Author Archives: Mel

MICF Day 6: PENGUIN PARADE AT PHILLIP ISLAND!!!

Posted on April 23, 2018 by Mel

I was so pumped for this. We went with the tour on Viator (AAT Kings was the local provider) and it included the drive to Phillip Island, a stop at a wildlife park and PENGUINS! PENGUUUUUINS ON PARADE! Our AAT Kings bus collected us from our hotel at 12:45pm and by 1:15pm we were on our way out of Melbourne.

The first stop was at Maru Koala and Animal Park and I will admit – I was skeptical. I mean, I’m Australian…what the hell interest do I have in these animals? Turns out they are adorable and very used to people so they come up for pats. It’s also a rescue hospital so *thumbs up*. They have koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, a llama, Dingo’s, rabbits, a kookaburra, emu and more!

it was about another 30 mins to Phillip Island from there and our first stop was at Nobbie’s beach for some amazing scenery.

We then drove down to the tour centre for the penguins. B and I had paid an extra $40 each for the Ranger Guided Tour and it was so worth it! Not only did we get a personal guide for 10 of us but we got commentary and prime viewing position to the right of the stands….without having to bags a good spot 3hrs early! It also just so happened that on this night, 80% of the ones coming ashore did so in front of us instead of the main stands. Score! Before the photo ban kicked in, I got some lovely night time shots

Now, because people are essentially all idiots they have actually outright banned photography at the penguin parade. This is a harsh stance in comparison to when I was at Moreton Island feeding wild dolphins and they let you take pics, just with no flash. This total ban is completely understandable though – the only way to get a good pic at almost-dark is with a flash and flash hurts their tiny little penguin eyes + upsets them – so if you ban all photography you avoid idiots using a flash when told not to. Easy. The ban on photos meant I spent the whole time excitedly nudging B about how cute the little penguins were and (quietly) cheering them on as they returned to their nests.

At 7:30pm we boarded the bus for the 2hr trip back to the CBD. Home time tomorrow.

Here are some cute penguin photos provided by Phillip Island to visitors in place of allowing photography:

Categories: MICF 2018 | Tags: animal encounter, Melbourne, penguin parade, penguins, Phillip Island, Victoria, wildlife | Leave a comment

MICF Day 5: Rice Paper Scissors and Wil Anderson

Posted on April 22, 2018 by Mel

I booked a late lunch today at the much raved about (and heavily reviewed) Rice Paper Scissors. Last year we tried for dinner there but with no bookings and a “we will text you when a table is available” dinner approach it didn’t really work in between comedy shows. Also, we are way too impatient for that sort of “popular eatery” shit. This time I booked lunch (hooray – a booking system exists for lunch) and we went for the 5 dishes for $59 shared option http://ricepaperscissors.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SS-RPS_Menu_148x297_CITY_221117-draft.pdf

With a shellfish allergy I always have to be careful in Asian restaurants (we got one fish dish just for B and the rest was shareable) and we rated our first 4 meat based choices as excellent, with the crispy barramundi coming in as a bit “meh” compared to the rest.

Tonight was the last night of the comedy festival. Booooo! We came quite late this year because of when school holidays fell so hopefully next year we can come a bit earlier. It was also our most expensive comedy show ($45 a ticket) in the form of Wil Anderson and his show “Willegal” about his unplanned adventures with the law last year. We were in the front row which was initially very worrying but because this show was unlike his others and more narrative focused, there was very little crowd interaction.

After Wil Anderson it was dumplings for dinner at my favourite “no interaction with wait staff” restaurant China Red and then bed time before a big day tomorrow.

Tomorrow – PENGUIN PARADE AT PHILLIP ISLAND! Then home.

Categories: MICF 2018 | Tags: food, Melbourne, MICF | Leave a comment

MICF Day 4: Melbourne Zoo + superheroes, improvised musicals (again!) and Joel Creasey

Posted on April 21, 2018 by Mel

The zoo was AWESOME! We ubered there and back ($12 each way) and also paid an extra $25 for a close encounter with a seal. That meant we each got to have a seal kiss! Seals are also known as the dogs of the sea if you refer to B and his weirdness….and google…. It was only $27 for the experience and I considered it $27 well spent.

We explored all the different sections of the zoo and were there for more than 3 hrs in total – it was closer to 3.5hrs. My favourite animals were the orangutans.

Other animals included giraffes, meerkats, baboons, a hippo….and more! The lemur walk through experience was amazing, they just hang out right next to you and you can take lots of photos.

After the zoo we had a brief (too brief! Waaaah my feet) rest and then it was off to the Elephant and the Wheebarrow for comedy show number 7 “Battle of the Superhero’s” which was a debate with 4 comedians about who was the better “super” – Hulk, Microwave Man, Jessica Jones or Daenerys? The winner (by 2 votes) was Hulk….I voted for Daenerys Targaryen though. Mostly because she’s one of the performers from my favourite improv group Impromptunes.

We than had a quick on the run dinner at Nandos before our second Impromptunes visit for the festival – if you ever get a chance, we can’t recommend these performers enough! Tonight’s musical was “La Musicale” and featured an opera singer, a ballerina and the hit song “you’re a pig dog”. It also, weirdly enough, featured the lovely lady who led our seal encounter at Melb Zoo today! Turns out they hire performers.

After that it was a short walk to the final venue for the evening (the Town Hall) to see Joel Creasey. We saw him last year and really enjoyed it, it’s great to see his popularity is growing and he’s in a mucccccch bigger venue this year.

Categories: MICF 2018 | Tags: animal encounter, Melbourne, Melbourne Zoo, MICF, zoo | Leave a comment

MICF day 2 and 3: Improvised comedy + some weird shit + Vue De Monde

Posted on April 20, 2018 by Mel

Day 1:

Today we started with Cafe Issus and the ever popular Nutella brioche with fairy floss. Afterwards it was time to explore Degraves Lane with my nice camera.

Once shopping time (ahhhh Dangerfield ahhhhh) had ended it was late lunch time and Meat Maiden was the go – as recommended by the QANTAS magazine. B highly rated the brisket and I thought the lamb shoulder was decent.

At 5pm we went to Zero Latency. This time I was a spectator and B played Singularity and Zombie Survival with 7 strangers. He wants to go AGAIN next year which tells you how much he liked it…even if he only managed to place first once this time around.

Then it was Impromptunes – the improvised musical. They really lived up to their “adults only” theme tonight, boy did I feel bad for the teacher who had brought in a school group! Tonight’s musical was “Garlic Bread” and it contained multiple simulated orgies haha…hence my sympathy for the school group teachers!

Once Impromptunes finished it was off to a late night showing of “let’s get practical” with Melbourne favourites the very good looking initiative at The Malthouse. Food was average at the venue and I’ll be blunt but polite here and say…this was just not our cup of tea. We both had regrets about missing other late night shows for whatever the hell this was meant to be. We probably should have taken a hint from the audience of 20 people who all seemed to know the performers before we walked in. I’m all for alternate or subversive humour but this just missed the mark for both of us.

Day 2:

Well, today was the long awaited booking for Vue de Monde at lunch. I had to book months in advance for this (and that was just for lunch – dinner was gone ages before then) but far out it was worth it!! You are talking $1000+ for two people to have the chefs degustation and prestige paired wines but B and I both rated it number one restaurant to date. The food, the view, the wine, the service….all A+++

After a wine/food induced afternoon nap, we managed to miss Improv Comedy at the Highlander Bar (dammit!) but did make it to a cabaret/singing show out at the Melba Spiegeltent in Collingwood. Now last year the Spiegeltent was a highlight (drag cabaret) and I though this years acapella performance (Ginger and Tonic) also rated pretty damn high. B didn’t think it was as good as the drag cabaret show YUMMY but enjoyed some of the jokes – it was a bit more female oriented in terms of humour.

After that was an $8 Uber ride back into the city to Coopers Inn for the late night “comedy boxing” show with no names we knew beforehand but a lot of adult giggles. It was the first show we have been to that hasn’t run to schedule but was also our first late night one so possibly that’s a common thing in the later shows. We enjoyed the humour although felt a little bit “odd one out” since most of the audience were, to put it politely, wasted.

Categories: MICF 2018 | Tags: degustation, food, Melbourne, MICF, Vue de Monde, wine | Leave a comment

Melbourne International Comedy Festival (3rd year!) Day 1

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Mel

Eeeee, here we are again! As the school term started later this year, so have school holidays so we have only managed to come for the last 5 days of the MICF this time around but have booked 11 shows within that time!

Our hotel for this trip is a little more fancy since I slept about 12 hours over a week last time we stayed in Adara on Collins and was super grumpy. This time we are in the Novotel on Collins and it is super nice! Our room has a lovely view of St Collins Laneway and the pretty light features.

After settling in at the hotel, we both went shopping – I spent *mumble mumble* at Dangerfield and Fossil while B considered purchasing new electronics. We then had an early dinner at China Red (a favourite from last years MICF visit) which not only has amazing dumplings but also uses touch screens so there’s very little social interaction. It’s my kind of place. After leaving there, we walked to our first venue and encountered a street artist touching up some work in Hosier Lane.

Our first show tonight was 6:30-7:30pm and it was Urzila Carlson at the Forum Melbourne. We have watched her quite a few times on HYBPA and enjoy her take on life. I hadn’t realised I had booked front row though! Lucky she’s nice to audiences.

Our second show was 8:15-9:15pm at the Swiss Club where we saw Rhys Nicholson. We actually saw him perform last year at The Great Debate and really enjoyed his snarky, self-deprecating humour. We could have gone front row for this one but I went with second row instead.

Categories: MICF 2018 | Tags: comedy festival, Melbourne, MICF | Leave a comment

Easter weekend at the NSW south coast: Tomakin, Broulee, Batehaven and Batemans Bay

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Mel

We headed to the NSW south coast this weekend for our second stay in Tomakin. We chose Tomakin, NSW again because it is a small town and they have a wonderful 24hr off leash dog beach. It’s also only a 2hr (with good traffic) drive from Canberra.

Coming out of Canberra on Good Friday we didn’t really understand just how bad the traffic would be! This was obviously what people meant when they talked about “coast traffic” and we got stuck at Braidwood for a good 15 mins and then for at least 40mins trying to get into Batemans Bay. No way around it unfortunately! Coming home we left early and missed most of it, with just a short delay in Braidwood.

This time we stayed at “Mutleys on Deakin” in Tomakin and it was amazing! A huge, dog friendly home. Very affordable as well with a 7 min walk to the beach and to the local social club for meals. As you can tell from the video below, Bear was pretty excited! Accomodation link: http://wagsawaypetholidays.com.au/mutleys-deakin-tomakin.html

Every morning and evening we walked on the off lead beach and met lots of locals (and lots of Canberrans) with their beautiful dogs. Bear made special friends with Leo the Ridgeback.

This time as part of our stay we had a wander over to the Tomago River as well, which feeds into the beach we walk along with Bear. It was a beautiful area, very calm and still, but there were boats loading off the ramp and lots of shore fishing so it wasn’t really Bear-friendly. Looked stunning at sunset though, even on a cloudy day.

We also took the opportunity over the 4 days to visit Bernie’s in Batehaven again (excellent fish and chips) as well as check out the Birdland Animal Park. I read a lot of reviews beforehand so was prepared going in that it was mostly a rescue and rehab place that was small. Within the first five minutes I got to hold a baby wombat so I thought it was the best zoo visit in ages! I didn’t read anything about the wombat cuddles online so I think we just got lucky 🙂

We also saw lots of other animals (goats, alpacas, many birds, deer, kangaroos, echidnas, wallabies, koalas, more wombats…) and fed nearly all of them. I had one particularly memorable run in with a peacock which tried to steal my bag of food and then chased me. I of course ran away screaming – as you do.

It was $29 each to get in but as we got to hold the baby wombat and hand feed lots of other animals in a quiet, non-crowded setting we felt it was well worth it.

We also stopped in at Broulee Beach for a walk on Easter Sunday. Tomakin is about 15 mins out of Batemans Bay and Broulee is another 5 mins along the coast. It’s a town with few amenities but beautiful beaches and walks.

To finish this post off, here’s some “Bear in action” shots for his fans 👍😃

Categories: Australian Getaways | Tags: australia, beach, bear, Broulee Beach, Canberra, coast, dog beach, family, NSW south coast, ocean, relaxation, Tomakin Beach | Leave a comment

Sydney weekend drive: day 2

Posted on January 27, 2018 by Mel

After a sleep in this morning we headed off for our picnic adventure to Wendy’s Secret Garden in Lavender Bay (website: https://www.wendyssecretgarden.org.au) near the harbour.

Our picnic was ordered through Pop Up Picnics in Sydney and it was DELICIOUS! They delivered it to the picnic location (we supplied the bubbly) and were very accommodating about my shellfish allergy. It came with a rug and in a handy carry box that converts to a table if needed

The gardens were amazing. I strongly recommend anyone who hasn’t visited them, should! At the moment there aren’t any sign posts which show directions to the garden – partly to keep it a bit of a secret and partly because it’s that weird combo of private property with public access. We found the best thing to do was track Wendy’s Secret Garden Lavender Bay using google maps – it was very accurate. You can enter down the bottom at Railway Ave or up the top at Lavendar Crescent.

We were super lucky and scored what I think was the best seat in the whole park! It came with a bench and a stunning view. It was directly under the very old, very well known Moreton Bay Fig Tree which is a very identifiable part of the garden.

After lunch, we explored the gardens in more depth. Lots of beautiful walkways, shady spots and little nooks to sit in.

After resting back at the apartment for awhile, we headed over to ANZ Stadium for the Foo Fighters concert. Security stuff is a lot more full on these days and I’m glad of two things:

1. I read the pre-concert info so knew not to bring a bag. People were being told no entry with backpacks

2. We didn’t stay in the city centre and rely on the train. The lines were insane st Olympic Park Station!

The opening act Weezer were a great throwback to my adolescence (say it ain’t so, your love is a heartbreaker) and as always….the FF rocked! Favourite song last time we saw them live was Generator (which is 18 years old this year) and this time around it was definitely listening to 50 000 people sing along to My Hero – see the video below.

Oh, and Dave Grohl played the drums which was something I never thought I’d see live! I’m a bit too young to have been concert-attending age when Nirvana were around.

Tomorrow – home time! 3hrs 15 mins back to Canberra and my beloved doggo.

Categories: Australian Getaways | Tags: bubbly, harbour bridge, picnic, Sydney, Wendy’s Secret garden | Leave a comment

Sydney weekend drive: Day 1

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Mel

This weekend we drove to Sydney for the first time. Usually we fly as we are staying in the city centre (hotels) and a car is not much use + expensive to park. This time we are staying out in Olympic Park as we are going to see the Foo Fighters tomorrow night! Eeeeee!!

Canberra to Sydney is about a 3hr 15min drive down a dual carriageway. It’s not a hard drive but it’s booooooring. We stopped in Moss Vale (the halfway point) for a very tasty and cheerful lunch at Bernie’s Diner.

As we are staying in Olympic Park, we opted to go for an apartment booked through Stayz.com instead of the hotels nearby. The apartment we are in is one of the “Australia Tower” ones and it’s about halfway up the 25 storey building with a very nice view of ANZ Stadium and Homebush.

After arriving, we wandered over to Cathy Freeman Park (5 min walk) and had a look at the olympic cauldron from the 2000 games, then had dinner and cocktails at Mexica Bar. We returned to the apartment and settled in to wait for fireworks. Unfortunately our view wasn’t great but we still saw a bit!

Categories: Australian Getaways | Tags: australia, Canberra, cocktails, Foo Fighters, live concert, Olympic Park, Sydney | Leave a comment

Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 5 massages, relaxing and official hens night!

Posted on January 13, 2018 by Mel

Today started with two of us having a “pamper package” at the day spa while the other two slept in. We then swapped places after lunch with the other two getting “spa-d” while the morning two had a nap. The day spa package was excellent value considering the usual extortionate pricing – $129 each for two focus massages, a facial, a foot spa and other small things as well.

Lunch today was at Salt Grill which was impossible to get into for dinner, but easy to book for lunch! The cover charge was also slightly less for a lunch booking. The food was amazing!! Lana was happy we finally got a decent dessert 🙂

We had originally booked in to a 3:30pm cocktail mixing class but after some more stuff ups on P&Os end (they changed the time and only booked 3 of us in) I cancelled it. Instead we went to a dance class!!

Dinner was relatively early again (so many people booked it out on day one which was probably why everyone was late to the evacuation drill) but because we had enjoyed an early lunch it was all good. The Dragon Lady is another included meal – this time Asian fusion style and definitely had better service than the Waterfront. We all gave the food a thumbs up.

Tomorrow’s disembarkation starts at 7:30am. Our time slot is 9:25am so we have to be out of the room by 7:45am and head off to eat breakfast and waste some time. This means we planned not to have a big one tonight….in theory…..and then it turned out to be my “official” hens celebration.

We participated in a music suggestion class, a salsa dance class, had dinner at Dragon Lady, watched a musical performance, watched an R rated comedian AND danced to some live music….and still made it to bed just before midnight!!

What a fabulous cruise this has been ❤️

Categories: Moreton Island Cruise | Tags: cocktails, cruise, food, girls trip, holiday, Moreton Island, P&O, travel | Leave a comment

Moreton Island Bridesmaids Cruise: Day 4 shore visit

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Mel

Today was shore visit day! We booked late tours so slept in until around 9am and then had a late breakfast. We disembarked around 11:15am and it was just a short tender ride over to the island.

Bs auntie and nana came over from Brisbane to say hello to me. Nana Rose met Percy and was a fan.

After some ocean swimming and sunbathing. It was time for shore tours! Our first shore tour was guided snorkelling. The tour idea itself was quite good but unfortunately we got stuck with a selfish family of 24 who refused to be split. So instead of the usual 12, our group had 28 in it! Kinda ruined the fun. I did convince the manager to give us a partial refund despite their “no refunds” policy. The wrecks themselves were amazing, it was just the repeatedly getting kicked in the face that got old fast.

After snorkelling we rested for awhile before the wild dolphins feeding. SO AWESOME! There was canapés and bubbly alongside a really interesting presentation about the wild dolphin family histories in the area. It was then dolphins feeding time!! We fed Echo.