The Kids Are Alright

 It was an early rise Tuesday morning as I was too full and fatigued to pack up the previous night, besides I needed to check out by 10a from the hostel.  Since Pete & Mardi are doing that work thing, I left my belongings in storage and loaded up some essentials in the pod pack for the day.

It was another scorcher of a day, but I had to stroll down to Acland St one more time for the morning flat white and sweets ritual.  I then made my over to the beach to camp out under a tree for a little shade as well as a mini siesta.  After regaining my rhythm I jumped on the bike for a ride along the Bay Trail. 

I ended up down in the CBD to begin my search for the Rose wine, which I understood to be a difficult mission.  Beh, first store…success! It was late afternoon as I began to get a little peckish.  I continued to navigate and orient myself through the vast laneway arcades to finally partake in the sushi madness that consumes Melbourne.

After lunching on some yummy sashimi and a hand roll all at a reasonable price, I decided to get my bearings to Pete & Mardi’s place.  I knew they were close to the Yarra as I had pinned their location on Google maps.  I made my over to the Yarra Trail to commence my 15km ride from the CBD.

What a fantastic path winding through Melbourne.  If only the Don River was as charming or fashioned to foster recreational activities.  Along the way there were numerous boathouse crews on the water practicing their skills with instructors reinforcing techniques on bicycles via megaphones.   

There were also a number of stunning riverside homes where opulence was the norm.  There were saunas, hot tubs, pools, tennis courts, golf greens and bunkers….you get the idea.  It was as if I was making my way through the Kingsway or somewhere in the Muskoka’s.  

Alas I arrived at my destination just as the iPhone went dead.  Neither Mardi nor Pete was home yet so I ventured over to the bottle shop to pick a big brown (750ml) of Pure Blonde Ale. Mardi arrived about half way thru my thirst quencher.  She mentioned that Pete was getting slammed at work, but Emily would be popping by and we’d all head to the pub for some dinner.

After trekking back to the hostel to grab my stuff we marched onwards to the local pub.  The food and company was once again top shelf.  I realized keeping association with locals resulted in better meals at good value.  Pete managed to join us in time for our second jug of Pimms, which is a concoction somewhere between Sangria and a Shirley Temple, a flavourful libation for a warm summer’s evening.