I got back yesterday afternoon from a fantastic weekend in Melbourne with Kendall. Rob booked it all up for me a few weeks ago and couldn't get me out the door fast enough on Friday morning. Rob felt greatly revived after his ski trip to NZ earlier in the year and was keen for me to also benefit from time away from family and responsibilities. (At least I think that's why he was so keen to see the back of me.) I flew to Melbourne on Friday morning, marvelling at how easy it is to get on and off and actually sit on a plane without children. Who knew it was possible to hold a drink and a conversation at the same time? Although it's only a 90-minute flight, I enjoyed every minute of it. I met Kendall at his gorgeous new home, an apartment in building converted from an old chocolate factory, in the fabulously hip suburb of Fitzroy. After a cuppa and a quick catch up we were out the door for a long walk perusing the many shops, bars and restaurants. The nearest I can come to describing Fitzroy is like a cross between Portobello Road (of the late '80s/early '90s at least) with NY's East village. There are no chain restaurants or shops here, instead one-off vintage clothes and furniture shops, beautiful stationers, unusual bookshops, tiny galleries, craft and art shops and fantastic places to eat are the order of the day. It didn't feel at all like we were in Australia. We had lunch on the roof (another Melbourne anomaly - why doesn't Sydney have more rooftop bars?) of a huge old building, with paint peeling off the walls and a huge cupie doll on the outside, dining on $4 pizzas and wine. Kendall had told me to bring a cardi, due to Melbourne's notoriously unpredictable weather,but instead we were drenched with sun, making a sunscreen application before lunch. In the afternoon, we napped at home for an hour before getting dressed up and heading into the city on the tram. We started at Coda, a Melbourne 'it' place, a fantastic subterranean bar & restaurant serving small share plates and great wine. We met up with Peter Gotting, an old journalist friend from the Herald, who I hadn't seen for years. We carried on to Movida, one of Melbourne's best places for tapas, located in a laneway famous for graffti and street art, followed by two more roof bars. The first, Madame Brussels, features staff wearing tennis gear in a room decorated with fake grass and cocktails served in huge jugs. The last bar was on the roof next to the theatre and offered a whole different perspective of the city.We jumped on the tram just as the heavens opened, arriving home for another glass of wine and a fairly reasonable bedtime of midnight.
On Saturday morning Kendall whipped up a superb breakfast of avocado, tomato and bacon on crusty bread and then we headed out first to an artist's market and then in and out of more shops and galleries before settling for an hour or two in a little French bar eating fresh terrine, gravalax and bread with a couple of glasses of wine. Kendall made it so easy for me to relax, always happy to stop when I wanted to look at something, carrying on when I wanted to and, like me, he's fond of a disco nap, which is what we had on Saturday afternoon to be ready for our next night out. By the time we came to leave for the Christmas drinks party Kendall had arranged in a bar, it was absolutely chucking it down, so we jumped in the car to drive the short distance to a local Vietnamese place for a quick bowl of noodles and laksa. Onwards then to a great little bar, Kendall and his friends had taken over for the night for an annual catch up. Lots of drinking and laughing ended at 1.30am with Kendall and I jumping in a cab home for a debrief. We awoke on Sunday morning, surprisingly free of hangovers, and headed around the corner, in much cooler weather (hooray for that cardi) to a cafe serving baked eggs and bacon with cauliflower puree - God it was good. Coffee, newspapers. Bliss. I flew back to Sydney yesterday afternoon to weather 10 degrees warmer than Melbourne and to the beautiful smiling faces of my girls and Rob, before an afternoon dip in the paddling pool.
I got back yesterday afternoon from a fantastic weekend in Melbourne with Kendall. Rob booked it all up for me a few weeks ago and couldn't get me out the door fast enough on Friday morning. Rob felt greatly revived after his ski trip to NZ earlier in the year and was keen for me to also benefit from time away from family and responsibilities. (At least I think that's why he was so keen to see the back of me.) I flew to Melbourne on Friday morning, marvelling at how easy it is to get on and off and actually sit on a plane without children. Who knew it was possible to hold a drink and a conversation at the same time? Although it's only a 90-minute flight, I enjoyed every minute of it. I met Kendall at his gorgeous new home, an apartment in building converted from an old chocolate factory, in the fabulously hip suburb of Fitzroy. After a cuppa and a quick catch up we were out the door for a long walk perusing the many shops, bars and restaurants. The nearest I can come to describing Fitzroy is like a cross between Portobello Road (of the late '80s/early '90s at least) with NY's East village. There are no chain restaurants or shops here, instead one-off vintage clothes and furniture shops, beautiful stationers, unusual bookshops, tiny galleries, craft and art shops and fantastic places to eat are the order of the day. It didn't feel at all like we were in Australia. We had lunch on the roof (another Melbourne anomaly - why doesn't Sydney have more rooftop bars?) of a huge old building, with paint peeling off the walls and a huge cupie doll on the outside, dining on $4 pizzas and wine. Kendall had told me to bring a cardi, due to Melbourne's notoriously unpredictable weather,but instead we were drenched with sun, making a sunscreen application before lunch. In the afternoon, we napped at home for an hour before getting dressed up and heading into the city on the tram. We started at Coda, a Melbourne 'it' place, a fantastic subterranean bar & restaurant serving small share plates and great wine. We met up with Peter Gotting, an old journalist friend from the Herald, who I hadn't seen for years. We carried on to Movida, one of Melbourne's best places for tapas, located in a laneway famous for graffti and street art, followed by two more roof bars. The first, Madame Brussels, features staff wearing tennis gear in a room decorated with fake grass and cocktails served in huge jugs. The last bar was on the roof next to the theatre and offered a whole different perspective of the city.We jumped on the tram just as the heavens opened, arriving home for another glass of wine and a fairly reasonable bedtime of midnight.
On Saturday morning Kendall whipped up a superb breakfast of avocado, tomato and bacon on crusty bread and then we headed out first to an artist's market and then in and out of more shops and galleries before settling for an hour or two in a little French bar eating fresh terrine, gravalax and bread with a couple of glasses of wine. Kendall made it so easy for me to relax, always happy to stop when I wanted to look at something, carrying on when I wanted to and, like me, he's fond of a disco nap, which is what we had on Saturday afternoon to be ready for our next night out. By the time we came to leave for the Christmas drinks party Kendall had arranged in a bar, it was absolutely chucking it down, so we jumped in the car to drive the short distance to a local Vietnamese place for a quick bowl of noodles and laksa. Onwards then to a great little bar, Kendall and his friends had taken over for the night for an annual catch up. Lots of drinking and laughing ended at 1.30am with Kendall and I jumping in a cab home for a debrief. We awoke on Sunday morning, surprisingly free of hangovers, and headed around the corner, in much cooler weather (hooray for that cardi) to a cafe serving baked eggs and bacon with cauliflower puree - God it was good. Coffee, newspapers. Bliss. I flew back to Sydney yesterday afternoon to weather 10 degrees warmer than Melbourne and to the beautiful smiling faces of my girls and Rob, before an afternoon dip in the paddling pool. 
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