Happy New Year! I hope everyone is starting the year off feeling rested and rejuvenated! What are your big plans for 2024?
Both of my littles are off to school this year, so I will have lots more time to work on Bergen Street Goods. If you have a venue you think I should visit let me know. If you’re a venue owner or manager and you want to discuss merch related things definitely let me know :) As always if you want more info about how we work check out this page or shoot me an email.
Ok - back to Melbourne. We had a short little staycation in Melbourne last weekend. We got a good deal and stayed at Crown Promenade. Although the hotel was nice, and the service was good, we found ourselves in a bit of a food desert. Much googling and reading of Trip Advisor reviews put us off most restaurants at Crown…so we ended up walking a lot!
The first night we wanted something quick and easy so headed to Betty’s Burgers in South Melbourne. As with all chain restaurants, you can be pretty sure you will get what you were expecting. The burgers arrived pretty quickly and were tasty. We were happy.
We managed an afternoon drink the following day at Pony Fish Island. This turned out better than we expected! It was a lovely sunny afternoon, but we were able to sit in a shaded booth. The kids watched the boats and kayakers paddling past, delighting in waving at everyone, while we were able to relax and have a drink. It was a unique experience to be able to sit at a bar in the middle of the Yarra. We would definitely do this again!
We were all looking forward to the breakfast buffet at Mesh. Miss Seven was envisaging a table laden heavy with food fit for a king, while Miss Five pictured something more like a breakfast sushi train. Luckily neither were disappointed with the reality and enjoyed the assortment of breads, cereals, hot food, juices and pastries. I loved the crispy bacon!
If you haven’t been to NGV’s 2024 triennial you really should. There are hundreds of new artworks on display, something that everyone will enjoy. A definite favourite for us was the robot dogs. They were so realistic! There was even one with a cone on, as it had an injured paw.
As I mentioned above, we really didn’t want to eat at Crown, but on our last night, it was pouring heavily, so we reluctantly cancelled our reservation on Southbank and went to Gradi. We were grateful we could get a table at short notice, and as much as the food and drinks were good, we felt like it was really overpriced. Next time we will don raincoats and get out of Crown.
If you get a chance to spend some time in Melbourne go for it! Although we visit the city quite often, it was nice to take a slower pace, to have the time to walk everywhere, appreciate the architecture and street art and really enjoy our wonderful city.