Melbourne

Well, I'm back from Melbourne and here to share with you the tales of my journey!

What a fantastic city Melbourne is! It's so different from Auckland, it's so busy and there seems to be shops on every corner and down every alleyway. There's something always happening, buskers everywhere were making noise, there was very rarely a quiet street to walk down. 

My first bit of excitement was the taxi driver who took us from the airport to our hotel near China town. He sounded as though he was from Yemen, and was an anti-Semitic Orthodox Christian. He drove on the motorway pointing out the sights, "there's the golden french fry and crab sticks," he said to a sculpture of - well, a giant french fry like piece of art. He then went on to inform us that "everything is big in Australia, except Australian minds." He complained about John Howard, and then Kevin Rudd, a "half-Jew" who can't be expected to change anything.

Most of the holiday was taken up with exploring the city on foot, money burning a hole in our pockets. There were so many shops - I don't even think we made a dent in them. Unfortunately, we didn't see much to buy as everything was either exactly what we had at home or too expensive, but it was exciting nonetheless.

On our second night in Melbourne, we walked up to Lygon Street, which is where all the Italian cafes and restaurants are. As you walk down the street, they accost you, offering you free drinks and special deals if you'll dine with them. Eventually we were convinced to go into a restaurant where the woman insisted that "my mum's the chef," (although when I walked past the kitchen on my way to the bathroom there was no old Italian woman in sight). We had the honour, if you can call it that, of being seated near a group who looked like they were the mob. Four younger men, 25 and under were seated with their father, a dark overweight Italian man. Later, they were joined by two older men. One was quite old and reserved, and the other wore and open shirt with a gold chain over his hairy chest. You didn't want to mess with him. The waitress was rather attentive to the, and at one stage she was walking towards us, but the old man made a hand gesture and she quickly diverted her path. It probably wasn't the mob, but it sure made the meal a lot more exciting.

Day three we visited the International Cake Shop, except they only sell Greek cakes. They are the most delicious cakes I've ever had. I had a walnut baklava roll, my father had a pistachio baklava roll dipped in chocolate, and my little sister had a sweet cannelloni. Yum! If you ever go to Melbourne, make sure you visit the cake shop. Or one of the many chocolate shops they have. There seemed to be a chocolate shop in every arcade. I couldn't get over it, and eventually we stopped at San Churro and had hot chocolates.

Other sites we visited was the Old Melbourne Gaol - which is definitely worth a trip, St Kilda - where it feels as though you should be in the 1920's, especially when you go to Luna Park, the markets, Shrine of Remembrance and the Melbourne Museum. 

Each night we ate to a different theme. Night one we ate at Dracula's, the theatre restaurant. Night two was Lygon Street, Night three we bought food from the markets and ate them in the hotel room. On night four we did Greek and ate at Dion, if you go there I recommend the lemon lamb. Mouth watering, and on night five we ate at Post-Deng. Or Post-Mao. I can't remember what it was called, but it was in China Town, and I would say go for the Peking Duck Banquet. Delicious!