Melbourne...again

Back in Melbourne and it's cloudy but that's no surprise for this city.

We all have to be off the ship by 9.30 so Julie and I finally head to the International dining room for breakfast as we weren't able to have it in our cabin. There's a good reason we don't go to the Dining room each morning. The choice is limited and no say in who you have to sit with. I know I'm just a girl from a blue collar working class family from Blair Athol, but I do have good table manners and unfortunately many of our travel companions have clearly dragged themselves up in a cave! Now time to get off the ship so I queue with the great unwashed to board a shuttle to DFO which is like Adelaide's Harbour Town but under one roof on 3 levels. Julie has gone to catch up with family so I wander about the centre but there is nothing that takes my eye so it's time to stop for a cuppa and then time to wander again until I'm feeling a bit peckish and have a tuna subway for lunch. A bit more wandering but then I've really had enough so head back to the meeting point for the shuttle buses. We have been allocated times for our return buses but I can't cope with another hour plus, so am lucky enough to get a shuttle straight away. Thankfully it was a seamless entry back onto the ship.

Our cabins aren't ready yet but the public lounge areas are so, I am very happy to score a seat in the Good Spirits bar and order myself a Dirty Banana which is like a chocolate banana smoothie but with alcohol.

Julie arrives back on board and we are able to go to our cabins. The sun is out and it is actually quite warm out on the balcony. We decide we will have a few nibbles before dinner so I order a cheese plate which hits the spot nicely. Oh and we ordered wine too.

We start watching a movie 'Desperation Road'. The movies and TV series offered are pretty dated and nothing has particularly interested us to date. I keep telling Julie that the movie we are watching is not likely to have a happy ending but she won't have it so it will prove interesting who is right. We start heading out from Port about 6ish. We aren't going very fast and clearly don't have far to go as we are in Phillip Island in the morning We have booked to have dinner in one of the 2 specially restaurants and so head off to Sabatinis Italian restaurant. the ship has 2 speciality restaurants. You have to book for them and they are an extra $68 per person each. As soon as we were seated we were offered a glass of sparkling wine but as we had already started drinking wine we chose not to mix varieties and so stick with our preferred wines. The food was excellent and so much of it.

We are given complimentary Aranci balls and cheesy garlic rolls while we decide what we want for the next 4 courses.

We both start with the salad which is light and we are both feeling good that we've chosen something that isn't too filling. By the end of the meal we can't say the same thing.

Being a seafood lover I have the grilled prawns which were excellent followed by the seafood linguine. I did leave some of the pasta but made sure I ate all the seafood first. We asked our lovely waist Joseph to give us 15 minutes before the next course. Thank goodness I was wearing elastic waisted trousers.

The veal scallopine was my final choice and it was a huge meal so I could only manage one piece of the meat.

We were then presented with a desserts menu and Joseph suggested that we try the combination of all the options to share, so that's what we did. The desserts were our least favourite and we really only had a teaspoon or 2 at most from each. To finish the dinner on a high though we had cocktails.

We are officially stuffed! Time to head to karaoke as the other option is to go to the theatre where a comedian is performing but assuming he is of the same calibre as the other acts I've seen to date, I'm happier watching amateurs sing. Then it's time to head back to the cabin to watch the end of the movie which has a happier ending than I saw coming. Time for bed.