St. Kilda and Brighton Beach (Melbourne)

Our last full day in Melbourne was stunning. A perfect beach day.

We broke down and committed to taking mass transit for the day. I am a huge fan of mass transit ... when it goes right. However, each of the seven cities I was visiting has a different mass transit system with a different set of rules. Often requiring a different mass transit card (for a small fee), and figuring out how much money to put on it. 

When the ticket agent at the Flinders Street Station asked me if we had to go to Brighton Beach that day, I began to suspect this might not be the best plan. The suspicion happened on the walk to the train station. When I looked at Google Maps the day before the trip to Brighton was as easy as catching a tram car from downtown Melbourne and riding it to Brighton. When I looked at Google Maps on Monday morning, it suddenly seemed complication. My suspicion was confirmed when the attendant at the train station handed me a brochure and explained that morning they began to work on the line between St. Kilda Beach and Brighton. Our best option was to take a tram to St. Kilda and then catch a bus to Brighton (which sounded simpler than what Google Maps was saying).

This meant buying a Myki card for $6AUS ($3.75), and loading it with $10AUS ($6.30). In Melbourne the rule is that each person needs a Myki card. You max out at $10AUS for the day no matter how much you ride the mass transit system. Once you have the card, it is not a bad deal. IF you have an Android phone, you can use the app to pay for rides. If, like us, you have an iPhone, you need to buy the $6 card. We later saw a bus with a Samsung ad wrapped around it. 

We were not in a rush, and the detour to St. Kilda was perfect. When we exited the tram I looked across the street and noticed Luna Park. Luna Park was on my extended wish list of things to see while in Melbourne, but it had not made my must-see list. Looking at the front of the park we noticed a classic wooden roller coaster wrapping around it: The Great Scenic Railway.

Though the park is normally only open on weekends, and this was a Monday, Luna Park is open on school holidays. When we saw the line extending at opening, we realized it was a school holiday. The next question was, how much does it cost to enter? Disneyland is now over $100 a day, Six Flags is over $50 a day. All we wanted to do was walk around the small park and ride the wooden coaster. 

Admission was $20AUS ($12.60) to walk the grounds and ride one ride. Perfect! We were warned they might fill up before we got to the front of the line, so we should order tickets online. It didn't. We were also warned the wait time could be an hour for The Great Scenic Railway. It was about 45 minutes, but duly warned. There was also an option for riding as many rides as we wanted, but one was enough.

The grounds took us about 15 minutes to walk, and that included a stop in the rest room.

Luna Park, including the roller coaster, opened on December 13, 1912, making them both 110 years old. They are on the Victorian Heritage Register. The GSR is the second oldest operating coaster in the world, with Leap-the-Dips in Altoona, PA the first since it was built in 1902. We took Ashley on Leap-the Dips when she was about 3-years old. Perhaps not our best parenting moment. Since that happened before I started this blog, I cannot link to the experience.

We have also ridden the 1914 Roller Coaster in Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the 1927 Cyclone in Coney Island, New York. 

The Great Scenic Railway's track is nearly a kilometer. It makes two circuits around the park -- one up high and one down low. They can have two cars running at once, but when we were there they only had the one car running. Its biggest claim to fame, besides being the longest continuously running coaster, is that the brake operator stands in the middle of the train manually applying the brake.  

The brake person rides in the middle

Last car! We've still got it.

The brake person in action!

There was nothing exciting about the rest of the park. I'm glad we were able to go. I'm thrilled we were able to ride the wooden coaster. That said, we soon left the amusement park. Behind the park is a community garden we strolled around.

We walked down to the beach at St. Kilda and walked towards Ellwood. We found lunch at a café on the beach. Nothing fancy, just "toasties" (toasted sandwiches). Mine was mushroom, Don's was ham and cheese. We walked up to the main town of Ellwood and caught a bus to Brighton Beach. Normally one would continue on the tram. The bus only runs twice an hour, but thanks to Google Maps, we knew when and where to catch it.

The one kilometer long Brighton Beach is famous for their 96 bathing boxes. Over the years they've both fallen into disrepair and been rescued. Thanks to the Brighton Beach Bathing Box Association they seem to be on an upswing these days. They originated in the late 19th century as a solution to Victorian morals surrounding bathing. Today they are widely photographed. The day we went, we did not see any in use, only tourists like us taking pictures of them.

The most photographed box

Once again I put my toes in Phillip Island Bay.

We decided to walk along the beach for a while, stopping in Elwood where we looked for ice cream. We ended up walking at least a town back in the direction of Brighton, but were thrilled to find Will's Batch Ice Cream, ice cream made in small batches. After inquiring about Fairy Floss ice cream ("it tastes like fairy floss," I was told. "Fairy Floss?" I repeated. This was our biggest language confusion on the trip. After a few more rounds of 20 Questions, we came up with cotton candy. 

We had peppermint, dirty dark chocolate, and lavender. We took a tram to St. Kilda to look for penguins. Turns out the penguin center is under construction and I guess they sent the penguins a change of address form because we did not see any who ended up on the beach like they do when there is not any construction taking place. We could have taken a sunset cruise, but didn't. While in St. Kilda we stopped back inside Luna Park for a bathroom. This was the first time on the trip we struggled to find a free public restroom. They kindly let us back in. Lesson learned: it never hurts to ask.

We took the tram back to Melbourne, stopping at the Shrine of Remembrance to see it at night. 

We ate dinner at Max's on Hardware, the same place we ate our first lunch in Melbourne. When we start to repeat restaurants, we know it is time to move to the next city.

While in Melbourne a friend texted to ask if the giant coin purse sculpture was still there. We were up for the challenge.

The answer is yes.

Time to pack up and fly to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.