Melbourne (Australia)

Tuesday 19 December

Fuelled by a full English, we checked out from the Crown and headed off to Perth airport, after a chat with Mitch Marsh at the hotel and a farewell to all the lovely staff. We will definitely come back here if we can, what an amazing resort. Unfortunately on arrival into Departures having checked all our luggage in, our Qantas plane had developed a fault so our flight was delayed by an hour and we boarded another plane around 2pm, along with half of the English cricket team! Our three hour flight was delayed on our approach into Melbourne by a terrific thunderstorm and we finally landed about 9pm local time (Melbourne being 3 hours ahead of Perth).

Got through the airport quite quickly and in a taxi to the Melbourne Marriott arriving about 10.30pm. After checking in and dropping the cases off to our rather small room, we headed to the bar which unfortunately was due to close at 11pm. Really? Christmas week in

Melbourne CBD and the bar is closing at that time? Ah well, soon find another bar tomorrow! Bed about 12.30am, late for us!

Wednesday 20 December

We woke up fairly early after a fitful night’s sleep. Glancing around this rather confined space, I opened the curtains to check out the view from our room and all we could see was the back of another building and the back end of the hotel car park. Mmmm. Not great for a twelve night stay. Maybe we had been too spoilt at the Crown in Perth, but we were both disappointed with this set up. We headed down to breakfast and while Dan went to get us a table, I went to Reception and broached the subject of our disappointment in the room etc. The guy there (thanks Laurent!) was from Wales ironically and part of the management team and after some cajoling and genuine reasoning, we were moved from our current room to a larger corner one on the same level but with a street view, a large leather sofa and coffee table (they called it an inclusive leisure area!) and much more space. Better! And the concierge team were very helpful in moving us too.

We then went for a long walk, and afterwards we found a great bar called Coopers almost directly opposite our hotel. We had some drinks there followed by a fabulous curry and met some really nice people. Great find especially being so near to our hotel.

Thursday 21 December

We decided to have one of our ‘chill out’ days today as we are both a bit tired and Dan has unfortunately woken up with painful gout in his foot so our usual routine of taking a long walk after breakfast is not viable today. So lots of reading, blogging and relaxing is the order of the day, before - of course – cleaning ourselves up and heading back to Coopers bar again. More drinks and another great supper, all excellent again. Serious compliments to the chef!

But then just as we thought we had found our ‘local’ for our time here in Melbourne, we found out that they are closing for the festive season from 23 Dec till 8 Jan! Oh well. Just have to find another great bar, being so central I am sure we will manage! Today unfortunately, there has been a nasty accident, deliberate or otherwise, not far from where we were in Coopers when a car/van mounted the pavement and knocked some people over. Unsure at this point whether or not it is terrorist related, but some people are still critical. Horrible.
Thanks to those close to us (in UK and Malta mainly) who immediately contacted us to make sure we were ok once it hit the international media.

Friday 22 December

It’s time again to do some washing today so after another great breakfast, we head out to the Laundromat. We found it just round the corner so we had it all washed and dried in no time then Dan spent a good hour or so ironing it all back at the hotel. We headed off back to Coopers again in the afternoon after spending some time planning our tourist activities for the next two days (before Christmas) – namely to visit the Southbank, Yarra river area, the Crown complex, the new Docklands development and the MCG in preparation for

next week’s test!

Had some drinks and Christmas festivities with the gang at Coopers before they close for Christmas, then had sandwich in the room for supper, with a compulsory glass of red wine of course!

Saturday 23 December

After breakfast we headed out to explore the area towards the MCG and the Yarra River. We took a long walk down to the Crown complex (wanted to look to compare to Perth, very similar if anything even bigger) then walked by the river and had a beer in PJ O’Brien’s bar where had we met the England team on our last trip to the Ashes fifteen years ago! Pleased to see it hadn’t changed a bit and we both recalled tales of Mark Butcher singing Maggie May at the top of his

voice in the bar in reply to the Barmy Army’s fan songs, back in 2002.

Afterwards we walked back up to the CBD area and headed into the Elephant and Wheelbarrow (hereafter known as the E&W) pub for beers and wine, fantastic NZ rosé wine (albeit it was called The Squealing Pig)! This bar was recommended to us by the gang in Coopers (given that they were closing for the holiday) and it was a good recommendation. And very cricket oriented. We decided on a sandwich in the room again for supper, which was ideal. As noted before, there is only so much eating out you can do on a trip like this!

Sunday 24 December

Our hotel is understandably becoming very Christmassy now but to be honest we aren’t feeling it at all! I think it is maybe always the same when you are not at home for the festive period. This morning we pottered around the hotel after a good breakfast, then Dan headed over to Coopers for a ‘regulars only’ drink and I caught up with him a couple of hours later. Very nice of them to ask us, seeing as we only met them this week. Afterwards we headed back down to the E&W and had some drinks and cricket discussions, then ordered two steak and Guinness pies with sweet potato mash and mushy peas, how good was that! Very nice indeed, another good find for good bar food. Yet more compliments to the chef!

Monday 25 December

Happy Christmas! Not a great deal to report. We went down on good time for a festive breakfast in the hotel then up to get changed and over to Coopers to gate-crash their family party for a quick drink (as invited to obviously). Then went up to the E&W for a couple more festive drinks before coming back to get showered and changed into our glad rags.

Prosecco in the hotel bar then Christmas dinner buffet in the restaurant. So much food! Overdid it on the fresh seafood and both felt quite queasy afterwards. But very enjoyable and very well prepared and presented by the hotel, we would recommend you give it a try if you are around this way at Christmas.

Chilled out in the room after all that food - ringing, texting and skyping the family. Typical Christmas day then!!

Tuesday 26 December

And so the Boxing Day test of this Ashes series begins. We are not going to the MCG today as it is day one (previous reasons apply) but we watched the live play on the TV in the room. Coupled with some reading, napping, blogging and emailing. We didn’t leave our room today, apart from going down for breakfast this morning, recovering from yesterday and enjoying recharging our batteries!

We had a light sandwich supper in the room after cricket all day, no alcohol at all (at last, a dry day!) and an early night. It was Australia’s day at the MCG, of course. Their tails are up after already winning the series before even arriving in Melbourne so it was totally to be expected.

Wednesday 27 December

We had a fairly early breakfast then headed out to walk to the MCG. It was very hot (37c) and quite a long walk but we finally got there (via loads of steps to climb up to boot, heaven knows how you manage if you are disabled, note to self to make that point on TA when I do the review). The ground was predictably heaving with supporters and a buzz of activity in general. We watched about two hours of the game at the MCG then headed back to the CBD area of the city, hot and humid and in need of a cold one! Any excuse.

Dan went into the E&W to get the beers in and I dropped our things back at the hotel before getting changed and going back to join him. We stayed there till around 6pm (end of play), had lots of drinks, steak salad and ploughman’s and altogether a good time whilst watching the cricket. There’s lots of borderline cricket banter between the Aussies and the English in this bar which is good fun but after lots of drinks, you could sense that it might just go over the top so we didn’t get too involved! Instead we headed back to the hotel, weary but happy after a fabulous day.

Thursday 28 December

Not much to report today. After a day of excess yesterday, we had a light breakfast once we got up and then stayed in the room most of the day recuperating and watching England do really rather well at the MCG. Hoorah, they finally turned up! It was a sandwich supper

again in the room tonight and another alcohol free day! And Alastair Cook just got his 200, where have you been!!! Having a day out tomorrow being tourists so looking forward to that.

Friday 29 December

Headed out after breakfast and having watched the first hour of play at the MCG from the hotel. We boarded the tram from Bourke St (just by the hotel) to St Kilda, which is on the coast about twenty minutes away. It is cool, windy and rainy today (the weather changes here so quickly) so we walked up to the beach area and down to St Kilda pier. Ordered the now infamous ‘frosé’ (rosé wine over crushed ice, thanks Phillippa!) and Dan had a beer. Just had the one as we were so cold there then walked back up to the top of the town. We had another drink then during a fierce and sudden rain storm and then headed back out to catch a tram back (between showers).

Unfortunately I then had a nasty fall as the tram jerked away from the platform and I lost my balance, and thwacked my head on a pillar in the train, producing a bump to make Popeye proud. I felt shaken up

and pretty horrible which was obviously the impact and shock of the fall. Got back to the hotel, having called into the pharmacist for a quick check over, then sat with a deliciously cold ice pack on my head for a few hours (together with several strong painkillers!). Dan went out and fetched us a great Chinese takeaway. New head tomorrow please!

Saturday 30 December

So today is our last day in Melbourne and packing up day, as we are flying over to Sydney tomorrow for the last test in this Ashes series, and therefore our last location stop in Australia before we head over to New Zealand. I was still feeling a bit off after yesterday’s fall so Dan did all the packing while I rested and ingested as many painkillers as was feasible. Our last day in this city isn’t therefore going to be a memorable one but there has been many more before it, and I am sure there will be many more after it!

We did actually head out for a beer and something to eat later at the E&W but I was really tired so we soon returned to try and sleep. Hoping for improvement tomorrow for the flight, sure it will be fine.