Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts from the ‘Australia’ category

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Melbourne: gettin’ my drink on at Croft Institute

I’m with my friend, Belinda, on Little Bourke Street in the Chinatown area in Melbourne, Australia.

We make a turn off the street, and as I’m being led down a poorly-lit grungy alley with the sight of waste containers to the side, pools of stagnant water on the pavement, and the faint yet distinct smells of rotting food, I can’t help but wonder into what I’ve got myself now.

“Don’t worry,” she said.

“Famous last words,” I groused, only half-kidding.

At the end is a sign, indicating that there’s something here: a place to have a drink, or to come face-to-face with an ugly demise.

There are flasks, beakers, and tubing; old chemistry lab benches like high-school of old. And that’s where we’re going to prop ourselves after we fetch our drinks!

While the Croft Institute might appear like a Dr. Evil science-lab gone mad, in truth the only dangerous thing here are the beautifully delicious drinks.

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

The Croft Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Located at the end of Croft Alley just off Little Bourke Street in Melbourne’s Chinatown, The Croft Institute closed for good during the 2020-2022 Covid19 pandemic.

Disclosure: No Connection, Unpaid, My Own Opinions. I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to The Croft Institute. Thanks to BR who kindly led me to some of her favourite bars in Melbourne’s CBD. I made the photos on 27 August 2012. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-2Vf.

Airside at Australia airports (domestic flights)

At Australian airports, passengers on domestic flights are allowed to pass through security from “landside” to “airside” without a boarding pass in hand. Having become accustomed to travel in North American and European airports, Australia’s policy is both refreshing and startling.

And it saved my butt.

It’s 31 August 2012, and I check out at 10am from my apartment in Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD). With my Qantas flight to Sydney at 9pm, I’m looking forward to getting some work done in the airline’s lounge at the airport. I’ve maintained Platinum status with American Airlines, which is equivalent to Sapphire on oneworld. My present frequent-flyer status qualifies me to use their Qantas Club lounge in the domestic terminal.

I’m not in any rush, and I arrive just after 11am at Melbourne airport’s Terminal 1, thanks to Skybus‘ shuttle pickup from the CBD to Southern Cross train-station and their coach service from the train-station to the airport.

I’m unable to check-in to my flight at one of the many computerized check-in booths. A couple of customer service agents provide some help, and they tell me that my flight (scheduled to leave in 10 hours time) is not yet open to check my luggage. I’m not really surprised by this.

I want to use the lounge which can only be accessed airside (post-security), and I can’t walk on through airside, because I’ve a number of items which must go into checked luggage. Am I going to lug around my 20-kg (44-lb) piece of luggage for the next 10 hours? That would be a big fat NO.

So now I have two issues:

  1. Where can I store my luggage if I’m going airside to access the Qantas lounge?
  2. Will I be able to go through security without a boarding pass?

I ask around about storage, and I walk over to the arrivals level of the international terminal (T2) next door, where my luggage is put away into storage for up to 8 hours at a cost of $12 AUD. I can live with that.

I return to the T1 domestic terminal, and head on up to the security-screening area on the departures level. Within minutes, I’m airside. It’s important to note here that I still have NOT checked into my flight, and I don’t have a boarding pass, but I’m sitting in the Qantas Club lounge, where I start typing up this present article.

430pm rolls around, and I reverse the process.

I step back out landside (pre-security), fetch my luggage from storage, check-in successfully for my 9pm flight, retrieve my boarding pass, and my luggage is off on its merry way to the plane. I go back through airside, and return to the Qantas Club lounge.

My bag was stored from about 1130am to 430pm, which put the storage “rate” at $12 AUD by 5 hours, or $2.40 AUD/hour.

Sweet. As.

The seat in the Qantas Club lounge I vacated about an hour ago (to check-in to my flight) remains empty, as if it’s “waiting” for me. But this time, I’m going to have ham, cheese, salad, and soup for a light dinner, courtesy of the lounge.

Time comes around to board, it’s a short walk to the gate, and it’s an easy 1-hour-25-minute flight to Sydney, where CityRail awaits for the return trip to the place where I’m staying.

Qantas Club Lounge, Melbourne Airport

This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com.

Perth (WA): shadow and substance

Sometimes it pays to be lucky to look up over and beyond the optical viewfinder or the viewfinder screen on a camera.

Waiting to meet with a friend for beer in Perth’s Central Business District, I was basking in afternoon sun in the park across from the Art Gallery of Western Australia. I turned around and I saw an odd shadow projected by a sculpture in the foreground. Sure enough, the shadow from the kite-like structure formed an arrow conveniently pointed downwards to people strolling by on their way to and from to Perth central station.

The fundamental question is this: at the moment each of these people came under the “arrow”, about what were they thinking?

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