DAY 178 – A VISIT TO BRIGHTON AND ST KILDA

We were to have driven along the Great Ocean Road, but Chloe rang us just as we were getting into bed to let us know that she was sick and vomiting and therefore the trip along the Great Ocean Road looked like it would have to be postponed until another day.  

In some ways we really didn’t mind, as we have had a pretty busy couple of days since we have been in Melbourne so we weren’t going to say no to a sleepin….

We had a great sleep in, and a leisurely breakfast and just hung out around our van for most of the morning.  Chloe was still feeling under the weather so it was a good thing that we had decided to postpone our trip today until a day when she was feeling better.  The only sad thing though, by us not going on Boxing Day, it meant that Dan was unable to come with us as he had to go back to work on the 27^th….

Chloe wanted us to pick up some medication for her on our way over, so we arrived at their place around lunch time…  We all had a pretty chilled out afternoon, the girls were also feeling  a little wrecked so they didn’t mind a decent sleep in also.   We spent the afternoon watching a couple of movies until about 4.30pm when Steve and I decided to pack a picnic dinner to take the Danish girls down to Brighton to see all the colour beach shacks on the beach. 

Our Danish Guests visit Brighton Beach in Melbourne

There are 82 distinctive bathing boxes, a row of uniformly proportioned wooded structures lining the foreshore at Brighton Beach.  They were built over a century ago in response to very Victorian ideas of morality and seaside bathing.  The bathing boxes remain almost unchanged, they all retain the classic Victorian architectural features with timber framing, weatherboards and corrugated iron roofs, though they also bear the hallmarks of individual licencees’ artistic and colourful embellishments.  

Thanks to these distinctive decorations, the boxes turn the Brighton seaside into an immediately recognisable, iconic beachscape that can transform by the hour according to season, light and colour.

We visited here 7 years ago, and it was interesting to come back and see the changes in the bathing boxes.  Seven years ago there were a lot more floral images painted on them, this time, it was more colourful and there were kombis and other icons from technology games today.

Seven years ago, these bathing boxes were going for about $80,000 each which seemed absolutely absurd.  Today we met the son of one of the owners of one of these bathing boxes, and he informed us that the going price for one now was abou $350,000 which was quite unbelievable as there is nothing in them, and they are not allowed to alter them in any way.

Our Danish guests found them delightful, as the ones they have back home are all just black and white.  Of course I had a lot of fun with my camera and took loads of photos. 

Being Boxing Day,  the beach was packed with tourists and beach goers this time we visited, and people were still in the water swimming at 8pm at night.  We walked along the whole length of the beach where these iconic bathing boxes are located and enjoyed just watching folk enjoying a typical Aussie Summer evening.

From here we drove a little further along the esplanade until we came to the iconic Brighton Baths…  They are now a historic landmark housing a café & bar, restaurant, gym and the eponymous seabaths – one of the only remaining caged open water seabaths in Australia!

Built in 1881 the Middle Brighton Baths was the centre for local recreation. Due to a devastating storm in late 1934 the Middle Brighton Baths was reconstructed by prominent Victorian architects Oakley & Parkes and reopened in December 1936.

 A little history about the baths:  By the 1890s there were six sea baths between Brighton and Mordialloc.  The lure of the baths was twofold: protection from sharks and stingrays and the necessity for privacy. Before mixed bathing and the advent of the bathing costume, men paraded about without a stitch of clothing on.  . This was noted by a disturbed letter-writer in the Argus, on October 30, 1873, who fulminated that such naked indecency at Captain Kenny's could be seen by all and sundry from the Esplanade. 

Soon the women came on board and wanted a dip too. So at Middle Brighton they instituted a flag system. At the Brighton Historical Society I found a schedule. "Hours of Bathing for Ladies" were denoted by a white flag and "Hours of Bathing for Gentlemen" were denoted by a red one. The rules were straightforward, if not eccentric. The time for bathing for each person was not to exceed 40 minutes.

Picnic Dinner at Brighton

We decided to have our picnic in the parkland that adjoins the baths, and we were able to enjoy a lovely sunset over Port Phillip Bay.   We have enjoyed some amazing sunsets these holidays, and this is one of the things I will miss when we get home.  I think we will need to plan and make time to enjoy more of these when we get home.  It will take  conscious effort as we all know that once we get home, the stresses of everyday life take over and we often miss or don’t have time to enjoy the beauty around us….

Sunset at Brighton - Melbourne Vic

 We all enjoyed watching the sun set and then it was time to go for a drive to St Kilda to show the girls Luna Park, which is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phiillip Bay.  It opened on 13 December 1912, with a formal opening a week later, and has been operating almost continuously ever since.

The main historic features of the park to remain include the iconic "Mr Moon" face entry and flanking towers (1912, restored 1999), the Scenic Railway (1912), which is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the world, and the carousel (1913 restored 2000). Other historic attractions include the Ghost Train (1934), and the fairytale castle-style Dodgem's Building constructed to house the newly patented ride in 1927 (the ride itself was relocated from the first floor of this building to the ground level in the late 1990s).

The park also includes many modern attractions such as the Coney Drop, the Spider, a Ferris wheel, and other mechanical thrill-rides. The park remains popular with children and their parents who have fond memories of the park from their youth.

 This is another iconic place we visited back in 2010 when we visited Melbourne, only then there was no entrance charge to visit, you only paid of rides.  This time we visited there was a $2 admission change and then you could buy tickets to ride the attractions.    Although we didn’t go on any rides we did spend an hour or more walking through the Park checking out all the attractions.  It was a great time and we just enjoyed  being out in the lovely sea breeze.  It was about 10.30pm before we got back to Dan and Chloe's.  We didn’t stop tonight, just gathered up our belongings and headed home.  We had a big day ahead of us the following day as we were taking off and doing the Great Ocean Road Drive.