March in Melbourne...or is that Melbin?

Sunday 1st March
Set off for Melbourne (pron. Melbin) this morning, stopping off at the Traralgon tourist office. Here we found a lovely guy who gave us lots of good tips for the Great Ocean Road as well as local places of interest: we went to the local Wild Dog Winery and bought a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc ( pron. Savblon). Got to Melbourne with no problems thanks to Janine's perfect directions. Navigator ( thats me ) and driver ( Linda ) worked in totally harmony. Was lovely to be greeted by our luvly friend on her own patch. Met Lincoln and enjoyed a pizza dinner together.

Monday 2nd March
Woke up at about 8.45 and checked the paper work re. the van... oh la la! It was due back by 11am today. Total panic set in and we rushed around like mad fools, leaving about 9.30 and finally getting the camper van back spot on 11am thanks to Linda's fantastic calm driving and despite Brent's panicked navigating. The Apollo team was over stretched and we were lucky to spot another English couple who were headed to the airport and who gave us a lift. We then picked up the shuttle bus from the airport to southern cross station, where we then sorted out a week long travel pass which proved very efficient. We enjoyed our first view of Melbourne:federation square was very impressive with a presentation taking place of a winning football team..on a big screen. We were quite tired, so decided to get back to Janine's place and get some rest. We enjoyed finding our way on the tram and bus, getting off the bus at the local mall where we had a look around and bought some fish for dinner. That evening Janine drove us to St Kilda – the beach area of Melbourne: it was a lovely evening and we walked down the pier – whilst looking out at sea I (Linda) fell over a step and for a moment thought I was going to fall over the edge into the brink! It was actually quite scary, as my cheekbone hit the floor with quite a smack !! Poor Janine was really upset! A nearby bar provided ice and a cool drink and in less than no time I was in the Espy ( the Esplanade) bar enjoying live music and a beer. Brent and Janine even managed a dance b4 we left.

Tuesday 3rd March
We had a lazy day today, catching up with email, washing etc. We did get to the local mall again – it's huge and we found everything, including a Dick Smith's where we bought a new memory card for our photos. Janine cooked us lovely lamb chops for tea then her mum picked us up and took us to her keep fit class. This was a lovely group of women, who made me very welcome. I really enjoyed it and was very impressed to see Janine's mum in action leading the class: she's over 80 and has run the class for many years. It was great- a mix of keep fit/ yoga/line dancing etc.

Wednesday 4th March
Today we got a bus to Caulfield and then got on the train to Frankston to see my cousin, Mal. She picked us up just outside the station and although it was over 40 years since we'd last met, we quickly got into a good natter! Back at her house she cooked us a lovely pork sunday roast and we spent the day catching up over several glasses of wine. It was good to see family photos and get to know each other....thanks for making us so welcome Mal.

Thursday 4th March
We got the train from Frankston and decided to head into Melbourne. We visited the moving images museum ACMI, where we had a lovely chicken and asparagus soup....have you noticed how important food is for us???!! We had a look in St Paul's cathedral before getting on the free shuttle bus tour of town. The bus driver was great and gave us lots of info.and insight into the city. We got off on the south bank and walked to the Crown Casino complex, which was amazing. We spotted the cinema and were delighted to get cheap tickets to Slumdog Millionaire, which we thought was very powerful and moving. After the film we fancied an Indian meal and found a nice restaurant in the lanes.. great. Back at Janine's we watched a film about life on a kibbutz, which sent Brent into nostalgic reminiscing of his experience back in the early 80s...the film gave a very negative view of things, which wasn't Brent's experience at all.

Friday 5th March
Brent stayed at home this morning and sorted out a hire car. Meanwhile Janine and I headed to town, where we had a coffee in an arcade of the lanes and had a look for a new fleece for me, in some very expensive, but lovely camp shops. We then went up to Victoria market and I really enjoyed the $2.50 lunch from the deli there. We headed off to meet Brent and pick up our tickets for Billy Elliott which Janine and I had decided to treat ourselves to. We ended up meeting Brent on Brunswick street where we found the gallery showing Kate Shone's work ( seen previously in Metung). We loved this area and after Janine left us we went to the beer hall she's pointed out to us and enjoyed a decent beer.

Saturday 6th March

Today we all headed into town and Janine and I went to a famous Italian restaurant for minestrone soup before going to see the stage version of Billy Elliott at her Majesty's Theatre...what a brilliant show! We loved everything about it and went through a whole gamut of emotion, including a good cry! Met Brent after the film up on Brunswick Street and he told us that he'd been having lunch up at Victoria market, turned around to see right next to him a German couple, that we'd chatted to back in Sydney at Lane Cove....what a small world! They were on their way back and had travelled the Great Ocean Road in the rain. Janine said goodbye to us and headed off to meet her friends and we found a great Malaysian restaurant in China Town where we overate but got a good taste for Malay food, ready for the next stage of our trip! Afterwards we explored some of the bars that Janine had recommended: we loved the Cookie Bar and decided to explore this high rise further.. 2 floors higher up, ie on the top of the building, we found the rooftop cinema bar, which was quite spectacular with breathtaking views of the city. Fab.