After a busy week seeing the sites of Tassie we ventured off to Melbourne, our last stop before leaving Australia. We farewelled James’ mum and had a little rest in the James Boag’s bar at the Launceston airport, not a bad way to unwind really.
Arriving into Carleton to stay with Simon and Jaki, Dee decided after ten minutes in Melbourne that we’re moving there, there is just so much to see and do! We made our way to Fitzroy for drinks with friends, and who else shows up but Keagan! 27 beers later, some tasty American style food, chats with Mikey, Dean, Brad, Kitch, Cam and their partners, Jaki and Simon, we said farewell to half the group. The other half followed Simon to a packed out little bar called Black Pearl who made amazing Pisco Sours (something we’re likely to have many of on this trip). 4:00am rolls around and so do some pretty awesome souvlakis, followed by a little bit of a hangover.
Of course, when you’re hung-over the sensible thing to do would be to get some sleep, have a good balanced meal with lots of nutrients and plenty of fluids to help your body recover. What does Dee do? Meets Keagan for a recovery breakfast in the city at the Lion Hotel (not “The Red Loin”). Hair of the dog at it’s best! James slept a little longer then went for breakfast with Simon and had a delicious pulled pork waffle. We then hung around the city for the day, winding up at Lygon St for a couple of cheap beers in happy hour, followed by dinner at a little Italian place a few streets over.
What a meal that was! (If you haven’t gathered already you’re going to be getting a lot of ravings about foods that we’ve eaten along the way). The Olive Jar is a fairly small restaurant with a lot of big personalities! We started with an antipasto platter, which literally had everything Italian you could think of thrown on: meat, pickled vegetables, savoury donuts, bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, more meat and cheese. The waitress taking our order had made the fettuccine for our mains that morning and it was by far the best pasta ever. Between the Napolitana and what seemed like a seafood extravaganza both served in fry pans we were chockers… but then there was dessert. Another plate full of everything you could possibly want, topped off with the waitress spooning at a huge helping of Tiramisu from a massive bowl. The night ended with singing from the owner and a little dancing around the dining room. It was a wonderful evening!
Monday morning we met up with Chris and Ruth (Dee’s parents) who flew down to say their last goodbyes for our big adventure. We checked into the Sebel hotel and then wandered our way around the city streets and alleys to James Squire. Ruth had organised for both of the boys to have a cutthroat shave after the few beers; unfortunately, none of us realised that Monday was also Labour Day Holiday in Victoria, including the shop we had organised it with. This was very swiftly rectified with the boys returning to the hotel to shave themselves and the girls supplying a bottle of Talisker and food, and then heading to have our nails done. Dee did a last minute run-around to find James a pair of cufflinks before our big night at Dinner by Heston.
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