Relatively quiet day today, had a bit of a lie in (getting very used to it..bad habit!). Had bacon and eggs as part of my breaky for the last 3 mornings..it's becoming an addiction!
Our first port of call was the rod laver arena, the home of the Australian tennis open. After eventually finding the players café which sold the tour tickets, we were told the tour was restricted but cheaper, due to a Disney on bloody ice show being on. He said we wouldn't see the main court of a lot of the players areas..what the hell was the point of it?! Anyway, it doesn't need to be said that we didn't do the our today! We headed off but we'll probably check it out again later in week or we cone back for our last week in oz :-(
We decided to make our way through the sporting district onto parliament which conduct free tours when the parliament were not sitting. They don't sit through july so we thought we were lucky.
After we got through standard security check, our tour guide Zenny told us one if the rooms was closed due to refurbishment (so this was off limits) and the other had been taken over annually by school kids to debate key aspects of their lives (apparently a few years back, they debated mandatory helmets for cyclists and the real parliament brought this in when they resat).
We got to see them from media gallery so again, was quite disappointed we could not go down to sit in actual seats of parliament. Was not a good day for tours and made worse by our guide who really didn't seem to give a s***. Before doing this, Definitely ring ahead and enquire about parts of parliament you will be able to see (days of sitting can also be found in website).
After wasting our time at parliment we headed for lunch in China town. Hands down, the best and cheapest cuisine place to eat in Melbourne. Has a range of all Asian restaurants - today we went japanese-y! they offer all you can eat on your plate for 5 bucks. It certainly tested my construction skills!
After a little shopping detour, we arrived back in apartment and made dinner - lemon chicken drum sticks & baked spuds while watching home and away! Looking forward to visiting all those hot ladies in a few weeks!
Once dinner was down the hatch, we went playing bowling in the crown entertainment complex - myself, Dave, pins (Sinéad, because of her bowling prowess) and 2-bounce (Carol because she likes to let tennis ball bounce 2 times before hitting if :-)).
David ended up beating us all..we think the pressure got to pins but we all have our bad days!
After bowling we stroll through crown complex (has EVERYTHING - pubs, restaurants, Casino, bowling, cinema..) and home for a quick cuppa before a well needed sleep!! Til' tomorrow!!!