Melbourne, Victoria … and the Motor Home …

Sat, 8th Dec: Southbank Travelodge, Melbourne … Business Class 🙂 …
An early start sees us at the airport for our 9.30am flight to Melbourne. After dropping the rental car off we check in and have an hour to wait before boarding our Virgin flight. We think nothing as the seats are called to board (business class, then the higher numbers followed by the lower numbers) waiting for our call – we are seats 3C and 3D. Imagine our delight albeit tainted with a little confusion as we board and are directed to the left of the plane to, yes you’ve guessed it, Business Class!!!!!!!! I look at Neil to see any signs of him surprising me with an upgrade but he looks back at me vacantly and we soon look at each other questioningly. Have we been upgraded without being informed or, has some kind soul back home upgraded us as a Christmas pressie?????? We are very excited to be in Business Class and it’s not long before it’s explained to us that a mistake was made at check in by the operative … can you believe it? … hilarious; we are grinning from ear to ear and it’s another first for me!

We soon settle in – oh yes we do! – and enjoy real cutlery and plates on which we are served our four course meal NOM NOM NOM! In brief our meal consisted of starters of cauliflower and cumin soup (me) and king smoked salmon (Neil) with warm bread; followed by lunch of arabic spiced lamb cutlets with lemon cous cous, sweet potato and chickpeas alongside spinach with rocket radicchio and balsamic vinaigrette; dessert of blueberry panna cotta with berry sauce; cheeseboard with glace apple and crisp bread. Pinot Grigio for me and Shiraz for Neil, all washed down with a Latte.

After dinner, Neil and I (much to the delight of the fellow 3 Business Class passengers, NOT, lol) flit about the cabin taking piccies of ‘the bears’ who were as happy as we were to be there!!! pmsl 😀

What a great final flight to end this leg of our adventure 🙂

We arrive in Melbourne (now 11hrs ahead of the UK) at 3.30pm and hire a car to get us to our hotel as it works out cheaper than a taxi! The Travelodge (home for the next two nights) is in a great location – at Southbank on the River Yarra. It is right next to one of the city’s tallest buildings, home to the Eureka Skydeck 88, which occupies the 88th floor and offers 360 degree views and a stone’s throw from the City Centre – it is vibrant and buzzing. Over the bridge and past Finders Station (a beautiful building in itself) and we are in the hub of this City.

There is just enough time left today to venture over the River Yarra to explore and the City is beautifully lit up for Christmas. There are queues of people outside Myers (department store) waiting to see the many window displays which tell a christmas story – a tradition we are told. Getting hungry we head for China Town for a curry before heading back to the Travelodge for bed.

Sun, 9th Dec: Southbank Travelodge, Melbourne …
We use today to explore Melbourne; exuding elegance and culture, this city has a combined passion for food, wine, the arts and sport that distinguishes it from all other Australian cities. Our walk rewards us with grand Victorian-era buildings, tree lined boulevards and gracious parks which we learn were financed by wealth from Australia’s biggest and most prolonged gold rush which started in1851 and continued into the early years of the 20th century. Melbourne’s cultural diversity, however, springs largely from the boom in immigration that followed World War II. Its towering skyscrapers are a more recent phenomenon and, for the most part, blend in with the Melbourne of earlier times. Lacking the obvious physical attractions of its flashy northern cousin, Sydney, and with a climate notorious for its fickle ‘four seasons in one day’ character, Melbourne offers its treasures discreetly. Half of the fun of getting to know this most European of Australian cities comes from riding the trams that lend such character to its city streets.

The Visitors Centre helps us plan our next few days on The Great Ocean Road after which we head off to Westfield for some christmas shopping – apparently we will have some very important visitors for Christmas.

Walking back with our ‘wares’ we hit PJ O’briens, Southgate for some entertainment, guinness and free wifi x perfect for catching up with the blog and folk back home x