Had a nice sleep lash night, didn't wake once which is unusual as I normally do whenever I'm not in own bed. Carol went of to gym for an hour so I decided to repay Sinéad/David a bit so did a spot of cleaning!
Left the apartment about 11am and strolled through Melbourne (again, such a class vibrant place).
Got watching a street entertainer for about 30 mins, good showman and knew how to get a crowd. He kept the main trick dangling on string but near end came the 'I'm a street performer so I do not get paid, donation etc etc.." part. I had no bother giving him spare change but he made a strong point of saying average donation is $10 but $5 would do also but no coins - I thought "the cheeky bollix". I mean you're a street entertainer..if you are picky about what donations ppl give you f**k off like.
Hopped on a FREE shuttle bus (do you hear that Ireland - love Oz!) which brought us around main Melbourne attractions. It was also a hop on hop off thing which was cool. We did a full loop first to see what was out there..it took about 1.5 hours and unsurprisingly it was quite busy. Melbourne seems to be quite good like that..giving the basic tourist services for free to bring in the tourists. Great way of doing it and a lesson for all countries not like when you go to Dublin or Cork and get charged €20 by a snotty driver for a s*** tour.
We hopped off bus at the MCG, I was finally going to get in there - albeit via a tour of it! Tour cost $20, absolute class arena, guide was very informative also.
After tour we headed to Japanese café for a quick bite...China town had so many places to eat, lots of competition = cheap prices!
After our bite we visited a lane way which was used in Masterchef Australia last year when Marian Grasby gained an immunity pin (for you Masterchef fans) Was great the see the laneway, very cool covered in graffiti as part of decor bit had famous restaurant called Movido on it. More on Marian Grasby in tomorrow's blog... :-)
We met Sinéad off train (after 1st day in new job Woohooooooo congrats again!!) and walked back to apartment. Have nice chilli con carne cooked up for me (could get used to this holidaying lark!) and Alex and her sister/kids called on to say hey.
David had a sega mega drive delivered today so we player a bit of Street Fighter on it..blast from the past!! Jesus, how gaming has come on so much from 15/20 years ago??!
We strolled out about 9.45pm to a fire display on quay which happens every night..they have about 8 large columns which blow gas / fire out for about 5 mins creating a massive display. Apparently they use loads of gas for it - it happens on the hour every hour every night! And it's free. (attached to Crown plaza complex..has shopping, eating, drinking, cinema, concert arena and CASINO!!!). Next stop...Casino!!
This place was mental altogether, Monday night - packed to the rafters with slot machine, bars, bookmakers, roulette tables, black jack, spin the wheels; more machines than I had ever seen in my life. Played around in there for a short while, but I said we need to come back here when I was pasted in a few days (mainly because I probably won't remember how much I'll lose!!). We also came across so very cool foundations which had water displays which spurted water out to the beat of whatever music was playing. Time will tell!! Ken.