solving the pac-man graffiti puzzle

24th March 2012

Melbourne, Australia

                 On my second day in Melbourne I went for a stroll into town and when lunchtime rolled around, I stopped to eat a sandwich on the steps of the lively Federation Square, enjoying the sunshine and indulging in a considerable amount of people watching. Casting my gaze about the square, I surveyed the hive of activity that buzzed around me until my eyes fell upon the striking St. Pauls Anglican Cathedral opposite whose three towers surged towards the clear sky above, piercing the vast blue canvas with their crucifix tips. Finishing my lunch I decided to take a closer look and was crossing the road when I noticed a flash of colour creep into my peripheral vision to my right. Turning my head and walking slowly backwards towards the pavement I had just left, I could just about see the edge of a red and yellow graffiti mural that seemed to be creeping out of one of the alleyways just up the road; a subtle tease, inviting those who notice it to come for a closer look. With all interest in the Cathedral wiped out of my mind by this intriguing visual invitation, I crossed the road and headed along Flinders Street towards the alleyway, and upon turning the corner was faced  by an explosion of colour that screamed down from both sides of the narrow back street. Every conceivable bit of wall had graffiti sprayed over it, ranging from basic tags and anti-establishment stencils to works of astounding street art. The graffiti-alleyway stretched all the way through to Russell Street at the far end while a second alleyway curled around a building that rested at the centre of the block. Looking around me, I was faced by a surreal world where numerous styles and visions clattered together: skeleton horses, a lady in red, rainbow-coloured underworlds, a crying skull, a rampaging line of elephants, star-crossed lovers, bogans and even a Picasso representation of the tyrant Gaddafi peered down at me as I walked through the lane in awe of the sea of colour that washed over my senses, pulling me further into it's depths with every step I took. It seemed that at the heart of this graffiti-bubble was an art gallery by the name of 'Until Never' which occupied the central building but unfortunately it was closed on a winter hiatus which was a shame as I had read about it online and was eager to have a look inside. It seemed, however, that the graffiti which adorned the walls on the street outside was part of the gallery itself; a twisted exhibition where anyone could come along and spray their own mark upon this carnival of colour. Having spent half an hour taking it all in and taking numerous photographs (see below) I returned to the entrance of the alleyway to leave as I was supposed to be meeting up with Sally when she finished uni for the day. Just as I was exiting the alleyway, I noticed a poster had been plastered high up on the wall above the line of graffiti, which seemed to be a screenshot of the Pac-Man game map with all the little alleyways filled by ghouls, ghosts, fruit treats and of course the yellow blob himself. At the time I assumed it was just a cool poster that didn't have any deeper meaning and as a result didn't study it too carefully. An error that would be corrected a few days later....

On Saturday the 24th of March, I was once again in the city, having spent the morning down in St. Kilda, and was walking down little Bourke street which incidentally lies a few blocks north of the graffiti alleyway I had come across a few days earlier. As I was about to pop into a 7/11 to get a drink, I noticed a splash of colour which seemed to be spilling out of a small alleyway and onto the street across the road. My attention was once again completely diverted and I quickly approached the nudge of colour that seeped out of the dark alleyway to see what it would reveal. Turning the corner, I was faced yet again by a long alleyway immersed in another exhibition of Melbourne's street art as more graffiti had been lavishly scrawled and sprayed onto the unsuspecting walls, rubbish bins and back-doorways of businesses. Another graffiti-spot made official by a small sign that read, 'Graffiti Encouraged' with a red tick sprayed across the black image of a spray can below. Strolling up and down the alleyway to admire a new range of vibrantly colourful faces that peered out from their concrete hiding places, I noticed that another Pac-Man poster had been plastered on the wall just above the line of graffiti that coursed unobstructed along the wall below. Thinking that there must be some significance in seeing this Pac-Man poster in two separate graffiti lanes, I examined the poster more carefully and realised that each lane within the game map was marked with a street name. Quickly getting my lonely planet out of my bag, I turned to the map of central Melbourne and realised that the Pac-Man map I was looking at was a direct representation of the central area of Melbroune, north of Federation Square, with each "game-lane" corresponding to an actual street in the centre of the city. The "game" area covered by this Pac-Man map consisted of twelve blocks that rest between Flinders Street to the South, Elizabeth Street to the West, Lonsdale Street to the North and Exhibition Street to the East. I had taken a photograph of the Pac-Man poster when I had been over on Flinders Street a few days prior and getting the image back up on the digital display of my camera, I noticed that Pac-Man had moved position on this new poster, occupying a lane in the top-left of the map where I now stood. Looking at both maps, I realised that a piece of fruit occupied the street I had been in the other day and it dawned on me that maybe each piece of fruit signaled another graffiti hot spot and upon reaching each spot you would find Pac-Man there. Eager to test out my theory, I took another photograph of the new Pac-Man poster and along with my Lonely Planet map, navigated my way through the "game" to the nearest  piece of fruit and sure enough, in a side-alleyway that connected Bourke Street and little Collins street, I found another graffiti spot and another Pac-Man poster map! Needless to say, the hunt was on and over the next couple of hours, with the "game-map" up on my camera display and a real map in my hand, I located the other pieces of fruit which all yielded more graffiti hotspots that were each filled with mind blowing street art. I took heaps of photographs but the following are my favourites.

Bristol's got Banksy. 

Melbourne, it seems, has got Pac-Man.

x

The Pac-Man game map. If you look carefully at the lanes you can see street names written in grey letters. Each piece of fruit you can see is a graffiti hotspot and I guess the ghouls are the police. This square block of streets fits perfectly onto an actual map of Melbourne's Central Business District.

The mural that drew me in.

The Lady In Red.

Everything was plastered in graffiti.

The canvas never stops as people paint on every available surface within this little street-art haven.

Vandalism?

Mirror Tag #1

Mirror Tag #2

The Until Never gallery.

Legal.

The second spot I found.

The third spot I found.

FAD gallery/bar/lounge which hosts small galleries over a glass of wine. AND A PATCHWORK DINOSAUR!

Bob Burnquist?

The final location I found.

Glass Eye.

snapshots: melbourne

21st - 26th March 2012

Melbourne, Australia

On the 21st March, after an extremely enjoyable and low-cost stay in the state of New South Wales, I got down to Sydney's central station where I bid my farewells to Oli and boarded the iconic AMERICAN greyhound bus which set off for the capital of Victoria at 9am. Fifteen hours later we arrived in Melbourne. Bye bye Sydney, you've been fantastic.

Location of Melbourne within Australia.

Mid afternoon we had a brief stop in the town of WAGGA WAGGA, where I munched down a generous packed lunch 'acquired' by The Guy from his work.

Got into Melbourne at about 11pm on the 21st and after traipsing round a few hostels finally found a dorm room at Nomads for $30, which although ludicrously expensive for travellers, was much cheaper than some other places I had come across. This is the Yarra river which runs through the centre of Melbourne and is flanked either side by a motley crew of skyscrapers.

The next morning I woke up and checked out of Nomads for 10am to go catch up with a girl I had first met over in South East Asia. When I was in Laos I went tubing with a whole gang of Aussies and had already been lucky enough to meet up with Jasper while over here in Australia - see Avalon post. A girl named Sally had also been involved in the reckless antics on that river back in Laos - Tubing in Vang Vieng - and I remembered her saying that she was living/studying/working in Melbourne with her boyfriend so I dropped her an email and she was kind enough to let me crash on their couch for the four nights I was in the state of Victoria.

Melbourne is the capital of the state of Victoria and is famous for its comprehensive network of tram lines. This was the free city circle tram that did a loop through the central areas of Melbourne.

The iconic central meeting place for Melburnians is Federation Square which is dominated bv the striking St. Pauls Anglican Catherdral and the modern-looking ACMI building - Australian Centre For The Moving Image. An interactive centre for learning which had several floors showcasing a range of galleries that covered the development of the film and video game industries plus galleries by well known contemporary artists.

The very grand looking Flinders Street Station which is a key transport hub for getting around the city and sits proudly on the northern edge of Federation Square.

The ACMI futuristic looking building.

The ACMI was full of interactive displays such as this one which projected my image onto a white screen and by tracking my movements, added shapes to my shadow.

This is Melbourne's 'Giant Theremin' an instrument which interestingly is not controlled by touch but movement. It was commissioned by the Melbourne council and created by the audio-visual artist Robin Fox. The instrument has a sensor which picks up bodily movements within the black frame you can see in the photograph, and turns these movements into sounds. The actual concept behind the Theremin is nearly 100 years old - named after Leon Theremin its creator - and his machine amazed audiences all over America and Europe back in the 1920's and 1930's. Unlike the original Theremin which was monophonic (one voice) this new updated version is polyphonic (many voices) which means it can track up to eight peoples movements within the black frame and turn their dancing into a surreal composition of electronic whirring.

 

It's on 24/7 and rests to the side of a well used public path which means that everyone who walks past it on their way to work every day (including cyclists) receives a soundtrack to accompany their passing.

A Melbourne Alleyway.

Melbourne busker. Fair play really, he's thinking outside of the box. I've personally always wanted to see a penguin playing the bagpipes. Got my dollar.

Sally lived in Clifton Hill which was a short train ride from town so spent the days doing my usual wandering around the city streets. On the Friday night we went along to meet some of her friends at a bar on Brunswick street where a couple of local bands were playing. The Saturday night was spent at one of her friend's going away parties. The two guys, Toby and Will, were about to set off on an epic adventure on a couple of Royal Enfield motorbikes from Singapore to London!

Welcome to St. Kilda Pier. On the 23rd, after investing in a $7 multi-transport pass, hopped on the no.16 tram and made my way down to St. Kilda which according to the Lonely Planet is "more Brighton beach than BayWatch." Getting off on Fitzroy street I walked down to the main promenade and followed it round until I came across St. Kilda´s rather magnificent pier. 

The highlight, in my opinion, of the St. Kilda suburb was it´s pier and the pavilion that stands proudly at the end. First built in 1904 and then re-built in 2006, after it burnt down in an arson attack, it has been a place where Melburnians go when they want a break from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. Walking along the wooden decking of the extensive pier, I passed by local fishermen  who were relaxing under the gaze of a blazing sun which had only just reclaimed the sky from a gang of ominous black clouds.

Watch out for my next post because Melbourne has some of the best street art I've ever seen. Led by Pac-Man.....

a weekend in avalon

16th - 18th March 2012

Avalon, Australia

                       In my ongoing, and so far successful mission of staying in Australia on a shoestring budget, it was necessary for me to head over to Avalon, a northern suburb of Sydney, on the 16th March while Oli was out of town visiting his dad in Perth over the weekend. I had been going undercover while staying at Oli's as his tyrannical and frankly barmy landlady - left little notes saying 'PLEASE CLEAN ME! on any glasses left in the lounge - would arrive at his shared house unannounced and apparently was not at all happy for people to stay over who weren't paying cold hard Australian dollars. This resulted in a few bizarre episodes during my stay in Surry Hills where upon hearing her enter the house with a prospective tenant, while Oli was at work, I would wait for her to walk downstairs before silently exiting Oli's room, which was luckily near the front of the house, and stealthily letting myself out the front door like the ginger ninja that I obviously am. Once out on the street I would wait about 100m up the road, spying on the front door as if I was in a Spooks episode, until I saw her leave before casually strolling back to the house leaving her none the wiser of my 'illegal' residence. Another more important reason for my little weekend trip to Avalon was that I wanted to catch up with a top lad I had first met whilst tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos who I remembered saying he lived fairly close to Sydney. Getting in touch over the traveller friendly FB, he kindly said that it would be cool for me stay a few days. So with my bags packed I bid farewell to The Guy and left Sydney mid-morning on the Friday, hopping on the L90 bus which would take me the 35km over to the Arthurian named beach at Avalon. The sun had once again formed a beautiful day in New South Wales and the scenic bus ride shuttled me past a few of the Northern beaches en route: Dee Why, Narrabeen, Warriewood, Mona Vale, Newport and Bilgola all flashed past the windows of the bus in a blur of golden sand and bright-blue water before I reached the beach at Avalon where I was dropped off at the local petrol station. Giving Jasper a call he drove down to meet me and we wandered down to the beach to catch up on what each of us had been up to since we had last seen each other during those lawless days we spent together in Vang Vieng.

                    Jasper is an avid surfer and upon his suggestion we headed back over to his house to grab a couple of surfboards which I was very keen to do as a trip to Australia without surfing would not, in my eyes, be complete. Getting back down to Avalon beach later that afternoon after meeting the rest of Jasper's family, we both set off into the crashing waves where he proceeded to catch a few waves with consummate ease whereas I spent the majority of the time languishing in the water like some retarded sea otter. Why a sea otter? Well your guess is as good as mine but they just don't look that coherent to me. I imagine that the business of surfing would be a lot of fun if you can get up on the board and surge down a barrel but I had great difficulty in actually catching a wave let alone reaching surfing nirvana. The first obstacle was getting out far enough to where the swells are starting to break as swimming out felt like taking two steps forward and one step back as I was constantly pushed towards the beach by the oncoming waves that crashed against me. Jasper did teach me a few techniques such as duck-diving, where you push the board under the wave or flipping myself and the board upside down upon impact to cut through the base of the wave in a streamline fashion. Once out far enough, the next step was to paddle like hell when a wave starts to form and it seems that this is the hardest part of the whole thing as whenever a wave started to pick me up I lacked the momentum to keep up with it and as a result would slide helplessly off it's back. When I did finally catch a wave, I hauled myself upwards in the 'explosive press up motion' Jasper had mentioned in my brief tutorial lesson on the sand, but as soon as I got one knee up I instantly stumbled over, clattering manically into the wave's open jaws. With a mouthful of water I resurfaced a few seconds later, spluttering idiotically in the foam only to be greeted by my board which after being pulled away from my body was returned fiercely - due to the cord that was attached to my leg - to give me a good clout round the back of the head. As if this wasn't bad enough, while still blind from the sea water that stung my eyes, I was then hit by another follow up wave that pulled me under again to repeat the whole punishing sequence. After awhile I gave up on my dreams of being the next Kelly Slater and collapsed on the beach exhausted but content that I did at least give it a go. Think I'll stick to snowboarding in the future.. Returning to the house absolutely famished I was treated to a hefty dose of genuine Australian hospitality as Jasper's mum, Anita, cooked us up some food and for the whole weekend I felt like a welcomed guest in the Lambe household. Even Betty, Jasper's wonderfully crazy black poodle (whoa Black Betty, bam-a-lam) made me feel welcome with her unending willingness to be patted and played with and I was only too happy to comply.

                  On the Saturday night, after picking up a crate of Carlton Draught with Jasper from the local Woolsworths mega store we headed over to a 19th birthday party that was going on in Mona Vale for one of Jasper's friends from school. The more I thought about it, catching up with Jasper was turning out to be a really good idea as it got me out of Sydney but more importantly the backpacker scene and the whole weekend gave me a small glimpse into Australian suburban life; meeting a whole load of people that I would never have met had I been staying in a hostel. It was funny to see that although on the other side of the world, the parent set-up party was exactly the same as the whole slew of marquee-set up parties that I used to go to up in Westbury/Stoke Bishop back when I was 18-19. Spent the evening chatting to Jasper's friends and the girl's, whose party it was, parents who kept calling me the 'Funny Pommy' which in turn led to some vintage banter with the Grandpa about the history that our two great nations share. Waking up the next day, my final day in Avalon saw me catching a bus over to Palm Beach to go and see the Barrenjoey lighthouse which had been recommended by Jasper, while he caught up with some Uni work. Getting off at the golf course a short walk led to the Palm Beach sand spit which connects the mainland to the Barrenjoey island - upon which the Lighthouse rests - that juts out into the Tasman Sea. On one side of the peninsula lay a vast golden stretch of sand which had attracted droves of sea worshipping surfers to it's choppy currents; their boards carving thin scars into the faces of surging waves that rolled into land. In the distance, ominous black crowds lurked menacingly but for the surfers this meant a healthy gust of wind that kicked up some mighty fine swells. After walking along the sand for about fifteen minutes, feeling the fine sand fill the gaps between my toes, I reached the headland and came across a small pathway known as 'Smugglers track' - named after the five convicts who had hacked it out of the the rock years ago - which curled up through the Hawkesbury sandstone to the top where the Barrenjoey lighthouse has been watching over seafaring souls since 1881. A viewing platform out the front of the lighthouse gave impressive views of the tombolo of sand that cut south through the Tasman Sea connecting the Barrenjoey island to the mainland and looking down at the water that lapped up against it's sides, layers of white foam gushed up towards the contrasting beige beach; darkened by specks of rain which had congealed it's grains together. The dark clouds had advanced since my ascent, encroaching upon Barrenjoey, and my descent back down to the beach was met by a brief of downpour. Back on the mainland I walked towards the bus stop and waited for the L90 which took me back to Jasper's and after gathering all my stuff together I headed back to Sydney to end a great couple of days in Avalon. Cheers Jasper and if you're ever in the UK mate, look me up!

x

Couple of surfers heading back after a day on the Tasman.

Jasper had a little outhouse of his own at his parents which he was good enough to let me crash in for my weekend up state.

Reaching Palm Beach, I entered what felt like a very exclusive little resort complete with it's very own live jazz band who serendaded happy walkers and restaurant customers.

Palm Beach.

Surfers paddling out to catch the next big(ish) wave.

Walking along the golden sands of Palm Beach to the Barrenjoey headland.

Surf's up!

Looking out to the Tasman Sea.

The Barrenjoey peninsula

More macro.

Waiting for the bus back to Avalon.

BLACK BETTY.

Jasper, Me and Anita.