Melbourne

On Friday 18th March we flew to Melbourne, after another very good breakfast in the Virgin Australia lounge. Any lounge that has a pancake machine gets my vote!

My friend Marty (from way back in my Warehouse/Uni days) kindly picked us up from the airport. This was exceptionally good of him as traffic was atrocious and it took a long long time to get into the city centre. This was partly due to the fact that the Australian Grand Prix  was on in Melbourne that weekend so the place was heaving. We dropped our bags at the Melbourne Central YHA on Flinders St and Will got picked up straight away by a colleague, as he had a meeting organised for that afternoon. I then headed off with Marty. Our initial plan was to grab some late lunch, but it had taken so long to drive into the city that it was time for him to pick up his girlfriend Abby from the school where she teaches.

After bit of a look around, we settled for an early dinner, as my airport lounge breakfast had been a very long time ago! We went to Shandong MaMa Mini in Centreplace, the lane that continues on from Degraves St. We had the most amazing dumplings, washed down with an Aussie craft beer. As the name of the restaurant suggests, the place was tiny with just a handful of tables, but the dumplings were sublime, and very good value. After dinner we met up with Will who had finished his work by then, and headed riverside for a couple of drinks. It was great catching up with Marty as it had been a while, and also good to meet Abby for the first time.

Will and I wandered back to the YHA and got a good nights sleep. Our original plan was to spend 3 nights at the YHA, then our remaining 4 nights in the city with my sister Jane and her family who live in Preston (which always makes me think of the Courtney Barnett song!). However, due to the aforementioned Grand Prix, there was no remotely affordable accommodation left in the city centre for the Saturday and Sunday night. Luckily Jane and Shane were happy to put us up for 6 nights instead of 4!

On Saturday Will and I made the most of being in the city centre, starting with the Melbourne Aquarium. This was very cool and we ended up spending ages there, seeing, among other exhibits, one of the world's largest saltwater crocodiles!

Here are a few other pics. The penguin enclosure was also very cool (quite literally!).

After we had worked up an appetite at the aquarium we spent some time exploring the trendy laneways that Melbourne is renown for. We actually ended up eating at the same dumpling place I'd had dinner at the previous night so that Will got to enjoy it too.

After lunch we spent time exploring the National Gallery of Victoria. There was an interesting looking Andy Warhol/Ai Weiwei exhibition on, but we would have been too rushed to try and get around it before closing. However, there were two interesting Weiwei installations in the main body of the gallery which we could access, 'Forever Bicycles' and 'Chandelier'.

We were also quite taken with this crystal-encrusted taxidermied deer...

The stained glass roof in one of the halls was also rather impressive.

After we'd finished at the NGV we headed back to the hostel where we had left our bags in lockers for the day. Jane and Shane and Evelyn then came to pick us up and drive us back out to their place.

Sunday was family outing day! We headed out for a drive to the Yarra Valley and enjoyed looking around some of the antique shops in Yarra Glen. We then stopped at the Greenstone Vineyard just out of Yarra Glen and spent a very pleasant afternoon indulging in some wine tasting, good food, and listening to the live band that was playing.

Will had a busy week at work visiting Monash University, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and MAPrc (Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre). One night a couple of his RMIT colleagues took us both out for a meal at the Man Tong Kitchen, a very good Chinese restaurant in the Crowne Casino complex. Afterwards we headed outside to see the big gas torch pillars outside the casino do their thing... We had very nice views of the Arts Centre (where Jane's husband Shane works) all lit up.  

On Tuesday I caught the train into the city and explored the Queen Victoria Market. I really enjoyed the food part of it in particular, with awesome fresh produce, plus all the specialty food stores. I treated myself to a good espresso coffee and the most amazing freshly baked almond croissant for brunch. After checking out a few other shops (like the huge Myer centre) I went and visited my cousin Christine at the law firm where she works. We checked out the impressive view from the top floor of her building and she also had time to pop out for a quick afternoon tea drink.

One of Christine's insider tips on places to visit was the La Trobe reading room in the State Library. This was very close to RMIT where Will was working, so I met him after work one day and we had a look. It was a beautiful octagonal room, plus the library also had a couple of interesting art galleries to browse through.

On Tuesday night Will and I went and had dinner with Craig and Denise Bullen, who I went to high school and university with. I hadn't seen them for a good few years, so it was really nice catching up with them and their three kids.

On Wednesday I caught the train into the city, then took the tram out to St Kilda for the day where I had a lovely time exploring.  I do like the vibe in St Kilda, it's very chilled. I did tell Will that if we ever ended up living in Melbourne, I wouldn't mind living out St Kilda way...

Next to the Luna Park funfair was a community garden called 'Veg Out'. This was really interesting to wander around, and I made sure I went and said hello to the chickens!

Before heading back into the city I walked the length of the pier and watched a bit of the fishing action. From the pier I was lucky enough to see a small penguin swimming in the water. There were very nice views looking back towards the city, but the weather was starting to turn so I thought I'd better quickly head back towards home. Melbourne is renown for its 'four seasons in one day'!

Jane has Thursdays off work, so I spent the day hanging out with her. In the afternoon we visited my cousin Christine at her home as she also has Thursdays off. We had an excursion to a local park with Christine's 4-year old twin girls. It was pretty full-on! I find one small child hard enough work, let alone two, so fair play to Christine for managing them as she does.

Will and I had offered to mind 2-year old Evelyn for a night so that Jane and Shane could have a rare night out to themselves, and on Thursday night they took us up on that offer. Jane and Shane had time to give her dinner before they headed out, then Will and I managed the rest of the bath/bottle/bed routine. She definitely enjoyed Uncle Will's story time!

On Good Friday we flew back to Auckland where dad was waiting to collect us and take us back down to Hamilton (with a cheeky ice-cream stop in Pokeno on the way!). We enjoyed our time in Melbourne, and hugely appreciate all the hospitality from Jane and Shane (and Evelyn?) in terms of letting us stay for so long, providing meals when we were around, and chauffeuring us around as required, including the early morning run to drop us off at the airport that Shane kindly did. It was lovely being able to spend so much time with Evelyn as it will be a while before we see her in person again.