Pensione Boutique Hotel Melbourne

With a stop for a coffee and toasted sandwich on the road we arrived at the Pensione Boutique Hotel 4 hours later - my goodness a shoebox would have been bigger!  $4 to park the car whilst we took the bags in, the $27 for one night in the car park ...

... it took an hour to go the 25 kms or so to the campervan depot in Roden Street, north of Melbourne and about 1.5 kms from the Yarra and  my hotel. The campervan guy mumbled something about it needing valeting....huh really...no shit! But I did wash ...

... ! Pah!. There's also Australia's winter sports centre here??? Images of cricket on ice spring to mind, but apparently there's a Melbourne Ice Hockey team. Presumably that means there's a league. The Darwin Dunkers and Kimberley Cowboys. Hmmmm. Not sure ...

In my hotel in Melbourne. There is a pub or nightclub outside the window that has been banging away since 8pm – its now midnight and no sign of let up. The room is bijou. The off site parking is £30 per night and I am here for three nights. Driving ...

... in Starbucks – yeah Starbucks – what of it and then headed out on the Lonely Planet suggested walking tour around Melbourne.  Even though I managed to go the wrong way several times it was a good introduction to the city which has a lot ...

... that. 5th stop the Laird Hotel. We took a taxi out to Abbotsford, a little village/suburb in Melbourne. From the outside it looked like a run down old hotel/pub. No real markings or signs of life from the street. Even once inside the front bar ...

... to take it anyway but read about it in the paper over breakfast, so all the more exciting. St. Kilda's is a neighborhood of Melbourne. The main drag is Ecland Street. The street is packed to capacity with funky little boutiques, cafes and all kinds of ...

... A jam-packed day of tennis earlier in the week topped off with a outdoor concert at the Sydney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne with none other than 'Sting' accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchastra! Great music but the show was totally oversold ...

Well, after a much less stressful flight, we arrived in Melbourne and got the shuttle to hotel.  Nice spot but pretty small ...

... long enough to feel vaguely dry before I went off for another splash and dash. Talking of Starbucks I have noticed that Melbourne has a Starbucks style ubiquity experience when it comes to convenience stores – there are hundreds of them and most of ...

Hey there! The big day is here!  We left the hotel around 10am and watched an Australia Day parade on the way to the Tennis Grounds.  We had previously purchased grounds tickets for the day and tickets to the evening match (Rafael Nadal vs ...

Today I finally noticed a slight quirk of the hotel or maybe some cunning 'rat in a maze' intelligence test. My floor, once you're out of the lift, is based around a square, with my room in the 4th corner if you go around clockwise. Now the signs on the ...

... of Sydney and take in some shows and restaurants, before we hit the road for a little road trip to Canberra and Melbourne.  Looking forward to seeing more and more of this energetic and fun city and Australia's other offerings (and I want to ...