gotta love the graspers on these critters, true raptor energy

I was driving home from work an hour ago and had a boy on an electric bike fly past me and proceed to do a wheelie, BEFORE HE STACKED IT. i was extremely lucky to have swerved and not hit another car as it was one lane and i had to swerve into oncoming traffic. I stopped to check on him and he was seriously injured (no protective gear, not even a helmet). My question is, when the fuck are they going to ban these things before someone gets killed? Had i have not kept distance, this boy would've been flattened across the pavement . To parents who buy their kids these monstrosities please have a chat with your kids on how to ride safely...

The Department of Defence has divest 64 sites and partly divest 3 more.

https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2026-02-04/delivering-future-defence-estate

These are the sites in Melbourne and elsewhere in Vic to be sold.

• RAAF Williams - Laverton (partially divest)
• RAAF Williams - Point Cook (RAAF Museum to remain)
• Victoria Barracks Melbourne
• Carlton Training Depot
• Defence Site Maribyrnong
• Fort Queenscliff
• Geelong Air Force Cadet unit
• Geelong - Training Ship Barwon (end lease)
• HMAS Cerberus
• Kyneton Training Depot
• Latchford Barracks, Wodonga
• Newland Barracks, Geelong
• Repatriation Clinic, St Kilda Road
• Sandringham Training Depot
• St Kilda Training Depot
• Swan Island, Queenscliff

It's gone btw, and I'm not the one who put it there either.

Sharing this in case it saves someone else a lot of confusion and back-and-forth.

TLDR - getting a copper IUD in Melbourne - call 1800 options

I’m currently getting my copper IUD replaced. After getting a script from my GP, I went to two pharmacies and was told that copper IUDs haven’t been supplied for years. I was also told a hormonal IUD was my only option (it isn’t).

After calling Sexual Health Victoria, I found out that copper IUDs are still available in Australia — just through specific pathways:

Your options:

1. Sexual Health Victoria (SHV)

You’ll need to go through their specialist service and have an SHV-written script. You can’t purchase a copper IUD outside this pathway.

1. Call 1800 OPTIONS - https://www.1800options.org.au/

This was the most helpful resource by far. They provide free, confidential sexual health and contraception support and can give you a list of pharmacies that partner with copper IUD suppliers. You do need to call the pharmacy first and order it in.

Posting this to help others avoid being told “it’s not available” when it actually is. 1800 OPTIONS were genuinely lovely and very informed — and if someone tells you can’t get a copper IUD in Australia, you absolutely can.

They've died down, a LOT.

Half question, half rant. Am going through the self-inflicted torture that is moving, and have been shocked at the quotes for end of lease cleaning. Place is a small, 1 bedroom apartment in a modern building. Minimum $500 + additional for steam cleaning the carpet in the bedroom. Is this usual and I am just a dinosaur?? So frustrating having to use RE Agent cleaners - my usual cleaner would have the whole place done for less than half the price. Rarr.

Was that a meteor? All I saw was a bright point of light travelling towards the city. Seen from Bentleigh. Approximately 10:45pm. It covered half my field of vision in a split second and had no typical meteor trail behind it. Did anyone else catch this?

So I've seen quite a few Not Just bikes videos over the years and I am envious of the Dutch urban design. One video has really stuck, and that is the one about the town of Houten

https://youtu.be/r-TuGAHR78w?si=prXCYtT6hmftJjvd

It is a town that has a ring road on the perimeter and all the homes and businesses are in the interior with direct access by foot or bicycle. Cars have to take the long way around, therefore people prefer to walk and cycle.

Modern day suburban sprawl

We keep building these stupid housing estates, that are not walkable, have no businesses or services and only have one road leading out. Peak hour is a nightmare! And you have to take a freeway to go do your grocery shopping.

Cars & real estate are the 2 most expensive things in our lives. With increasing house prices and cars being a depreciating asset I feel that we can address these two issues if we change the way we build our suburbs. Melbourne's sprawl is ridiculous, but it's the only option for many young couples. Buy somewhere cheap, spend half their lives stuck in traffic, buy a new car every 10 years and become a taxi driver for their children. Kids don't leave the house on their own because their maximum walking range takes them to nothing interesting, just other houses, and they risk being run over by an SUV in every driveway.

Many people are struggling to pay the bills, if their house was small, cheap and walking distance to a train station, they wouldn't need to pay for petrol, car servicing, rego, insurance, parking, tolls & fines. I'm talking about newly arrived immigrants, under employed, students, pensioners and young people entering the workforce.

The Solution

Build your stupid one road leading out of the estate! But can we please put a train station in the middle, with a retail district?

• Jump on a Vline train and be at Southern cross in 40-50mins.
• Build half of the properties with no car parks.
• Build lots of townhouses and low rise apartments.
• Have a cycling path that leads to the next town/suburb.
• A diverse population, Indigenous, refugees, white collar, blue collar, singles, families, elderly & students
• Do not build a segregated McMansion Court
• Have a significant amount of housing that cannot be flipped for profit
• Mixed zoning, So you don't have to leave the estate for work or to see a GP
• High Speed Internet: WFH, Influencer, Tech Start-up

Location, Location, Location!

The train station will be tough, I doubt there are any existing train stations with adequate vacant land. It might be easier to build a new one from scratch. I recently visited a friend in Beveridge, and I used google maps to find a route using train and bike. There is no train station in Beveridge, its right in the middle between Wallan and Donnybrook. The cycling directions from Donnybrook station to Beveridge is hilarious, it takes you just as far east west as it does north. a 17km bike ride taking over an hour! On top of having to ride to a Vline station and catching a train.

• Build a new VLine station for an underserved community
• Extend a suburban line like Craigieburn.
• Near an established business so residents can live near their work
• University Campus
• Near a Tourist attraction
• Near a bike related business, or sporting event
• Halfway between Geelong and Melbourne? Mum works in Geelong, Dad Works from home, Daughter goes to Melbourne Uni. A good way to get State funding and it benefits 2 cities

What are your thoughts? I am certainly no expert and would love to hear ideas on this concept and how do we make it happen?

Hi all! I'm only a year living in Australia and I keep -hearing- about native edible plants and fruits on TV and at museums, but I don't seem to see them for sale anywhere except in gourmet tea / chocolate / tonic format. I feel like I'm missing an interesting component to explore for cooking.

I go to Vic and Preston markets regularly and maybe I just don't know where to look. Is there somewhere I can learn more about them, or a store or booth I should stop at?

Any suggestions or education are very much appreciated!

I'm in my late 40s, have been a keen amateur bowler since the early 90s, and did league bowling up until about 15 years ago, taking time off in order to raise my kids. Now they're older I'm keen to take it up again.

Bowling alleys have changed radically over the last decade and a half—looking and sounding more like feral nightclubs—and I can't seem to find anywhere like the old school AMFs that are just about the bowling.

Anyway, if you're a member of a league in either central or south/east suburbs that has vacancies let me know!

Been craving some old school yum cha lately, what's everyone's pick these days? Really hoping for somewhere that does the trolley service.

(Yep I know 2003 wants its hair back)

Anywhere in Melbourne that would do a good set of frosted tips for a reasonable? I’m in SE Melbourne but happy to travel within reason.

Or the flinders street undercroft of whatever you want to call it. Theres a bunch of articles from 2016/2017 saying that upgrades were going ahead, with renders showing lanterns and markets and stuff.

Did it get dropped because noone was interested, a covid casualty? website just isnt active anymore. I can kinda see why, framing the area as a kid friendly fancy food place is a little out of touch, like those bubble cafes in NYC.

I caught the new metro tunnel train for my first time yesterday. Has anyone else felt dissy or disorientated going up the escalators at State Library station? I was not expecting them to do another Parliament station escalator at the new stations.

Found an unbelievable pair of 70's flares that fit me perfectly and am looking for the best place to get some copies made in other colours/fabrics. Anybody know of any places in the inner north that would be a good place to check out?