Pizza e Vino

For a second there I thought we were getting high tea but the platters were chock full of calamari, chicken and salad. The calamari was just right. With more courses came the sausage, the Morton Bay Bugs and the flatulence.  Well it was probably just me who was getting rid of the gas. Nevertheless this restaurant in High St Northcote, has it all and with a name like Pizza and Wine how can you go wrong.

Not birthday flowers, birthday towers

Whole lotta Rosie Music

We got a dose of the Hives at 7:30pm then the main party started around 8:30 and ended at 10:30 with no encore.  I would estimate the crowd at between 60,000 and 70,000. That translates to around $10 million and that is not including beers, t-shirts and horns. The actual stage is huge with giant screens at the back.  These were used to great effect for cameras , graphics, karaoke etc.  The Angus Young solo was a bit long otherwise an Aussie band although with only one original member.

Angus not so Young

High Voltage

Hell's Bells

This time we took the No 75 tram back to Etihad but I still have not used my free Myki because we were in the free tram zone.  It was 4:30 pm and every pub was already full and going off.  We decided to have room service at the Travelodge for a meal to save us looking for a pub.  We were over dressed as everyone was wearing ACDC shirts and horns.  As soon as we got inside we got some horns. There were many bars with lots of space so getting a drink was ok. 
This is only the 2nd time I have been to Etihad. The inside was totally transformed and the sound was loud. Very Loud.  Overall an amazing assault on the senses. A tad disappointing when some famous songs like Jail Break and Long way to the Top were not played.

Debbie the Horned

ThunderStruck

Slip Sliding Away

 A year ago I could not get a ticket for this slide so I put it on my list.  The sun was in and out but with no wind and 29° conditions were perfect. We were staying at the Travelodge Docklands and the room was ready at 12 noon so we started early.  We took the freebie city circle tram to Spring St. So my new free ride Myki card didn't get used.  Also how come you don't have to touch off on trams when exiting but you do have to touch off for exiting trains?
 We had a Bratwurst snag from the food van for lunch. ( Should have had a slider! HaHa!)  We took a few calendar shots before our sliding started at 2:15. This is the longest slide I have had including any water  park. We slid a total of 1.6 km over 4 goes and it was around 20 minutes between slides. This is well organised and I would recommend it as good fun.  There is potential for injury! I am noticing that I am the oldest at numerous events lately.  One tip: If you are over 100 kgs you could well burst your donut. We saw this a number of times accompanied by a lot of other people's laughter.

Beware of busted donuts and wet freckles

Visitors

We called in to see how Franster was getting on before the chemo injections start on Monday. If anyone is going to recover fast from this onslaught she will sail through.  We got back home in time for our Pure Bookkeeping friends from Canada. They have been driving around Australia for 5 weeks and also mixing in some Pure Bookkeeping as well.  We would never have even tried to travel on planes with babies but it does not stop this generation.

Soon back to -25°

Air Services Graduation

I find airports interesting and I have seen my share. Sometimes you get to go behind the scenes such as at the Annual Graduation of Air Traffic Controllers. (You only get to go once.) This was held on the fire ground and Laura was one of only two women out of the class of 2013 to make it through.  So 27 in total now have a job for life.  And out of the 1000 controllers in Oz 300 will be retired in 5 years.

Class of 2013

Straight to the Pool Room

Fire Ground

Anniversary Trail

Perhaps I should ride this track on Australia Day.  I drove back to Yarra Bend Rd for the start of a 30km circuit, firstly along the Yarra trail then under the eastern Freeway to start on the Outer Circle. This follows the old train path until you join up with trains again. Toorak Rd is probably the worst crossing. Soon after there is a turnoff on the Ferndale trail which gets you to Gardiners Ck. This is a high standard and re-joins the Yarra Trail at St Kevin's school. Follow this back to Dight's Falls and then the Boat Shed and its all done in around 2.5 hrs. The creek paths are generally less interrupted than the old train easement paths.

A four trail circuit