Breakfast this morning was noisey and crowded with (most of) the family back together. It involved a lot of discussion about all of our plans and I realised how hard it is to organise seven head strong adults who all have things they want to do but we managed it.

We started off by taking the city tram up to the Victoria Markets and wandering around a quest to find Christmas presents. I had a few successful bugs and really enjoyed the market atmosphere. I sort of remember the market from the last time I was in Melbourne. Afterwards we headed for a drink all together.

We then took the city tram to federation square to take a look around and there was an African culture festival on which was pretty cool. There were loads of stalls dedicated to African food, clothes, culture, arts and a stage hosting African music. We then walked down the south bank before heading up into the city lanes. We met up with Matt and Emily who had separated from us after the market and stopped at a cute cafe in the lanes for some grub and coffee.

Before heading back to the hotel we went to a cool rooftop bar which reminded me of the Kensington Roofgardens. Madam Brussels markets itself as an English summer on a rooftop in Melbourne. We had summer cocktails served to us on a garden lawn by waitresses dressed in tennis gear. Really fun and quirky.

We then headed back to the hotel to get ourselves rested and prepared for dinner with Angie’s friend and her parents. We went to an Italian restaurant naked Yak where we had some really good food and great company with Cristina, Neil and Helen. After dinner we took a walk down the riverside to the casino which is pretty renowned. I remember the casino from the last time in Melbourne because of the fire shows every hour where turrets of fire let off by explosions of fire. It’s definitely a sight worth seeing.

We headed into the casino to see a Christmas show and then headed upstairs to grab a drink. The whole experience proved a bit too much for my parents so they headed home and we spent some time drinking with Cristina, Neil and Helen. After a couple of rounds of the fire show we then decided to head to the Croft Institute. Cristina, Neil and Helen left us so the boys, girls and I headed over there. Definitely a bar worth checking out. The whole thing is set up like a hospital/asylum. The drinks are served with syringes and the toilet has medical equipment in it including a hospital bed. Very cool. We ended the night here drinking plenty of syringe drinks and dancing the night away to Taylor Swift. The end of the night resulted in a photo shoot by some of Melbourne’s famous graffiti. (Pictures to follow).