Melbourne in so-called summer…

Finally getting around to doing the Melbourne catch-up post- listening to Christmas Carols to get myself in the Christmassy mood!

Friday afternoon, Shun & I headed out to Brissie airport so that we could get to Melbourne. We left steamy Brisbane and arrived in cold, wet Melbourne 2 hours later.

I love Melbourne, don`t get me wrong, I could totally live there if it wasn`t for the crazy weather. Who has heard of of 16 degrees in December! Despite the weather, we had a fantastic, wonderful time. It was so great to see James (and his little brother Dean- who is not so little since he is the same age as me) as well as Gen & Alice some other friends I made on exchange several years back.

As usual I took 100s of photos of the weekend, but restrained myself and choose only 44 to add to flickr and if you are more of “like to see all in one shot” type of person then check out the album here.

James & Dean met us at the airport- we flew Qantas down (and JetStar back, leaving from the shed in Avalon…I mean airport!) and it was hard to believe it had been six month since I had been on an airplane. We headed to there place right away. James had only arrived Friday morning so he was a bit tired but we stayed up catching up, chatting etc and the boys even had a bit of a go on the WII. We crashed, but not before making plans for the next day…

Up bright and early the next morning, missing the train though by just a minute. I am used to trains coming every half hour or so here in the Brisbane `burbs (and Melbourne) but James could not believe the next train wasn`t for 22 minutes! I guess I have readjusted to Australian living because waiting that long for a train actually seemed fairly reasonable to me.

First stop after arriving in Melbourne city centre- a coffee/hot chocolate break. At a place you could make your own HOT CHOCOLATE. And it was divine. And Shun, well he liked the fact that while we had to sit outside and he was freezing that unlike in Brisbane you can smoke in cafes in Melbourne if you sit outside.

After some shopping and wandering around, we met up with Gen, another friend of ours who we studied with in Japan. He lives in Melbourne and works in a lawfirm. He took us into Melbourne Central and then do the DFO.

We also went to Lygon Street for lunch. Italian, yummy!

The casino awaited us so we headed there for a look around, dinner & some game playing in the arcade (none of us are big gamblers!)- Shun, while the oldest, was the only one asked for ID. And the guy quizzed him on his date of birth asking “What year were you born?” to which Shun replied “Japan”…. It is okay, I rescued him although I really hate to step in now as I really want Shun to learn from his own mistakes and be independent. He is doing so well though not just with his English but with living life here in general. He will go to the supermarket to pick up groceries, ringing me to see what we need and he is working with Dad most days and driving all around Brisbane….sometimes all by himself (in a manual truck I might add!)- The photo above is of James, me & Gen, outside the Casino in front of the city. It was about 7:30pm and still that light out! It was amazing, I had forgotten what daylight savings was like….stayling light until 9pm.

From there we said goodbye to Gen (who went to hunt down his gf Alice) promising to see each other the next day at Alice`s place for Chinese Hot Pot.

A short taxi ride later we had arrived at the Regent Theatre ready to see Wicked. Getting into the mood with a few “ozmopolitans” the green cocktails you see below. They were so yummy too, I was surprised! Wicked was amazing…I would see it again (and again and again)- nothing beats live theatre. Shun & James also loved it which made me so happy. It made me realize how many shows I have missed out on that I wish I could see. I left feeling a little sorry for the wicked witches and also with a desire to hire out Wizard of Oz to refresh my memory.

The Christmas spirit was alive and well in Melbourne, with this delightfully lit up tree near the theatre & St Paul`s Cathederal.

Unlike most cities in Australia, Melbourne still has a fantastic tram system in place. This one zoomed past in the rain at night after the show. If there is one thing (actually, okay there are a lot of things I wish I could of had time to do) I wish we could of done more of, it was ride trams. Especially the old kind!!

Sunday morning came around all too quickly and we were up and had left the house by 8:15am, to be sure we would not miss the only train that hour! Our winery tour bus picked us up in front of St Paul`s Cathederal (I didn`t get to go inside, as the couple of times we were close by it seemed they were having services inside)

First glass of wine- 10:3oam (we actually drank pretty much all day and all night, but in little amounts)

Wine storage in the Yarra Valley

The grapes are agrowing! We learn about different pallates and the different smells and flavours of the wine. I now know why people sniff and swirl- which I am sure will come in handy in my future life!

The three of us happy on love & quite possibly wine.

While it rained in the morning by the time we got to the Yarra Valley it had cleared a little and we were allowed to have a bit of a rain free day! The clouds were always there looming through but lucky they did not burst.

After the full-day wine tour we headed out to Alice` house as she was cooking Chinese Hot Pot. I had not see Alice and Gen since January when they visited Japan. I had never visted them in their own stomping grounds of Melbourne though. It was so lovely to see them both and I was so excited to hear they will be coming up to Brisbane for the wedding (I think Gen is more excited than we are if that is possible- it will be the first wedding he goes to where he actually knows the people getting married!)

I had thought Monday we might wake up a little worse for wear but after a bit of a sleep in, a pack-up and a bacon sandwich we were off again. This time to St Kilda before heading into the city.

While freezing pretty much the whole time we were in Melbourne it was a lovely lovely time. So great to see James & the others and I was so happy to be able to show Melbourne to Shumpei. It definitely was not enough time to do all we wanted to do, but definitely next time. I have a list already of all the things I want to do next time.

I think Shun loved Melbourne just as much I do (and James does)- although like me, the weather complexed him a little!

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