I’d been here in Australia for almost two years, and barring a couple of weekend trips down the Fleurieu Peninsula, I had not yet had a proper holiday. Granted, I didn’t quite need one while I was waiting for my resident’s visa, but then I had a very busy Christmas, and cleared a week off with my boss.

I chose Melbourne, not because it is the closest state capital from Adelaide, but because of a radio ad I’d heard offering discounted rail tickets on The Overland – the only passenger rail service between the two cities. Because of it’s location, Adelaide is actually a bit of a rail hub for Australia, with the main east-west and north-south lines passing through the city.

So, I booked myself a ticket there, four nights in a hotel in the Melbourne CBD, and a plane ticket back. I didn’t have a real plan, just that I wanted to see as much of the city as possible and get some photographs. I can always go back for special events and shows down there in the future.

There’s a lot of odd buildings out there, not the least of which being this house:

Taken from Arthouse at Flickr. Attribute: Kevin O’Mara. Licence

There’s a lot more at Unusual Architecture:

Device to Root out Evil by Dennis Oppenheimer

Okay, so those two are actually artworks rather than functioning buildings, but there are some even more incredible designs which are actually used:

The Crooked House in Sopat, Poland

More incredible is the design for a new building proposed in Dubai – a region of some exceptional designs: