Wedding venues in Melbourne
July 28, 2010 by Dunkin · Leave a Comment
An historic charm pervades Ascot House, built circa 1860, as it stands amidst its magnificent gardens. For over 140 years the mansion has seen abundant hospitality and entertainment.
Guests would arrive by horse and buggy through the era of Councillor John Thomas Smith, first owner of Ascot House, and look out over the extensive orchards on the 58-acre property.
The Grand Ballroom at Ascot House Receptions is nestled in the heart of this beautiful homestead and caters for up to 200 guests. Ascot House consider to be one of the best wedding venues.
It features:
* original ornate open fireplaces, antique gilt mirrors and high ceilings
* magnificent views over 2 acres of fully-lit gardens
* a centrally located dance floor – ensuring the intimacy of any wedding function is fully appreciated
* a stunning bridal suite
* magnificent front veranda and adjoining private rooms
* a music room of exceptional Georgian architecture
Superb Complementary Rooms – Add to the Experience.
Our Striking Bridal Suite
It’s one of Melbourne’s most spectacular bridal suites – ‘The French Room’.
You’ll find it’s the perfect place to unwind and have those intimate memories photographed before the wedding reception venue begins.
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Upon arrival your guests are treated to pre dinner drinks and hors d’oeuvres on our magnificent front veranda and adjoining private rooms. The Music Room is an exceptional example of Georgian architecture and boasts original oil paintings dating back to the 1800s, and our rare example of a walnut C.Bechstein Grand Piano.
It’s the perfect interlude before your guests witness the historic entrance of your Bridal Party at the beginning of your wedding reception.
Australian|Aussie|Victorian|Melbourne} Doors Plus Hardware
March 25, 2010 by Dunkin · 7 Comments
On Door Store we stock an entire range of Doors plus Door Hardware, catering for your residential and commercial marketplace plus stocking for any residential and commercial market. Doors plus door locks and accessories with working displays so you can see how they look and work before you buy. Whatever you want, you’ll find it in stock The Door Store is Melbournes Complete one stop Door Store.
Our Melbourne Door Showroom
Whether you would like internal doors, external doors, bi-folding doors, concertina doors, fire doors, solid core doors, hollow core doors, timber fly wire doors, access doors, metal clad doors, veneer feature doors, solid timber joinery doors or select from our comprehensive range of accessories they are all offered by the Melbourne Door Store 7 days a week.
Our Melbourne Door Furniture Showroom
Our product range includes door tracks, hinges, cabinet wear, door seals, pet doors and a wide-ranging range of entrance and passage levers and knobs. We stock several different brands including Lockwood, Gainsborough, Raven, Delf and our very own quality branded products. Our showroom boasts number one range in Victoria and with highly trained staff who’re devoted to providing quality and accurate advice for all your building and renovation needs from specialized products for fire doors, pool regulation and custom keying systems we will do it all.
The Melbourne Door store is definitely Australian family owned and operated company stocking mostly Victoria.made doors. All of our stock is under a single area and that we offer the biggest range of Doors plus Door Hardware in Melbourne.
Go direct to where Aussie builders shop for their doors.
Come and see for yourself Victorias permanent door expo over 2 acres. Victorias biggest range all available as well as on display means the cheapest prices for all Australians. At The Doorstore we provide A Free Measure and Quote. Good old Australian Value means we will not be beaten on service or price.
We’ll Fit, Stain / Paint, Stain and Fit, and Deliver your Doors and Door Hardware.
Our staff will share their decades of knowledge in Melbourne Doors and knowledge about you and offer friendly service ensuring that you are happy and comfortable with the door you decide on.
Victorian owned, Australian operated, Melbourne suppliers, Australian Doors, Melbourne jobs.
Jet Powered Flight
February 4, 2010 by Dunkin · 9 Comments
The invention of jet propulsion was ideal for fighter aircraft. Although at first it reduced range and endurance and often increased the take-off run. The German Messerschmitt Me 262 and the British Gloster Meteor twin jets saw action in 1944, together with the tailless Me 163 rocket interceptor which sacrificed range and endurance for astounding climb and speed in defending local areas against heavy bombers.
Germany was far in front of other countries in another factor too: armament. A range of 30 mm (1 inch) cannon, radically new high-speed cannon with multiple-revolver chambers, very large recoilless guns, spin-stabilised air-to-air rockets fired in salvoes, and wire-guided air-to-air missiles were all under test before the Luftwaffe s defeat. They gradually inspired similar developments in other countries: one German gun, the Mauser MG 213, led to the American Pontiac M-39, the French DEFA, the Russian NR-30, the Swiss Oerlikon KCA, and the British Aden, all of which are still in use.
Many early jet fighters were fitted into more or less conventional airframes. The fighter often considered the ultimate achievement of the piston era, the long-range North American P-51 Mustang appeared both in a twinned double-fuselage form and, with few changes, as a US Navy jet.
But the US Air Force decided to wait a year until its makers could sweep back the wings and tail at 35 degrees, which German research had shown could lead to higher speed. The result was the F-86 Sabre, which in 1948 set a speed record at 1,080 km/h (671 mph) and outflew all other fighters. Later versions carried radar and rockets and reached 1,150 km/h (715 mph).
During the Korean War (1950-3) the F-86 met a previously unknown machine built in the Soviet Union, the somewhat lighter and simpler MiG-15, and although the MiG could climb higher and had heavy cannon, the Sabre’s skilled pilots and better equipment gave it the edge in combat.
North American’s next fighter was the F-100 Super Sabre, which exceeded the speed of sound in level flight. The MiG bureau built the twin jet MiG-19, which was even faster, and is still in wide use. The US Air Force ordered various all-weather interceptors with largely automatic radar and flight control systems so that, with guided missiles, they could intercept and destroy enemy aircraft without the pilot ever seeing them.
The British ordered a jet-fighter flying-boat, but discovered that this way of doing business without airfields resulted in~yielded~produced an inferior fighter. The Americans suffered similar problems with a ‘hydroski’ fighter, which could dive faster than sound, but took off and landed on retractable water skis.
Two even stranger fighters were designed around powerful turboprop engines and, standing on their tails, screwed themselves vertically into the air (they were intended to operate from the confined decks of warships or merchant vessels). Britain built high-altitude supersonic fighters with ‘mixed power’ from a turbojet and a rocket. In 1957 the British Minister of Defence suggested there would soon be no more manned fighters at all, only missiles. The Americans stuck to fighters, but made them very large and armed them with missiles, but no gun.
Today the wheel has turned full circle. In the past 10 to 20 years there has been a powerful trend~wish to get back to the ‘eyeball-to-eyeball’ type of confrontation of the man in the Sopwith Camel. The pre-eminent Western fighter, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom, was rebuilt with an internal gun, a rapid-fire 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon with six barrels firing up to 6,000 rds/ min, and a slatted wing to pull tighter turns in combat.
New small fighters appeared, such as the General Dynamics F-16, which, although bigger and heavier than any single-engined fighters of World War II, are nevertheless small and light by comparison with such impressive machines as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, and MiG-25 Foxbat, The RAF’s next interceptor, the ADV (Air-Defence Version) of the Panavia Tornado, is a careful midway compromise, smaller than the three monsters just listed, but with two engines, long range, powerful radar, and extremely effective Skyflash missiles.
Modern interceptors defend vast blocks of airspace up to 160 km (100 miles) in radius, with powerful radar able to look down at the surrounding land and water and spot low-flying intruders trying to slip through the defences unnoticed. Their task is eased by the presence of special surveillance, early-warning, and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft, with enormous radars and sophisticated command and control systems to manage all a nation’s defences in the most efficient way.
There is no better feeling than being in the cockpit during your jet fighter flight. Jet fighter flights and jet fighter joy flights are the ultimate gift giving and receiving experience that will be remembered forever. Your jet fighter pilot experience is available in Melbourne, Cairns and Townsville. Visit flyingwarbirds.com.au for more details.
Cyprus: Birthplace of Aphrodite
December 21, 2009 by Dunkin · 6 Comments
Cyprus, probably named for its copper, smelted since Neolithic times, is the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite. Two impressive mountain ranges surround a huge fertile plain and lovely beaches circle the coastline. Its climate has long attracted visitors, it is now renowned as a place for retirement – or partying.
Lying close to the Middle East and always strategically important, it was taken by many great powers including Greece. Rome and Egypt. The long reign of the French Lusignan dynasty brought prosperity and Roman Catholicism. In 1570 the Turks took the island.
It became a UK Crown Colony after World War II Independence came in 1960, but intercommunal strife increased and in 1974 an unsuccessful Greek coup prompted a Turkish invasion. The island was divided. It is now possible to cross the border, but violence and negotiation alternate and rules can change overnight.
However, north or south, the islanders are warmly welcoming and Cyprus has many attractions. The southeast with its raucous resorts also has archaeological sites and sunsets from Aphrodite’s ‘birthplace’ at the Rock of Remios. Pafos, though surrounded by development, remains a charming town. To the northwest is the remote Akanas Peninsula, with further isolated regions along the coastal hinterland, the magnificent Troodos region has forested mountains, lost villages, painted churches, unique wildlife and winegrowing.
In the North, small resorts cluster around the beautiful harbour town of Kyrenia. Famagusta is full of ruined Gothic churches inside its golden stone walls; outside lies a haunted, wired-off modern town, The rocky coast and bristling Kyrenia range hold unspoilt beaches and villages, classical sites, monasteries and Crusader castles.
Lefkosia (Nicosia) is the world’s only divided capital, Inside the massive Venetian fortifications, both sides – the cosmopolitan south and the north with its dusty lanes – are fascinating. Both have streets which end in a wall fluttering with defiant flags.
For all your travel needs both international and domestic talk to Flight Centre. We have cheap flights to Sydney, cheap flights to Melbourne and cheap flights to Perth, call or visit today.
Lighting in Early Australia
April 29, 2009 by Dunkin · 6 Comments
A typical domestic scene of a squatter’s timber shack has been captured by many colonial artists such as S. Prout, S. T. Gill and others. The paintings generally show a group of people, usually male, sitting in front of a large walk-in fireplace which is lit by a blazing log fire. Occasionally a candle stuck into an empty bottle is seen on the table in the plainly decorated room or the most basic lard impregnated cloth lights might be seen on the hearth in the flickering light of the fireplace. Most of the early working men’s huts, were equipped in this fashion; a more decorative interior with lined walls, blinds and oil cloth or matting floor usually indicated the presence of a woman in the home.
When settlers arrived with their wives, wealth and possessions, interiors showed a marked improvement in elegance and comfort. As soon as they were able, the settlers built more substantial houses replacing the tents and bark humpies or upgraded and improved upon existing homes. By 1822 Sydney had 59 stone, 221 brick and 773 wooden residences and by 1841 the statistics showed that there were 769 residences in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria.
Interiors were made practical and comfortable, following the dictates of English trends and, except for the very rich, lighting was not a priority. As late as the 1830s, Louise Anne Meredith gave a bleak description in her letters of home lighting in the colony ‘where candles are not attainable, a light is procured by a bit of rag rolled up stuck into an old cup or pannikin full of dripping and lighted. Homemade mould (tallow) candles are generally used in houses where wax-lights are dispensed with, and certainly vary more in quality than any other article of domestic manufacture.’
Later paintings of the interiors of rich settlers’ residences verify this dismal picture of domestic lighting. There was small consolation in the fact that the general quality of light fittings and equipment had significantly improved in standard.
Finely crafted candlesticks and custom made blinds were now proudly displayed in parlours, replacing the bottles and tin pans that were used in the kitchens cum dining rooms in previous decades. S. T. Gill’s interior watercolour of the Noufflard’s house in Bligh Street, Sydney in 1856 depicts a scene common to many early Victorian homes.
The drawing room or parlour is lit by a pair of tall elegant candlesticks placed on a central table around which the family and friends would gather at night to read, write, sew or socialise. Often a vase of flowers would be placed in the centre of the table in an arrangement to complement the candlesticks. Sometimes an additional pair of candles would illuminate a piano on which a member of the family would play.
In wealthier homes the number of candlesticks might be increased to include a pair of candlelabra on the overmantel of the fireplace; alternatively an additional pair of two- or three-branched candle wall sconces might be positioned on either side of the sideboard, chiffonier or mirror hung over the fireplace in either the dining or drawing rooms. The rest of the house would be in darkness except, perhaps, for the entry hall where an enclosed hanging lantern would burn one or more candles to illuminate the way for visitors. A candlestick would have been taken to light the way to the bedroom, but these were not kept in bedrooms; they were brought to the kitchen each morning to be trimmed and maintained. The article brought to you by laser hair removal services.

