poor form

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on reflection... it's very poor form to say i just can't be bothered.

one that will change continuously though out the trip will be places where we've shared a tipple and whiled away a few hours, so here is... top five drinks around the world - phase one (oz and a little bit of nz)

N.B. there is clearly plenty of criteria to what makes a good drink; the venue, occasion, company, the drink, etc. but I'll let those sub categories work themselves out over time.

1. labour in vain, tiny old school pub (more a converted front room) on brunswick st in melbourne. sort of a cross between the kings arms (near old work, london) and beerex (pub/student type hangout now closed but once in putney). relatively quiet but cool place where the local locals hungout. there were so many fantastic cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants in that area of fitzroy but this was the only one we visited more than once. awesome place to just sit up at the bar to chat and chill.

2. nelson's brewery in sydney - down in the rocks area. we'd already decided that it was date night
(so we had our best fleeces on), but set out early afternoon as heavy rain had pretty much meant anything else had lost its appeal. nelson's had its own little microbrewery - i think it was the 'victory' that was the most enjoyable pint - and the small wooden pub (with fire) was the highlight of a long and relaxed pub crawl. the evening also had our first 'we're not going back home next week' moment and there was a lot of planning chat.

3. rattle and hum, port douglas, oz. not a particularly inspiring venue but as we were on our way to the supermarket we randomly bumped into a friend that we dived with and who was sitting outside. 3 hours and no supermarket later, he (a very masculine and muscular spanish chap) and hel were in heated debate about which was the best julia roberts movie of all time and whether the love portrayed between nic cage and meg ryan in city of angels is the purest ever on film?!!! great evening and one of the funniest pub debates I've ever witnessed!

4. another pub (name unknown) in melbourne, where we dropped in to catch the manly sea eagles vs. melbourne storm NRL grand final. storm got whopped 40 points to nil in one of the most convincing but unexpected one sided games in history. while watching an stunning sporting display by the sea eagles was good, watching a pub full of expectant and noisy home fans go from 'giving it all that' before the game to being shocked to silence and walking out in drabs throughout the final 15mins, completely devastated, was a fascinating to watch. although it was oz v oz, oz still got beaten!

5. not very dramatic this one, but the cafe at mount coot-tha outside brisbane is also up there. the intention was to get up there early am but move on quickly with a number of museums/galleries, etc on the agenda. but the view over brisbane was fantastic (certainly the best thing about a very bland city) and our spot in the sun a bit too comfortable. i'm not sure how long we were there for but it was enough for me to start and finish robert harris' ghost (not as good as fatherland or enigma but better than the more recent ancient rome based books), and us to have something for breakfast, lunch and tea, honing our travelling skills of not doing a lot in one place while spending just enough (alternate coffees) to not get kicked out!

appears that it is oz 5, nz 0, which is surprising...

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