Melbourne Patron

In the winter months, everyone's thoughts seem to turn to holidays. What could be better than relaxing somewhere in the sun, rather than working somewhere in the cold? It's almost as though, to survive the cold and grey, we need a goal of warmth and light to work towards. Even if it's just a temporary sojourn. Low tide at Surfer's Paradise Beach This year, my parents and I met for a June long weekend in the Gold Coast . Uncharacteristically, the region was experiencing fairly consistent rainfall - so it wasn't exactly the sunny paradise we'd anticipated. Nonetheless, the temperature was a solid 10 degrees warmer than in Melbourne , so I was still happy. And, as it turns out, moody weather makes for better beach photos. We mainly wandered between Surfer's Paradise , Broadbeach and the Nerang River , at one point ascending the popular SkyPoint building to visit its observation deck. Inviting walkway to Surfer's Paradise Beach View t...

Adelaide (or "Radelaide" as I more often hear it referred to) holds special meaning for me, because it's where my parents grew up before they relocated to Sydney in the late 1970s. As a result, I've been there a lot - particularly as a kid with the family, mainly to see the grandfolks, when they were still around. We'd stay at their place in North Plympton, on an avenue of one-storey, sand-brick houses, each and every one with a tidy lawn, neatly-pruned rose bushes, and a low fence, over which you'd chat to the neighbours. We'd hang out in the back room (because that's where the air con was), with its tiled flooring, vertical blinds, green knobbly couches, photo frames galore, and my grandfather's bar (yep, near-alcoholism goes way back in my family). Nanna would put out little bowls of Dixie Drumsticks, beer nuts and YoYo biscuits, and Grandpa would pour me a lemonade  from one of those mini blue Schweppes cans. While the grown-ups talked and Whee...

For my first night back in Sydney for Christmas (which happened to be Christmas Eve), my parents wanted to show me a great little pub they'd found in Balmain called the Riverview (29 Birchgrove Road). The upstairs dining room was booked out, but bar food was available in the main pub area on street level from 6pm. We had arrived rather hungry at 5.30pm! So we perched on semi-uncomfortable stools around a long tall table and chewed the fat for a bit. The waiter was chummy, the wine plentiful, and the food (post 6pm) very tasty. All of us wanted the duck salad, but each ordered different things for the purpose of variation! I had the mushroom gnocchi, which was just the right amount for gnocchi, which can often be too much/too filling. My mother's prawn pizza looked great, but she hasn't expected the hidden jalapeños and extra water was required! Dad was content with his steak, and my sister's duck salad looked OK but probably not as great as all of us had hoped. ...