62 on Grey

November 19, 2006

I can’t recall now how we arranged our accommodations in Melbourne but I think we found a website for rentals and picked a promising one in St. Kilda, a part of town that looked appealing from the guidebook research we’d done. We chose well, and 62 on Grey ended up as a somewhat cramped but otherwise ideal choice for our situation. It advertised a strong and reliable WiFi connection, which we’d need if our telecommuting scheme was going to work out. It was as well located as we’d hoped, in a neighborhood we delighted in exploring and starting to feel at home in over the next few weeks.

And it was accommodating to our unusual situation, where we needed lodging for intermittent periods of time in between which we’d be gone on short tours and need to leave our computers and other gear behind. I forget now what the arrangement was exactly, but I think we checked in, stayed a few days, and then left for about a week for a tour of the Great Ocean Road. Then back again, until at the end we left for a tour of Tasmania, finally returning at the end for a one night stay prior to our flight home. They must have given us some place to stash things while we were gone, but neither of us can remember anything specific about it. Or maybe we kept the apartment while we were gone for some of these excursions - neither one of us can recall for sure.

Actually, thinking back on it now I’ll bet we had a one month rental and then stashed our stuff somewhere at the end when we left for Tasmania. I think it must have been that, because it makes the most sense.

I’m surprised to see that this accommodation is still in business under the same name, and listed on Booking.com with this description:

Sixty Two on Grey offers boutique apartments in one of Melbourne’s liveliest suburbs, St. Kilda. These fully-equipped serviced apartments are within walking distance of the beach. Free internet is available.

Built in the 1860's, this beautiful Georgian Mansion was originally built for an English Sea Captain. Situated on the exclusive St. Kilda Hill, the property includes outstanding views of the picturesque Port Phillip Bay.

Sixty Two on Grey’s Apartments have spacious rooms and modern furnishing. Each apartment has a self-contained kitchen with microwave, refrigerator and cooking facilities.

Nearby attractions include the waterfront/bay area at St. Kilda West, Albert Park with its large lake, and St. Kilda’s city centre. On Sundays, St. Kilda is famous for its markets, starting from Acland Street and stretching to Fitzroy

A great place. If we go back some year we’d likely book here again, just for the nostalgic rush.

62 on Grey, our intermittent home for the next six weeks.

I think our unit was a studio apartment in a building with a few others (confirmed, now that I’ve found the listing on Booking.com). I don’t remember for sure, but I think we were always in the same unit, except possibly for that last night when we returned from Tasmania. It was small, but had everything we needed - except for a convenient place to keep the bikes. The best we could come up with was to stash them in the bath tub and then haul them out when we needed it for ourselves.

Just fits! Its so nice to see this photo again, one of my all time favorites of these two bikes. Both of them look so clean and new (and no, not because we gave them a bath here). I should check back through other tours, but I think they were nearly new here.

Other than the bathroom, I think it was just a single room efficiency unit, but it had everything we needed - in particular, two working spaces since this was our office. And once we got some initial kinks worked out it was a successful experiment. We were both able to sign on to work, communicate with our teams through messaging, emails or audio (no visual connections though, which wouldn’t come to our office until later), write specifications, review work products, and assist in production issues.

Other than the technology, the main consideration in our workdays was the 18 hour time difference between home and Melbourne. We adjusted our work schedule so that we’d be online for at least a part of our office’s normal working hours - meaning we’d start work at around 4 AM, work until around one in the afternoon, and then sign off for the day. We’d work for a few hours first thing in the morning until the nearest coffee shop opened and then I’d walk down the street to pick up coffee and I think pastries to bring back to our office.

I wonder how I managed this shot, but I must have had a camera with a time delay shutter. I’m glad to have this shot, which confirms that we each had our own machine.

We loved this situation. During the work week we’d get up early, complete our shift, go have lunch somewhere, and then spend the afternoon exploring the neighborhood and city we were quickly falling in love with. Our apartment was in a great location for this. We were only a few blocks from what I think must have been Inkerman Street, which had a few restaurants we liked (one of Rachael’s memories here: she tried to take the leftovers home from one of these meals and was startled to learn that taking away alcohol was permitted, but not food!), and not far from others in easy biking distance.

A random shot from the neighborhood. There’s still a Hairhouse Warehouse in Saint Kilda, but it’s on Acland street now so it might have moved since we were there. I can’t tell if the tram line runs down Acland.

As the blurb on Booking.com indicates, we’re in a great location: in an interesting, eclectic neighborhood only a few miles from downtown and only a few blocks from the waterfront. A great choice.

Luna Park, the amusement park on the waterfront.

Rainbow lorikeet! I forget what camera I was using then, but it must have been an earlier model with a reasonable zoom to capture a shot like this - 7X, if I remember right. There were only a few birds close enough like this for a decent shot. I’d love to go back to Australia with the camera I have now.

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