Vacations – Travels with Ali

~ Welcome Return to Melbourne ~

The time had come for our visit to Melbourne again. We had planned five days with Laurence and Maddy. They were both still on their Christmas break from work so it meant we could spend every day together.

Our trip didn’t start too well with our late night flight delayed for one hour (at least we were on time!). This meant it would be too late for Laurence to pick us up. When we arrived we found the taxi queue to be too long for us to wait, so decided to book the hotel opposite. Any sensible person would walk across the road and ask for a room, but thinking I was being clever I booked online while on the side of the road.
Booking.Com didn’t allow me to book for the day before, so I went ahead and booked for that day, which meant that we couldn’t check in until 3 pm, which I found out when we went to check in! By now it was 2.30 am and we were desperate for a room. Fortunately I managed to get through to Booking.Com and convey my mistake! Hoping that the hotel would waive the cost as we now had to book direct through them.
Anyway I didn’t get charged otherwise it would have been a very expensive mistake. Although I had to explain all this to the staff as they kept saying they couldn’t refund me. Lesson: Do not book online at the side of the road.

For the next five days we ate and drank our way around Melbourne’s fine restaurants.

We stayed in a one bedroom apartment just across the road from Laurence and Maddy which was ideal.

It was hot and humid one minute and cold and rainy the next. It’s true what they say about Melbourne – Four seasons in one day.

We had a quick trip to St. Kilda for happy hour followed by dinner at Bistro Thierry – no points for guessing it was French.

No trip to Melbourne is complete for Anthony without a shopping day, so it was into town for that.

We had lunch in a very popular Vietnamese restaurant, cocktails on a rooftop bar and dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant.

Thursday it was my day to choose somewhere to go. So we drove to Williamstown around 30 minutes drive from St. Kilda. It was a beautiful sunny day and the beach was packed with umbrellas and cabanas. We had a seafood lunch overlooking the bay and wander around after.

Williamstown was Melbourne’s first port settlement and named after William 1V in 1837. Of course there was an indigenous settlement long before this. The Yalukit-willam clan of the Kulin nation were the first people to call this town home.

Nowadays it is a popular place for family holidays with gorgeous sandy beaches and many restaurants and cafes. It reminded me of an English seaside town, without the weather to go with it though.

We had a dinner at their place one night with Laurence grilling steaks on his Weber.

Too soon and it was our last day and it was pouring! Maddy had mentioned she wanted to see the Triennial exhibition at the National Gallery so we caught a tram to the city for a visit. The exhibition is free and hosts many different exhibitions throughout the year.

Taking photos was allowed so I took a few of the ones that I liked or intrigued me the best!

Larger than life sculptures by Thomas J Price

Walking into the room above, I asked myself what constitutes art? I said to Laurence I could do this, looks easy. To which he answered “aah but that’s the trick to make it look easy but in reality it’s very difficult”. I’m still not sure I would put this on my wall though.

Paintings by Farrokh Mahdavi an Iranian artist. In Untitled, pink is the universal colour of our flesh; it transcends politics, race, nationality, territoriality and gender. Source – NGV

Comedian
Maurizio Cattelan – Italian born artist

Well I could definitely do this. My thoughts: ”The Emperor’s New Clothes”. I have cropped this as much as I could but it was in a room with nothing else.

In 1999, Cattelan duct taped his art dealer, Massimo De Carlo, to a wall for the opening of his exhibition A Perfect Day.

I loved the ones above as I found them profound and moving.

Displaced along with members of his immediate family during the Kosovo War (1998–99), Petrit Halilaj’s Very volcanic over this green feather explores his experience as a thirteen-year-old refugee living for more than two years in Kukës II camp in Albania. Art materials were distributed to children at the camp by visiting Italian psychologist Giacomo Poli. Poli encouraged the children to externalise and process their experiences through drawing. Spotting his talent, Poli would much later arrange for Halilaj to attend art school in Italy. Source – NGV

I enjoy looking at old paintings of Royalty and Noblemen and Women and one floor was showing these, although not part of the Triennel exhibition.

Anthony’s family has a family tree dating back to Louis XIV by one of his mistresses and above is Louis XIII. Is there a likeness? He would have to shave his beard to be sure! On that note I will close this lengthy post.

Thanks for joining me on our recent trip to Melbourne!

🏝 Palm Sunday 🏝

A few palm trees for this rainy cold grey day in Perth. Something to cheer me up and bringing back memories of times gone by.

Getting to grips with Canva and experimenting with old photos.

Tree Squares for July and Water Water everywhere

Mlini, Croatia

An old post converted to blocks from classic!

Five days/Four nights in Mlini

After leaving beautiful Perast we headed off to Croatia again taking the scenic route. After much thought as to how to make this journey I decided to book a driver, although more expensive, as it seemed the most comfortable way to go. Our driver took the coastal route and was able to stop where we asked so I could take photos of the stunning coastline. It also meant that we got to take the mini car ferry across the Bay of Kotor.

Day One

We stayed in a little bay just passed Mlini called Srebreno although the address of the hotel was in Mlini. We had an incredible apartment called One Suite Hotel, big enough for four adults with two toilets and completely fitted out kitchen and most importantly a licenced bar on site! The hotel was approximately five minutes from the beautiful bay of Srebreno with its own ferry pier with boats directly to Cavtat and Dubrovnik both 30 minutes away.

After checking in we went in search of lunch and also a nice restaurant for dinner later. Right on the beach is a newly built Sheraton, slightly out of place I thought in this sleepy village. Srebreno is an extremely well looked after village and many of the buildings seem very new, although there is still a sleepy small place feel about it. I loved it on sight and as we wandered along the seafront was happy that I had chosen this place rather than Dubrovnik.

Against the good advice I was given I did not buy reef shoes to go into the sea. There are very few sandy beaches in Croatia and this one was no exception, most are pebbles. So with flip flops on I walked down to the edge of the pebbles and into the sea and threw my flip flops back onto the beach. The water was very “refreshing”. Getting out was a problem and I most certainly did not look like Ursula Andress/Halle Berry in 007 more like a creature from the deep treading on Lego. Walking on pebbles is painful.

That night for dinner we went to Marinero, up the hill in between the pine trees. We asked the waiter for his recommendations and had a local dish, Brudet, which is a fish stew made with whatever fresh fish they have on hand.

Brudet, Croatian Fish Stew – so delicious

Day 2

After breakfast we walked down to our little pier and caught the ferry into Dubrovnik. Our plan today was just to walk around the old town. Although getting into the old town is free you do have to pay to walk the ramparts. Even though it was September the place was so busy with many tour groups and queues everywhere, so we decided against walking around the walls. Apparently to get the best of this place I read that you should actually stay inside and then you have the place to yourselves in the evening and early in the morning.

Tonight’s restaurant was Puntazella. Another fabulous place with great food and service. We actually went here twice as it was so good.

Sunset through the pine trees from Puntazella

Day 3

Today we took the bus to Cavtat, a beautiful historic town, southeast of Dubrovnik. It takes about 20 minutes by boat or bus. With its tree-lined harbour and wonderful old buildings its a great way to spend the day exploring.

A map showing the bay with Srebreno, Mlini and Plat, with Cavtat and Dubrovnik

After getting the bus back we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach and hobbling in and out of the sea. That evening we walked around the bay into Mlini itself for cocktails and then back for dinner at Portun. Once again a wonderful restaurant just across the road from our hotel.

Day 4

I think today was the highlight of our trip, an excursion to the Elephiti Islands. These three islands consist of Sipan, Lopud and Kolocep. Sipan is the furthest away from Dubrovnik with Kolocep being the nearest. The day trip (leaving from Dubrovnik) included time at all three islands plus a delicious lunch on board with free flowing wine and beer!

Our first stop was Kolocep and we stopped here for around 45 minutes, enough to have a quick walk around and a drink. Next up was Lopud this was also for 45 minutes. Enough time for you to get a feel of the islands and take a few photos. I could just have easily stayed on both for a few days. Then we were back on board for lunch and onto the last island of Sipan where we spent nearly 3 hours. Sipan has one of the few sandy beaches in Croatia. To get there we had to walk for a while before then taking a golf cart down a dirt track, I was adamant that I wanted to see it though!

Leaving Dubrovnik

Enjoying the local Rose before heading back

I would really recommend this trip, it’s really easy to book once you are in Mlini as there are ticket centres everywhere.

Day 5

As we had a late flight back to the UK we could enjoy the whole day, so we headed back into Dubrovnik by bus this time. Even though Dubrovnik is now just a tourist attraction and extremely busy I could still enjoy walking through the old town and soaking up the history within its walls. There are so many alleys, doors and courtyards to walk around and cafes to stop and have a drink. The only thing missing (much to Anthony’s dismay) were shops, proper shops! He does love a department store which I’m glad to say there were none.

The bus stopped at the top of the hill and we had to walk down so many steps!

And that concludes our short trip to Croatia. We had two more weeks in the UK before flying back to Perth. Still a long wait for our two boys Zac and Rufus who were enjoying their own holiday in kennels ):