EOFY and Melbourne holiday
It was a crazy financial year end, so by the time it was finished, I was utterly exhausted. To be fair, the last few days before 30 June didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought but I still managed to work up a frenzy. I did go back to work on 1 July to finish my fees for the month and tidy up the loose ends.
Luckily, I smashed my budget this year, so much so that I had to spend a fair bit of time parring back my billings for the month to 'pad' next year's budget. Just as well - they have upped my budget for another $140K compared with last year's, so it was good to 'bank' $45K of the month's excess billings into the next financial year.
Friday evening
As a die-hard weekly movie-goer, I still went to Friday night movies with the boys. Sam didn't come though because he needed to get a massage. We decided to do something different and instead of going to Grill'd, we went to the food court in Myer Centre instead.
After dinner and walking around the city for a while, we went to see Central Intelligence, which was a very inane and silly movie. It wasn't that funny and I really don't have anything more to say about it. In some ways, I regretted seeing the movie because by the time I got home, it was around 11:30 pm and we had to wake up the next morning at 6 am to catch our flight to go down to Melbourne but the damage was already done by then.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 1
We got up bright and early on Saturday and arrived at the airport at about 8 am. I rented a weekly car park at the airport, which was very convenient, especially when roads were cordoned off under our building because of the Teneriffe Festival on the weekend.
After a bit of R&R in the Qantas lounge, we boarded our flight and flew down to Melbourne. As it turned out, Melbourne wasn't that cold; in fact, I thought Brisbane had been cooler.
It didn't take us long to get from the airport to our AirBNB apartment in the city. We were right at the centre of the CBD on Flinders Street, which was like a 5 minute walk from the Flinder Street train station. The apartment wasn't huge but was very modern and clean, so we couldn't have asked for more.
After settling ourselves down, we walked all the way to Emporium Melbourne and had lunch there. We then walked around the shopping centre where Sam bought lots and lots of chocolate, which was reminiscent of when he did we were in Europe. Actually, this is quite apt as Melbourne actually feels very much like London in many ways.
After exhausting ourselves, we bought some groceries at a nearby supermarket and cooked in the apartment as we watched the election commentary on ABC. I overdid the red wine, which started giving me a headache - not exactly what I wanted after a long day.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 2
The headache unfortunately got worse as I slept, probably because I overslept as well. When I woke up (by the headache), it was almost 11 am!
I refused to let the headache ruin my day, so I forced myself into a hot shower, which provided some relief. Then we went down to the alley way for lunch at Issus, which seemed to be the place we always go back to whenever we are in Melbourne.
Then we walked around all over the city. I bought a book for myself and some for the kids. Then we went over to Federation Square, had some iced coffee at a cafe, and went to the ACME bookstore. We then came back to the apartment to relax for a while because our feet were killing us after all the walking.
In the evening, we went to a restaurant called Punch Lane and had a delicious dinner there together. The food was great and the ambience of the restaurant romantic. When we were done, we picked up some groceries from the IGA downstairs and called it a night.
It was an action filled day but it was also quite freeing not having to work.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 3
We got up at about 8 am - because we went to bed at a decent hour the night before.
Sam wanted to get some vitamin B, so we went to a nearby health shop to get it, before we crossed the Yarra River to go over to the DFO at South Wharf.
Before we reached DFO, we had breakfast at this place called The Boatyard, which turned out to be very expensive but the food was quite ordinary. To compound the disappointment, DFO was ... well, DFO. We had a walk around but didn't end up buying anything because things were simply not that invitingly cheap.
After the rather lacklustre shopping trip, we walked all the way back to the city and had a coffee at Journo Canteen before we got some sweet potato chips at Lord of the Fries for a snack.
Feeling exhausted, we came back to the apartment afterwards to recharge. I felt very tired and while I was reading my book, I kept slipping in and out of micro-naps. At about 5 pm, we had to go to the mum's place for M's birthday get together, so I chomped on same dark chocolate coffee beans and felt momentarily perked up.
We took the train and went to Newport, fired up Google Maps, and found the mums' house pretty quickly. There were people and kids everywhere. It was all very festive. Naturally, the mums were elated to see us. We got to talk to quite a few people and it was very sociable celebrating M's birthday. The kids had a ball toasting marshmallow over the bon fire (although I was genuinely concerned that they were going to take someone's eye out) and it was lovely to just enjoy the spirit of family and community.
Having lots of kids around also meant that the night wrapped up quite early, so L drove us to the train station for us to catch our train back into the city at about 9:15 pm. When we reached the city, we dropped into Woolies to get a barbecue chicken and some other odds and ends because we were still a bit hungry (despite the food at the birthday get together, most of it was not exactly paleo) to eat in the apartment.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day because we will be spending it with M and the kids, so we will need to go to bed soon.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 4
We got up relatively early but by the time we left the apartment, it was close to 11 am.
It was a drizzly day, so it wasn't easy getting around (I hate getting my shoes and socks wet). We went back to The Journal and had coffee there while we read our books. I really enjoyed the cozy environment - unlike in Brisbane, one could really get lost in the crowd while enjoying some solitude by privately reading a book.
We texted M to see where she and the kids were up to because we were meeting them at the Melbourne Museum to see the Jurassic World exhibition. They were running a bit late, so Sam and I went to Melbourne Emporium to have lunch before walking in the rain to meet up with them at the museum. As it turned out, we were playing hide and seek with each other for a while, courtesy of a series of cross-over text messages and when we finally found each other, we went to the cafe to have some chips for lunch for the kids (in addition to the lunch we already had earlier!).
The exhibition was fantastic. I think I enjoyed it even more than the kids did. :P The animatronics were amazing and my only complaint was that the exhibition was too short. When we were done, we walked around the museum for a bit longer before we walked all the way back to our AirBNB apartment. Jo was sick of walking, so we were lucky that we made it all the way back!
I made chicken soup for us for dinner. I was a bit concerned about how it would turn out because we didn't have a lot of time - we had made plans to Melbourne Centrals to see The BFG. Surprisingly, at least to me, it was very delicious. I felt quite food feeding everyone with such a nutritious meal for dinner (instead of some fast food we could grab downstairs). Once again, as we were walking to the cinemas, poor Jo was exhausted and we naturally had a lot of "Are we there yet?" thrown at us every few minutes.
It was surprisingly busy at the cinemas. Even our cinema, which was filled mostly with children, was almost full. Even so, we sat at the back row and had a great unobstructed view. The movie turned out to be quite good, even though I don't usually like children movies much. There was a lot of heart to The BFG - I must admit Roald Dahl was such a good story teller - the story was both original and whimsical. There was also something very charming about the characters. Once again, I suspect that I enjoyed the movie more than the kids did themselves!
When the movie was over and we finally managed to find our way out of the building (a lot of the entrances were closed), we were lucky to have a taxi pulling up right in front of us. I quickly ushered M and the kids into it so that they could get back to the museum to get their car while Sam and I walked back to our apartment.
When we got back to the apartment, we had the remaining chicken soup and sipped white wine while I caught up on all my work emails (which was distressingly voluminous despite my automatic out of the office message).
I am going to take a shower soon before doing a bit more reading and going to bed.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 5
Today is a children-free day again. We lazed around in the apartment until about 11 am before we went to Chapel Street. When we got off the train, we found ourselves on Toorak Road and found a really nice cafe for a bout of brunch. The food was amazing, although we did start getting a bit cold sitting there, drinking a cold coffee, chocolate, banana, and almond milk concoction.
We did find Chapel Street after brunch and walked down it, dropping into shops every now and then. I found an aluminium plane in one of the shops and was delighted to be advised that the plane and its stand could be collapsed by simply removing a few screws, so I bought it. :P
After the long hike down the long street, we dropped into a cafe for a glass of wine. It was so good just sitting there, sipping wine and reading, without worrying too much about work (okay, I do check my work emails throughout the day whenever I have time and respond accordingly).
At about 4 pm, we made our way back into the city. We dropped into Dymocks and picked up some more books for the little bookworms before Sam got even more chocolate for himself ($45 worth of it!!!). Then we grabbed some fruit from the supermarket before heading back to the apartment.
In the evening, we went to this nice little restaurant called Cumulus Up around the corner from our apartment, which was a lovely experience - the service was so good and the food amazing. It was a lovely end to a lovely day.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 6
We were meant to go to Sovereign Hills today but because the kids had been going to bed late every night, M called and said that they didn't think it was a good idea for us to go that far and have another big day.
Instead, Sam and I lazed around after we got up at about 9 am and eventually left the apartment at about noon. We went downstairs to the alleyway and had brunch at Issus again.
Afterwards, we went to the Immigration Museum and boy was I glad we went. It was fascinating going through Australia's history with immigrants. I found the stories of people escaping war and natural disasters and fleeing to Australia particularly poignant. Even better was the third floor, which was themed around diversity and acceptance. It was all about how we are all different but because of those differences, together we make a better Australia, despite the divisive characters that have from time to time tried to attack that ideal (with Pauline Hanson featuring heavily in recent history). It was a very worthwhile visit.
We went back to the alleyway for some green drinks before making our way to Newport to the mums and kids' house. We went to a nearby supermarket where we bought a bunch of ingredients and we went back to their place and made them my sweet potato, chicken, coconut, and lime soup. It was very well received.
M and I somehow started playing music together after dinner, so did little Lucy and I. It had been a long while since I accompanied another musical instrument on the piano. It was quite fun and a bonding experience.
At about 9 pm, M drove us back to the train station so that we could come back to our apartment for the night.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 7
Today was Melbourne Zoo day. After a bout of brunch at a nearby cafe, we headed to the train station and found our way to the zoo. We got there early, so we went to see a few animals ourselves. Then the kids turned up and they were a bit over-excited and generally acted up for most of the day. It was still kind of fun hanging out with them but getting them to stand still and speak calmly was far and few in between them running amuck.
Sam and I did go off and had our own lunch because M brought lunch for them. The food was bad as expected at the cafe but still, they had coffee, so that sort of made up for for the lousy food. After lunch, we walked around some more and were exhausted by about 4 pm, so we walked everyone to the main gate and said goodbye to them all. Even though we were not going to see them for a while, I must admit I was relieved to say goodbye to them and enjoy the rest of the holiday.
When we got back to the apartment, we relaxed for a while and then made our way to Hardware Lane for a seafood dinner. The staff there at Grill Steak Seafood was very accommodating - when we told them that we couldn't eat any grain or grain products, they adapted the seafood platter for us. The food was divine. In fact, we were so full afterwards that we almost had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant.
But as if dinner wasn't enough, we bought some cheese on the way back and had it with some truffled potato chip and wine. It was a decadent night of delicious food while we watched the last few season 4 episodes of Orange is the New Black together.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 8
We tried to get up earlier on our last day in Melbourne.
When we got downstairs at about 10 am, the city was still quiet and there weren't that many people around. We went to Emporium Melbourne and had brunch there, followed by Coco Black for lots of chocolate and coffee.
By about 1 pm, we were all done and went back to the apartment to check out. We then took an Uber to the airport. The Indian Uber driver was obviously in a talkative mood, so we chatted with him all the way there.
We waited at the lounge for about an hour before we had to board. The flight home was pretty smooth but we were on one of those older planes with built-in entertainment system. Just as well I had my iPad with me to stream movies from the in-flight system. Even so, the trip was pretty short. It only took about an hour and a half to get home. In fact, I couldn't even finish the whole Jurassic World movie I started before we arrived home.
Iain tried to get together with us for dinner in the evening but we didn't really feel like dinner, so we postponed that for the week after next week. It wasn't as if he was particularly interested in staying in touch over the last 6 months or anything.
We pretty much spent the rest of the evening unpacking and watching movies while we were at it. It was all very relaxing and stress-free. At this rate, I am seriously thinking about taking Monday off as well.
Luckily, I smashed my budget this year, so much so that I had to spend a fair bit of time parring back my billings for the month to 'pad' next year's budget. Just as well - they have upped my budget for another $140K compared with last year's, so it was good to 'bank' $45K of the month's excess billings into the next financial year.
Friday evening
As a die-hard weekly movie-goer, I still went to Friday night movies with the boys. Sam didn't come though because he needed to get a massage. We decided to do something different and instead of going to Grill'd, we went to the food court in Myer Centre instead.After dinner and walking around the city for a while, we went to see Central Intelligence, which was a very inane and silly movie. It wasn't that funny and I really don't have anything more to say about it. In some ways, I regretted seeing the movie because by the time I got home, it was around 11:30 pm and we had to wake up the next morning at 6 am to catch our flight to go down to Melbourne but the damage was already done by then.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 1
After a bit of R&R in the Qantas lounge, we boarded our flight and flew down to Melbourne. As it turned out, Melbourne wasn't that cold; in fact, I thought Brisbane had been cooler.
It didn't take us long to get from the airport to our AirBNB apartment in the city. We were right at the centre of the CBD on Flinders Street, which was like a 5 minute walk from the Flinder Street train station. The apartment wasn't huge but was very modern and clean, so we couldn't have asked for more.
After settling ourselves down, we walked all the way to Emporium Melbourne and had lunch there. We then walked around the shopping centre where Sam bought lots and lots of chocolate, which was reminiscent of when he did we were in Europe. Actually, this is quite apt as Melbourne actually feels very much like London in many ways.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 2
The headache unfortunately got worse as I slept, probably because I overslept as well. When I woke up (by the headache), it was almost 11 am!
I refused to let the headache ruin my day, so I forced myself into a hot shower, which provided some relief. Then we went down to the alley way for lunch at Issus, which seemed to be the place we always go back to whenever we are in Melbourne.
In the evening, we went to a restaurant called Punch Lane and had a delicious dinner there together. The food was great and the ambience of the restaurant romantic. When we were done, we picked up some groceries from the IGA downstairs and called it a night.
It was an action filled day but it was also quite freeing not having to work.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 3
We got up at about 8 am - because we went to bed at a decent hour the night before.
Sam wanted to get some vitamin B, so we went to a nearby health shop to get it, before we crossed the Yarra River to go over to the DFO at South Wharf.
After the rather lacklustre shopping trip, we walked all the way back to the city and had a coffee at Journo Canteen before we got some sweet potato chips at Lord of the Fries for a snack.
Feeling exhausted, we came back to the apartment afterwards to recharge. I felt very tired and while I was reading my book, I kept slipping in and out of micro-naps. At about 5 pm, we had to go to the mum's place for M's birthday get together, so I chomped on same dark chocolate coffee beans and felt momentarily perked up.
We took the train and went to Newport, fired up Google Maps, and found the mums' house pretty quickly. There were people and kids everywhere. It was all very festive. Naturally, the mums were elated to see us. We got to talk to quite a few people and it was very sociable celebrating M's birthday. The kids had a ball toasting marshmallow over the bon fire (although I was genuinely concerned that they were going to take someone's eye out) and it was lovely to just enjoy the spirit of family and community.
Tomorrow is going to be a big day because we will be spending it with M and the kids, so we will need to go to bed soon.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 4
We got up relatively early but by the time we left the apartment, it was close to 11 am.
It was a drizzly day, so it wasn't easy getting around (I hate getting my shoes and socks wet). We went back to The Journal and had coffee there while we read our books. I really enjoyed the cozy environment - unlike in Brisbane, one could really get lost in the crowd while enjoying some solitude by privately reading a book.
We texted M to see where she and the kids were up to because we were meeting them at the Melbourne Museum to see the Jurassic World exhibition. They were running a bit late, so Sam and I went to Melbourne Emporium to have lunch before walking in the rain to meet up with them at the museum. As it turned out, we were playing hide and seek with each other for a while, courtesy of a series of cross-over text messages and when we finally found each other, we went to the cafe to have some chips for lunch for the kids (in addition to the lunch we already had earlier!).
I made chicken soup for us for dinner. I was a bit concerned about how it would turn out because we didn't have a lot of time - we had made plans to Melbourne Centrals to see The BFG. Surprisingly, at least to me, it was very delicious. I felt quite food feeding everyone with such a nutritious meal for dinner (instead of some fast food we could grab downstairs). Once again, as we were walking to the cinemas, poor Jo was exhausted and we naturally had a lot of "Are we there yet?" thrown at us every few minutes.
When the movie was over and we finally managed to find our way out of the building (a lot of the entrances were closed), we were lucky to have a taxi pulling up right in front of us. I quickly ushered M and the kids into it so that they could get back to the museum to get their car while Sam and I walked back to our apartment.
When we got back to the apartment, we had the remaining chicken soup and sipped white wine while I caught up on all my work emails (which was distressingly voluminous despite my automatic out of the office message).
I am going to take a shower soon before doing a bit more reading and going to bed.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 5
Today is a children-free day again. We lazed around in the apartment until about 11 am before we went to Chapel Street. When we got off the train, we found ourselves on Toorak Road and found a really nice cafe for a bout of brunch. The food was amazing, although we did start getting a bit cold sitting there, drinking a cold coffee, chocolate, banana, and almond milk concoction.
We did find Chapel Street after brunch and walked down it, dropping into shops every now and then. I found an aluminium plane in one of the shops and was delighted to be advised that the plane and its stand could be collapsed by simply removing a few screws, so I bought it. :P
At about 4 pm, we made our way back into the city. We dropped into Dymocks and picked up some more books for the little bookworms before Sam got even more chocolate for himself ($45 worth of it!!!). Then we grabbed some fruit from the supermarket before heading back to the apartment.
In the evening, we went to this nice little restaurant called Cumulus Up around the corner from our apartment, which was a lovely experience - the service was so good and the food amazing. It was a lovely end to a lovely day.
We were meant to go to Sovereign Hills today but because the kids had been going to bed late every night, M called and said that they didn't think it was a good idea for us to go that far and have another big day.
Instead, Sam and I lazed around after we got up at about 9 am and eventually left the apartment at about noon. We went downstairs to the alleyway and had brunch at Issus again.
We went back to the alleyway for some green drinks before making our way to Newport to the mums and kids' house. We went to a nearby supermarket where we bought a bunch of ingredients and we went back to their place and made them my sweet potato, chicken, coconut, and lime soup. It was very well received.
M and I somehow started playing music together after dinner, so did little Lucy and I. It had been a long while since I accompanied another musical instrument on the piano. It was quite fun and a bonding experience.
At about 9 pm, M drove us back to the train station so that we could come back to our apartment for the night.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 7
Today was Melbourne Zoo day. After a bout of brunch at a nearby cafe, we headed to the train station and found our way to the zoo. We got there early, so we went to see a few animals ourselves. Then the kids turned up and they were a bit over-excited and generally acted up for most of the day. It was still kind of fun hanging out with them but getting them to stand still and speak calmly was far and few in between them running amuck.
When we got back to the apartment, we relaxed for a while and then made our way to Hardware Lane for a seafood dinner. The staff there at Grill Steak Seafood was very accommodating - when we told them that we couldn't eat any grain or grain products, they adapted the seafood platter for us. The food was divine. In fact, we were so full afterwards that we almost had to roll ourselves out of the restaurant.
But as if dinner wasn't enough, we bought some cheese on the way back and had it with some truffled potato chip and wine. It was a decadent night of delicious food while we watched the last few season 4 episodes of Orange is the New Black together.
Melbourne Holiday - Day 8
We tried to get up earlier on our last day in Melbourne.
When we got downstairs at about 10 am, the city was still quiet and there weren't that many people around. We went to Emporium Melbourne and had brunch there, followed by Coco Black for lots of chocolate and coffee.
By about 1 pm, we were all done and went back to the apartment to check out. We then took an Uber to the airport. The Indian Uber driver was obviously in a talkative mood, so we chatted with him all the way there.
Iain tried to get together with us for dinner in the evening but we didn't really feel like dinner, so we postponed that for the week after next week. It wasn't as if he was particularly interested in staying in touch over the last 6 months or anything.
We pretty much spent the rest of the evening unpacking and watching movies while we were at it. It was all very relaxing and stress-free. At this rate, I am seriously thinking about taking Monday off as well.
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