Melbourne
I've been remiss with my posting - but only because we've been enjoying ourselves so much. We're in Sydney now, having arrived yesterday, so I think a few words on Melbourne are overdue.
Melbourne is a beautiful city. It's very verdant and well-planned with beautiful buildings and street art everywhere. The city is sort of cut in half by the Yarra River, which serves as sort of an axis along which there are tons of bars and restaurants. It's lovely at night, with all sorts of sculptures that are lit up, and fountains and such.
We had a great time visiting friends, there. Simon showed us around on our first day - we went to Chinatown and had a tour of Victoria Parliament and had very tasty Japanese food. We even caught a Russ Meyer film at the arty theatre.
We saw the aquarium the next day with our friends Natalie and Christian and their adorable daughter Isabella. Natalie and Christian used to live in London and we haven't seen them in about two years, so it was fantastic to catch up again. We went back to their house afterwards and had a late night reminiscent of times spent in London. In other words, it was wild. ;)
Sunday we just took easy, after all of the travelling and socialising we'd been doing, we sort of needed a break. We did end up at the casino for dinner and a movie (V for Vendetta - although it was panned by lots of people, we enjoyed it). The casino is more an entertainment complex than a casino - very Vegas style, with lovely amenities and restaurants and shopping and some lovely cinemas. We got a few night shots of the fire show outside - definitely take a look at them - they were fun to do.
Our final day in Melbourne was spent wandering, seeing another movie (World's Fastest Indian - very very good) and hanging out with Simon. We stayed close to home in the evening, as neither of us were feeling 100%, and had steak at a very tasty local steakhouse. Mmm steak.
Anyway, we're now in Sydney. It's a lot warmer here, and beautifully sunny. We're going to the beach today and going to take it easy. Tomorrow, we do a refresher dive so we're ready for the diving in Port Douglas. More about that later. There's been a snag with my scuba gear, but it looks like it should be okay.
And now... pictures! (Sorry people who read this on LJ - I know you can't see the javscript flickr tag thing, but if you click on the link, you should go to my pictures.)
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2 Comments
Have a great time in Sydney, Beth. It's a beautiful city. If your photos of Melbourne are any guide to your tastes, make sure you wander around Circular Quay at dusk; it's spectacular at any time of day, but comes alive at night. And if you are after a restaurant, Long Grain near Hyde Park is hard to beat. Fusion Ozzie/Thai food in a stylish setting, and not too pricey.
Have a great trip!
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Beth Ballingall
food lover : world traveller : gamer : New Yorker : twenty-something : former Londoner : handbag lover : erstwhile soprano : geek
Beautiful! What happened with your gear? (I liked V for Vendetta very much.) Are you going to take underwater pictures too? Do people dress like pimps and hos in the Melbourne casinos?