Episode 4 – Homeward Bound
Adios New Zealand – G’Day Orstraelia!
The first leg of the homeward journey, not counting Wellington to Auckland, was the return encounter with Melbourne. This time we had the necessary paperwork and no pen-pushing passport person was going to stop us – unless he had a bloody big gun!
We stayed in a very nice hotel, right beside the World Trade Centre – the only problem was the car dropped us off at the hotel 10:00pm local time and guess what time the bar shut? Yes, you’re right 10:00pm! I tried to reason with the receptionist – tried all of the usual lines about the number of times I stay in Holiday Inn/Crown Plazas and in some cases, Preston springs to mind, I’ve had the barman pleading with me to go to bed at 4:00am! [Not for any sexual behaviour I must stress – but so that he could close the bar!]
Anyway, after raiding the minibar in the room, dawn broke on a warm, sunny Melbourne morning. While planning our day, it seemed as though the options were either;
- to visit the MCG for a tour of the ground and museum that is alleged to be similar to the pilgrimage to Lords; or
- go shopping!
It won’t take a genius to work out which option was selected from the menu!
Fortunately, many of the retail outlets had seating areas out front where I could while away a few hours in ‘people-watching mode’ with a rather pleasant cigar or two! I won’t bore you with all of the gory details, but the ratio of 5 hours, gawd knows how many shops visited and items tried on, but the good thing for my wallet was that there was only one purchase! Happy Days!
I’m finishing this episode off in the Emirates Lounge at Melbourne with a steady supply of liquid replenishment waiting on the flight to Singapore.
Until the next episode………… G’day
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