The perfect weather in Easter was best used for going out and about.
復活節時天公造美，當然是出外逛逛的時候。
On Easter Sunday (12th April), my parents and I went for a side trip to the Docklands area right beside the CBD before visiting some relatives. Docklands is a relatively new part of the city, and is slowly taking shape as a trendy residential district with a cluster of discount outlet shops. A Ferris wheel was added some time last year, but at the moment it’s nothing more than a standing decoration due to structural damages inflicted by the extreme heat back in January and February. The repair work is supposed to need about a year, but afterwards I don’t think I would have much interest in going on it. From what I can see at its base, the scenery isn’t really anything to write home about.
復活節星期日（4月12日）我和家父、家母探親戚前先住毗鄰市中心的船塢區（Docklands），那裡近十來年才逐步開發，逐漸成為混合住宅和名牌特賣場的地區，去年還建了個摩天輪，不過竟因為一、二月時天氣異常酷熱而令結構受損，要一年時間才可修復！就摩天輪的地點所見，景色也不算有啥特色，將來我也不會特別有興趣上去看看。
Trendy residential buildings
設計新穎的住宅大廈
The future in a spin ... 轉不出甚麼樣子來
SMS in the sky
空中噴字短訊
A row of shops and a tented playground
左邊一排商店，右邊的帳篷是遊樂場
A row of cars was spotted along the seaside promenade for a car boot sale, where people had the opportunity to sell handicraft or other little things straight from their car boots (trunk in American). It really brought a lot of life to the whole area, which would normally be a lot quieter as we first anticipated. This is obviously not such good news to business owners and property developers of that area, and has been the subject of the news some time ago.
那天在沿着海濱的走廊，有個有地道特色的「車尾賣物會」（car boot sale），好幾輪車在那裡，打開車尾，賣些手工藝或小玩意之類的東西，令走廊熱鬧起來。其實我們也沒想過那裡人氣會那麼旺，要是平日一定淡靜得多，報紙很早前也有特寫，探討船塢區為何老是吸引不到人流。
Car boot sale by the sea
海濱的車尾賣物會
Melbourne by Victoria Harbour
(Don't get confused with the one in Hong Kong ...)
墨爾本也有維多利亞港
The seaside promenade that looked like a smaller version of Darling Harbour in Sydney
這個維多利亞港海濱有點像悉尼達令港
Customs building
海關大廈
The historic 'W-class' tram that circles the CBD
環繞市中心行駛的古典電車
The next day we visited the country town of Bendigo about 150 km from Melbourne. We were taken aback when we found out that the reserved cars of our train were already fully booked. The unreserved cars were equally full on the day and were filled with quite a lot of Chinese passengers to our surprise. We found out why as soon as we arrived there.
翌日我們三人乘火車往離墨爾本150公里的城市本迪戈（Bendigo）。我們訂火車票時，不明白為何要預先訂座的車卡已經額滿，而當日連不用劃座的車卡也坐無虛席，兼且中國人也不少，到達後便知其所以然。
Bendigo railway station with its rustic charm
很有鄉郊古典味道的本迪戈車站
It was the annual Gala Parade of the town held every Easter Monday. The normal traffic of the two main roads were replaced by two rows of seats occupied by spectators waiting for the start of the parade or watching the series of running competitions from primary school pupils to the professionals.
那天是該市每年復活節星期一的大巡遊（Gala Parade），市內的兩條大街早已封了路，不少人也已「擔定凳仔」（擺好椅子）等待巡遊，或觀看一系列的賽跑，由小學生到職業運動員都有。
Around the corner, we came to the historic Pall Mall which was lined with quite a few buildings of Victorian architecture style, including the heritage-listed Shamrock Hotel. We had lunch al fresco on the first floor, overlooking Pall Mall from a terrace floored with wooden planks and framed with metal struts. In this rustic setting, we enjoyed a meal which was clearly freshly prepared with quality ingredients, including a Mediterranean wrap which contained freshly grilled diced steak and a pizza which had a generous topping of different ingredients. Then we were pleasantly surprised by the final bill which wasn’t much more expensive than the fast food on the opposite side of the road! We left the hotel as three satisfied customers.
拐個彎後，來到了古色古香的Pall Mall，街道兩旁有好幾幢維多利亞建築色彩的古式建築，包括列入了文化遺產的Shamrock酒店（Shamrock其實是一種三葉草，是愛爾蘭的象徵）。我們走進酒店二樓的露台吃頓午飯，從鋪了木地板、架了鐵枝欄柵的露台高高在上遠望Pall Mall，頗有種古典味兒。除了風光好外，那裡食物水準也值得一讚，雖然上菜也等了好一會，但那個希臘牛肉卷裡面是新鮮煎的牛排粒，自家意大利薄餅也真材實料，而價錢並不比快餐貴多少！我們都吃得心滿意足。
The fountain and buildings at the intersection of Pall Mall with Mitchell Street
Pall Mall與Mitchell Street交界的噴泉和房子
Architectural heritage along Pall Mall: Soldiers memorial hall (above two), Old post office (left) and Shamrock Hotel (below two)
Pall Mall沿途的建築遺產：軍人紀念堂（上二）、舊郵政局（左）和Shamrock酒店（下二）
Town Hall
市政廳
A city on the run!
別有天地的跑步鞋
During the lunch, the parade had slowly made its way pass the hotel and I joined the crowd of spectators down on the street. Apart from the pomp of the police band, the Chinese dragon and lion dances attracted most interest from me – it was also no wonder why there was quite a flock of Chinese visitors to Bendigo.
吃飯期間，巡遊已來到酒店外，我趕緊走下去趁熱鬧，最有聲勢的，除了警察樂團外，就是舞龍舞獅，怪不得有這麼多中國人也來了本迪戈。
Police band (left) and dragon dance (right)
警察樂團（左）和舞龍（右）
The crowd watching the parade
觀看巡遊的人群
You may wonder why a country town like Bendigo would host such typically Chinese festivities like dragon and lion dances. In fact this town has a long Chinese heritage that could be dated back to the gold rush about 150 years ago. Many Chinese miners travelled all their way across the seas and brought with them customs and traditions that were passed on to today and became a part of the local culture. The number of local participants in the dragon and lion dances could attest to the Chinese influences there. One street away from Pall Mall, a bridge was built over a stream leading towards a Chinese style monumental gate. There was also a Chinese garden which, however, didn’t attract our interest at all because it was so tiny but asked for an exorbitant entry fee for its size!
為甚麼連本迪戈這些鄉郊城市也會搞出舞龍舞獅來？查實中國人與這個城市淵源頗深，一百五十多年前的淘金熱，吸引了不少中國人遠渡重洋，直至今日，舞龍舞獅這些傳統不祇保留了下來，還已深入民心，舞龍舞獅者中，很多都是外國人。與Pall Mall隔了一條街，架了道中國庭園式的橋，通往一個牌坊，也有個中式花園，佔地小小，但入場費太貴了，所以我們祇過門而不入。
A bridge over very little water
縱有小橋，卻無流水
The history of the gold rush was still preserved in Bendigo, by way of turning a former gold mine into a tourist attraction. These days the tourists can follow the footsteps of the miners into the deep, in search for the elusive gold. Obviously the tourists can no longer find any gold there, but the company in charge can see lots of gold in the tourists. My dad and I were determined not to let the company pan any gold out of us, so we just had a quick look outside before heading back.
本迪戈也保留了一點淘金的歷史，我和家父飯後同到一個舊金礦，那金礦早已停產，現在專門接持遊客，帶他們走進地底參觀，金礦內一點金都沒有，倒是營辦者很會向遊客淘金，所以我們決定祇是在外面看一眼便夠了。
Trams in Bendigo (left: the terminus at the Deborah Gold Mine)
市內的電車（右：金礦的電車終點站）
Sacred Heart Church
聖心教堂
The Deborah Central Gold Mine
Deborah Central金礦
Bendigo was built on gold miners like him
本迪戈是由這些工一手一腳建立的
While dad and I were on our way to the gold mine, my mum enjoyed her solitude in Rosalind Park and having a peek into the lives of the people there. The parade finished at that time and the spectators arrived in droves for an afternoon family picnic. Mum noted there were noticeably more kids compared to big cities like Melbourne, and the families appeared more tightly knitted as picnics were often a three-generation affair where it was common to see the grandparents caring for the kids. Mum also found that the people’s physique generally verge on the overweight side. She probably didn’t have to look far for a reason, when there were vehicles selling deep-fried food everywhere in the park.
我和家父往金礦時，家母獨個在Rosalind公園閒坐，讓她看到一點本迪戈的民情。那時巡遊剛完畢，人群舉家大小同到公園野餐，家母留意到，人群堆中不祇小孩多，而且往往是三代同堂，祖父母輩帶着孫兒的也不少，看來他們的家庭關係會比城市人緊密。家母也察覺到，那裡的人身材普遍偏胖，公園裡的流動小食車，售賣油炸食物者不少，不知肥胖是不是他們的飲食習慣所然？
The Fernery
羊齒植物園
A very leafy and shady Rosalind Park 林蔭的Rosalind公園
It didn’t take us long to see most of the highlights around town, and when we arrived back in Melbourne it was still not sunset yet. There was enough time for us to enjoy the countryside landscape on the train, which didn’t prove to be a bad choice of travel despite that fact that driving would have cost much less than the tickets! The countryside slowly gave way to the sprawling Melbourne suburbia in the west. That was one of the few times when my family ventured into the western suburbs, and we took delight in spotting the factories along the rail line, as well as a park with a statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) standing in the middle of some waters. Now finally we had a chance to discover a part of the city that we’ve cared to neglect for so long!
本迪戈這個小小的城市，不消多久便看得七七八八，坐火車回到墨爾本市區時，太陽仍未西下。坐火車的好處，就是各人都可以輕輕鬆鬆休息和欣賞沿途景色（儘管駕車其實要便宜得多！）中途一望無際的田園，逐漸變為墨爾本西面市郊連綿不斷的民居，我們一家甚少到那邊，看到沿途的工廠廠房和觀音廟公園都嘖嘖稱奇，這些景緻，相信從高速公路是看不到的，想不到那次車程，也讓我們看到了現居城市一向被我們「忽視」的一面！
The farms in the countryside
郊野的田園
The famous Australian breakfast food company Uncle Tobys
澳洲著名的早餐食品公司Uncle Tobys廠房
Melbourne readers: help me find out what it is called and where it is!
墨爾本讀者：有沒有人知道這個地方叫甚麼、怎樣去？
Back to Melbourne again!
不經不覺又一天！
復活節時天公造美，當然是出外逛逛的時候。
On Easter Sunday (12th April), my parents and I went for a side trip to the Docklands area right beside the CBD before visiting some relatives. Docklands is a relatively new part of the city, and is slowly taking shape as a trendy residential district with a cluster of discount outlet shops. A Ferris wheel was added some time last year, but at the moment it’s nothing more than a standing decoration due to structural damages inflicted by the extreme heat back in January and February. The repair work is supposed to need about a year, but afterwards I don’t think I would have much interest in going on it. From what I can see at its base, the scenery isn’t really anything to write home about.
復活節星期日（4月12日）我和家父、家母探親戚前先住毗鄰市中心的船塢區（Docklands），那裡近十來年才逐步開發，逐漸成為混合住宅和名牌特賣場的地區，去年還建了個摩天輪，不過竟因為一、二月時天氣異常酷熱而令結構受損，要一年時間才可修復！就摩天輪的地點所見，景色也不算有啥特色，將來我也不會特別有興趣上去看看。
Trendy residential buildings
設計新穎的住宅大廈
The future in a spin ... 轉不出甚麼樣子來
SMS in the sky
空中噴字短訊
A row of shops and a tented playground
左邊一排商店，右邊的帳篷是遊樂場
A row of cars was spotted along the seaside promenade for a car boot sale, where people had the opportunity to sell handicraft or other little things straight from their car boots (trunk in American). It really brought a lot of life to the whole area, which would normally be a lot quieter as we first anticipated. This is obviously not such good news to business owners and property developers of that area, and has been the subject of the news some time ago.
那天在沿着海濱的走廊，有個有地道特色的「車尾賣物會」（car boot sale），好幾輪車在那裡，打開車尾，賣些手工藝或小玩意之類的東西，令走廊熱鬧起來。其實我們也沒想過那裡人氣會那麼旺，要是平日一定淡靜得多，報紙很早前也有特寫，探討船塢區為何老是吸引不到人流。
Car boot sale by the sea
海濱的車尾賣物會
Melbourne by Victoria Harbour
(Don't get confused with the one in Hong Kong ...)
墨爾本也有維多利亞港
The seaside promenade that looked like a smaller version of Darling Harbour in Sydney
這個維多利亞港海濱有點像悉尼達令港
Customs building
海關大廈
The historic 'W-class' tram that circles the CBD
環繞市中心行駛的古典電車
The next day we visited the country town of Bendigo about 150 km from Melbourne. We were taken aback when we found out that the reserved cars of our train were already fully booked. The unreserved cars were equally full on the day and were filled with quite a lot of Chinese passengers to our surprise. We found out why as soon as we arrived there.
翌日我們三人乘火車往離墨爾本150公里的城市本迪戈（Bendigo）。我們訂火車票時，不明白為何要預先訂座的車卡已經額滿，而當日連不用劃座的車卡也坐無虛席，兼且中國人也不少，到達後便知其所以然。
Bendigo railway station with its rustic charm
很有鄉郊古典味道的本迪戈車站
It was the annual Gala Parade of the town held every Easter Monday. The normal traffic of the two main roads were replaced by two rows of seats occupied by spectators waiting for the start of the parade or watching the series of running competitions from primary school pupils to the professionals.那天是該市每年復活節星期一的大巡遊（Gala Parade），市內的兩條大街早已封了路，不少人也已「擔定凳仔」（擺好椅子）等待巡遊，或觀看一系列的賽跑，由小學生到職業運動員都有。
Around the corner, we came to the historic Pall Mall which was lined with quite a few buildings of Victorian architecture style, including the heritage-listed Shamrock Hotel. We had lunch al fresco on the first floor, overlooking Pall Mall from a terrace floored with wooden planks and framed with metal struts. In this rustic setting, we enjoyed a meal which was clearly freshly prepared with quality ingredients, including a Mediterranean wrap which contained freshly grilled diced steak and a pizza which had a generous topping of different ingredients. Then we were pleasantly surprised by the final bill which wasn’t much more expensive than the fast food on the opposite side of the road! We left the hotel as three satisfied customers.
拐個彎後，來到了古色古香的Pall Mall，街道兩旁有好幾幢維多利亞建築色彩的古式建築，包括列入了文化遺產的Shamrock酒店（Shamrock其實是一種三葉草，是愛爾蘭的象徵）。我們走進酒店二樓的露台吃頓午飯，從鋪了木地板、架了鐵枝欄柵的露台高高在上遠望Pall Mall，頗有種古典味兒。除了風光好外，那裡食物水準也值得一讚，雖然上菜也等了好一會，但那個希臘牛肉卷裡面是新鮮煎的牛排粒，自家意大利薄餅也真材實料，而價錢並不比快餐貴多少！我們都吃得心滿意足。
The fountain and buildings at the intersection of Pall Mall with Mitchell Street
Pall Mall與Mitchell Street交界的噴泉和房子
Architectural heritage along Pall Mall: Soldiers memorial hall (above two), Old post office (left) and Shamrock Hotel (below two)Pall Mall沿途的建築遺產：軍人紀念堂（上二）、舊郵政局（左）和Shamrock酒店（下二）
Town Hall
市政廳
A city on the run!
別有天地的跑步鞋
During the lunch, the parade had slowly made its way pass the hotel and I joined the crowd of spectators down on the street. Apart from the pomp of the police band, the Chinese dragon and lion dances attracted most interest from me – it was also no wonder why there was quite a flock of Chinese visitors to Bendigo.
吃飯期間，巡遊已來到酒店外，我趕緊走下去趁熱鬧，最有聲勢的，除了警察樂團外，就是舞龍舞獅，怪不得有這麼多中國人也來了本迪戈。
Police band (left) and dragon dance (right)
警察樂團（左）和舞龍（右）
The crowd watching the parade
觀看巡遊的人群
You may wonder why a country town like Bendigo would host such typically Chinese festivities like dragon and lion dances. In fact this town has a long Chinese heritage that could be dated back to the gold rush about 150 years ago. Many Chinese miners travelled all their way across the seas and brought with them customs and traditions that were passed on to today and became a part of the local culture. The number of local participants in the dragon and lion dances could attest to the Chinese influences there. One street away from Pall Mall, a bridge was built over a stream leading towards a Chinese style monumental gate. There was also a Chinese garden which, however, didn’t attract our interest at all because it was so tiny but asked for an exorbitant entry fee for its size!
為甚麼連本迪戈這些鄉郊城市也會搞出舞龍舞獅來？查實中國人與這個城市淵源頗深，一百五十多年前的淘金熱，吸引了不少中國人遠渡重洋，直至今日，舞龍舞獅這些傳統不祇保留了下來，還已深入民心，舞龍舞獅者中，很多都是外國人。與Pall Mall隔了一條街，架了道中國庭園式的橋，通往一個牌坊，也有個中式花園，佔地小小，但入場費太貴了，所以我們祇過門而不入。
A bridge over very little water
縱有小橋，卻無流水
The history of the gold rush was still preserved in Bendigo, by way of turning a former gold mine into a tourist attraction. These days the tourists can follow the footsteps of the miners into the deep, in search for the elusive gold. Obviously the tourists can no longer find any gold there, but the company in charge can see lots of gold in the tourists. My dad and I were determined not to let the company pan any gold out of us, so we just had a quick look outside before heading back.
本迪戈也保留了一點淘金的歷史，我和家父飯後同到一個舊金礦，那金礦早已停產，現在專門接持遊客，帶他們走進地底參觀，金礦內一點金都沒有，倒是營辦者很會向遊客淘金，所以我們決定祇是在外面看一眼便夠了。
Trams in Bendigo (left: the terminus at the Deborah Gold Mine)
市內的電車（右：金礦的電車終點站）
Sacred Heart Church
聖心教堂
The Deborah Central Gold Mine
Deborah Central金礦
Bendigo was built on gold miners like him
本迪戈是由這些工一手一腳建立的
While dad and I were on our way to the gold mine, my mum enjoyed her solitude in Rosalind Park and having a peek into the lives of the people there. The parade finished at that time and the spectators arrived in droves for an afternoon family picnic. Mum noted there were noticeably more kids compared to big cities like Melbourne, and the families appeared more tightly knitted as picnics were often a three-generation affair where it was common to see the grandparents caring for the kids. Mum also found that the people’s physique generally verge on the overweight side. She probably didn’t have to look far for a reason, when there were vehicles selling deep-fried food everywhere in the park.
我和家父往金礦時，家母獨個在Rosalind公園閒坐，讓她看到一點本迪戈的民情。那時巡遊剛完畢，人群舉家大小同到公園野餐，家母留意到，人群堆中不祇小孩多，而且往往是三代同堂，祖父母輩帶着孫兒的也不少，看來他們的家庭關係會比城市人緊密。家母也察覺到，那裡的人身材普遍偏胖，公園裡的流動小食車，售賣油炸食物者不少，不知肥胖是不是他們的飲食習慣所然？
The Fernery
羊齒植物園
A very leafy and shady Rosalind Park 林蔭的Rosalind公園
It didn’t take us long to see most of the highlights around town, and when we arrived back in Melbourne it was still not sunset yet. There was enough time for us to enjoy the countryside landscape on the train, which didn’t prove to be a bad choice of travel despite that fact that driving would have cost much less than the tickets! The countryside slowly gave way to the sprawling Melbourne suburbia in the west. That was one of the few times when my family ventured into the western suburbs, and we took delight in spotting the factories along the rail line, as well as a park with a statue of the Buddhist goddess Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy) standing in the middle of some waters. Now finally we had a chance to discover a part of the city that we’ve cared to neglect for so long!
本迪戈這個小小的城市，不消多久便看得七七八八，坐火車回到墨爾本市區時，太陽仍未西下。坐火車的好處，就是各人都可以輕輕鬆鬆休息和欣賞沿途景色（儘管駕車其實要便宜得多！）中途一望無際的田園，逐漸變為墨爾本西面市郊連綿不斷的民居，我們一家甚少到那邊，看到沿途的工廠廠房和觀音廟公園都嘖嘖稱奇，這些景緻，相信從高速公路是看不到的，想不到那次車程，也讓我們看到了現居城市一向被我們「忽視」的一面！
The farms in the countryside
郊野的田園
The famous Australian breakfast food company Uncle Tobys
澳洲著名的早餐食品公司Uncle Tobys廠房
Melbourne readers: help me find out what it is called and where it is!
墨爾本讀者：有沒有人知道這個地方叫甚麼、怎樣去？
Back to Melbourne again!
不經不覺又一天！
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