Monkeying Around the World

Ivan, Jennifer and I got up early on August 27, 2009.  We checked out of X Base Central.

We got on the bus at 6:30 am headed to Rainbow Beach.  Ivan and Jen had cereal on the bus for breakfast.  I had bananas and yoghurt.

We stopped at Noosa.  It was a long stop for an hour and a half.  We walked around the town.  There’s lots of posh restaurants and retail shops. 

Ivan and Jennifer each had a breakfast smoothie.  I had a banana.

We checked out the shops more.  Ivan sent out a postcard.  We grabbed lunch.  Ivan and Jen each had a chicken and avocado wrap on the bus.  I had a banana and honey wrap.

We drove for a couple more hours.   We finally reached Rainbow Beach at 2 pm.

We checked in to Dingo’s Backpackers.  Ivan and Jennifer were in the mixed dorm.  I was going to sleep on Jennifer’s bed. 

We met up in the dining area for our Fraser Island briefing.  Tomorrow, we’d be doing a self-guided tour of Fraser Island.  We were told about the island.  We had to watch a video that warned us about dingoes and told us other rules.  There are waste stations where we have to place our garbage. 

We met our group.  It consisted of 11 people and 1 monkey.  Everybody seemed to be kind of quiet in our group.  We thought we might have a boring group.  The group consisted of French, German, Irish, England and American. 

People signed up to drive.  Ivan wanted to drive.  Jennifer has never driven 4WD so she decided not to drive. 

Ivan and Jen each packed a backpack for the upcoming trip.  We bought some cup of noodles and snacks in case.  We would be getting food to cook – but we weren’t sure if it would be any good.

We walked around Rainbow Beach for dinner.  The town is really small with only a few shops and restaurants.  We couldn’t find a good restaurant.  It was either bad food or closed.  Ivan and Jennifer decided to have the vegetable lasagna at the hostel.  They thought it was really good.  I had a banana sandwich. 

We went to bed since we had an early start again in the morning.

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food, Rainbow Beach | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I got a bus to Warner Brothers Movie World on the morning of August 25, 2009. 

We saw the Stunt Show.  It was really good.  There were cars going very fast and doing cool stunts. 

It was time for lunch.  Ivan had an egg sandwich with lettuce.  I had a banana and chicken sandwich.  Jennifer had a tasty chicken and avocado sandwich.

We rode a few rides.  It was cool.  The park isn’t that big so Ivan and Jennifer didn’t have to walk around much. 

There’s a Harry Potter store.  There was figures, broomsticks and stuffed animals available for sale.

We went on a wet ride.  Unfortunately, it stopped working right before the end of the ride (where the big drop happens and you get wet).  We were stuck in the dark for a few minutes.  We had to exit our cars and out of the ride.

We really wanted to ride the Scooby Doo ride but it got shut down a few times during the day.

Ivan rode the Superman ride.  He though it was super fast.  He loves riding roller coasters.

We got to meet Shrek!

There was a parade going on.  It had different characters like Scooby Doo and the gang, Bugs Bunny, Austin Powers, Shrek and Batman.  We had a good time at the theme park.

We took a bus back to the hostel.

We walked around to find a nice restaurant for dinner.  Ivan remembered a place he read about on the internet.  We went to Chiang Mai Thai for dinner.  The menu actually has a section called Bugs where you can Ginger Bugs or Sweet and Sour Bugs.  Ivan and Jennifer shared the really tasty Tom Yum chicken soup.  Ivan got the pad thai.  I got a noodle dish with bananas. 

Jennifer got bbq chicken which came with a nice chili sauce. 

We walked back to the hostel to get some rest.

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Surf n’ Sun on August 26, 2009.  We stored our backpacks at the hostel.

We got a bus to the water park Wet n’ Wild.  I went to chill near the wave pool.  The waves actually get really big. 

Ivan and Jen rode a lot of rides.  It was a hot day out.  The park was pretty empty.  It only took a maximum of 2 minutes wait for all the rides. 

We got the bus back to the hostel.  We grabbed our luggage. 

The hostel drove us to the bus station.  We left on the Oz Experience bus at 5 pm headed to Brisbane.  We got there a few minutes after 6 pm. 

We checked in to X Base Central.  Ivan went for a walk to get some exercise.  I worked on the blog with Jennifer.

We tried to have dinner at Wagamama.  But, it seems restaurants close really early in Brisbane.  A lot of the restaurants were too expensive.  So, we went to the convenience store to buy dinner. 

We ate dinner at the hostel.  Ivan and Jen had cup of noodles.  I had banana and crackers. 

Our room was really hot.  Ivan complained about it and the staff was rude about it.  The room is very brown and boring. 

We went to sleep early since we had a very early start in the morning.

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Australia, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of Nomads Odyssey on August 23, 2009.  We placed our backpacks into luggage storage at the hostel.

We walked around Byron Bay.  Ivan and Jennifer had muesli and yoghurt.  I had bananas with milk and honey.

We stopped by the beach for a few minutes.

We got chicken wraps for lunch.  I added bananas to mine.

Ivan and Jennifer went to watch Inglorious Basterds.  I watched episodes of My Gym Partner is a Monkey on Jen’s iPod.  They enjoyed the movie.

We grabbed our backpacks.  We got on the Oz Experience bus at 3:30 pm headed towards Surfers Paradise.  We arrived at 5 pm.

We checked in to Surf n’ Sun.  Ivan got a private room.  It was nice because it was an apartment.  So, there are two bedrooms and a kitchen.  We settled into our room.

We walked to the store to get some food.  Jen had a chicken linguine Lean Cuisine meal.  Ivan had baked beans.  They both shared crackers and hummus as well.  I had two bananas on bread. 

The hostel provides a dvd in the room and dvds with movies or tv shows.  We watched a few episodes of Little Britain. 

Ivan, Jennifer and I had lunch at Subway on August 24, 2009. 

We walked around Surfers Paradise.  Ivan got a haircut.  We stopped by Condom Kingdom. 

Jen had a go on a didgeridoo.

We went to Dracula’s Haunted House.  It’s the same company who runs Dracula’s Cabaret.  We all walked through.  All the props were very well made. 

There are certain things to make you scream like the ground shaking or a skeleton flying at you. 

It took us 45 minutes to go through the entire haunted house.  We all enjoyed it.  It was really scary for me.

We walked around some more.  We stopped by Pancakes on Paradise.  I had two banana pancakes.  Ivan and Jen shared a tasty marinated chicken crepe. 

We went to Infinity next.  We had to wear gloves and shoe covers to enter.  They didn’t have monkey-sized gloves or shoe covers so I just hung on to Jennifer.  Infinity is a series of rooms.  Each one is different with mirrors, special effects and lights.  It was interesting and trippy. 

We had the same thing for dinner as the previous night.  We watched more episodes of Little Britain before heading off to bed. 

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food, Surfers Paradise | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I woke up around 6 am on August 21, 2009.  We had a nice breakfast. 

It was time for surfing lessons.  Ivan decided to go.  Jennifer was so tired since she was up late last night reading her book. 

Jennifer and I slept on a couch while Ivan went surfing.  He couldn’t stand up on the board.  He didn’t like surfing at all.  He sat down and watched the rest of the group try to surf.

We left on the Oz Experience bus at 10:30 am headed to Byron Bay.  We arrived at 2 pm.

Ivan and Jen checked in to Nomads Odyssey.  It’s a new hostel that opened up in March 2009.  It was very clean inside and quite trendy compared to most hostels we have been

We were in a 6 bed dorm.  It turned out we had it all to ourselves.  It had a really great bathroom that was more like the kind you would find in a hotel rather than a hostel.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Chameleon.  Ivan and Jennifer got the $30 deal that included a three course meal with a glass of wine. 

Ivan got the trout sashimi with salad and soba noodles for a starter.  Jen had lentil and curry soup.  Ivan got the chicken breast for the main course.  Jennifer had the linguine with smoked chicken.  I ordered spaghetti with bananas.  Ivan and Jennifer got the waffles with ice cream. 

Ivan got chocolate ice-cream while Jennifer had mango.  The meal was real tasty.

We walked back to the hostel.  I watched Ivan and Jennifer play ping pong in the hostel lounge.  They’re both very competitive.  Ivan won.

Ivan, Jennifer and I had to switch to a different 6 bed dorm on August 22, 2009, as the room we were allready in was full up.

Ivan got wraps for us to eat.  Ivan and Jen had their chicken and avocado wrap.  I had a nice banana salad wrap.

We got picked up at 10:05 am for our trip to Nimbin.  Nimbin is a town where most of the people are in favor of legalizing marijuana.  Ivan read on the internet that Nimbin is filled with hippies doing it and trying to sell it on the streets.

We got to Nimbin.  It wasn’t exactly as we thought it would be.  The hippies weren’t really there anymore.  It seemed that Nimbin got cleaned up by the police.  We did see the Nimbin museum which was filled with quotes about marijuana. 

It was quite a colorful museum.  It was free admission, but you could make a donation. 

There were ladies on the street asking if we wanted pot cookies. 

We went back on the bus.  Some people had bought the pot cookies. 
We drove to a pub for lunch.  Our driver got busy right away on the bbq lunch. 

Nobody seemed to be stoned.  Everybody just chatted in their groups on the grass.  Ivan and Jennifer had veggie burgers for lunch.  Jen didn’t think they tasted so good.  I had a banana sandwich.  The pub was ordinary.  Our group wasn’t very lively.  The guide didn’t really talk much. 

We drove to a waterfall after lunch.  The guide was trying to get people to jump into the water.  Only about 10 people actually did. 

The people who jumped said the water was freezing cold.  We just watched.  Ivan and Jennifer drank some cider while they watched the jumpers.

The bus drove the group back into Byron Bay.  We arrived at the hostel at 5:30 pm.

We chilled for awhile.

We walked around to find a place for dinner.  Ivan thought Asia Joe’s looked good.  It was BYO (bring your own alcohol).  Ivan ordered pad thai.  Jennifer got the salt and pepper shrimp with two kinds of noodles.  I got Singapore noodles with chicken and bananas.  Ivan ran back to the hostel to get a bottle of wine.  It was the wine they bought on the Hunter Valley wine tour.  The food turned out really great.

We walked around to get some exercise.  We used the internet at the hostel.  Then it was time for bed.

September 3rd, 2009 | Category: Australia, Byron Bay, Food | Comments (1)

Ivan, Jennifer and I woke up really early on August 20, 2009.  We checked out of the Mount Batten Hotel.

We walked to the Oz Experience office.  We boarded the bus and left at 6:30 am.  Our destination for today would be the Surf Camp.  Our guide’s name was Squatter.  All the Oz Experience drivers have nicknames, but they are not allowed to tell us how they got them.  There was only 8 people and 1 monkey on the bus.

Squatter drove the bus for awhile.  Our first stop was at the Koala Hospital and Study Centre.  There were only two koalas on site. 

We took some pictures and went back on the bus.

Squatter thought we’d do something different since we were ahead of schedule.  We stopped at Port Macquarie for lunch.  This was a really nice village with beautifull views over the ocean.  It was Subway for lunch.  Ivan got a veggie patty while Jennifer got a roasted chicken sandwich.  I got a banana and chicken sandwich.  We had a nice view while we ate our lunch.

We got back on the bus.  We drove for a long time.  Squatter talked a lot about the areas we were passing.  It was quite interesting. 

Squatter stopped the bus by a field filled with kangaroos.  There was about 10 of them eating a snack.  We had to walk very slowly for about 10 steps and then stop.  If they looked at us, we had to look down at the ground.  We got really close to them about 30 meters.  It was cool to see a mama with a baby in her pouch. 

We arrived at the Surf Camp at 5:10 pm.  Ivan and Jen put their backpacks in their room. 

There were 3 bunk beds in the room.  There was another couple in the room as well.

Dinner was served at 6 pm.  It was buffet style.  There was veggie pasta, salad, bean and corn salad, pumpkin soup, potato wedges and nachos.  I added some bananas to the pasta.  The pasta wasn’t too good though.  I did have plenty of salad though. 

Ivan and Jennifer really enjoyed the pumpkin soup.

We chilled for awhile.  It was really cold outside tonight.  Ivan and Jen took a walk.  We all used the internet. We were going to watch a movie in the movie room, but the sound was so so so low that you could barely hear what was being said. We left a couple of minute in, wondering why on earth other people were bothering to stay when the only lines you could hear was when the actors were shouting!

It was time for bed.  It was so very cold in our room.  There was no heater available.  Thank goodness for the blankets that weren’t in use on the other bed.  Jennifer used two blankets to keep warm.  I went under one blanket and slept like a monkey baby.

September 3rd, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food | Comments (2)

Ivan, Jennifer and I checked out of the Funk House on August 18, 2009.  The hostel was nice and the staff was friendly.

We got a bus to Central.  We checked in to the Mount Batten Hotel.  We wanted to be near the Oz Experience office since we were doing the wine tour with them on Wednesday and leaving for the Surf Camp on the bus on Thursday.  So, it was better being close since we had  two early mornings.

We bought cereal for breakfast and ate it at the hostel. 

We got a bus to Circular Quay.  We had lunch at Starbucks.  Ivan and Jennifer each had a roasted vegetable wrap.  I had a nice banana and chicken wrap. 

Ivan picked up tickets for the Umbilical Brothers from the Sydney Opera House. It was a show we were going to see that evening. We walked around The Rocks area for the day.  It’s such a great place, with lots of old buildings 

At 5 pm, we made our way to meetup point for The Rocks Pub Tour.  We met the group and the guide.  The guide was an Australian guy.  He told us all about the history of Sydney.  I cant remember too much of what he said – but it was something about a guy named Captain Cook (wasn’t he in Peter Pan), some convicts, and a big muddy party in the harbor.

The guide led us around the Rocks. As were we walking he spoke to us about the things we were passing – he was actually really interesting and was fun to listen to.

The first pub we stopped at was the Harbor view hotel. Everyone else on the tour got beers in, but Ivan and Jennifer got some Red wine, (they are on a diet) and I got some diet banana juice (I’m on a diet too!).

We then continued walking around the Rocks, learning lots about its history. The second pub was called the Lord Nelson, where some more wine was given to Ivan and Jennifer.

By now they were starting to feel the wine a bit…

Then some more walking took us to a place called the Australian Hotel, which had a really cool menu featuring pizzas that had things like crocodiles, emus, and kangaroo meat on them.

Yet more wine was given to Ivan and Jennifer. I declined the offer of some more banana juice, because unlike those two, I know when I’ve had enough!

By now they were really starting to feel the wine!…but we couldn’t stay and chat with the rest of the group as we had to leave to get to the Sydney Opera House for our show we had tickets for.

We walked quickly down to the Opera House and took our seats just as the show was starting.

I sat on Jennifer’s lap for the show – while Ivan and Jennifer got student discounts for their tickets, there was no monkey discount unfortunately.

The show was kinda strange..it was basically two guys doing a mime act – and while one would be doing the miming, the other would be doing sound effects from off the stage.

Ivan and Jennifer DID enjoy it….it just wasn’t that great really….like the sort of thing you would see maybe as a street show or an amateur night. But, at least we can all say that we have seen a show at the Sydney Opera House!

The next day, the 19th of August, we got up nice and early and made our way to the Oz Experience bus for the start of our wine tour. There was meant to be a group of 13 of us on the tour, but only 4 of us turned up.

The bus drove out of Sydney and into the countryside. We first stopped at a national park where we got out and had a walk. The views around us were amazing.

We walked around while the guide told us about the history of the area. There were a few aboriginal drawings that he showed us on the rocks.

Then we were back on the bus and started to enter the Hunter Valley. We drove to our first winery. It was a small boutique place set in the middle of some fields with incredible views over the vines.

It was owned by a husband and wife team from New Zealand, and the wife invited us into the cellar door (wine shop) to sample the wines they had.

We tried many wines – both red and white and different types of each one. There was also some really tasty cheese and crackers to eat.

We got to sample quite a lot of wine..and understood now why our guide had told us that some people get really drunk on the tour. He said that once some people were so drunk they were naked running around a field chasing a cow!

After the tastings we went outside to the garden where some lunch had been prepared for us. Apparently nobody had told them that a monkey would be present so there was none of me, but that’s no problem as I don’t go anywhere with a couple of bananas in me bag anyway. The views we had while eating our lunch were incredible.

After our lunch, we jumped back in the van and drove to the second vinery.

We were met by this friendly chap, who sounded Australia but was actaully French.

Again we sampled lots of different wines from different years while the chap above told us all about them.

Heres a pic of everyone in the group. I’m not in the picture as I was the one who was taking the picture.

After sampling all the wines, it was back in the van to drive to the third place.

This one was much larger than the other two – they even exported some of their wines to Asia which the other two didn’t.

We sampled many more wines and we even brought one bottle as it was very tasty and only cost 10 dollars.

All of us were slightly drunk as we got into the van for the drive back to Sydney.

August 27th, 2009 | Tags: comedy, pub tour, wine, wine tour | Category: Australia, Food, Sydney | Leave a comment

We left Joe’s house on on August 16, 2009.  Joe drove us to the pier.  We said goodbye and thanks to Joe and Lucy.  We took the ferry to Sydney. 

There’s a wonderful view of the city and the Sydney Opera House from the boat.

We got a bus to the Kings Cross area.  We checked in to the Funk House.

We had lunch at Froth Espresso.  Ivan had the pumpkin soup for a starter.  I had a banana and tuna sandwich.  Ivan and Jennifer each got a chicken sandwich with avocado.

We got a bus to Darling Harbor.  We walked around the area for awhile. 

We went to a mall.  Ivan and Jen signed up for the lasertag at M9.  I waited outside.  The room was really big.  They had a good time running around and shooting people.  Ivan got the most points out of the whole group in the first game.  Ivan played a second game while Jennifer and I waited.  He came in second place in the second game.

We got a bus back to the Funk House.  All the doors of the rooms have things painted on them.  There was Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction, The Simpsons and Lenny Kravitz.  Ours was Saturday Night Fever.  Ivan and Jennifer wished they had gotten Family Guy which was the room next door. 

I liked the Go Bananas! one.  We used the internet for a short while.

For dinner, we walked to Opium Den.  It’s a restaurant with Thai food. 

Ivan and Jen started off with delicious chicken skewers with tamarind sauce.  Ivan had a really good fish dish.  Jennifer had a plain chicken stir fry that didn’t have much flavor.

Ivan, Jennifer and I went to Asa on August 17, 2009.  It’s a Japanese restaurant with brown rice.  I ordered the chicken breast with bananas and brown rice.  Ivan got a chicken don with brown rice. 

Jennifer got the chicken teriyaki with brown rice.  The food was healthy and tasted good.

We got a bus to Central.  Ivan and Jennifer booked the Oz Experience. It’s a bus that goes from Sydney to Cairns.  They can get off the bus to stop at different places.  Then, catch another bus a few days later to move on to a new city or town.  They booked the Express package which is a maximum of 28 days.  They also booked a Wine tour for Wednesday.

We used an internet cafe nearby for awhile.

We got a bus to The Rocks area.  We walked around this great place. We saw The Sydney Opera House.

Ivan wanted to book a pub tour for tonight.  But, there weren’t enough people doing it.  So, Ivan planned it for tomorrow night.  We went to Guylian Belgium Chocolate Cafe.  Ivan and Jennifer each had English breakfast tea.  They also shared a brownie.  I had a banana tea and banana bread.  It was real good!

We got a train back to Kings Cross.  We chilled in the hostel for a little while.

We decided to have Thai again at Opium Den.  I had the banana Pad-Se-ew.  Ivan and Jennifer started with the great chicken skewers again. 

Ivan got the tasty fish dish.  Jennifer got the chicken pad thai.  It was good food again.

August 22nd, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food, Sydney | Comments (1)

Ivan, Jennifer and I had to wake up at 4:30 am on August 14, 2009.  We would be flying to Sydney today. 

Ivan had set up a taxi the night before.  We left the Pint on Punt Hotel at 5 am.  We got to the airport and got our tickets.

We boarded the plane.  Our plane took off around 6:50 am.  We all took short naps on the flight.  We arrived at 8:05 am in Sydney.

Ivan and Jennifer grabbed the backpacks from the baggage claim.  We got a train to the wharf.  Jennifer took a nap on the ferry.

We got tickets for the ferry headed to Manly.  For the next two nights, we’d be staying with a couchsurfer named Joe and his girlfriend Lucy.  Ivan sent a text to Joe informing him that we had just boarded the ferry. 

We met Joe near the silver shell at the wharf.  Ivan and Jen put the luggage into Joe’s car.  We headed to his house.

Joe showed us the room we’d be sleeping in.  Joe made Ivan and Jen some tea.  I had a banana juice with me from the store.  We sat outside and chatted.  Joe is a nice guy.  He does hypnotherapy.  Right now, he’s going to school for Nursing.

Joe said he would be busy all day studying.  So, we were headed to the city.  Jennifer called her friend Marvin from Twitter.  She wanted to know if he wanted to meet up for dinner.  He said he would text back after lunch. 

We got ready to head out.  We were really tired from having only a few hours sleep last night.  Later, we would meet Marvin for dinner in Surry Hills.

We walked to the mall to find something for lunch.  Ivan thought Moreish looked good. 

Ivan and Jen got the cous cous, green bean salad and carrots to share.  I got the banana rice with vegetables and a banana soup.  The food was quite nice.

We boarded a bus headed to the city.  We wanted to walk around but our tiredness wasn’t helping.  Ivan suggested that we see a movie. 

We walked to a movie theatre.  We told Marvin by text that we’d be watching a movie and then headed to dinner.  He said to meet at a restaurant nearby at 6 pm.  Ivan and Jen went to see The Ugly Truth.  I watched Aladdin on Jen’s iPod.  Ivan fell asleep during the movie.  Jennifer stayed awake to watch and thought the movie was good.

We walked to the restaurant Longrain.  It’s a Thai fusion restaurant.  We got there a few minutes before 6 pm.  Marvin was right behind us and said hi to Jennifer.  Jennifer thought he looked different than his picture. 

Marvin has been to the restaurant before.  We were seated at a long table.  There wasn’t that many people in the restaurant.  Ivan and Jen started off with a betel leaf with prawn.  It was really tasty with lots of flavor.  I brought three bananas and some crackers for me to eat.  Marvin ordered a pork dish that is covered with a caramel sauce.  Ivan and Jen got a glass of riesling. 

Ivan and Jen had organic chicken with coconut cream and greens and a great perth (fish) dish that melted in their mouths. 

Marvin is a Disney special effects animator.  Ivan asked him lots of questions about his job.  We chatted for awhile.  It was great hanging out with Marvin.  He’s a cool guy.  He paid for the meal.  What a sweet guy!  Jen forgot to take a picture with Marvin.  Oh yeah, Ivan saw Barry Humphries sitting in the restaurant.  He acts as Dame Edna in England.  Jennifer has never heard of him, but she’s seen Dame Edna before.  Ivan wished that we were seated next to him during the meal.

We took a bus back to Manly.  We were so knackered.  Shortly after we got back to Joe’s house, we went to sleep.

Ivan, Jennifer and I slept in on August 14, 2009.  We walked down to Manley.  The beach is nice, but it’s too cold to swim. 

We saw beautiful views of the water while we walked along it.  Lots of nice condos and houses are located right by the beach.  We couldn’t find anything to eat. 

We walked to the Pier.  We decided to have Nando’s for lunch.  Ivan had a spicy chicken sandwich while Jennifer got a chicken sandwich. 

I had a chicken and banana pita.  The food was really nice.

We walked to the mall.  We bought some food for dinner later and some wine.  We walked back to the house.

Ivan and Jen used the internet for awhile.  They cooked their Lean Cuisnie meals.  I had a few bananas. 

We all get ready to go out.  Ivan read about a housewarming party in Manly from the Couchsurfing forum.  So, we headed out the door to the party.  We were thinking of taking a bus, but it was taking too long to arrive. 

Ivan hailed a cab.  We got to the party and it was filled with lots of young people.  It looked like a college party.  It was really loud and everybody seemed to be in individual groups.  Ivan and Jen wanted to leave.  We walked to the Pier. 

We went inside a pub to have a drink.  Ivan and Jen each had a glass of red wine.  The band playing was okay.  We decided to take a taxi back and call it a night.

August 21st, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food, Manly, Sydney | Leave a comment

Ivan, Jennifer and I woke up late on August 12, 2009.  It was showering today.  Cold, rainy and wet isn’t fun.

We walked to Squeeze ‘n’ Bite for lunch.  Ivan ordered a tomato soup and museli with yoghurt.  I got a banana salad with chicken.  Jennifer got a vegetable panini.  The food was great.

We got a tram to the city. 

We went to the Salvador Dali exhibition called Liquid Desire. 

It features a lot of his early work.  It also included some of his surreal art.  I’m glad that most of the art had a description about the work.  It usually explained what was in the picture.  Otherwise I wouldn’t have seen it or understood it!  Cool stuff.  Surreal art is very interesting.  Jennifer and I didn’t know that he planned to make a film with Disney.  It never got made.  But, a few years ago some French guy from Disney decided to make it.  They showed that film Destino there.  It was pretty kewl.

We walked to the Syn Bar.  Ivan signed up himself and Jennifer up for a salsa class.  It’s a free class no Wednesdays.  I sat down and watched because there were no monkeys for me to partner up with.  The teacher was really good.  She taught them some basic moves. 

The girls had to move around each time to get a new partner.  Jennifer said some guys were good and others were just okay.  It was definitely a workout!  Ivan and Jen had fun, but salsa seems challenging.

We got a tram to the Red Monkey Bar.  Ivan and Jennifer read about it in a free tourist magazine.  I’ve been there, but in the monkey section and it was busy.  It’s a happening monkey hangout.  The Red Monkey Bar was empty except for one person. 

Ivan and Jennifer walked around to find a place to eat.  They were going to eat at a restaurant.  But, two big tables had just ordered.  So, it would probably take awhile for us to get our food.  We decided to walk around.

Ivan found Urban Burger.  It’s a burger place that has some healthy options. 

Ivan got the Urban Turban which is a tandoori chicken with mango, chili relish and zesty aioli.  I had a Brie Twist with bananas – basically a chicken breast with pesto, brie, aioli, salad and I added bananas.  Jennifer got the C.A.B. without the bacon.  It was a lovely chicken burger with avocado, salad and aioli.  The burgers were quite big and tasty.

Ivan and Jen went to see the movie Bruno.  I watched Gorillas in the Mist on Ivan’s iPod.  They really thought the movie was really funny.

We got a tram back to our hotel.  We went to the Pint on Punt pub.  It was karaoke night.  The people singing weren’t very good.  Ivan and Jen each had a glass of red wine. 

I had a banana juice.  We only stayed for a short time before heading up to sleep.

Ivan, Jennifer and I moved to a room with a double bed and a single bed on August 13, 2009.  It was bunk beds which is weird. 

I was happy to have my own bed for the night. 

We went to Fifteen for lunch.  It’s Jamie Oliver’s restaurant.  The chef training foundation allows people 16-24 (who have been homeless, had drugs/alcohol problems in the past or unemployment) the opportunity to learn skills to work at the restaurant.  Ivan and Jennifer wanted to do the Express Lunch which includes a two course meal for $15. 

The first course was ribollita which consists of tuscan bread soup with cavalo nero, cannelini beans and olive oil. 

The second course would be rotolo of baby spinach, baked ricotta, mushrooms, marjoram and lemon with brown butter.

I was told by one of my monkey friends at the Red Monkey Bar about the secret menu at Fifteen.  I asked the waiter for the secret monkey menu.  It was an express lunch only for monkeys.  My first course   was banana spring rolls with vegetables.  The second course consisted of penne with a light creamy sauce and bananas on top.

The food turned out great!  It’s such a bargain especially in a town like Melbourne.  There’s nothing really express about it in terms of time – but it’s worth the wait! 

We took a tram to the city.  We went to the Victoria Library.  Ivan was going to walk around the city.  I worked on the blog in the library.  Jennifer used the free internet there.  Meanwhile, Ivan did some shopping.

We walked to a bar nearby.  Ivan and Jen each had a few glasses of red wine.  I had some banana juice.  We wanted to be in a good mood since we would be going to see Dracula’s Cabaret. 

We got a bus to the Dracula’s Cabaret.  There was a long line to get in.  We were a few minutes early.  It was a bit cold outside.  Ivan didn’t think it would be so busy on a Thursday night – but there was lots of people. 

We went inside.  We were told our seat numbers for the show.  We got into the Ghost Train with two other people.  The people behind us kept poking us to scare us.  Ivan kept screaming jokingly.  It was a short, fun ride.

We were seated in a long table.  Unfortunately, we were facing away from the stage.  We were planning to turn our seats to get a good view of the show.

The waiters were dressed up in gothic clothing.  Our waitress had on a black dress with lace on it.   I brought bananas for my dinner.  Ivan and Jennifer were served a quiche with onions, semi-dried tomatoes and cheese.  Jennifer gave me a few bites of her quiche – I added bananas on top.  It tasted good, but probably wasn’t too healthy. 

Ivan gave the waitress coupons for a free drink and a souvenir.  The drink came with a free plastic spider on top.  The drinks were fruity but weren’t very strong with alcohol.

Ivan and Jen got a bottle of Shiraz to share.  The main course was a choice of beef, fish, chicken, lamb or vegetarian. 

Ivan got the fish while Jennifer ordered the chicken.  The food was quite tasty.  I had some of Ivan’s dish with a little banana on top.

Dessert was a chocolate coffin with a white chocolate mousse inside.  The people around us ate the chocolate mousse, but not the chocolate coffin. 

Ivan and Jennifer happily ate the whole thing.

The show is called Black Blood Return of the Romantics.  It consists of a drummer, two men and two women.  It’s a funny goth show.  They did lots of singing, dancing and comedy. 

This is some of the acts they performed.  There was a Bejing Midget Olympics which was puppets that made fun of the olympics.  Ramsay’s Cooking Nightmare was another puppet making fun of the cooking chef.  The Stones Zombie Puppet Tour was really funny with Stones music and scary looking puppets.  Return of the amazing Pink Floyd Robots played great music by Pink Floyd and had robots. 

The main comedy guy walked around and made fun of the audience.  He was good at improv.  Jennifer thought he looked like a gothic version of Professor Snape from Harry Potter.  The singing was really good with songs from the 80’s.  This is a must see show in Melbourne! 

We went back on a bus feeling full and very entertained.

August 21st, 2009 | Category: Australia, Food, Melbourne, St. Kilda | Comments (2)