Bathing Boxes, Twinning & Art

As if I didn’t need more sun exposure from yesterday, we spent more time under the sun at Brighton Beach to see the Instagram-famous Bathing Boxes. Privately owned structures along the beach, we saw these colourful boxes used as storage for chairs, towels & “beach stuff”, and opened up as a shady space to relax.

What struck me most about the beach & the boxes was just how “touristy” it had become. A queue had formed in front of the Bathing Box painted as the Australian flag. It was otherwise an ordinary beach, with people sunbathing & splashing around. 

The photos I captured of any Bathing Boxes are simply ones that were colourful & didn’t have anyone trying to take a photo of it.  

I liked the basic blue, red & yellow colours of this Bathing Box. It reminded me of play school. 

This Space Invaders Bathing Box had a little friend hidden at the bottom. 

“Hey there!” 

And if you have loads of money to spare for a box on a beach in Brighton that might only be useful.. 3-4 months of the year, a few are up for sale.

We had dinner with Brendan in South Yarra, at a restaurant called Bosozoku. 

Accidental twinning, but to be fare— I could only bring a few clothes with me. Brendan could’ve worn anythiiinnnggg 😜 

We sat in the room that had MarioCart 64 set up. 

Our last day here was spent wandering Melbourne with our stuff on our backs. We had brunch at Tom, Dick & Harry’s in South Yarra, then returned to the Oriental Teahouse for dessert dumplings. They were the highlight for me in Melbourne this time around.

Nika wanted to see the art exhibit at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. The current exhibit was about feminism & empowering women. I can empathise with the challenges women face, but I found it difficult for any one piece to resonate with me.

This pencil case was one of my favourites. 

A short film that I couldn’t sit through completely. 

One of the stops on our list was to see The Pool, an installation brought over from the Venice Biennale. It looked cool in pictures. Not so cool in person. It was a shallow pool of water against a mirror, filled with screaming kids. We left immediately after picking up our disappointment off the damp, wooden floorboards.

Annnddd now we’re at Avalon airport waiting for our flight back to Sydney.

I go back to work next week. These two weeks haven’t felt like a break, since I rarely had a time to myself. It’s been travelling & being on the road or on foot for days that’ve made it an exhausting period of the year. In my mind, the past two weeks is a blur & I can only rely on my pictures & account of events to actually recall what’s happened. Maybe I’m just getting old.🤯