The Melbourne Tigers took on the Sydney Kings in the opener for the new National Basketball League season down under, which was one of the most talked about games in this sports mad town, even hotter than Harry ‘Clueless’ Kewell’s debut for the Melbourne Victory the next day.
This four day show in Melbourne brings together the city's finest restaurants and the region's top food producers all under one giant roof, where Melbourne's Foodies salivate openly at the hundreds of stalls and free tasting stations. I had attended the Good Food & Wine Show earlier in the year (read about it here), and was impressed enough to take Alison along to the Taste of Melbourne, which is billed as the best food show in town. Which makes it slightly odd that we would want to attend really, because we make a point of not eating at the city's finest restaurants, I definitely wouldn't describe us as foodies, and vegetarian dishes were not high on anyone's a la carte agendas. 
The Chas Brownlow Medal is awarded to the AFL Footy Player of the year at an annual awards dinner in the week of the Grand Final. It's one of the hottest tickets in town, with paparazzi, red carpets, a live television broadcast, the cream of Australia's beautiful, rich young things, and an ageing crowd of corporate hangers-on. You've guessed it, I fell into the latter group, but I wasn't complaining too much even if our table was strategically located at the back of the room, firmly away from the cameras. The producers probably had us marked down as the 'good faces for radio' table long before we arrived.
Sheep shearing, sunshine, Sheilas, XXXX, koalas, the river, sharks, Steve Irwin, and floods. Not the most flattering list of descriptors for a city you've ever seen, but that was sum total of expectations I had for Brisbane. 
It just dawned on me that I have spent my entire life living in, or close, to second cities. It was a typically random thought I had whilst on yet another commuter trek to a city last week. This time it was Sydney, whilst most of my working life it's been London.
I was going to call this one man, one bike, one weekend but that would have built it up too much. Admittedly at a bit of a loose end with Alison away, my plan was to get to know my local town Werribee a little better. When I say plan, it was more of a spur of the moment thing faced with an all clear from the physio to start cycling, a burgeoning waistline, and bugger all else to do. Yep - I could have hung out with friends, but that would have meant hanging out in someone's house, an Aussie tradition I’m still not entirely enthralled with. 
We are a little fortunate to have a zoo right on our doorstep here on the West Side of Melbourne, the Werribee Open Zoo one of three that Zoos Victoria operates. It didn’t take long for us to snap up their annual Friends of the Zoo Pass which gives us year round access to all three. Originally a breeding ground for the city centre and space starved Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Open Zoo is now firmly a standalone attraction in its own right, less than twenty five kilometres from its better known sister, and still a well kept secret that the masses haven’t latched onto. 
Sometime yesterday morning Alison would have woken up in London having covered 3 continents, twelve thousand miles, 3 airports and 28 hours of flight time. I really feel sorry for her today, even if she gets to be at home with family and friends while I slog it out at the office. Let's be honest, long haul flying is a horrible experience. Old Frank Sinatra tried to make flying sound romantic, Michael Buble tried to close the deal too, but when two of the smoothest crooners in the land can't convince us, you know it's bad. 
There was a time in the late nineties when I was a regular of sorts on the Festival scene. I wasn't what you would call a hardcore festival devotee by any means, I generally took the more sanitised route of V Festivals and the like, but they were a lot of fun. I have memories of the non stop partying, of waking up next to strangers in tents, of the inevitable rain soaked fields, of bouncing joyfully through the masses, the no shower/no toilet regime, and of the frenetic pace of it all. And then there was the music. Wait. I almost remembered something else then. Nope, it's gone. 
An hour's journey north of Melbourne and you can find a truly rare sight in Victoria... a mountain. Well, a large hill at least. The Victorian lands are so flat that at times you almost forget hills exist. To give you an idea of just how flat the West of Melbourne is, you can see the city scape from our house, which is 30km away. So when they do have a rocky outcrop of any magnitude to shout about, you can forgive them for getting a little excited and proclaiming it a mountain. Point in case Mount Macedon, which rises to just over one thousand metres and whilst no way near Alpine scale, is still mightily impressive as you approach it from the Calder Freeway. 
The two-time reigning NBA champions the LA Lakers were emphatically dumped out of the NBA playoffs this week, hammered 4-0 by the Dallas Mavericks, and I loved every second of it. I don't have anything against the Lakers, indeed Magic Johnson has long been my all time favourite player and the 80's Lakers my favourite team, it's just that I can't stand Kobe Bryant, their self proclaimed superstar.
Now and again we have uncovered some absolute gems on our travels, which is completely and utterly down to Alison. She spends hours plotting and planning our trips, making sure we find interesting and unusual accommodation. It is tempting to keep them a secret, but that wouldn't be fair, so here is a list of some of the more memorable places we have stayed in. They all offer something unique, and get the 5 star thumbs up from Alison and me. However, since our tastes may not be too everyone elses, I have also included a more traditional star rating to set your expectations! All of the hotels, guest houses and hostels below are firmly located in areas of outstanding beauty or cultural interest. 
How our life has changed. If we had an old friend round to our house back in the UK, the options in the immediate vicinity would have been limited to a pint of warm beer in the local pub at the end of the street, followed by a soggy pizza at the very average Italian at the top of the hill. In Werribee, we have a vineyard, a fabulous Open Zoo, a stately mansion and park, and an 18 hole golf course just ten minutes away. What's more you could visit all of them in a day and probably have change from $100 per person, if you had the energy. Throw in an evening stroll on South Werribee beach, and you can finish off the day in style.
An emergency relief package was express airlifted into our house this week. No the floods hadn't reached Victoria, there weren't any bush fires, or cyclones, or any other natural disasters. It was a delivery from Marks & Spencer's. And yes it was urgent. 
Like many I watched the UEFA Champions League at the weekend in complete awe at the level at which Barcelona played the beautiful game. Surely that was exactly how it should be played; skill, passing, movement, flair, speed, the team in blue and red were mesmerising. Even Sir Alex was humbled for the first time in his life and had to admit United 'were hammered.' 
Commuting is a horrible part of being a 9 to 5 lifer like me. Some days are better than others, and today was a bad day. I swear I could have killed a man on the train this morning. It wouldn't have been self defence, as he hadn't threatened me with violence. I couldn't have pulled an ASBO on him, because even though he was playing music ridiculously loud through his Dr Dre ear mufflers, I quite liked his tunes. The fact that he was a personal space invader amazingly didn't rile me too much either - besides I got my own back by kicking his ruck sack into some spilt coffee. I was nearly pushed over the edge by his skinny jeans and long pointy shoes, but I hung on in there with some deep breathing exercises.
A YHA with the X Factor!”
In a poll of the top ten dullest cities in the world, it's a possibility that Riyadh could fill all ten positions. If your boss ever hints that it would be a good opportunity to develop the market there, I strongly suggest you start working on your excuses now. Or resign. If that's a bit drastic, and you're all out of excuses, I can offer you this survivor's guide as a last resort. 
It sounds like a fierce shoot-em-up, action packed one hundred mile an hour playstation game, straight out of 'Nam. It couldn't be further from reality. I'm actually referring to a weekly snail paced shoot-if-you-have-the-strength scene of convalescence for former addicts. 
I thought the English cricket team won the award for over the top celebrations when they reclaimed the Ashes in 2005. And then last week or so Manchester United won their nineteenth premier title, and I received a tonne of mails from gloating United fans. I dread to think what will happen if they win the Champions League Final next week.
A few people have asked me for tips on things to do in Dubai, so here's a quick low down on the capital of Gulf Glitz.
I had been a bit anal over a spelling mistake in an email at work that day. Normally I wouldn't have done anything other than 'tut' loudly to myself, but this was Victoria, and she's English. If we of all people don't protect the language, who will? Her crime was to spell the word heros without an 'e.' She laughed when I pointed out the error in the nicest way possible. Laughing at me I hasten to add.
Its been a long time since I added to the blog... I just realised that it co-incided with me getting a job. Bugger. That was six months ago. Six long months ago. So for the 3 people who actually read some of the crap I put on here. I'm back. Baby. 
