Melbourne - May 2012

The wake up call on board Spirit of Tasmania, comes at 5.45am. A quick shower, and we are called to our vehicle at 6.30am. By 6.40am we are in the streets of Port Melbourne. The area has been revitalised in recent years, with many apartment buildings and trendy shops and cafes. We find a delightful little French Boulangerie opening its doors, so it will be croque monsieur and coffee for breakfast. Both are delicious! We sit and watch the area come alive, with Lycra clad cyclists, joggers, and people walking their dogs. It reminds us so much of Balmain & Rozelle.


Any more coffee, and our eyes will be permanently open, so we head for The Big4 Melbourne Holiday Park at North Coburg, just 10 kms away. It is still before 9.00am, but the staff are welcoming and friendly, and put us in a temporary spot, until the sleepy heads vacate our designated site. By 12.00 noon we are set up and settled in. It is a lovely park with excellent facilities, and there are shopping centres, and shopping strips galore, within 5 minutes drive. We also have tram, bus, and train services to the city, all very close by, and even though public transport for seniors in Melbourne is not as cheap as Sydney, we can get a day pass for $3.70 each!!


We are in Melbourne to get some work done on the caravan, and will also take the opportunity to get the car serviced. Getting work done on the caravan is a logistical nightmare, as we have to find somewhere to stay, empty the fridge, and then move our personal belongings such as clothes and toiletries, as well as empty out any areas of the caravan requiring work. We have booked a cabin at the same caravan park, which is cosy, and spend most of Sunday afternoon transferring things from the caravan. Mission accomplished, we are ready to deliver the caravan to the repairer on Monday morning. They need it for 4 - 5 days. There is nothing major, but like a car or a home, it requires maintenance, so the wheel bearings, brakes, and suspension need to be checked as does the plumbing, and electrical, plus we have a list of minor things that have either broken or worn out. As it turns out, the awning which has played up since we took delivery,  is totally stuffed, and has to be replaced, so minor becomes major very quickly. The same applies to the car, so we leave behind a large chunk of money, but can hit the road again, knowing we are in good mechanical order.

The arcades of Melbourne.

So we have time to explore Melbourne. A train into the city for a look around, a tram into Lygon Street to sample the food and cafe culture. We really like Melbourne. The cafes and restaurants, coffee and food scene, the shopping, are all so different to anywhere else in Australia. It feels like Europe in so many parts. There is nothing else like walking through the bustling arcades of the city, that link the main streets. Some are informal and full of small cafes and food bars, with spruikers calling out their relevant virtues to the crowds, and others, like The Block Arcade, resplendent with crystal chandeliers and designer shops. The refurbished Myer and David Jones department stores on Bourke Street Mall, are world class retail establishments where one can get lost for days!! Lygon Street in Carlton remains one of the great places to eat, have coffee or a drink, or just be seen. Coffee and cake at Brunetti's is an institution. You have to see this place to believe it! Baristas and waiters, dressed in starched white shirts and long black aprons, buzzing around like flies. Hundreds of people, many exquisitely dressed in expensive clothes, sitting inside and out, enjoying great coffee and amazing sweets, from early morning until very late. You can sit there for hours, just watching this moving feast of people.

Masani's and 29 wonderful years.

It was our birthdays and wedding anniversary, whilst in Melbourne. I remembered 20 years ago, how in my corporate life, we used to go to a wonderful Italian Restaurant just off Lygon Street. Would you believe that it still operates, under the same family ownership!! We managed to book a table for Saturday night. Masani's remains a food institution, at the higher end of pricing, serving the most fabulous Italian food, presented superbly, in a warm relaxed atmosphere. We had a memorable night at Masani's, especially as I was with the love of my life, celebrating 29 wonderful years together, and not entertaining some pompous Buyer from Myer!

Elevation restaurant at Emerald Vic.

We have sold our kayak. It was living on the roof of the car and not getting anywhere near enough time in the water, so we decided to see what we could do on good old EBay. We listed whilst in Tasmania, and sold it in 3 days to a guy who lives in the Dandenongs, just east of Melbourne, so we agreed to deliver it when we hit the mainland. We took the lovely drive to the little village of Emerald, dropped off the kayak and decided on a joint celebration lunch of birthdays and successful sale. Carolyn spied a place called Elevation, and we had a lovely Tapas lunch and a glass of wine.

John, Barbara, Carolyn and Daphne.

By way of a wonderful sense of timing, we also managed to catch up with friends we haven't seen for a very long time, who were in Melbourne at the corresponding time. Firstly it was our dear friends Daphne and Barbara, who live in Auckland NZ, and who we haven't seen for 15 years. Carolyn met Daphne when she went to work at Civil & Civic as a 19 year old girl. Daphne moved on to Auckland to marry and raise a family, but the two have remained firm friends by mail, phone and more recently, regular email. Barbara is Daphne's close friend, and we have met up on occasions when they have visited Australia, and our rare visits to NZ. It was so wonderful to be able to meet up. Daphne had decided to keep it a secret from Barbara, and so the look of surprise on her face when we walked into the hotel room with Daphne, was priceless! We headed into Lygon Street, found a nice little Italian cafe, and the stories began. Thank God we weren't paying by the word. We'd be washing dishes for eternity!! The hours just sped by. It was a memorable night, shared by true friends.

John and Angela.

We also phoned Angela. Now, Angela worked at Menai Blinds when we first began at Gaymoir Products. She is full of fun, and we got on really well. She moved back to Melbourne about seven years ago, and we keep in touch through email. She jumped at the chance to catch up, and we enjoyed a long, long, long lunch at Northland shopping centre, on a cold, wet and miserable day. Another great afternoon sharing stories of travel and life.


Last thing on our schedule, was a visit back to Bendigo, about 2 hours out of Melbourne. Carolyn had seen that the Bendigo Art Gallery, which is very progressive, was hosting an exhibition called "Grace Kelly - Style Icon". We had seen another excellent exhibition last time we were in Bendigo, "The White Wedding Dress". This one was really good, with a large number of the original designer label outfits she had worn both in the movies, and in her real life princess role. There was also a wonderful Audio Visual show, splicing together parts from her movies, and old news reel footage of her engagement, wedding,  and royal life in Monaco, as well as a lot of home movies of her young family. All in all, it was well worth the visit.
So that about sums up our time in Melbourne. The weather was, well, Melbourne!! We had it all, but mostly, it felt like winter is well and truly around the corner.