Weekend in Melbourne

Just got back today from an extended five day weekend in Melbourne.

The plan was to leave at 6.30am Friday morning, although we didn't hit the road till about 8.30am in the end. Luckily we had a great mix of music to see us through (see below).

We got into the Melbourne area at about 7ish, thinking we weren't far off from a delicious dinner at Paul's house. Well, we were. After getting lost a couple of times we finally arrived at Paul's place about 8.45pm. A surprisingly tasty dinner of lemon chicken and satay veggies was waiting, and after tea Paul and I watched the Cavs get killed in game one of the NBA Finals.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in a delightful little place called "Flippin' Pancakes" in the Dandenong Hills. The exact name of the town escapes me but it was really nice, kind of like Hahndorf, but a little less rubbish.

After this we went shopping at some factory outlet complex, then later in the afternoon Paul and I schooled some Asian guys down at his local courts. David and Anthony their names were I think. Anyway really nice guys, not so hot at basketball though.

Dinner was at a local cafe "Smokin' Joes". Their advertisements say it's not just a cafe but a way of life, but I don't know, it kind of seemed like a cafe to me. We grabbed Babel on DVD, but unfortunately we all hated it.

The next morning we left Paul and drove out to Careforce Church at Mt Evelyn. Michella had heard the Pastor before and wanted to check it out, it was really good. From there we drove into the CBD, checked into the Radisson, and did some shopping. Having a late lunch we ran into a guy from Adelaide who just seemed desperately lonely. He started off bagging Melbourne, then bagging Adelaide, and I got the feeling he'd say anything just to keep the conversation going a little longer. We would have obligued him, but I really needed new trackies so we slipped away.

Dinner Sunday night was in the Radisson's restaurant. I had the steak, and it was probably the best meal I've had in recent memory.

Monday morning we planned an early morning walk in the park opposite our hotel, which looked stunning - it reminded me of Central Park in New York. Unfortunately we slept in so after checking out of the hotel headed to the Melbourne Aquarium. It was better than I thought it would be, but completely overcrowded with kids (being a holiday and all).

We left Melbourne about lunchtime and drove to Horsham. We checked into the Darlot Motel, and took the vouchers they gave us to the RSL for dinner. It was kind of nice - the place was a bit run down and the food pretty crap but the atmosphere was great, with all of the locals and ex-servicemen in there. We saw Shrek the Third at a local theatre, then retired to our room, where I managed to catch 15 minutes of Passenger 57 before Michella made me turn it off. Man that movie has not aged well. Kind of funny though that at one point Wesley Snipes was actually making popular movies.

Drove through to Keith this morning where we stopped for lunch at a nice cafe, then home this afternoon. A great weekend, but it's good to be home . . .