Melbourne ...

Internal view from Mum's apartment

Even though the concept of 'home' is relatively abstract for me, there is definitely a feeling of coming home when I visit my family.  On Thursday morning, after arriving in Sydney, I jumped on another plane headed straight for Melbourne.  Despite feeling a little weary, I had an amazing few days hanging out with my family and catching up with some friends.  Mum's new (less than a year) home is in a terrific location, right in the heart of St Kilda, minutes from the beach and also from the city.  I can't wait to spend more time there over the next few months.

St Kilda Pier from St Kilda beach

Being back in Melbourne made me realise how much I miss the food in Australia (okay, I'm a greedy little pig, I love all food!).  It felt like I spent most of the few days rolling from one session of eating and drinking to another!  Interestingly enough, on the Thursday night, we ended up at a pizza place called Banff, where the pizza was amazing. Another culinary highlight was enjoying my favourite breakfast of poached eggs on toast with a side of spinach (no greasy piles of potatoes to be seen!) at the St Kilda Sea Baths whilst looking out to sea.  On Friday night, my younger brother Rob took Mum and I to a delicious Japanese restaurant called Wabi Sabi on Smith Street, Collingwood.  Another culinary highlight was perusing the South Melbourne Market for goodies to take for a picnic lunch at the races on Saturday (the topic of tomorrow's blog entry!).  There is so much fresh and tasty food to be enjoyed, I had better make sure I'm on top of the exercise front while I'm in Australia!

On the beach looking towards Port Melbourne

My few days in Melbourne ended much too quickly and now I'm back in Sydney, looking forward to catching up with the rest of my family (Dad) this weekend when he visits me in Manly.

View from our table at Sandbar, near Mum's place