Melbourne

It was the King's Birthday weekend here so, like last year, we headed down to Melbourne for the Australian Scale Model Expo. That is, we both went to Melbourne, but only one of us went to the model show (and indeed entered something and got a Highly Commended! which is good, apparently the standard was very high this year).

Once again we stayed in an apartment close to number two's share house and took the train into the city for a bit of shopping and a cruise around the art gallery. The shopping was mostly for the child (ugg boots, a puffer jacket, new jeans - essential purchases in a Melbourne winter) although I did get some unecessary art supplies and a couple of even less necessary books. Number two is doing an unpaid internship at one of the theatres so we got to see the foyer. It all looked very cool.

We ate out at many good restaurants, including one we discovered last time. My husband went to an exhibition at the museum on Ancient Rome while I perused the nearby fabric stores and general groovy stores of artisanal stuff made for young people. I went to Jimmy Buttons which is an INSANE haberdashery shop behind a roller door in what appears to be a very old shed. I would have bought lots of things but I waited half an hour for someone who works there to cut the ribbons off the roll for me ... the lady kept vanishing so I gave up and left. It was an experience.

Number two had some work and social commitments so Brad and I found a historic house to go and look at. It was interesting but not much architecturally ... although the guide assured us that it was the second most haunted house in Melbourne (after the old gaol) and that has been PROVED by SCIENCE. She was a volunteer guide in dodgy historical costume so we politely agreed ... my husband does tours of the local historic cemetery dressed as a Victorian policeman so we are full of respect for anyone who will spend half their Sunday looking slightly ridiculous for the purpose of public education.

After we did a brief walk along the bay - it was super still and the water was very calm. There was even someone on a paddleboard.

It was our first long trip in the electric car ... it was fine but it definitely takes longer than with a petrol car because of the re-charging stops. In theory you ought to be able to recharge twice - we tried to do that on the way back so scraped into a little town on about 8% ... to find that there were only two chargers, and a queue, so we waited half an hour then another half an hour to charge. The only cafe in the town was closed for renovations and it was raining, so we're not doing that again. I think once we find our rhythm it will be fine but the charging stops don't seem to coincide with meal or toilet stops, and our car does not do anywhere near the 560km advertised range on the highway. More like 360km. But it was super comfortable and even using the most expensive chargers it cost less than half of a petrol trip.