Melbourne 24 ~ Part 1

It is becoming a bit of a habit, Jim came to stay last night, a nice meal and a few drinks before retiring for the night to get up early this morning to drop me off at the airport for my flight to Melbourne. I was a wee bit disappointed that I couldn’t use the Emirates lounge, so i settled myself at the departure gate and whiled away the time with my book.

The first stage of the journey, Glasgow to Dubai on an Emirates Airbus 380, went reasonably well considering I had a boisterous 2 and half year old boy next to me, having great fun kicking me for most of the 7 hour flight. On arriving at Dubai we were put into a holding pattern for an hour, I wasn’t too worried about this as a had a potential 2 hour stop over, but I could empathise with the mother next to mewho was left with 20 minutes to catch her flight to Bangladesh.

The stand out movie on this flight was Oppenheimer, a very enjoyable way to pass some time.

My shortened stopover went quickly, and again I was dissapointed not to be able to use the Business Class lounge I was looking forward to. Once through the 2 stages of security, we boarded yet another A380 bound for Melbourne, this flight was not full which meant there were a few empty seats and I was able to grab a full row to sprawl out on to try to get a decent sleep, no matter how I try, I can never sleep on a plane so it was back to my book and a movie for me.

The standout movie on this flight was alike a blast from the past, Indiana Jones and the dial of Destiny, a real boys own adventure story to while away the hours.

Being used to the process by now, I got through passport control, picked up my luggage and was met by Graeme and Briony in double quick time. We then hit the road and reached their new home in Bonbeach, arriving around 1:00 in the morning, after a chat to catch up we all hit the sack, despite not having had any sleep during my 24 hour journey, I found it had to switch off, drift off I eventually did, only to waken around 7:00 am ready to face a new day in another continent.

Day 1 Friday 8th March

Graeme and Briony’s new house is really nice and it looks like they have found their forever home, tons of space with a very functional layout and a nice garden, after breakfast, it was nice to just sit in the morning sun catching up with the news. To let me see some of the local area, we all took Joffrey a walk before heading to their local shops in Chelsea to pick up some shopping and to let me get a new travel card, it was then back to the house for lunch followed by more relaxing in the sun with my book for me. Due to some slight jet lag, I had a quiet day relaxing with my book, eventually around 8:00 pm the tiredness hit me so I had an early night.

Day 2 Saturday 9th March

Today it was very warm (over 35 degrees), after breakfast I sat in the garden in the shade, but could only manage about a half hour before calling it quits, even my iPad shut down due to overheating. In the afternoon Pat and Kay called over and it was so It was nice to see them again and spend some time catching up.

I had a slightly different experience in the evening, Graeme and I drove to the Thornberry area to see the Teenage Fan Club, in the Croxton Band Room, they one of Graeme’s favourite bands. We got there early, stopped off for a beer before going to 1800 Lasagne for a nice meal before the gig. We had a great time listening to the band and met up with some of his mates. It seemed a wee bit strange to have travelled so far to go and see a band from Bellshill.

Day 3 Sunday 10 March

The extremely warm temperatures continued today, so it was a day for relaxing at home with the air conditioning turned up. Briony and Joffrey went out early in the morning for one of Joffrey’s scent dog classes, something he really loves and excels at, on their return, Graeme and I walked round to their local farmers market, it was good to see, but after a short while we felt it was too warm so returned home to the cool house.

In the evening when it was a bit cool we took Joffrey down to the nearby beach, where he had great fun running into the sea, it really was a great way to end the day, cooling off watching the sun set over the city.

Day 4 Monday 11th March

Today I ventured into the city to pick up a SIM card for my phone, I visited Southern Cross Station for a timetable for the Geelong trains, which I intend visiting later, and to pop into the nearby Stella Maris Seafarers Centre, I was surprised by the stunning new mural but Damien Mitchell which has just been completed, it was nice to relax in pleasant surroundings chatting with the staff and volunteers. After a quick lunch, a stroll around town, I had a pot of beer before returning home in time for dinner.

Day 5 Tuesday 12th March

The weather was much milder today, which gave me a chance to just chill out with my book on the sun deck in the morning, after lunch I got out one of Graeme’s computers to allow me to design a wee job I have to do on my return. Initial designs done, we then set up his laser machine to do some trial cuts. In the evening after dinner, Graeme and Briony went out to a Pink gig, which they said was spectacular and possibly the best gig they had ever attended. Joffrey and I were given the task of looking after the house, it was good to have a cool chill out day after the extreme heat of the last few days, although I am glad to be away from the cold and rain.

Day 6 Wednesday 13th March

After breakfast Graeme and I disappeared to catch the train to Richmond where we had a walk around looking at the street art in the area and to visit a book store, which is obligatory for Graeme, before heading to the Corner Hotel for a nice lunch. We then headed up to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the MCG, where we had a pre-booked tour of this amazing Stadium, our guide, Jill, provided us with an enjoyable tour which took us from the pitch level all the way to the tippy-top, as she called it, where we could see the extent of this massive stadium with its 100,024 capacity. From the top of the stadium we then worked our way down through the different levels where we were shown the players areas, the television broadcast rooms, the reporters areas, then finally the changing rooms and interview areas. It certainly was a memorable visit.

Returning home via the city, stopping off for some shopping from the local shops, we were glad that Briony came to pick us up as we were both pretty played out.

Day 7 Thursday 14th March

This was one of the days where I go walk about looking for new street art, i had read of a new piece by one of both Jim and I’s favourites, Dan Kitchener. Located in a suburb called Sunshine West, meant that i had a fair journey to get there, starting off with a train into a part of the city called Footscray, another train and bus got me to an industrial estate where the mural was located. The work certainly was worth the effort getting there, created by Dan, Damien Mitchell and Heesco, it surely brightens up a bland area. Whilst there, I discovered that the mural was sponsered by a guy called ‘Duke’, who runs the local Loop spray paint operation, so I popped in for a chat with him, hearing his story about the roots of hip hip and graffiti in Melbourne reminded me of Glasgow’s Gaz Mac. Duke pointed out some other good works in the area, so off I headed to seek them out, finding some good pieces by the likes of Matt Adnate and more from Heesco plus one by the lad recommended by Duke, ‘Itstandsout’ in Footscray.

Returning to the city, I met up with Graeme in the Windsor Castle hotel after his work for a pint before returning to Chelsea for dinner before heading for home.

Day 8 Friday 15th March

Today I had arranged to meet Sean, a guy who is a regular Facebook poster on groups that I follow along with many members of our Association. Briony dropped me off at his house which is close to theirs, around midday and I spent a nice afternoon with him and a few of his old seafaring mates, it was good fun trading stories.

In the evening Graeme collected me from Sean’s and we returned home before heading out again for dinner with the Cullin clan at the Cheltenham RSL, it was great to see them all again and to see how much the children have grown since my last visit, Andrew however couldn’t be there as he was working away, as usual we were all busy chatting hat we forgot to take a group photograph. It was yet another nice day.