last tango in melbourne with a bunch of wacked out wierdos but not as weird as yours.

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Saturday 29th July

Melbourne

Well I haven’t been to Melbourne since 1991 when I lived and studied there. I think Melbourne is a great city and have been meaning to drag my ass down there for years and now I have finally made it!

The whole gang of us including Mum and now minus Uncle Howard went down. We stayed at the city Centre Budget Hotel on 22 Little Collins St. …. Dunno about the others but I HIGHLY recommend it as it’s in a great position….there’s a groovy bar across the road so you can get blotto and stumble elegantly back to the hotel and Pelegrini’s is just around the corner, in Bourke St. Also on Bourke is a café called the Mess Hall, which I recommend for breakfast, rather than going directly to the cafés across the road from the hotel…. They are not as spunky as the Mess Hall, which I notice was playing tango music when I went in to check it out. The Hotel is also right next to Parliament station, and of course the tram stop is nearby too. Umm and the staff are nice. All this for $80/night for a twin. Cheaper if you get a family room. Bathroom’s down the hall.

Sunbus or Bust:
Guess what? If you land in Avalon airport you are somewhere out near Geelong, which is fine if you live there but crap if you’re trying to get to the city. There is only one option…the Sunbus. It’s $18 one way to the city (Spencer St Station) and add another $7 if you want them to drop you off at your hotel. It’s a one hour trip. The other airport at Tullamarine is just 30 mins from the city but you’ll be paying similar transport fees.

Avalon airport is basically monopolised by the Jetstar airline and feels like you are landing in a paddock, which you are.

I met Sunny when I was in China in 2000. Today I met her in Little Collins St at the hotel. We walked and talked around Chinatown and found a place for the family to have dinner when they arrived.
You can’t go back. That’s the rule. Sunny looked over her Johnny Walker and coke and explained me the rules of life. Like all rules they seemed arbitrary and I solemnly nodded as I looked at her framed by nameless Byzantine pictures of saints on the wall of the bar we sat in. She had not changed a bit since I saw her 5 years ago but somehow she was older.

Dinner was at the Nam Loong. the standard Cantonese fair of shiny foods. Sunny had suggested well and even the fussy children found something to eat. I sat across my aunty and watched her frown at the menu. Liz pulled faces and Christopher looked bored. My mother at my side made me feel like I was back in Sydney’s Chinatown.
Tomorrow all public transport is $2.50. Sunny offered. Her offer was hungrily pounced upon and after dinner we all were marched down t Melbourne Central to arm ourselves with the $2.50 key to the city for tomorrow. All we need do is simply roll out of bed and into a tram and fossick for touristic delights. I planned yum cha with Sunny in the morning. He he.

Sunday 30th July
Good Mooooorning Melbourrrrrrne! Yum cha with Sunny at Glen Waverly, which is a bit of a middle class Chinese enclave like Chatswood in Sydney. After that I went to St Kilda to meet up with some other friends, Morgan and her son Ryan. We walked along the esplanade past the Sunday Markets and met up with the relatives on Acland for some cake and coffee. The boss squeezed past our table to duck out the back lane. Ryan looked askance at his dirty stained shirt. Liz and me spotted what he’d scored in his hand as he returned. I turn to hear Morgan say …. Yeh but your wierdos are really wacked! American’s make Ivan Milat seems like a pussy.

Monday 31st July
The whole gang of us all go to the Da Vinci exhibition at the Docklands. It’s supposed to be an interactive exhibition of his inventions, so why is it you can’t touch everything? From what I heard last night from Twa Kor today will be a killer tourist day and me and Go to gaol do not pass Go do not collect $200. Mum and I split after the exhibition to do some shopping.

In the evening Me and Mum hunt down a tango class in Brunswick. I feel like I’m 7 again where mum would take me to ballet and then wait till the class is over to take me home again. I had a great time and met some nice tango people.
I wonder if you can ask someone for a lift back to the hotel?
Muuum no. this apparently is an embarrassing thing for me to do…don’t ask me why.
The teacher walks directly to us and asks
Do you need a lift home? My mother is charmed. And she looks triumphantly at me.
We were dropped outside Pelegrini’s and share a lasagne before going back. I love the way restaurants in Melbourne are still jumpin late at night.

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Photos

Ryan and Morgan
waiting for the tram in st Kilda

bye bye sydney
i love sydney from the sky!

landed
getting off the plane the old fashioned way

paddock
this is the paddock we landed in

what do you do with bored teenagers?
send them to gaol .....

twa Kor and sayhankor
yummy shiny food

ssharon and Sunny
Cocktails before retiring.

Ryan Me and Morgan
on St Kilda beach in front of this huge shipwreck sculpture

cool Melbourne graffitti
lots of this great stuff all over the city!