These hills that greet visitors on Melbourne’s northern approaches once were dotted with sheep and rocks. Now they are blanketed with houses and huge shopping centres.
For lunch, a taste of Japanese tonkatsu at Plenty Valley.
Not fancy, just crumbed pork with udon noodles, vege and egg in a curry, heated by a cute, gimmicky blue gel tealight.
A filling lunch for $16.80 at Fukutontei.
Baiting tells sharks to come and eat. More sharks. Hungry sharks. Isn’t that obvious?
As for recent “alarmist publicity” about shark attacks: mate, I would now be alarmed if my loved ones snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef/Whitsundays without local advice. Very alarmed.
Choose tour groups with marine biology experts. Always listen to locals.
Behold: My little Jack Russell, Ruby, shows her “death hold” and “killer shake” – on a squeaky toy. Let soft, squeaky toys everywhere be warned …
(My dogs: why, as a traveller, I always look forward to going home)
“I’m blissfully not addicted to other peoples’ opinions.”
I choose where I go, and enjoy what I choose. ðŸ¤
Bangkok, Siem Reap, Hoi An, Lombok, Hikkaduwa, Hong Kong, KL, East St Kilda … anywhere, anytime. Even Australia’s sorry “seafood extender” substitute seems at home with prawns and crunchy vegies in the spicy hot-and-sour Thai consomme.
The pastry is a good, solid base, with a thin, flaky, spicy top. The curiously colored insides could well have sprung from the pages of a Mary Shelley novel. Only $5 at 7Eleven and, like skydiving, sub aqua coitus and raw scallops in Fiji, it is an experience best had only once in a lifetime… 
I have been banging on for at least 5 years, about the huge flaw in travel websites such as Tripadvisor: they are too open to manipulation. See the newdaily.com report: https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/consumer/2018/07/31/meriton-penalty-misleading-tripadvisor/
Take the menu board at the Dogs’ Bar in St Kilda, Melbourne: Italian carbonara – you can’t go wrong, kids love it. French beef cheek rague (what’s rague, you ask? Obviously, it’s the chef’s fusion of ragu and ragout. Derrr). Salmon “+ prawn pie” – a fancy British fish pie. Indian goat vindaloo – I consider vindaloo the neutron bomb of cuisine, it wipes out everything (but perfect for winter). At $20-$25, all good value. BTW goat is acknowledged as the world’s most widely eaten quadruped per capita; but pork is by volume.
Halal Sample Pack for just $6.90. I could waffle on about the subtle mint yoghurt languidly counterbalancing the sharp, spicy sauce but, hey, this is just Lord of the Kebab in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, join us for a halal lunch…
“Hey, I’m packed and ready to go.” My son is having a break in sunny Darwin and left his cat, Bubbles, behind with me in Melbourne. Bubbles has taken up residence in my travel backpack…
Haxtrax 