After a very casual morning we eventually left home around 10am to go to the airport.
Got to the airport checked in and then found out our flight was delayed by about 3/4hr, so we had to suffer a little longer in the Qantas Club.
Flight was very uneventful, and we arrived in Melbourne about 2pm eastern time. Took ages for our luggage to come out, then grabbed a cab to the city and our accommodation in the Punt Hill Manhattan Apartments in Flinders Lane.
Check-in was a breeze and went to our room on the 7th Floor. We have an oblique view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Rod Laver Arena, the rest of our view is pretty average backs of buildings.
After settling in we went out to get some supplies. On the way back Deb took me to the Sofitel on Collins St and up to the 35th floor to have a look at the view from the toilets, ceiling to floor windows with great views of Melbourne. At this point I should remind EVERYONE to make sure you pay attention to the drawing on the door to the toilets. Yes, there I was taking photos of the view from the window, luckily not interrupted by anyone. When I came out Deb showed me the sign on the door. I didn’t realise men in Melbourne wore dresses!! Takes all kinds I guess.
After we dropped our supplies back in our room, we went out to get the free City Circle Tram for a look around town. It was now that Melbourne decided to show us that it really does have 4 seasons in a day. It poured rain for about 5 mins, got pretty cold, then the wind picked up and it dried out and the sun actually popped out for a while. We eventually found a Tram stop hopped on the next tram to come by and took our seats.
It was then that we noticed that there was some sort of “Shoot” going on in the front of the tram. There was a tall very leggy model in a tight skimpy dress having many many pics taken of her. Some pics were just her in the tram and then some with a bag and then some with an “Elmo” doll. It was all a bit strange. I guess there must have been about 6 to 8 people in the photography crew.
They all got off at Flinders St Train Station, and we got off a couple of stops later. As we walked along we saw another grocery shop and made the most of it and finished getting our supplies for the week. We then took all the supplies back to our apartment before going back out to the Melbourne Press Club for dinner, or we thought we were.
Seems you have to book to eat in Melbourne, so we made a booking for Wednesday and set out to find our alternative restaurant, Dhaka, a highly rated Indian eatery. This was when the rain started again. Now, we didn’t have the address of the restaurant, but all was good, Deb said it was sort of a few streets in and around “this sort of area”. After we had gone a way, and had a bit of a look , asked some people and had been walking in the rain for a while without any success, I eventually got my phone out and “googled” the restaurant. It was in a very different part of town than we had been looking, so we compromised, and went to an Irish Pub for tea. I had a Chicken Parma and Deb had Fish and Chips and mushy peas (yum), all washed down with a Sav Blanc and a Coopers. We enjoy quirky pub eating, atmosphere is always great, food can be “interesting” and the company is always excellent.
After tea, we headed back to the apartment for a bit of tennis on the TV and a glass of Kahlua on ice. Its a hard life.
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