Pipemakers Park, Circus

On Friday, the Melbourne Women's Circus opened their end-of-year show. The venue was an old bluestone building in Pipemakers Park. In the late 1800s, the area belonged to a large meat cannery. The business began as a way to make use of sheep no longer suitable for shearing and it did good business for quite a few years.

Walter Hume purchased the land in 1912 and started up a concrete pipe factory with his brother. Within a couple decades the Hume Pipe Factory had become the largest supplier in Australia and exported their goods worldwide. Additional buildings were constructed for increased labor and production; but the company's continued growth led its relocation to Laverton where more space was available. The factory still produces pipes today.

While the factory was located along the Maribyrnong River, many pipemakers enjoyed spending free time on gardening. The location was ideal for growing plants and some men used leftover factory materials to craft structures for the garden.

I read inside a large pipe, out of the rain, while waiting for the show to begin.

The Women's Circus is not a professional circus; rather, it's a community of women from across the city with different strengths and different reasons for coming to circus. Some women are in their 20s, some in their 50s. And they all are amazing to watch.

photo from Womens Circus

It started up in 1991 as a resource for women of sexual abuse. It was meant to be a safe environment where they could learn to take control of their bodies and appreciate them in a new way. Other women use the circus to focus on the strength of their bodies instead of just appearance.

Two of my housemates performed in the show. All three of them actually take circus classes, but Hannah chose not to be a part of the show. Scarlet did trapeze and acrobatics, Jayt played with fire and rolled in a barrel. Though the latter doesn't sound incredibly interesting, it works very well as a humorous interlude. Overall, the show was a fantastic blend of physical beauty, amazing feats and comedy.

Party

Yesterday was Jayt's birthday. One of her family's traditions is to have cake for breakfast, so I was up late baking the night before. I attempted to make them look like breakfast foods, but a failure to check for food coloring before shopping resulted in "eggs" with blue yolk.

In the afternoon, I went to the Antiverse (as opposed to "universe") Arts Market. It was located down an alley, in a squatted warehouse teeming with hippie punks. Just as I arrived, a man stepped on stage and started to perform tricks. He did some hat juggling and told jokes. Then he was assisted into a straight jacket, had a hat lit on fire and placed on his foot, after which he kicked the flaming hat into the air and caught it on his head. He escaped from the straight jacket and swallowed a curved blade sword for his last trick.

Jayt and I wandered around the market for a while. In a hippie fashion, there was free dumpstered food to eat and fabric flowers adorned a swing that hung from the rafters. The more punk aspects included a DIY tattoo station and numerous anarchist zines.

After the market, we went to a thrift store down the road in search of outfits to wear to prom next week. While I was perusing through racks of evening gowns, Scarlet and Erin came into the store looking for dresses as well. That night we were hosting a party. With the newly acquired dresses, we decided to make it a formal event.

Preparing for the party was incredibly fun. It had been secret project for the week, involving sneaking around three housemates and several late nights of work.

On Friday, after trolling up and down Sydney Road for supplies from all of the little random goods stores, I was so excited about the balloons that I inflated one as I was walking home--which made many other pedestrians stare and smile. Over the course of 24 hours, I think I got relatively good at the craft.

Hiding the pinata from Jayt was difficult. I had to move it from place to place, depending on when she would be home and where she may or may not go within our house. Considering how massive the dinosaur ended up, moving it became more difficult as the project continued. In the end it was hidden in my closet for everyone to find as the finale for the treasure hunt.

People were hesitant to whack the dinosaur. (I think this was because they were impressed by the craftsmanship.) After it was broken open, Jayt slipped inside the opening and wore it as a costume. Then we lit sparklers and ate cake.

Back Home to the Audley House

Back home. Lots of homework to do, friends to get together with and shows to see. For the sake of catching up with real time, I'll summarize the week.

Over the course of my first day home, our white board slowly gained more writing and drawing. It began when Jayt saw the clean kitchen in the morning and was later drawn on by Scarlet upon seeing photos of my bungy jump.

I got back into being domestic the next day by shopping and making a seitan stir fry with sushi for dinner.

The next few days were spent working on a significant amount of classwork, with several breaks of art events and getting together with people.

Sunday I upheld my regular visit to the Victoria Markets for produce. There happened to be a cooking demonstration because it was Asian Food Week. I had arrived at the markets early, so I sat and watched while waiting for the time when vendors slash prices.

Later that night, I went with friends to see Hannah Gadbsy perform a stand-up show at Trades Hall for the Fringe Festival. After the show we walked down Lygon Street and had dessert at one of the cafes.

Monday I had lunch with Carmel, my former homestay host.

Tuesday we had a large group of friends over for dinner. I used cooking as an excuse to take a break from working on my assignments. Thus, our guests ended up feasting on a variety of Greek dishes. (SIDE NOTE: HAYMERCHANTS, I'VE ACHIEVED POCKETS IN 100% OF MY PITA.)

Wednesday I met April for storytelling night at Willow Bar. Three of the four storytellers were great. The fourth was either too drunk to tell a good story or just wasn't funny. He told the kind of humor that I, and many others who did not laugh, interpreted as simply crude for no reason other than shock value.

Thursday was minimally eventful. We had a substitute instructor in swing dance class and I was feeling rather uncoordinated after two weeks vacation.

Friday we went to another Fringe Show. The Last Gasp, hosted by Daniel Kitson, was a collection of short comedy, musical theater, and theater sketches, as well as combinations of the genres listed. Kitson was hilarious. He decided it would be fun for the man next to me to throw a milk crate at him and award prizes if the crate landed on his head. This activity occurred between each set in the show, to a total of seven times. By the end, the man had won numerous treats from both backstage and the convenience store that Kitson ran off to for the specific purpose of buying prizes. He also got a bottle of his choice from the bar. But this man did not want all of his treats, so he gave me and my friends all something from his loot.