Yesterday after a somewhat harrowing journey with the added interest of a flight that took off over two hours late, I finally arrived back in Melbourne.
After greetings, a few of us walked to a grand little pub called Lincoln for a beautiful small plate dinner and a glass of Australian Chardonney. The walk was wonderful. Much of it went around an old cemetery. ‘The dead center of town’ as my father would call it. We walked along the outside of a wrought iron fence strung with rusting barbed wire and I took photographs of the dying light through the bars. 
There were many graves there for local nuns and I wonder whether they are buried using the names they chose when they took their final vows or the names they were born with. The head mistress at my convent school in New Zealand was called Sister Raymond. I wonder what saints name you would choose if you were able to rename yourself.
It is a stunning old grave yard, with some wonderful old buildings and head stones and stories, I hope to wander through on our next walk.
The food at Lincoln was great and my bed at the end of the evening was VERY welcome. This visit has been so busy so far that my eyes are going black. I am used to busy just not used to people busy.
Most of us love cemeteries, I am always happy to find this angel, I think she has been in every graveyard I have ever visited! Angels are everywhere. We know that there are male angels yet every statue of an angel I have seen is female. Hmm.
Today I have lunch with a few of The Fellowship in a restaurant called Thrive here in Melbourne. I know nothing at all about the restaurant your fellow readers chose and am looking forward to it. If you are in Melbourne and free at lunchtime come over and introduce yourself we will be there for a few hours starting at noon, there are no bookings so all welcome.
This morning I am sitting in bed (dragging out the last of my rest time) writing to you, waiting for my cousin to arrive. She is flying in this morning for the day, I have not seen her for about 25 years – she has been reading the blog since its beginning and is a founding member of the Fellowship reading every morning before commencing class in an Australian outback school so she is coming for the lunch. After our catch up and copious cups of wake up coffee, we will go and meet more of The Fellowship at Thrive and have a loud gossipy lunch. Maybe I will see you there?
I will tell you all about it tomorrow.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
41 responses to “Australia: Melbourne. Again.”
I think I’ve been there. I met a beautiful girl in a bar in 1980 and stayed out far too late, which ended up in me crossing the cemetery and zoo very late at night in order to get back to the. Youth hostel…
aha!! you and I keep crossing paths in different decades.. the bone yard is the best in the dark!! c
It was fantastic, espesialy with the sounds from the zoo at night.
St. Teresa of Avila, who said, “From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.” And I, too, wish I could be at that luncheon of faithful souls! Much love, Gayle
Lucky you and Lucky them! Have a wonderful time! I love cemeteries or graveyards as some call them.
Linda
Saint Francis…patron saint of animals! 🙂
Trust Celi to be ‘different’ 😀 !! Get’s back to Melbourne and promptly does a photographic essay on an old cemetery and makes lunch arrangements at the first fully paleo- glutein-free food court place in Melbourne !!!! Am SO happy to see a few Australian Fellowship members able to get together at the same place at the same time – photos please, please! Knowing that Ella was also in Melbourne I kind’of kept my fingers crossed this would happen. Wish I had been able to get south as initially planned and have joined you . . . but !! Somehow I am a person who never looks back and have walked thru’ only a few cemeteries in my lifetime . . . but the photos are beautifully done . . . and *big laugh*, don’t believe in paleo nor glutein-free food a’tall, a’tall, a’tall – tho’ would truly have shut up about that had I been there . . . have an absolutely wonderful time: will be lifting a glass to all at lunchtime!!
What one does learn on your blog, even in Melbourne, Victoria 🙂 ! That ‘grand little pub called ‘Lincoln” where you had that bit of dinner last night, seems to be quite a Carlton landmark with brilliant gastro-pub ++ food and written up 4-5 star everywhere . . . . Hmmm, has Sophie ever had anything to do with the place . . . 🙂 ?? Had a 5-minute rest from work to read and am putting the proverbial 2 and 2 together!!
I wonder if angels are always depicted as women, in spite of the fact that the only Biblical angels are men, is because women are traditionally the softer, caring sex, just like most people think angels should be. Most of the carvers probably thought of their mothers as they carved 🙂
How exciting that you will be meeting members of the fellowship in person!!! I so wish I could be there to meet with you all!!! And having your cousin that you haven’t seem in ages flying in is so very wonderful!!! So fortunate! Isn’t life wonderful!?!?! Thank you for bringing us all together Celi!!! xoxoxo
What a wonderful cemetery! I love all the unique markers in the old ones. There’s one in Beaufort by the sea N. Carolina that has tour guides and some interesting stories about the graves and people buried there. We have a graveyard up on the hill, to date there are 4 horses, 2 goats, 1 pig, 5 dogs and a couple of chickens, all duly marked.
At the catholic high school I attended there was a itty bitty little old nun who made the malted milks, so thick you could hold it upside down and it didn’t drip. Of course we all knew her as Sister Mary Malted!
You’ll all be sitting down by now, eating and talking, having fun….hello to all. I thought about coming, but having moved only last week, there is too much to do here. I don’t mind, I’m very happy in my new home and don’t want to go away from it just yet. I’d choose Brigid for my name, she’s the patroness of all things I’m interested in….crafts and inspiration, healing and magic and transformation.
“Dead centre of town” is a phrase I’m familiar with from long ago, but I think it was my brothers that introduced me to that one. The other that a friend told me some years ago is “Marble Orchard”… I like that one too. I love cemeteries too, love to go from headstone to headstone reading about the owner they are representing. As far as saint names, none for me… not in anyone’s imagination could I ever earn the use of one. lol
I am jealous of your lunch and hope it ends up being such a good time and you all sit there so long they have to throw you out at closing time! Have a great time! ~ Mame 🙂
South Africa next ….. enjoy lunch all. No time for any of attendees to become camera shy, we are all waiting on tenterhooks for the pictures. Enjoy. Laura
I wish I could be there with you, have fun!
Enjoy your lunch and post lots of pics, which I know of course, you will.
I love cemetery’s too, I love looking at the names. Recently we had a holiday in Austria in a village called Ischgl and there was an amazing church and church yard there. They had wonderful wrought iron crosses which were very ornate and each grave had a candle alight, it looked so pretty in the dark with the snow there as well. Have a wonderful lunch. You need to come to the UK one day! 😀
What a treat to meet with some of your fellowship, I always love meeting up with you and John and Kristy! It looks like you are having a wonderful holiday with good weather and great friends! Cheers.