The week ken came to stay // part uno.

Do you remember when I said that last week our world had been full of all kinds of awesomeness? Well, I have finally found the time between essay marking, lesson planning and house cleaning (the special kind of house cleaning that gets done when you have a house inspection!) to sort through the multitude of photos I took during said week of awesomeness. I actually took so many photos that I will slowly drip feed them in two posts, all dedicated to my very special brother who came to stay.

So, two Saturday's gone past, my big brother flew into a rather chilly Melbourne. His flight landed at 8am our time, and, being the incredibly committed sister who loves mornings (a big fat no to that!) Derek and I left our home around 7.30am, arriving in Melbourne just short of three hours later (hey, Ken offered to walk the streets of Melbourne until a more reasonable hour of the day!).

With Derek on crutches, it took us a bit longer to actually find my lost brother but we got there in the end. We dropped the car off at our hotel and then in true Melbournian fashion, we caught a tram back into the heart of the city for some brunch on Hardware Lane (one of my FAV spots to dine) and some shopping. Ok, the kind of shopping on my brother's agenda was not exactly my kind of shopping (computer shopping...lame!), but trust me to end up buying something anyway! After some, ahem, mis-communication, Derek and I realised that I had in fact NOT packed his jumper in my bag of city supplies - whoops! The temperature had dropped to a very fresh 10ish degrees so we left my brother to drool over laptops and we headed to Myer to see if there was a cheap jumper for him to buy. No such luck... for him anyway! I managed to stumble across the most delectable orange winter coat that was a bazillion percent off (not quite, but $60 from $160 ain't bad!). Derek is always telling me I need some colour in my wardrobe so I used that to justify why I just had to have it ;) So we left Myer, me nice and toasty with my new jacket on and Derek, well, not!

It seemed as good a time as any to head back to our hotel for an afternoon kip, Ken played with his new laptop, Derek watched some Saturday arvo footy and I had a nanna nap, because I could!

A couple of hours later we headed back into the city for dinner and some bar hopping and we really did have the best time. First stop was Beer Deluxe on Federation Square where we ate the most delicious seafood pizza and sipped on some boutique beers (and a cider for me!). After that, we headed to Hosier Lane followed by ACDC Lane to take some snaps of the famous graffiti art in the city before the sun disappeared completely.

The last time Derek and I spent a weekend in Melbourne he took me to a handful of rooftop bars scattered across the heart of the city. So, in a bid to convince my brother to move over here, we showed him a couple of our favourite spots. We took him to Chloe's bar but it was smoking central, so we headed over to our next favourite spot. I have no idea what street it is on, but I always remember it being right near the entrance to China Town (I am definitely a country girl!). The last time we were there it was March and the nights were starting to get chilly, but boy, that had nothing on the arctic chill of Saturday night! We grabbed another round of drinks and huddled around the gas heaters, rugged up in the woollen blankets that were provided. It was cold, but the view was breathtaking.

At about 9pm, Ken had reached his wits end, he had been awake for coming on 20hours. We cut the night short and headed back for an early night.

The next morning we headed to Flinders Lane for breakfast before heading off to the LaTrobe University Open Day in Bundoora. Amongst our breakfast festivities I realised I was sitting a table away from my boss which was a very strange moment - what a small, small world we live in.

Melbourne, you did not disappoint.

...but boy, it was nice to come back to the quiet of the country!

We are heading back to Melbourne next weekend for The Nursery which I am so excited for. Melbournians, any favourite spots we should check out?

Happy Thursday!

lis xx