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Published: March 12th 2011
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Monday 21 February and onwards
Following our escapades in South Australia we look forward to a couple of low key weeks although of course we have Mike’s birthday to celebrate.
The news here has been dominated by, yet again, another natural disaster – this time the devastating earthquake in close neighbours New Zealand. The news channels continue to show the increasing numbers of lives lost and how much of the infrastructure of Christchurch, New Zealand’s second city, has collapsed. Although there was a chance Mike might have been in NZ this week (not in the South island though) luckily the visit did not materialise.
We have been out and about this week visiting some of the Melbourne sights including the Queen Victoria Market and the Botanic Gardens. We must be getting experts at Botanic Gardens as in our various travels we have visited them in Sydney, Adelaide, Hong Kong, Singapore and now Melbourne – how rock & roll is that!!
On Wednesday it was Mike’s birthday so we had a quiet celebration with steaks on the BBQ and a few glasses, however, Sara had made a reservation for the 4 of us on the Melbourne Old Tram
Crown Casino
Jude & Mike taken before I was spotted and told not to take photos Restaurant for Friday evening and this turned out to be a marvellous night out. The Old Tram is one of the original Melbourne Trams which has been decked out into a superb dining car. The booking included a 5 course meal with unlimited beverages while the tram toured the streets and suburbs of Melbourne at a leisurely pace. The food, drink, service and whole ambiance were excellent and to finish it off a birthday cake was presented to Mike. A brilliant time was had by us all - thank you Sara for organizing.
As a footnote to this night out I would mention that before proceedings commenced Jude & I met Mike from work for a couple of pre-celebration bevies and we went to the Crown Casino on the Southbank. This complex has numerous bars, a very plush hotel and the largest casino in the Southern Hemisphere – before drinks we toured the casino – the size and number of gaming tables was unbelievable. I hasten to tell you we did not have a flutter but I was seriously reprimanded for trying to take a photo. Many famous people have stayed at the hotel and I understand it was
one of the places Tiger Woods had allegedly taken one of his floosies (where hadn’t he I hear you say).
For you Rugby fans one of the bars in the Crown was also the venue where our ex international export Danny Cipriano was ejected from in the last couple of weeks for allegedly trying to steal a bottle of vodka and spookily as we supped our beers they were showing the Melbourne Rebels (who Cipriano plays for) against the Canberra Brumbies match in the ‘Super Rugby’ cup competition live in the bar and guess who kicked the winning penalty in the last seconds of the game - from villain to hero no less!! For anybody interested this ‘Super Rugby’ cup has been going for some years now with various club teams taking part from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – a bit like the Heineken cup I guess but this is the 1st season Melbourne have entered a team in the competition – they got hammered by Sydney in their 1st match but this 2nd match was the 1st time they had registered any points in the competition. Staying on the rugby theme what a result on
Restaurant Tram
Between courses stop Saturday against the French – now for the grand slam - unfortunately they don’t show any of the 6 Nations matches over here. I’ve just seen the England/India result in the cricket world cup – a tie – how clever is that!! – must have been a good one to watch – with unpredictable England anything can happen!!
As previously mentioned the last few weeks have been fairly quiet as we now countdown to our departure although we have made a few excursions into Melbourne and we also had a nice beach day at St. Kilda and a trip to Melbourne museum. The weather lately has been very changeable – rainy and cool some days – hot and humid on others – we have learnt not to rely on any forecasts!! All is well with Mike and Sara and of course Tamsin who is now giving smiles out freely! Last Sunday we joined Ben, Miranda and Sara’s parents for a ‘brunch’ in Melbourne to celebrate Ben’s (Sara’s brother) birthday and this Saturday (12th March) we are going to the local park reserve for a family BBQ to celebrate Sara’s birthday before our departure to Singapore the following day.
BBQ
At the park I see that once again our cricket team continue to be as unpredictable as ever – as you can imagine the Australian press had an absolute field day with the result against the Irish (still it’s only a Mickey Mouse cup compared with the Ashes) and I think they were about to continued with the rubbing of salt into wounds until somehow we managed to pull off a most unlikely win against South Africa (who said our bowlers are crap?) If nothing else, for entertainment value, the most exciting games in this competition so far seem to have involved England.
Saturday 12th March
I don’t believe it – we lost against Bangladesh (I thought only Australia did that) – how am I going to cope with a BBQ with all those Australian jibes! Anyhow – Perfect day weather wise and we head to the local Reserve (park) and have a great day celebrating Sara’s birthday with a BBQ with all the trimmings. In addition to Sara’s parents Ben & Miranda joined us together with Miranda’s parents – 10 of us in all. Having eaten and watered ourselves throughout the afternoon we get back to Mike & Sara’s house
Sara's Cake
She did share it with us! to pack our cases for our departure tomorrow morning – Singapore here we come!
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Jo
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See you soon
Sounds like another great week down under and glad Mike & Sara enjoyed their birthdays. Tamsin is looking very cute and full of smiles. We've been loving the blogs and Sam loved seeing the photos. Can't wait to see you both. Enjoy Singapore xxx