My uncle Gary is convinced that birthdays should last a whole week, not just a day. So this year, I followed his lead. It was kind of by accident but I think it still counts!
My birthday started with a gorgeous delivery from a few amazing friends from work. It was such a lovely surprise and definitely made my day feel extra special.
After a week of pretty solid rain, the skies also decided to clear for my birthday which meant this gorgeous view during our dinner out that night.
A few days later, Rob and I boarded a plane to Melbourne. I’ve started doing some contract work for Speech Pathology Australia and had to be in the city for the first two days of the following week so we decided to head down early and make a little trip out of it. It’s been awhile since we’ve been on a plane and navigating airports and we’ve heard it’s all been a bit chaotic and unpredictable here, but we made it south with only a one hour delay.
Our first night in the city brought us back to a restaurant Rob fell in love with years ago – The Meatball and Wine Bar. We were pretty happy to see it had survived the numerous and long lockdowns in Melbourne. The food did not disappoint!
We spent Saturday getting our culture on! The weekend we were in Melbourne included the last few days of NAIDOC week. NAIDOC week is held the first week of July every year and aims to celebrate and recognise the culture, history and achievements of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This week’s theme was Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! in honour of First Nations’ people who have driven change through their activism. We decided to celebrate NAIDOC week with a visit to the Ian Potter Centre where we were able to take in some gorgeous artworks and music by the beautiful singer, Kee’ahn.
We then spent the afternoon wandering the city, enjoying some lunch next to the Yarra River and of course a Guinness stop for Rob.
After another amazing dinner, we headed down to the theatre to see Hamilton, a birthday gift from Rob. I’ve never been to a musical that was 100% singing and definitely not one that included rap. It was a lot to take in, and at a rapid rate, but it was a fascinating experience!!
On Sunday, we started the day at the Market. It was massive and impossible to capture in a picture but Rob gave it a go. Pretty cool to have such a large market right in the middle of the city.
After that, we headed off to do one of our favourite things when travelling to a new place…take in a local sports game. Rob picked up some general admissions tickets for a footy game. Our general admission seats put us right on the sidelines!
We were actually right next to where the team entered the stadium.
We still can’t quite keep track of which kind of footy it is here and have fallen into calling them the passy kind, the kicky kind, and the scrummy kind. When I asked Rob what kind we were seeing, he told me the passy kind. In the end, it was the Australian Rules League which is actually the kicky kind. So much fanfare when they score!
On Monday and Tuesday, Rob continued to explore the city while I attended my forum (which was well worth the trip!). We’ve become avid tennis fans since moving here and Rob was lucky enough to convince a grounds man into letting him into the courts.
He also wandered over to see the cricket grounds and pay tribute to Shane Warne, a beloved cricket star who died this past year.
And of course he passed some other cool sights, including this amazing ceiling and clock at Melbourne Central.
He was particularly impressed with the Federation Bells. People can compose songs and submit them for consideration and if selected, it will be played by the 39 different bronze bells. Here’s a little video Rob took…
And since the trip started with an Ode to Gary, we had to finish it that way too with this perfect bottle of wine over our final dinner in the city (with the most amazing steak ever!!).
And just like that, it was time to come home. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite as lucky with travel coming home but we got here in the end! Until next time….