Last weekend I had the pleasure of frolicking in Melbourne after many years of neglecting her. It still is a cracker of a city, I had the good fortune to be staying with Traci, who is a wonderfully good egg. She has a place right in the thick of it on Hardware Lane so it was just a stumble to all the great food and fun.
Ok, allow me a little self gratification...on Thursday 26 April I graduated from Deakin University with a Master of Business Administration (MBA), specialising in public policy/public management. For those who weren't caught up in the trauma of it, I have spent the last three years working full time and studying part time in Indonesia and Australia, paying for the whole damn thing myself and almost killing myself in the process. But thankfully I perservered and now have an additional line in my CV and a funky framed thing - hang on, is that all I got? Hmm.
That night I had a fab-o Indian meal with a beer for $11 in a great cafe somewhere on Bourke st up near Parliament. Of course it was suggested to me by a guy on the tram after he discussed it with half the tram - ahh Melbourne.
The highlights from the weekend were spending time with the ever helpful Traci and being inspired for my trip. I finally caught up with Jon and Justine and their creation, Sachi, great friends from Singapore days. Also great to see Cath and Paddy - especially as we caught up at Barney's wonderful new bar, Barney Allen's on Fitroy street in St Kilda. Barney is newly married to Ange and returned from their honeymoon in Honolulu. Jon, Justine and I caught a matinee of Keating! the musical - more on that later. I also saw Lucy, a Sydney friend from school days and hung out with her World Championship swimming buddies. I grabbed brunch with Tom and his little one Silvi in Yarraville and had a wonderful ramble about Asia. I also got to spend time with the lovely Jase although way too briefly.
I picked up a tasty new piece of technology - a Canon 400D SLR camera. Not only did I get a good deal from Michaels but I can use my old film camera lenses with it. Nice. No doubt this blog will feature some creative visual productions from it.
I gotta say, Melbourne is definitely on the shortlist of cities to live in when I finish my trip - it rocks.
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You have discovered my not-so-terrible secret! Melbourne! Clothes, a martini list as long as your arm, clothes, Sherrins, clothes, roast chestnuts, Carlton Draught, clothes, Punt Road (hahaha), Albert Park, clothes, police in those freaky big leather Ned Kelly overcoats, the Market (trash, I know, but I've never had a bad night there), Avalon Airshow, clothes and did I mention the clothes shopping is great?
ReplyDeleteMelbourne gets a big tick from me four times a year, and for the past 5 years I've been getting half a wardrobe, 4000 frequent flyers on the CityFlyer and some god-awful 'hangovers' from Melbourne. Yeah I could live there!
And as for a Canon Dig SLR - they rock, I bought one earlier this year and took it to Avalon and came away with 644 photos in a single day. 30 frame burst drive is amazing! You cant help but love it, and you're photos will be great too! Have fun and keep this posted Mr!!
x
Rob, glad to know Melbourne has that charm for you too. If only it had a decent harbour and beaches - how perfect would that be?!?!
ReplyDeleteWill let you know how the camera goes, the biggest issue is how to manage all those snaps on the road. The 4GB card will only last so long.
Hope to see you in Sydney before I go.