Leroys is pumping out the brunchs at 11AM. It is nearly packed. Phew its hot where is my mango frappe! This place is so cool. Gig posters span the walls in all directions. Young crew serve great food - ciabattas with pesto, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon are delicious. Going for a stroll through the shops of Acland St then to the beach of St Kilda.
Just having a seat at Leroys. A nice mango frappe, muesli and yoghart, chillin with the missus. It is moments like this I won’t ever forget.
Over the new year we stayed at the Leo Pacific Hotel located at 378 Little Bourke St in Melbourne. Two nights minimum booked on Wotif.com was simply too easy. Situated in the heart of the CBD between Queen St and Elizabeth St it provides easy access to shopping, restaurants, entertainment venues and transport. Over the new year celebrations we paid $199 for the first night and $120 for the second. The normal price for our studio apartment with queen bed and kitchnette was just over $115 in non-holiday periods. Parking is ridiculous if you stay in a tower with it being around $45 a day, if you find a spot on the street make sure you feed the meter religiously! Inside was spotless, clean and quality fittings. Key card entry, no frivolous accessories just cheap quality accommodation in the city. We booked it on Wotif the night before New Years so it must not be too well known at the moment. Their loss and my gain. I recommend Leo Pacific to anyone needing to stay in the city in affordable quality accommodation.
- Author: johnnymestizo
- Filed under: Australiana
- Date: Jan 2,2008
This is my vent post. I had a slight clash with Melbourne CBD parking inspectors this morning. I’ve cashed up the meter, sipped down a coffee quickly posted a blog. Yes I admit I let time off its leash a little returning to the meter half an hour over. I was greeted small fluttering slip of paper neatly held under my windscreen wiper blade. On the 2nd of January 2008 at 08:23 my pleasant morning was devastated. I have not had much experience parking in Melbourne but to pay $52.00 in a parking tower over New Years and then to pay a $55 infringement (plus golds I actually did stuff in the meter) is a little bit steep. I am guilty of Offence No: 702E - Parked - Fail to pay fee and obey instructions on sign/meter/ticket etc. Road Rule 207 (2) (Meter Expired). By putting right hook turns and possessed parking inspectors across inner city Melbourne I will certainly be cautious next time I venture out to these streets of bedlam. Anyone else had experiences with nasty parking/traffic episodes in Melbourne CBD post your comments please!
Another inspector spotted shortly after the first incident patrolling down Chapel Street - his infringement gun poised firmly to his hip.
- Author: johnnymestizo
- Filed under: Australiana
- Date: Jan 1,2008
A hectic buzz filled the air as a sea of bobbing heads filled St Kilda Road bridge and Flinders Street Melbourne. People came from all over, across the Yarra, down from Elizabeth, Queen and Swanston Street all vying for a central spot to watch the fireworks show due at the stroke of midnight - the birth of 2008!
My friends and I pushed through this crowd which seem to flow all the way to Federation Square - an excellent viewing spot for the festivities. Also anywhere along the Yarra riverbanks from Batman to Spencer would also be an advantage. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: johnnymestizo
- Filed under: Australiana
- Date: Dec 23,2007
Packing some light fruit and sandwichs is a habit for me for long drives. A good 6 litres of water also helps me power on only stopping to fill the tank. However, when crossing the South Australian border just before Pinaroo watch out for the quarantine station. They raid your car and take your delicious carefully sliced fruit and drop it into a bin. I was distraught and grunted at the service attendant at the next SA gas station to make passage to Adelaide. Read the rest of this entry »
In two and a half days I have driven 2800kms. Australia is a big country! A massive thanks go out to the Driver Reviver stations potted out along main connected highways. Without their gold-coin-donation coffees and bikkies I would have been a goner. Drive - Revive - Survive! Driving from Townsville QLD to Albury NSW is no easy feat to do by oneself. Every two hours have a ten minute break. A lot of the time the reviver stations provide a brew and double for a toilet stop service stations do the same. Yeah petrol is like $AU1.45 in some places - budget for it a few months before.
Alarm bells should be ringing the moment you do that quick little ‘yawn’. Stop, walk around and stretch, water and get back into it. When it’s 1250AM and your doing that boring straight in regional wherever try not to speed. If you start singing along to a track that’s ok. When the CD stops and you’re still singing, you start seeing people on the side of the road when at the third glance its a dead tree, you try to stay within the lines and resort to ‘that’s good enough’, and you yawn is so big you have to close your eyes - STOP. Grab the quilt and crash out in the backseat - I did and I’m still alive and breathing.
‘Don’t die for a dead line.’ These highway safety messages are engraved into my memory. They are on all the highways in Australia. Hopefully the holiday death toll stays down this year.
Big motivation - When you haven’t seen your girl for 3 months you’ll do what it takes. 
Ingatz
A map of this journey is available however it is too big to fit into a minimap. See my google map Sturt St (Townsville) to Dean St (Albury) that I drove. Enjoy!
