Y10 D17

Good afternoon! It's about 6am Wednesday here so 1pm on Tuesday for all of you. I had another nice long sleep. Managed to get a good 7.5 hours this time. I may finally come home rested.

We got up yesterday and started the day with one of the best breakfast buffets I have seen in a while. Because this is an international hotel, the variety was pretty damn good. Beans on toast, poached eggs to order, rice, congee, bircher, 17 different types of breads, salmon, cold meats, back bacon - oh my. It was a real smorgasbord of food. I was very happy with the options presented.

After breakfast B went back to the room to get ready and I took an early morning walk along the Yarra river taking pictures. Got some very nice early morning shots of the river, the alleys with graffiti, the morning people taking the train. (BTO's Taking Care of Business playing in my head the whole time.) Got back to the hotel and waited for B's friend.

She arrived around 9:30 and we all left for the zoo. We took the train which was quite easy and logical. It took about 20 minutes to get from the hotel station to the zoo station. The station we're at is a major hub and is very crowded. The one for the zoo was much more relaxed. It felt like we were waiting for public transportation at home. We arrived at the zoo a little after 10 and spent the next 4 hours walking around. Much larger than it appears for sure. Well laid out, great exhibits, and really friendly people. It was evident that we are here off season as it wasn't overly crowded or packed with school children on field trips. We were able to enjoy ourselves and see everything, including the coolest platypus ever! We even lunch with the giraffes.

We headed back around 2 or so, and B decided to go back with her friend to her house. I opted to have a personal evening to myself and used the time to have a dinner that worked for me. I also walked to the cigar shop. I was excited because you can get real cuban cigars here BUT I didn't realize how much tax there is on tobacco. Let me put it this way, a single pack of cigarettes here can cost as much as $33. You read that right. The cheapest was $20 PER PACK. That's $1 per smoke. Cigars aren't much better. I paid $34 for a single cigar that was on sale for 50% off. I also learned it's illegal to sell e-juice with nicotine. Yeah. So when the bottle I brought is gone, I am screwed. I either have to switch to 0 nicotine and just use it for the mental habit, or be done for good. Either option sucks monkey balls.

For dinner I walked up and down the river until I found something truly unique to me. I went to this place called Pure Southern. I spent two hours having a six course tour of Southern Australia and Tasmania. Here:

Course 1 - Oysters paired with a sparkling (5/10, 6/10) - It's hard to impress me with oysters given where I live ya know?

Course 2 - Jerusalem artichoke with goat curd, honey, and walnut paired with a 2016 Arneis (9/10, 8/10) - This was the surprise course of the night. Look up Jerusalem artichokes if you've never seen them. Much different than your standard variety. This was well presented, well flavored, and just a joy to eat.

Course 3 - Scallops with pork jowl and a Chardonnay (8/10, 9/10) - another well executed dish. The scallops were cooked quite well and they were served in a seaweed bisque that gave them incredible depth.

Course 4 - Wallaby! Yep. I got to eat an 'exotic' meat. Served with a Pinot (9/10, 1/10) - I really disliked the pairing on this one unfortunately. It was way too young. I talked with the GM about it and it's one of those things he told me where Aussies like it, but he gets the same comments I made from Europeans and Americans. The wallaby however was kick ass. Surprisingly solid and bold flavor. Similar to venison.

Course 5 - Lamb with a Shiraz (9/10, 8/10) - a standard entree course but still well presented, well cooked, and flavored nicely. Served with a rabe, it was bold without being overpowering. Same thing goes for the wine.

Course 6 - And finally a creme brulee for dessert served with a Tasmanian ice wine (6/10, 8/10) - while the brulee had good flavor, it was a little soft for my tastes. The ice wine paired perfectly and they wrote happy birthday on it, so no complaints here.

All in all, a really good time even if I was by myself. I am really okay with having all that alone because let's be honest, B would have eaten one course, the dessert. So yeah, I am grateful we got to have some alone time. She and her friend had pizza (which she said was awful), and spend time hanging out. She had a wonderful time herself.

I got back to the hotel around 7:30 and relaxed. B got back about 10. We both crawled into bed around 10:30 and that was that.

Today is a shopping day. We're off to see a Kmart!