Melbourne lunch

Today I went for lunch with Col and Dazzler at a small Italian place on Little Collins Street called Benito’s. I thought I’d write about it ‘cos the food was amazing!

Firstly, we had to sit at the counter ‘cos we hadn’t booked a table and the place was full – at 12.30pm! We didn’t have time for starters, so went straight onto our mains. The guys had lasagna, which was huge! I ordered the pappardelle with chicken livers and red onion. It was delicious! The pasta was cooked to perfection - al dente!

The service was a little slow, but considering how busy it was and how good the company was, it didn’t matter.

I was looking forward to an espresso (apparently Benito’s make the perfect coffee too) but we ran out of time and I had to rush back to the office.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Mountain bike video

A 10 minute helmet cam video of our ride last weekend. There is sound too, so if you're in the office, turn down the volume!


King Parrot Trail from delboy

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Bizarre Australia

I keep talking about some of the weird things that the Aussies do or have, so I thought I'd actually start a list. Here are some of the things that I have noticed so far:

- hook turns: See link for the most awesome/scary driving innovation I've seen in years
- petrol prices: They go up and down. Not over periods of time. No, it's cheaper on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and very expensive on the weekends.
- drive-thru bottle O's: Quite literally a drive-thru liquor store. Like drive-thru McDonalds, but you buy alcohol instead.
- AFL: Australian Rules Football. Although the 'rules' bit is a little exaggerated. Oh hang on, you're not allowed to push someone in the back. Other than that, anything goes!
- chicken & champagne: It's an Aussie-style Champagne breakfast. With chicken pieces.

I can't think of any others at the moment, but I'm sure my list will keep growing.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

It's Friday and that means photo time.

What can I dig out for you this time? How about this one?

It was taken in Melbourne in November last year. The river is the Yarra and in the distance you can see the MCG and the Pat Rafter tennis centre.

Have a good weekend.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

Today I'm going to post a few photos to make up for the next 3 weeks while I'm on holiday 'cos I'm not sure if I'll get to the net while I'm in South Africa.

And in keeping with the Africa/safari/animals theme, I thought I'd post some animal photos.

These were taken at the Melbourne Zoo last November.

Enjoy

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Melbourne - Day 14

It's all over! Today is our last day in this beautiful city! Only 11 more hours to go before we take off and head north to Hong Kong en route to London. Another 24 hour flight before we arrive in the freezing cold UK weather to sit out the miserable winter.

Never mind; in six weeks time I'll be sunning myself on the beach again. SOUTH AFRICA here we come!!!

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

Thought I'd sneak in a quick photo for Photo Friday as I missed last week's.

This week's pic was taken here in Melbourne. It is one of Melbourne's famous trams. It was taken in Wednesday.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Melbourne - Day 10

So things are much better now! We've all recovered from 'the bug'
(not before passing it on to 4 more people though!) and have had a wonderful week.

Sunday we had a spit (BBQ) and spent the day around the pool catching up with old friends and drinking too much beer and bourbon. It was about 36 degrees and the kids spent most of the day in the pool.

Tuesday we drove down the coast to Sorrento and spent most of the day at the beach. Photos to follow...

Wednesday we went into the city. We did some sight-seeing before having lunch with our friend, Colin, at a really nice restaurant. In the afternoon we went to the Melbourne Observation Deck on the top of the Rialto from where you could see the whole city and all the way down to the coast. After that, we caught the City Circle Tram and saw some more sights before heading home.

Today was spent at Melbourne Zoo. Definitely the best zoo I have ever visited! We spent the whole day there and then went out for dinner 'cos it was Deb's birthday. The girls got a little tipsy while the guys did some gambling in the casino (and we won!)

Only 5 more days here then back to cold old London! Not looking forward to it...

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Melbourne - Day 3

After a hectic weekend jetting to Dublin for the day to watch the Boks get a well-deserved beating from the Irish in the rugby, we flew out to Australia on Sunday morning. No, I'm not going to dwell on the rugby...

Anyway, we arrived late on Monday night and hit the sack. And it has gone downhill since then.

The weather has been shocking! Rain, cold and wet. It snowed 20cm locally yesterday and was the coldest day in over 50 years! They are dubbing it 'Snovember'! And to top it all, the whole family has picked up a stomach bug. I spent most of last night in the toilet and today I weighed 2 kilos lighter! No lies! Unfortunately, we have passed the bug on to the rest of the family - sister-in-law, mother-in-law and grandma!

I feel a lot better this evening. Which is a good thing 'cos I am off to the Pearl Jam concert in a couple of hours!

Tomorrow I will attempt to post my photo Friday, but if I can't, don't hold it against me.

Chat soon,
DelBoy

Foto Friday

It's that time of the week again. Friday!! Which means photo time! This week's pic was taken in the Yarra Valley in Australia in November 2003. We were on a wine tasting tour - just as well I wasn't driving! As a matter of fact, I'm suprised at how well the photo came out!

Chat soon,
Del