Fountain of glee...and a gay time

My heart leapt with glee today when I saw that the fountain in the Carlton Gardens was spouting water. Hurrah! The water spurting and sparkling in the sun was a beautiful sight as I walked up a shady avenue towards the Exhibition Building.

The last few times I've visited the gardens, the fountain has been a still, murky puddle due to the ongoing drought and water restrictions. I don't know what's changed, but today its was back to being a glorious fountain, not just a wonderful piece of sculpture. It made me so happy. (According to one website, the fountain only operates five hours a day - maybe I've just never been there are the right time before).

The Exhibition Building (the first building in Australia to be World Heritage-listed, in 2004) and the fountain were built for the International Exhibition in 1880. I love the platypuses and frogs around the edges of the second and third tiers of the fountain (and I love the word platypuses, even though platypus is an acceptable plural).

I was at the Exhibition Building as part of my continuing self-guided Walking Melbourne tour. I did manage to get out of bed in time to wander the streets, but I've still only visited and photographed about 60 of the 235 buildings/landmarks.

I also visited the City Baths, which the Walking Mebourne guide describes as an "exuberant and much-loved Edwardian structure" with (I love this bit) a "riot of turrets and domes". As the name suggests, the building was once a public bath house but it's now home to a modern fitness centre, of which I am a very lazy member. I like its riot of turrets, but it makes me feel guilty looking at it.

I had a Golden Gaytime icecream on my way home. Mmmm, biscuit bits. Remember Golden Gaytimes, Aussie readers? Can you believe they still make them? And that Streets hasn't relaunched the product with a different name? They're like the icecream equivalent of the Pollywaffle chocolate bar or Sunshine Pine soft drink. Which is, of course, partly why I like them.