Australia vacation help needed

in article , Richard at
wrote on 11/11/04 1:25 PM:

In fact, our living room now has a large centrepiece featuring that very
forest, blown to poster size. Looks pretty nice. Indeed, our two drivers
generally made some slight exceptions to the rule when they discovered I
wasn't just a week-end amateur.

You've hit on a good point - a lot of guides are, themselves, serious
amateurs or at least have spent some time with same. If you have a word
with them near the beginning, it goes a long way with smoothing the feathers
of everyone. Just be prepared to answer a lot of questions of the "what
sort of lens should I buy" variety.


what's in between. Having said that,I'm dying to get back to Melbourne,
love the place. Guess that means I'll have to make a *third* trip ...

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Just watch those hook turns.

Raffi Balmanoukian
a
wrote in
news:BDB925DF.28377%
:

in article , Richard at
wrote on 11/11/04 1:25 PM:

In fact, our living room now has a large centrepiece
featuring that
very forest, blown to poster size. Looks pretty nice.
Indeed, our two
drivers generally made some slight exceptions to the rule
when they
discovered I wasn't just a week-end amateur.

You've hit on a good point - a lot of guides are,
themselves, serious
amateurs or at least have spent some time with same. If you
have a
word with them near the beginning, it goes a long way with
smoothing
the feathers of everyone. Just be prepared to answer a lot
of
questions of the "what sort of lens should I buy" variety.

More difficult: what kind of digital camera should I buy? ...
That off the shelf 3 Megapixel thing, for a couple hundred
buck, or that new 8 Megapixel with interchangeable lenses...
Standard answer: it all depends on what you want to do...

what's in between. Having said that,I'm dying to get back
to
Melbourne, love the place. Guess that means I'll have to
make a *third* trip ...

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is
at the Mekong - IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if
not it's somewhere around there (follow your nose).

Just watch those hook turns.

Pho? Dare I ask?? Now you tell me about the delights of Little
Bourke Street.

But as I say, not driving, I don't give much thought to those
hook turns :-)

Actually, while in Williamstown for an afternoon, a fellow who
conversed long and interestingly with us on the sidewalk told
us of the best place for coffee in Melbourne. Pellegrini's
Bar, on Bourke St, I think, just down from the Parliament
Houses. It took a while to find the place, quite small
actually, but the coffee reminded us of Italy (where we'd been
six months previously, so the taste wasn't all that distant).
We asked, yep, their coffee comes directly from Italy. And it
was wonderful.

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Now you mention it. I bet it must be just down the street from the
Gordon Place Hotel where I stayed last week. I didn't stop into any
Vietnamese restaurants while I was there. I ended up eating at allot of
Italian and Japanese places instead.

ALV

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Now you mention it. I bet it must be just down the street from the
Gordon Place Hotel where I stayed last week. I didn't stop into any
Vietnamese restaurants while I was there. I ended up eating at allot of
Italian and Japanese places instead.

ALV

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:52:34 GMT, Andrew Venor
wrote:

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Now you mention it. I bet it must be just down the street from the
Gordon Place Hotel where I stayed last week. I didn't stop into any
Vietnamese restaurants while I was there. I ended up eating at allot of
Italian and Japanese places instead.

ALV

You'll find the best Pho near the city - and the biggest concentration
of Vitnamese restaurants - in Victoria Street Richmond on the Eastern
suburban fringe. There are other concentrations in Footscray in the
inner West and Springvale in the outer South-East.

Little Bourke Street, between Swanston And Spring, is Chinatown although
it has a sprinkling of other Asian restaurants. Lygon Street, Carlton is
the place for Italian restaurants (extension of Russell Street to the
North). Lots of Lebanese and Turkish in Sydney Road, particularly up the
Coburg end.

For the sheer variety and range of cultural culinary styles, there would
be no place in the world like Brunswick Street Fitzroy, just to the East
of Carlton. They change all the time, but last year when I was there I
saw African, Afghani, Indian, Thai, Italian, Spanish, Lebanese, Nepali
etc.

I drove a cab 'round that city for 17 years.

Cheers, Alan
--

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:52:34 GMT, Andrew Venor
wrote:

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Now you mention it. I bet it must be just down the street from the
Gordon Place Hotel where I stayed last week. I didn't stop into any
Vietnamese restaurants while I was there. I ended up eating at allot of
Italian and Japanese places instead.

ALV

You'll find the best Pho near the city - and the biggest concentration
of Vitnamese restaurants - in Victoria Street Richmond on the Eastern
suburban fringe. There are other concentrations in Footscray in the
inner West and Springvale in the outer South-East.

Little Bourke Street, between Swanston And Spring, is Chinatown although
it has a sprinkling of other Asian restaurants. Lygon Street, Carlton is
the place for Italian restaurants (extension of Russell Street to the
North). Lots of Lebanese and Turkish in Sydney Road, particularly up the
Coburg end.

For the sheer variety and range of cultural culinary styles, there would
be no place in the world like Brunswick Street Fitzroy, just to the East
of Carlton. They change all the time, but last year when I was there I
saw African, Afghani, Indian, Thai, Italian, Spanish, Lebanese, Nepali
etc.

I drove a cab 'round that city for 17 years.

Cheers, Alan
--

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:52:34 GMT, Andrew Venor
wrote:

Raffi Balmanoukian wrote:

The best pho I've ever had, anywhere (including Viet Nam) is at the Mekong -
IIRC it's in Little Bourke street, but if not it's somewhere around there
(follow your nose).

Now you mention it. I bet it must be just down the street from the
Gordon Place Hotel where I stayed last week. I didn't stop into any
Vietnamese restaurants while I was there. I ended up eating at allot of
Italian and Japanese places instead.

ALV

You'll find the best Pho near the city - and the biggest concentration
of Vitnamese restaurants - in Victoria Street Richmond on the Eastern
suburban fringe. There are other concentrations in Footscray in the
inner West and Springvale in the outer South-East.

Little Bourke Street, between Swanston And Spring, is Chinatown although
it has a sprinkling of other Asian restaurants. Lygon Street, Carlton is
the place for Italian restaurants (extension of Russell Street to the
North). Lots of Lebanese and Turkish in Sydney Road, particularly up the
Coburg end.

For the sheer variety and range of cultural culinary styles, there would
be no place in the world like Brunswick Street Fitzroy, just to the East
of Carlton. They change all the time, but last year when I was there I
saw African, Afghani, Indian, Thai, Italian, Spanish, Lebanese, Nepali
etc.

I drove a cab 'round that city for 17 years.

Cheers, Alan
--

in article , Richard at
wrote on 11/11/04 4:20 PM:
s.

Pho? Dare I ask?? Now you tell me about the delights of Little
Bourke Street.


Don't know Pho Diddly? Oversimplified: Vietnamese noodle soup but there's a
real art in it. The actual address is 241 Swanston (took a while to dig
through the archives) but I was in the right neighbourhood. I knew I was
onto something when I saw the melamine tables with thermoses of tea......

Melbourne is my second-fave city in Aus; a lot of people give me grief
because Adelaide is #1 - it takes some time to get to know but well worth
it. Richard, do yourself a favour if you haven't done this already: take
the Ghan.

Raffi Balmanoukian a
wrote in
news:BDB9887E.28386%walkabout@TAKEOUTTHETRASHTOREP LY.ns.sympatico.ca:

in article , Richard at
wrote on 11/11/04 4:20 PM:
s.

Pho? Dare I ask?? Now you tell me about the delights of Little
Bourke Street.


Don't know Pho Diddly? Oversimplified: Vietnamese noodle soup but
there's a real art in it. The actual address is 241 Swanston (took a
while to dig through the archives) but I was in the right
neighbourhood. I knew I was onto something when I saw the melamine
tables with thermoses of tea......

Love Vietnamese food, I'll be sure to check it out next time.

Melbourne is my second-fave city in Aus; a lot of people give me grief
because Adelaide is #1 - it takes some time to get to know but well
worth it. Richard, do yourself a favour if you haven't done this
already: take the Ghan.

The Ghan is scheduled for the third trip (at a stretch, the fourth :-)
The second is strictly Northern Australia, going east to west and ending
up in Darwin. Checked out those folks you put me onto, and they have
some very interesting tours, definitely worth looking into. One from
Cairns across to Darwin, then Darwin down to Alice Springs; fly to
Broome, then the third tour (safari) across the Gibb River Road etc to
Darwin.

Now find a way to Thursday Island, and fill in a few other places...

Adelaide surprises me as your favourite city. I liked Glenelg, at least
the beach (the camels tho' looked a bit tired) but found little of
Adelaide to rave about. Maybe three days wasn't enough? Hmmm.

Could have been the hostel we stayed in (Shakespeare, the absolute pits,
and the only hostel we stayed in for the whole trip) coloured my opinion
of the city. At least it was a free stay ... we got an entire room of
beds to ourselves (wife and I) and then during the night the alarm went
off, for a long time. Long story short, my wife complained about the
obvious laws being broken had a fire really occurred - we ended up
getting the room free. And even then it wasn't worth the price.

The Ghan is scheduled for the third trip (at a stretch, the fourth :-)
The second is strictly Northern Australia, going east to west and ending
up in Darwin.

You do know the Ghan now goes to Darwin, just under a century after it was
promised in the first place?


Checked out those folks you put me onto, and they have
some very interesting tours, definitely worth looking into. One from
Cairns across to Darwin, then Darwin down to Alice Springs; fly to
Broome,

I didn't like Broome at all. Overpriced (lots of pearl money), overhyped,
and full of ferals waiting to go down the GRR. However, like your hotel
experience in Adelaide, my impressions may have been coloured by a rip-off
Toyota dealership and a quarreling backpacker couple who spent the night in
a drunken rage while I sweated away the 90% humidity night....




Now find a way to Thursday Island, and fill in a few other places...

Adelaide surprises me as your favourite city. I liked Glenelg, at least
the beach (the camels tho' looked a bit tired) but found little of
Adelaide to rave about. Maybe three days wasn't enough? Hmmm.

Not by a long shot. First time around, I would have agreed with you.
Adelaide bills itself as the "largest country town in Australia," which to
my mind is more appropriate than the "festival" slogan on the license
plates. If you're a come-from-away just passing through, you won't pierce
the shell and it will come across as the Land of Wowsers. Dig a little
deeper and you will find the friendliest people in Australia, where you
don't have to work 90 hours a week just to meet the mortgage (although that
changed quite a bit in just a year), and there's a genuineness you will see
in few other places (and that's saying quite a lot in WYSIWYG-dominant
Australia). Of course, the fact that 20 minutes from the centre will put
you on the edge of bushland probably makes me a tad biased....