Melbourne Part 2

Round two!

On Saturday I decided it might be nice to try to work out the trams and go to Chapel St which is apparently where the best shopping is. Unfortunately we didn't set out til late cos Will slept in and catching the tram seemed to be more stressful than it needed to be! I had already worked out which tram to catch from where but Will couldn't seem to work it all out. Eventually we got on the tram and it was good to see Melbourne without having to walk! Chapel St was okay but there weren't really any shops that we didn't have in Brisbane. I was a bit disappointed, so far the shopping in Melbourne wasn't any better than at home? I think maybe it used to be but now we have most stores in Brisbane too. Will wasn't very interested and I'm not the best shopper so it actually wasn't that fun at all. Didn't end up buying anything but had a good pasta at an Italian restaurant. Was a bit grumpy with Will cos he just seemed bored and grumpy the whole time. I was sad because I tried to organise nice things for us to do and he couldn't seem to care less! The jewelry store I wanted to go to closed early and we caught the tram back home. Was a bit disappointed with it all but there were some nice old buildings which I took some photos of.

Chapel St

That night we had tickets to see Frank Woodley at the Melbourne Town Hall. It was cool going to the comedy festival when I had seen it on TV so many times! There was a big line but we got great seats that were just on the edge of where the seats started to get higher than the ground. He was hilarious!!! We both spent the whole show laughing! The best bits were when he improvised a bit about juggling penguins and recounted a story of being bullied in school. But it was all fantastic! After the show we went for cocktails at a place called Seamstress. The cocktails were great! And we had some chips and edamame beans which were yummy.

On Sunday we didn't do much, left the house around 1pm and headed out to find lunch. After much wandering around and looking at the line into the new H&M clothing store (ridiculous! why would you wait in line to go look at cheap clothes you could buy anywhere! baffled) we walked over the bridge to Southgate for lunch. I had a really delicious pizza and a homemade lemonade. Will wasn't very happy because there was a street performer dressed up as a gargoyle who was scaring people and doing photos. He didn't think it was a very deserving thing to get money for (I think maybe he was just scared heehee). After that we walked past a market and had a look and then walked down the Yarra River. We headed to Rod Laver Arena which looked weird all empty. Will helped me practice my handstands in the park near there and then we headed home. That night we had tickets to a show called "Ali McGregor's Late-Nite Variety-Nite Night". It didn't start til 9pm so we had Thai for dinner and then headed over to the Spiegeltent which was in Federation Square.

The Yarra River and cityscape

The show was fantastic! Ali McGregor used to be an opera singer with Opera Australia and I know her from when she used to be a guest on Spicks and Specks. The show was comprised of her singing songs (mostly covers and mash-ups) and between that were circus and comedy acts that Ali had picked to be in her show. She was a great host, really warm and charming and her singing was beautiful! The acts were all fantastic and had us laughing and in awe all night. There was a comedian who told us about a tough gig he had in Mt Isa, a man dressed up as an old female cabaret singer who had gone a bit batty (that was hilarious!), a trashy hula hooper, a sword swallower (who disconcertingly looked like your mum, Bec. Except she was wearing a red rubber dress... but apart from that... definitely looked like your mum), and a special surprise when Adam Hills turned up! He is married to Ali McGregor and he had literally flown in from London that morning. It was hilarious watching them together and Adam Hills pretty much improvised 30 minutes of material which included booking two audience members return flights to Sydney for the next day. He finished it up with doing a strip tease with his friend who has throat cancer and who was doing a project to say 'screw you!' to cancer by having as much fun as possible. It was a fantastic show and it was only $20!! I think my favourite thing about Ali McGregor was how sparkly she was - she had sparkly flowers in her hair, big sparkly colourful earrings and a matching necklace, shiny detailing on her dress and gold glittery shoes! Not to mention her gold sparkly nail polish and her rather pretty (and big) engagement/wedding ring! After the show a band called The Gadflys played so we had a drink and stayed around for a bit of their set. Also, I didn't know that the Spiegeltents were that old; Ali said that Marlene Dietrich had performed in the one we were sitting in which is pretty special! I thought they were new tents which were made to look old but apparently most of them are actually old tents!

On Monday we had another lazy day and set off around 3pm to go for a walk to what looked like a park near our hotel. It turned out to be a big park with a path leading to the Royal Exhibition Building. It was a very beautiful old building and apparently used to be a "Palace of Industry" which was where all the inventors of the day, in around 1880, came to show the new technologies. According to the sign that included things like electricity and sewing machines. I thought it was interesting and a very beautiful building! We also ended up at the Museum and there were lots of people skateboarding around in the courtyard. We spotted some bicycles they hire out at bike stations across the city and walked to find some with helmets. We ended up at Lygon St and bought a helmet from a 7-11 (If you return them when you're done you get back $3 from the $5 you paid). We both got a bike (pretty good deal - $2.80 to sign up and then $2 for every hour, first 30mins free). We rode around the city and headed back to the Queen Victoria Markets. It was a very different scene from when we'd been there a few days ago. Everything was packed up and empty and we rode around the car park for a bit. It was lots of fun! We headed back to Lygon St, returned the helmet and went to find somewhere for dinner.

Royal Exhibition Building

Somehow we got bundled up in this Italian restaurant (which was what we were looking for anyway). And it was hilarious! There was the guy out the front who was aggressively selling the restaurant to passersby offering them a look at the menu and seeming offended when they declined. Then there was the man who looked like the owner who had such a strong Italian accent we couldn't understand him. Then there was the older man who looked like someone's Italian grandfather grumbling to himself in the corner over a massive plate of pasta. They all had some kind of family argument and the owner grumbled to us about the grandfather and then suddenly they were all friends again! Then someone else (an uncle??) turned up and him and the owner stood in the bushes and talked in Italian and smoked for a bit, looking shady. Then I asked if there was a toilet and the owner said "Yes yes! Follow me, come on!" And then said to me "Don't worry, you can trust me, I'm not a crook". Pretty sure he was a crook haha. It was an experience and a half but the best thing was that the doorman's claims of fresh pasta turned out to be true - yum!

Lygon Street Pasta

I even made it home for My Kitchen Rules!! Sad it was my last night in Melbourne and my last night with Will. I packed up my bag and set the alarm for 615am.

Waking up in the dark is never fun! We had to leave the hotel by 645 so we all piled into a maxi taxi as the weather blew a gail with wind. The sun still hadn't come up yet and I think we were all a bit sad to say goodbye to Melbourne. Said goodbye to Will at the airport and he went to catch his flight and I, mine. Next time I see him I will be home! So that is good.

Our flight was fairly enjoyable, about 4.5hrs and I watched The Hunger Games and The Book Thief. I fell asleep in The Book Thief which was okay but I missed the very end of it which was frustrating (I literally had about 5mins left!). WA looked a lot different to the Melbourne we had just left. Everything here is all red and it's quite dry and hot. We picked up the hire cars and headed out of Perth and set off to Merredin about 3.5hrs away. Finally after about 8 hours of travelling we arrived at the Cummins Theatre in Merredin. All hands on deck for bump in as the theatre only had two volunteers to help us set up (most theatres have a team of 5 or 6 paid theatre technicians). Finished most of it around 6pm (which was 8pm Victorian time!). So after a 14 hour day it was time to get dinner! We went to the local Chinese restaurant which was quite good (except for the piece of lint which was attached to the rice when it came out... we're not in Melbourne anymore Toto!).

Home to our apartments which were like little cabins and reminded me of when you go up a mountain or into the bush. Smelt like campfire and it was quite nice. Not that keen to be back on the road to be honest, back to changing hotel rooms and long drives and small town food.

Today we had one show with an audience of about 100. It was a very small quiet audience and weren't very responsive but the show went well. Afterwards I felt much happier about being on tour! Oh good, there is a point to what we're doing! Body is feeling a bit stiff and sore after a few days off though! After the show time to bump out and then off for another 3.5 hour drive to Kalgoorlie. We arrived and we are staying in the Rydges! Fancy! Neridah and I went to dinner at Paddy's Irish Pub which was quite delicious and good value for money. Kalgoorlie is a bit weird. It's a mining town and on one hand seems nice with families but on the other hand seems a bit dodgy and sleazy. The pub beside the one we went to had a big chalkboard sign outside that read "Skimpies For This Week: Alyce, Jazz, Sarah". To provide some background information apparently a skimpie is "Australian Slang: A female bartender who takes her clothes off if she collects enough in tips. Common in the city of Kalgoorlie". So there you go!

What I've seen of WA so far

Well that's all from me, two shows tomorrow, ANZAC Day in Kalgoorlie then off to Esperance which is apparently beautiful and near the water. Will be good to see the water, it feels so dry here!

Lots of love!
Steph x