Just our luck! Another major raffle prize for us (September 2013)

So I'm sure most of you will be aware of our Golf Club raffle 'beginners luck' we had when we first arrived in Warragul.  Not only have we been lucky enough in the past to win a 32" plasma TV, set of golf clubs and $1000 travel voucher, but our luck reappeared (after a loooong dry spell) just last month.  We won an overnight stay in the 5 star Crown Towers on Southbank, Melbourne, complete with valet parking and breakfast.  Super smashin' great! Time for babymoon number 2...

On my last day of work, Friday 20th September, I finished up at lunchtime with a lovely farewell buffet, balloons and a gift of a newborn photoshoot from my colleagues (thanks colleagues!!), and promptly set off for the city with Bob to make the most of our last city break for a while.  Our 20 year old Jeep trundled up to the front door of Crown Towers and out we popped, hoping that our dodgy key lock would behave itself for the valet parking person.  (On the odd occasion, you can stand there for 2-3 minutes trying to get the electronic lock to click to let you in - you can look quite the numpty)  Not quite the vehicle that they are used to I'm sure but hey, it's still working after 260,000km! In we go to a rather grand reception area to check in.  Unfortunately we have been put into a smoking room on a smoking floor but this is quickly sorted and the room we end up in is a deluxe king room with massive floor to ceiling windows overlooking the Yarra River and city.  Perfect!  And it has a bath with a TV, even better, although I wasn't convinced I would be able to get in and out of it in a particularly elegant fashion.  

Time to explore! Crown Towers is one of three hotels in the Crown Casino complex, so it also has a shopping mall with the posh shops like Louis Vitton, Gucci etc and some awesome restaurants that can be accessed from inside the hotel - fabulous, not far for the pregnant lady to walk.  We discover Nobu, the Japanese restaurant (Andy Murray's favourite during Aus Open time apparently!) has happy hour 5--7pm with complimentary tapas - right up our street! A mocktail or two and a couple of beers for Bob keeps us occupied pre-dinner before we head back up to our room to smarten up a bit.  I stick on my one 'maternity' dress that looks half decent but give the heels a miss, and Mr Barr opts for his suit to kid on we look like we have the money to stay in this kind of place!  Always fun pretending. ...

After Bob has sampled the complimentary sparkling wine that came with our room (I opt for a sip but feel too guilty!) we head down to Rockpool Bar and Grill, Neil Perry's restaurant (he does the 1st class food for Qantas, might have seen him on Australian Masterchef at some point).  We can't afford the main restaurant ($100 for a lone steak!!) but the 'bar' area is lovely and we enjoy a Wagyu burger, steak, posh stylee mac'n'cheese and salad, washed down with some tonic water (yay) and a glass of wine for the hubby.   I couldn't resist having a cheeky peek at what the man next to me was having for his dinner and got caught out (oops) but this seems to have worked in our favour.  Both men were not short of a bob or two and in fact, once we got chatting, one of them gave us a voucher for a magnum of champagne for when the baby arrived - turns out he owns a winery in Victoria! Brilliant, thank you very much.  Bob bought him a whisky : )  We will never end up actually cashing in this voucher as I'm sure, in his inebriated state, this man will not remember who we are!  

Right, dinner was yum, now time to win some bucks at the casino - $2.50 roulette table, here we come!  Unfortunately, our luck appeared to have run out by this point and we spent approximately 15 minutes blowing our budget.  Rubbish.  Ah well, the semi-final of the AFL was on the telly so we ended up with a bunch of other people screaming at the screen.  Love a close game!

 Extra choccies for the pregnant lady

Bob trying to look all '5 star'

Can't beat some 'his & her dressing gown' photography

Anyway, enough about our night at Crown Towers.....I need to tell you about the morning after.  After a brief dip in the pool, we headed to the Conservatory for some caffeine and a wee croissant.  We did not anticipate that breakfast would require course planning to ensure that we didn't miss out on anything - it was amazing!  I would recommend that you get on a plane and come and sample it for yourselves.  I think we both had about 7 courses over 2 hours, all the food was simple irresistible.  Included in breakfast was a chocolate fountain, real bee honeycomb for us to catch our own honey, delicious smoothies, an omelette station, a bakery stall, a pancake station, an entire Asian table, breads and cheeses, any juice you wanted, and obviously the usual fry-up section.  YUMMO.  We would actually like to go there again instead of a night out and dinner.  I wonder if we could book a table for Bob's birthday???

Once we decided that we were able to move again (this took at least an hour), we had a leisurely day in the city, visiting the Queen Vic Market and stocking up on herbs and spices etc, before heading for afternoon coffee and cake in Brunswick street.  We had been invited round to dinner by Susie, our friend who has recently moved to Melbourne from the UK, and we popped over about 6pm to catch up with her and her fella, David before driving home.

A perfect ending to our second baby moon - we are very jammy! xxx