Melbourne, Winter 2025

Hi there

It's Tuesday, as I type this, I am back from 6 days in Melbourne, and still very tired.  My sprained knee did play up a bit.  I took a collapsable walking stick with me, but I never used it.  The stick took up much-needed space in my bag when I was only allowed 7kg as cabin baggage.  Grrrhhhh...

I went across to Melbourne to see "Beetlejuice - the musical" which had spectacular special effects.  The story differed slightly from the movie but I think it made the plotline much better. The character of Beetlejuice was acted by the guy who wrote the show's music and Lyrics: Australian Eddie Perfect.  It must be wonderful for him to see his show put on all around the world and now in his home country.

 above:  you know by now, of course, that I am the world's worst mobile phone photographer.  Here is the curtain call for "Beetlejuice - the musical".  That's Beetlejuice in the black and white-striped suit.

But ... I couldn't go to Melbourne and just see one musical.  I went along to the box office to book for the matinee show "Annie", about the little orphan girl.  There were only two seats left in the whole theatre for the following day's matinee.

I'd seen "Annie" many, many years before.  This time there were digital effects used for some backgrounds, eg, streets of New York.  It worked really well.

above:  "Annie". I promise I did take better photos but none of them had the actual young lady playing Annie in them.  Here she is, walking down the stairs. ... You are not allowed to take photos while a show is in progress, but I checked at each theatre and was told I could photograph during the curtain call.

I also went to a third musical, "Kimberly Akimbo".  A Tony-nominated show.  About a 16 year old youngster who aged faster than other people.  She looked about fifty compared to her school mates.  Not a bad musical, even though most of the songs sounded just like most of the other songs. Very crisp stage sets.

above: me, in the Playhouse foyer

Unfortunately, I had booked to see "Kimberly Akimbo" way before I sprained my knee.  The steps from the foyer led me down terrifically tight stairs to get to the dress circle.  Weird, Weird (as "Snow White" musical actress Rachel Zegler would say).

On my holiday I managed to fit in going to the Victoria Market's winter night market.  It's all food stalls, yummy.

above:  the photo was taken at about 5.15, just as the night market started.  Within another 15 minutes it got so crowded, I could hardly move, and certainly not find a seat at a table.

And.... I went to St Kilda to walk along the beach, which I love to do. St Kilda is crammed full of really nice cake shops, all side-by-side, and trying to outdo each other with fancy cakes and pastries.  I went for a pavlova, just to see if they were better than those from New Zealand.  It was awful, all rubbery and dense marshmallow-like.  Oh, for those people who don't know about the pavlova wars - both New Zealand and Australia reckon they invented pavlova.  NZ did, of course.....

above: me, at St Kilda Beach

above:  St Kilda cake-shopping area where the trams finish (you can see two trams at back of picture).  You can hop on a tram from/to Bourke Street Mall, like I did.  Or from/to the casino.

Last but not least I went to two buffet lunches:  Conservatory at the casino (I had 10 oysters on the shell) and Grand Hyatt Sunday buffet (12 oysters on the shell)....

Next holiday?  Well, that's going to be Sydney to see "Back to the Future - the musical"