My buddy that I am visiting in New Zealand, made the comment that we are on an “amazing race” not a vacation, it is beginning to feel like it, and I would not really recommend visiting so many places in such a short amount of time. But remember this is a working vacation.

It is great to be back and there has been some great changes (some not so great also) in Melbourne. We flew down with Virgin Blue, and sometimes I drift back into my aviation days of Station Manager at Dublin, overseeing airline turnarounds. But the Virgin experience is beautiful to watch, from the friendly checkin staff, comfortable seats and, for once, our bags were waiting for us when we got the the baggage belt! What they are doing just works. (Not saying Air NZ or Qantas offer less, I am flying Virgin because they are relatively new to the game, and I promise they are not sponsoring or discounting any part of this trip)

In Australia (both Sydney and Melbourne) a few interesting accommodation options are popping up, and I like it a lot. If you are not ready to share bathrooms and hear seven different alarm clocks go off at fourteen different times in a hostel dorm, but have no need to splurge $200-$400 for a bed, you will spend very limited time in. There are a number of reasonably priced hotels on the scene. They are basic, don’t get me wrong, a bed, in a room and thats kind of it, but they work really well. I visited a number of them in Sydney and Melbourne and I was very impressed. Not for everyone, and you know who you are. But at this point we are ready for the finer hotels that are on the New Zealand leg of this trip.

The Melbourne stopover was a bit of an afterthought and I am delighted we did it, we stayed out in the suburbs a little, but the public transport is great and with buses, trains and trams to decide between you will never be stuck. We decided to walk a lot (at least I did and Kate went along with it.. for a while!) I get a better sense of a city after walking it.

The Melbourne Grand Prix was heating up while we were there, and it was great to see, this is one of the most affordable Grand Prix of the season and there was a whole lot more going on too, Super 8 (kinda like Nascar with both right and left turns!!) and then a Grand Turismo race, to see these cars being driven like they were meant to, is a real treat. Various bars were located around the track, with fair like food stalls and plenty of places to watch the parts of the track that you can’t see, its a great experience (the noise alone can be heard throughout the city) and we were both shouting at each other all evening long, they sold packs with ear pugs, paracetamol and 30+ sunscreen on they way in.

What I really enjoyed was when the cars were not on track, they were open to public viewing and the smoke could still be seen rising from the tires, they were all there, Lamborghini’s, Porsche’s, Ferrari to be able to see these high performance cars, was just fantastic.

That evening, we went out to St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne and is will known for its alternative living! it really is one of the funky parts of the city, after a long walk out on the promenade, looking out at the kite surfers zipping by at back breaking speeds (it is now top of my list of things to do this year) and that is when they are on the water, a lot of the time they are pulling off jumps and flips, staying aloft, for what must seem like an eternity.

I have always loved visiting St Kilda, beside the beach  there is a track, on it you will find it all, walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, and skateboarding.

We decided to stop at a local restaurant called “Donavans” and it turned out to be an incredible experience. A very nice guy, I had spoken to before I came out here, had family here and this turned out to be his place. We were welcomed with open arms and were served drinks right on the beach, after we were brought inside and given the best table in the house, full length windows looking out upon Port Phillp Bay at sunset, it will always be remembered and a definite highlight of the trip. Then we saw the formula one big names walk through the door and we knew we were in the finest dining experience Melbourne had to offer. We were getting the VIP treatment and the McLaren team, (Whitmarsh, Dennis) and Relault’s, Flavio Briatore are looking over and probably wondering who the hell these guys are. The BMW team was walking in as we left, and our table was no doubt being prepared at that very moment.

A once in a lifetime moment, and the food was like nothing we had ever tasted, I cant say enough great things about the owner Kevin Donavan and if you are ever down in this area, you have to check it out.