Five girls, three days

You know it's going to be an interesting weekend when your top quality hotel knows you've got a booking for 5 people, but supplies the room with bedding and toiletries for four....then says you have to share those supplies with the fifth person. Can't say I was too impressed, considering I ended up being the fifth person. After phone calls from the other girls before I arrived, then from myself once I got there, I was privileged enough to be graced with my own pillow and towel. Only one of each, because apparently the hotel did not have any spare. WTF? Seriously!

Then there was the little issue of me sleeping on a roll-out bed. That would have been perfectly fine, except that I've slept in better beds in the outback, nowhere near civilisation. Yes, we filled out the 'how was your stay?' brochure and yes, we were rather unkind and it was warranted. I do have to say the actual rooms were great (apart from the blown light globe in the bathroom - mood lighting). The service sucked. Anyway, enough of that, coz it doesn't really matter. We had a good time, regardless.

Had a nice night out to dinner on Friday night and spent the day shopping at the QV markets and in the city on Saturday. Two of us really are not shoppers and we were just about going insane after about 6 or so hours wandering around. Everyone bought something and we staggered home early in the evening, complete with toilet paper and milk coz neither of those were supplied to the room either. Five girls. No loo paper. Not good.

There was a black ship docked right outside our hotel and we hadn't really paid much attention to it till we walked past it that evening on the way home. We discovered it was a real life pirate ship and upon closer inspection, one whose purpose is to stop Japanese (and other) illegal whaling under international laws. After doing the free tour and talking to the people on board, the three of us who took the tour disembarked feeling rather ashamed at our ignorance and contemplated becoming vegans. I bought a shirt. Not much in the scheme of things, but better than doing nothing.

Saturday night, we went out to dinner, then to a uppity restaurant-turned-club that just proved that having more money does not mean you have any more sense, or class. If you were a celebrity spotter, it was the place to be. All the big name jockeys here for the Melbourne Cup, and some media celebrities were there. We kept to ourselves and stayed there till the cigarette smoke made it unbearable. I'll be so glad when smoking's banned in all clubs and pubs in July!

From there, we went to another club where our feet literally stuck to the floor from the amount of drink spilt. Lovely. The music was better and we danced till the place closed. I obviously had my back off vibe working well. The only guy who talked to me was one who was more interested in one of my friends and the only comment he made to me was that I looked like I was doing Riverdance. I was offended, so I ignored him after that. I do not look like Michael Flatley. We walked the 20+ minutes back to the hotel. It was a better option than waiting more than an hour for a taxi in the cold, cold early hours of the morning. Whoever said the temperature was getting warmer, is lying.

Breakfast on Sunday was at 1pm and involved wine (for them, not me). We took the free tourist tram around the entire city to the Southbank markets. My friend C and I both bought magnets to treat pain etc. By the evening, we were both convinced they work wonders. Each of us felt much better after wearing them than we had all weekend. I couldn't carry one of mine in my bag, because I had my camera and credit cards with me, so C carried hers and mine in her jeans pockets. Plus she had one attached to the collar of her shirt to help with her headache. We joked that she'd have to be careful on the tram, or she'd be stuck to the metal and we'd have to leave her there. Strong magnets!

We had take-in fish and chips in the room on Sunday night, coz we were too damn tired to go anywhere else. Monday morning, we packed up and had breakfast in a restaurant near the hotel, dragged all our baggage to the train station (not an easy feat!) and caught trains home. The weather was a bit too crappy to take very many photos, but I have a few on my photo blog.

Today, I've done nothing except go out to bet on the Melbourne Cup (my horse came 3rd! Woohooo!), come home, go out to collect my winnings, buy some food and come home again to do more of nothing. It's been good! If the weather would just get warm like it's supposed to, it'd be even better.