A Week in Victoria
Winter had arrived and an opening between Karen’s shifts had formed, so with some planning, I made my escape back to the other home of the time, Wangaratta.
As with every big island adventure, this one began in Naarm/Melbourne, where we were reunited. We spent the day learning the transit system, testing the food and coffee offerings, and visiting the camera stores of Film Never Die and the Leica Gallery. We continued to wander the streets until the time came to catch the late night train home, to Wang.
Over the following days we checked out the Swanpool Environmental Film Festival (Another screening of the Giants!), saw the last of Darker Days (the winter festival of Bright) and headed for the snow on Hotham and Buffalo. Spending the night on Mount Buffalo was surprisingly quiet, as we were the only ones there. No doubt if this was in Tasmania it would be filled during winter, even being restricted to walk-ins, but I guess the resorts are the places to be in Victoria.
Upon returning to Wangaratta (via Mount Beauty and Albury) Karen returned to work for a couple of shifts, while I spent time between Lake Mokoan/Winton Wetlands and the Warbys, places we regularly visited over summer.
The following weekend came around far too quickly, meaning it was almost time to return to the little island, but first another weekend in Naarm/Melbourne. Staying the night in Docklands, we spent an evening in the Lume, wandering the streets at night, experiencing Soi 38 (a hidden Thai gem) and visiting an exhibit by Mark Darragh in Port Melbourne, before proceeding out to the airport for our respective journeys home.
On a photographic note, I was shooting a combination of film (Voigtlander Bessa R3A) and digital (Fujifilm Mirrorless). I believe the 'grit' in the film (HP5) was caused by sediment in the developing solution (Cinestill DF96) as this is present in both rolls from this trip.