Bank holiday blues

1. The current bank holiday weather (in England anyway) kinda reminds me of Christmas in Melbourne. What can I say, anywhere you can buy kilos of steak and huge tiger prawns for about a third the price of Tescos has got to be a good place to live. OK, maybe that's just Australia in general. Funnily enough, there's cricket going on here at the moment too. Although this time England look to be on top (yay!). However, it'll probably keep raining so we'll end up with a draw (boo!).

2. Digging through the photo archive, proof that we actually got a bit 'cultural' with a visit to the Melbourne Museum (and no, we weren't looking at pots of yoghurt in display cases - though you never know, that might be quite an interesting exhibit - yoghurt pots through the ages. Oooh, anyone remember munch bunch yoghurts? And was it just me that thought toffee yoghurt was disgusting?). It seems like they've done up the museums in Australia and New Zealand a bit more recently than say the Science Museum. There was enough in there to keep us occupied for a couple of hours. The best bit was the exhibit based on the Neighbours TV set. And the fact that they were showing the test match in the museum! Well, they did have an exhibit about the Ashes on display there. Yeah you're right. Thinking about what actually interested us the most, we probably would have got more culture standing in the supermarket looking at yoghurt pots - only the ones with the friendly bacteria in them mind.

3. And when we'd finished watching cricket in the museum, you can go shopping and then watch cricket on the big screen in Federation Square - yeah, it does sound like a good place for a Star Trek convention... Looking at the Melbourne map, it looks like we missed seeing a lot of the city. Hmm - spent too much time watching the cricket obviously. Well, I don't think any of us enjoyed Melbourne as much as Sydney (thus stoking the great Melbournite (?) - Sydnonian (??!!??) rivalry. But that is probably because we got hammered in the cricket and it rained buckets in the middle of what was supposedly summer. Maybe I'll give it another chance my next visit down under. If I can time it to coincide with the Australian Open, that might be a bonus...

3 mad ideas come up with on holiday

Well, it's been over a month since Gazman and I have been on holiday. Here are three random thoughts that have sprung up during the holiday.

1. (Food Court in shopping mall beneath Twin Towers, KL) While playing with Timmy, the game 'mapo-slido' was invented. Simply take fold up map of KL and insert in it's plastic protective wallet and proceed to slide it across the plastic laminated table towards one of the other players seated around said table. Points given for number of spins map makes on way to recipient or speed of pass. Bonus points may be awarded at start of go by resting half of map on table and flipping map up in air with hand (palm facing downward) and attempting to catch it with the same hand before map hits the table. Map should make 180deg flip (min.) before being caught. several minutes of fun if with children (or adults with appropriate childish mindset - that would be all of us)

2. (When on tram going past Melbourne Aquatics Centre) How come the you have so many different medals for swimming when surely you should be able to use any stroke you like to cover 50M / 100M as quickly as possible. Either that or maybe we should have more medals in running. So we can have the 100m running backwards... Just imagine the olympics with the 4*100m medley - the first leg is running forwards, the 2nd leg runs backwards, the 3rd leg has to hop and the 4th leg has to roly-poly...

3. (Gourmet Cafe in YHA Sydney, having been given a Hawaiian pizza when I asked for a vegetarian pizza) While wondering at the 'interesting' service at the YHA cafe / restaurant, Matt, Jules, Gaz, da_tonester and I thought you could inject a bit of excitement into your meal by creating the 'Extreme Dining' restaurant. You go into the restaurant and place your order and that's what you're billed for. However, inept waiting staff will come round with the wrong order - so you can either choose to wait for your meal, to go for the food offered or to wait in the hope that another meal which looks better comes along... It can even be spiced up with the addition of dishes like octopus tentacles, tripe, fugu, dishes made entirely from soya products which will come out at the end. So if you wait too long for a good meal to come by, you might end up with one of these dishes... Not recommended for anyone with food allergies.

Happy New Year. Pictures of New years in Sydney to follow!

3 Christmas Day Pictures

3 pictures from Christmas Day in Melbourne.

It was wet...
Photo: Melbourne, by the river. Models: Jules, Gaz Man, da_tonester



















If you look closely, you can see the steam coming off Matt's steak

Photo: Melbourne, by the river Model: Matt, BBQ steak from Queen Victoria Market















But at least the evening was nicer and we had a good view. Very cold though. No pictures of traditional Aussie Christmas fare though (shrimp on the Barbie - though agree with others, it's more an 'outdoor cooker' than a BBQ, especially given the lack of charcoal). Maybe the next blog will be '3 things I've prepared on the outdoor cooker'

Photo: Melbourne

Merry Christmas from the Moochers in Melbourne

Well, it's Christmas eve, 10 degrees C and drizzling. So, not looking promising for a hot sunny Christmas Down Under. Never mind. Seasons greetings on this blog with three cheesy pictures taken from Singapore, Melbourne and um, the Vodafone store in Perth.

1. Singapore (Photo: Tanglin Mall)
2. Melbourne (Photo: Flinders St)
3. Voddo store (just to show the spirt of mammon is still alive. And in case you're wondering - at least if you're British - what a strange lot the Aussies are, you'll have to understand it's a cultural slang language type thing).

Photo: Vodafone xmas offer in Perth branch

Happy Christmas to everyone reading this blog (so, that'll be about 4 people then... Well, in that case, I hope you all have an extra special Christmas).