Crossing The Ditch

Hello again Dear Reader, and my apologies for not posting on Sunday evening as usual - we were in Melbourne. We returned home later in the evening than we expected yesterday, and my fingers were not sufficiently well co-ordinated with my brain for blogging (some would say that this is a permanent state of affairs but my retort is that it’s the keyboard that lets the typos sneak through).

We wanted to do something to celebrate Nicky’s retirement, and as soon as it was announced that Harry Potter and The Cursed Child was going to be on in Melbourne, that became the chosen activity. While Nicky was away in the UK last August, I booked the tickets. When she returned we arranged flights and accomodation, having decided there was no point in going for just a couple of days, and as flying during the week was quite a bit cheaper, we opted for a 7 night stay. This is what we got up to:

Harry Potter - The Play

I had booked to for us to see both Parts One and Two of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on the same day, Wednesday. I had found accomodation that I thought was quite close to the Princess Theatre - turned out to be just 100 yards up the road! So, after leaving Luna for a rest in the Park and Ride, flying over to Melbourne, hopping onto the SkyBus and then getting a free tram to Parliament Station, we checked in at the Quest Gordon Place. First thing on the list was a bit of shopping to get sensible milk for a cup of tea and something for dinner. Nicky was feeling quite jaded after dinner, what with all the jet lag and the wine, so wanted to read and rest while I went out for a wander.  I enjoyed a salted caramel tart and coffee, and had a sneak peak at the theatre.

It therefore wasn’t until Tuesday morning, after our breakfast porridge, that we set off to the rendezvous point for a free guided walk round the CBD. This required us to walk past the front of the theatre, where the box office and souvenir shop were now open. It was very exciting, especially for Nicky as she had been so looking forward to the play.  We only just got to the walk rendezvous in time (also it wasn’t where I thought it was). 

Wednesday, or play day, started quite dull, and after having done much walking and having a late night we decided to just have a gentle stroll round a nearby park (Fitzroy) before getting ready for the theatre. Part One started at 2pm, so we were there at 1.15 as requested, only to find out that hundreds of other people had arrived too! It was a very friendly crowd that waited patiently at Door 2, and a little while later we were allowed to take our seats. This made somebody even more excited as we saw the opening set on the stage. The next couple of hours, apart from the intermission, flew by (sometimes literally), only to finish on a cliff hanger. We popped back to the Quest for tuna and pasta salad, and were back at Princess Theatre again by 6.45pm ready to take our seats for Part Two at 7.30. That went by just as quickly as Part One, and we were on such a high at then end that we had to have a walk round Chinatown (nicely illuminated) in order to calm down before going to bed.

Oh, you want to know what the play was like do you? Well I’m not sure I can say actually, as we were all issued with #keepthesecret badges as we left at the end of Part One. We are not supposed to talk about it and break the spell!! However, I will say this, IT WAS BRILLIANT!!!!! Being a theatrical production and not a film with CGI, the presentation of the magical world was quite different. All the magic had to ACTUALLY happen, in real-time. This was really well done using a combination of theatrical techniques, some elements of modern technology, and some good old fashion slight of hand illusions. The Polyjuce potion transfigurations, the carnivorous library books, spell casting and flying. It all looked very natural and very real, and was really well done. The acting was fantastic, with the stand-out performances for Scorpius Malfoy and Moaning Myrtle. Having read the play script twice didn’t spoil the experience at all because of the staging. There were a number of audience gasps, shrieks and screams generated, and one awesome moment which brought proceedings to a stand still, as the audience applauded and took it in. The music was quite different from in the films which I thought was very appropriate.  It really added well to the atmosphere. There was comedy mixed in with the drama, as there is in the Harry Potter stories and which is so sorely missing from the films. It works very well as a stand-alone play, but for any true Potter fan, it is just a wonderful and unmissable experience.

We returned to the theatre on Thursday evening to buy some souvenirs and it was again really good to chat to the staff, once they knew we had already seen the play! We had our final visit on our final evening, just to soak up little more of the atmosphere before leaving for home the next morning. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

But that is not all we did.

Wine Tour

Prior to departing for Melbourne we had booked a one-day wine tasting trip in the Yarra Valley. The driver collected us at 9.45am on Friday morning outside the Princess Theatre, and we brought the party total to 11. There were 5 ladies from Sydney celebrating a 40th birthday, and a Columbian lass celebrating her 28th accompanied by her German fiancé and a Columbian girl friend. Our driver Dave took us east out of the city centre, through some of Melbourne’s posher suburbs, before we reached our first stop, Domain Chandon. This is part of the Moet Chandon group, who produce sparkling wines. We were each able to try one glass of the four wines they produce. I went for the dry and Nicky the sweet, and after buying bottle of the Shiraz we got to try a sample of that too. All very good, and much more enjoyable than we expected.

The next stop was Soumah, where we also had lunch (pre-ordered from a selection of four dishes). We got to taste 7 or 8 of their wines, but to Nicky and I they all lacked body which is apparently due to their growing conditions. However, the lamb we had for lunch was just lovely and helped sober us up a little.

The third vineyard was De Bortoli, who produce Australia’s number one dessert wine. Again we sampled 6 or 7 wines and had taken the option cheese tasting too with the wine tasting selection (of which the double cream soft cheese was sublime).  However, until we got to the dessert wine didn’t find anything to our palate. The dessert wine was excellent, so we purchased a large bottle and another bottle of the red version.

Dave, our guide and driver, was able to usher us away a little ahead of schedule which gave us 15 minutes to visit the Yarra Valley Chocolaterie which in spite of being in the middle of nowhere (as far as I could tell) was heaving with visitors. They have three big tasing bowls of chocolate at the entrance (white, milk and dark) and then the product sells itself. I bought a few bars for gifts, then while Nicky was off buying us ice cream (chocolate for me and salted caramel for her) I was off buying desserts for later (macadamia cheesecake for N and tiramisu for me). Fortunately, with all the walking to and from the minibus I knew we would work off the calories. The ice cream was gorgeous and the desserts, though misshapen through their travels, fantastic.

Our final stop was Yering Farm, where we tasted 5 or 6 wines which Nicky and I enjoyed more, the cider especially, but only the dessert wine prompted a purchase. I think we bought more wine than the rest of the group put together, but it was well under our duty limit and will sit in the wine rack for a little while.

Dave dropped us back in town a little before 6p.m., and we had a light meal of cheese on toast before demolishing our special desserts and having an early night. It it the first guided wine tasting tour that we have done. We really enjoyed it and thought it was very good value.

But we didn’t just watch a play and get a little tipsy.

Melbourne

As I mentioned earlier, we did a free walking tour round some of the CBD and the laneways. These are famous for their street art, coffee and food. We have enjoyed guided walking tours before and this was no exception. The pace was good and the guide excellent. It finished a little later than we had hoped as we had planned to met up with an old friend of Nicky’s for lunch. It turned out to be a very late but enjoyable large Italian lunch with Geoff Geary. We arranged to meet him again later for dinner, and went and explored some of the arcades and areas which we had seen briefly on the tour.

Geoff came up to the Quest around 7p.m. after work, and took us off to a roof-top cocktail bar decorated with a quirky tennis theme.  We enjoyed drinks and a sharing platter of smoked trout and cheeses.

Past experience also tells us that a harbour cruise can be fun, and the Melbourne equivalent was a Yarra River cruise. We found that we could do two, one going east and the other going west, back to back, so we did. They were good, but the second one was more interesting as we saw the more built-up areas of the riverside. We lunched at a restaurant called Afloat, which was literally a series of pontoons on the river, before walking down the south bank. It became very hot, so we stopped for drinks in the inner cool of the exhibition centre, before making our way home on foot.

We got all cultural over the weekend, taking in the NGV (National Gallery Victoria), a free partly circular tram ride on old rolling stock, the Old Treasury Museum which covers the history of Melbourne, the Chinese Museum, and the Shot Tower were musket shot was made back in the day, and is now the centre piece of a shopping mall.

But we didn’t just watch a play, get a little tipsy and do lots of sightseeing.

Food

Man (and woman) cannot live by culture and magic alone. We ate out at least once most days, and had some highlights and some average experience. As already mentioned, we really enjoyed the food on the wine tour. On Saturday morning, while it rained heavily, we had an excellent breakfast at European (next to the Princess Theatre) and then discovered their shop, the Spring Street Grocer, where we purchased triple cream Brie soft cheese (even better than the double cream) amongst other things, which later included sampling their gelato. My salmon and the lamb that Nicky had when we had lunch with Geoff in a laneways Italian eatery were very good.  The pots of tea with special desserts at the Crossbar café in the NGV finished the week off well.

Accomodation

The Quest Gordon Place turned out to be a great location for our stay in Melbourne. Very close to the theatre, just up the road from Chinatown, and an easy walk into the CBD. We had an apartment with lounge and kitchen and separate bedroom and bathroom. This worked well as it gave us more space that helped with our extended stay. It was an old Arts and Crafts building, designed for working men and working women at the end of the 1800’s.  It had masses of character one might say, but it needed a little TLC. The shower became known as “the dribble”, because that was the best it could manage, the wifi was slow and intermittent until I found the the hardware, on the wall in the entrance lobby where there were a couple of chairs…TV reception was very poor, only beaten in it’s lack of quality by the programmes themselves, so we just caught odd bits of The Chase and the evening news. A lick of paint, dusted shutters, even curtaining and clean carpets would have helped. Having said all that, it wasn’t too expensive and served our needs well - we quite enjoyed using the safe!

So, it has been a great week. The play was even better than we had hoped.  We really enjoyed getting to know noisy, crowded Melbourne, and I really enjoyed hearing the tram bells.

Take care, Rick