entire plot involving “borrowing” one of the boats and going on a high speed chase.
hehe. BoRrOwInG.
St Kilda Beach had a very unique feel to it. The beach has been the centre of weekend fun for a long time and that light hearted vibe of relaxing fun really tinged the breeze here. Brighton Beach filled me with awe, with all its brilliant natural phenomena, and St Kilda Beach filled me with a familial sort of warmth and childish excitement with its very carnival vibe, mingled with a very daunting ocean.
St Kilda Beach has a unique solar system trail, depicting the nine planets and the Sun. I will always consider Pluto a planet, which is why, on my blog as well as on St Kilda Beach, the solar system has nine planets. This picture shows the Sun sculpture, and a wee little Mercury sculpture in the distance. I found the trail so fascinating, almost as if I was seeing the actual planets, hehe. The other planet sculptures had actually been removed from their pillars, for a spot of renovation, but I was glad to see Mercury and the Sun.
I love how Melbourne trails are so creative and thematic. Like the Aboriginal trail in North Brighton, the Dog Friendly trail in Elwood and the Solar System trail here. Even the city has an arts walk, a garden walk and so many others. I think it’s a great way to encourage walking as a mode of commute and especially on long trails, the themes actually help pedestrians to stay on track, instead of wandering into a different timezone.
Or wandering into the ocean and drifting away to another continent….
hehehehehe.
Here is the first glimpse of the actual beach at St Kilda. I love the dried maple leaves lining the shore and the turquoise patches of ocean make the mellow waves look crystalline. In the distance, there’s the St Kilda Marina Lighthouse. I have always been fascinated by lighthouses. They are such mysterious structures and they also exude a sense of peace and safety with their presence. They are like spirits who can protect people from evil but getting on their wrong side will result in catastrophe. I always get goose-pimples, whenever I come across a lighthouse and this one was no different.
I happened to run into Ms Yours Truly while waddling down the St Kilda Beach. I was so excited to see her and I asked her for a picture, so she took my phone and clicked a solo selfie and tossed the phone back into my hands, before leaving without a word.
I guess it’s true what they say; One should never meet their heroes.
hehe.
Imma cut Ms Yours Truly some slack. She walked a windy and rainy trail without rain protection and braved the Australian sun without sunscreen. Her only ammunition was a Dora the Explorer doll in a Mickey Mouse tote.
hehe.
Here is a view of the St Kilda Beach from a path leading to the area outside the beach premises. The faint silhouette of the poles in the distance is the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, near the St Kilda Pier. Yachts were my constant companions on the Bayside hike. They were my guides during the walk, and they were here to welcome me at the end of it.
Once again, Imma say that the best strategy to stay on track during the Bayside walk is to look for the yachts. They are the new Northern Star, hehe:)
Taking a break from the beach, here we have Luna Park and the Palais Theatre, the icons of St Kilda’s carnival vibe.
Luna Park is a historical amusement park, opened in 1912. The park is only open on Saturdays and Sundays, so I wasn’t able to visit it this time, but it is on my must-visit list for the next time I’m in St Kilda. They also have a park in Sydney, so I’d like to visit that one too. I loved its vibrant entrance, and the clown looked so realistic that I was half expecting it to ask me for a password to enter.
hehe.
The Palais Theatre is Australia’s largest seated theatre. It used to be called Palais Pictures when it opened in 1927. It gave me a very Hollywood vibe and even though the theatre premise was empty when I visited it, I could feel the electric energy of a live performance, wafting through its walls.
A little away from Luna Park, there is a small garden called O’Donnell garden. It’s a sweet little park, with a nice sit-out and one can easily spend a while here, just to relax and have a chat. The park has a memorial, commemorating 200 years of Australia, which was erected in 1998.
Australia is such a young country and it feels so nice to watch it grow as a nation:)
The St Kilda suburb is an interesting place to walk. It has a very retro vibe to it, and a lot of it is preserved in its vintage state. Here we have the Hotel Esplanade, which is one of the oldest resorts in Victoria. It was built in 1878 and it is still an iconic spot for locals and tourists alike. I love how the walls have the shows scheduled for the week. It feels so vintage and I actually felt like I was in an ’80s movie when I walked past the hotel.
The Hotel Esplanade is called Espy, for short, and that is so adorable.
Walking back to the beach from Espy, there’s a hidden Art Lane, showcasing St Kilda’s vibrant graffiti. I hadn’t seen the lane while going towards the Espy, so I was really taken by surprise on my return trip. The graffiti in Melbourne is so beautiful. It mostly captures human emotion and its various layers, depicting its complexity. The artists in Melbourne allow their art to be modified by other artists and I think that sort of silent camaraderie is so heart-warming. Art can really heal a community and bring people together and I think Melbourne’s artsy side is one of the main reasons for its overall vibe of happiness.
Here is a very creative signboard, inlaid upon the pavement. It shows the directions to all the iconic places in St Kilda. The starfish on the tile surrounding the metal plate are actually engraved into stone. They look so realistic and it is so well done.
The St Kilda area has so many unique things to see and they are all very subtle and hidden in plain sight, so if you’re travelling here, it’s best to keep an eye out for quirky sculptures and artsy photo points.
This is the Melbourne Yacht Club War Memorial, dedicated to members of the Club who were martyred in battle. It is a solemn monument, built on the quieter side of St Kilda Beach, and it is a change from the feisty vibe of the suburb.
Memorials such as this one always put me in a contemplative mood and I like spending some time simply thinking about the values of courage, camaraderie, patriotism and above all selflessness, amid times of battle. One often hears things about the glory of monarchs and the genius strategies of Generals in battle, but I wonder how much of that glory and intellect matters on the field, where everything gets over in a moment and people attain battle scars which they carry throughout their lives.
Here is the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron, a very classy place upon the St Kilda beach. I love how the word ‘royal’ adds a classy touch to any phrase. Like Melbourne Yacht Squadron sounds like a rag tag group of individuals, fighting evil on yachts but Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron sounds like a dignified fleet of soldiers in service of His Majesty, ready to sacrifice their souls for King and country.
hehe.
I think this is why cosmetics often use the word Royal in their nomenclature, for instance, Bee jelly sounds like something Winnie the Pooh has for dessert but Royal Jelly sounds like tincture used by Queen Victoria. One of them doesn’t exist and one of them is Marks and Spencers’ best selling body cream.
hehe.
Coming back to the ocean, here is the old St Kilda Pier, leading straight into the ocean. The ocean had taken a more energetic turn at this hour and it was a little eerie to see the pier vanishing into the waves. I wonder if a sea monster might emerge if one sat at the end of the pier at night. It is exactly that sort of fantastical setting and I was really curious to sneak past the barrier and wait for magical beings to emerge from the ocean.
This is the newly constructed St Kilda pier. It is an absolutely beautiful place and one can just stroll here, with the ocean waves crashing around and sea gulls hovering over and the wind just adding an energetic and peaceful mood to the setting.
One of the most interesting things that I saw on the pier was fishing. The waves were really strong when I visited and watching the people fish was quite a bit of a passive adventure, hehe.
I was totally awed by the pier and I really took my time to stroll upon it. It is a huge pier and there is a lovely prize at the end of it because this pier leads to the Little Penguin viewing point.
Little Penguins live at the breakwater and their nests are under rocks. The best time to view the penguins is dawn or dusk so I waddled over to the breakwater at sunset, to attempt a lookout for the Little Penguins.
Drumrolls later, here we are!
I invite ye wee folks to look right in the middle of this picture to glimpse another wee baby, perched upon the rock, right at the edge of the water.
To say I was squealing in joy would be an understatement because I felt such a sense of fulfilment on seeing a penguin, even if it was for six seconds. I was so, so fortunate to see one because these babies are very shy and are not used to human interaction.
The wildlife in Australia is so adorable and endearing and seeing some of them in the wild really made me feel so lucky that I share the planet with such wonderful beings. Australia really does wonders to make one more mindful about their habits and more conscious about the kind of footprint that one leaves behind and to respect Nature’s harmonious balance.
Here’s a glimpse of the Melbourne skyline, gearing up for the evening. It looks so faraway and small when compared to the expanse of the ocean.
Here’s a glimpse of the ocean, crashing upon the beach. The waves were really strong, by the time I made my way back from the breakwater and the ocean actually splashed me at multiple points on the pier.
The bird adds such an aesthetic touch to the picture.
The absolute peacefulness that this picture exudes actually mirrors the contentment that I felt after my whole Bayside hike. The walk was such a meditative experience and I have never felt so accomplished before. I hadn’t won any victories here, but spending some time with nature and seeing a penguin at the end of it all was just the kind of contentment that I needed at the moment and it is something that I will carry with me forever.
The memory feels like a clear dream, and next time I do the hike will be like living a dream and I am so excited to experience it once again.
This blog marks the end of the Bay Walk series. It was such a fun series to write and I am really fortunate to be able to experience this and share my expertise(hehe) with ye wee folks.
And that is a wrap,
Until Next Time,
*Waves vigourously*
hehe.